Rachel

Before we get to Rachel, let me set the stage.  Abraham’s son, Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. Isaac sends Jacob to Rebekah’s brother (whose name is Laban) to find a wife. Isaac wanted to make sure that their children stayed in their lineage.  Following so far? Little laugh

We first meet Rachel in Genesis 29 when Jacob happens upon her as she is about to water her father's flock. She was the second daughter of Laban who again is Rebekah's brother, making Jacob her first cousin. Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban. 

We read in verses 9-12

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. 10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

Jacob stayed with Laban and fell in love with Rachel.  Laban said that Jacob could have her hand in marriage if he agreed to work for him for seven years.  Jacob agreed.

In verse 20 we read

20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Wow!  Now that is true love!  I know a lot of people who have had long engagements but remember Jacob had to serve and work for her.

We see in verse 21 that Jacob completes his 7 years.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.”

If we go back to verses 16- 17, we know that Laban had 2 daughters, the older one is Leah and she had weak eyes but Rachel was beautiful.  It is not clear what weak eyes means here, it could be an eye impairment or a physical deformity but in another passage that it shares that Leah proclaims that God has seen her suffering and hatred to her.  I mentioned this here because Leah may have appeared to be not worthy of a marriage to Laban so he needed to do something with his eldest daughter.

Now, what does Laban do to Jacob?  He tricks him.

Verses 22-27 read

22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 24 And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

25 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?”

26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”

Now, Jacob is not already married to Leah but he has to work another 7 years for Laban to get Rachel!

After another 7 years Jacob and Rachel get married.  Obviously Jacob loves Rachel a lot.

But here is where the story takes a turn. In verse 31, 

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 

This podcast is about Rachel but we really have not heard from or truly know about Rachel at this point.  Clearly Jacob loves her and I assumed she loved him back.  Was it her fault she was born beautiful and her sister had an issue?  Was it her fault she was born 2nd?  What is going on that she now cannot conceive and her sister can?  Was the Lord feeling sorry for Leah?  I believe that the Lord gave her the love and comfort through a child that she was not getting from Jacob.

I believe that Rachel is still praying and yearning for a child.  I think it is interesting how both women could be jealous of each other.  Rachel is jealous of Leah because she can have children and Leah is jealous of Rachel because she is beautiful and Jacbo loves her.  When we look at their stories, it is easy for us to judge.  Why aren’t they just happy with what God gave them?  But how quickly can we look at our own lives and know the jealousy we have against others yet God has more than blessed us.  We need a reminder to not get caught up in these things and to trust in God.  Easier said than done, right?  We are all human but pray on these things.

Psalms 103:2 says "Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me."

As throughout the whole Bible, we will continue to see over and over that God has a plan.  It is His timing for the plan and we must be patient and trusting that His plan will be fulfilled.  There are going to be bumps along the way.  No one said that the Christian life was a smooth ride.  Let’s be Rachel and pray and trust God in his timing.

But going back to Leah -  Leah ends up bearing Jacob 7 sons and 1 daughter, yet remains unloved by Jacob.

Going into Genesis chapter 30, we see that Rachel is angry and jealous at this point.  Clearly the love of Jacob was not enough, she wanted to bear him children. What does Rachel do? She does what we all do when we are impatient, she tries to take matters into her own hands instead of trusting God. We cannot not judge Rachel too harshly here, we have all fallen short in trusting God fully.  We have all been here in a situation where we try to take matters in our own hands.  It is what happens and how we learn from what happens that is key when we fall into our human habits.

Rachel was so desperate to have children and was unable to conceive herself; she gave her servant to Jacob. She hoped to have children "through her" and essentially claim them as her own, mirroring the actions of her grandmother Sarah with Hagar. In ancient times, it was not uncommon for a woman to offer her servant to her husband to bear children on her behalf.  Rachel should have learned from Sarah that this would not work but she does it anyway.  To top it off Leah and Rachel get into a war about bearing sons for Jacob. 

Verses 7 - 11 read 

Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.  Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad.

Wow, I am exhausted just reading about this! So Jacob has several sons and daughters at this point but none from the love of his life. 

Finally in verse 22, we see God steps in and allows Rachel to become pregnant and bear a son.

22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive.

Do you think Rachel was praying this whole time for a son?  Like I shared, I believe she was. Despite trying to take matters in her own hands and having a very jealous war with her sister- in the end Rachel would bear Jacob 2 sons and one of them will be extremely pivotal in God’s big plan throughout the Bible (this is Joseph). We often make mistakes, try to take matters into our own hands, but through prayer and forgiveness, we can have faith in God that he will ultimately provide according to his plan, that is ultimately the past path forward for us.

Ultimately,  we need to trust God’s plans and trust his timing.  Rachel was deceived by her own father and led a troubled life but in the end God blessed her.  I believe Rachel never stopped believing in God and continued to pray to him and in His timing He answered her prayers although her worldly actions did not always display that level of obedience. As humans, we have to navigate our worldly actions to align with the matters of our heart and our prayers.

Life is full of surprises and we may not understand God’s plan, we need to trust him no matter what.