"Heel" and "Thigh": The Concept of Sexuality in the Jacob-Esau Narratives

Author(s): S. H. Smith
Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 40, Fasc. 4 (Oct., 1990), pp. 464-473
Published by: Brill
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 Vetus Testamentum XL, 4 (1990)

"HEEL" AND "THIGH": THE CONCEPT OF

SEXUALITY IN THE JACOB-ESAU NARRATIVES

by

S. H. SMITH

Cambridge

It is the contention of the following study that certain sexual

inferences underlie the use of the terms Cqb in Gen. xxv 26, Hos.
xii 3, and kpyrk in Gen. xxxii 26 (EVV. verse 25). A sexual inter-
pretation may lead not only towards a fresh understanding of these
verses specifically, but ultimately towards a new perspective on the
Jacob traditions as a whole.

I. Genesis xxv 26

The Jacob-Esau cycle in Gen. xxv-xxxv is fundamentally a story

of conflict. By foul means more than by fair Jacob is determined
to gain the ascendancy over his brother. First, he cheats him out
of the birthright that should have belonged to Esau as the
marginally elder twin (xxv 29-34), then out of his father Isaac's
blessing (Gen. xxvii). Much later, at the Jabbok, he even tries to
usurp the power of God himself (if such be the identity of the
stranger with whom he wrestles) by demanding to know his name
(xxxii 30[29]). This thirst for power or dominance, however,
extends far beyond Jacob's conscious acts of deceit and ambition:
it actually originates as a pre-natal phenomenon. While yet in
Rebekah's womb the twins "struggle together" (ytrssw) for
supremacy (xxv 22), and even as Esau is emerging, Jacob is found
to be gripping his brother's heel. The double meaning of the verb
'hz provides a clue as to the thrust of the narrative, for behind the
common meaning, "to grip", "to take hold", lies another one: "to
have possession", "to inherit".' Perhaps implicit in Jacob's

1 Gen. xxxiv 10, xlvii 27; Num. xxxii 30; Josh. xxii 9, 19. Similarly, the noun
'hzh, which is often used of a possession by right of inheritance-Gen. xvii 8, xxiii
4, 9, 20, xlviii 4, xlix 30, 1 13; Lev. xxv 34; Num. xxvii 7, xxxii 32; Ps. ii 8; Ezek.
xliv 28, xlvi 16.

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 SEXUALITY IN THE JACOB-ESAU NARRATIVES 465

physical act of gripping Esau's heel is the intention to take posses-

sion of the latter's position of power and dominance. But what sort
of power is it that Jacob is seeking to usurp? Only by analysing the
word Cqb, "heel", can we solve that problem; Of course, Cdqeb is
related to the verb Cdqab, "to supplant", so there is more than a
hint of word-play here, but, initially, at least, the act of gripping
the heel may not seem to be the most appropriate symbol for Jacob
in his role as supplanter. I venture to suggest that the spirit of the
narrative is more strictly adhered to if Cqb is taken in this instance
as a euphemism for genitals. Since in ancient Hebrew thought the
sexual organs were regarded as the seat of a man's procreative
power, the suggestion that in the story Jacob is gripping Esau not
by the heel but by the genitals would aptly prefigure the narrative
plot as a whole: by any means at his disposal Jacob wants to
appropriate his brother's power for himself, thereby inheriting
God's promise to Abraham of countless descendants.2 Jacob's act
of gripping his brother's genitals is symbolic of his desire to assume
this procreative power.
What evidence exists for the view that Cqb can have sexual con-
notations? In Jer. xiii 22 the noun certainly appears as a euphe-
mism,3 for the context supports such an interpretation:
brb Cwnk nglw swlyk
nhmsw Cqbyk

The lifting of the skirt is a euphemism for exposing one's

nakedness,4 and the reference to the heels suffering violence is
clearly a parallel sentiment here.5 The imagery of a raped woman
is used to paint a picture of Jerusalem's ignominy and humiliation
at the hands of her enemies. In Jer. xiii 26 it is declared that God
himself will lift up the skirts of his people so that their "shame"
(qlwnk)-that is, their genitals-may be exposed. And what great
iniquity prompts God to do this? According to the next verse it is
essentially the people's own sexual excesses-they are to blame for

