We are in our From Dust to Life series in the book of Genesis
and last week in chapter 29 we saw how Jacob worked for his uncle Laban for seven years as a dowry payment for his daughter Rachel, the woman he loved. Laban agreed to this but did the bait and switch and gave Jacob his older daughter Leah to marry instead. Even though he was tricked by his uncle, Jacob was willing to work an additional seven years for Rachel.
Both Leah and Rachael were barren but when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved as a bride, He showed compassion to her and opened her womb. In the next four years she gave birth to four boys (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah) and Moses, the author of this account, came through the line of Levi. As Leah named her sons she was expressing the hope that by having children her husband would love her, hear her, draw near to her (exclusively). Unfortunately, Jacob didn’t love her more or obtain his exclusive affections but she named the fourth child Judah which means “Praise.” Because though she might never experience Jacob’s love the way she wanted, God had given her four sons, and she had to be thankful for that.
As the sermon prep team was working through Genesis 30, the men had a lot of great observations and input about the text which I will be incorporating in today’s sermon.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Genesis chapter 30. We’ll be looking at vv. 1-24. Daniel Jarnik will come up and read the text for us.
1 Now when Rachel saw that she had not borne Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I am going to die.” 2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my female slave Bilhah: have relations with her that she may give birth on my knees, so that by her I too may obtain a child.” 4 So she gave him her slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her. 5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. 7 And Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestling I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. 12 And Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrake fruits in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must have relations with me, for I have indeed hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. 17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; finally my husband will acknowledge me as his wife, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 21 Afterward she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 And she named him Joseph, saying, “May the LORD give me another son.”
While I was reading through the text, we could see a few things:
1. Rachel’s desperation
2. Leah’s response, and
3. God’s compassion
Let’s follow along together in chapter 30.
What happens after Leah gives birth to four boys? Rachel became desperate to have a child.
1. What is desperation? It is a state of despair which results in rash or extreme behavior.
? Leah receives no congratulations, no rejoicing from her younger sister but only envy and jealousy.
? Rachel, who was more beautiful and had the love of her husband, is jealous of her sister’s ability to have children. And what does she do? [She blames her husband]. What does she say to him? [Give me children or else I die!]
Why do you think Rachel wanted to die? [In that day and culture having children, just like having wealth was a sign of God’s blessing. Being poor or barren was a sign that you were cursed.]
Jacob was probably just as frustrated because his plan to marry Rachel and start a family as part of God’s promised covenant was not working. However, contrary to Jacob’s own plans, God opens the womb of Leah, not Rachel’s.
Can you hear the desperation in Rachel’s speech?
What does desperation sometimes do to us?
In our desire for completeness - to be loved, accepted, to obtain favor, we can rationalize our disobedience and become irrational.
One author said:
The desire for affectionate approval often leads people down dangerous paths. Unrequited love, lack of recognition, or complete disregard is difficult to endure. One recourse is to pursue love and recognition by any means, without regard to the cost in terms of the long-range effects.
Would you agree that desperation can cause us to say or do really dumb things? Things we regret later? Things that drag us down into the dust? Can you think of some things people do in desperation?
What did Esau, Jacob’s brother do when he was desperate for food? He sold his birthright.
What did Rachel do in desperation to have a child and be vindicated? She gives her maid servant Bilha to Jacob to be his third wife and Bilha gives birth to a boy that Rachel names “Daniel” which means God is my judge. God had vindicated her, delivered her from shame. One scholar brings out that Rachel believed that the birth of Dan was God's way of showing He approved of the means by which she made it happen. Even if polygamy was culturally accepted in that society, God never endorsed polygamy and told His people not to multiply wives. If you read through the Old Testament you can see how polygamy was always the cause of problems with the patriarchs and the kings. This “culturally acceptable” always brough grief to the people who entered into it.
Then comes the next son for Rachel - Naphtali which means “wrestling” because she wrestled with her sister and prevailed. Her desperation for validation made her extremely competitive and even combative. Even though she now had two sons, she was still jealous of her sister. Having children, attaining her greatest desire in life didn’t change her heart. We know having sons, the thing she wanted so badly, didn’t really bring her joy, thankfulness, or contentment. Instead, she continued in her competitive drive and remained jealous and bitter towards her sister.
What’s interesting is that the naming of each child was an expression of both brides’ emotional state. Leah’s emotional state in the first years was more of hope and trust in the Lord whereas Rachel’s naming reflected her bitter struggle with her sister for vindication. Next we come to:
2. Leah’s response
Once Leah stopped having children, she takes her servant Zilpah and gives her to Jacob - and she gives birth to Gad or “Good fortune.” Gad’s name was associated with a pagan god of good “Fortune”(Isaiah 65:11). She named her next son, Asher whose name was associated with a local deity Ashur. These were the well known local god’s of her era and perhaps she believed that the lesser god’s had provided for her. 13) Leah was just happy she was leading the race 6 to 2 and she was focused on what other women would think and say about her.
