Rachel — The Woman Who Commanded a Man's Love

And Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her (Gen. 29:20).

   There is no other case recorded in the Bible of such abiding love as that which Jacob had for Rachel. This, in fact, is the best type of Christ's love for the church that is given to us. He loved her from the very beginning; he suffered for her; and he loved her to the end in spite of the blemishes in her character.

   There is another love recorded in secular history somewhat similar to the love of Jacob and Rachel, which stimulated the man who possessed it to a marvelous achievement. I speak of Dante's love for Beatrice Portinari. This love inspired his life and enlarged his soul to the extent that he devoted his genius to her eulogy. Dante was born in the year 1265 and met Beatrice when he was only nine years old, but he at once conceived the highest and most enduring love for her. During the next nine years he met her only on one other occasion, during which she bestowed on him a celestial smile of recognition. Three years later, at the age of twenty-four, she died, and Dante determined to write of her such as was never written of any woman. Dante was a member of what is called the Guelf Party, composed of the common people in Florence and allied with Roman Catholicism. The opposing party was called the Ghebelline Party and was composed of the imperial, or

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state, unit. During Dante's life there was a constant struggle between the two, and while he was absent from Florence at one time his enemies secured his banishment. Thereafter he wandered throughout the cities of Italy engaged in literary work until he died at the age of fifty-six at Ravenna. Dante had married a daughter of one of the leaders of the Guelf Party and was the father of eight children but never during his life did he lose his idealistic love for Beatrice. Hence it was to her that he raised the monument of his love. No writer since the rise of the Romantic School of literature, when love became the chief theme of poetry, has so reverently worshiped and so happily embodied the highest ideals of womanhood as Dante. Here love was unrequited and in sorrow, anguish, and tears its possessor was driven to despair. It was the image of this gentle vision that warmed and purified his soul and inspired his deeds until he became the "voice of ten silent centuries." She became a comforting, guiding spirit and illumined with intense joy the poet's heart, hitherto one of the saddest in all Christendom.

   Thus it was that Dante — hereafter to be known to the world as the noblest of all lovers, when Dante the statesman, the philosopher, the Guelphic leader shall be forgotten — vowed that "if it would please Him by whom all things live, he would say of her that which had never been said of any lady." She became his muse. It was a message from her which led him down through the gates of Despair, across the Limbo that trembled with the sighs of hopeless longings, past Minos, judge of Hades, into the flaming City of Dis, garrisoned and guarded by demons and furies, past the Hell of Violence, where murderers and tyrants are forever steeped in the boiling blood waves of the Plegethon; through the increasing horrors of Circles, Evil-pits, and Bealts of Treachery; then up the toilsome steps of Purgatory, until at last appeared, drawn in the bosom of a cloud of flowers, thrown by angel hands, the radiant form of Beatrice clad in white, green, and red emblems of faith, hope, and charity. Thus this love for a young woman

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whom he had seen only twice in his life caused Dante to be remembered throughout the ages.

   Likewise, the one ennobling influence in the life of Jacob was his love for Rachel. Through Rachel, God brought retribution to Jacob for his many sins in order to purify his soul. The beginning of this was the deception wrought on Jacob by Laban, the father of Rachel, when, after Jacob had served seven years for her, he was given the veiled Leah in the night and learned that he must serve a second seven years for the object of his love. There Jacob must have seen the hand of God requiting him for the deception he had wrought over the eyes of his old father in taking Esau's blessing. The next time his love for Rachel led him to recognize the hand of God was when he was returning from Padan-aram and met a messenger who said that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred armed men. Jacob knew that his own life and the lives of his entire company were hanging by a thread. The prayer he prayed unto God by Peniel before he wrestled with the angel reveals to us what was uppermost in Jacob's mind. He said, "Deliver me, I pray Thee from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children." It was the thought of Rachel and Rachel's child Joseph and the one who was yet to be born that drove Jacob to his knees as he wrestled with the angel of God. Finally, the Lord dealt with Jacob through the death of Rachel and the loss of her children, both Joseph and Benjamin, one of whom was sold into Egypt and the other of whom was compelled to go thence because of famine, so that Jacob said to his other sons, "My son shall not go down with you for his brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in which he goes, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." (Gen. 42:38). The loss of Benjamin, the last of his family by Rachel, would have been the final straw in Jacob's sorrow. Thus we see that by his great love which Jacob bore to Rachel, God chastened and purified his soul. Woman has been the divine instrument in the salvation of man

