Building a People of God With Unusual Characters: Leah and Rachel: Mothers of Israel’s Tribes

Keeping It In the Family

As God builds his special people using some unusual people, Abraham heard the call of God to leave Ur in the Chaldean territories and go toward a new land of promise. With his father Terah, Abraham was stalled for a while in Haran in Northwest Mesopotamia, modern Turkey. As the children of Terah are listed, we find that Abram, as he was known at home, was married to his niece Sarah. His younger brother Haran had died young, and this was a way of keeping the family line strong.

After Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah in Canaan, in their old age by the miracle of God, Abraham had his servant go back to Haran, the place named the same as his lost brother, and bring back a wife for Isaac. God helped that along. Not so long after Sarah’s death, Isaac married to his second cousin Rebekah, the Great-granddaughter of Terah through Nahor and Bethuel. She was the brother of Laban.

After Rebekah had given borne Esau and Jacob, and Esay had married northern Canaanite women, Jacob was sent to find a wife in her family’s clan back in the area of Haran. Jacob was married to his cousins Leah and Rachel. This is their story as Jacob’s wives.

All the Patriarchs of the Hebrews were borne from women of Ur, from whence Abram was called, and the family that had moved to Haran, to avoid intermingling their line with Canaanite women.

We have the exceptions that Ishmael’s mother was Egyptian; but although he was firstborn of Abram, he was not the child of God’s promise. Esau was firstborn of Isaac, by a minute, but he dishonored his birthright, then married Hittite or Canaanite women of Syria and then one of Ishmael’s daughters.

>>>So lets get to Leah and Rachel’s story. It begins with...

Jacob’s Eye Problem

Well, at any rate, his google eyes for the younger, prettier daughter to his uncle Laban, Rachel the Shepherd whom he first met and kissed at Laban’s well. We shared most of this story last week, but I’ll share the recap in our serial of stories.

Laban, the brother of the scheming Rebekah, was a sly and scheming man. Because he knew Jacob was head-over-heels in love with his younger daughter, he saw a way to capitalize on the presence of his nephew Jacob.

>>>“What shall your wages be, since you are hanging around and tending the sheep?”

Genesis 29:18 CSB

18 Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Now, this was a dangerous move for Jacob. He had just indentured himself to Laban, effectively selling himself into a 7-year period of slavery. That’s what his eye problem, love at first sight, did for Jacob.

>>>But scripture tells us the time flew by, and so the end of the seven years came.

Genesis 29:21 CSB

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Since my time is complete, give me my wife, so I can sleep with her.”

>>>Well, not to get stuck in that story of last week, but in order to keep the set-up in mind for today’s study, we read that Laban called the wedding feast, then planted his oldest daughter into the marriage tent.

Genesis 29:23 CSB

23 That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

>>>It must have been because of Jacob not getting a sense of what the lithe Rachel felt like compared to her sturdy sister Leah that he was shocked at what he discovered when he awoke up. . .

Genesis 29:25 CSB

25 When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What have you done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

>>>Laban knew what he was doing to Jacob, who was making him rich by good animal husbandry, so he told Jacob, . . .

Genesis 29:27 CSB

27 Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.”

>>>This time Laban set the contract. You will be my indentured servant for another 7 years of contract labor. He agreed, . . .

Genesis 29:28 CSB

28 And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

>>>Well, now we have a man in his forties s with two wives, and Jacob finally got the girl he was waiting for. . . .

Genesis 29:30 CSB

30 Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

And there was the issue that creates a huge rivalry between the sisters Leah and Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. It probably meant that Leah did all the heavy lifting while Rachel got the cushy jobs.

>>>But Jacob’s favoritism of Rachel was seen by God, who was building a people for his own. And this time, God favored the elder sister, and for a while, it seems that . . .

God Loves Leah Best

Leah is heartbroken at how things have turned out. She is first wife by law and by family order, but not first wife in her husbands heart. And Leah longs for love. And so we read that God’s heart is tender toward Leah; He blesses her and holds back extra blessings from Rachel:

Genesis 29:31 CSB

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was neglected, he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive.

Leah Bears Four Sons

Leah takes her position as first wife in Jacob’s household, and by God’s blessing bears 4 sons in 4 years. Yet she knows, every time that Jacob comes in to her, it is not for love but for growing his shepherd’s family.

Reuben, My Affliction is Seen

Genesis 29:32 CSB

32 Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.”

Simeon, The Lord Has Heard

Genesis 29:33 CSB

33 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “The Lord heard that I am neglected and has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

Levi, Finally Attached to Jacob

Genesis 29:34 CSB

34 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him.” Therefore he was named Levi.

