From Wells to Word Motifs: Decoding the Literary Craftsmanship of Genesis’ Patriarchs

In this episode of the Scripture Study Podcast, Susan Petersen and Cindy Madsen explore literary criticism of the Hebrew Bible, focusing on the stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. Drawing on scholar Robert Alter's work, they examine key techniques including type scenes, dialogue-driven characterization, intentional narrative gaps, and word motifs. The hosts analyze well scenes in Genesis as symbols of life, fertility, and covenant. They encourage listeners to embrace the Bible's moral complexity and ambiguity rather than seeking simple answers. The next episode will focus on the theology of food in these same stories.


00:00 Introduction
02:38 Symbolism of Wells in Ancient Near East
05:14 Jacob and Rachel at the Well
08:07 Moses and Zipporah at the Well
09:16 Repetition and Variation in Well Stories
13:49 Importance of Original Language and Translation
20:21 Purposeful Repetition and Word Motifs
24:47 Well Motifs in Isaac’s Story
28:10 Saint Augustine’s Rule for Interpretation
33:21 Isaac’s Character and Transition to Food Theme
33:40 Outro and Preview of Part Two

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Resources

Calvin Theological Seminary
https://calvinseminary.edu/

The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter
https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780465022553/the-art-of-biblical-narrativehttps://www.amazon.com/Art-Biblical-Narrative-Robert-Alter/dp/0465022553

Come Follow Me
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/come-follow-me

Disruptive Torah (Madlik by Jeffrey Stern)
https://madlik.com/

https://www.sefaria.org/collections/madlik-disruptive-torah

Join Us

The Scripture Study Podcast is your midweek Bible boost—designed to help you grow in understanding, confidence, and love for God’s word.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Scripture Study Podcast. I am Susan Peterson and I'm Cindy Madsen. We're so glad you're here with us. The Scripture Study Podcast is designed to be your midweek Bible boost. Let's dig in.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Hi, welcome back to the Scripture Study Podcast. I am Susan Peterson. And I'm Cindy Madsen. Hi, Cindy.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hi, Susan.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We are sitting here in Cindy's front room. It is beautiful outside, gorgeous spring day, and we are excited today to talk more about Isaac, Jacob, and Isa.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

