The Bible knows of no spiritual ‘über-mensch’. Our studies thus far concerning the revered
patriarchs of the OT, Abraham, Isaac and now Jacob give us no indication of
that. We cannot speak about spiritual giants. We can only speak about a great
God who uses weak, sinful people despite themselves.
Even the great apostle Paul falls into this category. He knows
himself to be the worst of sinners, and he is constantly amazed at the grace of
God to himself (1 Tim. 1:15). He testifies
to his own weakness: “Who is weak, and I
am not weak?” (2 Cor. 11:29). In
further testifying to his own weakness, and his thorn in the flesh, Paul testifies that God’s grace was sufficient in his weakness,
and therefore he could boast all the more gladly of his weaknesses so that the
power of Christ might rest upon him (2
Cor. 12:8,9). The Bible teaches us
to glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3). Now, all of this will be true of Jacob as well.
In Jacob we have previously found a deceiver and schemer of
note. He grew up in a family where Isaac wasn’t listening to the God of his
father Abraham. His mother Rebekah
manipulated Isaac, his father, in order to advance Jacob’s cause. None of this
was necessary, for God had already determined and ordained Jacob’s future
inheritance. He was predestined to be head of the covenant family (Gen. 25:23). All they needed to do was to wait on God to
work out His purposes. But the whole
family took matters in their own hand. This disobedience had tragic
consequences, and although God’s cause ultimately suffered no setback, the
family as a whole suffered severe setbacks. This is what sin does.
For
instance:
·
Isaac
and Rebekah were a divided couple.
·
The
two brothers, Esau and Jacob were alienated from each other. Jacob was forced to flee to escape his
brother’s wrath.
·
In Haran, where he had fled to be with his
uncle Laban, he was going to be deceived in a bad way (Genesis 29). He was basically reaping what he had sown.
Despite all this God was working on Jacob in the context of
his own family situation in Haran. In Chapter 29 we saw that Jacob’s dream of
being married to Rachel and to live with her happily ever after was not to be. God had work to do on Jacob, and he loved
Jacob more than his dream to be married to the perfect girl. In fact, Jacob needed a major spiritual
course correction, and God did this in spite of a crazy, mixed up family set up.
Talk about crazy. I recently read the biography of Mez McConnell
(Is Anybody out there?). Mez was recently in Cape Town with Mario and Quintin Maneville, two brothers used
by the Lord in Bellville South in the context of a drug and gangster
infested area. Mez was once an abused,
addicted, homeless, Christian-despising criminal. He now serves as senior
pastor of Niddrie Community Church in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the founder of
20 Schemes, a ministry dedicated to building gospel-centred churches for
Scotland’s poorest communities. God can bring amazing good out of a crazy
warped situation. God has dealt with Mez’s bitterness in an amazing way. He
relates this in an article entitled, “Ding
Dong the Wicked Witch Is Dead! A Pastor’s Response to the Death of His
Childhood Abuser.” [1] In this article he speaks about the death of
his wicked stepmother that abused him so very badly. And he openly speaks about
his feelings to her and how God has helped him through this. God is at work in his life.
In Genesis 29 Jacob was abusively tricked into a marriage by his uncle Laban with Rachel’s older sister, Leah. This
is a recipe for disaster. Nevertheless God is at work. Leah proceeds to bear
him 4 boys, whilst Rachel, the favourite wife for whom he works another 7 years,
remains barren.
GENESIS 30
And so Genesis 29: 31 – 30:24 becomes the record of the
origin of the twelve tribes of Israel. 11 boys are born in this text – with the exception of Benjamin who will be
born in Chapter 35. This is the
story of a crazy mixed up family. Again,
the Bible does not soften the blows. The Bible doesn’t paint pretty pictures of
people and situations. The Bible leaves us astonished, time and again, how God
works out bad situations for His own glory. In heaven, I believe we will be astonished at
the immensity and greatness of God’s grace to us sinners. We will sing with
John Newton, ”When we’ve been there then
thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s grace
then when we’ve first begun.”
So, here we have a messy family story of one father and four
mothers. It all began with his father in law’s deception – actually it all
began before that, in Genesis 3! The
story about four mothers is complicated, to say the least! Leah is frustrated because she is the unloved
wife. Rachel is frustrated because she is loved, but cannot have any children.
And the two servant ladies, Bilhah and Zilpah, become pawns in the process. And
as for the boys...would you be proud to tell the world that your dad had 4
wives and that you were one of 12 boys? Never-mind! God has a plan. He will
build a nation and a people, despite this crazy mixed up family mess that Jacob
had gotten into. This is how God’s
grace works…despite ourselves.
1. 30:1- 8 Rachel’s jealousy and her frustrated solution-
Bilhah [Dan, Naphtali]
“When Rachel saw that
she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, ‘Give
me children or I shall die’!” Two things to note: (i) She is envious of her sister and (ii)
she is mad at her husband. Rachel wasn’t
what we would call a godly woman to begin with. She was the one who would steal
her father’s idols, his household gods (cf.31:19,34).
