Name: Rachel
Meaning: Ewe
Her Character: Rachel was loyal to her husband.
Her Sorrow: Her inability to conceive a child, and her competitive relationship with her sister, Leah.
Her Triumph: God opened her womb, and she bore Jacob two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.
Key Scripture: Genesis 29 – 35
Although this “Women of the Bible” is about Rachel, it is impossible to share her story without mentioning Jacob and Leah. The story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel is very familiar. Jacob journeyed to the land, Haran, of his mother Rebekah. He met Rachel at the same well that Rebekah met Abraham’s servant, Eliezer. He explained their relationship, and she went and got her father, Laban.
Jacob fell in love with the beautiful Rachel. Jacob told her father that he would work for him for seven years to pay for Rachel. When Jacob awoke in the wedding bed seven years later, he discovered he had been tricked into marrying Leah. So, he agreed to work another seven years for Rachel, but he was married to her a week after he married Leah.
Then the race began to bear Jacob children. Leah had four sons, and it was a sore point for Rachel. Rachel then told Jacob to take her maid. Her maid bore him two sons. Leah then gave Jacob her maid, and she bore him two sons. Leah then went on to have two more sons and a daughter. It is then that God remembered Rachel’s plight, and she bore a son. She would eventually die bearing a second son.
Rachel had what many women dream of. She had the love of her husband. In fact, Jacob’s love for Rachel was much greater than his love for Leah. The Bible also tells us that she was very beautiful while Leah was not.
A lot can be said about the weaknesses of Rachel. She was envious of Leah’s fruitfulness. She seemed to believe that Jacob’s love for her was based off of her ability to conceive when in fact Jacob had given Rachel his devoted love. It is true that in her society, a woman’s status was based on her ability to produce children, but Jacob’s love for her was not impacted by this.
Rachel also probably harbored bitterness and resentment against her father. Her father’s deceit on what was to be her wedding day stole her blessing. This could be the reason she stole her father’s household idols when her family fled. She exhibited her father’s duplicity in her ability to keep the idols hidden when he pursued them. She may also have felt bitterness for Leah for her part in deceiving Jacob.
Rachel is an example of an error many of us often make today. We try to earn the love of God and other people when love is something that can’t be earned. It is something to accept freely when given. God’s love for us can’t be earned by acts. It is something that He gave to us freely. For God so loved the world that He gave.
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