2 Gen. xii 7, xiii 15-17, xv 18, xvii 8, xviii 18, xxiv 7. The promise is reaffirmed
to Isaac in Gen. xxvi 3 and, most notably, to Jacob himself in Gen. xxviii 13, 14,
xxxv 11, 12.
3 So R. P. Carroll,Jeremiah (London, 1986), p. 303; W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah
I (Philadelphia, 1986), p. 414.
4 Jer. xiii 22, 26; Nah. iii 5.
5 Indeed, the synonymous parallelism is enhanced by the correspondence
between the suffixes in each of the two clauses.

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466 S. H. SMITH

the divine retribution so graphically described

metaphor here. Given all this, it is clear that Cqb
be used in conformity with the tenor of its cont
Further to this, the term "foot" (rgl) and "l
anatomically adjacent to the heel, are also used
occasion.6 Of particular interest is Isa. xlvii 2
"uncover the leg" (gly swq) is juxtaposed to h
similar to that used of "stripping off the skirt" in
euphemistic character of this term appears, i
passages, to extend also to those terms with which it is
synonymously parallel.
Although the euphemistic use of these various terms is usually
associated with the act of "covering" or "uncovering" (indecent
exposure), the linguistic evidence for the euphemistic use of Cqb
seems assured. The possibility that the appearance of Cqb in Gen.
xxv 26 may be sexually implicit should become more apparent as
we explore other relevant passages within the Jacob cycle.

II. Genesis xxxii 26(25)

Gen. xxxii 25-33 (xxxii 24-32) contains the well-known Jabbok

episode in which Jacob engages a mysterious stranger in a noctur-
nal wrestling bout. Verse 26(25) of that account may be translated
as follows:

And (the man ('ys)) saw that he did not prevail over (Jacob), and he
touched (wygc) the hollow of his thigh (kpyrkw); and Jacob's thigh was
put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

I venture to suggest, along with S. Gevirtz,8 that in receiving a

"blow" (ng)9 on the kp hyrkJacob was being struck on his genitals,

6 Judg. iii 24, 1 Sam. xxiv 3; Isa. vi 2, vii 20, xlvii 2; Ezek. xvi 25.
7 Holladay ([n. 3], p. 414) has drawn attention to the possibility that the suil of
Jer. xiii 22 may originally have read suq. This would certainly enhance the
parallelism with 'qb-the two words referring to closely related parts of the
anatomy-but it should be remembered that the concept of uncovering the skirt,
itself a recognized sexual euphemism, appears again in v. 26 where the imagery
of v. 22 is reintroduced, and where the term cl-pnyk shows that only sul is
appropriate in that instance. For this reason, it is perhaps better to retain suil in
v. 22 also.
8 "Of Patriarchs and Puns: Joseph at the Fountain, Jacob at the Ford", HUC
46 (1975), pp. 52, 53.
9 "Touch" (Revised Standard Version, New International Version, etc.) is perhaps t
weak a rendering of ngC in this instance. "Strike" is better, but when used in t

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 SEXUALITY IN THE JACOB-ESAU NARRATIVES 467

and that this had significance for his understanding of the divine
promise in which the inheritance of the land was bound to the
pledge of procreative power. The following points, I believe, sup-
port this contention:
(i) Gevirtz has observed that whileyrk clearly denotes "thigh", the
meaning of kp is rather less certain. The fundamental meaning is
"hollow"-frequently the hollow or palm of the hand,'1 but in a
few cases the hollow of some other region of the body." Thus, the
rendering in Gen. xxxii 26(25) is, literally, "hollow of the thigh".
There is some evidence to suggest that this part of the anatomy is,
in fact, the genitals. First, it is clear that the most common Hebrew
word for hand, yd, occasionally serves as a euphemism for penis.12
Such usage is found not only in the Old Testament,13 but also in
Ugaritic literature,14 and perhaps at Qumran.15 One wonders,
therefore, whether kp, another common word for hand, may like-
wise have sexual connotations. While we cannot simply infer this
understanding by mere association, it can be shown-at least from
rabbinic literature16-that a sexual interpretation of kp was not
unknown in later Hebrew thought. Although this observation does