And food. And food. It's making me hungry.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I know. We need to have lunch after this. Yes. Okay. Go ahead, Cindy. Take it away. So we're going to divide this episode into two parts. And so this first part will finish talking about literary criticism that we started in our last podcast. And the second part of this episode will talk about the theology of food. Okay, I'm so excited. So in a class that I took when I was at Calvin Theological Seminary, I read Robert Alter's book, The Art of Biblical Narrative. And Robert Alter's thesis, and I do agree with him, is that the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament, as we usually call it, is carefully designed and uses identifiable literary techniques. For instance, he points out that the stories in the Hebrew Bible, he says that he notes that they have economy and precision in their narrative. In other words, they have very few words, but every detail matters. Robert Alter's most famous ideas is called the type scene, T-Y-P-E-S-C-E-N-E. The type scene. And it simply means a recurring narrative pattern that audiences would recognize. For example, meeting a future wife at a well, or the younger son replacing the older one, or a birth annunciation, which just means a divine figure reveals that a birth is going to happen. So each new story repeats the pattern, but then adds a variation that reveals character or meaning. For example, in the well stories that we have been reading about and Come Follow Me, you probably have noticed this Isaac's servant Eliezer meets Rebecca at a well. Jacob meets Rachel at a well. The structure of the stories, they're both similar, but the differences tell us a lot about each character. First of all, in ancient Near Eastern stories, wells are often symbolically associated with life, fertility, and marriage. This makes sense if you think about it, because the ancient Near East was, and it still largely is, an arid region. So a well was a source of life-giving water. It was essential for agriculture, animals, and human survival. And therefore it became a natural gathering place, especially for women. Because of this, wells became symbolic of fertility and abundance, provision and blessing, and the continuation of family lines. In some ancient Near Eastern mythologies, water is associated with goddesses of fertility or life, reinforcing this symbolic link. Again, you can see the biblical authors of the Bible repurposing and reusing known literary symbols in their narratives. Their audiences would have immediately recognized the well symbolism and literary convention, and they would have been prepared for a betrothal. In the first story, and only in this betrothal story, the bridegroom is not present. And also, only in this story is it the girl who draws the water from the well. And the narrator goes out of his way to give weight to this act by presenting Rebecca as a continuous whirl of purposeful activity. In four short verses in Genesis 24, verses 16, 18 through 20, she is the subject of 11 verbs of action and one of speech, going down to the well, drawing water, filling the pitcher, pouring and giving drink. Later, Rebecca will take the initiative to get the blessing from Isaac for Jacob. And again, she will be the subject of a rapid change of verbs, hurriedly taking and cooking and dressing and giving before Esau can return from the field. Rebecca is by far the shrewdest and the most dynamic of the matriarchs. And so it makes perfect sense that she should be the one to dominate her betrothal scene. Another thing is that Rebecca is immediately identified in verse 16 as the suitable bride for Isaac because of both her beauty and her unquestionable virginity. She was a virgin, no man had known her, it says. Well, this is really unconventional biblical narrative to be that explicit. So when you see that kind of detail, take notice. Then in her actions and speech, we see her energy, her considerate courtesy, her sense of quiet self-possession. This is how the biblical author is telling you about Rebecca's character. In the second well story about Jacob and Rachel, the scene takes place by a well in the fields, not by a well in the town, like the Rebecca story, because the story of Jacob, his two wives, his two concubines, and his father-in-law Laban will unfold against a background of pastoral activity, of shepherding or cattle herding. So this well scene starts again with a stranger approaching the well. But this time, he's not an official representative with bridal gifts. He is a refugee with only his staff. So in this instance, Rachel arrives, but instead of drawing water for Jacob, Jacob draws water for her and her sheep. There's a much more romantic tone to this story. Also, in this story, there is an obstacle to overcome, the stone on the mouth of the well. And this minor variation of the convention contributes to the consistent characterization of Jacob. We already know that his name, Yaakov, means the heel grabber or the wrestler. And we will continue to see Jacob as a contender, a man who seizes his fate, he tackles his adversaries with his own two hands. If the well of the betrothal scene is in general associated with women and fertility, it's particularly appropriate that in this scene, the well should be blocked by an obstacle, because Jacob will also only obtain the woman that he wants through great labor and opposition. And even when he's finally able to marry Rachel, then God will, quote, shut up her womb for years until she finally bears this cherished and hoped for son, Joseph. It's also really telling that the obstacle that covers the well is a stone, because stones are a motif that accompanies Jacob in his hero's journey. He puts a stone by his head when he sleeps at Bethel. After his vision of the ladder to heaven, he sets up a commemorative marker of stones. After he leaves Laban with his wives and children and the speckled sheep, Laban pursues after him, and Jacob makes a formal agreement of peace with his father-in-law by setting up on the border between them a testimonial heap of stones. I don't know that these are necessarily being used as symbols, but perhaps more metaphorically, Jacob is a man who sleeps on stones, marks moments in stones, wrestles with stones, and he struggles with life, which for him is so often hard and unyielding. That is often the way that things are. We all have to go through trials. We will all be tested. This is the plan for us on earth. As we learn in Abraham 3, we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell, and we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things, whatsoever the Lord their God will command them. Now there's a third well story that's coming up, and this is when Moses meets Zipporah. What changes are there in this story? First of all, the story opens with conflict. Shepherds are harassing the daughters of the priest of Midian. Moses intervenes and rescues them. This is highly reminiscent of the earlier story when he killed the Egyptian who was smiting an Israelite, and then he rescues the Egyptian slave. At the well, after rescuing the women, Moses helps draw water. In this situation, the hero is a defender and an outsider. The tone of this story includes danger and justice, not just romance. This prepares us for Moses as a future deliverer, someone who steps in to protect the vulnerable. These repetitions act like a template, and each variation colors the characters differently. If these stories were totally different, we might miss the comparison. If they were identical, they would be boring. But instead, the Bible gives us sameness with strategic change, and that is what invites interpretation. So when you are reading, notice repeated phrases, repeated scenes, retold events. The key is in the variation. Small changes signal meaning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