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in all ages, for the love he bears her he is lifted to nobility, to purity and to sacrificial living. A woman who can command his love can command the best of which he is capable.

I. THE INCIDENT THAT LED TO THEIR MEETING

   Providence has a place in the bringing of two streams of life together. This must be recognized not only with Jacob and Rachel but in the uniting of any young man and young woman in love. Marriage was instituted of God so that one life may supplement another. Rebecca was exactly the opposite of Isaac, but her dynamic nature was just what passive Isaac needed. Just so, Rachel took her position in relation to Jacob. He needed a mooring for his emotions. He needed an anchor for his wandering soul, and he found that abiding place in Rachel. Never do I stand before a couple presenting themselves for marriage without thinking of the long line of history each represents and how they will be merged as two great rivers are merged, thus strengthening one another and empowering one another. They come together to purify and to bless. Thus it was meant to be. Moreover, Providence had a hand in the ordering of events so that these two streams of life should come together. Sometimes observers of a wedding or of a romance cannot see what a man sees in the woman or the woman sees in the man, but there is a purpose in it. The parents of Samson could not understand why he passed by all the beautiful daughters of the Israelites and became enamored with the Philistine woman who dwelt at Timnath and asked for her for his wife, but the Scripture says that God sought an occasion against the Philistines (Judg. 14:4). The purpose was that Samson through this incident should be established as judge over the Israelites, whom he thereafter ruled for twenty years. Every married person may trace the events that led to his union with another person. Sometimes it is a chance meeting in a library or on a street-car or in a church or at a party, an incident that happened only because some other less important incident occurred before, and the whole course of life was

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changed. Thus we affirm that Providence has a part in bringing people together in marriage.

   A second thing that contributed to Jacob's going to Haran was his early waywardness. This had its roots in his mother's partiality. From the beginning it seemed that Rebecca favored Jacob, whereas Isaac loved Esau, and there was a house divided against itself (Gen. 25:28). Why was Rebecca so partial to Jacob? We know that Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his son's venison. Perhaps Rebecca's prejudice was due to the promise the Lord made to her before the birth of her son, which said, "The elder shall serve the younger." Paul later quotes this promise, saying, "That the purpose of God according to election might stand" (Rom. 9:11). From the divine side, Jacob was elected, but from the human side Rebecca pushed him by partiality. Undoubtedly this mother taught her son the value of the family succession and of the paternal inheritance because of the Messianic promise that had been made to Eve and had been reiterated to Sarah. About these things Esau did not care. At an early age, Jacob recognized their value and learned that life had a purpose. Hence it was inevitable that family rivalry between the one who inherited the blessing and did not value it and the one who did not inherit it but did value it, should ensue. We all know the story of Jacob's purchase of Esau's birthright for a mess of pottage. The New Testament says in warning to professors of Christianity, "Lest there be any fornicator or profane person such as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears" (Heb. 12:16, 17). Jacob was exceedingly clever in the timing of his offer and in appealing to Esau's weakest point, but nevertheless it was a transaction by which the young son acquired the right of the patriarchal blessing that belonged to the elder son. The Scripture places the responsibility upon Esau, for he treated it as of no importance and of no value. Later, when Isaac was growing old, Esau sought to obtain the blessing because he then

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understood its value, but that did not invalidate the contract into which he had entered with Jacob. Hence Jacob again stooped to get what he thought was not his own and by deception he received the patriarchal blessing. Both men were wrong. God had said that Jacob was chosen, but how God would have brought it about in His own good time we are not told. Even though Jacob deserved the blessing, we make no excuse for his use of deception in receiving it. Then with bitter cries and tears, Esau sought it with repentance but to no avail (Gen. 27: 34-40).

