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Stories of brother we’ve all heard them. There are stories about brothers, Charles Dickens had a tale of two cities. In the Book of Genesis, we have already had two stories of brothers, Cain and Abel Isaac and Esau with plenty more to come. But he has another tale of siblings but this time it is a tale of two women, two sisters,  Leah and Rachel. This is a very interesting story, for one thing, there’s more detail given about this story than for example the one concerning Cain and Abel. What is it we should know about this tale of two women? Well, there’s a lot we can learn from this as a matter of fact, this passage gives us insight into the Lord. It also gives us some insights into the history of Israel, and it also tells us some things about us. So lets begin to look at the story picking the biblical text up in in Genesis Chapter 29 where I’m going to begin reading with verse 30. Genesis 29, verse 30. 

“Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.  When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”

(Genesis 29: 30-32)

In order to really appreciate what’s going on in these verses, you need to recall what happened in the first part of Genesis Chapter 29. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and made a deal with her father that if he worked for seven years, he could marry her. So, he worked for seven years and at the end of that time, the father pulled a switch on him on his wedding night and substituted Leah for Racheal in the marriage tent and Jacob instead of consummating the marriage with Rachel, he found out in the next morning that he had consummated it with Leah. Now, as you can imagine, he was not happy about that, now there was a custom that the oldest daughter should get married first among Laban people, but he still tricked Jacob into sleeping with the wrong daughter. Now if you are asking how dd Jacob fall for that one well we considered all the different theories as to how that might have happened in the last episode. At any rate, Jacob ends up married to Leah. But he loved Rachel, so he struck another deal with the father that if he worked for another seven years, he would get the second daughter Rachael as his wife also. They agreed to that and that is how he ended up with Rachel as his wife also. So, what we saw happen in these verses that I just read is that we see that Jacob consummated the union with Rachael. But it also says in verse 30, he loved Rachel more than Leah. Noticed very carefully, because this is important, the fact that he says he loved Rachel more than Leah. Does that mean he did not love Leah at all? No, it just means he loved Rachel more than Leah, He loved them both, but his initial desire was to be with Racheal so maybe we should not be surprised that he loved her more. He loved Rachel intensely and he married her and then served still another seven years to complete the agreement he made with Laban. 

Be that as it may, the point of verse 31 is that the Lord saw that Leah was loved less, and he therefore allowed her to become pregnant to comfort her, but Rachel was childless. We are then told Leah gave birth to Rubin. She named him Ruben; the Hebrew word translated Ruben means behold a son. So, she named her son according to her experience with the Lord. You might also note it says the LORD, it does not use the generic term “ God” but the personal title of God “LORD”, that’s the covenant name for God in the Old Testament, so that this indicates a personal relationship with him. So here is a lady who feels somewhat unloved by her husband, and apparently, she is crying out to the Lord and the Lord looked takes pity on her and she conceived and has a son Ruben. Now the last line of verse 32 is very instructive, she says, maybe my husband will love me. She’s still feeling unloved, or at least not loved as much her sister. The text continues.

“She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So, she named him Simeon”.

(Genesis 29: 34)

So, notice, she says because the Lord heard, she named her son, the Lord has heard. Once again, she’s giving credit to the Lord. Verse 34. 

“Again, she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So, he was named Levi”.

(Genesis 29: 34)

Now, as you can guess, at this point the Hebrew word translated Levi means attached, so it appears she is thinking at this point now that she has three sons surely I will be attached my husband. So, she named her son accordingly. Then first 35 it says, 

“She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah.Then she stopped having children”.

(Genesis 29: 35)

Last child, she calls him Judah. The word Judah means praise and she named him because she praised the Lord and she had four sons. Now this, I’m calling round one, as we shall see as we get into the passage, there is a conflict between these two sisters, both of whom are married to Jacob. In round one, Leah feels unloved, yet she takes her case to the Lord, and the Lord gives her four sons, which would make a man in that day very happy. Notice carefully the meaning of the names of those children reflect her acknowledgement of the blessing of the Lord. So, on the one hand, God has blessed her because she is unloved, and on the other hand, she is still longing for the love of her husband.

One commentary I read said, Leah seems to have been a godly woman who spent much time in prayer concerning her marriage and her children. She acknowledged that her sons were given by the Lord in response to her prayers and to compensate for her difficult position in the home. 

So, in round one, Leah is unloved and the Lord because of her trust in him, blesses her with four sons. Round two begins. In chapter 30 verse one, where we are told. 

“When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So, she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

(Genesis 30: 1)

This is the beginning of the record of the conflict between these two. Rachael didn’t have children, so she becomes jealous of her sister, who had four. But notice what the text says, she says to Jacob. Give me children or I’ll die. I think in a sense she is blaming him. 

How can he do that he responds. I mean, he’s done all he can as a husband. With Leah having children it doesn’t appear to be down to him and yet she’s blaming him. This is the oldest trick in the human book, it’s called blame shifting. Remember Adam and Eve, when he ate from the tree and the Lord comes to Adam and says what have you done and he shifts the blame and he says, well, it’s not me, it’s the woman you gave me, persuaded me. Blame shifting is the oldest trick of the human race and here Rachel is using it on Jacob. His response is in verse 2.

“Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

(Genesis 30: 2)

That’s an interesting idea, back in Chapter 29, verse 30 he says he loved Rachel more than Leah. He was deeply in love with this woman, it was an intense attraction upon first meeting. It was love at first sight, so to speak, and yet he got anger with her, that interesting.  You can love somebody and be angry with them. As a matter of fact, the Lord repeatedly gets angry at his children, which is obvious if you read the Bible especially the Old Testament. So, he was angry with her and said, “am I in the place of God”. What are you talking about? It’s not my fault. I don’t have the power to do this.  Look at her response now.

“Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me, and I too can build a family through her”.

(Genesis 30: 3)

So, Rachel could not get pregnant, so she said here is my maid, get her pregnant and she will put a child in my lap.  It's all starts to play out from here.

“So, she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan”.

(Genesis 30: 4-6)

So, at this point. Jacob, get more wives, and Rachel eventually also has a child and when she  finally gets pregnant, she says God has judged my case and he’s heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore, she called his name Dan, and the word Dan means judged.  So, God has decided. That’s the idea here to help her. And she called her son Dan to commemorate the fact that God decided. But there’s more to pick it up at verse seven.

“Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So, she named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So, she named him Asher.

(Genesis 30: 7-13)

You need to note back in verse one it says Rachel was envious of her sister and now it says in verse eight that she was wrestling with her sister, and this is the point of this chapter, it’s one of the main points. There are others but one of the main aspects of the story is identifying the fact that these two sisters have a constant tension between them that spills over into and conflict. They are wrestling with each other. So that’s round one, we will look at round two of their conflict next episode.