Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/84

Contributor - Freda Witteveen

Title - The Course of True Love

Topic - Women

As a child in Sunday School, the story of Jacob and Rachel had considerable romantic appeal. Falling in love at first sight, being deceived by a greedy father-in-law, labouring fourteen years to win the girl of his heart; all element of a the girl of his heart; all elements of a sensitive love story. However in Sunday School, we got a very short version of the story of Jacob and Rachel. Many significant details were omitted from that story. Now we examine the story as adults in light of our own personal experiences. As women we are able to put ourselves into the positions of Rachel and her sister Leah and determine to some extent how they must have felt.

Rachel, we are told, was a lovely girl, and when she and Jacob met, they were instantly attracted to each other. Jacob had come to this land for a wife, but in order to marry Rachel, he first had to agree to work with her father, Laban, for seven years. What adoration he must have felt for Rachel to endure this situation, totally unlike the home he had left behind. Then of course, when it was time for the marriage, Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah, the older sister, whom we surmise was not nearly the jewel Rachel was. After a week, Laban allowed Jacob to marry Rachel, only after extracting a promise of seven more years of labour.

The tension and conflict mount as the situation expands to include two concubines and eventually thirteen children. Although Leah is not Jacob s true love she bears him six sons and daughters. From Leah's son Judah came the tribe of Judah and eventually the line of I David, from which came Jesus or Nazareth. Significant, is it not, that Leah rather than Rachel, is honoured by God to be the forebearer of His Only Son. it was many years before Jacob was blessed with a child by his beloved

Rachel, a son Joseph, and years later still, with a second, whom Jacob name Benjamin. Rachel dies in childbirth on the way back to Canaan, Jacob's homeland.

So it appears this is no simple love story but a complex entanglement of emotions. Let us focus on Rachel, the object of Jacob's love, who presumably loved him in return. She was beautiful and like many beautiful women expected and accepted the attention of others because of her outward appearance. Was the inner woman as attractive? We have no record of her feelings with regard to the deception of her father. Was she also angry and sorrowful?

Now there has arisen an almost intolerable situation in which tensions and problems are intensified since the women involved are sisters, and one is loved by the husband and the other is not. Yet God blesses Leah with children and she turns more and more to Him.

Meanwhile Rachel felt she was privileged above Leah because of her beauty and her husband's love, yet became bitter because she could not bear him a child. Rather than come to God with the problem, she seeks her own solution by making her servant-girl a wife to Jacob which results in two more sons. Since Rachel owned the servant, the children would be legally regarded as hers. Rachel was acting out of envy and jealousy of Leah. She manipulated Jacob and his love in her competition with Leah. Hers was not a giving love, but a taking love.

Eventually Jacob decided to take his growing family and return to Canaan, the land of his father, against the wishes of Laban, who hated to see such an able worker leave. Shortly after the beginning of the journey, however, the entourage is pursued by Laban, who has discovered the theft of his household idols.

It turns out that Rachel is guilty of the crime: even after twenty years with Jacob, she was not a true believer of the God of Creation. Her fears of the unknown future caused her to put her faith in foreign idols. Despite Jacob's great love for Rachel, we see that husband and wife never achieved real closeness and communication in their relationship. Rachel committed the crime without telling him, she also did not confide in him her fears in leaving the security of her home. She did not share with Jacob his spiritual life.

The Bible tells us of the human heart, deceitful and bent toward evil. (Gen. 8:21) Yet we cannot change our own heart by our own will. Only God can transform it, so we must surrender our hearts to Him. Rachel chose to control her own life, refusing to let Him work through her heart. Without Him, her heart remained enshrouded in darkness and cold. For us to share our hearts with others, we must first surrender our hearts to God; in receiving God's love we are then able to pass it on. God's love is what brings light and warmth into our lives.

Rachel dies giving birth to her second son on the journey to Canaan. For the remainder of his life, Jacob's love for Rachel remained strong. Her first son, Joseph, became his favourite of the twelve sons. Joseph grew to be an exceptional man who was destined by God to become an extraordinary influence in the history of the Hebrews.

We can feel sorry in this story for Rachel, if she never experienced God's unconditional love, for Leah, who loved a man who didn't love her and for Jacob, whose family situation was not of his own choosing. God did not produce a magic wand to make this a "happy ever after" fairy tale ending, Rather He provided the opportunity for His own to allow Him to take control. As always He gives us the choice.

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