   The smouldering quarrel now broke out into the open and became too strong to keep both sons in one household. Esau plotted to murder Jacob, which is another mark of the type of character found in Esau. The word of his plan came to Rebecca's ears, so she determined to save Jacob and also at the same time to get him a wife of the kind God required. She decided to send him to her kind people in Haran until Esau's anger had cooled. Her punishment in participating in the deception of the weak and aged Isaac was that she never saw her beloved and favorite son again. He departed for a twenty year sojourn, and ere he returned she had died. The Scripture implies that Jacob's departure was sudden, without taking leave of Esau. Isaac's agreement to it was gained by Rebecca, and without any personal attendants, and with little preparation, Jacob departed. What loneliness, fear, and discouragement beset his pathway by the time he had made one day's journey and rested at Bethel is revealed in that old hymn, which tells the story:

Though like the wanderer,

The sun gone down,

Darkness be over me,

My rest a stone;

Yet in my dreams I'd be

Nearer, my God to Thee,

Nearer to Thee

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There let the way appear,

Steps unto heaven;

All that Thou sendest me

In mercy given;

Angels to beckon me

Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee.

Then, with my waking thoughts,

Bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs,

Bethel I'll raise;

So by my woes to be

Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee.

II. THE STORY OF THEIR IDYLLIC LOVE

   Jacob and Rachel met at the old well in Haran. In the Near Eastern countries, courtship does not take place as it does here in the West. Here we want to be alone to speak our words in secret. There courtship is made in the open and usually at the well. Thus it was that Moses won his wife by a well in Midian. Jacob had completed his long journey by foot from Canaan and now was ready to rest by the well of Haran (Gen. 29). As he approached it, he saw three flocks waiting to be watered. He greeted two of the men who were the shepherds of two flocks, saying, "Know ye Laban the son of Nahor?" and they replied, "We know him." Jacob asked, "Is he well?" They replied, "He is well and behold Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep." As yet Jacob could not see Rachel distinctly, so he told them to water their sheep, and they replied, "We cannot until all the flocks be gathered together, until they roll the stone from the well's mouth," and thus it was evident that a huge slab of rock was used to keep the well from all defilement.

   By this time, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. Then are written these important

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words, "When Jacob saw Rachel." When he saw her, it was love at first sight. Jacob simply fell all over himself to please her. Empowered by such a desire, he performed a feat of great strength in rolling the stone away from the well. Then he watered Rachel's entire flock as an act of gallantry while these strangers looked on. Finally, he picked her up and kissed her. The Scripture adds, "And he wept." Rachel must have reminded him of his mother, of home and all that he had left behind, and the lonely man wept for joy to find a relative of his mother and especially a woman such as Rachel.

   This love of Jacob, which was born at the well, never changed through his long life. Some men are gallant and loving before marriage but soon forget it afterward. It was not so with Jacob. His love increased with the passing days and years. Jacob never had an eye for anyone else than for Rachel. Undoubtedly Rachel changed in appearance in the hard experiences of her primitive life, and she did not always look as fresh and appealing as she did that day by the well, but Rachel always remained the light of Jacob's eyes. When as an old man in Egypt, Jacob came to his last sickness and was speaking his final words to Joseph, he referred to Rachel, saying, "As for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way of Bethlehem" (Gen. 48:7). The memory of every deed and act of Rachel was fresh in the old man's mind. His love was undiminished.

   A beautiful courtship followed this first love of Jacob for Rachel. Rachel hurriedly told her father Laban of the coming of Jacob, and at his invitation he abode with them for one month. What a month that must have been — attending Rachel as she cared for the sheep, the passing of evenings of sweet fellowship in the desert moonlight, and the enjoyment of pleasant conversations round the family hearth! At the end of the month, which passed like a day, Jacob asked Laban for the hand of his daughter and offered to serve for her for seven years as Laban's servant. Jacob could think of nothing better

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than living in this household as a hired servant if he could be in the presence of his beloved Rachel. The Scripture passes over those seven years in one sentence by saying, "They seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her" (Gen. 29:20). Here is scope for a great story, but it must be left to your imagination as you think of the kind of relationship that would make toil, such as that which Jacob later claimed that he endured, namely, sleep departing from him, being bitten by the frost, wandering by night and by day in order to protect the sheep, so easy that seven years seemed as seven days. Here is a demonstration of what love will enable a man to endure for a wife and for a home and for the object of his desire.

   At the end of that season, a great wrong was done to Jacob by his future father-in-law. The marriage day arrived, the great eastern feast had been enjoyed, and it was time for Jacob to take his wife, when he discovered the base trick that had been played upon him through the means of veiling these eastern women. He had been given Rachel's sister, Leah, in marriage. One wonders why Jacob did not furiously demand his rightful wife and take her away. The only explanation of Jacob's submission to this wrong was that he recognized it as retribution for his own act of cheating Esau and deceiving his aged father. Jacob was compelled to serve another seven years for Rachel. Whether he was married at the beginning or at the end of these seven years is not quite clear from the Scriptural narrative, but at length marriage came. Jacob could not get along without Rachel; so he served fourteen years of his life to possess her (Gen. 29:26-30).

   Now that marriage has occurred, we ought to look at the woman whom Jacob loved. Rachel certainly had her faults. One commentator calls her a soulless beauty, who thought only of self. We cannot agree with this, although no one can read the story of Rachel's life without recognizing her blemishes; but who is there who had not some blemishes in his character? From the beginning, Rachel was jealous of Leah, but why should she not be? She had been wronged as much by Laban's

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effrontery and Leah's connivance in it as had Jacob. If ever there was an argument against polygamy, it is this story. There simply could not be happiness in a household in which the affections and interests were divided between two women. As to Jacob's willingness to practice polygamy, we must make our judgment from the nature of the times in which he lived, in the lack of civil war, and from the absence of religious law upon his life. Second, Rachel was superstitious. When Jacob and his family and hers finally left Haran for Canaan after a twenty-one year's sojourn, Rachel took her father's teraphim, or idols, with her. According to the revelation made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob concerning the true God, this was idolatry and ultimately it had to be purged from Jacob's household. Third, Rachel was petulant. God had withheld children from her, and she blamed Jacob for it. How strange that in the case of so many mothers of the Bible who had great children their offspring were withheld from them until they reached an advanced age! Such was the case with Hannah, with the wife of Manoah, with Sarah, and with Elizabeth. One writer suggests that the purpose of this was to develop faith in them.

   There were many favorable aspects to Rachel's character, as well as faults. She was not only attractive to Jacob, but she was a helpful, devoted wife under the most trying circumstances. She shared with Jacob most of his tests without complaint. There is also no shadow or stain over Rachel's virtuous life. She was an upright woman. Probably the greatest thing that can be attributed to her is that she was the mother of the mightiest of the patriarchs, who was great in faith and character, namely, Joseph. As one studies the life of Joseph and recognizes the purity of his character, he realizes that it must have had its source in his mother. When Rachel died, she was mourned by all who knew her and was crowned with many benedictions. Thus it is in the marriage ceremony that we pray, "God make you like Jacob and Rachel." No fault of Rachel diminished the love Jacob bore her. Here at least we see a wonderful figure of how Christ loves His church in spite

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of her faults. That means that He loves you in spite of the blemishes in your character, if you are a member of His church,

