JUBILEES CHAPTER 30 ~ 35

WEEK 29 JUBILEES 30

1 And in the first year of week six [2143 A.M.]
He went up to Salem for nix,
To the east of Shechem, in peace,
In the fourth month for a surcease.
2 And there they carried off Dinah,
The daughter of Jacob, by claw
Into the house of Shechem, son
Of Hamor, the Hivite, the gun
Prince of the land, and he did lie
With her and defiled breast and thigh,
And she was just a little girl,
A child of twelve years with a curl.
And he begged his father and her
Brothers that he might marry her.
3 And Jacob and his sons were mad
Because the men of Shechem had
Defiled poor Dinah, their sister,
And they spoke to them to defer
With evil intent and deceit
With them and beguiled their retreat.
4 And Simeon and Levi came out
By surprise to Shechem with shout
And executed judgment on
All the men of Shechem at dawn,
And killed all the men they found there,
And left not one remaining there:
They killed all in torments because
They’d dishonoured with sinful paws
Their sister Dinah. 5 And thus let
It not again be done to set
Upon a daughter of Israel
To defile her, for judgement well
Is ordained in heaven on those
That they should destroy and oppose
With the sword all the men that rose
Of Shechemites because they’d wrought
Shame in Israel. 6 And YHWH had brought
Them into the hands of the sons
Of Jacob to exterminate
Them with the sword and on their buns
Execute judgement, that it might
Not thus again take place in sight
Of Israel that a virgin late
Of Israel should suffer such hate.

Your commandment say not to kill the bill,
Not anyone, not slave or master ill,
Not human and not beast without the fill.
The Bible is the story of how many
Found good excuse to break commandment’s penny.
That is the role of all religions here,
To tell us that what’s ringing in the ear
From Sinai need not be kept and in fear
Because it’s primitive, because it’s rate
Is too simple for complex lives to date.
Now paedophilia by norm’s of late
Is something common and on every plate,
And yet in many minds would justify
A brother and father to cast a fly.

7 And if there is a man who wishes
In Israel to give daughter’s dishes
Or his sister to any man
Who is seed of a Gentile clan
He surely shall die for the plan,
And they shall all stone him with stones,
For he’s wrought shame to Israel’s bones,
And they’ll burn the woman with fire,
Because she’s dishonoured the choir
Of the name of her father’s house,
And she’ll be rooted out as spouse
In Israel. 8 And let not be
An adulteress around to see
And no uncleanness ever be
Found in Israel throughout the days
Of all the ages of the earth,
For Israel to YHWH’s holy worth,
And every man who in his ways
Has defiled it shall surely die:
They shall stone him with stones for why.
9 For thus has it been ordained and
Written in heavenly tablets grand
Regarding all of Israel’s band,
He who defiles shall surely die,
And he shall be stoned on the fly
With stones. 10 And to this law there is
No limit of days, and there is
No remission, nor atonement.
But the man who’s defiled and sent
His daughter shall be rooted out
In the midst of all Israel’s rout,
Because he’s given his seed to be
As sacrifice in Moloch’s fee,
And so has wrought impiously
So as to defile it. 11 And do,
Moses, command the children crew
Of Israel and exhort them not
To give their daughters to the lot
Of Gentiles, and not to take for
Their sons any of daughters’ store
Of the Gentiles, for this before
YHWH is abomination’s door.
12 For this reason I’ve written for
You in the words of the Law all
The deeds of the Shechemites’ fall,
Which they wrought against Dinah’s wall,
And how the sons of Jacob spoke,
Saying ‘We’ll not give to the bloke
Our daughter to a man who’s not
Circumcised, for that were a blot
To us.’ 13 And it’s a reproach to
Israel, to those who live, and to
Those that take Gentiles’ daughters’ crew,
For this is unclean and a true
Abomination to Israel.
14 And Israel will not be free well
From this uncleanness if it has
A wife of the daughters of jazz,
The Gentiles, or has given any
Of its daughters to man or many
Who be of any Gentile stock.
15 For there will be a plague to mock
Upon plague, and curse upon curse,
And every judgement, plague and curse
Will come: if he do this thing worse,
Or hide his eyes from those who do
Uncleanness, or those who in crew
Defile sanctuary of YHWH,
Or who profane His holy name,
Then will the whole nation in blame
Be judged together for the shame
Of all the uncleanness and more
The profanation of this score.

From paedophilia to the extreme
Of marrying outside the faith, I deem,
Is a long way, and to set it down in
One breath as of the same kind of a sin
Is racist garbage to the modern mind
That looks at things as though he must be blind.
The truth is a society that lacks
The skill and nerve to level its attacks
On paedophilia is not a people that
Deserves regard. And so to marry at
Such a plague is a sin indeed. I trow,
However, that to burn the dame somehow
Is a bit much beyond the fork and plough
That Decalogue suggests to those who sat.

16 And there will be no respect of
Persons [and no considering of
Persons] and no receiving at
His hands of fruits and offerings mat
And burnt-offerings as well as fat,
Nor the fragrance of sweet savour,
So as to accept it with coeur.
And so fare every guy and gal
In Israel who defiles with pal
The sanctuary. 17 For this reason
I have commanded you in season,
Saying “Testify this witness
Israel for to curse or bless.
See how the Shechemites have fared
And their sons, how they were repaired
Into the hands of Jacob’s sons,
And those two slew them under tons
Of torture, and it was counted
To them for righteous acts they did,
And it is written down to them
For righteousness and for a gem.
18 “And the seed of Levi was chosen
For the priesthood, and be unfrozen
Levites, that they might minister
Before YHWH, as we, for ever,
And that Levi and his sons may
Be blessed forever in their way,
For he was zealous to work out
Righteousness and judgement about
And vengeance on all those who rose
Against Israel. 19 “And so it shows
They inscribe as a testimony
In his favour and not be phony
On heavenly tablets blessing and
Righteousness before God of all.
20 “And we mind the righteous command
Which the man fulfilled during all
His life, at all times of the year,
Until thousand ages appear,
They will record it on the wall,
And it will come to him and to
His descendants after in crew,
And he has been recorded on
The heavenly tablets from the dawn
As a friend and a righteous man,
In every act and every plan.

To lie with pagan man or dame is said
To be defiling of the name and bed,
The sanctuary of YHWH Ælohim.
Therefore such things should not enter the dream.
The paedophiliac defiles the rate
Of all society and every state.
No wonder these dregs call up every hate.
It is a doubt what ought to have been done
To those never educated to run
According to the Decalogue for fun.
An old dog learns to turn no tricks beyond
What he’s been doing all the while and fond.
Beloved, the whole world’s ripe to desolate
For the defilement open under sun.

