Read with Me
Genesis 30:1-8 (HCSB)
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.
Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld children from you?”
Then she said, “Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.” So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son,” and she named him Dan.
Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali.
Listen with Me
As Rachel saw her sister, Leah, having son after son for Jacob, she grew fearful. Having children, preferably sons who could carry on the line, was seen at the time as the whole purpose for wives. And since Leah was doing that and Rachel couldn’t, Rachel saw herself as less valuable than her sister, and she feared that Jacob would soon come to love and value Leah more than her. She even feared that Jacob would return her to her father is damaged goods, and she would have to live under her father’s care for the rest of her life.
Rachel’s first response to this fear was to lash out at Jacob. But Jacob, who was as frustrated by the whole situation as Rachel was, lashed back. It wasn’t his fault that Rachel hadn’t yet conceived. He was doing all he could to make it happen. This led him to the conclusion that it must be God who was preventing conception.
This all struck Jacob as a familiar situation. After all, his mother, Rebecca, had been barren for the first twenty years of her and Isaac’s marriage (Genesis 25:20, 26), and only conceived the twins after seeking God’s help. Jacob’s grandmother, Sarah, was barren until Isaac’s miraculous conception and birth when she was ninety years old. So, Jacob understood that this seemed to be a generational problem, and that God could help.
But before any kind of solution could come from Jacob, Rachel suggested the traditional solution. In that society, a barren wife could have a slave bear children for her. Those children would be legally counted as being the children of the barren woman and thus remove her stigma.
Rachel only had one slave, Bilhah, but she would do. Jacob agreed to the arrangement, if for no other reason than to restore Rachel’s confidence and bring peace back to their union. The strategy paid off. Rachel name the first son Dan, or “vindication”, and the second Naphtali, or “my struggle”, both indicative of her competitive mindset at that time.
Pray with Me
Father, those who are critical of Rachel and Jacob for using this strategy instead of seeking a miracle from You need to remember that at the time both of them were very much pagans in their mindset, with Jacob having only the smallest idea of who You were and what You could accomplish. But we who are part of Your kingdom today have no such excuse. We know, or at least we should know, who You are, as well as Your amazing power that can do far more than we ask or even imagine. Lord, help us to keep You at the forefront of every decision, no matter what the circumstances, so that You can work unhindered in our lives, and so that You can receive all the honor and glory for every good thing that happens. Amen.