III. THEIR LIFE TOGETHER

   There is only one hint of a jar in the harmonious relationship between Rachel and Jacob. The old adage says. "The course of true love never did run smooth." Sometimes, somewhere, your perfect human relationship will be momentarily spoiled. This strain on the family tie was due to a commendable desire on the part of Rachel for children. Recall how the Scripture says that when Peninah, one wife of Elkanah, had children, and Hannah, another wife of Elkanah, had no children, that her adversary provoked her sorely to fret over this (I Sam. 1:16). Thus it was with Rachel. Her whole being was bound up in the thought of becoming a mother, and this desire ultimately became the cause of her death. To Jacob she said, "Give me children or I die." Jacob responded, "Am I in the stead of God?" and his anger was momentarily kindled against her, but it did not last long. Jacob could not continue angry with Rachel. It simply is not possible to cherish anger and reproach against one whom you love. The essence of love is that you forgive.

   The time came when these two perennial lovers were to be separated by death. Here we catch the first glimpse in the Scripture of the price of a woman pays for children. It is true that some because of joy that a child is born into the world refuse to admit sorrow, but terrible suffering is the lot of all women who become mothers, and some suffer unto death. If it is true in natural life that woman must pass through the valley and the shadow of death if children are to be born, why should this not also be true in the spiritual life? It is true, for except Zion travail, her children will not be born. Converts to Christ are won through the suffering of the church. Rachel's time evidently came early, while she was traveling to Bethlehem as the Virgin Mary later did. The Scripture says, "She had hard labor." Finally, the attendant laid the little baby boy in her arms. Rachel was able to summon only enough strength

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to respond, "Child of my sorrow," before she passed away (Gen. 35:16-18). This name, "Benoni," was a prophecy by Rachel of the sufferings of her people. Like a ray of faith breaking over her last moments, she looked into the future and saw what Israel and the Church must bear. Centuries later, Jeremiah heard the voice and said, "Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children and refused to be comforted for her children because they were not" (Jer. 31:15). When Herod slaughtered the innocents, the word of Jeremiah was again fulfilled in the crying of the mothers (Matt. 2:18), and thus Rachel stands as an example of suffering motherhood before the whole world, and thus we honor her.

    The effect on Jacob of the passing of Rachel was disastrous. It brought a grief from which he never fully recovered even till his death. Some people seem to be able to brush aside the loss of a loved one in a few weeks. Not so with Jacob. Jacob went about his regular duties of life, but now and then he let fall a word that revealed that he had buried his heart in that tomb on the road to Bethlehem, a tomb which remains to our present day. After that death of Rachel, Jacob transferred his love to her children. Whenever he saw them, he remembered the lovely dark-eyed daughter of Laban. Thus we hear the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors given by Jacob because of the love for him. Thus we hear the new name of Rachel's last child now called "Benjamin," or son of my right hand," by Jacob, for by these two children Jacob now set his store. It is no wonder that a controversy arose between the ten other sons of Jacob and these two, and that when Joseph had been sold into Egypt and the ten sons had returned from their first visit to him as the unrecognized governor of Egypt, demanding that Benjamin be taken also, Jacob said, "My son shall not go down... if mischief befall him... then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave" (Gen. 42:38). Finally, when word came to Jacob that Joseph was still alive, the Bible says, "The spirit of Jacob their father revived and Israel said, It is enough. Joseph my son is yet alive.

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I will go and see him before I die" (Gen. 45:28). From being called Jacob, which means supplanter, we now have a man called Israel, which means the prince of God, a transformation which was wrought through suffering brought to him through his love for Rachel. He had been made to limp through life because he had wrestled with an angel; he had recognized the sins of his youth returning to him in his age; and he was lifted to a life of worthiness to be the progenitor of the Christ, through love.

   We only call your attention to the following lessons: First the Jacob represents Israel dispersed and suffering and by means of suffering ultimately brought back to God. Second, Jacob may be made to represent Christ, who loved His church to the end. What meaning this holds for every believer who is a part of His bride! Third, Benoni, or "Son of my sorrow," re-echoes in the New Testament experience of the bride of Christ. The church will have suffering in this world, but it will be united with Him in love forever. Thus it is written, "If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together." Benoni will become Benjamin, "Son of my right hand."

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