21 “All this account I wrote for you,
And have commanded what to do
And say to Israel’s folk, that they
Should not commit sin in the way
Nor transgress ordinance nor break
The covenant which has in stake
Been ordained for them, but they take
To fulfil it and be recorded
As friends. 22 But if they unrewarded
Transgress and work uncleanness’ way,
They will be recorded astray
On the heavenly tablets as foes,
And they will be destroyed as goes
Out of the book of life, and they
Will be recorded in that day
And in the book of those who will
Be destroyed and with those who will
Be rooted out of the earth’s hill.”
23 And on the day when Jacob’s sons
Slew Shechem writing set down tonnes
In their favour in heaven that they
Had executed righteous way
And uprightness and vengeance on
The sinners and the sinners’ spawn,
And it was written for a blessing,
Forever in righteous addressing.

Levi and Simeon are not judged wrong
For killing all the men and even throng
Of married women in Shechem so long
As they accepted defiling behaviour.
The two are looked up to as if to saviour.
Levi’s rewarded for the bloody deed
By being made priest of the holy seed,
To slay and take life by profession by
The altar where the blood each day runs dry.
Beloved, once sick at heart I turn away
From righteous priest as well as from the stray,
And as I entone Psalm to sanctify
My heart and home, I turn away to cry
For what appears as justice on the sly.

24 And they brought Dinah, their sister,
Out of Shechem’s house with a stir,
And they took captive everything
That was in Shechem, sheep of king
And their oxen and donkeys too,
And all their wealth, and all to do
With their flocks, and brought them all to
Jacob their father. 25 And he brought
Them to task for what they had wrought
In putting the city to sword,
For he feared those and their reward
Who lived in the land, Canaanites
And also wrath of Perizzites.
26 And the dread of YHWH was on all
The cities around Shechem’s call,
And they did not rise to pursue
After the sons of Jacob’s crew,
For terror fell upon them all.

Everyone in this time and place that’s wise
Would agree with Jacob, God bless his eyes,
That working judgement on the drunken waste
Is like to rouse the passions of the paste.
At one time there was a whole people who
Regarded the ten commandments as due,
While today if one mentions but the view
That those ten things are valid for the crew,
One runs the risk of drawing persecution.
Silence before the crowd’s the best solution.
As I sit silently upon my chair
And look out on the world without despair,
Beloved, I see Your morning everywhere
And know Your law alone is just and fair.

JUBILEES 31

1 The first day of the month Jacob
Spoke to all the folk of his hub,
Saying “Purify yourselves and
Change your garments, and then in band
Let us get up and go up to
Bethel, where I vowed a vow to
Him on the day when I fled from
Esau my brother’s face to come,
Because He has been with me and
Brought me in peace into this land,
And put you away the strange gods
That arc among you made of clods.”
2 And they gave up the strange gods and
That which was in their ears and which
Was on their necks, the idols which
Rachel stole from Laban her father
She gave wholly to Jacob rather.
And he burnt and broke them to pieces
And destroyed them, and hid the pieces
Under an oak that’s in the land
Of Shechem, and went up in band
On the seventh month’s first day (Wednesday) to
Bethel. 3 He built an altar too
At the place where he’d slept, and he
Set up a pillar there, and he
Sent word to his father Isaac
To come to him and make a track
To his sacrifice, and to his
Mother Rebekah in a whiz.
4 And Isaac said “Let my son come,
Jacob, and let me hear him hum
Before I die.” 5 And Jacob went
To his father Isaac as sent
And to his mother Rebekah,
To the house of his father’s awe
Abraham, and he took two of
His sons with him, Levi above
And Judah, and he came to his
Father Isaac and also his
Mother Rebekah. 6 And Rebekah
Came forth from the tower of her Mecca
To the front of it to kiss Jacob
And embrace him, she came to wake up
When she heard, “Indeed Jacob your
Son has come,” and she kissed him more.

For the first time Levi and Judah rise
Above their brothers and in honoured guise
Are taken to the reception before
Isaac and Rebekah, ambassador.
Levi is priest and Judah is well praised,
Both sons of the weak-eyed and the amazed
Leah. Beloved, Jacob’s choice was inspired,
He didn’t follow heart and Rachel’s son,
He was not guilty of being retired
In favouritism. Prophetically done,
The choices envisaged the future tale.
Who look at Jacob as one prone to fail
Lack vision of his blessing of his spawn,
And how he saw the sunset from the dawn.

7 And she saw his two sons, and she
Recognised them, and said freely
To him, “Are these your sons, my son?”
And she embraced them one by one
And kissed them, and blessed them, and said
‘In you shall the holy seed bred
Of Abraham rise up in fame,
And you shall prove a blessed acclaim
On the earth.’ 8 And Jacob went in
To Isaac and his father’s bin,
Into the chamber where he lay,
And his two sons with him that day,
And he took the hand of his father,
And stooping down he kissed him rather,
And Isaac clung to the neck of
Jacob his son, and wept in love
Upon his neck. 9 And the darkness
Left the eyes of Isaac’s address,
And he saw the two sons of Jacob,
Levi, and Judah, come to wake up,
And he said “Are these your sons, my
Son? for they are like you the by.”

In Jubilees Isaac indeed says blessing
Upon his sons and grandsons in addressing,
Just as in Genesis and more perhaps.
But Genesis in patriarchal lapse
Forgets the mother’s blessings on the run,
And how she blessed both son and her grandson.
The inkling to leave Jubilees aside
From the canon of Scriptures must abide
In reducing wifely, motherly pride,
As well as woman in her own estate
As just as sure as mankind to be great.
Beloved, I joy in Your books of revealing,
And rush to them without distinction feeling,
And find instruction, guidance, faith and healing.

10 And he said to him that they were
Truly his sons, “And with a stir
You have truly seen that they are
Indeed my sons.” 11 And from afar
They came near to him, and he turned
And kissed them and embraced unspurned
The both of them together. 12 And
The spirit of prophecy’s hand
Came down into his mouth, and he
Took Levi by his right hand and
Judah by his left hand freely.
13 And he turned to Levi the first,
And began to bless him the first,
And said to him, “May God of all,
The very Lord of ages’ hall,
Bless you and your children throughout
All the ages to come about.
14 “And may YHWH give to you and to
Your seed greatness and glory too,
And cause you and your seed among
All flesh, to approach Him unstung
To serve Him in His sanctuary
As angels of the presence tarry,
And as the holy ones. As they,
Shall the seed of your sons one day
Be for glory and greatness’ sway
And holiness, and may He make
Them great unto all ages’ sake.
15 “And they shall be judges and princes,
And chiefs of all the seed evinces
Of the sons of Jacob, they’ll speak
The word of YHWH the righteous seek,
And they shall judge all His judgements
In righteousness before His tents.
And they’ll declare My ways to Jacob
And My paths to Israel to wake up.
The blessing of YHWH shall be put
In their mouths to bless every foot
Of all the seed of the beloved.
16 “Your mother has called you and loved
Levi, and rightly has she named
You, for you shall be joined unblamed
To YHWH and be companion of
All the sons of Jacob above,
Let His table be yours, and you
And your sons shall eat from its due,
And may your table be full to
All generations come in view,
And may your food not fail in all
The ages. 17 “And let all who fall
In hate to you fall before you,
And let all your foes and their crew
Be rooted out and perish too,
And blessed be he that blesses you,
And cursed be every nation that
Curses you wherever you sat.”

