Women of the Word: Rachel

Scripture References:
Genesis 29; 30; 31; 33:1, 2, 7; 35:16-26; 46:19, 22, 25; 48:7; Ruth 4:11, 1 Samuel 10:2; Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:18

Name Meaning:
ewe, but meant as a title of endearment such as we use “lamb” now – this is the first reference to a person having an animal name

Introduction:
The story of Rachel is one of the first recorded love stories in the BIble and one that pulls on our heart strings as romance loving women. But Rachel’s life is also one of sorrow and trouble, full of many lessons we can learn. Let’s explore this woman of hte Bible and learn from her life.

Lesson:
We first meet Rachel in Genesis 29. We learn that she is the youngest daughter of Laban, and thus a cousin to Jacob. She is a beautiful woman according to the Scriptures. Very pleasant to look upon. It was love at first sight when Jacob met her at the well that fateful day.

Rachel and Jacob’s story is one of the most beautiful love stories in the Bible. This is the first time courtship is mentioned. Jacob fell in love with Rachel immediately. ANd his love for her was so strong that he was willing to work for her father so that he might take her as his bride. He served for seven years only to be given her older sister Leah as a bride instead. How this must have hurt Jacob when he discovered not the one he loved but rather her sister instead. Yet his love for Rachel was so strong that he served yet another seven years until he was able to take her in to his tents.

What must it have been like to have a man love you so intensely that he would works o hard for your hand? How might you have felt in the same situation? The Bible is silents as to Rachel’s thoughts and feelings at this point. The romantic in us cries that she loved him as passionately as he loved her, yet we are not certain that this is the case.

Love is not everything though. Leah bore Jacob son after son. Rachel was barren. Her pain at being barren became a thorn in her side and her jealousy at Leah manifested itself in he words that we read in Genesis. There is no hiding her jealousy at her sister’s fruitfulness in childbirth. Therefore she gives her servant to her husband to bear her children. Yet her sorrows do not end becuase he servant bears these sons as her own and Rachel still remains childless.

Rachel’s own sorrow next manifests itself as anger. We see her crying to Jacob to give her childrne. It is as if she is blaming him for her lack of fertility. His response is to point her to God to provide, not to him. Despite her crying to her husband rather than to God He still loved her and in due time blessed her with a child, Joseph.

We see more in Rachel that we can learn from. At one point God tells Jacob it is time to move. Jacob’s family, herds, etc. all prepare for their exodus from Laban’s lands. They set out on their way only to be stopped by Laban who accuses them of stealing what is rightfully his.

It is discovered that Rachel has stolen her father’s idols. She has also defiled them because at the time she was on her period and had hidden them away in a bag under which she sat. The question this raises is did Rachel share her husband’s faith in God or did she doubt His provision for them, putting her trust in the traditional idols of her father? It appears that she lacked a faith in God – first crying to her husband to give her children rather than turning to God and second stealing idols from her father to carry in to foreign lands.

Yet despite her apparent lack of faith God hears Rachel’s cries, as mentioned before, and opens her womb, though her cries are not directed to Him. Jacob’s beloved Joseph is born and favored above all other sons. A second son is born, but it is this son that is the sorrow of sorrows for Rachel as this birth that she longed for so intensely is the one that claims her own life. She names him Benoni, child of sorrows, and breathes her last breath. Jacob names the child Benjamin instead. Rachel was the first recorded death in the Bible that was due to childbirth. This is recorded in Genesis 35:16.

Rachel was not buried alongside her husband. But she WAS thef irst mention in the BIble of having something placed over her grave as a marker – the first headstone. Though she was the one that Jacob loved above all else she was not the woman mentioned in the lineage of Jesus, she was not the mother of great rulers (though Joseph was very influential his line of successors were not established as Judah’s were), nor was she the wife laid to rest next to her husband for eternity. Hers was truly a life of sorrow.

There is much we can learn from Rachel’s life and actions. We can see that though Rachel had beauty she did not have contentment. SOMETHING was missing. God could have filled that void perfectly had she sought Him. Beauty does not equal happiness. There is more to life than just beauty. We should not be caught up in how we look or how society says we should look.

We can see true love through the story of Jacob and Rachel. Yet we can also see how love is not the answer to all of our problems. Our hope should be in God, not in our spouse.

Yet despite all of the sorrows, the lack of faith, the lack of trust, etc. God still loved Rachel and still gave her what her heart desired most – a family of her own. Imagine how much more He could have blessed her had she simply allowed Him… Are you trusting God and putting your faith in Him? Learn from Racheland her life. Seek God, trust Him, and let His love pour down on you through othes. You are already a beauty beyond your understanding – let His love make you all the more beautiful and desirable as you seek to become a woman of God.