Divine Purpose
“Jacob was left alone. And a man struggled with him until the break of dawn.” – Genesis 32:25
And so the gift went on ahead, while that night he remained in camp. That same night he arose and he took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons and he crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After taking them across the stream, he sent across all his possessions. Jacob was left alone. And a man struggled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he was bound with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” And he said, “They will not say Jacob any longer as your name because they will say Israel for you have striven with God and with humans and you have prevailed. – Genesis 32: 22-29
The recently released movie Dune subtly departs from the novel it is based on during a critical scene. Paul Atreides, a young boy, well-trained but untried, must escape into the desert from an attack that has already taken his father’s life. His only option is to fly into a sandstorm with winds strong enough to whip sand fast enough to tear his craft apart. His only passenger is his mother. In both the movie and the book, the scene is a turning point, the pregnant moment when Paul turns toward his “terrible purpose,” or the destiny that he is called to embrace.
In the book, as he flies his ‘thopter through the storm, he recites the Bene Gesserit mantra he has learned from his mother:
Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear’s path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
In the movie, his mother recites the first part of the mantra alone, while Paul retracts the ‘thopters wings, lets go of the controls and releases the machine to the storm.
Both versions dramatize the moment of Paul’s break from his first life as a young heir, and his second as the founder of a new imperial dynasty. And in both cases it is the confrontation with and conquest of his deepest fear that marks his change.
The moment is very similar to a critical juncture in Jacob’s life.1
Fleeing his father in law, he must pass through the land of his brother Esau, whom he last saw decades before. Then, Jacob was running from Esau, who was enraged that he had taken the blessing of their father, Isaac. Now, he learns that Esau approaches him, with four hundred men under his command. The text reads, “Jacob was very afraid and distressed.”2
First, he separates his camps, reasoning that if one is attacked the other will survive. Then he recites his own prayer to the God of his fathers, asking for deliverance. He prepares an offering for Esau, and lines up as impressive a retinue as he can muster of his great flocks to appease his brother’s wrath. Finally, he sends his family and possessions across the river that separates them from Esau.
Then, he finds himself alone on the far side of the river with a man with whom he struggles until dawn. When he is finally released, he crosses the river and returns to his family and the confrontation with Esau.
Rashbam interpreted the event as one of a common type in the Bible, which is the attempt of the man called to greatness to escape his call. It is most evident in the story of Jonah, whose attempts to flee God’s instruction to warn Nineveh of its impending destruction landed him in the belly of a whale. It is manifest in Moses’ initial rejection of God’s call at the burning bush, a rejection echoed by Noah when his response to a destroyed world he must repopulate is to get drunk. It is evident as well in the desperation of nearly all the prophets, who often (like Moses himself did once) wish for death rather than the fulfillment of their mission. The “man” Jacob struggled with was then Jacob’s fear, holding him on the safe side of the river and away from Esau.3
Jonathan Sacks concluded that the message was: “Be not afraid of greatness.” Embrace the call, no matter how inadequate you know yourself to be.
Another way to think about it, as in the story of the boy heir who would grow into a horrible emperor, is that successful confrontation with fear is the barrier between the life you are living and the life you are meant to lead.
For Paul it is a “terrible purpose” that leads to war and genocide. For Jacob it is a divine purpose that leads to revelation and redemption.
The cynic mistakes Herbert’s inversion of the purposes for wisdom, concluding that all power structures are inherently corrupt. This is why Paul is able to see the future with near-precise certainty and can not avoid his transformation into an evil emperor, however decent his intentions. As much was Frank Herbert’s stated intention in creating Dune.
The humble knows that a pure purpose is possible and requires not certainty, but hope.
Hope that impossible odds can be overcome. Hope that a frayed relationship with a brother can be repaired. Hope that what has been torn – even when it is you who have done the tearing – can be mended.
It is this hope that Jacob embraces when he finally overcomes his fear and receives the name that still survives as the guide for his descendants: Israel.
The worldview of Dune is deeply pagan. Its expression of the mystical pull of religious orthodoxy is a tremendous achievement. But it features few characters and no leaders who function as moral leaders and its outlook is materialistic. In this it parts ways profoundly with the Bible’s worldview.
Genesis 32: 8
Who embodies in both his own animalistic nature and his hatred of Jacob all that was alien to Jacob and that he feared.