It’s Isaac invented the two-hand blessing
That Jacob later used upon confessing
The status of Joseph’s two sons one day.
So Cohen still remains a tribe in sway,
Although not always faithful to Your way.
Like other naughty snitches in the wake
I tend to expect too much for their sake.
The blessing of Isaac was mostly food,
And had little to do with right or rude.
Even the world today’s precarious place,
And millions in the hunger lines still face
Starvation. Better half of spirit falls
In when the aroma of cooking calls,
And sacrifice is a feast in its grace.

18 And to Judah he said “May YHWH
Give you the strength and power to do
And tread down all them that hate you,
A prince shall you be, you and one
Of your sons, over all when done
The sons of Jacob, may your name
And the name of your sons in fame
Go forth and traverse every land
And region. 19 “Then shall Gentiles manned
Fear before your face, and all nations
Shall quake. In you shall be the rations
Of help of Jacob, and in you
Be found Israel’s salvation true.
20 “And when you sit on honour’s throne
Of your righteousness there be known
Great peace for all the seed of sons
Of the beloved, blessed in their tonnes
Be they that bless you, and all that
Hate you and afflict where you’re at
And curse you shall be rooted out
And destroyed from the earth about
And be accursed and set at rout.”

Who sit as leaders of the church and beth
Din are able in ease to draw the breath
And see the inner meanings of the promise
Without the hesitating doubting’s Thomas.
The spiritual lesson to be learned
Should not indeed in new hardship be spurned,
And yet the literal must rise to fore.
The salvation that’s meant is that in store
To save from the dominion of the goy,
Not to save from sin’s inner strength with joy.
The only saving from sin’s in employ
Of love of Your name recited with pact
And promise so to live, and living act.
That single hope turns out what Nero earned.

21 And turning he kissed him again
Embraced him, and rejoiced amen,
For he had seen the sons of Jacob
His son in very truth to wake up.
22 He went forth from between his feet
And fell down and bowed down to greet
Him, and he blessed them and rested
There with Isaac his father hid
That night, and they ate and they drank
With joy. 23 He gave the two sons rank
Of Jacob to sleep, the one on
His right hand and the other on
His left, and it was counted to
Him for righteousness as his due.

It’s strange what things before Moses came on
Were counted righteousness among the spawn
Of Adam as they walked their pilgrimage.
The righteousness of Abraham in pledge
Was believing the promise of his fate
To have a child along with aging mate.
And yet in action that belief fell flat
It seems for following his doubts whereat
The customs of his day came in to seek
Their place in concubine and servant’s week.
Now Isaac gains his righteousness when he
Takes in his arms to sleep his grandsons’ free.
Beloved, You watch me with expectant care,
Rewarding as soon as a glimmer’s there.

24 And Jacob told his father all
During the night, how YHWH in all
Had shown him great mercy, and how
He’d prospered him in sheep and cow
In all his ways, protected him
From all evil and all things grim.
25 And Isaac blessed his father’s God
Of Abraham, who had not trod
Withdrawn from His mercy and from
His righteousness from the sons come
Of his servant Isaac. 26 And in
The morning Jacob told his kin,
His father Isaac of the vow
Which he had vowed to YHWH somehow,
And of the vision he had seen,
And that he had built on the scene
An altar, and that everything
Was ready for the sacrifice
To be made before YHWH the King
As he had vowed it to suffice,
And that he had come to set him
On a donkey and make him trim.
27 And Isaac told Jacob his son,
“I’m not able to go for fun
With you, for I am old and not
Able to bear the way and plot.
But go, my son, in peace, for I’ve
Fulfilled one hundred sixty-five
Years today, I’m no longer able
To journey, set your mother stable
On a donkey and let her go
With you. 28 “And I know, my son, that
You’ve come on my account, whereat
May this day be blessed on which you
Have seen me alive, and I too
Have seen you, my son. 29 “And may you
Prosper and fulfil the vow which
You have vowed, and don’t over pitch
Your vow now, for you shall be called
To account for the vow installed,
Now therefore make haste to perform,
And may He be pleased at the storm
Who has made all things, to whom you
Have vowed the vow in what you do.”

Father and son spend midnight hours to think
And dream about the ladder on the brink
Of heaven and earth that Jacob at Bethel
Saw rising in the sky from where the swell
Of earth became his pillow in his flight.
So father and son spend a holy night,
While on the breast of Isaac sleep the sons
Whose privilege was to find Isaac’s buns.
Beloved, the dear domestic scene that rises
From Jubilee’s intimate words comprises
In revelation fuel for burning heart
Of love, when other texts remain in part
Dry with the distancing of human cares.
In Jubilees the soul comes where she dares.

30 And he said to Rebekah: ‘Go
With Jacob your son, don’t be slow,’
And Rebekah went with Jacob
Her son, and Deborah at the rub,
With her, and they came to Bethel.
31 Jacob remembered the prayer well
With which his father had blessed him
And his two sons, Levi and trim
Judah, and he rejoiced and blessed
The God of his fathers at rest,
Abraham and Isaac. 32 And he
Said “Now I know that I shall be
In an eternal hope, and my
Sons also, before God on high,”
And thus is it ordained concerning
The two, and they record it earning
Eternal testimony to
Them on the heavenly tablets true
How Isaac blessed them as their due.

Eternal reward for Levi and brother
Judah is in the blessing from another,
And not in the great feats of grace and strength
They did in their lifetime and in its length.
The one great thing recorded on the due
Tablets of fate in heaven’s not the view
Of deeds in action, not the cunning crew,
But merely blessing others, though a few.
Beloved, may my life be lived to inspire
My words of blessing on my children’s choir,
And may my words of blessing be to me
The eternal reward of being free.
Beloved, You too receive only reward
From words of blessing, and not words in sword.

