Daughter of Jacob

written September 8, 2013
writing prompt #1 from cristiancreativewriters.com
Pick a character in the Bible and describe their day. What are their struggles, joys, frustrations, etc?

I do not approve. I love my brothers, but they do not think, they overreact, and I am embarrassed. 

I was defiled by Shechem and they were disgusted with him, as they should have been. But even when a woman is defiled, she is made right when she marries that man. And I was made right. But my brothers were not satisfied. They did not want the women of Shechem for their own; they wanted revenge. If I had known their plan that day, I would’ve told them to forget me, but I did not see the scheme in their eyes.

My brothers. My beloved brothers from the same mother as I. Is it just their vengeful hearts, Simeon and Levi, or would Gad and Asher do the same for our sisters from their mother? Or would Dan and Naphtali have slaughtered for our sisters from their mother? Sometimes I wonder if Levi and Simeon, or even my other brothers from my mother would have committed such a crime for Leah’s other daughters.

Now, they do it again, but worse. Now all my brothers have sought revenge together. Now, they do not fight another household, but our own instead. God has blessed Joseph with visions and understanding. They are jealous. Abba treats Rachel as the favorite wife, as the best mother, merely because he finds her more beautiful. I’m not vouching for my mother, Leah, that she is greater than the others. My mother cries too much. And I find that sometimes her prayers to God turn to complaints. She has made it into a competition of who can bear the most children, who can cook a better meal, who can harvest more in a days work, and it shouldn’t be that way. I am sick of it.

Father was feeding the cattle when my brothers came home with Joseph’s bloodied coat. I have never seen father cry so hard.

We didn’t eat dinner tonight. We fast in mourning for the lost brother and son. But Simeon told me the truth.

Poor Simeon, I demanded he marry me so I would no longer carry the title of “widow”, but I refuse to commit incest. And I feel that even though he has taken my son and bastard daughter as his own, I am preventing him of the joys of having his own blood-children. Probably the same way Rachel felt after all these years without a child, but helping to raise us.

I know the look in his eyes when Simeon is physically, mentally, and emotionally spend. He has this look when he gently rests on his bed. We have separate beds, though in the same room. I lie on mine and listen. He may be a spiteful man, but at the end of the day he always feels his guilt and begs forgiveness from God.

He tells me of their day in the field, and their plot because Joseph was a dreamer. He tells me of Reuben, our oldest, wisest, and kindest brother who talked them all out of murder, but to only play a prank instead and rescue him later. He tells of the men from our great uncle’s land and shows me his division of the trade silver – 2 sheckels. With Reuben not there, Simeon had been the oldest and had been the one to kill the lamb. He shows me the dirt under his nails, stained with blood.

I pray that one day my brothers will find redemption for the disgrace they have shown today.