sense the verb commonly refers to being struck down with illness-see Gen. xii
17; 1 Sam. vi 9; 2 Kgs v 15; Ps. lxxiii 5; Isa. liii 4. The emphasis of ngc in Gen.
xxxii 26(25), therefore, may be more on the lasting affliction caused by the blow
than on the act of striking itself.
10 So Gen. xl 11, 21; Lev. viii 27, xiv 16, 17, 18, 27, 28; Deut. xxv 12; 2 Kgs
iv 34, and elsewhere.
1 Especially "sole of the foot"; Gen. viii 9; Deut. xi 24, xxviii 56, 65; Josh.
iii 13, iv 18; 2 Sam. xiv 25; 1 Kgs v 17(3); 2 Kgs xix 24; Job. ii 7; Isa. xxxvii
25; Ezek. xliii 7; Mal. iii 21 (iv 3).
12 See the comments of M. Delcor, "Two Special Meanings of the Wordyd",
JSS 12 (1967), pp. 234-40.
13 Possible euphemistic uses of yd occur in Isa. lvii 8, 10; Jer. v 31, 1 15.
14 See Delcor, JSS 12 (1967), p. 238, citing C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Manual
(Rome, 1955), pp. 144 (Text 52 [ = CTA 23] 33-5), 271. For an English translation
of the relevant text, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends (Edinburgh,
1956), p. 123. Further evidence may be found in line 40 of the same text which
reads nhtm htk. mmnnm. mtydk, "Your staff is going down; weakened is the rod
of your hand."
15 See 1QS vii 13: "Whoever has been so poorly dressed that when drawing his
hand from beneath his garment his nakedness has been seen, he shall do penance
for thirty days" (trans. G. Vermes, Dead Sea Scrolls in English [Harmondsworth,
1962], p. 84). Vermes takesyd euphemistically in this passage, as does R. Marcus
"Notes on the Dead Sea Manual of Discipline", JNES 2 (1952), p. 209. But
against this view see P. Wernberg-Moller, The Manual of Discipline (Leiden, 1957),
p. 118.
16 Tos. Nid. 6.4; B. Nid. 47a, 52b.

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468 S. H. SMITH

not, in itself, prove that such a usage was curr

culture, it leaves open the possibility that it w
(ii) The context in which kp hyrk appears may
to our argument. In Gen. xxxii 33(32) it is as
Jacob was struck on the hollow of the thigh, "t
the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the hi
hollow of the thigh". The expression used fo
gyd hnsh, is chiastically related to kp hyrk:

For this reason the sons of Israel do not eat the

hnsh)
which is upon the hollow of the thigh (kp hyrk) until this day
For he struck Jacob on the hollow of the thigh (kp yrk),
on the sinew of the hip (gyd hnsh).

This may indicate that the meanings of these terms were intended
to be identified. What was forbidden as food was not simply the kp
hyrk, but one particular part of it, namely, the sinew attached to it.
Gevirtz has suggested that the word nsh may be derived from nps,
"life", or 'nws, "man"; so the term gyd hnsh could well mean "life-
sinew" or "male-sinew", and the taboo against eating thereof
would then be understandable.17 The lexicon of L. Koehler and W.
Baumgartner'8 appears to support my contention here, identifying
gyd hnsh with the region of the nervus ischiadicus, a nerve associated
with the ischium at the base of the pelvis, and thus on the inner
thigh. Perhaps the only real difference between kp hyrk and gyd hnsh,
then, is one of specificity: the latter may be more directly associated
with the sexual organs in the region of the kp hyrk.
(iii) In Gen. xxiv 2, 9, when Abraham wishes a well-trusted ser-

