Stories Seldom Heard

123rd  Edition 

Genesis 30-35    Rachel

Welcome to Stories Seldom Heard.  I would especially like to welcome the members of St. Margaret of Antioch, Pearl River, Blessed Sacrament, Queens and the Church of the Assumption in Rochester, New York.

Rachel is one of the Hebrew women who is mentioned in the New Testament.  Matthew refers to her in the beginning of his Gospel. (MT 2:18)  Herod orders the male children under two to be slaughtered.  One can only imagine the trauma and grief of the event.  In order to capture the terror and immensity of the it Matthew alludes to the inconsolable sorrow and lament of Rachel for it was near her grave that the Jews were gathered to be deported to Babylon into exile. (587BCE)  Matthew, a Jew himself, is writing for the recently converted Jewish community.  So Matthew refers to Rachel in the words of the Prophet Jeremiah to remind the community that this event fulfills one of the prophecies.  It also connects Jesus with the history of Israel and implies that Jesus is the new Israel.  “A voice is heard in Ramah, sobbing and loudly lamenting: it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they were no more.” (Jer 31:15)  

Rachel is a great matriarch of Israel.  She is well revered in her life and even after death her burial place becomes a point of reference for travelers and important meetings.  (1 Sam 10:2)  She herself does not bear many children only Joseph and Benjamin, but with her sister Leah and their maidservants the twelve tribes of Israel have their beginning.  No wonder the people, in the Book of Ruth, give the following blessing to Boaz when he states that he will buy Ruth and take her as his wife: “All the people at the gates said, ‘We are witnesses….May God make the woman who is to enter your House like Rachel and Leah who together built up the House of Israel.’” (Ruth 4:11)   Rachel, however, the younger daughter of Laban is the woman Jacob loves. 

The story of Rachel begins in Chapter 30 and it is not hard to guess where we will meet her.  Rachel, like Rebekah in last month’s SSH, comes to the well to water her sheep.  When Jacob sees Rachel approaching the well he quickly removes the large stone that covers the mouth of the well and waters Rachel’s sheep.  Then Jacob, perhaps being stunned by the desert sun and elated that he found a relative, impetuously kisses Rachel and bursts into tears. (1)  Interestingly, even though these stories are rather succinct they include much emotion.  Strong verbs are used to help us imagine the situation.  Rachel “runs” to tell her father, Laban.  Laban “embraces and kisses” Jacob and brings him home.

Laban offers Jacob work.  In return Jacob asks for the hand of Laban’s daughter Rachel for she is “shapely and beautiful.”  “‘I will work for you for seven years to win your younger daughter Rachel.’”  Laban agrees, but everything doesn’t go as expected.  Laban tricks Jacob.  After seven years of hard work the wedding is planned.  On the wedding night still veiled Laban substitutes his older daughter in place of Rachel.  Jacob does not discover this until morning.  What a cruel trick!  No one, but Laban, must have felt pleased.  Laban had given his word and Jacob had trusted him. 

When Jacob confronts Laban, he is told that it is the custom in their country to have the older daughter marry first.  Laban then bargains his way to a solution.  They will continue the wedding feast that lasts for a week.  Then the feast will be extended to acknowledge the wedding between Rachel and Jacob.  There is, however, one caveat.  Jacob must work another seven years for Laban.  As we read this story, it all seems so unfair.  Yet, Jacob agrees to do it because of his great love for Rachel.  It makes us wonder, though, if this experience of trickery ever helped Jacob rethink the effects his deceitfulness had on his own brother Esau.

Life in the desert was hard.  One of the ways to insure your clan’s safety was to have large families especially sons.  Sons helped protect the clans from invading forces.  Also, since the male’s name was used to identify the family unit, it gave the male members of the clan a sense of longevity.  Even today we hear this custom in the genealogies.  The men’s names are remembered from one generation to the next.  But God did not abandon the women of the tribes.  God hears the prayers of women and answers them.  We hear this in the story of Rachel and many other women in the First Testament.  Each child was seen as a blessing from God.    

Having said this, we continue hearing stories of the agony that barren women went through.  If children were seen as a blessing a barren woman would appear to be out of favor with God.  So you can imagine the tension that could fester between those who had children and those who did not.  We heard this struggle between Sarah and Hagar and again in the story of Rachel and Leah.  Rachel, like Sarah and Rebekah before her, had a hard time conceiving.  Leah had four sons before Rachel asked Jacob to sleep with her maidservant, Bilhah.  In their society this was a usual practice.  Bihah birthed two sons who were considered to be Rachel’s.  Leah also had her maidservant sleep with Jacob.  She too conceives and has two more boys.  At this point, Rachel is desperate and bargains with Leah.  Leah can sleep with Jacob one night, if Rachel can have the mandrake that Leah’s son has found.  The mandrake root is an unusual plant thought to be a fertility potion.  So, hoping against hope, Rachel and Leah agree.  The Bible doesn’t credit the mandrake plant for Rachel’s fertility.  Instead it underscores that it is God who remembers Rachel, hears her prayer and makes her fruitful.  Rachel finally conceives and has Joseph.