Judah, God Will Be Praised

Genesis 29:35 CSB

35 And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

The first four sons of Jacob were born, all from Leah. Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. Now, this was all well and good for Leah, but by now Rachel was getting desperate.

>>>It wasn’t that Jacob was hands-off of Rachel, it was just that things weren’t working for Rachel. So she was at the end of her patience, and decided to take it out on her husband as...

Rachel Takes Charge of the Child-bearing

Now, I don’t think it was clear to Rachel yet that for now, Leah’s body was taking a rest from pregnancies.

>>>But Rachel was doing her own scheming, even as she made a demand of Jacob:

Genesis 30:1–2 CSB

1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. 2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God? He has withheld offspring from you!”

It’s interesting that Jacob got angry at his most-loved wife. It was all because of making a demand that he was not able to fulfill.

>>>So after he snaps back at Rachel, with a dose of reprimand and shaming, Rachel spills her plans to Jacob: My servant will bear my children, according to the law of the land, as

Rachel Gives Bilhah to Jacob

Just like Sarah had done with her servant Hagar to try to rush the plans of God along. But God was in this, for he wasn’t through trying to humble Rachel’s pride, even while

Jacob’s 5th Son is Born to Bilhah

Genesis 30:3–6 CSB

3 Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.” 4 So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. 5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, he has heard me and given me a son,” so she named him Dan.

Of course, one son born through her servant could not match the 4 sons born through Leah,

>>>and Bilhah was allowed another opportunity when Dan was weaned, and

Jacob’s 6th Son is Born to Bilhah

Genesis 30:7–8 CSB

7 Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali.

So here is Rachel with 2 sons, “He had vindicated me” and I have wrestled.” We know them as Dan and Naphtali.

>>>The Competition is on, and Leah is not going to be taken out of the picture. So

Leah Gives Zilpah to Jacob

Genesis 30:9 CSB

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Jacob’s 7th Son is Born

Genesis 30:10–11 CSB

10 Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad.

Jacob’s 8th Son is Born

Genesis 30:12–13 ESV

12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.

Zilpah’s sons, named by Leah “Good Fortune” and “Happy” were brought into the household.

So Jacob’s quiver is getting full. Eight sons, two wives and 2 concubines. He had to keep working hard to make this pay off.

>>>But now we have a twist to the story that we have to find some context for. It’s. . .

About Those Mandrakes

We don’t know much about the mandrake plant in ancient middle-eastern culture. But we are about to get a lesson in their importance.

>>>Here’s the story as Reuben, Leah’s first-born, is out helping in the fields as a boy:

Genesis 30:12–16 CSB

12 When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, 13 Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher. 14 Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?” “Well then,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.

We don’t know why these plants are such a big deal. Reuben found them as weeds in the wheat.

From iBible, I found this:

The Mandrake is a member of the nightshade family that includes some of the most poisonous plants such as nightshade, but also some of the most common vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes.

R.C. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries wrote in a devotional about these plants:

The mandrake is a Mediterranean plant with blue flowers in the winter and yellow, plum-like fruit in the summer. It has been desired in many cultures because of a belief that it is an aphrodisiac and promotes fertility. These qualities, coupled with the fact it was only rarely found in Paddan-aram where they lived (Gen. 28:5), explains why both Leah and Rachel desired the plant. Rachel herself has not borne any children, Leah has become temporarily infertile (29:31–30:13), and both are seeking a cure in the mandrake.

The primary players in the chapter do not come off all that positively. Rachel and Leah are both showing superstition by putting their hope in a plant without asking God’s blessing on the potential medicine. It is no wonder that Leah accuses Rachel of stealing her husband since Jacob’s profound and sinful neglect of Leah is evident in her willingness to trade the rare mandrakes for just one night with him. Rachel, in a sense, prostitutes Jacob by offering him to Leah for the desired fruit (Gen. 30:15) and is plainly more concerned to bear children of her own than she is for her sister’s welfare. Both women are willing to barter for relational and sexual intimacy, things that should never be so grossly traded.

Leah Bears Two More Sons

Issachar, Jacob’s 9th Son, Leah’s Reward

Genesis 30:17–21 CSB

17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar. 19 Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 “God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun. 21 Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

Zebulun, Jacob’s Tenth Son, Leah’s Honor restored

So it seems Rachel’s hopes were dashed, as Leah finds favor for childbearing and Rachel is yet childless. This was the work of God, whom Rachel had ignored for a bit as she fed into the legends of the Mandrake’s fertility support:

Back to the commentary from iBible,

Rachel sees the mandrakes as a way for her to bear a child with Jacob! Then Leah has another child (Issachar [her “Reward”]), and another (Zebulun {her “Honor”]), and another child, a girl (Dinah). Still nothing for Rachel. The mandrakes were not the answer.

