This week we complete our journey through the book of
Genesis. Jacob is about to die, and he makes Joseph swear to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah
in the land of Canaan
Jacob dies and is buried in the land of Canaan Egypt , not them. We end the book of
Genesis with Joseph’s death. He is placed in a coffin in Egypt . Egypt is
the final word of the parasha.
The haftarah for this week also tells the story of a dying
leader, King David, who gives blessings to his son Solomon and then dies and is
buried.
In both of these texts we have the theme of one generation
ending and passing a legacy on to the next generation. In the case of Jacob,
the legacy is complex – he wants to pass on a spiritual legacy – a sense of God’s
presence and protection to his grandchildren Ephraim and Menashe. And then in
his blessings of the rest of the sons, we see more of a political legacy passed
on to each tribe according to its strengths and weaknesses.
In the case of King David, there is some unfinished
political business that he seems to want Solomon to complete for him, vis a vis
his enemies. But at the same time, David also instructs his son to “Keep the
charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and following his laws. . . .”
The story of Jacob ends with a sense anxiety – the children
of Israel are in Egypt. And yet, there is hope for the future – Joseph makes
his brothers swear to bring up his bones to the Land of Israel sometime in the future.
The story of David too seems to end with anxiety. The text seems to go out of
its way to declare that Solomon’s rule was “firmly established.”
It makes sense in a way that the first book of the Torah
would end with themes of legacy and anxiety and unfinished business. Otherwise,
why would we need four more books! The question, I suppose, is why does our
sacred literature have these inconclusive endings? As we complete the book of
Genesis, is there any sense of closure?
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