Jacob ben Asher

“ If we deduct from the 70 souls the patriarch Jacob, his 12 sons, Dinah, Asher's daughter Zerah, the three sons of Levi, the four grandsons of Judah and Benjamin, and those grandsons of Jacob who probably died without leaving any male posterity, since their descendants are not mentioned among the families of Israel, there remain 41 grandsons of Jacob who founded families, in addition to the Levites. ”

“ Ben stood frozen. The slow seconds beat against his brain like waves of ice.
At last she said, "Ready, Ben?" She spoke evenly, but her searching gaze belied the all-important significance of her words.
In the dim light, the photograph of Jacob was indistinguishable, but Ben could still see the image of the dead man.
He thought, I can't run away with Jacob like a selfish, cowardly kid! No matter how bright the stars would be, that brightness couldn't destroy the image of a dead man with staring eyes. No matter what Jacob and Simon do to me, I've got to try to get back to Earth. ”

“ The tribe was not sprung from the oldest, but from the most beloved son of Jacob, the late-born son of Rachel. Ephraim was the younger of the two sons born to Joseph by the Egyptian woman, but Jacob had placed his right hand on the head of the younger son, and said, "By thee shall Israel bless." [628] Such [Pg 440] is the account of the Ephraimitic text. In the Judæan Jacob is made to say, "Ephraim and Manasseh shall be as my two firstborn." [629] The fathers of the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were considered to have been born to Jacob by his handmaids. ”

“ As Jacob blessed after Asher and the Naphtali, so too did these two tribes succeed each other in the offerings at the dedication of the Tabernacle. Naphtali, Jacob's son, was a very affectionate son, who was ever ready to execute his father's every command. The prince of the tribe of Naphtali followed his ancestor's example, and by his gifts to the sanctuary sought to recall the three Patriarchs and their wives. ”

“ Now Asher, Stean, Ross and Thurstan, having each made up his mind that he would go to Iceland also, had to consider how to get there, for their late bargaining had left them all penniless. The proceeds of the sale of Ballacraine were lodged with Jacob for Greeba, and Jacob also held as his own what had come to each man from his mortgage. So thinking that Jacob must have more than he could want, they approached him one by one, confidentially and slyly. ”

“ There was no corn in Canaan, and Jacob sent his ten sons into Egypt to buy corn, retaining Benjamin at home. He cautioned his sons not to create mistrust by their numbers, nor cause the evil eye to light on them, and advised them to enter the city of Pharaoh by different gates, for it had ten.
But Joseph expected that his brothers would be coming to Egypt, and therefore he bade the gatekeepers every day bring him the names of those who had entered the city. One day one porter gave him the name of Reuben, son of Jacob; and so on to the tenth, Asher, son of Jacob. ”

“ Ben nodded and turned to Maggie. "You're still coming with us?"
She shook her head, a mist shining in her sad eyes. "Not on this trip. Not without Jacob. I'll get one of our desert taxis back to Hoover City. Then I'll be going to Earth for a while. I've got some thinking to do and thinking is done best on Earth. Out here is the place for feeling." Her eyes lost a little of their pain. "But I'll be back. Jacob wouldn't stay on Earth. ”

“ He wouldn't have struck Cobb. Jacob is—"
"A man? And I'm still a boy? Is that what you mean?"
"Not exactly. I think you'll be a man after you make your decision."
He frowned, not liking her answer.
"You think the dream of going into space is a boy's dream, that it can't belong to a man, too?"
"Oh, no. Jacob still has the dream. Most of our men do. And in a man, it's even more wonderful than in a boy." Then her face became more serious. "Ben, you've got to decide soon. And it's got to be a complete decision. You can have no doubt in your mind."
He nodded. "On account of Simon, you mean." ”

“ In the Blessing of Moses it is bidden to defend itself—evidently against invasion (Deut. xxxiii. 25) .
Even in the time of Seti I. and Rameses II. (latter half of 14th cent. B.C.) the district to the west of Galilee appears to have been known to the Egyptians as Aser (u) , so that it is possible to infer either (a) that Asher was an Israelite tribe which, if it ever went down into Egypt, separated itself from its brethren in Egypt and migrated north, “an example which was probably followed by some of the other tribes as well” (Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Tradition, p. 228) ”

“ So they quarrelled, until Jacob said that there was plainly but one way of peace between them, and that was to apportion the land into equal parts and let every man take his share, and then the idleness of Asher and the drunkenness of Thurstan would be to each man his own affair. At that they remembered that the lands of Lague, then the largest estate on the north of the island, had once been made up of six separate farms, with a house to each of them, though five of the six houses had long stood empty. ”

“ Asher, a son of Jacob, and the tribe descended from him, with its territory; also a place in Palestine:--Asher
837 אֹ֫שֶׁר (o'-sher) : from אָשַׁר; happiness: happy.
838 אֲשׁוּר (aw-shoor') : or ashshur; from אָשַׁר in the sense of going; a step: going, step.
839 אֲשֻׁרִים (ash-oor') : contracted for תְּאַשּׁוּר; the cedar tree or some other light elastic wood: Ashurite.
840 אֲשַׂרְאֵל (as-ar-ale') : by orthographical variation from אָשַׁר and אֵל; right of God; Asarel, an Israelite: Asareel. ”

“ Saadiah, on the contrary, who had known Ben-Asher, the son, was dissatisfied with these Massoretic works, and wrote a very keen polemic against him. In addition to Saadiah, Ben-Naphtali raised objections against the results of Ben-Asher's Massoretic investigations, though mostly on insignificant points. Nevertheless, the text of the Bible according to the Massorets of Tiberias maintained its superiority. The old Eastern signs for vowels and accents to the Bible text were changed, extended and improved, by the Massoretic school of Ben-Asher. ”

