"A Voice Was Heard in Ramah"

The Completion of Jacob’s Cycle and the Move Toward Joseph

According to my history, it was in November that we read up through chapter 35, and so we want to, as is our custom, read through the last narrative cycle of Genesis next week and look forward to the opportunity to beginning the Joseph cycle.

Last week, as we began chapter 35, we saw the revival at Bethel, the revival coming after the deplorable tragedy at Shechem in chapter 34, and as a result of that, God called Israel, that is, Jacob, back to Bethel, back to the place where He had first found him, and there, in that very process of calling him, almost wanted Jacob to realize that God would meet him there and that Jacob would thus be revived, and one of the points last week was that it is God's presence that revives God's people, and we saw three actions last week that revived Jacob.

First, Jacob receiving God's word. Second, the result of that, Jacob purging the idols in his midst, and then lastly, the response of that clean heart and that purified conscience was building an altar.

In other words, dedicating himself to the worship and service of God. Now this morning, as we close out chapter 35, we are closing out the Jacob cycle, and structurally, we are closing out the generations of Isaac.

We remember that we said the framework for the book of Genesis is the Toledot structure, the generational structure, and so we're closing out the generations of Isaac with the death of Isaac recorded at the very end of the chapter, but as far as the narrative and the content goes, we're really shifting focus from Jacob to chapter 37, beginning the shift toward Joseph.

The completion of the 12 tribes of Israel is another very important aspect as we close out this chapter, and of course, that completion comes about as the result of Benjamin's birth. With Benjamin, the only son born in the land, we have the completion of the 12 tribes.

That significance, I think, we all understand in one sense or another, to be carried through to the New Testament, and what we'll see this morning is there's a lot more that takes us from Genesis 35 toward the fulfillment of the New Testament, and it's not just the number 12, which is then echoed in the allotment of the 12 disciples.

So with the birth of Benjamin, we'll find this larger movement of God's purpose to bring the promised seed into the fallen world. In other words, finally, we have an opportunity in Genesis 35 to keep the big picture in view, that 10 ,000 foot overview that helps us see the big themes and how they all correlate to the coming of Jesus, our Savior.

The conclusion, as we'll see, of Jacob's cycle is marked by death and betrayal, but it's also marked by life and hope. We want to consider the remainder of chapter 35 in, really, four parts. First, the death of Rachel, second, the sons of Jacob, third, the death of Isaac, and fourth will take us outside of chapter 35 to consider this larger fulfillment pattern, and I'm very excited about that fourth point, so let's not waste any time getting to it.

The Death of Rachel and the Hope Behind Her Sorrow

First, the death of Rachel, beginning in verse 16, then they journeyed from Bethel, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. The return to Bethel had been a revival, but we see here times of revival are not without trial.

In fact, we could say times of revival are not just means by which God refreshes and strengthens His people after a time of stale backsliding or dwindling, in fact, revival is often God strengthening and restoring His people for a trial yet to come, and we can see that, really, unfolding here.

Bethel is not the conclusion after a long, dry season, but the sort of refill station on the way toward more difficulty and trial, and such is the Christian life. Revival is often meant to prepare us for the difficulties and trials yet to come.

As they leave Bethel, while they're yet a little difference from Bethlehem, as we find out in verse 19, what we call here Ephrath, Rachel begins to go into labor, and the crisis of this labor is given enigmatically with the words, she had hard labor.

I imagine all labor is hard labor, but this is uniquely hard labor, life-threatening,.

In fact.

Now, this metaphor of difficult labor is used, really, throughout Scripture as a metaphor of impending judgment or otherwise impending trial or travail. We see it in Isaiah 26, Isaiah 66, Jeremiah 4, Hosea 13.

The Olivet Discourse, Jesus likens it to birth pains, 1 Thessalonians 5, in a very similar context, Paul uses this metaphor. And it might be that in our modern day, we've become desensitized to the risk and the travail of childbirth.

