The Blessing of Children
Genesis 29:31-35
The Bible says that children are blessings. Psalm 127:3 says they are the “heritage of the LORD, and that the man who has many of them is blessed. Jacob would eventually have 12 sons and at least one daughter. So in one way we can see that Jacob was blessed with a quiver full of them. But as Psalm 127 which compares children with sharp arrows in a positive light, we must remember that arrows can create quite painful and deadly wounds as well. It has been said that children are blessings with strings attached.
When we consider that the Book of Genesis was written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Moses, some time before crossing over Jordan into the Promised Land. The Children of Israel would have to learn how to deal with a land blessed with milk and honey. There was also the possibility that temporal blessings can become a curse if they lead us away from God.
God chose to include the not so pleasing acts of His people in the Bible. The wilderness generation would learn of the exploits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the Bible also shows their failings as well. Truly, God is the only true hero in the Bible. Israel needed to learn from both the good examples and the bad. So we read of Abraham who boldly steps out in faith to follow God to a land which he was promised. But the same Abraham in time of famine went to Egypt and there tried to give his wife away to Pharaoh. God rescued Abram and Sarai from Egypt, and they left with great possessions. However, these temporal blessings became a snare when the land could not bear the combined herds of Abram and Lot which led to a tragic separation, especially for Lot. Isaac too, after being promised of the LORD’s blessings let his wife Rebekah be taken by Abimelech. The blessings of Isaac became a source of strife with his neighbors. How often are the good blessings of God used by Satan to cause the wounds of disharmony and strife.
In today’s lesson, another painful lesson is to be learned. It was said in the previous passage in Genesis that Jacob loved Rachel more than his sister Leah. Being “blessed with two wives isn’t always a blessing. Here it says that God took the side of the hated Leah and caused her to become pregnant. She gave birth to four sons, one after the other while Rachel remained barren. This blessing unfortunately became a form of boasting which caused strife in Jacob’s family. At least it can be said that Jacob who had been deceived by his father-in-law to marry Leah was faithful to her and performed the duties necessary for her to have children. Jacob could be a scoundrel at times, but he had some good points as well.
Jacob would not have to wait for a long time to become a father like Abraham and Isaac. These children were conceived the natural way without the miraculous intervention by the LORD. And Leah was his legal wife and not a concubine. But it would not be long that this blessing would pierce his family with discord and lead to utter chaos. We shall see that in the next chapter.
Leah would initially have these four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and then Judah. Reuben as a legitimate firstborn, the culture of that day said as firstborn, he was to be especially favored. It would seem natural that the blessed seed, Christ would come through his loins by one of his descendants. Bu this was not to be, as we will find out. Neither would Simeon or Levi receive the blessing. We shall see that the blessing will eventually rest on Judah, who was not exactly the most godly of Jacob’s sons.
So we leave this passage today with an exuberant mother, Leah, who named her fourth son “praise.” She praised the LORD and also saw it as a way for her to become the favored wife. A woman’s worth was tied up in those days in bearing sons, and she had four of them now. The other wife Rachel was embittered because she was childless. One can only imagine how much strife was in the family with Jacob having to act as referee between the two wives. And the children looked on. We see this later on repeat itself with the two wives of Elkanah in the Book of 1 Samuel.
We can see how this strife in Jacob’s family would serve as a warning to the Israelites. They would need to be united in the fight against their enemies in Canaan. Later on, strife would divide the Israelites into two kingdoms who fought petty wars against each other.
The passage also teaches the church today some very important lessons. The book of Psalms teaches us how wonderful it is for the brethren to dwell in unity. God wants peace in the family. God is no Jacob, but the perfect example of a father, an example we must copy. He has called out a church from all the nations of the earth, both Jew and Gentile. The promised seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, is to be a blessing to the entire world, not just Israel. He loves the Christian who comes from a Jewish background as much but not more than the Gentile. Before we enter into the promised rest, the one that Abraham ultimately looked for, the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, before this, we must learn from the example of Scripture, both good and bad ones. There will be no strife in heaven. There will be no denominational wars. There will not be a separation of rich and poor, black or white, or male or female. These differences will not cause division in heaven.
But as Israel was to be a testimony in olden times to the faithfulness of Yahweh, we too are called to be the light of the world. But even as Jacob, and later the nation of Israel failed to consistently bring the good news about Yahweh to the nations, we too at times miserably fail the LORD. What does the world see when it looks upon the church? Does it see a beautiful Bride of Christ without spot or wrinkle? Or does it see a church “by heresies distressed?” All our squabbles are a poor billboard for advertising the Kingdom of God. Instead of observing baptism and the Lord’s Supper together, the very symbols of what should be our common faith are the source of our bitterest debates. We simply must do better.
In our local churches, we see the strife in miniature which is seen globally. We bicker just like James and John over who is the greatest. Who is most blessed. If we have this attitude, then all of our blessings become curses instead. Yet the church has but one foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord as both Paul and Samuel Sebastian Wesley remind us. We can also take solace that because God is the hero of our story, and nothing is impossible with God, we can know for sure that God will work this all out in the end. It would be utterly impossible for us. But the vision seen by John in the Apocalypse will come to pass. There will be a perfect completion of God’s plan. We will be the lessons others after us will learn, whether they are good, bad, or a mixture of both. God will be glorified in both our obedience and in our disobedience. We must pray for the former and not the latter.
Longfellow in the hymn “I heard the bells on Christmas Day” lamented that the carols of peace sung in the season was not reflected in the reality of his day. Just like his contemporary we have mentioned, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, it was a source of great discomfort. And if we think on it, we too should be discomfited by the strife in the church. Yet Paul calls the Church at Corinth “saints” even though they hardly demonstrated sainthood. O may the Lord Jesus transform us into his vision for us. I am sure He will be successful. In the meanwhile, I groan, waiting for this mortality to be swallowed up in immortality.
The other thing we should learn is how to deal with all the blessings God has given us, both temporal and spiritual. We must lot let our love of this world turn God’s wonderful blessings in this life into snares. We must avoid the love of money which is the root of all evil. Although some might say it should read “a root of all evil” it seems that if we take “love of money” as a synonym for “covetousness then the use of “the” is justified. We must consider how to use God’s blessings to glorify Him and not ourselves. Wealth is not of itself an evil, just the love of it. Its what we do with it? Do we boast in ourselves or in the LORD? One would wonder whether Leah’s outburst of praise about her good fortune of having four children could be taken as a boast of her own worthiness of the blessing. Rachel probably took it that way and was bitter. Let us not make others bitter by our flaunting of our blessings. Instead, let us invest them into the Kingdom, not letting the right hand know what the left is doing. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that our chief duty is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” This indeed is the grates blessing we can receive.