17 On the sacredness of the thigh among Semitic peoples, see W. Robertson

Smith, The Religion of the Semites (3rd edn, London, 1927), p. 380, n. 1. This ques-
tion is discussed at some length in M. Hul. VII 1-5. For the purpose of prohibition
the "sinew of the thigh-vein" (gyd hnsh) is distinguished from the thigh (yrk) itself.
It is the gyd which is forbidden; the yrk may be consumed as long as the gyd has
been removed completely. The hollow (kp) of the thigh is clearly associated with
the gyd hnsh, for M. Hul. VII 1 states that the law of prohibition does not apply
to birds because they have no kp. The euphemistic use of gyd as an independent
term is found in B. Qidd. 25a where it undoubtedly refers to the membrum virile.
The sacredness or taboo associated with the gyd hnsh was current among other
peoples, too: cf. J. G. Frazer, Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild II, The Golden Bough
(3rd edn, London, 1912), 264-7; idem., Folklore in the Old Testament 2 (London,
1919), pp. 423-4.
18 Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros (Leiden, 1953), p. 639.

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 SEXUALITY IN THE JACOB-ESAU NARRATIVES 469

vant to swear an oath, he has him place his hand thtyrky-npt upon
the outside of this thigh (whichyrk alone could mean), but upon his
genitals.19 Moreover, both Gen. xlvi 26 and Exod. i 5 speak of
Jacob's offspring as springing from his loins or thighs, so the word
yrk is found one more to be intimately connected with the concept
of procreation. From the viewpoint of the final redactor there may
infact be a sense of narrative development behind these euphemistic
uses of yrk. By striking Jacob on the kp hyrk God was asserting his
sovereign power over Jezreel's procreative power. But once Jacob
had acknowledged God's strength as supreme, God allowed him to
inherit the Abrahamic promise, so that children sprang freely from
the very loins over which God had asserted his dominance.

III. Hosea xii 4(3)

While it is not necessary for us to rework the well-turned soil in
the field of Hosea's relation to the Jacob traditions along with all
the problems which that matter raises,20 it nevertheless occurs to me
that if my suggestions so far are correct, they are bound to have
some bearing on the rendering of the statement in Hos. xii 4(3).
The Hebrew text of that verse, set in 3 + 3 parallelism, reads:
bbtn 'qb 't-'hyw
wb'wnw srh 't- lhym

The Revised Standard Version, one of the more literal translations,

renders this:

In the womb he took his brother by the heel,

And in his manhood he strove with God.

19 This same practise is ascribed toJacob himself in Gen. xlvii 29 when he urg
Joseph, under oath, to take his body back to Canaan for burial.
20 Discussion of Hosea's allusion to the Jacob tradition has gathered momen
tum in the past few decades. Among the most important contributions are Th.
Vriezen, "La tradition de Jacob dans Osee xii", OTS 1 (1942), pp. 64-78; M.
Gertner, "The Masora and the Levites. Appendix on Hosea xii", VT 10 (1960)
pp. 241-84, esp. pp. 272-84; H. L. Ginsberg, "Hosea's Ephraim, More Fool
Than Knave. A New Interpretation of Hosea xii: 1-14",JBL 80 (1961), pp. 339-
47; P. R. Ackroyd, "Hosea and Jacob", VT 13 (1963), pp. 245-59; R. B. Coote,
"'Hosea xii 11", VT 21 (1971), pp. 389-402, esp. pp. 392-97; E. M. Good,
"Hosea and the Jacob tradition", VT 16 (1966), pp. 137-51; W. L. Holladay,
"Chiasmus, the key to Hosea xii 3-6", VT 16 (1966), pp. 53-64. See also the rele-
vant commentaries, especially H. W. Wolff, Hosea (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1965), pp.
266-77; W. Rudolph, Hosea (Giitersloh, 1966), esp. pp. 220-30; J. L. Mays, Hosea
(London, 1969), pp. 161-5; F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea (Garden
City, 1980), pp. 593-614; and the important study by F. Diedrich, Die Anspielungen
auf dieJacob-Tradition in Hosea 12:1-13.3 (Wiirzburg, 1977).