Maybe even a hundred years ago, women were more attuned to the possibility, the very real possibility, that they would suffer some hardship in bringing forth a child, and that they, in fact, could lose their own life.

This is something still prevalent today in third world nations, where having a child is a very risky thing, and it will often either cost the life of the child or the life of.

The mother.

Now, of course, it's far less common for us, we have, due to God's common grace, and we ought always to give Him the thanks and the praise. We have further advanced medical capacities, we're able to detect things early, we're able to take immediate measures to try to save the life of the mother, and all of this is part of God's grace toward humanity.

But with Rachel, she has hard labor, very hard labor, and it seems that even she realizes she's not going to make it through. As we'll see, it seems the midwife realizes she's not going to make it through.

She tries to offer words of comfort. We have it in verse 17, now it came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said to her, do not fear, you will have this son also. So the midwife is seeking to comfort Rachel, please remember that phrase, I use it advisedly.

She sought to comfort Rachel, Rachel refuses to be comforted in the way that she names.

This son.

Perhaps the midwife sees the danger that Rachel is in. We have it translated, when it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, probably not the best translation. If you're a grammar geek, you might have ears to hear this, I'm just going to say it just so it's kind of on record.

We have a shift from the PL stem to a hyphal infinitive, it's meant to produce a contrast. Okay, we're done with the grammar geek now. It's better translated, when she was at the hardest point of her labor.

There's a contrast here. It's not redundant. She had hard labor, and when she had hard labor, you know, the midwife said to her, no, no, no, when she was at the hardest point, when she was in agony and it seemed like there was no moving forward, that's when the midwife is trying to reassure her and bring her comfort.

Don't fear, you're going to have a son. You're going to have this son also. And we're reminded, ironically, of the name of Joseph. Remember when Rachel gave birth to Joseph back in Genesis 30, verse 24.

She said, may He, that is God, add another. And the implication was, add another son. And here we have the midwife saying, you will have another son. And so Rachel's hearing, as it were, the reverberation of her own hopes for Joseph in the answer of the midwife, may He give me another son, you will have another son.

But with further irony, the means of receiving this son will bring Rachel's life to its end. She cries out in desperation in Genesis 30, verse 1, give me children or I die. And in God answering that prayer, giving her a child, she is dying.

And so we have verse 18, as it was, her soul was departing, parentheses, for she died, and she called his name Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin. So we have this description of her death, it's given as a parenthetical statement.

In other words, the narrator is less interested, Moses is less interested in the fact of her death, as in what took place as she died, the naming of the son, Benoni. But the father, Jacob, says no, Benjamin.

The description of death is not only here, we saw it earlier with Deborah being buried under the terebinth, we'll see it at the end of the chapter with Isaac. And with all of this emphasis on death in chapter 35, we don't want to miss these little nuggets of information that are sprinkled here and there throughout Genesis, which help us create a theology of afterlife, and this is vital.

Here we have Rachel dying, and the language is literally her soul or her life is departing. And when Isaac dies, he will be gathered to his people, not his corpse, but Isaac is gathered to his people, and the idea is in Sheol, in the afterlife.

And so here we have just a passing statement that helps us understand there is a theology of the ongoing existence of life in the afterlife, that the soul departs from the body, and though the body is buried and grieved, there is a life that follows that body and the soul departs.

The soul is removed, and the soul then awaits, as we have with later revelation, to be further.

Clothed.

So already in Genesis, we have a theology of resurrection hope beginning to develop. Notice that it's not something laid out in a treatise, it's not organized by little statements. Moses doesn't put it in a confession for us, but we do have a theology of death in the afterlife, things to come in these little narrative asides.

Now, when Rachel dies, notice, she with her dying breath, and this is part of what I think, as we'll get to later, Jeremiah's picking up on, she's refusing to be comforted. She refuses to take refuge in the fact she has a son.

