Jacob's Love for Rachael — Chuck Smith

Oh, let the sun...

Welcome to, The Word For Today. The broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse study through the entire Bible.

And on today's edition of The Word For Today, we'll once again be following the events surrounding Jacob's obvious love for Rachel. As Pastor Chuck picks up today's lesson in Genesis, chapter 29, verse 31.

Leah’s Unrequited Love and the Birth of Judah

Now, when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and that's a terrible position for a woman to be in, married to a man, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben.

For she said, The Lord has surely looked upon my affliction. Now, therefore, my husband will love me. And that's pathetic. It's sad. I've born him a son. Surely now he will love me. 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.

And she called his name Simeon, which means hearing. So God has seen the first son look. The second son, God has heard my cry. And so she called him hearing. God sees, God hears. And so the first two sons named after the distress of her own heart for the lack of love that she is receiving from her husband.

God sees me. God's heard me. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, Now this time my husband will become attached to me. Surely, you know, he'll start living with me now or he'll become attached or joined to me.

So she called him Levi, which means joined. Again expressing that yearning for the love of her husband. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, Now I will praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Praise, Judah.

Then she stopped bearing. So in rapid succession, probably in a four-year period of time, she bore him four sons, while Rachel remains barren. Now in that culture, the greatest thing that a woman can do is bear a son for her husband.

In that culture, if you are unable to give your husband a son, then you can actually be divorced. If all you bear is girls, he can divorce you. If you cannot bear children, he can divorce you. Bearing him a son, just considered the greatest.

Rachel’s Envy and the Births Through Bilhah

It's still that way in that culture today. Having a boy is so much. In that culture, when a girl goes into labor, everybody would come over. They'd bring the goodies, the band. When the midwife came out and said, it's a boy, they'd strike up the band, they'd have their dances, they'd drink and have a big party.

If the midwife came out and said, it's a girl, they'd fold up everything and go home. Leah was able to bear four sons in rapid succession. That should put her at the top of the pile. She was hoping that it would.

Now surely my husband will be attached to me. And so every time she called Levi, come here, attached, hoping that Jacob would catch on and become attached to her. Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister.

And so the problem between these sisters of envy, jealousy. And she said to Jacob, she became sort of witchy, she said, give me children or else I will die. The envy didn't really bring her much comfort from Jacob.

Her attitude caused his anger to rise against her. And he said, am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? You mean, you know, it's not me, woman. It's obvious that I am able to produce children.

Basically, that's what he was declaring. So she said, here is my maid Bilhah. Go into her and she will bear a child on my knees that I also may have children by her. And then she gave him Bilhah, her maid, as a wife.

And Jacob went into her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God has judged my case. And he has also heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore, she called his name Judged, Dan, which means judged.

God has judged my case, or judgment. And Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, with great wrestlings, I have wrestled with my sister. And indeed, I have prevailed.

So she called his name Wrestlings, Naphtali, which means wrestlings. And so interesting how that the children were named after hopes, aspirations, or after circumstances of their birth. Now Leah saw that she had stopped bearing.

Leah’s Competition and the Births Through Zilpah

Look at the competition. You don't read of Jacob complaining, though, interestingly enough. When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

Then Leah said, a troop comes. So she called his name Troop. And probably that's what she was hoping, that she would have a troop of children. And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.

So she called his name Happy, Asher. Sounds like the seven dwarfs in a way, doesn't it? Happy, higher, dwelling, troop, wrestlings, judgment, praises. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest.

The Mandrakes and Leah’s Continued Longing

And at this time, Reuben was probably seven, eight years old. And he went in the days of the wheat harvest. And he found some 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.

But she said to her, is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also? So there's a lot of bitterness between the sisters. It's sad. It's tragic. It no doubt was not.

It was not a happy, peaceful home. Mandrakes were thought to be an aphrodisiac. And they were considered to be sort of a fertility kind of a drug within them, especially within the roots of the mandrakes.

And it is possible that Rachel was hoping to take the mandrakes as an aphrodisiac and perhaps create fertility, for they were thought to be a fertility drug. And so when Reuben found the mandrakes in the field, brought them home to his mother, Rachel said, oh, I'd like to have those mandrakes.

And Leah retorted, hey, isn't it enough that you've taken away the husband? Now you want my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said to her, I'll let you lie with him tonight for your son's mandrakes. And so when Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, hey, you've got to come into my tent tonight.

I've hired you with my son's mandrakes. And so he spent the night in her tent. And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a son, a fifth son. And she said, God is giving me my hire because I have given my maid to my husband.

So she called his name Hired, Ishkar. Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good endowment. Now my husband will dwell with me because I have borne him six sons.

So she called his name Dwelling, hoping that her husband would now dwell in her tent because she was able to produce so many children. Still the sadness persist. After that, she bore a daughter. Puts her out of the ball game.

Called her name Dinah. And imagine what it must have been for that little girl with all these brothers now, some 10 brothers. And so she, no doubt, had a pretty good life. The brothers loved her very much, very jealous for her, as we'll find later in the story.

Rachel’s Fertility, Joseph, and Benjamin

Then God remembered Rachel. And God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. So she called his name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add to me another son.

And so in hope and in faith, she called his name Adding. God will add another son. And indeed, she did have one more son. After they had returned to the land of Israel and were in the area near Bethlehem, her second son was born, the 12th son to Jacob.

And in the childbirth, Rachel died. And so as the child was being born and she was having such a difficult time in delivery, she called his name Benoni, the son of misery. But Jacob changed his name to Benjamin, the son of my right hand.