This tells us something of her inner life. She wasn’t a prayerful woman. She
was the pretty girl, but she had a shallow soul. Her desire at this stage is not to be a wonderful
covenant mother. This is not what drives
her. Envy of her sister drives her. Social status for a woman meant having
children. She had none at this time. This envy makes her competitive. The Lord will
also sanctify her through this experience, and we shall see something of a
changed heart in 30:23. But right now she is frustrated and in search of a solution.
Her solution was ‘I need a child’,
and since she could not provide that child she gives her maid Bilhah to Jacob,
and have her bear children, so to speak as a ‘surrogate mother’. The logic was this. A servant male or female belonged
to the master’s house. Her children would therefore be the master’s children. And so her servant Bilhah bears two of Jacob’s sons [Dan; Naphtali]
As we reflect Jacob at this moment, it is clear that he has learned nothing from the painful
lesson of his grandfather Abraham and his grandmother Sarah, who gave Hagar to Abraham to bear a surrogate son,
Ishmael- and what a drama was
associated with that!
2. 30:9-13 Leah competes with Rachel
30:9 “When
Leah saw that she ceased bearing children…”. Can you see what all this is
producing? It is producing a ‘baby war’. And it is all driven by an intense
envy and jealousy for each other’s status in the eyes of Jacob, and Jacob is doing nothing right now to stop
the war. There is a very thin line here between a woman’s legitimate desire for
having children, and the motives that drive that desire. But that
is what happens when the law of marriage
according to Genesis 2:22-25 is disregarded.
Sin begets more sin and sin is the
mother of all unhappiness and discontent and jealousy and envy. And so Leah
gives her servant Zilpah to Jacob ‘as a
wife’ (30:4,9). Did you see that?
These two servant women became wives. This tells us something
about the theology of marriage, and the sexual relationship involved in it is
an integral part. Jacob’s troubles have just multiplied. He is now a sinner in
the hands of 4 angry wives who all
demand their rights! Zilpah gives birth to two more sons [Gad; Asher]
3. 30: 14-16 And the
battle between the two women continues through carnal means
And still the two sisters are not happy. Little did young Reuben
know when he brought his mother Leah some mandrakes from the field. Mandrakes are plant with a yellow, plum like
fruit and a distinct smell (see Song of Songs 7:13). They were used as
aphrodisiacs and they were also thought to be a cure for infertility. To this
day they are known as love apples.[2]
When Rachel saw this relatively rare
plant, she immediately wanted some of this to cure her infertility. The end of
the story, as you see was that Rachel, the favourite wife, traded Jacob for one
night for the mandrakes. This shows us how desperate she was to have her own
children. Surrogate children ultimately do not answer her deepest longing for
her own child. It also tells us that
Jacob must have neglected Leah.
30:16-24 Amazing grace – Leah and Rachel undeservedly rewarded
with more children
What a sad situation this is. Leah had to buy her husband’s
attention. However, into this sad situation comes the amazing grace of God, as He
grants Leah 2 more sons [Issachar; Zebulun] and Rachel He grants Joseph. Joseph
will become the next significant personality in the Genesis narrative. Take note
of the grace of the God who answers the prayer of two desperate women. “And God listened to Leah…” (30:17) Leah was desperate for her husband’s
love and attention and thought that the bearing of 6 sons would do this. Concerning Rachel we read, ”And God remembered Rachel and God listened
to her and opened her womb…” (30:22).
Suddenly she acknowledges that it is God
who has taken away her reproach. For the first time we hear from Rachel's mouth
spoken the Name of God (Elohim) and then as she names this son Joseph (May He
add), she petitions the covenant Name of
the LORD (Yahweh) for another son in 29:24, who will, as we have said be given in Chapter 35. Leah by contrast use the covenant name of God frequently (29:32,33,35) but you will not find the
covenant name of God coming out of Rachel's mouth until 29:24.
LESSONS
1.
A Warning: Please do not try this at home! This is not written to provide anyone with an excuse
to have 4 wives and 12 children and get away with it. This is an exceptional
story, and the purpose here is not to provide an example for us to follow. This
is not an invitation to sin so that God’s grace may increase (Rom. 6:1). This is simply a lesson to show
us that
nothing will stop God from
carrying out His great purpose to
purify for Himself a chosen people, a royal priesthood… called out of darkness into His wonderful
light (1 Peter 2:9).
2. This is a strong lesson! The ignoring of the terms of the original marriage
- creation ordinance has fatal consequences. No man is capable of having
more than one wife. No wife is capable of having more than one husband. Even
though this was acceptable by current social customs, it was not acceptable in
the sight of God, and it did not work.
3.
Sin has very strong and far reaching
tentacles. Only the free
grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord can overcome these. The sanctifying
presence of the Holy Spirit alone can drive sin out of us, as we believe the
Word of God more than the conventional wisdom of the world.
4.
We must be
very careful to take spiritual shortcuts in this journey. Remember that we are
called to lean on God. We dare not manipulate Him, but prayerfully walk with
Him, always waiting for Him to open the doors.
5.
Amazing Grace! This is what ultimately drives the life of this crazy mixed up family. It's grace that has led them safe this far, and grace will lead them home. I suspect that the same will be true for you and I.
[1] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/ding-dong-the-wicked-witch-is-dead-a-pastors-response-to-the-death-of-a-childhood-abuser/
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