WEEK 30 JUBILEES 32

1 And he stayed that night at Bethel,
And Levi dreamed that they had well
Ordained and made him priest of El
Most High, him and his sons forever,
And he woke from his sleep as never
And blessed YHWH. 2 And Jacob arose
Early in the morning, from doze
On the fourteenth (Tuesday) of this month, and
He gave a [portion] at his hand
Of all that came with him, both of
Men and their cattle, and both of
Gold and every vessel and glove,
Indeed, he gave [portions] of all.
3 And in those days Rachel became
Pregnant with her son Benjamin.
And Jacob counted his sons from
Him upwards and it fell to come
On Levi the portion of YHWH,
And so his father clothed him due
In priestly pageantry and crew
And filled his hands. 4 And on the day
Fifteenth of this month, as they say,
The fourth day of the week, he brought
To the altar fourteen oxen
From among the cattle in pen,
And twenty-eight rams, forty-nine
Sheep, seven lambs as well in line,
And twenty-one kids of the goats
As a burnt-offering with slit throats
On the altar of sacrifice,
Well pleasing for a sweet surplice
In savour before Ælohim.
5 This was his offering, by his dream
In consequence of the vow which
He had vowed to do without hitch,
That he’d give a tenth [portion], and
Their fruit-offerings from off the land
And their drink offerings, as was planned.

It must be some noble, fine intuition
That Jacob used, or else divine commission,
To know how many of each sheep and goat
And other beast should be allowed to gloat
Upon the altars of holocaust rote.
I am so poor at figures, I’d have done
With all the counting and have smitten one
Of each and let it go at that. Instead
Jacob has offerings done, in plenty fed
The crew of worshippers who joined the spate
Of well-wishers of Rebekah for fat.
Beloved, if sacrifice is what You want,
I think I have a slaughterhouse to haunt,
Or else appear with nothing dark or gaunt.

6 And when the fire had consumed it,
He burnt incense on the fire spit,
And for a thank offering two oxen
And four rams, four sheep without toxin,
Four he-goats, and two sheep a year
Old, and two goat kids from the rear,
And so he did for seven days.
7 And he and all his sons for praise
And his men were eating this there
During seven days and blessing
And thanking YHWH for everything,
Who had delivered him out of
All his tribulation and shove
And had given him his vow’s thing.
8 And he tithed all the clean beasts, and
Made burnt sacrifice by command,
But the unclean beasts he did not
Give to Levi his son for lot,
And he gave him all the souls of
The men, and Levi as above
Discharged the priestly office at
Bethel where his dad Jacob sat
In preference to his ten brothers,
And he was a priest there as stirs,
And Jacob gave his vow, 9 thus he
Tithed once again the tithe to be
To YHWH and sanctified it, and
It became holy to His hand.

There’s only need for priest when killing is
The means of livelihood instead of quiz
Of gathering what fruit is to be found
On tree and bush before the frozen ground.
A vegetarian state will exclude
The need for priest to burn the corpses crude
Left over from the sacrificial brood.
No wonder in the country where I live
The priests no longer measure up to sieve,
But women also have the right to make
The priesthood their place in the faithful stake.
Where women are made equal to the men,
One knows that job has lost glitter and yen,
For true power is reserved to the male rake.

10 And for this reason it’s ordained
On the heavenly tablets unstained
As a law for the tithing to
Eat the tithe again before YHWH
From year to year, in the place where
It’s chosen that His name be there,
And to this law there is no stay,
Limit of days forever sway.
11 This ordinance is written that
It may be fulfilled from thereat
Year to year in eating the second
Tithe before YHWH in the place reckoned
Where it has been chosen to be,
And nothing shall remain to see
Of it from this year to the year
Following. 12 For in its own year
Shall the seed be eaten till days
Of the harvest of the seed’s ways
By that year, and the grape juice till
The days of the grape juice fulfil,
And oil till the days of its season.
13 And all that is left there by reason
And becomes old, let it be counted
As polluted: let it be mounted
To be burnt with fire, for it’s foul.
14 And thus let them put it in jowl
Together in the sanctuary,
And let them not suffer it merry
To get old. 15 And all the tithes of
The oxen and sheep as above
Shall be holy to YHWH, and shall
Belong to his priests for their sal,
Which they will eat before Him from
Year to year in the time to come,
For thus is it ordained, engraved
Regarding the tithe and is paved
On the heavenly tablets unwaived.

Shall belong to the priests, ah yes, that’s why
The priesthood was a great thing on the sly.
The economic factor always wields
More in the end than sentimental fields.
As long as there was meat aplenty stashed
On the meat hooks in sacrifice uncashed,
Only men could enlist to live unbashed
As priests. But now the sacrifice is made
In just a bit of cookie and waylaid
With just a sip of wine, ladies are paid
To do the simple chore. Let such eat what
Is left in crumbs, and drink with their eyes shut
The dregs from every chalice on the up.
Beloved, I seek instead eternal cup.

16 And on the following night, upon
The twenty-second day’s fore-dawn
Of this month, fourth day of the week,
Jacob resolved to build a sleek
Place, and to build a wall around
The court, and sanctify the ground
And make it holy for all time,
For himself and his children’s rhyme
After him. 17 And YHWH appeared to
Him by night and blessed him and crew
And said to him, “Your name shall not
Be called Jacob, but Israel’s lot
Shall they name your name.” 18 And He said
To him again, “I’m YHWH who tread
To create the heaven and the earth,
And I’ll increase you in your worth
And multiply you greatly, and
Kings shall come forth from you in band,
And they shall judge everywhere that
The foot of humankind is at.
19 “And I’ll give to your seed all land
Which is under the sky, they’ll stand
To judge all the nations by their
Desires, and after that they’ll bear
Possession of the whole earth and
Inherit it for ever.” 20 And
He finished speaking with him, and
He went up from him as he planned.
And Jacob looked till He had gone
Up into heaven. 21 Thereupon
He saw in vision of the night,
And indeed an angel of light
Descended from the sky with seven
Tablets in his hands, sent from heaven
And he gave them to Jacob, and
He read them and knew all that planned
And written in them which would come
Upon him and his sons to come
Throughout all ages. 22 And he showed
Him all that was written and glowed
On the tablets, and said to him,
“Do not build this place to be trim,
And do not make it eternal,
A sanctuary pivotal,
And do not live here, for it’s not
The place. Go to the house and plot
Of Abraham your father and
Live with Isaac your father grand
Until the day of your dad’s death.
23 “For in Egypt you’ll leave your breath
In peace, and in this land you shall
Be buried with all sepulchral
Honour in the tomb of your fathers,
With Abraham, Isaac, no bothers.
24 “Fear not, for as you have seen and
Read it, so shall all come to stand,
And write down everything as you
Have seen and read, and write it true.”