Several years before, in the conversation with Jacob where Rachel says, “Give me children or I will die,” Jacob replied, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” It is not the mandrakes that made the difference, but God.

Finally, It’s Rachel’s Turn

Genesis 30:22–24 CSB

22 Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph and said, “May the Lord add another son to me.”

Joseph, Jacob’s Eleventh Son, Rachel’s Blessing

Joseph means “May the Lord Add” and later on, Rachel would bear her second son.

Now Joseph would be the key to the family’s survival later on. we’ll get to that in a few weeks, after we finish with Jacob, Esau, and God’s continued promises made for the future of his people.

>>>I’ll talk about how Jacob’s wealth increased next week, but for now,

God Calls Jacob to Return

Genesis 31:3–5 CSB

3 The Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your family, and I will be with you.” 4 Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were. 5 He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same as before, but the God of my father has been with me.

Jacob Shares God’s Message with Leah and Rachel

Genesis 31:13–16 CSB

13 I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’ ” 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we have any portion or inheritance in our father’s family? 15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has certainly spent our purchase price. 16 In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

Genesis 31:17–18 ESV

17 So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

Rachel Grabs the Goods

Now we come to the curious story about Rachel’s bad behavior and the apparent theft of her brother’s idols. But all is not as it seems from these few verses.

Genesis 31:19 ESV

19 Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.

Laban Searches for His “gods”

Genesis 31:33–35 ESV

33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

From E.A. Speiser, THE ANCHOR BIBLE: GENESIS. Introduction, Translation, and Notes Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York. Third Edition, Seventh Printing, 1985. pp. 250-251

But the basic significance of the incident now transcends all such considerations of human interest or literary presentation. It derives from underlying social practices as they bear on the nature of the patriarchal narratives in general. According to the Nuzi documents, which have been found to reflect time and again the social customs of Haran, possession of the house gods could signify legal title to a given estate, particularly in cases out of the ordinary, involving daughters, sons-in-law, or adopted sons (see Anne E. Draffkorn, Ilani/Elohin, JBL 76 [1957], 219ff.).

This peculiar practice of Rachel’s homeland supplies at least the motive, sought so long but in vain, for her seemingly incomprehensible conduct. Rachel was in a position to know, or at least to suspect, that in conformance with local law her husband was entitled to a specified share in Laban’s estate. But she also had ample reason to doubt that her father would voluntarily transfer the images as formal proof of property release; the ultimate status of Laban’s daughters and their maidservants could well have been involved as well. In other words, tradition remembered Rachel as a resolute woman who did not shrink from taking the law – or what she believed to be the law – into her own hands.

The above technical detail would help to explain why Laban was more concerned about the disappearance of the images than about anything else (v. 30). For under Hurrian law, Jacob’s status in Laban’s household would normally be tantamount to self-enslavement. That position, however, would be altered if Jacob was recognized as an adopted son who married the master’s daughter. Possession of the house gods might well have made the difference. Laban knew that he did not have them, but chose to act as thought he did, at least to save face. Thus his seeming magnanimity in the end (43 f.) would no longer be out of character. He keeps up the pretense that he is the legal owner of everything in Jacob’s possession; yet he must have been aware that, with the images gone, he could not press such a claim in a court of law.

Was the author conscious of all these complex and to him alien details? Such intimate knowledge on his part is scarcely to be expected in the circumstances, after a lapse of centuries and under totally different conditions. In view of E’s known tendency to present his heroes in the best possible light, his present failure to tone down Rachel’s apparent misconduct can only mean that he had no basis for doing so. To put it differently, E did not invent this story any more than J made up the wife-sister motif, since so much intricate background detail could not be improvised and still prove to be authentic by coincidence. Yet this material must have reached the writer (independently of J , it should be stressed!) after a long period of transmission, long enough for the meaning behind the incident to have been completely lost. On both these counts, the ultimate tradition points back to mid-second millennium Haran or earlier, the period to which the story itself is dated. One such example by itself may not be dependable. But when it is joined by others like it, the cumulative evidence becomes increasingly impressive.

Jacob and Laban Strike a Peace Deal

Genesis 31:36–45 ESV

36 Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. 38 These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.” 43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? 44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.” 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

God Confirms His Promises

Genesis 35:9–13 ESV

9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.

Benjamin, Jacob’s Twelfth Son

Genesis 35:16–18 ESV

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

Rachel’s Tomb

Genesis 35:19–20 ESV

19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.

The List of Jacob’s Sons

Genesis 35:23–26 ESV

23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

Leah’s Place of Honor

Genesis 49:31 ESV

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah—