Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Main Thought:

This passage shows us how God keeps His promises to all generations, amidst taking up the causes of the underdog when injustices need correction, and He does so with impartiality.

You can trust the broader scope of God’s promises, while resting assured of His individual care for you.

Body:

Sub-intro:

Conclusion:

Jacob meets Rachel at a well in .

The scene reminds us of the arrival of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, in .

Notice God’s providence in that Jacob is at the right place, at the right well, at the right time.

Jacob then marries Leah and Rachel in .

He agrees with Laban to work for him for seven years in return for his younger daughter, Rachel.

When the time for the wedding came, Laban gave him Leah instead.

Note the irony in that before, the younger who had pretended to be the older, is now deceived by the older pretending to be the younger (see ).

As the Bible Knowledge Commentary mentions, Jacob learned that “If social convention were to be set aside, it should be by God, not by deception.”

After a week, Jacob also marries Rachel (two wives in one week!) and agrees with Laban to work seven more years for her.

As a wedding present, each daughter is given a servant girl (Leah receives Zilpah; Rachel receives Bilhah).

Exegetical Outline:

a

I. Jehovah’s Response: Bless Leah; Withhold Blessing from Rachel ()

A. The LORD’s Heart toward the Hated ()

It’s paradoxical that while Jacob was working fourteen years to pay for two wives, only one of those wives was bearing children.

Jacob knew that children were a blessing from the Lord (), for it was God who gave Isaac to Abraham and Sarah and who also gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac and Rebekah (see ). [Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Authentic, “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub., 1997), 42.]

B. Responding to the LORD’s Blessing in Faith ()

1. Reuben - The LORD Sees ()

2. Simeon - The LORD Hears ()

3. Levi - Joined Together ()

4. Judah - Praise the LORD! ()

II.

Rachel’s Resentment: The Blame Game & Jealous Competition ()

A. Rachel Complaining ()

1. Blaming Jacob ()

How the Philistines felt about Isaac’s possessions (qānāʾ, 26:14) and how Joseph’s brothers felt about his dreams (qānāʾ, 37:11) parallels how barren Rachel felt about fruitful Leah: she became envious (qānāʾ).

No mention had been made earlier that Leah envied Rachel’s lovely and shapely body, which attracted Jacob.

Now, however, Rachel envies Leah’s womb.

Her inability to bear children she cannot attribute to Jacob, for he has already fathered four children.

[Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 270.]

Her outburst, as could be expected, angered him.

He struck back at her with a strong suggestion that there was something wrong in her own life, since God had not judged her worthy of being blessed with children.

This interchange of angry words, between a husband and wife who really loved each other very much, possibly points up the dangers to believers’ fellowship with the Lord and with each other which may appear when too many worldly considerations come into their relationship.

It certainly is a commentary on the frictions that necessarily appear when God’s ideal of monogamous marriage is not followed.

[Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1976), 465.]

2. The REAL Source of Barrenness ()

B. Rachel’s Competing ()

1. Bilhah as Surrogate ()

2. Dan - Boastful Vindication ()

3. Naphtali - Victorious in the Bout ()

III.

Leah’s Rebound: Continuing the Strife ()

A. Zilpah as Surrogate ()

B. Gad & Asher - Prosperity & Happiness ()

IV.

Jehovah’s Resolve: His Blessing Amidst Contentious Discontent ()

A. Bartering Brides ()

1. Rachel Trading Her Man for Mandrakes ()

2. Inflammatory Accusations ()

B. God’s Unmerited Blessings ()

1. Issachar - Paid Wages ()

2. Zebulun - Endowed Honor ()

3. Dinah - Judgment ()

V. Jehovah’s Remembrance: God Remembers Rachel ()

A. Joseph - Adding ()

B. Praying for Another ()

Conclusion:

Certainly the passage shows how God prospered Jacob and started to form his great nation.

But it was sad that they could not adjust to unfavorable situations and avoid the hatred and the conflict, for that pressure only further split the family and the nation.

All Israel could look back to this tradition and see their ancestry in Jacob—and in the conflict between the women.

They were brothers, sons of Israel, and should not, like their mothers, waiver in their faith and bitterly compete for God’s blessing.

Prosperity is dispensed to people by the sovereign will.

We thus have the rivalry between the two women.

Leah, a woman of strong faith, was earnestly longing for the affection of her husband but was being blessed by God in childbirth.

Rachel does not appear so strong in the faith; she possessed the affection of her husband but anxiously desired the blessing of God in childbirth.

In it all, the message was clear to Israel.

God chose the despised mother, Leah, and exalted her to be the first mother.

The kingly tribe of Judah and the priestly tribe of Levi were traced back to her, in spite of Jacob’s love for Rachel and his later favoritism toward Rachel’s son Joseph.

We can learn many lessons from this struggle in Jacob’s family.

Although having two wives was not immediately Jacob’s fault (the law only later prohibited such a marriage []), through it God taught the nation about his wisdom and justice and compassion.

We can learn the danger of favoritism in family relationships, a recurring theme in the patriarchal narratives.

We can also learn about the danger of thwarting human affection.

The tragedy comes when we, striving for love and recognition, either within the family or not, live our lives on such an earthly level that only temporal things mean much to us.

To sacrifice things spiritual for things physical—to trade things that are above trade value—is tragic in the long run.

This loss may happen when we are filled with anxiety and envy over the apparent inequity of God’s dealings with his people.

God’s people must put away envy and strife, which lead to bitter conflicts, and accept the truth that God dispenses his blessings in sovereign wisdom, justice, and compassion.

We learn that God’s choice to bless is not made by human standards.

In fact, God characteristically works for things or people that humans reject—the downcast, the afflicted, the troubled, the oppressed, and the rejected.

Those who find themselves in such predicaments can by faith rely on God, who in his sovereign plan will bless them.

His blessing, however, cannot be gained by bargaining or striving.

Whatever our lot in life—whether we are hated or ignored, oppressed or challenged, troubled or anxious—our attitude should not be one of jealousy, nor our efforts those of bitter rivalry.

Rather, we must cultivate a wholehearted trust in God, waiting patiently for his blessing on us.

Paul, in , says, “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

[Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 514–515.]