Smoodock's Blog

Rachel was the preferred wife, and she was, probably, the preferred daughter, as well. There is nothing in antiquity that would give any credence to Laban’s statement in Genesis 29:26, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter before the firstborn!”[1] It seems, therefore, that Laban saw his opportunity to sell both his daughters at the same time, perhaps thinking that Leah wasn’t marriageable, because she wasn’t beautiful, like Rachel (Genesis 29:16-17). Therefore, in effect, Jacob labored twice as long for Rachel, as he originally offered Laban (Genesis 29:18). So, it seems Leah was a young woman who had always sought to be loved, first by her father, and then by Jacob, her husband. Therefore, the Lord preferred Leah over Rachel in the matter of bearing children. Obviously, Rachal possessed a natural inability to conceive, but had he wished to do so, the Lord could have corrected the matter even prior it ever becoming problematic.

Nevertheless, except for Leah and the concubines, all the wives of the Patriarchs had problems in bearing children. First Sarah was barren, but the Lord gave her a child, even after she was too old to bear under normal circumstances. Then, Rebeccah had problems giving Isaac a child, and, although she bore him two sons, it was by only one birthing, because Esau and Jacob were twins. Finally, Rachel had trouble bearing a child for Jacob, and, although she was finally able to bear, she must have had trouble getting through the event, because her second birth experience culminated in her death.

I wonder, if the trouble of giving birth for the women can be attributed to the natural eventuality of problems arising from marrying near relatives, which, although not forbidden in the beginning, was now beginning to produce problems, first with the women and afterward showing up in birth defects. If this is true, why was Leah an exception? Perhaps she wasn’t, but the Lord opened her womb (Genesis 29:31), vis-à-vis he actively and intentionally opened her womb and corrected any problem she may have had in bearing children! In other words, Leah may have been just as barren as Rachel, without the Lord’s grace. As for Rachel, God did, indeed, open her womb, but the births of Joseph and Benjamin were seventeen years apart, and the second birth played a part in Rachel’s death.

Jacob had agreed to hire himself out to Laban for seven years for Rachel, but then agreed to an addendum in the contract for an additional seven years, fourteen in all. If Jacob’s children can be used to help enumerate those years, then Reuben may have been born during his first year and Judah during Jacob’s fourth or fifth year of service. Meanwhile Rachel had come to understand that she was barren, for, obviously, as the preferred wife she would have spent more time with Jacob than Leah. Yet, Leah had had given Jacob four sons in, perhaps, as many years of marriage. Therefore, after some discussion, Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah, and she bore Jacob two additional sons in Rachel’s name, bringing the total of Jacob’s sons to six.

Probably, after two years, Leah had come to believe that she had left off bearing, which alludes to the proposition that she was pregnant during the first four or five years of her marriage. Therefore, she gave Jacob her handmaid, because her sister, through her handmaid, had been “catching up” to her in childbearing, which, if permitted to continue, might take away Leah’s importance, as the greater provider of descendants to Jacob, whose love and respect she coveted. In giving Zilpah to Jacob as his concubine, she managed to give him two more sons, bringing the total to eight. Afterward, Leah, herself, gave Jacob two additional sons, and that brought the total of Jacob’s sons to ten, plus Dinah, Leah’s daughter.

When the Lord answered Rachel’s prayer, she acknowledged him in saying that God had taken away her reproach (Genesis 30:23), and she named her son, Joseph (increase or addition; Genesis 30:24). In other words, Rachel regarded Joseph as the earnest of the Lord’s answer to her prayers. Therefore, Rachel believed God would give her at least one more son.

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[1] The assertion of Adam Clarke’s Commentary that the ancient Code of Gentoo Laws insisted that the firstborn must marry prior to the younger maid has no authority west of the Euphrates, so it appears that Laban lied in an effort to take advantage of Jacob’s love for his daughter, Rachel.