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1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die!" 2 And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" 3 So she said, "Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her." 4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. ~ Genesis 30:1-4
Today, we transition into Genesis 30 which has two major themes within: The building of Jacob's family in v.1-24 and the building of Jacob's fortune in v.25-43. At this point in the narrative both of Jacob’s wives were desperate: One was desperate for love and the other was desperate for children. Leah, the older and the less-loved wife of Jacob had given birth to four sons in a row and Rachel had not even conceived a child once. This caused envy and jealousy to abound between the two women. Envy and jealousy are often the source of even greater troubles which lead us down all kinds of deadly streets.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or else I die!'"
It had been at least five years since Jacob had wed Rachel and she had not even conceived a child. In the culture of the Bible, bearing children was the highest honor of a woman and having none was a point of shame. After these many years, Rachel envied her sister. These feelings had festered over the years which led Rachel to say to Jacob "Give me children, or else I die!"
Rachel envied her sister which meant she had the desire for that which was not hers and she begrudged her sister who actually possessed what she wanted. Envy is not primarily wanting what someone else has, it’s having a grudge that they have it. Envy prompted Rachel to want her sister to be miserable like she was. Rachel was a lady at the end of her rope. These fostered feelings of resentment led her to the point of blaming her husband for somehow withholding children from her when it was obvious that it was not God's will for her to have children quite yet.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?'"
Jacob became angry and told Rachel that God had prevented her from conceiving a child. Interestingly, there are three other barren women in the Bible who are directly tied to Rachel. The first was Sarah who was related to her through the family of Terah, her great-great grandfather. Sarah didn’t bear a child after 70 or so years of marriage. The second barren woman connected to Rachel was Rebekah who was her aunt. When she couldn’t bear children, Isaac prayed to the Lord for her and she conceived. Although it took 19 years, the waiting was well worth the wait. The third barren woman contrasts with Rachel, and her name was Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet. Rachel was barren and envied; Hannah was barren and quietly wept. Rachel demanded children or she would die. Hannah on the other hand prayed to the Lord for a child, and then she had three boys and two daughters.
Every married couple falls in and out of emotional love all the time. As our mood changes, we can get pretty upset at the very object of our affection. Jacob loved Rachel, but her accusations really upset him and so he cried out, "Am I in the place of God?" Sin messed up the harmony of this world, meaning that every pain, affliction, misery, fear, regret, and annoyance is the result of our rebellion against God. Rachel could not have children for one reason or another due to sin. She didn't lack children because God was mad at her. Children are the gift of God, and only He provides them. This means there is no birth which is a surprise to God and He has, in His wisdom allowed them all, including those for which we try to find reason to abort.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "So she said, 'Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.' Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her."
Just as Sarah had suggested to Abraham so many years before, Rachel suggested the same to Jacob. When Rachel came up with this idea she was not behaving in accordance with God's will. According to the prevailing culture, Bilhah was Rachel's possession and any children Bilhah would conceived with Jacob would have been the possession of Rachel. Therefore, the child would belong to her as much as to Jacob. Again, this was a pagan practice which was perfectly normal in that culture but it was a human answer to a much deeper spiritual problem.
When Rachel couldn’t bear children she lost sight of Jacob’s commitment to her. Instead of accepting what he had already given her, his unrestrained love, she envied what Leah had with Jacob. The heated competition of who could give Jacob the most children gave birth to the sinister thorns of disunity within the family. This story provides for us a picture of how we can learn to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And, if we do not learn the lesson here, we will find our walk with the Lord continually plagued with this problem of barrenness, and we shall miss the secret of fruitfulness.
Rachel's difficulty grew out of the idea that her goal depended on her. This is a very common and widespread philosophy, even among believers in Christ. This is the place that the barrenness in our walk with the Lord leads us. As we read the Bible, we learn we are to be dependent upon the Lord for the definition of our lives. But what most often happens, we make up a list of rigid rules for acceptable behavior. We become frightfully busy doing things for God. We work hard at sincerely trying to meet His demands. We do our best. We note how the community around approves of our strenuous efforts and we love the pats on our backs for our faithful duty unto God. But despite all the effort and sincerity, deep in our hearts we know there is nothing but barrenness.
This happened to both Rachel and Leah as we will see. It appears that Rachel was being selfless, but the resulting fruit was the fruit of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit. The immediate results of acting in the flesh will always be the same. We become fleshly, displaying envy and jealousy, along with many other ugly emotions which lie ever near the surface of our yet fallen human hearts. Wherever these are evident they are the thermometer which tells us we are being defined by the self and not by the Spirit.
