Read with Me
Genesis 35:16-20 (HCSB)
They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.” With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave to this day.
Listen with Me
Jacob decided to continue south from Bethel to Hebron in the hills west of the Dead Sea where his father and mother were now living. He had not seen his parents since he had left for Haran more than twenty years earlier, but he had learned where they were camped from his brother, Esau.
But Jacob and his group had not gone many miles from Bethel when Rachel showed signs of going into labor. The caravan stopped north of Ephrath, the village later known as Bethlehem, to wait until she gave birth to continue.
But the labor did not go as expected. The pain grew unbearable, and Rachel grew weaker. Finally, just as the baby boy was born, her strength gave out entirely, alarming the woman who is acting as midwife. She tried to encourage Rachel with the news that the child was a boy, but Rachel’s only response was to weekly say, “Benoni”, “the son of my suffering”. Then she grew unresponsive and died shortly thereafter.
Jacob was of course heartbroken at the loss of the woman for whom he had given fourteen years of hard work. They were too far from the family tomb at Machpelah to bury her there, so Jacob chose to bury her by the road, and he erected a standing stone over the spot where her body lay.
Jacob refused to call the new baby boy “Ben Oni”, the last words sighed by Rachel. That would have forced the child to live every day as a reminder of the suffering his mother had gone through in his birth. Instead, he called him “Benjamin”, “son of my right hand”, a good strong name that he hoped would foreshadow good things for him.
Pray with Me
Father, this was one of the great tragedies of Jacob’s life, one that shaped his remaining years, leading him to dote on Rachel’s two boys, Joseph and Benjamin, and causing the other boys to resent both them and him, leading to even more heartache in the future. But thankfully, even though Rachel perished in giving birth, you preserve Benjamin, bringing the final number of the patriarchs to twelve. Lord, help me to trust in you even when the road becomes hard, even when I experience pain and loss. Help me to always look forward to the future you have set in place for me, so that I can walk into it boldly. Amen.