During the sermon prep time this week, Jon observed that in just 13 verses, Jacob acquires two more wives and four more sons in this battle of the brides. This really became a knock down, drag out competition between the two brides. Daniel K said, “I wouldn’t want to be in Jacob’s shoes.”
And if you notice, as the battle continued between the sisters, Leah went from giving her children names that gave thanks and glory to God, to names that gave thanks and glory to the gods of the culture.
What does this say to us today? Can we think of some examples of how we might seek for affirmation and fulfillment from the customs and conventions of society around us? We were talking to a young Austrian man last Saturday at the train station. He was very friendly and open to talking about life and what he believed was the purpose for life. He said he believed his purpose on earth was to be happy. So I asked him, “How do you know when you have reached that state of happiness?” He said that was a difficult question and had to think about it. He finally answered that he believed it had to do with having enough money to enjoy the things in life. But how much is enough? He didn’t know. How many sons would Leah and Rachel need to have to attain happiness?
What do we see in vv. 14-16? Leah’s oldest found some mandrakes. Mandrakes were thought to be an aphrodisiac - something that would enhance a woman's fertility. Rachel’s desire for mandrakes points to her desire to have more children. Leah would only give them to Rachel in exchange for a night with Jacob. She was bartering for his affection and let him know that she had hired him for the night. Interesting that she would say “hired” knowing that Laban had hired Jacob to work a total of 14 years for Rachel.
But what do we see about God’s character and nature in vv. 17-18? God listened to Leah and she gave birth to a 5th son - and she named him Issachar = God has rewarded me. (19-20) Leah gives birth to the 6th son Zebulun and thinks, “now my husband will honor me and I will take first place.”
When people are starving for affection, recognition, value, and love, when they are running on empty to what extent will they go to get the attention they are craving?
In verse 21, we see that Leah gives birth to her 7th child, Dinah. After her 6th (naturally born child), Leah thought, now my husband will love me, listen to me, cling to me, honor me. This relationship between Jacob and Leah was transactional and not unconditional. A husband shouldn’t have to wait for his wife to act in a certain way before he loves her and shows her honor. However, unfortunately, this did seem to be the case for Leah. But she didn’t have to resort to desperate measures to get God’s love and attention. He was aware of every squabble and skirmish and throughout this battle for love we see:
3. God’s compassion
Just like God had compassion on Leah, we see now that God remembered Rachel. Rachel had come to the end of herself. The beautiful, favored wife had given up on her devices. There were no surrogates and no mandrakes.
Rachel gave birth to Joseph, whose name means: God has taken away and God has given. In other words, God took away her embarrassment by giving her a son and He will give her another son. God was securing the nation’s future.
What are some things we take away from this?
God can incorporate and bless the most fallible people in His overarching plan. Despite Jacob's prayerlessness and loveless attitude, despite Leah and Rachel's bitter battle for happiness, love, and affection, God shows mercy to the unloved and needy and brings 12 children into this world who will be the 12 tribes of Israel.
We all have areas of barrenness, areas we feel a hole, a place that needs to be filled. We will all face times of desperation, we may forget God or feel He has forgotten us. Maybe God is teaching us that it doesn’t have to be an occasion for fear and desperation but, rather, can be a time to lean into God and pour out our grief out to Him. I like what Jon said in our sermon prep time. We think God needs a bunch of sticky notes to remind Him of what He promised. A person may forget their word and abandon their promises…but God never will. God’s promises do not have an expiration date. God always sees everything, hears every prayer, and when He answers, He’s never too early, never too late - He is always right on time.
The bickering between the two brides revealed their priorities, their shallowness and immaturity of their faith in how they were driven by their desperation and not guided by God. We can illustrate it with icebergs that float in the frigid waters around Greenland. Some are tiny; others are towering masses. At times, the small ones move in one direction while their gigantic counterparts go in another. The small ones are subject to surface winds, but the huge ice masses are carried along by deep ocean currents. This can be a picture of shallow and deep faith. The small icebergs are tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine, human cunning and deceitful schemes(Eph 4:14) while the gigantic ones are carried by the deep calling unto the deep (Psalm 42:7).
There comes a time when we have to die to our desires, put them on the altar if we want to experience resurrection life and eternal fruit. Remember, we aren’t just here on earth to live our short lives, searching to attain our own happiness - we are being prepared for eternity.
Jesus said:
I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone [just one grain, never more]. But if it does, it produces much grain and yields a harvest. The one who loves his life [eventually] loses it [through death], but the one who hates his life in this world [and is concerned with pleasing God] will keep it for life eternal (John 12:24-25).
Even in the midst of this battle of the brides, the jealousy and scheming, the bartering and heartbreak, God is working, patiently bringing them out of their situation and turning their hearts toward him. God keeps His promises and through this family will bring the promised Savior out of the line of Judah. Were they aware of this? Maybe not, but the Lord is letting us see how He works all things according to the council of His will. Some lessons take a long time to learn. Let’s take hold of the eternal truths God is teaching us through his Word.