So it is true, God did add to her one more son. So she named him Adding in hopes and faith that God would add one more son. Now it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph that Jacob came to Laban and he said, send me away that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

So now he has 11 sons. And he wants to go back home, the two wives and their two maids. And he's asking Laban to send him away. Give me my wives, my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know my service which I have done for you.

So I've fulfilled my obligation. I've put in the 14 years. Laban said to him, please stay. If I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.

Laban’s Prosperity and Jacob’s Wages

The word translated experience there is the Hebrew word for enchantments. And it is possible that he is saying, I have learned by enchantments that the Lord has blessed me for your sake. He was involved in the worship of false gods.

He had perhaps gone in to one who was a diviner in divination or enchantments to try to learn the reasons for his success. And he learned by it that Jacob was the reason for God's blessings, that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.

Then he said, name me your wages, and I will give it. Now earlier he had said that, and he got a good deal. You know, I'll serve you seven years for your daughter Rachel, your younger daughter. And I'm sure that that was far more than what Laban was expecting.

And so knowing that Jacob is sort of a soft touch in the fact of naming his own wages, he again says, name your wages, you know, stick around. I've found that I've been blessed because you're here. And so name your wages.

And I'm sure that he could hardly believe his ear when Jacob named his wages. He said to him, you know how I served you and how your livestock has been with me? For what you had before I came was little, and now it's increased to a great amount.

So Jacob is reminding him, hey, you didn't have much when I came, and now you've got a lot. The Lord has blessed you since my coming, and now when shall I also provide for my own house? You're a wealthy man now, but I don't have anything for myself, for my own labors.

Jacob’s Breeding Strategy and the Division of the Flocks

So he said, what shall I give you? And Jacob said, you shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks. Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all of the speckled and spotted sheep and all of the brown ones among the lambs and the spotted and the speckled among the goats, and these shall be my wages.

So my righteousness will answer for me in the time to come. When the subject of my wages comes before you, everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs will be considered stolen if it's with me.

Laban said, oh, that it were according to your word. All right. That sounds like a good deal. What he was saying is this. You go through the flocks now, and you remove all of the speckled and spotted among the flocks and all of the brown lambs.

And the solid colors, they become yours. You take out now the speckled and spotted so that there is no chance for them to breed with the solid colors. I'll take then just the solid colors. And whatever are born from the solid colored animals, they become my wages.

The speckled and the spotted ones born from the solid colored animals. So Laban took all of the speckled and spotted ones out, and he gave them to his sons, and he said, now stay at least three days' journey away from Jacob.

Don't let the flocks intermingle. He thought, man, I've got it made. He's going to remove all the spotted and speckled, there will be no interbreeding. All he gets then is the spotted and speckled ones born now from these solid colors.

And he really thought that he had a deal. That Jacob's got to be a fool, you know. And man, I've got this guy. And he really figured that he had it made. So he ordered his sons, now you always stay at least three days away, three days' journey away from his flock.

Keep those spotted and speckled ones away so they can't interbreed with those solid colored ones. So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, and all of the female goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all of the brown ones from among the lambs, and he gave them into the hands of his sons.

And then to make sure, he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar, and almond, and chestnut trees, and he peeled white strips in them and exposed the white which was in the rods.

And the rods which he had peeled he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth sprouts.

And Jacob's flocks were streaked, speckled, and spotted. Then Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all of the brown of the flock of Laban, but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban's flock.

And it came to pass whenever the stronger livestock conceived that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters that they might conceive among the rods. But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in.

So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger were Jacob's. Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and he had large flocks, female and male servants, camels and donkeys.". I mean, he really began to be wealthy and prosperous as he was very skilled in the art of husbandry.

God’s Providence Behind Jacob’s Prosperity

Now, you must realize that this fellow has about 80 years of experience, at least, in husbandry, in the observation of the processes of conception and all among the animals and the development of a species.

He knew that as the animals came in for the watering, when the striped, white-striped branches were placed in front of them, that somehow it caused them to come into heat and thus to reproduce. And it was the Lord, really, who gave him the strong-spotted and speckled ones, because later on Jacob himself acknowledged that it was God who had prospered and blessed him as he was returning.

He said, Lord, I am not worthy the least of thy mercies that you have shown unto me. When I passed over this river going, running away, I had only my rod in my hand. That's the only possession I had was just my walking stick.

And now I'm coming back, and look, I've got so many sheep and oxen and camels and all that I have to separate them into two companies in order to travel. And he was overwhelmed with the grace of God and the mercies of God towards him.

And he acknowledged that it was God who had granted him the success and the wealth and not his own devices.

We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of Genesis in our next lesson, as we find Jacob once again packing up and embarking on another journey. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

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And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study through the book of Genesis. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

May the Lord bless you now, keep you in His love, fill you with His Spirit, guide you with His wisdom, anoint you with His love, that you might share with others the glorious news of God's love and grace towards man through Jesus Christ, His Son.

Biblical Readiness to Answer Questions About Current Events

The Bible calls Christians to be ready to give an answer. And for this reason, I encourage you to listen to Pastor Chuck Smith's prophecy update, find out the biblical perspective concerning the Middle East, Israel, and scriptures that relate to current world events.

Learn how you can give an intelligent and scriptural response to someone who might be concerned about the future. But what can we know for certain?

Jacob’s Confidence in God’s Presence

Surely the Lord is in this place wherever I go. And He will keep me. He will strengthen me. He's given His promises to me. And I'm going to make it through. That I know, because the Lord is with me wherever I go.

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