The Days of God’s Rogue’s Life
Notes
Transcript
31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”
33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.
34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.
1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I 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 She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.”
4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to 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 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s maid 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 mandrakes 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 lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
24 She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”
Introduction
Introduction
As we move through the story of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, the biggest thing that I think we should notice is God’s sovereign hand working in their lives.
All of the events that we have gone through, except for Jacob’s vision of the ladder, have been everyday, normal human things.
Birth, squabbles over inheritance, family issues, marriage, running from your twin brother because he wants to kill you.
Well, maybe not the last one, but trouble with siblings is pretty common.
But all through these events, we have seen God’s hand working, sometimes directly and sometime indirectly, in the lives of Jacob and his family.
And we have seen that even through the messes of dysfunction and sin, God’s will is still done.
We get the benefit of seeing the rest of the story, and especially viewed in the light of what is coming, we can see that our God is an amazing weaver of time to His ultimate purpose.
When we left last time, Jacob had worked seven years for Rachel’s hand in marriage, but found after a wild marriage feast, as the narrator put it…
25 So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah!
He was tricked into marrying the wrong sister!
And I kind of laugh at the craziness of the situation, but to Jacob and Leah it was no laughing matter!
She was being used by her father to get over on Jacob, and Jacob obviously didn’t want to marry her.
I can’t imagine being thrown into an unwanted marriage.
So Jacob has to work another seven years to marry Rachel, and when he does, it’s obvious that his feelings for her are different than his feelings are for Leah.
There is a genre of television that is based off of romantic drama and daily cliffhangers.
The soap opera thrived off of the same type of drama that Jacob and his wives find themselves in.
And we are brought through the ups and downs of what happened in the real lives of this ancient family.
Told in a very real and matter of fact way, our story moves it’s focus to the sister-brides of Jacob, and the beginning of Jacob’s family.
The family that would eventually turn into the twelve tribes of Israel.
So let’s look at these two sisters and the pain they go through as they start their new families.
We will see how God works through there trials, and how he redeems even the hardship that they experiance.
God Sees Leah’s Longing v. 29:31-35
God Sees Leah’s Longing v. 29:31-35
31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”
33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.
34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.
Leah was the first born sister, but she was always second in Jacob’s eyes to Rachel.
I have mixed feelings about the situation.
I don’t know how I’d react if I would have been given the wrong sister.
This is so far out of our culture in the west today, I don’t know if we can actually imagine ourselves in this position.
I don’t know if I can blame Jacob for loving Rachel more than Leah, but for the situation to be as bad as it seems, he definitely wasn’t in the right either.
God saw her plight though, and he caused her to become pregnant, while preventing Rachel.
The bible is aware of the physical mechanics of conception and birth, but is also knows who ultimately opens and closes the womb.
God blesses Leah with 4 sons at this time, and she names them all as a prayer to God.
First, she has Reuben.
His name is a play on the word for to look.
She names him this because she says that, “Yahweh has seen her affliction.”
Then she has Simeon.
His name sounds like the verb to hear.
Yahweh has heard that she was unloved.
Then, Levi.
His name sounds like the word for to be joined.”
Because she hopes now that she has had 3 sons for him, he would become attached to her.
Finally, she has Judah.
Judah sounds like the word for to be celebrated.
She named him this because she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.”
They didn’t have any baby name books at the time.
All of these were names given were calls out to God from a broken heart.
God was bringing her great answers to the longing of her heart, but also showing her that they weren’t the final solution.
Jacob would never really come to love her in the way she wanted.
Even in his old age, Jacob would love Rachel and her sons, more than Leah and the children she gave him.
But God was watching out for her.
She may have felt unloved, but she really wasn’t, God loved her.
Her sons would become heads of the twelve great tribes of Israel, specifically the priestly and royal lines.
And if she was given the ability to see hundreds of years in the future, she would see that the lion of Judah would find his lineage directly in her son Judah.
Jesus exemplifies this same pattern.
Over and over again, He looks out for the unloved and downtrodden.
Those who are under the feet of the wicked rulers of the world.
The same God who heard the prayers of an unloved bride, hears the prayers of His persecuted saints.
Keep heart, if you were given the ability to see far enough into the future, you would be able to understand better as well.
But we cannot see with our eyes yet, we must trust in faith.
That brings us to the next part of this story, where…
Rachel and Leah Takes Things Into Her Own Hands v. 30:1-21
Rachel and Leah Takes Things Into Her Own Hands v. 30:1-21
1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I 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 She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.”
4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to 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 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
Rachel is now distraught!
Leah was unloved, and Rachel is barren.
Leah had four sons, and Rachel hasn’t been able to conceive one yet!
She complains to Jacob at her wit’s end!
Give me children, or else I die.
I can imagine Jacob looking over at the four children he had with Leah, and thinking to himself, “it’s not me!”
But he doesn’t do a very good job of talking gently with his distraught, irrational wife.
“Who do you think I am? God is the one who gives children!”
And here we have another biblical repetition.
There was someone else who had trouble conceiving in their family.
God had promised Abram and Sarai a son in their old age.
Sarai didn’t believe God, so she took matters into her own hands, and gave her servant Hagar to Abram.
The custom was, whatever children that were had through the servant, would be raised as that master’s children.
They would become heirs as well.
