The Function of the Root Y-R-KH in Genesis

The root “y-r-kh”¹ appears several times in Genesis in contexts related to oath-taking (Gen. 24:2-9; 47:29). In these passages, the servant of Abraham, and later Jacob himself, is asked to place his hand under the yrkh of the person administering the oath. This gesture is typically translated as placing the hand under the “thigh,” but the yrkh is more precisely the procreative organ, which serves as the source of future generations — and thus functions as the guarantor of an oath sworn in God’s name.

Jacob was a man who struggled throughout his life with truthfulness. He deceived his father Isaac (Gen. 27), was himself deceived by his father-in-law Laban (Gen. 29), and engaged in a long series of deceptions and counter-deceptions. As part of his transformation, Jacob needed a constant reminder to be truthful. Thus, the angel’s injury was to Jacob’s yrkh, the “oath organ,” which caused Jacob to limp (32:32), presumably for the rest of his life. Thus, every time he walked, Jacob would feel the injury and be reminded that he needed to be truthful.

There is a play on Jacob’s new name of Israel [Yisrael], which the Midrash relates to the word yashar [straight], which emphasizes this same transition. Rashi, on Genesis 32:29, explains: “So that no one will say anymore that the blessings came to you with cunning and deceit, but rather with forthrightness and openness.” Rashi goes on to say that the mysterious assailant with whom Jacob fought is also telling Jacob that God Himself will affirm Jacob’s change of name and the blessings he received from Isaac. Significantly, God affirms these two momentous events in Jacob’s life in Genesis 35:9-13, after the rape of Dinah, presumably because of Jacob’s reversal of character at that time. God can only confirm the change of name and the blessing after Jacob proves himself to be a new man, as evidenced by his chastisement of Simeon and Levi who used tactics of which he himself might have once been proud.