And it just makes me think about the woman at the well in John 4. Yes. So she is drawing water for Jesus. In the middle of the day. In the middle of the day, and how the servant of the Lord and reveals himself to her. Yes. Yes. And that's something that speaking of the footnotes, that you need to follow through and think. I sometimes make a table where I'm like, there's an axis, like, here are the women at the well. And what's the time of the day? What's the purpose of the water? And I just go across and then you can kind of see it laid out and say, how are all these different? How are all these same to your point? You're going to see what is happening. Right. And the first one, like you said in our last episode about Abraham and Isaac, the first episode of Rebecca drawing the water, and then Jesus with a Samaritan woman, there's a similarity there that you're wanting to draw the parallel from. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Yeah. Jesus is the true bridegroom. Yes. True. We are the woman at the well. Yes. Who has had seven husbands. Yes. And we have the false husbands too. And we're all trying to find the true bridegroom. That's our test. Are we going to find the true bridegroom or will we marry ourselves to people who really aren't our husbands? Yes. He's the husband. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Okay. Another thing that Robert Alter talks about is how the Bible uses dialogue as the main tool of characterization. Biblical narrators will rarely describe their character's inner thoughts or their personalities directly. But instead, character is revealed through dialogue and action. In the Hebrew Bible, then, dialogue is used to indirectly reveal a person's character. What people say or what they don't say matters. It is used to create tension and ambiguity and to highlight key turning points in the narrative. Dialogue is also used to emphasize important themes like blessing, deception, promise. Dialogue is a distinctive element of Hebrew narrative because compared to many ancient literatures, the Hebrew Bible has less descriptive narrative, but it has more strategic use of speech. Some of the most important moments in the Hebrew Bible are carried almost entirely through carefully crafted dialogue, making speech the central vehicle of meaning. Abraham negotiating with God about the fate of Sodom reveals to us Abraham's character and God's character. Jacob deceiving Isaac in order to get the blessing reveals to us a lot about Jacob's character and Isaac's character. So these scenes are almost all in dialogue. In Genesis 42 through 45, there are long sequences of conversation between Joseph in disguise and his brothers. Judah's speech in Genesis 44, where he offers himself in place of Benjamin, shows the brothers' moral transformation and is the turning point in this story for reconciliation. So pay attention to what a character says and how they say it, because that is often the primary psychological clue about the character and about the scene, what the author's trying to tell us.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

And then I would even say go a step further and look at what those words meant in Hebrew or in Aramaic, because sometimes you think, oh, I understand what this means, but you actually don't. And it'll also enrich it if you do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

It does. Yeah. And remember that as my Greek teacher used to say, every translation carries interpretation. So how the translator chooses to interpret certain words often reflect the translator's interpretation of those words. Yeah. Yeah. A third thing that Robert Alter points out is that biblical storytelling often leaves gaps, details that modern readers expect, but they're missing. He argues that these gaps are intentional and that readers must infer motives and emotions. There are both sharply defined surfaces and a sense of ambiguous depths and character. That very ambiguity invites interpretation from us as readers, but not certainty. For example, in the story of Abraham and Isaac, the binding of Isaac at the Akidah in Genesis 22, the text never tells us what Isaac is thinking. It doesn't tell us how Abraham feels internally. We never hear how Isaac feels after Jacob deceives him. What is Abraham's relationship with his wife after that? We don't know in the story about Jacob deceiving Isaac. We don't know if Rebecca had ever told Isaac that God had told her that the older son would serve the younger. We don't know what Rebecca's relationship is with Isaac after this whole thing happens. These omissions, Robert Alter says, are the point. They make the story more powerful and open-ended. Meaning often emerges from what is not said as much as from what is said. And this technique creates dramatic tension and moral complexity. There is ambiguity that can't be definitively resolved. And that is difficult for us as moderns. We like a story to have a neat conclusion, but this type of storytelling allows for multiple layers of meaning, just like an onion.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