Some things in the book support the bright view
Samaritans have of what things are true,
Despite the scholars saying that the book
Was written by a late hand in the nook.
One is the place thus sanctified to be
A place of worship by Jacob and see.
Jacob is prophet better than last known
Because despite his disappointment stone
He even knew that he’d die not alone
In Egypt. Somehow that seems to defy
The veil of ignorance that some would spy
About the man deceived by son and all.
The ancient words were there for some recall,
Beloved, for even my calf in the stall.

25 And Jacob said “Lord, how can I
Remember all I’ve read to spy?”
And he said to him, “I will bring
All things to your remembering.”
26 And he went up from him, and he
Awoke from his sleep, bore in mind
Everything he had come to see
And all he had read from the signed,
And he wrote down all of the words
Which he’d read and seen in their herds.

The gift of writing had been handed down
From Abraham to Isaac with a gown
Of doctor’s status in Canaanite town.
And Isaac taught Jacob to write the word
So that the divine message undeterred
Might be vouchsafed to righteous beast and bird.
Beloved, I thank You for the dreams of old
That written once have never left me cold,
But followed my footsteps where books are sold
To bless my days and nights with sayings told
In melodies of fragrance from the tomb
Of Abraham and Sarah and the room
Of Isaac and of Jacob, where at last
The tender Leah’s hopes came and were passed.

27 He celebrated there one more
Day, and he sacrificed in store
Thereon according to all he
Sacrificed on former decree
Of days, and called its name ‘Addition,’
For this day was added ambition.
The former days he called ‘The Feast’.
28 And thus it was shown and released
That it should be, as written on
The heavenly tablets from the dawn
Of time, wherefore it was revealed
To him that he should the unsealed
Celebrate, and add to the seven
Days of the feast revealed from heaven.
29 And so its name was called ‘Addition,’
Because it was as a condition
Recorded among the feast days,
According to number of days
In the year. 30 And in the night, on
The twenty-third of this month drawn
To be the fifth day of the week,
Deborah Rebekah’s nurse and weak
Died, and they buried her beneath
The city under the oak wreath
Of the river, he called the name
Of this place, ‘Deborah’s river’s fame,’
And the oak, ‘The oak of the mourning
Of Deborah.’ 31 And Rebekah mourning
Went back to her house to his father
Isaac, and Jacob sent there rather
By her hand rams and sheep and goats
To make a meal not just of oats
For his father such as he loved.
32 He went after his mother gloved
Till he came to Kabratan’s land,
And he lived there, as by command.
33 And Rachel bore a son that night,
And called his name ‘Son of my fright
And sorrow’, for she suffered in
Giving him birth: but for his kin
His father called him Benjamin,
On the eighth month’s eleventh day,
Which was the second of the week,
In the first year of the sixth week
Of this jubilee and its sway. [2143 A.M.]
34 And Rachel died there and was buried
In the land of Ephrath and tarried,
The same is Bethlehem, where built
Jacob a pillar on the silt
Of Rachel’s grave, upon the road
Above her grave for sorrow’s load.

Had Deborah lived, Rachel might have done too.
She had no help from the wise woman’s view
To bring her through the breach of second birth.
She was not accustomed to the pain’s worth.
Had Deborah lived, and in this thought I know
I approach the inscrutable in show
That is Yours and alone Yours in the sky.
But it is very human wondering why.
Had Deborah lived, there might not be the tomb
Of Rachel on the way to inn and room
In Bethlehem. I once stopped there to pray
And enter in the quiet of the day
That surrounds Rachel’s tomb, despite the cars
That honk and whirl outside below the stars.

JUBILEES 33

1 Jacob went and lived to the south
In Magdaladra’ef, a mouth
Full that. And so then he went to
His father Isaac, he and true
Wife Leah, on the first day of
The tenth month (Wednesday). 2 And Reuben above
Saw Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, who was
His father’s concubine as does,
Bathing in secret water, and
He loved her. 3 And he hid his hand
Till night, and he came in the house
Of Bilhah [at night], like a mouse,
And found her sleeping there alone
Upon a bed in her house stone.
4 And he lay with her, and she woke
And saw indeed Reuben the bloke
Was lying with her in the bed,
And she uncovered the wing of
Her covering and seized his glove,
And cried out, and discovered that
It was Reuben where she was at.
5 She was ashamed because of him,
And so drew back her hand from him,
And he fled. 6 And she lamented
Because of this thing that he did,
And told it not to anyone.
7 And when Jacob returned for fun
And sought her, she said to him, “I
Am not clean for your coming, I
Have been defiled as regards you,
For Reuben has defiled me true,
And has lain with me in the night,
And I was asleep without fright,
And did not know when he uncovered
My skirt and slept with me and hovered.”

Polygamous marriage raises the chance
Of incestuous rape in prong and dance
More than one might imagine on the spot.
Though Bilhah was his father’s wife in dot,
She was no relative of Reuben, so
It was easy for him to see the glow.
Not only that, chances are she was young,
A maid to younger Rachel and unsprung.
Reuben always took easiest of ways,
And it seemed easier then in his daze
To go to Bilhah’s bed instead of keeping
His lust under control in fast and weeping.
Beloved, take me to Yourself even though
I am no beauty in the flower show.

8 And Jacob was angry indeed
With Reuben because he in greed
Had lain with Bilhah, because he
Had uncovered his father’s fee.
9 And Jacob did not approach her
Again since Reuben defiled her.
And as for any man who would
Uncover father’s skirt or hood
His deed is wicked in extreme,
For he’s abomination’s scheme
Before YHWH. 10 For this reason it
Is written and ordained as fit
On heavenly tablets that a man
Should not lie with his father’s wife,
And should not uncover by plan
His father’s skirt, in peace or strife,
For this is unclean, they shall die
Surely together, one to lie
With his father’s wife and the wife
Also, for they have wrought with strife
Uncleanness on earth. 11 And there’ll be
Nothing unclean before the see
Of our God in the nation which
He has chosen above all switch
For Himself as a possession.
12 And again, it’s written to run
A second time, “Cursed be he who
Lies with his father’s wife to do,
For he’s uncovered father’s shame,”
And all the holy ones in name
Of YHWH said “So be it, so be.”
13 And you, Moses, command in fee
The children of Israel to do
By this word, for it entails true
A punishment of death, unclean,
And there has no atonement been
For ever to atone the man
Who has committed this by plan,
But he is to be put to death
And slain, and stoned with stones, till breath
Be rooted out from him among
The people of our God unsprung.

The sin was great on Reuben’s part indeed.
He sinned against Bilhah in his own need,
Out of a disregard for father’s steed,
Most unhappily for the chosen seed
As born to Bilhah and Jacob in speed.
So the sin of Reuben was great, but why
Must You punish Bilhah, who was not sly,
Could not distinguish in the darkness then
Either for son or father among men?
Lowly Bilhah deserves no retribution
With Reuben, yet it always seems solution
After the fact take woman in account
In dealing her a dithering amount.
None but the guilty ought to seek ablution.