So the bible tells us that Rachel did the same with her servant.
We are to take notice of this and realize that the bible is trying to tell us something.
She gives her servant Bilhah to Jacob, and Bilhah has a son.
Look at Rachel’s response to this and think if you would respond in the same way to your husband having a child with another woman.
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.
I can’t imagine that I would, but we have to remember that this is a different time and culture to ours.
The bible is just telling us what happened, it’s not prescribing this as a practice that we should follow.
But Rachel is excited by the news that Bilhah is having a son.
She names him Dan, which sounds like, “he judged.”
She feels that God has judged her and found that she must be alright, because He gave her a son.
This is mighty presumptuous on her part!
Bilhah has another son, and Leah names him Naphtali.
His name means to wrestle, Rachel thought she won a fight with her sister.
I enjoy all kinds of music, and one of the types of music I like is funk.
There is a band called Vulfpeck that has a video on youtube called, “It Gets Funkier but every time it gets funkier, it gets funkier.”
This is a 15 minute song that just keeps getting funkier the longer it goes.
The funk continues to escalate.
And that’s what these sisters do, the whole situation continues to escalate.
Leah stopped bearing after her 4 sons, and now that Rachel was having children through her servant, she does the next logical thing to do.
She gives her servant to Jacob to have children through.
Zilpah has a son and Leah names him Gad, which means fortune.
Then another which she names Asher, or happy.
This is a strange story, but it’s about to get stranger.
Look at the next part of our passage.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes 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 lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
So this is a very telling it like it is, earthy story.
Reuben finds some mandrakes during the wheat harvest and brings them to Leah.
Mandrakes make a pretty blue flower in the winter and bring fruit in the end of the summer.
They were though to be an aphrodisiac and a way to bring fertility.
We may laugh at them now, but we’ve had a few food and natural remedy myths in our day as well.
And here we see the crux of the issue in Leah’s mind, she believes Rachel has taken her husband.
He was hers first!
So Rachel proposes a trade, desperate for whatever help she can get to have her own baby.
If Leah gives her the mandrakes, she would allow her to be with Jacob that night.
But it backfires on her, because when Leah takes her up on the deal, she conceives again.
She has two sons and a daughter.
Issachar, which means to hire because she sees this as the wages for giving Bilhah to Jacob.
She has Zebulun, which means residence, she thinks now Jacob will finally accept her.
And Dinah, finally a daughter, whose name means to plead or to fight.
All of this back and forth!
This drama and this taking things into their own hands!
But all the time God was still listening.
Rachel complained for her life for children, gave her maid to Jacob, and sold a night with him for the chance that a natural remedy would be her curt.
Leah gave her servant to Jacob to spite Rachel, bought a night with her own husband, and was malicious to her sister.
But in the middle of all of this sin and self-reliance, don’t you think there were also nights of prayer!
Don’t we mix trust and unbelief?
Don’t we have a strange mixture of correct thinking and theology, with a mixed bag of cultural influence and understanding?
But isn’t God gracious enough to reach through all of that, see our needs, and answer our prayers?
How many times have we seen it.
Aren’t you glad our perfection and obedience is the requirement for God to hear our prayers?
Rachel finds that is true in the last part of our passage, where, finally,
Rachel’s Finds God’s Timing v. 22-24
Rachel’s Finds God’s Timing v. 22-24
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
24 She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”
Behind the scenes there is more going on than drama.
When Marlon Brando was making his film called The Men in 1950, he played a World War II veteran who lost his legs in combat. While he prepared for the role, he lived in a wheelchair with some army-hospital paraplegics for a time. One day he went to a bar with some of them for some drinks, and a Salvation Army lady came in to collect some waste paper. When she saw the legless veterans in their wheelchairs, she raised her hands and prayed, “O Lord, grant that these men may be able to walk again!” When Brando heard her praying, he got up and walked, and she nearly fainted!
She didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes!
And there’s a bunch happening behind the scenes.
God promised Abraham that his seed would be multiplied greatly, and he had Isaac.
Then Isaac had Esau and Jacob.
So far these aren’t the big families that it would take to make this happen.
But now, Jacob has had 11 sons, this is more like it!
And after all the ups and downs, God remembers Rachel.
What a beautiful phrase! God remembered.
Ten sons and a daughter have been born and none of them were hers directly.
But finally she finally conceived, and God gave her a son.
All the heart ache, and contrivances, and grief, and it happened in God’s timing anyway!
There’s a lesson there somewhere!
And here son, Joseph, which means let him add more, would become a great man and have a significant life himself.
It looks like she is learning though!
In naming Joseph, she is praying that God would add another son for her.
No more contrivances are said to have taken place, it looks like she has learned her lesson to wait on God.
And that is wisdom, as God remembered her, remember that He remembers you as well!
Conclusion
Conclusion
We’ve seen it all here.
Husband and wives yelling at each other, bedroom rivalry, the covenant family in all its dysfunctional glory.
But in spite of all of the bickering, striving, grief, anguish, and tension, Yahweh was faithful to His promise.
Through all of it, and in all of the story, Yahweh was maintaining His plan.
Here are 11 sons, not born into the world by the best of circumstances, but still in God’s time and His control.
This soap opera actually shouts the faithfulness of God to keep His promise!
We cannot mess it up, no matter how hard we, or someone else tries.