So with her dying breath, as her soul is departing, which is what that means, as she gives up the ghost, she names the son Ben-Oni, which means son of my sorrow, or son of my suffering. And Jacob, not wanting to have the child cast under that shadow, not wanting to have a name that sharply and painfully reminds him of the loss of his beloved wife, he says, no, it will not be Ben-Oni, but Ben-Yamin, Benjamin, son of my right hand.

The connotation there is son of my favor, son of my strength, a son of my power, even. We have verse 19, so Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Keep that in mind, because this is all going to be swirling toward fulfillment theology by the time we get to the end of the morning.

And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. It was known even to the Israelites, even beyond, in the days of Samuel the prophet, this location was known. So Rachel died.

Again, note this running emphasis on death. It's been a while since we've seen it in the genealogies, and he died, and he died, and he died. And we're trying to set that up in light of Genesis 1 through 3, God's intention for humanity to embody his image and have everlasting life in his presence, and yet as a result of sin, death enters into the world, and he died, and he died, and he died, and Rachel died, and yet she's buried in hope.

So we're not far from Genesis 1 through 3, and the promise of the seed that will conquer the consequence of sin, have victory over death, and bring hope and everlasting life to his people. So we're still at this point in Genesis 35, walking out the curse of sin and the consequence of the fall.

And we're reminded here in Genesis 35 that death is an unavoidable experience woven into fallen humanity, but behind death and behind the theology of burial, there is a hope of restoration and awaiting of the promise of God.

He will, Isaiah 25, swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face. That's embedded here in Genesis 35. Not only do we have a theology of death, but we have these very personal moments of Jacob.

His care for Rachel after she dies is really just symbolic of the way he cared for Rachel throughout his whole life. He loved her. He never made any bones about her being the favorite wife. He doted over her.

She was the love of Jacob's life. Remember when he had to work seven years to marry her? Moses said it was like a few days to him, because he loved her so much. And all that they had been through, not just in Paddan-Aram as he worked an additional seven years to actually win her hand in marriage, but the children that came to Leah, sparking this bitter rivalry, the way he tried to comfort Rachel, surely, the excitement when Joseph was born, the way that he arranged his family in that great showdown with Esau, how he sent them all ahead of him as he wrestled and rivaled God, as it were, on the brook of Jabbok.

And then when he made it over, how he arranged them all in procession to go and stand before his long-lost brother Esau, and how he kept Rachel and Joseph there with him at the very end. Everyone else could go ahead, but Rachel, this is his Rachel.

This is his beloved.

And even as he sets up this pillar, and as he grieves, and even as many years go by, decade after decade after decade on his deathbed, Jacob will say to Joseph in Genesis 48, when I came from Paddan-Aram, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, and it was just a little distance from Ephrath, I buried her there on the way.

So this moment in Genesis 35, it stays with him throughout his whole life, and when he's there looking at Joseph now, and all the wonder of that reconciliation, the first place his mind goes to is the loss of Joseph's mother, his dear wife, Rachel.

She died by my side, he said. All the milestones of Jacob's life have been marked by the building of pillars. God's revelation at Bethel twice over, wherever God revealed himself to Jacob, Jacob built a pillar as a memorial, as a way of commemorating this wonderful moment in his life.

And here he builds a commemoration of not only his love for Rachel, but also his sorrow. And I can't help but think even here we have a testimony to the untwisting grace of God. This is what sanctifying grace does in the life of a husband.

It takes a very selfish, deceitful, manipulative, willful man, and it untwists him to such a degree that he can be very tender, devoted, loyal, moved by the relationships in his life, and we see that with Jacob.

And here we also see that Jacob needs to learn to walk by faith. He's been revived at Bethel. At Bethel, God had said, be fruitful, multiply, and Jacob must have with all that strength said yes, and then when Rachel began to show, he must have been so excited, you see, yes, God is now blessing us, we will be fruitful, we will multiply, we will spread his name and his worship throughout this land.