14 For to no man who does so in
Israel is it permitted sin
To remain alive for a day
On the earth, for he is a way
Abominable and unclean.
15 And let them not say, to Reuben
Was granted life and forgiveness
After he’d lifted up the dress
Of father’s concubine, and to
Her also though she had a true
Husband, and her husband Jacob,
His father’s still living, the rub.
16 For until that time there had not
Been revealed ordinance and plot
Of judgement and law in completeness
For all, but in your days for neatness
It has been revealed as a law
Of seasons and of days in awe,
And an everlasting law for
The everlasting ages’ store.
17 And for this law there is no end
Of days, and no atonement fend,
But they must both be rooted out
In the midst of the nation’s stout:
On the day whereon they commit
It they shall slay them, it is fit.
18 And you, Moses, write it all down
For Israel they to their renown
Observe it, and do according
To these words, not commit the thing,
A sin to death, for YHWH our God
Is judge, who does not respect clod
Or persons and does not accept
Gifts from such persons who’ve so slept.
19 And tell them these words of the pact,
That they may hear, observe, and act
On their guard with respect to them,
And not be destroyed at the hem
And rooted up out of the land,
For an uncleanness, and a hand
To an abomination, and
Contamination, and pollution
Are all who make such contribution
On the earth and before our God.
20 And there’s no greater sin in prod
Than the fornication which they
Commit on earth, for Israel gay
Is a holy nation to YHWH
Its God, a nation and an heir,
A priestly and a royal nation,
And for His own possession’s ration,
And there shall no such uncleanness
Come in holy nation’s address.

Though the law had not been revealed before
The night Reuben came scratching at the door,
He still knew better than to stand a groom
Instead of his father, it’s reason’s doom.
The death sentence had not been given out
When Reuben came without a sound or shout.
But he did not escape his father’s wrath.
I too often tread on an unknown path,
Beloved, and find unanswered questions stand
Among the firs and birches near at hand.
Give me death sentence for the part I play,
And sink myself in You not for a day
But for eternity, nor let me stray
From golden censer and from silver sand.

21 And in the third year of this week [2145 A.M.]
Number six Jacob took a peek
And all his sons went and lived in
The house of Abraham their kin,
Near Isaac his father and near
Rebekah his mother and dear.
22 And these were the names of the sons
Of Jacob: the first-born in runs
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, Zebulon, Leah
Is their mother, and also then
Rachel’s sons, Joseph, Benjamin,
And the sons of Bilhah, Dan and
Naphtali, and Zilpah’s sons grand,
Gad and Asher, and Dinah, who
Was daughter of Leah in crew,
The only daughter of Jacob.
23 And they came and bowed down in hub
To Isaac and Rebekah, and
When they saw them they blessed Jacob
And all his sons there out of hand,
Isaac rejoiced exceedingly,
He saw the sons of Jacob free,
His younger son and he blessed them,
The whole lot precious as a gem.

It’s vaguely possible, no doubt it’s true,
A man can have twelve sons, sons not a few,
And only one daughter. Still I would doubt.
It’s easy to think some girl was left out.
The book of Jubilees tries to find all
The names of the women both short and tall.
The fact it does not invent any rate
Of sisters for Dinah would indicate
That none of those strange names were new invention
By Moses or whoever made prevention.
Beloved, I follow twelve strong men and young
And one lady who does not go unsung.
The pattern has been set from ancient time,
The cycle spins along in fresh new rhyme.

WEEK 31 JUBILEES 34

1 And in the sixth year of this week
Of this forty-fourth jubilee [2148 A.M.],
Jacob sent his sons out to seek
Pasture for their sheep carefully,
And his servants with them went to
The pastures of Shechem in dew.
2 And the seven kings of Amorites
Assembled themselves for the fights
Against them there, and to kill them,
Hiding themselves under trees’ hem,
And to take their cattle as prey.
3 And Jacob, Levi and Judah
And Joseph were in the house of
Isaac their father as above,
For his spirit was sorrowful,
And they could not leave him to pull.
And Benjamin was the youngest,
For this reason remained a guest
With his father. 4 There came the king
Of Taphu and also the king
Of ‘Aresa, and the king of
Seragan, and also the king
Of Selo, and king of Ga’as,
And king of Bethoron to pass,
And king of Ma’anisakir,
And all those who live in the sheer
Mountains and who live in the woods
In the land of Canaan with goods.
5 And they announced this to Jacob
Saying “Indeed, the kings that club
The Amorites have surrounded
Your sons, and plundered where they hid
Their herds.” 6 And he rose from his house,
He and his three sons without spouse,
And all the servants of his dad,
As well as the servants he had,
And he went against them with six
Thousand men with swords and with picks.
7 And he killed them in pastures of
Shechem, and pursued those above
Who fled, and he killed them with mouth
Of the sword fleeing north and south,
And he slew ‘Aresa and still
Taphu and Saregan for ill,
And Selo, ‘Amanisakir
And Ga[ga]’as, and without fear,
And he recovered all his herds.
8 And he prevailed over their turds,
And imposed tribute on them that
They should pay him in taxes fat,
Five fruit products of their land, and
He built Robel and Tamnatares.
9 And he returned in peace in band,
And made peace with them, and as fair is,
They too became his servants, till
The day he and his sons for fill
Went down into Egypt to till.

The glut of greed inspires men everywhere
And in all times so they forget to share
And go out to fight one another till
The stronger bends the weaker to his will.
That is reality we still live with.
It helps but little to recite the myth
Of Sinai where You forbid all to kill.
Disarming argument we need the state
To prevent killing nearby soon or late.
The fact is killing goes on still apace
No matter how strong grows the state in race.
Beloved, teach my doubting heart and the heart
Of everyone to refrain from that part,
And save alive both horse and men in cart.

10 And in seventh year of this week [2149 A.M.]
He sent Joseph to learn and seek
About the welfare of his brothers
From his house to the land of others
In Shechem, and he found them in
The land of Dothan. 11 And with sin
They dealt treacherously with him,
And they formed a plot against him
To kill him, but changing their minds,
They sold him in Ishmaelite binds
To merchants, and they brought him down
Into Egypt without his gown,
And they sold him to Potiphar,
The eunuch of Pharaoh, the star
Of the cooks, priest of ‘Elew city.
12 The sons of Jacob without pity
Slaughtered a kid, and dipped the coat
Of Joseph in the blood of goat,
And sent it to Jacob their father
On the seventh month’s tenth day rather,
Which is the sixth day of the week.
13 And he mourned all that night to seek,
For they’d brought it to him at eve,
Coming upon sabbath’s reprieve,
And he became fevered to mourn
The death of Joseph the forlorn,
Saying “Surely some evil beast
Has devoured Joseph,” and increased
All the members of his house [mourning
With him that day, and they] were mourning
And grieving with him all that day.
14 And his sons and his daughter fey
Rose up to comfort him, but he
Refused to be comforted, see,
For his son. 15 On that day Bilhah
Heard that Joseph perished in raw,
She died in grief for him. And she
Was living in Qafratef, and
Dinah, his daughter in the band
His only girl, died when she heard
Joseph had perished in a word.

