The Biblical Hebrew Webinar that I run takes place at the end of my working week, the beginning of my weekend here in Jerusalem. Waking up in the middle of the night and learning Torah is one of my favorite ways to serve God and I must say that even after 121 lectures and two great summits, the students and the Hebrew always start my weekend off on the right foot.

On May 2nd, we discussed the end of the Book of Job and I shared with my students that the last month for me involved a big job about the book of Job. Since it’s a book that contains relatively difficult language, even for a native Hebrew speaker, the challenge is doubled.

Today we shall look at a few last interesting points at the end of Job. In our last blog we discussed the difference between Job and his friends. By the end, Job was actually doing well and they were mistaken. For that reason they needed to sacrifice in order to be forgiven by God.

Let’s see what the destiny of his property and family that he lost in Job 1 was:

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When we finish reading a book in the Bible, there is a blessing that we recite which calls upon us to be strong and to get stronger, since we are strengthened by reading one book and need strength to delve into the next one. The blessing is, “Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek – חזק חזק ונתחזק”.

As we have seen in our Biblical posts of late, the Book of Job is a unique and unusual book of the Bible, as it contains complicated language and philosophical notions about life and its meaning. When we read about Job’s suffering, we often empathize; we try to imagine his story, with all of the difficulties discussed involved.

Therefore, when we read the end of the book, this blessing that we recite is not just a blessing, but a sigh of relief as well! We read about Job’s happy ending and we joyfully identify with that. However, we must ask ourselves in conclusion what we have learned from this book. Let’s take a look at some final verses to try and understand what values we can glean from Job:

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After the first half of Genesis 12, when Abraham left his home and ventured toward a new future in an unknown land, the second half sheds some light on his character. It’s quite difficult to understand the following verses:

 How could Abraham – who was so loyal to his wife and nephew Lot by bringing them to Canaan even though he was commanded to go there alone – ask his wife to claim that she his sister in order to survive, but also in order to get property in return for her?

The change in Abraham’s character may make more sense when we read Genesis 20. Reading the verses in Genesis 20 help clarify for the reader the poor impression that we gained about Abraham in the second half of Genesis 12.

Let’s read the encounter in which Abraham explained to Avimelech why he claimed that Sarah is his sister -

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Back in Biblical times, the city gates were an important meeting place for people. Another important meeting place back then, which even led to a couple of weddings, was the well-בְּאֵר.

My dear webinar student, Peppy Rebello, asked  me to discuss after the last Webinar (119) these historical meeting places.  Today I will discuss the importance of the Biblical well.

As readers, we learn there are four important meetings in the Old Testament at wells. Each one was between man and woman, and in three out of the four episodes we saw a wedding take place shortly after. The meetings were between Eliezer and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Zipporah and Boaz and Ruth.

So, what happened in those meetings that led to a marriage proposal? Seems like the well is an exciting place to be!

In the first instance, Eliezer was sent to find a wife for Isaac and he happened upon Rebecca, who was the only one to give water to her animals, a sign to Eliezer that she was the woman he sought for Isaac. Then there was Jacob, who fell in love in first sight at the well. Let’s take a look at Jacob’s story:

When you read more about Jacob at the well, I have always wondered how only he was able to move the great stone there to help water Rachel’s flock. Hearing the song The Power of Love helped me understand, especially the line that says, “A force from above.” For that reason, the additional seven years Jacob had to work for Laban in order to marry Rachel merely felt like days, so strong and powerful was his love for her.

Want to hear more love stories about wells?

Then come join us in our Webinar! Many thanks to Peppy for his question.

Have a great week!

Eli

English-Transliteration-Hebrew

Well-bə’ēr -בְּאֵר

Meeting-mifgāš -מִפְגָּשׁ

With-’im – עִם

The flock-hatsō’n – הַצֹּאן

Marriage-niśśû’în – נִשּׂוּאִין

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