You can imagine how excited he was. Rachel had been made fruitful again. How many more children could we have? She's practically in her prime still. And then the Lord took her away, and that death would have been a crushing blow.

In fact, it almost would have seemed against the very purpose of God. God, you came and you told me to be fruitful and multiply, and your plan is now to take away my wife? And yet he had to learn how to walk by faith and not by sight.

His hope had been built up, and God had blessed him, but then God, in the mystery of his providence, took Rachel away from Jacob and said, walk by faith and not by sight. And we don't have any answer given.

There's no rationale given. If Jacob said why, the only response would be, the secret things belong to the Lord. We cannot say why Rachel was taken. It doesn't seem to be a punishment for anything. Maybe if Rachel was taken at Shechem, we could say, well, it must have had something to do with it, but God had already revived and blessed and given the covenantal mantle over to Jacob, and so the death of Rachel comes like a lightning strike.

And I think we learn here also, and this is going to be very significant moving into the Joseph cycle, something of the mystery of God's providence, something of the way that we must bend our knees and worship what cannot be understood in this life.

We learn that sorrow in a Christian's life is not necessarily traced to punishment. In fact, it could be the very opposite. It all depends on how we understand the Lord to be working in and through us.

It all depends upon our faith in the Lord's purposes and our trust in His goodness despite the circumstances, despite the sorrows that we encounter in our life, personally, health-wise, familial, whatever it may be.

I love what one said. If we're right with God, we'll meet sorrow as Israel and not as Jacob. Meet as one prevailing with God rather than one who's usurping. Every affliction may be viewed in two ways.

One viewpoint may be thought a Ben-Oni, but from another it will be seen as a Benjamin. And here I think we see Jacob walking by faith, not by sight, submitting to this difficult providence of God by even giving his son the name Benjamin.

It's like a statement of faith. No, Rachel, God has been good, and He will not be the son of our sorrow, but He will be the son of our strength. God will be our refuge. He will keep us in our going forth forever.

And so no wonder in verse 21 we don't have then Jacob journeyed, we have then Israel journeyed. It's the pronouncement that he is walking by faith and not by sight. Israel journeyed, we read, and he pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Edir, and as we said, revival often prepares you for trial, and the trial comes.

He's here in Migdal-Edir. We don't know exactly where that is, but if we just follow the narrative, it's somewhere between Bethlehem and Hebron, or Ephrath and Mamre, as it's said. However long this may have been, we can imagine Jacob is still mourning.

He's now settling into the reality of a life without his beloved Rachel in the midst of his grief, and in his mourning we have verse 22. When Israel dwelt in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Why does Reuben go in to lay with Bilhah? I'm sure we all, those of age, understand the euphemism behind lay, behind the verb shekav. Well, one thing we need to keep in mind is that Reuben is the son of Leah, and it's entirely unlikely that Reuben is lusting after Bilhah and just decides, well, I'm just going to go and kind of shoot my shot and take a chance.

It doesn't seem to be the struggle of lust at all. It was, in fact, a power play, and the significance of him being the son of Leah plays into why he seeks Bilhah. He's attempting to usurp his father's position as head of the family, as leader, with all the inheritance behind him, and he wants to actually take power from his father, take possession of the inheritance from his father, and lead the family according to his own will.

I'll demonstrate that in a moment. The significance of him not only being the son of Leah, but also Bilhah. Now, remember, Bilhah was Rachel's maiden, handmaiden. Jacob has never shown much of an interest or attraction to Leah, and I think Reuben understands Bilhah now is going to take Rachel's place, and the sons of Bilhah will now take what's coming to me, and so if I don't take my chance to dishonor Bilhah, put her down in the rank, and actually take possession of the family, then I'm actually going to lose my inheritance, or at least fall into a place of disfavor.

We see the same dynamics at play in 2 Samuel 16, beginning in verse 21. Do you remember Absalom begins to have a detest for his father's rule, and maybe this very similar dynamics here. David was very passive in his household by the time we read 2 Samuel 16, and Absalom sees this as a weakness to be exploited.

All the people come to me, and they appreciate me, and I'm not getting my fair due. In fact, I think I should be running the kingdom, and he has his loyal supporters who don't like the reign of David either.

So when Absalom is seeking to usurp his father's position, he finds counsel from Ahithophel, and this is Ahithophel's counsel. Go into your father's concubines. David had his concubines. Bilhah is a concubine, along with Zilpah, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father, but the hands of all who are with you will be strong.

Maybe Reuben had support from his brethren. Yeah, you know what? We need to do something that will provoke him and lead to a contest, and then I can take power. Do it, brother. We're with you. We're going to support you in this.

So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all of Israel. So it's not something done secretly. It was meant to provoke, meant to draw out a contest, meant to create, as it were, a civil war in the family, and Absalom's hope was that he would come out on top.

And so, of course, we have Israel hearing of this. It was meant to be public. It was meant to be a display. It wasn't done secretly as a form of adulterous lust. It was done as a provocation, a power play.

Just like Absalom, Reuben deposes Jacob, or at least seeks to, trying to replace his father as the leader of the family, and just like Absalom, Reuben fails. Nothing comes of this. And it seems that Israel, his response to it, it's just one of accepting the fact of it, perhaps grieving over it, but there's a quiet resilience to his strength.

He's not drawn in to the provocation. Later in the law, this would lead to warrant the death penalty, but he doesn't act at this moment. He seems to let it all sort of blow over, and then he has these words to Reuben.

In Genesis 49, he dispossesses him at the very end of his life. Reuben, you were my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength. You were my firstborn son. This is what you were meant to be. Excelling in honor, excelling in power, turbulent as the waters, and you will no longer excel because you went up onto your father's bed, onto my bed, and you defiled it.

And so he dispossesses Reuben, and he claims Ephraim and Manasseh to be his own. And so we have that fulfillment in the 12, really being 11 and two-half tribes, which is fulfilled by the hanging of Judas, the dispossession of Judas as one of the 12, the allotment of Matthias and Paul as one born-do out of time.

So again, the beautiful theological symmetry of fulfillment. We see a prime example here of Reuben's sin, and with it, the hypocrisy of sin. Remember, Reuben is a son of Leah, and it was Leah's daughter, Dinah, that was raped.

And all the brothers of Dinah said, should Shechem have treated our sister like a harlot? All the brothers went out and plundered the city as an act of vengeance. And it was the brothers of Dinah in particular that said, this is a form of outrage in Israel.

This is a disgrace to Israel. How could we not act in light of this disgrace? And yet here is Reuben literally disgracing Israel, literally defiling the wife of his father for the sake of power. And so it's very significant here.

The hypocrisy of sin, the downfall of Reuben, the quiet, resilient strength of Israel. The narrator is very clear. Israel heard it. Israel. He's walking in the faith of God. Thankfully, we move on. The providence of this unfolding again, we don't know the exact resolution, we just know Reuben is inevitably dispossessed.

And with that, just again, moving toward the Joseph cycle and seeing the mysterious providence of God, we understand even when there doesn't seem to be a reckoning in the moment, there will always be a reckoning by the end.

Reuben might have thought, well, that didn't go exactly the way I thought, but I'm no worse for the wear. It was worth it. And maybe he just thought everything could kind of carry on. Maybe he thought everything had been kind of healed and cemented over in the prevening decades.

But he finds out in Genesis 49 that that is not the case. There's always a reckoning. Though providence may be difficult to interpret, there's always a reckoning, and we see that in the life of Reuben.

The Completion of the Twelve Tribes

So now turning from Reuben to the 12. The sons of Jacob were 12. The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, were God and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram. I'm speaking generally here.