Note well, Beloved, that two women died for
The grief they felt to hear Joseph no more
Lived to bring joy to heart of maid and mother,
To Dinah the only sister of brother.
The Sabbath joy that day was turned to grief,
And who knows what that first Sabbath in brief
Held for poor Joseph as he made his way
Toward the Nile and the Egyptian sway.
Beloved, I praise You that of certainty
No one shall die to hear my destiny
For grief that I no longer wander free.
Let my news bring the Sabbath day with joy
To cantillate Your name and so employ
The heart of every loving girl and boy.

16 So in one month came these three griefs
On Israel. He and his chiefs
Buried Bilhah beside the tomb
Of Rachel, and Dinah in room,
Who was his daughter, buried there.
17 He grieved for Joseph one whole year,
And without stopping, for he said
“Let me go down to the grave led
Mourning for my son in his bed.”
18 For this reason it is ordained
For Israel’s folk that the explained
Should afflict their souls on the day
Of the seventh month and tenth come,
On the day that the news in some
That brought weeping for Joseph came
To Jacob his father in shame,
To make atonement for their souls
With a young goat kid for their tolls
In seventh month one every year,
On the tenth day they should appear,
For their sins, for they’d sorely grieved
Their father’s heart and unreprieved
Regarding Joseph his son’s fear.
19 And this day has been ordained that
They should grieve on it where they sat
For their sins, and for all transgressions
And for all their errors’ confessions,
To purify their souls that day
Once every year, and in that way.
20 And after Joseph disappeared,
The sons of Jacob who had leered
Got married. Reuben’s wife was called
‘Ada, and the name of installed
Simeon’s wife is ‘Adlba’a,
A Canaanite, against the law,
Levi’s wife’s name is Melka, of
The daughters of Aram above,
Of the seed of the sons of Terah,
And the name of Judah’s wife, bear her,
Was Betasu’el, Canaanite,
And the name of Issachar’s wite
Was Hezaqa: and the name of
Zabulon’s wife, Ni’iman, and
The name of Dan’s wife, ‘Egla fanned,
And the name of Naphtali’s wife,
Rasu’u, coming from the rife
Mesopotamia, the name
Of Gad’s wife was Maka, the name
Of Asher’s wife, ‘Ijona, and
The name of Joseph’s wife in hand,
Asenath, the Egyptian, and
The name of Benjamin’s wife was
‘Ijasaka, and so she does.
21 But Simeon repented, and
Took a second wife from the band
Of Mesopotamia as
Each of his other brothers has.

Rachel’s tomb sits directly on the road,
Against the tracks filled with traffic gone past,
Cars coming without pause and dust to cast
High on the hot air burdened with the load
Enough in care for centuries that goad
Light slanting toward the steep hills coming fast
By Bethlehem, faces losing contrast
In countless generations and unslowed.
Loving Rachel, I stopped to pray in time,
Having forgotten Bilhah’s tomb was there
Along with Dinah, victim of a crime.
How could I be so callous, without care?
Dinah forgive me, and Bilhah relent.
I’m sorry I forgot their franchisement.

JUBILEES 35

1 And in the first year of the first
Week of the forty-fifth outburst
In jubilee [2157 A.M.] Rebekah called
Jacob, her son, and unappalled
Commanded him about his dad
And about his brother, he had
To honour them his whole life long.
2 And Jacob said “I wish no wrong,
But will do everything as you
Have commanded me as my due,
For this thing will be honour and
Greatness to me on every hand,
And righteousness in eyes of YHWH,
That I should honour them as true.
3 “You too, mother, know from the time
I was born until this day’s dime,
All my deeds and all that’s in my
Heart, that I always think and try
Good concerning all. 4 “And how should
I not do this thing which you would
Command me, that I honour my
Father and my brother as high!
5 “Tell me, mother, what wickedness
Have you perceived in my address
That I should turn away from it,
And mercy upon me be fit.”

The core of Your divine law, my Beloved
Has here appeared in beauty, silken-gloved.
Of all actions determined by the rate
Mandated in Your law, the one of state
As highest above all is to relate
Justly to all the others at the gate.
My love is poured out for Jacob, one who
Calls at the judgement of his mother’s hue,
Establishing that among crowd or few
Looking for the best in humankind’s set
What guides him with everyone he has met.
Above the din of competition’s street
I seek, Beloved, that loving way to greet
No one but in Your light of goodness’ debt.

6 And she said to him, “My son, I
Have not seen in you as I spy
In all my days any perverse
But only righteous deeds disperse.
And yet I’ll tell you truth, my son,
I shall die before this year’s run,
And I shall not survive this year
In my life, for I’ve seen appear
In a dream the day of my death,
That I should not live to take breath
Beyond a hundred years and fifty
Five: and indeed I’ve finished nifty
All the days of my life which I
Am to live and then come to die.”
7 Jacob laughed at his mother’s words.
Because his mother said she’d die,
And she sat there beside his curds
In full possession of her strength,
She was not weak or ill at length,
But walked around with good eye-sight,
And had strong teeth in her own right,
And she had not been sick a day
Throughout her life and all her stay.

The love a child bears to his mother makes
Him laugh at death as though its awful stakes
Out of this world were myth and vainly song.
My heart speaks with the heart of Jacob long.
As he could not believe his mother’s death
Should ever come to catch upon his breath,
My fancy also tells me none of mine
Can ever quite pass out of place and line.
Except I stop at Jacob’s mother’s word,
Listen to her prophetically dream-stirred
With hope hardened in jewelled clasp inured
As long as stars fail not to mark the way
I step across the wilderness in sway,
No voice but Yours, Beloved, may meet my day.

