Rachel
was the youngest daughter of Laban. She became Jacob's second wife, and the
mother of two of his sons (Joseph and Benjamin).
Jacob came to the city of Haran in the area of
Padanaram in the land of Mesopotamia. He met some shepherds tending their sheep.
One of them was Rachel, Laban's daughter. He was attracted to her.
Rachel took him to Laban. Laban had two daughters. The
older daughter was Leah, and the younger daughter was Rachel. Jacob fell in love
with Rachel, and he wanted to marry her. In order to earn Rachel as a wife,
Jacob agreed to work for Laban for seven years. (29:1-19)
Jacob worked the seven years, and at the end, Laban
agreed to give him Rachel. But that evening, when it was dark, he secretly he
got Leah, and brought her to Jacob to be a wife. In the darkness of the
night, Jacob had sex with the woman whom he thought was Rachel. (29:20-23)
The next morning, Jacob found that he had been tricked.
He had married Leah, not Rachel. He confronted Laban. Laban said "In our
country, it is not right to marry off the younger sister before the older one.
You can still have Rachel if you work for me for another seven years."
Jacob agreed, and worked for Laban for another seven years.
At the end of the seven years, he married Rachel.
(29:25-28) He was still married to Leah. (At the time, polygamy was legal.) But
Jacob preferred Rachel. She was his favorite wife. (29:30)
Rachel couldn't seem to have children. She wanted to
have children, but she was barren. Meanwhile, Leah bore Jacob four sons. Finally
Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob, so that she could have more children
through Bilhah. Bilhah bore Jacob two sons, Dan and Naphtali. But Rachel really
wanted one of her own. Meanwhile, Leah and Leah's slave Zilpah bore Jacob four
more sons, and even a daughter. