To Settle in a Place of Sojourning Gen 37:1

ByRebecca Van Wagner

Our verse

בראשית ל״ז:א׳

וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּאֶ֖רֶץ מְגוּרֵ֣י אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֖רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן׃

Genesis 37:1

Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan.

What's the larger context of the verse?
Esau settling in Seir and his lineage

בראשית ל״ו:ו׳-ט׳

וַיִּקַּ֣ח עֵשָׂ֡ו אֶת־נָ֠שָׁ֠יו וְאֶת־בָּנָ֣יו וְאֶת־בְּנֹתָיו֮ וְאֶת־כׇּל־נַפְשׁ֣וֹת בֵּיתוֹ֒ וְאֶת־מִקְנֵ֣הוּ וְאֶת־כׇּל־בְּהֶמְתּ֗וֹ וְאֵת֙ כׇּל־קִנְיָנ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר רָכַ֖שׁ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ אֶל־אֶ֔רֶץ מִפְּנֵ֖י יַעֲקֹ֥ב אָחִֽיו׃ כִּֽי־הָיָ֧ה רְכוּשָׁ֛ם רָ֖ב מִשֶּׁ֣בֶת יַחְדָּ֑ו וְלֹ֨א יָֽכְלָ֜ה אֶ֤רֶץ מְגֽוּרֵיהֶם֙ לָשֵׂ֣את אֹתָ֔ם מִפְּנֵ֖י מִקְנֵיהֶֽם׃ וַיֵּ֤שֶׁב עֵשָׂו֙ בְּהַ֣ר שֵׂעִ֔יר עֵשָׂ֖ו ה֥וּא אֱדֽוֹם׃ וְאֵ֛לֶּה תֹּלְד֥וֹת עֵשָׂ֖ו אֲבִ֣י אֱד֑וֹם בְּהַ֖ר שֵׂעִֽיר׃

Genesis 36:6-9

Esau took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle and all his livestock, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land because of his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too many for them to dwell together, and the land where they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir—Esau being Edom. This, then, is the line of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir.

What comes after the verse?
Jacob's lineage

בראשית ל״ז:א׳-ב׳

וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּאֶ֖רֶץ מְגוּרֵ֣י אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֖רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן׃ אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ תֹּלְד֣וֹת יַעֲקֹ֗ב יוֹסֵ֞ף בֶּן־שְׁבַֽע־עֶשְׂרֵ֤ה שָׁנָה֙ הָיָ֨ה רֹעֶ֤ה אֶת־אֶחָיו֙ בַּצֹּ֔אן וְה֣וּא נַ֗עַר אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י בִלְהָ֛ה וְאֶת־בְּנֵ֥י זִלְפָּ֖ה נְשֵׁ֣י אָבִ֑יו וַיָּבֵ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־דִּבָּתָ֥ם רָעָ֖ה אֶל־אֲבִיהֶֽם׃

Genesis 37:1-2

Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan. This, then, is the line of Jacob: At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought bad reports of them to their father.

Back to our verse

בראשית ל״ז:א׳

וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּאֶ֖רֶץ מְגוּרֵ֣י אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֖רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן׃

Genesis 37:1

Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan.

רמב"ן על בראשית ל״ז:א׳:א׳

וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו

כי אמר שאלופי עשו ישבו בארץ אחוזתם כלומר הארץ שלקחו להם לאחוזת עולם

אבל יעקב ישב גר כאביו בארץ לא להם אלא לכנען והכונה להגיד כי הם בוחרים לגור בארץ הנבחרת ושנתקיים בהם כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם (בראשית ט״ו:י״ג) ולא בעשו כי ביעקב לבדו יקרא להם זרע:

Ramban on Genesis 37:1:1

Vayashev Ya'akov b'eretz migoray ahviv b'eretz Canaan
For it is said that Esau's chiefs "settled in the land of their possessions", that is to say, the land that they took to them[selves] as an eternal possession.

But Jacob settled as his father sojourned, in a land that wasn't theirs, rather, it was the Canaanites. And the intention is to tell that they [Jacob and his family] were the ones who elected to sojourn in the Chosen Land, and that, fulfilled through them and not Esau [are the words] "Your offspring will be sojourners in a land that isn't theirs" (Gen 15:13); for Jacob alone will be called their [Abraham's and Isaac's] offspring.

RVW's takeway

The difference in verbs
the power of repeating language
A question for me, maybe you, now: How might it be to love someplace so much that I would want to live there among foreigners, rather than in a land I 'own'? What is my relationship to place? To authority and divinity?