RACHEL After Jacob tricked his father, Isaac into giving him his brother, Esau’s birth right, Jacob had to flee for his live. Jacob’s mother, Rebecca told him to go to Haran where her brother, Laban lived. On his journey he came to a field where he saw a watering well which was covered with a large stone. When the shepherds at the well told him that they were from Haran, Jacob enquired if they knew his uncle, Laban who was the son of Nahor. Then they told him that Rachel, his one daughter is on her way to the well to water the sheep she was tending to. Jacob then rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the flock that Rachel was tending to. He then went on to kiss Rachel and started to cry. He told her that he was Rebecca’s son which would make him a relative of her father. She immediately ran to her father to inform him of Jacob’s arrival. Laban went out to meet Jacob and invited him to stay in his house. After staying there and working for Laban for a month, Laban said to Jacob that he cannot work for him for free and asked him what wages he should pay him. Laban had two daughters, Leah who was the oldest and Rebecca. Rebecca was beautiful and during this month, Jacob fell in love with Rebecca. He told Laban that he would work for him for free for seven years if he could marry Rebecca. Laban agreed to this. After seven years, Laban prepared a wedding feast, but the night of the wedding, he tricked Jacob and gave Leah to him as a wife. We do not know how Laban tricked him, but Jacob woke up the next morning with Leah. He was very upset with Laban for deceiving him and Laban explained to him that their customs were that the eldest daughter must be married before the youngest. Chances were that Laban enjoyed the free labor he received from Jacob and did not want to lose this. Jacob then agreed to work another seven years if he could also marry Rebecca. Jacob loved Rebecca more than he cared for Leah and God saw this. God then decided to open Leah’s womb. Leah gave birth to four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. This was the beginning of the twelve tribes of Israel. She believed that as she gave Jacob four sons and Rebecca were not able to give him children that her husband would start to show more affection to her. This was not the case. Rachel was extremely jealous and envied her sister. She blamed Jacob for the fact that she could not have children. Jacob got angry and told her: “ Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb ?”, (Genesis 30:2). It was customary in those days that if a woman could not bear children, that she would give her servant to her husband and any children the servant has with her husband, would become her children. Rebecca then offered her servant, Bilhah to Jacob and Bilhah had two sons, Dan and Naphtali. Leah decided to follow suit and gave her servant, Zilpah to Jacob and Zilpah also had two sons, Gad and Asher. One day, Leah’s son, Reuben went out to the fields and brought home some mandrakes. Rebecca asked Leah if she could have some, to which Leah replied: “ Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also ?”, (Genesis 30:15). From this we can see that even after Leah had four sons with Jacob and her servant had given Jacob two sons, that Rebecca was still favored by Jacob. Rebecca then agreed to a trade with Leah. She would allow Leah to sleep with Jacob if she could have some mandrakes. One cannot help to have compassion for Leah as it is by no fault of her own that Jacob loved her less. God then decided to open Leah’s womb once again and she had another son, Issachar. Later on, she had another son Zebulun and later a daughter named Dinah. Rebecca must have been devastated at this time and God remembered her and decided to open up her womb. She fell pregnant and Joseph was born. After Joseph was born, Jacob decided that it was time for him and his household to move back to his own country. After he came to a compromise with Laban in regard to the livestock, Jacob became very wealthy. (Genesis 31) Laban changed his attitude towards Jacob and his newly acquired wealth. God then instructed Jacob to return to his father, Isaac. Jacob spoke to Leah and Rebecca, and they agreed that they should follow God’s instructions. Jacob then gathered his family and all his possessions, all his servants and livestock and started the journey home. Three days after Jacob left, Laban found out about it, and he was angry. Laban believed in idol worship and all the idols in his household were stolen. He gathered men and pursued Jacob. The night before he caught up with Jacob, he had a dream in which God warned him not to bring harm to Jacob. The following day he confronted Jacob about the stolen idols. Jacob did not know that Rebecca had stolen these items and allowed Laban to search his camp. He told Laban that if he finds the idols, the person who stole them would not be allowed to live. Rebecca went and hid the idols in the saddles of her camel and sat upon it. She told her father that because she was busy having her monthly period, she could not get up to greet him. Laban never found the idols. We also don’t know why Rachel decided to steal this from her father. She might have thought that this would bring her luck, she could have taken them to have something to remind her of her childhood home or it could be because of the value of the idols as she believed that her father squandered her inheritance away. Unfortunately, the Bible does not tell us what her intentions were. After some arguments and accusations between Jacob and Laban, they decided to enter into a covenant with each other that would ensure peace between them. Laban then greeted his daughters and grandchildren, blessed them and returned back to his home. On their journey back, Jacob became scared and did not know how his brother Esau would feel about him returning twenty years after he tricked Esau out of his birth right. He sent servants with many livestock and riches to Esau. The night before he saw Esau, Jacob wrestled with God. It was at this stage that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. From that day onwards, Jacob walked with a limb as in the wrestle, the muscle which is on his hip socket shrank. From that day forward the children of Israel also never ate the muscle of the hip sockets of animals again, (Genesis 32). The following day Esau welcomed back Jacob with open arms! After a period of time, Rachel fell pregnant again. She struggled giving birth and called her son Ben- Oni. She died after this. Jacob decided to change his son’s name to Benjamin. Rachel was buried on the way to Ephrath (Bethlehem) where Jacob erected a pillar on her grave. What a love story we have here! Romance, deception, theft, favoritism, infertility and so much more. We learn from Rachel’s story that God is always in control. Although she lashed out at her husband for not having children, she never stopped believing that God would bless her with a child. “ Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb ”, (Genesis 30:22). Rather than live in peace with her sister Leah, Rachel envied her. We need to remember that Leah was not the enemy here, she was put in this situation by her father, and she did not have a say in the matter. It is never good to live in jealousy of other people and the blessings they receive. Although Rebecca was filled with jealousy and she even stole from her father, God still had mercy on her. Her son Joseph went on to become a great man in the history of Israel, leading them out of captivity in Egypt. You always need to trust in God’s plan for your own life.