Going Deeper
Rachel & Leah (12-12-15)
Desperate Tent Wives
This is as bad as reality television or a soap opera. The drama in these text would be entertaining if it was not so sad. Leah gets stuck with a guy who did not want her. The text says Leah had weak eyes, this could be a nice way of saying she was not pretty, especially compared to Rachel who is ‘beautiful in form and appearance’. Leah’s father tricks Jacob in to consummating a marriage with Leah. How can this be? Jacob more than likely was drunk from celebrating and or the bridal tent was dark. Jacob didn’t notice till the morning. This had to be so lowering for Leah. The only way her father could get her married of is to trick a man into it.
Jacob goes to Leban and ask for Rachel’s hand again and works seven more years to gain her as his bride. The text tells us that Jacob loved Rachel. Now Jacob has two wives, and he has broken the command of God in Genesis 2:24 of having one wife. Understand that whenever we do not follow the commands of God things work our extremely poorly.
Leah is married to a man who does not love her. She knows that Jacob has worked seven years for Rachel and is in the process of working another seven years for Rachel. This is a great display of love. The Lord sees this reproach of Jacob for his wife, and the Lord opened her womb. This is a constant theme in this text, it is the Lord who brings about life, He is the author of life. In this time and culture, to be a barren wife was to be a useless wife, you did not bring value to the household (this is a statement of fact of the culture, and not a view of the value God places on women, who are created in His image).
Leah believes she has no value because she is hated, and childless. God looks down and gives her four sons. Notice the caption of each son Rueben (the Lord has looked on my affliction and now my husband will love me). Simeon (Because the Lord has heard I am hated He has given me this son). Levi, (now my husband will be attached to me that I have born him three sons). Judah (this time I will praise the Lord). Leah is finding her value not in who she is according to her relationship with God, but who she is based her own means or how her husband values her. Because of this she is jealous, envious, and bitter. She is desperate for the attention of her husband. Is this desire for love, and acceptance by her spouse a bad thing? No it is not, but in this case it has become an idol in her heart. Leah cherishes this acceptance above all things even her relationship with God. She places the value of culture and her husband above the God.
Rachel should be happy in that she has the love of her husband. He is showing his love for her in a great way he is working fourteen years so she can be his bride. Notice in
Genesis 37:1
Joseph’s Dreams
37:1 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
(ESV)
of
Genesis 30
30:1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. 7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad. 12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun. 21 Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add to me another son!”
Jacob’s Prosperity
25 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you. 28 Name your wages, and I will give it.” 29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. 30 For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31 He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: 32 let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. 33 So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” 34 Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” 35 But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. 36 And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
37 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. 38 He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39 the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, 42 but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
(ESV)
, it states that when Leah had children and Rachel was barren she envied Leah. Rachel proceeds to place her barrenness on Jacobs shoulders. Jacob in his anger makes a great statement, “Am I in the place of God who has withheld the fruit of the womb?”. Jacob had it right God is sovereign over the womb and granting of life. We have no right to choose who lives or dies. Abortion is an affront to this, God has specifically granted life. He has not given us authority to take the life of a baby in Scripture. God condemns the harming of children, and the sacrifice of children, and anything that would lead a child astray.
Rachel turns to her own means to accomplish what God has withheld from her. This is a dangerous way to do things, whenever we try to go around God things never work out well. This text is full of examples where people are doing what they want. Making sinful choices for which they will give an account. We also see in this text that God is clearly working His plan of redemption despite all the selfishness, pride, envy, and strife.
When a servant is given to a spouse in this culture she does not become a real wife, so the servants baby is actually claimed by Rachel. If the surrogate has the baby while in the lap of the wife, then it is a symbol for the baby coming from the womb of the true wife. Notice the telling words of Rachel after the second son is born to her servant, “With mighty wrestling, I have wrestled with my sister.