8 And Jacob said to her, “Blessed be
I, mother, if my days in fee
Come near the days of your life’s length,
And my strength stay as has your strength:
But you will not die, you are joking
With me about death and its poking.”
9 And she went in to Isaac and
Said to him then, “Now here I stand
To make petition that you make
Esau swear he will not mistake
To injure Jacob, nor pursue
Him with anger, you know it’s true
Esau’s thoughts are perverse from youth,
And there’s no good in him nor truth,
For he desires after your death
To kill him. 10 “And you know what breath
Of wrath he’s breathed out since the day
Jacob his brother went away
To Haran until this day, how
He’s forsaken us and the plough
With his whole heart, and he has done
Evil to us, your flocks begun
He’s taken for himself, and carried
Off all your gear from where you tarried.
11 “When we implored and besought him
For what was our own, he was grim,
Acting as though in charity
He gave of his own stingily.
12 “And he is bitter against you
Because you blessed Jacob in view,
Your perfect and your upright son,
For there’s no evil in him done,
But only goodness in him, and
Since he came from Haran in band
Until today he has not robbed
Us of anything, no, nor cobbed,
For he brings us everything in
Its season always, without sin,
And rejoices with all his heart
When we take at his hands a part,
And he blesses us, and has not
Parted from us since he has got
Back from Haran until these days,
And he stays to help us always
At home, honours us in his ways.”

The difference between Jacob and his
Brother Esau is spoken in a quiz.
Two things alone mark them beneath the law
As contrasting to keep him in their awe.
The first is that Jacob is sure to look
For the best in each one comes in his nook,
While Esau poisons mind with envy’s stew
Since the day he bought pottage to his rue.
The second is that Jacob honours You
By honouring his parents with his wealth,
While Esau robs them blind in cunning stealth.
In all other things the two sons remain
Faithful, obedient, and sound and sane.
Repentance is to change outlook of brain.

13 And Isaac said to her, “I too
Know and see Jacob’s actions, who
Is with us, how with all his heart
He honours us, but I in love
Formerly held Esau above
Jacob, because he was firstborn,
But now love Jacob without scorn
More than Esau, for he has done
Many wicked things, and there’s none
Upright in him, for all his ways
Are unrighteousness and the craze
Of violence, [and there is no
Righteousness around him to show.]
14 “And now my heart is troubled for
All his deeds, and neither he nor
His seed is to be saved, for they
Are those who will be destroyed from
The earth and who will at last come
To be rooted out from beneath
The sky, for he forsakes bequeath
Of the God of Abraham and
Has gone after his wives and band
Of their uncleanness and their flaws,
He and his children without laws.
15 “And you bid me make him swear that
He will not kill Jacob who sat
As his brother, even if he
Swear he will not abide freely
By his oath, and he’ll not do good
But evil only. 16 “If he should
Desire to kill Jacob, his brother,
Into Jacob’s hands will the other
Be given, and he’ll not escape
From his hands, [for he will like ape
Descend into his power.] 17 “So do
Not fear for Jacob, for the guard
Of Jacob is great on the sward
And mighty and honoured, and praised
More Esau’s guardian when raised.”

The safety of the just is not in trust
Put in the violent whose nature must
Burst out in violence despite the will
To promise good, the good not to fulfil.
As violence is uprooted alone
By realizing who is on the throne
In every heart where “I” stands on the stone,
So safety lies not in the hand of power,
But in protection given in the hour
By Your Almighty sovereign will and hand.
I fear indeed the weaponed, blinded band
That pretends to do justice in the land,
But set my fear aside and cease to cower.

18 Rebekah sent and called Esau
And he came to her, and for law
She said to him, “Here’s my request,
My son, to make to you as best,
And promise to do it, my son.”
19 And he said “Consider it done,
Whatever you say to me, and
I’ll not refuse petition’s stand.”
20 And she said to him, “I ask you
That the day I die, you’ll be true
And take me and bury me near
Sarah, your father’s mother dear,
And that you and Jacob will love
Each other and like hand in glove
That neither will desire the wrong
Against the other, but the song
Of mutual love only, and so
You’ll prosper, my sons, on the go
And be honoured in all the land,
And no enemy will in band
Rejoice over you, and you’ll be
A blessing and a true mercy
In the eyes of all who love you.”
21 And he said “I will do what you
Have asked me, and I’ll bury you
On the day you die near Sarah,
My father’s mother, in her awe,
As you’ve desired that her bones may
Be near your bones, not far to stray.
22 “And Jacob, my brother, also,
I’ll love above all flesh to go,
For I have not a brother in
All the earth but just him to win,
And this is little merit for
Me if I love him all the more,
For he’s my brother, we were sown
Together in your body grown,
And together came from your womb,
And if I don’t love brother’s room,
Whom shall I love? 23 “And I, indeed
Beg you to exhort Jacob freed
Concerning me and of my sons,
For I know he’ll surely be king
Over me and over my sons,
For on the day my father blessed
Him he made him higher and best
And me the lower. 24 “And I swear
To you that I shall love and care,
And not desire evil to him
All the days of my life though grim
But only good.” 25 And he swore to
Her about all of this matter due.

This is the greatest blindness of a man,
That he thinks he can promise justice’ ban
And keep within his heart the view alone
That “I” within him is one god on bone
And all others are gods in competition
Who must be thwarted in the fair commission.
Few admit that is what is in the heart,
And yet neglecting to do duty’s part
In seeing You in every face that’s met,
And worshipping the divine where its set,
Must always end in violence and shame.
That is why I repeat Your holy name,
Remembering Your face, Beloved, is seen
In friend and enemy and all between.

And she called Jacob before eyes
Of Esau, and gave him in guise
Of commandment according to
The words which she had spoken to
Esau. 26 And he said “I shall do
Your pleasure, believe me that no
Evil at all will from me go
Or from my sons against Esau,
And I’ll be prince before his awe
In nothing but only in love
And make no matter push or shove.”

I note, Beloved, the promise Jacob made,
And how he was able to keep the spade.
Because he always sought the Good in all
He was able to respond to the call
Of mother to live in peace with all men
As well as with his brother found again.
Solemnity of promise cuts no ice,
But only recognition will suffice
That You are One and seated in all those
Whom You create to know the way that goes
To finding there is only one “I” here,
That “I” that as You only must appear.
Beloved, I rush to find You only when
I see the multitude in wood and glen.

27 And they ate and drank, she and her
Sons that night till her death occur,
And she died, three jubilees and
One week and one year old to stand,
On that night, and both of her sons,
Esau and Jacob’s benisons,
Buried her in the double cave
Near Sarah, their dad’s mother’s grave.

Two men join themselves in the sacred rites
After their loving feast of days and nights,
Each with heart filled with love and with the sights
Of mother’s guidance to lead through their plights.
Neither son knew to what extent the heart
Fashioned to see good or to see the part
Of evil in another from the start
Would be the one factor to cast the dart.
Two equal in their adherence to law
And following the ritual with awe
Sit in one pew agreeing to the song.
But one will choose the right and one the wrong.
Beloved, I flee to You alone to keep
My heart from what at last made Esau weep.


AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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