The generation of the exodus is commanded to imagine that their lives are part of a story. In so doing, they cast their eyes forward to the generations of the distant future: to us.

If God has “hardened” or, in some instances, “strengthened” Pharaoh’s heart, is this to say that God violated Pharoah’s free will?

The jagged and gargantuan architecture of mountains implies nothing particularly gentle about their architect.

We are being set up by the text to anticipate a recurrence of this eternally recurring motif—the overturn of primogeniture—in which the younger sibling attains the blessing and privilege due the older.

It’s unclear why this narrative of descent and ascent is so crucial for the patriarchs.

As a society, we are currently renegotiating our understanding of which forms of sexuality are forbidden and which are permitted.

Right up until this very moment, Jewish history has never ceased being a cycle of rotating Unfortunatelys and Fortunatelys.

It is in this encounter that Jacob finds the power to release himself from the cycle of grievance and revenge, deception and flight, that heretofore colored his life.

Let the landscape around you also be renamed for you, and leave a marker for those who follow.