1. 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 maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family."
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.
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2 comments:
From a high-level perspective, Rachel and Leah were put in a tough position because not only were they married to the same man but also they were sisters. Jacob was also put in a tough situation by being caught in the middle of this "struggle" between sisters. My impression is that none of these people were entirely at peace with their living arrangement. This is probably not an uncommon outcome in polygamous contexts. But I still wonder what deeper message God is trying to communicate to all three of them. Also, this passage makes me wonder about how and why the idea (and perhaps even purpose) of marriage are (significantly) different between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Uh oh~ Haven't we seen this before? Well it wasn't the exact same situation but a similar thing with Abraham and Sarah. Just as his great great great... grand father, Jacob sleeps with Rachel's servant without putting much thought on to this. Did Jacob even pray about this?
It is very sad that these children are born due to an immature sister rivalry rather than out of God's true intention.
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