Slices
Prepare
What does your name mean? Has this been an aspiration in your life, an embarrassment or an irrelevance? Psychologists tell us that names are crucial factors in developing our sense of self. (A frightening responsibility for a new parent!)
Bible passage
Jacob’s children
31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’
33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon.
34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ So he was named Levi.
35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
30 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’
2 Jacob became angry with her and said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?’
3 Then she said, ‘Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.’
4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6 Then Rachel said, ‘God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.’ Because of this she named him Dan.
7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, ‘I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.’ So she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, ‘What good fortune!’ So she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, ‘How happy I am! The women will call me happy.’ So she named him Asher.
14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, ‘Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.’
15 But she said to her, ‘Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?’
‘Very well,’ Rachel said, ‘he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.’
16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. ‘You must sleep with me,’ she said. ‘I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.’ So he slept with her that night.
17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, ‘God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, ‘God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honour, because I have borne him six sons.’ So she named him Zebulun.
21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, ‘God has taken away my disgrace.’ 24 She named him Joseph, and said, ‘May the Lord add to me another son.’
Explore
At first glance, this passage might seem comedic – two women squabbling over who will sleep with their husband, and Jacob being pushed around between them. But the names Leah gives to her children reveal something of the tragedy of her situation – look at verses 29:32,35; 30:18,20.
Leah seems to recognise God’s hand at work in her life, despite her unhappy circumstances, but Rachel seems less able to trust God. She demands that Jacob give her some children (30:1), and he angrily points out that it is not his fault she has failed to conceive (30:2). Then she gives her servant girl as a substitute (30:3). Next, she barters with Leah, offering her a night with Jacob in return for mandrakes, which were believed to enhance sexual desire and which cure infertility (30:14–16). None of these stratagems work, but finally, in verse 22, God listens to Rachel and gives her a son.
Leah’s names for her children chronicled the sadness of her life. Rachel’s noted her jealousy and battles. And these would become defining names for the nation of Israel…
Respond
Praise God that he has given you a secret name, which speaks of his relationship with you and your identity in him (Revelation 2:17).
Deeper Bible study
What do you want to say to God in thanks for your family? Do not forget your first family, your brothers and sisters in Christ.
I was somewhat disconcerted when a friend expressed difficulty in teaching about family relationships from the Bible, because it fails to provide any examples of a healthy marriage or stable family. Like me, you might wish to disagree, pointing to the Song of Solomon or Ruth and Boaz, but you can see my friend’s point. The Bible provides a litany of dysfunctional households. In today’s passage are 11 brothers and a sister, born to four different mothers. Competitiveness and jealousy are rife between the two main wives, breeding future hatred and animosity among the brothers. Yet each child is simultaneously recognised as a gift from God and as one in the eye for the other sister! The carefully chosen names for each son show a profound sense of gratitude to God, deriving from a worldview that understands God as the provider (and sometimes withholder) of every good gift. These women teach us about dependence on God and detecting his involvement in every aspect of life. They also reassure us that God works despite our muddled motives and even our self-interested obsessions. Leah and Rachel were sinful people who at points decided to take matters into their own hands (30:3,14–16), but God hears and responds to the heartfelt cries of those who are otherwise unloved (29:31); he listens and vindicates the plaintiff’s cry (30:6,17). He is capable of using opposition to bring about salvation.1
Is there a reason that the perfect family is not widely portrayed in the Bible story? It is certainly true to life. It also witnesses to God’s grace and to his determination to fulfil his promise. The Lord Jesus proclaims, ‘I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it’.2 Ultimately, it is the diverse church that is God’s greatest witness to family.
Does your lack of perfect relationships cause you to panic, or to trust God afresh?
1 Acts 2:22–24 2 Matt 16:18, NLT, italics added
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 9,10; Luke 16
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that Local Mission Partner Contagious (based in Alnwick) will have wisdom and creativity as they seek to go to where the young people are. Usually they would engage in activities in and around local schools, supporting out-of-school activities, and building positive links with other youth workers, the wider community and local churches.
