Genesis 29:31-30:24

Genesis 29:31-30:24

Due to Jacob’s mistreatment of yet another close family member, God sent him a new wave of consequences. Yes, Jacob had been mistreated by Laban and received Leah as a wife in the process. On the human level, I can sympathize with Jacob over desiring another woman and ending up with less than anticipated. However, from a spiritual standpoint, sometimes life deals us circumstances that we never expected, and at those moments we have to decide how we are going to react. We can either deal with it and move on or get angry and only cause more problems, which is exactly what Jacob did. Due to the hatred he showed Leah, the Lord closed Rachel’s womb so that she could not bear children for the time being. At the same time, He opened Leah’s womb, and she bore 4 sons to Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. With each new son, Leah grew in her relationship with God. At first she recognized God’s presence in her life, but she tried to throw it in Jacob’s face so that he would love her. But by her 4th child, she realized that all the praise should go to God instead. Leah learned her lesson in this situation, but Jacob and Rachel were still far from where God wanted them.

Rachel only became jealous of Leah’s 4 children and demanded that she have children as well. But Jacob finally realized that it was not up to him, but to God. He did not understand yet why God had chosen to allow Leah to have children and not Rachel, but he was beginning to notice God’s presence in the situation. Rachel on the other hand, had not. To counteract Leah’s blessings, she allowed Jacob to have children through her servant Bilhah, considering these her own children. Through Bilhah, Rachel named Dan and Naphtali. She thought she had beaten out her sister, and continued to only see this as a contest. So Leah did the same and gave Jacob her servant Zilpah, which gave 2 more sons to Jacob: Gad and Asher.

Remember that these sons that are being born to Jacob will eventually become the 12 tribes of Israel. What is interesting to note is that they were all born out of jealousy and hate. The first 4 came due to Jacob’s hatred of Leah. The last 4 came out of jealousy between Leah and Rachel. To these two sisters, having children was only a contest, and although Leah did give thanks to God for one of her children, it seems as if she soon forgot who was blessing them with these children in the first place. We must never get so caught up in our lives that we miss out on God’s blessings. There have been times in my life that I have missed out on recognizing God’s blessings in my life all because I was too busy to take notice.

The war between Leah and Rachel only escalated, and it eventually led to a trade off (similar to that of Jacob and Esau). Wanting a specific type of food that Reuben (one of Leah’s sons had gathered), Rachel traded a night with Jacob for that food. As a result, Leah had a 5th child for Jacob, Issachar. She then conceived a 6th time, and Zebulun was born. Finally, she had one daughter as well, Dinah. Neither sister was in the right at this point, but it still appears as if Leah’s “success” in child bearing is all due to the way that she had been mistreated by both Jacob and Rachel. Now whether the two of them learned their lesson or not, God finally allowed Rachel to have a son, her first son, Joseph. It is obvious that God had this in the plan all along, for Joseph will later become a major instrument in God’s protection of His people. But it will be interesting to note later on that it is not Joseph that God chooses to continue Abraham’s line through. Is that due to the way his parents acted prior to his birth? I am not sure. Joseph is about to play a key role in the story of God’s creation of His people, His nation, but his arrival on this earth may have been delayed by Jacob and Rachel’s disobedience.

God always has a plan. In fact, He has a plan for all of our lives at this moment. What is even more amazing is that He knows exactly how it will play out, and what choices we are going to make in the process (whether good or bad). We are not God’s robots, being dictated to make certain moves along the way. We have free will, and our choices do affect the outcome. In this particular instance, it appears as if Jacob and Rachel’s choices delayed the birth of their first son. If they had only obeyed God from the start, the story of the births of the 12 tribes of Israel might have played out a little differently. But at the same time, God had a plan the whole way through, and He worked it out for His good, using Joseph in mighty ways years later.

Matt