It is interesting to read this section carefully because each of the sons is named by the mother, not the father.  Also each name reflects the mothers’ feelings that surround the birth of their new born sons.  We can hear their pain, hopes and joy in the names they give their sons: “saw my misery,” “will love me,” “good fortune,” “God has taken away my reproach.”  The one exception to this practice comes much later in the story at the birth of Benjamin. (Gen. 35:16-20)  Rachel has an extremely difficult time during the delivery.  Not surprisingly, she names this son Ben-oni before she dies.  Ben-oni means “son of my sorrow.”  Later Jacob renames him Benjamin: “son of good omen”. 

Before Rachel’s final words, however, she has many other adventures and problems.  Before leaving Canaan Jacob has one more scheme up his sleeve.  It’s an amusing story of two very wily characters: Laban and Jacob.  We can imagine the laughter that surrounded the desert campfires generation after generation when this story was told.  Jacob and Laban agree that Jacob can take with him, as his payment for years of labor, any spotted, speckled or dark sheep and goat.  Laban immediately moves all of his solid colored sheep and goats a “three days journey” from any animal with color.  However, Jacob is one step ahead of Laban.  As we read this story it is helpful to know a folk belief at the time. (30:25-43) “Jacob’s actions presuppose a popular belief that the nature of the offspring is at least partially determined by external influences on the mother at the time of conception.  Therefore the female lambs watching the striped boughs at the time of conception would conceive striped offspring.” (2)  Needless to say, Jacob comes out the winner.  He out wits Laban and Jacob’s flocks increase greatly.  We might question the integrity of Laban’s and Jacob’s actions, but for “the inspired author it is (all) part of the divine plan.” (3)

Before Rachel, Jacob and the whole family leave Canaan there is one more incident that causes a problem.  Rachel takes some small household gods that belong to Laban.  Laban and his kinsmen travel seven days to catch up with Jacob and his family.  Luckily for Jacob God appears to Laban in a dream and tells him not to harm Jacob.  There in the hill country of Gilead Laban confronts Jacob and accuses him of taking the gods.  Again the plot becomes intense because Jacob has no idea that Rachel has stolen these hearth deities or family heirlooms. Unwittingly Jacob makes an oath that the one who has stolen these household gods will not live.  Rachel’s quick wittedness saves her from being discovered.  When Laban comes to search for the teraphim, Rachel says, “Let not my Lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” (Gen 31:35)  We don’t know exactly why he does not continue the search.  It might have been so he would not become unclean according to the law in Leviticus 15:19.  But his actions save her from Jacob’s oath being executed.  However, eventually Rachel will have to leave her coveted treasures behind.  Later in the story before she and her family go to Bethel where Jacob will be renamed Israel by God, there is a major cleaning of their possessions and a personal preparation for this important journey. (Gen 35:10)

The story of Rachel, Jacob and their family feuds, deceits, promises and blessings gives us a deeper insight into how to read scripture.  At this point the authors draw our attention to God’s work in the faith life of our ancient ancestors.  The shenanigans and trickery that are recorded do not put these early Israelites through some ethical test, but rather are seen as part of the whole story that eventually allows God’s design to come to fruition.  As one of their great matriarchs, Rachel is remembered not only for her offspring, but also as an important religious woman who responded to God’s calling and whose voice crying for her children echoes the compassion of God.  It is also a cry of hope: God does not forget God’s promises.   These early stories have some inconsistencies, repetitions and even details that contradict later stories.  However, it doesn’t surprise us since these books are not written by one author.  They are a compilation of four different traditions.  Also since much of the information comes from an oral tradition which was written down many years after the events, it is to be expected that there will be discrepancies, possible variations of interpretations and different perceptions offered.  Yet, the spiritual history of God’s relationship with the Israelites and their faithfulness and unfaithfulness to God is told well in these stories.

1.  If you remember the story of Esau, he too, burst into tears when his father would not give him a blessing. (Gn. 27:39) 

2.  Jerome Biblical Commentary, edited by Raymond Brown, S.S., Prentice Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1968, page 31

3.  ibid, page 31

Special thanks to Mary Ellen Green, Maria Hetherton and Jeanne Keating who have helped edit this month’s SSH.

Stories Seldom Heard is a monthly article written by Sister Patricia Bruno, O.P.  Sister is a Dominican Sister of San Rafael, California.  This service is offered to the Christian community to enrich one's personal and spiritual life.  The articles can be used for individual or group reflection.  If you would like Stories Seldom Heard sent to a friend, please send a note to "purple115@juno.com".