The Matriarchs: Part
2--Leah and Rachel, wives of Jacob
Woman complements man.
Therefore, man must complement woman.
If it is not good for man to be alone, it is not good for woman to be
alone. Together, we manifest the image of God.
If we do not complete, we will compete.
The story of Leah, the first wife of the patriarch Jacob,
begins in Genesis 29:16: “Now Laban had two daughters: the name of
the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
Leah's eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and
appearance. Now Jacob loved Rachel” (Genesis 29:16-18 NKJV).
Laban was Rebekah’s brother. We see some family patterns
here. Rebekah had come up with the plan
for Jacob to trick Esau and their father.
Laban devised the plan to trick Jacob into marrying Leah. Later Rachel tricked her father by stealing
the family idols. Reuben tricked Jacob into sleeping again with Leah by
bringing mandrake roots to his mother.
Later, Reuben had sex with Bilhah, a act that declared a son’s intention
of taking over his father’s position as leader of the clan.
Jacob loved Rachel, but Leban, because it was the custom for
the older sister to marry first, tricked Jacob into marrying Leah. Later,
Jacob was allowed to marry Rachel as well. He served Laban fourteen
years for Rachel. Jacob fulfilled his martial obligation to both women. Rachel was loved, but barren for many
years. Though unloved, Leah was fruitful.
The competition was on to see who could provide the most
sons for Jacob.
Jacob’s sons became the heads of the twelve tribes of
Israel. Leah was the mother of six of those
tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun
. She and Jacob also had a daughter, Dinah. Later, Leah
gave her handmaiden, Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. As was the custom,
the children of Zilpah were considered the children of Leah. The two
sons from that union were Gad and Asher. Asher means
“happiness.” At last Leah was happy.
Rachel prayed for the Lord to give her
children. When she remained barren, she gave her handmaiden Bilhah
to Jacob. The sons of Bilhah were
considered Rachel’s sons.
The first of those sons was named Daniel (God has judged).
Rachel declared that God had judged her favorably and had given her a son. The second son was Naphtali meaning “I have
prevailed.” Naphtali comes from a root
word referring to wrestling.
The competition was fierce.
After many years, “God remembered Rachel,
and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son,
and said, "God has taken away my reproach." So she called his name
Joseph (Increase), and said, "The LORD shall add to me another
son" (Genesis 30:22-24 NKJV).
God did give Rachel another son. On the family’s
journey back to the Promised Land, near Bethlehem, Rachel died giving birth to
Benjamin. “And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died),
that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel
died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)”
(Genesis 35:18-19 NKJV).
Ben-Oni: son of my sorrow and pain
Benjamin: son of my right hand or strength
The competition and trickery had continued.
Reuben tricked Jacob into sleeping again with Leah by
bringing mandrake roots to his mother.
Later, Reuben had sex with Bilhah, an act that declared a son’s
intention of taking over his father’s position as leader of the clan.
The competition intensified when Jacob gave the coat of many
colors to Joseph. That coat was a sign
that Jacob was passing his authority to the first-born of his favorite wife,
Rachel.
Joseph had 10 older brothers who took offense and sought to
destroy Joseph.
The plans of the brothers failed. After his brothers sold him, Joseph became a
slave in Egypt, and rose in power until
he became second in command under Pharaoh.
It was under Joseph’s authority that his family was saved
from famine.
When he was dying in Egypt, Jacob blessed Joseph with the
double portion by blessing Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Though he was the second son, Ephraim
received the greater blessing.
Genesis 48:13. And
Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand,
and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them
near him.
14. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and
laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's
head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15. And he blessed Joseph, and said: "God,
before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my
life long to this day,
16. the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless
the lads; let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham
and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.''
17. Now when Joseph
saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased
him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to
Manasseh's head.
18. And Joseph said to his father, "Not so,
my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.''
19. But his father refused and said, "I
know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be
great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his
descendants shall become a multitude of nations.''
20. So he blessed them that day, saying, "By
you Israel will bless, saying, `May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!'
'' And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Ephraim’s tribe became the largest of the 12 tribes. Joshua, who led the Israelites into the
Promised Land after the death of Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim.
From Rachel’s son Joseph, we learn that God seeks to bless,
provide for and increase His people in spite of our shenanigans
We cannot forget Rachel’s second son, Benjamin.
Judges 19-21 records the story of the near extermination of
the tribe of Benjamin.
