Jacob Meets Rachel: Genesis 29.1-14
Unlike his father Issac, Jacob finds his own wife in the patriarchal land to the east. He comes to a well (Isaac connection! See Genesis 24) where there are three flocks of sheep tended by shepherds. There is a large stone at the mouth of the well, which is rolled back when the sheep are to be watered.
Jacob discovers the shepherds are from Haran and they know Laban. In fact, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep. Jacob tells them it is broad daylight, no time for sheep to be gathered together. They should be watered and pastured. They say that first the flocks must be gathered and the stone rolled from the mouth of the well.
By this time Rachel is at the well. Jacob sees her and decides to show off his manly strength, rolling back the stone from the well himself. He waters Laban’s flock, the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban. Jacob then kisses Rachel and weeps aloud. He tells Rachel of his relation to her, and Rachel runs to tell her father.
Laban runs to meet Jacob, embraces and kisses him, and brings him home to dinner…for a month.
Jacob Put to the Test: Genesis 29.15-30
Check out a comic of today's story. [.pdf]
Sex and the…Patriarch?: Genesis 29.31-30.22
At marriage, both Leah and Rachel are barren. But that is soon fixed with some good old-fashioned…
WHEN God sees Leah is unloved after Jacob’s marriage to Rachel, he opens her womb. Each of her four consecutive sons bears a name that expresses her frustration at having an unloving (though sexually vigorous) husband.
Leah conceives and bears a son, naming him Reuben (see, a son), for she says, “Because the Lord has looked on my affliction; surely now my husband will love me” (Gen. 29.32).
Leah conceives and bears a second son, naming him Simeon, for she says, “Because the Lord has heard (shama) that I am hated, he has given me his son also” (Gen. 29.33).
Leah conceives and bears a third son, naming him Levi, for she says, “Now this time my husband will be joined (lawah) to me, because I have borne him three sons” (Gen. 29.34).
Leah conceives and bears a fourth son, naming him Judah, for she says, “This time I will praise (hodah) the Lord” (Gen. 29.35).
Leah stops bearing children.
THEN Rachel sees that she is barren, envies her sister, and says to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” (Gen. 30.1). Jacob gets angry at this, saying, that he is not God; he has not made her barren. Rachel reacts very much like Sarah does when she sees Hagar bears children: she gives her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob as a surrogate.
Bilhah conceives and bears a son, whom Sarah names Dan (He judged), for she says, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son” (Gen. 30.6).
Bilhah conceives and bears a second son, whom Sarah names Naphtali, for she says, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled (niphtal) with my sister, and have prevailed” (Gen. 30.8).
THEN Leah sees that she has ceased bearing children, and gives her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob.
Zilpah conceives and bears a son, whom Leah names Gad (fortune), for she says, “Good fortune!” (Gen. 30.11).
Zilpah conceives and bears a second son, whom Leah names Asher (happy), for she says, “Happy am I! For the women will call me happy” (Gen. 30.13).
THEN as he picks around during the wheat harvest, Reuben finds some mandrakes and brings them to his mother Leah. Mandrakes are known for their aphrodisiac and fertility-enhancing properties, so the barren Rachel asks Leah for some of her son’s mandrakes. Rachel responds that Leah has already taken away her husband; now she wants her son’s mandrakes as well?! This is a bit comical, but the true hilarity follows. Rachel tells Leah that Jacob will sleep with her in exchange for the mandrakes. This must be devastating for Jacob. Why in the world would he want to sleep with Leah, the woman who has already borne him four children?
But seriously, Jacob is hired out to Leah and sleeps with her that night. Leah meets Jacob in a field and uses this pickup line: “You must come in to me; for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes” (Gen. 30.16).
Leah conceives and bears a fifth son, naming him Issachar, for she says, “God has given me my hire (sakar) because I gave my maid to my husband” (Gen. 30.18).
Leah conceives and bears a sixth son, naming him Zebulun, for she says, “God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor (zabal) me, because I have borne him six sons” (Gen. 30.20).
Leah conceives and bears a daughter, naming her Dinah.
THEN God remembers Rachel, and opens her womb (perhaps with the aid of mandrakes?).
Rachel conceives and bears a son, naming him Joseph (He adds), for she says, “God has taken away my reproach” [E-source] and “May the Lord add to me another son!” [J-source] (Gen. 30.23-24).
Check out the intricate naming ritual. Every one of the eleven sons has an etymological name through the naming ritual. Dinah gets no naming ritual because she is a girl and not a forebear of the twelve tribes.
But isn’t it weird that the sons of Jacob come about in such a…uh…folkloric manner? Judah, the primogenitor of the Davidic line, is the fourth son of an unloved wife! The people of Israel come from maids, an unloved woman, and a woman who was barren and needed mandrakes to produce a son. I don’t care what you believe – this is a great story. It’s absolutely human. The divine element is certainly at play, messing with fertility and barrenness, but at the heart of this narrative is two of the strongest human emotions: love and jealousy. This is a wonderful tale of passion. The sons of Jacob do not need to be born in any sort of immaculate way. Life is messy. For me, at least, that is more beautiful than any of the later (and yes, Christian) ideas of purity and innocence.
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