You're peeling back the layers. And also different meaning in different times in your life. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Jeffrey Stern, it's called Madlik Disruptive Torah. It's a podcast video blog. He says, quote, the story of Jacob becoming the third patriarch turns on a moment that has always made readers uncomfortable. Jacob walks into his father's tent disguised as his brother, speaks words that aren't true, and walks out with a blessing that isn't his. It's a scene we instinctively try to explain away by blaming Esau, shifting responsibility to Rebecca, or insisting that this is what God wanted anyway. But what if the Torah doesn't want us to explain this away at all? What if the discomfort is the point? Or more explicitly, what if the Torah doesn't share our discomfort? One of the most revealing clues, and this is still Jeffrey Stern speaking, one of the most revealing clues to how the Torah works comes from the naming of Be'ir Shiva. The Torah gives us two different explanations for why this place is called Ba'ir Shiva. In the Abraham story, it is named for the oath, the Shavo, that he makes with Abimelech. In the Isaac story, it is named for the seven Shiva wells associated with his disputes and reconciliations with the Philistines. Both stories end with the same refrain. Therefore, the place is called Beer Beer, Beershiva until this day. Two origins, same name, two traditions, one place. Why preserve both? Because the biblical audience already knew the name Beershiva. What they didn't know was why it was called that. And the Torah preserves two historical memories, side by side, without forcing us to choose. This is exactly what happens with Jacob and Esau. The Torah gives us two separate episodes through which Jacob acquires what belonged to his brother. One, the red lintels, impulsive, transactional, adolescent. Two, the fleecing of Isaac, slow, emotional, morally fraught, orchestrated by Rebecca. Two different dynamics, two different forms of deception, two different windows into Jacob's character. Just like Beeshiva, the Torah refuses to erase either one. It trusts us to hold complexity. Both the place name and the patriarch are formed through multiple traditions, layered memories, and stories that do not line up neatly, but instead deepen each other. Beershiva becomes Beershiva until this day through two tales. Jacob becomes Israel through two acts, both of which the Torah preserves, even when they make us cringe. That was a great comment on this. Yes. And I think it's really important. The Bible trusts us to hold in our hands conflict, things that we don't understand, stories that don't line up, and things that make us cringe. And the Bible also trusts us to hold it respectfully and to grace and to give grace to the characters in the story. The biblical tale, Robert Alter says, through the most rigorous economy of means, leads us again and again to ponder complexities of motive and ambiguities of character, because these are essential aspects of its vision of man created by God, enjoying or suffering all the consequences of human freedom. Okay, Robert also points out that another distinctive convention of biblical prose is the purposeful repetition of words. He notes that a repeated word or root of a word links parts of a story or stories. These words become thematic ideas as they recur at different points in the story. This kind of word motif is one of the most common features of the narrative art of the Bible, much more so than in other ancient Near Eastern prose. And part of the reason may be because of the structure of the Hebrew language itself. So I'm going to get a little Hebrew geeky here. Okay, I love it. Hebrew is a system of three letter roots. The letters are usually all consonants. These roots form the nucleus of both verbs and nouns. Martin Buber, who was one of the first scholars to notice this, writes, quote, by following these repetitions, one is able to decipher or grasp a meaning of the text, or at any rate, the meaning will be revealed more strikingly. The repetition, as we have said, need not be merely of the word itself, but also of the word root. In fact, the very difference of words can often intensify the dynamic action of the repetition. So a single Hebrew word might appear multiple times in different contexts to create thematic unity and hidden connections. Unfortunately, because In English prose, we don't like to repeat words. So in our literary composition, we're trying to choose different words, right? We don't use repetition. Most modern English translations will translate the same Hebrew word with different English equivalents because they feel that that sounds better when you're reading English. And so we'll miss these word motifs. Word motifs are typically used in larger narrative units to create a thematic development and then to establish connections between seemingly disparate episodes. Think of them as a hyperlink to other episodes. Michael Fishbane says that the entire cycle of tales about Jacob is structured through the repetition of word motifs and themes. He says that the