A Levite leaving
among the tribe of Ephraim had a concubine who became angry with him and
returned to the house of her father in Bethlehem in Judah. The Levite went
to Bethlehem to bring back. Her father
convinced the Levite to stay for five days. On the fifth day, the Levite and
his party, including the concubine and a servant, started out late in the day.
At nightfall, they came to Gibeah in the territory of
Benjamin. As was the custom, they went
to the city square to see if anyone would offer them hospitality. An old man offered them shelter for the
night.
Judges 19:22-24: Now
as they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted
men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the
house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came to your house,
that we may know him carnally!''
But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and
said to them, "No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing
this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage.
"Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man's
concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you
please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!''
Apparently, all the men involved had adopted the mentality
and habits of the Canaanites among whom they lived. Notice the attitude toward women.
And the story gets worse.
Judges 19:25-29: But
the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out
to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the
day began to break, they let her go.
Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at
the door of the man's house where her master was, till it was light. When her
master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to
go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her
hands on the threshold. And he said to
her, "Get up and let us be going.'' But there was no answer. So the man
lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.
When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his
concubine, and dismembered her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her
throughout all the territory of Israel.
The other 11 tribes united against the tribe of Benjamin and
demanded that the guilty men be given over for punishment. When the Benjaminites refused , a civil war broke out. After serious losses, the united tribes
prayed, fasted and offered sacrifices to the Lord.
No mention is made of what the Lord might have said to
them.
Then the tribes set an ambush for the Benjaminites. About
600 survived the onslaught and ran to
the rock of Rimmon where they remained
for four months. The Israelites withdrew through the territory off Benjamin,
destroying every city they came to, killing every inhabitant and all the
livestock.
The men of Israel swore an oath at saying, "None of us
shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.
Then the people came to the house of God, and remained there
before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, and
said, "O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that
today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”
And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their
brother, and said, "One tribe is cut off from Israel today. What shall we
do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we
will not give them our daughters as wives?" And they said, "What one
is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the
Lord?"
After surveying the Israelites troops, they discovered that
no one from Jebesh Gilead and come to the camp.
So the congregation sent out twelve thousand of their most
valiant men, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of
Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. And
this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and
every woman who has known a man intimately."
Judges 21: So they
found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had
not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which
is in the land of Canaan. Then the whole congregation sent word to the children
of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them.
So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had
saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough
for them. And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord (?) had made a
void in the tribes of Israel.
Then the elders of the congregation said, "What shall
we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been
destroyed?" And they said, "There must be an inheritance for the
survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. However,
we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have
sworn an oath, saying, 'Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.'"
Then they said, "In fact, there is a yearly feast of the Lord
in Shiloh.
Therefore, they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying,
"Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch; and just when the daughters
of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards,
and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to
the land of Benjamin. Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers
come to us to complain, that we will say to them, 'Be kind to them for our
sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not
as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves
guilty of your oath.'"
And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives
for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and
returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.
So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his
tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.
Woman complements man.
Therefore, man must complement woman.
If it is not good for man to be alone, it is not good for woman to be
alone. Together, we manifest the image of God.
Benjamin was the smallest tribe.
Two mighty men were descendants of Benjamin:
∙King Saul was a man mighty in physical power.
▪The Apostle Paul was
a man mighty in spiritual power.
What about the sons of Leah?
On his death bed, Jacob blessed the tribe of Judah with
kingship. "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall
praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's
children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp; From the
prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a
lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall
be the obedience of the people.”(Genesis 49:8-10 NKJV).
This prophecy had significance not only for for the sons of
Leah, but also the Church.
In that blessing is the promise that the Messiah will come
from the tribe of Judah, the son of Leah. Leah’s blessings are not
just for time but for all eternity.
About 400 years later, in Exodus 19:5-6 (NKJV), the Lord
spoke to Moses about the divine plan for the twelve tribes, “Now therefore, if
you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special
treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you
shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the
words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
Moses, Aaron and Miriam were of the tribe of Levi, the third
son of Leah
.
When the tribe of Levi stood with Moses after the incident
of the golden calf, God blessed them with the
priesthood. Thereafter, all the priests and temple workers were from
the tribe of Levi, the son of Leah.
John the Baptist was of the tribe of Levi.
Jacob and his wives did not complement one another. Yet, in spite of all the competition and
chaos that continues until today, the purposes of God were accomplished.
Though our sins can be forgiven, though
God can work in spite of us, we still must face the consequences, the natural
result, of our sin.
Link to the PowerPoint for this session:
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