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470 S. H. SMITH

I do not wish to become embroiled in a discussion of the text-

critical problems of Hos. xii 4-7, since that question has been
thoroughly treated by others.21 My basic agreement with Holla-
day's thesis should, however, be acknowledged. God has an
indictment-a ryb-against Israel (rather than Judah, if the
paranomosia is to be maintained)22 the elements of which become
clear once they are arranged chiastically:
(i) Jacob supplanted his brother in the womb
(ii) He strove with God in his manhood
(iii) He prevailed/ruled over23 the angel
(iv) He wept and sought (Esau's) favour
All the elements of this indictment are concerned with Jacob's
"having power over" or "being subservient to": he prevails over
both man and God. The term mPk, absent from the Genesis
account, is probably included here to complete the synonymous
parallelism with the preceding line where God is the opponent. The
outer limbs of the chiasmus, on the other hand, are antithetically
related: Jacob supplants Esau in the womb, but is-ostensibly, at
least-subservient to him at the point of their reconciliation. That
this latter observation forms part of the indictment suggests that
Hosea considered this subservience to be insincere: Jacob had no
intention of surrendering his power to Esau; he merely wanted to
secure his position by winning his brother's approval.
If we project my understanding of the Genesis account into
Hosea's allusion to the tradition we can see that here, too, the
indictment against Jacob is not simply against his devious plan to
acquire power per se, but against his intention to wrest the
Abrahamic promise of procreative power from the person whose
inheritance it should have been. My argument is strengthened by
the presence here of the noun 'wn, translated "manhood" in the

21 Especially Diedrich (n. 20), pp. 12-68;

22 So Ackroyd, VT 13 (1963), p. 248; Good, VT 16 (1966), p. 139; Holladay,
VT 16 (1966), pp. 53, 56. The name Judah would have been substituted for Israel
by a redactor who wished to re-apply the oracle to the Southern Kingdom after
the demise of the Northern. Cf. Wolff (n. 20), pp. 267, 273.
23 The translation here (v. 5a[4]) depends on the root ofysr: according to Gert-
ner (VT 10 [1960], p. 277) and Wolff ([n. 20], pp. 274-5) it should be srr, "to
lord", "to play the prince"; but Holladay (VT 16 [1966], p. 56) argues for srh,
"to prevail", "to persevere", which has already appeared in the preceding clause
(v. 4b[3b]).

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 SEXUALITY IN THE JACOB-ESAU NARRATIVES 471

RSV, which has the sense of "manly vigour"24 or "virility", and

so is clearly parallel to btn which also has procreative connotations.
The parallelism in the remainder of the distich would then be quite
clear. Both Cqb and srh involve the concept of struggle or contention,
and if Cqb is rendered "take by the genitals" instead of "take by the
heel", thus conforming more readily to the idea of procreativity
embodied in btn and 'wn, the sexual significance of the verse
becomes more clearly pronounced. For reasons which cannot be
enumerated here, it is also possible to see the remaining words,
'hyw and 'lhym, as objects in synonymous parallelism, since
psychoanalytically Jacob's struggle with the divine figure may
actually represent his earthly struggle with his brother.
Given that the above arguments are valid, a tentative re-
rendering of Hos. xii 4(3) might be:
In the womb he took his brother by the genitals (Cqb)
And in his procreative power ('on) he strove with God.

IV. The Theological Significance of Sexuality in the Jacob-Esau Tradition

It is not possible here to plot in detail the theological development

of the Jacob cycle. Fundamental to the narrative, however, is an
explanation of how Esau lost to his brother Jacob his right to inherit
the Abrahamic promise. The question with which the redactor has
to struggle is: how, in view of the violation of the law of birthright,
can Jacob's acquisition of blessing and promise be justified? To be
sure, account must be taken of the fact that Jacob is not the only
active person in this matter. We are told in Gen. xxv 34 that Esau
despised his birthright, and in Gen. xxvii 5-17 that Isaac's wife,
Rebekah, was instrumental in hatching the plot to deprive Esau of
his father's blessing. These events no doubt encouraged Jacob to
persist with his ambition to wrest power from his brother. But we
must remember that the promise he hopes to inherit is one of land
and also descendants (Gen. xii 2, 7, xv 5)-a promise which Jacob
himself receives in its definitive form when he returns to Bethel
after his reconciliation with Esau (xxxv 11, 12). At this point the
significance of the sexual symbolism in xxv 26, xxxii 26(25)

24 Cf. F. Brown, S. R. Driver, C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the

Old Testament (Oxford, 1906), p. 20. That the verb 'wn has this sense of procreative
power is verified by its use in passages such as Gen. xlix 3;. Deut. xxi 17; Pss
lxxviii 51, cv 36. Cf. the comment of Andersen and Freedman (n. 20), p. 607.