two most decisive words for the organization of the Jacob material in Genesis are the words blessing and birthright. And in Hebrew, this is a pun or a wordplay between these words, beracha, which is blessing, and behora, which is birthright. Oh, they sound the same. They sound super similar. Bechorah. So super similar. He says that these key words, supported by a whole set of secondary word motifs, mark the connections between thematically parallel narrative units, creating an organized structure. And these repeated words are not decorative or incidental. They deliberately act like signals to the reader. These are linking distant scenes together. That's what it's saying. They create irony, reversal, and thematic interpretation. Robert Alter says that biblical Hebrew narrative is like a network of echoes, and you are supposed to notice when the word is repeated. Tim Mackey of the Bible Project calls these hyperlinks to different texts. The biblical authors and editors, again, they are trusting that you as a reader will notice that the texts are talking to each other. In modern writing, repetition can feel redundant. But in the Bible, repetition is a way of saying to the reader, pay attention. This is a thread that is tying the story or the stories together. So when I was reading through chapter 24 about the adult Isaac, I'm going to tell you two of the patterns that I noticed. Okay. Okay, first of all, wells. In chapter 24, verses 62 through 63, it says this, and Isaac came from the way of the well, La Hira, for he dwelt in the south country. And he lifts up his eyes, it says, and Isaac sees the camel coming carrying Rebekah. And then in chapter 25, verse 11, it says, And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac dwelt by the well, same well, La Hai Raw. There is a whole story in chapter 25, verse 15, about wells again. And in this situation, the Philistines had filled the wells that Abraham had dug with earth. So Isaac digs them out. And then Isaac's herdsmen dig new wells. It says, and the herdmen of Gerard did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, meaning strife, because they strove with him. And that happens a couple of times until they finally dig a well that no one else wants. And he calls the name of it Rehobath. And he said, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And right after that, in the text, Isaac goes to Beersheba, Beersheba, and the Lord appears to Isaac and he renews the covenant which he had made with Abraham. I am the God of thy father, of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake, the fruitfulness of seed or offspring. And then Abraham's servants dig another well. So what's going on? Because I thought the wells symbolize betrothal scenes. And here we've got Isaac starts out at the well La Hira Roy, for he dwelt in the South Country. He sees Rebecca coming. That's what we would expect.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Betrothal scene, right? Sees the future right. But then he goes and lives by the same well after the death of his father. And there's this whole story about wells. So as moderns, we live in a computer age. Yeah. And we are stuck in this binary code of zeros and ones. So if I say this is not zero, then you'll think, well, it must be one. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. You are reading biblical literature, or to be honest with you, when you're reading any literature that's more than 100 years old, remember signs are not equal signs. Yeah. St. Augustine says that there are many ways in which things may resemble other things. There are many layers to a symbol or a sign. He says that we should not think that it is a hard and fast rule, that a word will always have the same meaning that it has in a particular place. And this idea is really difficult for us as moderns. And we hear the word symbolism or sign, and we think, oh, this equals this. Yeah. We want that hard and fast rule. That's not how things work in the ancient world. And that's not how things work actually in the medieval world, which is a lot closer to us. This is pretty much a modern world trait. It really doesn't occur anywhere else. So for example, in Genesis 3, it says that snakes are cunning, wicked deceivers, right? They deceive Eve. So whenever we see a snake, we should think that this is bad. Except Moses. Then right. We have the instance of Moses where he lifts up the snake and oh, the snake heals people. And then Jesus says, I am that snake. Uh-oh. As moderns, we're like, what's going on? Well, sometimes in the context, the serpent is bad. And sometimes in the context, the serpent is good. The same is true with lions. Sometimes lions are like sin devouring us. And sometimes lions in the Bible are the lion of Judah. How do we know if our interpretations are right? And St. Augustine gives us the key. Okay. He says that all interpretations must lead to love, love of God, and love of neighbor. Okay. So if the interpretation does not lead you to loving God or to recognizing his love for you, then that's wrong.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