Of course, Benjamin was born near Bethlehem. We're given a full list of Jacob's children, not according to the order of their birth, but according to their mothers. And it's worth, I think, whenever we look at something like this, it's worth to consider these were two sisters who grew up in the same household, two sisters who married the same man, two sisters who had very similar contexts and experiences over these decades, and yet the children of these two sisters could not be farther apart.

And so this whole debate over nature versus nurture, there's an interesting study to be done here in the lives of the children of Rachel and Leah. Same atmosphere, more or less, same influences and experiences, more or less, very different outcomes.

The house of Isaac now is complete. And now that the house of Isaac is complete and the 12 tribes of Israel have been fulfilled, we can move forward to conclude the household of Isaac toward the generations of Esau and into the cycle of Joseph.

Isaac’s Death and Jacob’s Return Home

So we close with verses 27 through 29. Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, Oker Jeth Abba, that is Hebron, so we've got three different names that this place would have been known by over time, where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt.

So Jacob is now returning to the place of his father's as heir of the covenantal promises. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years, and Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days.

And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. We remember as Jacob approaches that he has not seen his father, so far as we know, for 30 years. For over 30 years he's been a stranger to his home. Remember in Genesis 27, Isaac thought he was about to die.

He was unsure that he was healthy enough to wait to bless his son, so he said, Esau, prepare a meal for me that I might bless you. But the old man, he pushed through actually quite a long time beyond this.

Jacob, of course, had run away, afraid of his brother and had not seen his father ever since. You can only imagine what this reunion must have been like. How do you even knock on the door after so much has transpired?

Knocking on the door, three of his wives are there, his 12 sons, the whole retinue, all the servants and all the cattle. Isaac, if he somehow recovered his sight or if he's still blind as a bat, surely would have felt the faces and wept and hugged and they would have had a lot to catch up on as they both glorified the ways and the wisdom and the goodness of God in their lives.

It's an interesting thing going home. I mean, I'm close enough that I can go home daily if not weekly. My parents' home is only half an hour away. But for some of us who have actually moved from a different state, to actually travel back and return home, you get this well of memories and experiences that come back to your mind.

You can only imagine that coming home and seeing things, seeing places, having triggered memories of certain events, it would have been a testimony to Jacob how much God had worked in his life, how much change God had brought about, and now he had come back to the place that 30 years before he ran away as a selfish, manipulative, deceitful man, and he's brought back as this humble, patient, wise man who's prevailed with God, who's now walking according to the promises given to his fathers.

It's the return of the prodigal in many ways, the return of the prodigal son. It was a very precious time of fellowship with Isaac, and Isaac's death is recorded here, but we'll see Isaac again in the Joseph cycle.

It's sort of taking the fact that he died and it's sort of bringing it all the way back just so we can actually close out the generations of Isaac. So we're recording his death here, but don't be surprised when Isaac pops up again in the Joseph cycle.

He's still alive. In fact, when Joseph comes back, Joseph, I think, is 30 years old, and he's still alive. So he's not resurrected or zombified or anything like that. We have the death here to close out the narrative of the book, and with it, again, we have this theology of death.

He breathed his last, and yet he is gathered. He goes on. There is an afterlife. He's joined to his people, the people that have gone on before him. When a Christian dies, that believer is joined to his people.

His body is buried in hope. He awaits to be further cleansed. That's something that, once you get reformed, it's kind of fun because you're like, oh, I can't wait to meet Spurgeon. I can't wait to meet Jonathan Edwards and some of these Puritans.

It's kind of like, well, Jesus too, guys. There's a lot more than theologians in heaven, but we will be gathered to our people. And perhaps the joy of that reunion could only be eclipsed by the greater joy of being made anew like unto our firstfruits,.

Our great hope, which is Jesus himself.

The Promise of the Seed Fulfilled in Jesus

We have Jacob now returning to the promised land, a man of faith, a man who had wrestled with God, reconciled with God, reconciled with his long-lost brother, a man who's experienced difficulty and loss, fragility of life and the loss of his beloved wife, Rachel.