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472 S. H. SMITH

becomes clear. If Jacob is to usurp Esau's rig

promise, he must appropriate his procreative
do this begins at the moment of birth when, s
his brother by the genitals, the seat of procrea
Jacob, prompted by his mother, spares no effo
sion to the covenantal promise.
Jacob's years of exile with Laban in Haran (
nothing to quell his essentially selfish, deceitfu
he vows to serve God only in return for his pro
in his dealings with Laban it transpires that wh
he too has not forgotten the fine art of tricker
and when he contemplates his meeting with Es
for which he fears. At the Jabbok Jacob's self
unabated. As he struggles with the divine strang
ing for himself, and when the figure asks Jacob
reaction is to demand the stranger's name-
wants to exert power and influence even over t
The change of name from Jacob to Israel signifies divine
approval of Jacob's inheritance of the Abrahamic promise: God
confirms him as successor to the covenant, and Jacob is at last
allowed to fulfil his ambition-but only at a price. Just at the point
where Jacob seems set to prevail even over God himself, he is struck
upon the kp hyrk. Given the sexual symbolism behind this particular
occurrence of the term, the theology of the narrative becomes clear:
it is only by recognizing the carnal limitations of his own pro-
creative power that Jacob, as heir apparent to the covenantal pro-
mise, is allowed to inherit the promise in reality. By strikingJacob,
symbolically, upon his genitals God demonstrates that only he has
the power to bring Jacob's aspirations to fruition: what he has
bestowed he can just as readily take away. Jacob must learn that
lesson before his new role as Israel can properly take effect.
That the Jabbok episode is indeed a power-struggle is confirmed
by the sense of double entendre behind the word kp. At one level kp
is juxtaposed with yrk to denote the region of the sexual organs,
while at another it may function independently as a term for power.
In this latter sense it is frequently used of an act of deliverance into
or out of the hand of an enemy.25 Thus, what happens at the Jab-

25 Judg. vi 13, 14; 1 Sam. iv 3; 2 Sam. xiv 16, xix 10(9), xxii 1; 2 Kgs xvi 7,
xx 6; 2 Chr. xxx 6, xxxii 11; Ezra viii 31; Ps. lxxi 4; Prov. vi 3; Isa. xxxviii 6;
Jer. xii 7, xv 21; Mic. iv 10.

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 SEXUALITY IN THE JACOB-ESAU NARRATIVES 473

bok is symbolically a reversal of Jacob's entire life up to that

point;26 he discovers there that he cannot usurp God's power as he
had that of his brother. There can be no favourable resolution to

the saga at all unless he leans wholly upon God's strength. He c

neither escape the feeling of guilt by which he is plagued, nor over
come his sense of trepidation as he contemplates the re-encounter
with his brother unless he first acknowledges God's power over h
life. He is compelled to concede that his own procreative power
a blessing from God, not a free expression of his manly vigou
One final point. We are told that Jacob's encounter at the Jabbo
leaves him "limping on his thigh" (xxxii 32[31]). Those who de
any sexual symbolism in this story take this as an indication t
Jacob's hip had been dislocated. It should be recognized, howev
that in the Jacob-Esau cycle we are dealing with much that is sym
bolic. Essentially, we have here a dramatic account about the
development of a personality, and the sexual imagery is a
indispensable factor in its psychological orientation.

26 The concept of reversal is found elsewhere in the narrative. For instan

Jacob the cheat becomes Jacob the cheated when he works for seven years for
hand of Rachel, only to be given Leah instead, and finds he must work a furth
seven years for Laban's younger daughter (Gen. xxix 15-30).

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