So your interpretation needs to hinge on the top two commandments. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Like Jesus said, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Yeah. Is our interpretation going to lead us to love God, to understand his character? Is our interpretation going to lead us to give grace to our neighbors and to the biblical characters? Okay, then it's right.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

If what we take from the Abraham story is that we should go kill our firstborn, no, that's not you've interpreted it wrong. That is the wrong interpretation. So the first well story in chapter 24 portrays the well as a betrothal meeting place, right? Rebecca at the well, where the future matriarch has is encountered by Eliezer. And it becomes a site of divine orchestration. This fits the broader biblical pattern, is noted by Robert Alter, that wells are places where key relationships begin. Symbolically, the well is a place where life is sustained and covenant relationships are established. And you see that when it says that Isaac is at the well and then he looks up and he sees the camels coming. So all of that betrothal, well as a betrothal, covenant, all of that. That's that part. But then in chapter 26, it functions as a way to shed light on the character of Isaac. So in this arid setting of the Negev, wells are literally sources of life. So finding or reopening a well meant survival and blessing. Isaac's success in uncovering wells signals God's ongoing provision and the continuity of the promise given to Abraham. The wells become visible signs that God's blessing is still flowing. This chapter emphasizes that Isaac redigs the wells of Abraham and gives them the same name. So he's not starting something new, he's continuing a legacy. The wells represent covenant community across generations. Isaac's identity is tied to receiving and maintaining, not initiating. There's a repeated pattern in Genesis 26 of dispute over a well. As I told you, Isaac names the well Esek, meaning argument. Then there's a dispute. So Isaac, what does he do? He moves on. He doesn't fight back. He digs another well. And again, the herdsmen of Gerar dispute. So Isaac names the well Sitna, which means opposition. He doesn't dispute, he doesn't fight with them. He moves on. He digs another well and finally is left in peace. So he names the well Rehobah, which means to make room. There is a movement in the story from strife to spaciousness, creating a kind of moral geography in which conflict gives way to peace. And I think that this scene is a really good picture of the character of Isaac, because he is portrayed as someone who avoids escalation and eventually finds divinely granted space. Unlike Abraham, who ventures boldly, or Jacob, who struggles intensely, Isaac's story is quieter. It's marked by repetition, redigging. It's marked by patience and non-confrontation. The wells shed light on his character as a figure of continuity rather than disruption. Across Genesis 24 through 26, then wells symbolize life and blessing, inheritance and continuity, conflict transformed into peace and divinely guided encounters. I think that Isaac was a kind man, not really a trailblazer, but a good man who kept his covenants and enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. And one of those pleasures was food. And you will notice that food and the proper ordering of appetite is a big deal in the Isaac, Jacob, Esau story. And we are going to talk about that in part two of this episode.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Okay, great. Buckle up. Okay, so that was part one. We will take a break and then come back and do part two. And so we will see you then. Thank you for listening to the Scripture Study Podcast, your midweek Bible boost. Everything we mentioned on this podcast, if we said there would be a link to it, it is in the show notes wherever you find your podcast. Cindy Madsen currently does not believe in or participate in social media. However, if you would like to follow along with Susan Peterson, she can be found on Instagram at susan.m.peterson. Have a good week.