The
end of Genesis 29 and Genesis 30:1-24 is the story of the dueling wives of
Jacob. Leah (the older sister) and Rachel (the younger sister) compete
for Jacob's love and attention. It becomes a bitter contest in spite of
the fact that Jacob clearly loves Rachel more than Leah. Here's the
progression of the narrative:
When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. [29:31]
1.
Leah gives birth to Reuben which means "see, a son".
2.
Leah gives birth to Simeon which means "the LORD heard".
3.
Leah gives birth to Levi which means "union (with my
husband)".
4.
Leah gives birth to Judah which means "praise".
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister...she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me..." [30:1,3]
5. Bilhah gives birth to Dan which means “He has listened to my plea.
6. Bilhah gives birth to Naphtali which means “trickery”
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. [30:9]
7. Zilpah gave birth to Gad which means “good fortune”.
8. Zilpah gave birth to Asher which means “happy”.
Leah
clearly wishes to please Jacob by bearing more children, so she sends her son,
Reuben, out to find mandrakes [regarded as an aphrodisiac]. Rachel, desperate to have a son, begs her
sister for some of the mandrakes. She
offers her husband to Leah that night in exchange for the mandrakes. She agrees and meets Jacob as he comes in
from the fields.
9. Leah gave birth to Issachar which means “reward”.
10. Leah gave birth to Zebulun which means “prince”.
Finally,
God remembered Rachel, listened to her and opened her womb.
11. Rachel gave birth to Joseph which means “he takes away my disgrace”.
Considerably
later, Rachel gives birth again and dies in the process [Genesis 35:16-18].
12. Rachel gave birth to Benjamin which means “son of my right hand”.
And
that is how we wound up with the twelve tribes of Israel!
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Where
do we go with this complex story of jealousy, manipulation and competition?
Well,
if we stretch, we can find some promising observations:
GOD SEEMS TO HAVE A BIAS
FOR THE NEGLECTED AND SUFFERING!
First,
it’s Leah who is unloved by her husband.
Consequently, God opens her womb and grants her four sons in a row!
Later
in the story, God takes compassion on Rachel and opens her womb to bear Joseph
and Benjamin!
GOD HEARS PRAYERS AND
RESPONDS!
Simeon means – God heard my prayer!
Dan means – God listened to my plea!
Joseph means – God took away my disgrace!
God is not aloof and remote! God is present to our needs and desires. He listens when we pray. He responds.
God had promised Abraham and Isaac
(and Jacob) that they would be the fathers of a great nation as numberless as
the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea.
Abraham (the father of many nations)
had one son!
Isaac had two sons (who quarreled).
But Jacob – ah, Jacob became the
father of TWELVE sons! Finally, we’re
seeing the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham!
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Now think about that…
Can you serve a God who has a bias for
the suffering; who hears and responds to
prayer; and who fulfills His promises?
I certainly can! Glory to God!
He brings order out of chaos! God
turns the bad toward the good! If God is
for us – who can be against us?
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