Now the competition in sues, because Leah doesn’t find value in who in God and her relationship but in being better than her sister, by providing a son. This would give her value to her husband. She has to one up her sister. Leah then proceeds to do the same thing Rachel did and that was give her servant to her husband to gain a child.
Do you see what the jealousy here is doing to these two women? They are jealous of each other because rather than compare themselves to God’s standard, they compare themselves to one another. They cannot let the other one have what they don’t have. They are selfish. All through this competition is selfishness. Notice that Rachel had Jacobs love but she thought little of it. So much so that she would give him up, so that she could have some mandrakes (flowers). In ancient times mandrakes had been believed to help fertility.
These women were desperate, they wanted something no man could do for them. Throughout the text we see God actively working to fulfill His promise. God worked through the sinful selfish action of the women to fulfill His plan of blessing the nations.
Genesis 30
30:1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. 7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad. 12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun. 21 Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add to me another son!”
Jacob’s Prosperity
25 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you. 28 Name your wages, and I will give it.” 29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. 30 For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31 He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: 32 let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. 33 So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” 34 Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” 35 But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. 36 And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
37 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. 38 He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39 the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, 42 but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
(ESV)
continually tells us that it is God who opens the wombs of these women that they may bear children. He is also the One who prevents them from bearing children. Even in the midst of the blessing of breathing life into a dead womb, these women keep focused on each other. Almost all the names given to the sons born are names showing that these women where not focused on the giver of life but on how they perceived themselves to relate to the culture.
In summary we see the sister/wives competing in using their maids as surrogates, using child bearing as proof of God’s favor, bartering for time with the husband, in accusing the other of stealing the husband favor, in the naming of the children, praying to the Lord for children for selfish gain. This sinful disobedience of God’s clear command of one man and one women shows us what happens. Jacob is not the only one to blame, Leban, Rachel, Leah are to blame for the sin here. Though bigamy and polygamy were accepted culturally we can see that this disobedience to God’s decree brought about a tough situation.
There are several things we can learn from these women:
- Find your value in God, who you are in Christ is all that matters. Both Rachel and Leah were looking to Jacob to supply emotional and spiritual support. Humans are sinful and we fail much of the time. When we place our hope in others rather than in God we are creating idols. Idols are anything we place above God. Each one of character had things they place over knowing and trusting in God. They only relied on God to fulfill their own goals but didn’t look to glorify Him.
What is your value in? Whom do you let define you? In what do you find your joy and strength and purpose?
In all these things, God should be our true answer! Only God sustains and completes and satisfies and is worthy of our lives.
- Selfishness, envy and jealousy destroy lives. Sin never builds up but instead breaks down. You can see the bitterness in each of these women. How they let sin harden their hearts. These were two sisters who should have loved each other but they didn’t. Instead, they tried to outdo each other. These sins crowded out, usurped the good things in their life.
In what ways are you letting your flesh lead your thoughts or actions? In what ways are you giving into sin lately? See that all sin dishonors God. He who things lightly of sin things lightly of a Savior!
- Not obeying and following God’s plan never works out good. Leban’s deception (sin) leads to Jacobs choosing to be disobedient to God’s design for marriage to be a one flesh union. Sin always compounds on itself, and harms those around us.
Praise God that despite our sin he is at work for his eternal purposes! We see the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham beginning to be fulfilled through Jacob. God used these two women who had 12 sons combined to start bringing about a people that would be more numerous than the sea shore, or the stars in heaven. God is laying the foundation for His redemptive plan as he paves a lineage for the promised redeemer, Jesus Christ! This is good news to all of us who claim Christ as Lord. We praise God for his enduring work through many generations of sinful and disobedient people in order to bring forth Christ in whom “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” Ephesians 1:7.
By His grace and for His glory,
-Shepherd
Soldiers for Jesus MC
National Chaplain
*Special thanks to Pastor Jason Taylor for his Gospel Partnership and help with this week’s devotional