But the sins of his past God has gloriously redeemed, and though they occasionally show up, and occasionally we find him going back to old patterns and old ways, we see that God's grace is relentless.

It will not let Jacob ultimately slink back to the man he was. It's always prodding and impressing him and compelling him forward to the man that God intended him to be. And we see that as a testimony to our own lives, brothers and sisters, God's grace is relentless to his people.

He compels us and moves us and prods us along so that we might fall into conformity into our Savior. This is the family, this rather messy family. This is the family with usurping Reuben, who has disgust over what happens to Dinah, but no shame at all over what he does to Bilhah.

We have the bitter rivalry, perhaps even the idolatrous practice on the side of all of these siblings, if not the mothers. We have rivalry at every level, and we'll only see that further deepen as we move into Joseph's cycle.

This broken, messy, combative, selfish, often self-willed family is nevertheless the family that God has chosen to be the very carrier and vessel of his promise for the world. This family will bring about, ultimately, the nation through which the promised seed will come.

And this family, ultimately, this broken, messy, combative, sometimes irritating family, will ultimately fulfill God's promise that they would be a blessing to the nations, a blessing to the whole world.

And that brings us to, I think, some theological reflection in our last moments. We have Genesis 35 before us. They journeyed from Bethel, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.

And it came to pass when she was in the hardest point of her labor that the midwife said to her, Do not fear, you will have this son also. Throughout this chapter, Ephrath, being Bethlehem, is emphasized.

It's repeated, and then when Jacob recounts this to Joseph in Genesis 48, he'll repeat Ephrath twice as well. So the significance of Bethlehem is beginning to glow through this moment of Rachel's death.

Of course, she's not in Bethlehem. She dies toward Bethlehem, on the way to Bethlehem. And she mourns. She grieves the fact that she's losing her life, and more significantly, she'll be cut off from seeing her children, her two boys, Joseph and Benjamin.

So we have Genesis 35 in front of us. There's some moving parts here, so I'm going to try to go slowly and methodically. I don't want anyone to miss the train, because it's so glorious. We go to Matthew 2, and it may not be immediately clear why we're going to Matthew 2, but we go to the beginning of the Gospel, and if you were to read the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, you'd understand he's enigmatically stating something about the identity and the significance of the coming of Jesus.

In fact, this is often missed, but the very first two words of Matthew's Gospel, which we often just have translated the book of beginnings or the book of genealogy, and then you go into the genealogy that Matthew's recorded.

So Matthew 1, 1, book of generations, book of beginnings. And in the Greek, it's a little more obvious. It's biblos genesios. It's the book of Genesis. And that's very much intended by Matthew. Genesis is the beginnings.

And then he goes into a genealogy. Remember, Genesis is, if nothing else, structured by genealogies, generations. And so Matthew is saying this is kind of like Genesis. This is a new form of Genesis. Here's these generations that you began back in that book of Genesis, and now you need to see them all the way through to their fulfillment in the person of Jesus.

And so he's beginning to identify Genesis with the coming of Jesus from the very first verse. And then, of course, you have with that throughout Matthew 1 through 4 the calling of the 12 tribes. That brings us back to chapter 35.

Then Jesus, as it were, recapitulating the experience of Israel in fulfillment of Israel, being called out of Egypt. We have that in Matthew 2. You go back to the reference there in Hosea, and it's the nation of Israel being called out of Egypt.

I've called my son out of Egypt. Matthew says it's fulfilled in Jesus. And then he's led through the Jordan in his baptism, like Israel was led through the Jordan. And then the Spirit casts him into the wilderness to be tested for 40 units of time, even as Israel was wandering in the wilderness being tested for 40 years.

And so you have this fulfillment theology going on, Jesus as Israel. Now we come to Matthew 2, beginning in verse 18. Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry.

Remember?

Why don't you come back and tell me when you find him that I might worship him also. The wise men were very wise. They were like, he doesn't want to worship him. Let's not come back this way. And Herod sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts from two years old and under.