#45: Clueless Rachel

Genesis 30:1-6

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”

So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.

Comments

Rachel does not come across well in this story. She is loved by her husband, Jacob, but is jealous because he continues to have children with her sister, Leah, his other wife. She insists Jacob should give her children and he says it is not his fault.

Rachel is unwilling to accept her childlessness and decides her servant, Bilhah, should bear children on her behalf. Perhaps she didn’t know the story of Jacob’s grandmother, Sarah, who had done the same thing by giving her servant, Hagar, to Abraham in order to have a son. Or maybe she knew the story, but chose to forget how the birth of Ishmael didn’t turn out the way Sarah had hoped. 

In any case, Rachel decides her servant should sleep with her husband. The birth of a son is viewed by Rachel as vindication by God of the choice she has made. Nothing in this passage indicates God views this situation in the same way.

In this story Rachel is angry at her husband, jealous of her sister, callous to her servant, ungrateful with her lot in life and presumptuous about God’s approval of her actions. In spite of this, God continues to love Rachel and chooses to bless others through her as the story unfolds. 

Reflections

Rachel has much, but yearns for the one thing she doesn’t have. Do you have difficulty finding contentment in life? Are you more likely to be grateful for what you have or resentful about what you don’t have?

Have you ever prospered from doing wrong and decided it must have been God’s will after all?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who can love even a clueless and scheming malcontent.

#44: Unloved Leah

Genesis 29:31-35

When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.

Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

Comments

Rivalry and jealousy are deeply woven into Israel’s history. The first four of Jacob’s twelve sons were born to Leah, his unloved wife. Her sister, Rachel, the wife whom Jacob loved, bore him no children.

Leah’s situation was not a happy one. Though not homely, she would never be attractive as Rachel. And it must have been humiliating for her to think the only way she could get a husband was through her father tricking someone into marrying her. 

Though Leah had an insensitive father, an unloving husband and a beautiful sister as a rival for her husband’s affections, God loved Leah in a special way and blessed her with four sons. This “favoritism” of God toward those whom the world rejects is a theme that reappears throughout the Bible.

Reflections

How much time and energy do you put into being the kind of person who will be popular with others because of how you look and what you do? 

Have you ever had the experience of knowing you were loved and blessed by God even while others were ignoring or rejecting you?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who loves and blesses those whom others ignore or reject.

#43: It's Not Fair!

Genesis 29:22-30

So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”

Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”

And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Comments

Jacob’s life was shaped by deception. He took advantage of Esau to gain his inheritance and deceived Isaac to gain the blessing intended for Esau. Jacob was then deceived by his uncle Laban and ended up with an unexpected wife.

 This story is clearly set in a time and place far different from our own. Leah and Rachel played no role in choosing a husband for themselves; everything was arranged by the father for the benefit of the father. Laban’s adherence to a custom unknown to Jacob led to Jacob having two wives instead of one. Jacob was too drunk on his wedding night to know who came into his tent. Jacob had back to back honeymoons with his two wives and ended up loving one more than the other. How unfair it all seems!

A modern retelling of Genesis would almost certainly have Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, Jacob, Leah, Rachel and Laban at various times crying out, “It’s not fair!” This is not the way God intended life to be, and yet God consistently used the unfairness of life to shape the grand narrative of redemption.

Reflections

Although the culture and traditions of Genesis seem strange to us today, the unfairness of life is all too familiar. What has been your experience in this regard? In what positive or negative ways has unfairness shaped your life?

Prayer

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who showers us with hope and love in the midst of life’s unfairness.