Can you imagine being the last to know? The very last? And about something so monumental, so life-altering?
That was Jacob.
Everyone else in his close family knew that Joseph was alive and, incredibly, ruling in Egypt. But not Jacob. He was still deep in mourning, convinced his favorite son was dead, torn apart by wild beasts. Can you imagine the agony?
And it wasn't just the personal grief. Jacob saw Joseph's supposed death as something far bigger, a cosmic disruption. He lamented, convinced that the promise God had made to him, the covenant concerning the twelve tribes, was now broken.
"The covenant that God made with me regarding the twelve tribes is null and void now," he cried. "I did strive in vain to establish the twelve tribes, seeing that now the death of Joseph hath destroyed the covenant."
Jacob's words, as recorded in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, are more than just a father's lament. They reflect a profound understanding of the interconnectedness of things, a deeply held belief in the significance of the number twelve.
Think about it. Jacob believed that the very structure of the universe was tied to the twelve tribes. He points out that twelve are the signs of the zodiac, twelve the months of the year, twelve the hours of the day and night. And, most poignantly, twelve stones were set in Aaron's breastplate, representing the tribes before God.
As Ginzberg retells it, Jacob saw Joseph's death as unraveling this cosmic order, setting God's carefully constructed works "at naught". The weight of the world, as he understood it, rested on those twelve tribes.
It’s heartbreaking, isn't it? To think that one man, in his grief, could feel the entire universe tilting off its axis.
It's a powerful reminder of the weight of belief, and the profound impact loss can have not just on our personal lives, but on our understanding of the world around us. And it makes you wonder: what unseen connections do we rely on, what hidden structures give our lives meaning, and what happens when those structures seem to crumble?