“ Asher is somewhat strange. The parallel with verse 10 alone suggests that we should read of Ephraim; and this is the more probable if the real significance of the reference is for the Chronicler’s period (see the head-note, and xv. 9) . It is not likely that Judaism at that time could claim many adherents in the old territory of Asher (see Hölscher, Palästina, p. 32) . ”

“ If a very poor negro was buried, the Jew contributed to the expenses. He gave the first counsel of worldly wisdom to the negro freedmen, and gave them faithful interest on their savings. One slave that he possessed he set free, saying:
"By Jacob's staff! I will not hold as cattle the blood people of my son!"
His enlarged benevolence made no difference in his business. It grew to the widest limits of that humble society, and by the accident of a younger life coming forward to bear his honor up, Issachar grew into sympathy with the social life of all the lower peninsula. ”

“ And Jacob said, Why have you dealt so ill with me to tell the king you had a brother? what is this thing that you have done unto me?
19 And Judah said unto Jacob his father, Give the lad into my care and we will rise up and go down to Egypt and buy corn, and then return, and it shall be when we return if the lad be not with us, then let me bear thy blame forever.
20 Hast thou seen all our infants weeping over thee through hunger and there is no power in thy hand to satisfy them? now let thy pity be roused for them and send our brother with us and we will go. ”

“ So put your faith in Asher,
And come along with him.' He's an odd bird,
Yet I could wish for the world's decency
There might be more of him. And so it was
I found myself, at first incredulous,
Down there with Asher in the wilderness,
Alive at last with a new liberty
And with no sore to fester. He perceived
In me an altered favor of God's works,
And promptly took upon himself the credit,
Which, in a fashion, was as accurate
As one's interpretation of another
Is like to be. ”

“ He has that mingling of craft and endurance which has enabled his descendants to use for their own ends those who have wronged and persecuted them. The Jew has, with some justice and some injustice, been credited with an obstinate and unscrupulous resolution to forward his own interests, and there can be no question that in this respect Jacob is the typical Jew—ruthlessly taking advantage of his brother, watching and waiting till he was sure of his victim ”

“ And this was the legitimate posterity of Jacob. He had besides by Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, Dan and Nephtliali; which last had four sons that followed him - Jesel, Guni, Issari, and Sellim. Dan had an only begotten son, Usi. If these be added to those before mentioned, they complete the number fifty-four. Gad and Aser were the sons of Zilpha, who was the handmaid of Lea. These had with them, Gad seven - Saphoniah, Augis, Sunis, Azabon, Aerin, Erocd, Ariel. Aser had a daughter, Sarah, and six male children, whose names were Jomne, Isus, Isoui, Baris, Abar and Melchiel. ”

“ A Palestinian patriarch was the last person Sir Asher, with his hovering lackeys, would have recalled to the sculptor, who, in so far as the patriarchs ever crossed his mind, conceived them as resembling Rembrandt's Rabbis. ”

“ They will fill the surface of the world with fruit. 027:007 Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? 027:008 In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. 027:009 Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more. ”

“ Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do? ”

“ Along with Gad Reuben possessed a splendid country, but these two faded away into a sort of barbarism, scarcely maintaining their separateness from the wild races of the desert. Asher in like manner suffered from the contact with Phœnicia and lost touch with the more faithful tribes. So it is always. Those who shirk religious duty lose the strength and dignity of religion. Though greatly favoured in place and gifts they fall into that spiritual impotence which means defeat and extinction. ”

“ No ambition stirred him and no devotion to Jehovah or to the ideals of his race gave content and direction to his life. Thus he remained a laggard, and the half-nomadic, robber people that he represented became but a stagnant pool, compared with the onrushing stream of Israel's life.
[Sidenote: Jacob's faults]
Jacob's faults are also presented by the early prophets with an astonishing fidelity. Rarely does a race early in its history have a portrait of its weaknesses as well as its strength held up thus prominently before its eyes. Jacob is the antithesis of Esau. ”

“ Thy blessing, O Israel!
[All kneel where they happen to be standing. Jacob rises] Jacob. God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved, I am bereaved.
[Zebulun flings open the great curtains at the back. Outside the asses are seen laden for the journey, with Slaves, etc. The Brothers break up amid subdued excitement. Benjamin leaves Jacob, and, sheltering under Judah's arm, goes out. Jacob follows him to the door, where he sinks to the ground, and, picking up handfuls of dust, scatters it on his white hair] ”

“ Asher was the supreme god of the Assyrians, 20the Vedic Mahadeva, the emblem of the human male structure and creative energy. The same idea of the creator is still to be seen in India, Egypt, Phœnicia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Denmark, depicted on stone relics.
To a rude and ignorant people, enslaved with such a religion, it was an easy step from the crude to the more refined sign, from the offensive to a more pictured and less obnoxious symbol, from the plain and self-evident to the mixed, disguised, and mystified, from the unclothed privy member to the cross. ”

“ While he then reigned over Argos, and Eratus over Sicyon, and Balæus still remained king of Assyria, Jacob died in Egypt a hundred and forty-seven years old, after he had, when dying, blessed his sons and his grandsons by Joseph, and prophesied most plainly of Christ, saying in the blessing of Judah, “A prince shall not fail out of Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until those things come which are laid up for him ”

“ So taught Jesus the Jew, in after time, and in this earlier age Jacob the Jew, in practice, anticipated the later doctrine. It is one of the misfortunes of theology, if not its crime, that profession of love to God is often accompanied with bitter and active hate of man. Jacob was one of the founders of the Jewish race, and even in this their prehistoric age, the instinct for driving a hard bargain seems strongly developed. “Jacob said” to Esau, “Sell me this day thy birthright.” The famished man vainly expostulated, and the birthright was sold for a mess of pottage. ”