Women of the Bible Rachel and Leah Finish

In this study we will take a look at the women within the Bible. We will look at each one of them and see how their story influences our lives today.

As we continue our study in this fantastic insight of the Women of the Bible, this morning we complete our study on Rachel and Leah

Names in the Bible often say something about the person:

Rachel means 'ewe', a female sheep, a symbol of prosperity and security for nomadic people
Leah means 'weary or wild cow'
Jacob means 'heel grabber', either his brother's heel at the moment of birth or his brother's inheritance later on; the name can also mean 'deceiver'
Laban means 'white'; it was sometimes linked with leprosy
Reuben means 'behold, a son!'
Joseph means 'may he add or increase'

The story contains five different episodes:  
 1 Rachel meets Jacob at the well, Genesis 29:1-14
 2 Leah and Rachel marry Jacob, Genesis 29:15-30
 3 Rachel has a son, Joseph, Genesis 29:31-15, 30:1-24
 4 Rachel and Leah leave with Jacob, and Rachel takes the sacred household deities, Genesis 30:25-43, 31
 5 Rachel has a son, Benjamin, and dies soon after, Genesis 35:16-30

In our last study we learned about Jacob leaving his homeland and traveling to his mother’s homeland of Haran to find a wife. There at the well Jacob meets his future wife Rachel. But hold on Rachel as we learned had a older sister Leah. When Jacob went into their father and asks for his daughters hand in marriage, Labin tricks Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. So we see that Jacob must fulfill his promise to Labin for the hand of Rachel. As the story unfolds we see Leah producing children for Jacob. However we see that Rachel faced a different problem. No matter how she prayed to Yahweh, no matter how much she was loved by Jacob, Rachel did not conceive. In desperation she gave her maid Bilhah [timid, bashful] to Jacob, so that he could conceive a child with Bilhah as a surrogate mother for Rachel. This practice was common in the ancient world [Code of Khammurabi section 145]; the woman became a concubine instead of a servant, and it was a step up the social ladder for her. She might become the mother of the future tribal leader. 

 Bilhah had a son, whom Rachel named Dan [judge]. Then she had a second son, and Rachel called him Naphtali [my wrestling]. In response, Leah gave her own maid Zilpah [trickling] to Jacob, and this resulted in yet more sons: Gad [troop] and Asher [happy]. A bitter rivalry grew up between the two women.  

We pick up our story in Genesis Chapter 30

(1-4) Rachel, out of frustration, gives Jacob her maid Bilhah to bear children through her.

(5-6) The birth of Dan.

(7-8) The birth of Naphtali.

(9-11) The birth of Gad.

(12-13) The birth of Asher.

(14-18) The birth of Issachar.

(19-20) The birth of Zebulun.

(21) The birth of Dinah.

Finally we read in verse 22 that Yahweh remembers Rachel and opens her womb.

Verses 23, 24, “She conceived and bore a son and said, 'Elohim has taken away my reproach'; and she named him Joseph (let me add or adding), saying 'May Yahweh add to me another son!'” 

Rachel and Leah flee with Jacob

At this stage, Jacob felt Yahweh calling him to return to his homeland. Rachel and Leah were also dissatisfied by the way things were panning out financially, and felt they are not getting what they were entitled to as Laban's daughters. It was time to go. They both urged Jacob to take action. 

It seems that Rachel in particular was still angry at her father for what he had done to her. Before they set out, she took the small figurines that represented the spirits of ancestors and the protective deities of her father's family (the teraphim), telling no one at all what she was doing. 

This was not a random act of malice, for years ago on what should have been her wedding night, Laban had stolen Rachel's happiness. Now she stole something that was precious to him - pay-back for a life-time of bullying. 

But her act had wider significance than this, because the teraphim (This word occurs only in the plural, and denotes images connected with magical rites. The teraphim, translated, "images", in the Authorized Version, carried away from Laban, by Rachel, were regarded by Laban as elohims, and it would, therefore, appear that they were used by those who added corrupt practices to the patriarchal religion) were a form of title deed, and the person who possessed them could claim the tribe's wealth. Ownership of the household deities was the privilege of the head of the family, and by taking them Rachel secured this position for her husband. 

 The whole family group assembled; ready to return to the land of Jacob's father, Isaac. They crossed the Euphrates and headed towards the hill country of Gilead.

 But it was not going to be as easy as that. Laban pursued them, caught up with them, and confronted them. Where were the household elohims? They were missing and Laban wanted them back. 

 This was news to Jacob. He did not know Rachel had taken them, since she had kept them hidden and had not told anyone what she had done. Jacob then made one of those foolish pronouncements that give the reader a hint that something bad is coming: he indignantly denied knowledge of the theft, and said that whoever had done such a thing should die.

 Laban searched the tents of Jacob, Leah, and the two maids to find the teraphim- each woman in a polygamous marriage had her own separate tent.  

Laban found nothing. Then he went into Rachel's tent, where the teraphim were hidden. What he did not know was that Rachel had hidden them in the saddlebags of her camel. She greeted her father respectfully but did not rise from where she was sitting. She explained modestly that she could not do so, since she was menstruating.     

'Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.'

This meant that the cloth on which she was sitting was ritually unclean, and could not be touched by anyone. Most ancient tribes had customs that allowed menstruating women to withdraw from physical contact with the tribe while they had their periods, and women welcomed this time of rest from their usual tasks. 

Rachel's manner towards her father was so sweet and yielding that Laban did not argue or tell her to move, and the upshot was that he left her tent empty-handed. She had used the laws of ritual cleanliness to her own advantage. The irony was that it was a lie. She was already pregnant with a son.

Since Laban could not find the teraphim, he had to back down. The two men made a face-saving covenant, and early the next morning Laban said good-bye to them all, and left.

When Laban was gone Rachel's family moved on, and on the way to Ephrath she went into labor. This time things did not go well for her. The pains were very bad, and Rachel suffered terribly. To comfort her, the midwife told her it would be a boy. It was, but Rachel would not live to see him grow. She died in childbirth. 

 Join me as we go Chapter by Chapter, Verse by Verse, Unraveling the Words of Yahweh!

Have any questions? Feel free to email me; keitner2024@outlook.com