From the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb., the blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. (Genesis 49: 25-26)
The blessings given by Jacob to his twelve sons at the end of his life (found in Genesis 49) have immense spiritual and prophetic meanings that have been enthusiastically debated by Bible scholars for centuries. While the topic of prophecy is one of my favorites, I have chosen to focus on another question prompted by this portion of Torah– namely, Is fairness part of God’s plan?
Any honest reading of Jacob’s blessing found in Genesis 49 would drive today’s woke activists insane.
Reuben, the firstborn was by all natural rights the one who should have received what was known as the first-born blessing, which included a double portion of wealth AND the right to rule the clan. But poor Rueben unwisely chose to sleep with his father’s concubine; thus, Jacob tells him, "You will no longer excel.” Translation: step aside son. You’re getting nothing. But in a way, this father’s reaction does seem justified. Reuben got what he deserved.
The same could be said of Simeon and Levi, the next in line for the first-born blessings. They too blew it by murdering those unfortunate recently circumcised dupes of Shechem.
Therefore, the blessing falls to Judah, at least half of the blessing– the right to rule the family:
Your father’s sons will bow down to you… The scepter will not depart from Judah…
A thorough understanding of the strange “cross-handed blessing” of Genesis 48 shows us that the other part of the firstborn blessing– the double-portion part– skipped the next six kids and went straight to Joseph (through his sons Manasseh and Ephraim). Thus, we see Jacob pouring out abundant blessing upon blessing on his eleventh son.
So why do the fourth and the eleventh son get so much? Why does Issachar have to “bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor”? Why is Dan described as “a serpent by the road”? And Benjamin is to be “a ravenous wolf who devours the prey and divides the plunder.” At least Zebulon is prophesied to get a home on the beach. What did Zebulon do to deserve it?
By today’s standards, the God of Israel does not treat his children equally or equitably. I cannot think of one story in the Bible where God is concerned that the status or outcome of any two people must be equal or equitable. In his blessings, God through Jacob did not bless his children equally by any standards. Also, God knew in advance that Reuben and Judah were not going to have similar outcomes. He didn’t do anything to cancel this inequity or try to even things out.
A clear reading of the Torah also does not lead me to believe that God is all that interested in equality, at least not in the same way that our current society suggests– i.e., that we all must be given the same resources and opportunities. The story of Joseph proves that God singled out Joseph for special suffering and special blessing amongst his brothers. The same goes for Abraham and his descendants: God chose them to be His representatives on earth, not because they deserved it or earned it. It was simply because God made it so. Why He did it doesn’t matter. Social justice warriors just can’t live with this situation– God must treat everyone the same–thus they must dismantle God’s current system and replace it with one of their own makings. They do not understand why God does what He does.
But the truth is that God rarely tells us WHY He does what He does. One Torah teacher I know put it this way: God tells us on a need-to-know-basis and apparently there is very little we need to know.
So that leaves us pondering, “Just how fair is this God of Israel?”
The Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25 and Luke 14 demonstrates a principle of God’s fairness as found in His Kingdom.
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. (Matthew 25: 14-15)”
Hummm… “to each according to his ability.” Wow! no equality there. Somehow God knows what each of us is capable of handling and He gifts us accordingly. This does not mean that each person handles these gifts appropriately. According to the parable, the servant given just one talent buries the talent and does nothing to advance the kingdom. God did not expect this servant to accomplish the same things as the one who was given five talents, but God did expect that the servant given the least would still be a wise manager of what he was given. God still expected a return on His investment.
In response to this foolish servant’s asset mismanagement, God doubles down on His “inequality”:
So, take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (Matthew 25: 28-29)
Then there is the world’s idea of equity: The playing field must be evened out so that everyone ends up in the same place. However, in Matthew 5, Yeshua alludes to the idea that even in heaven, there will be no equity.
Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Ironically, those who rail against God miss the truth that His equality comes solely in the equal opportunity to trust, love and obey Him no matter what our situation in life. From the least to the greatest, everyone stands equally condemned in the presence of a Holy God and equally able to be redeemed. No amount of money, power, beauty, or brains changes THIS equality of opportunity. As far as “equity” goes; well, it doesn’t go very far in God’s Kingdom. In fact, I don’t think it shows up at all.
In Joseph’s story, his brothers, led by their “family leader” Judah, eventually come to realize that everything that looked unfair to them was actually part of God’s bigger plan to save their family from a great famine. Perhaps we too, could benefit from their hindsight. Maybe, just maybe, God has a bigger plan for our lives too, one that cannot be achieved by the world’s version of equality or equity.
Let’s stop trying to “play God” with all of our versions of fair-play. He’s got this. Our job is simply to multiply our own “talents.”
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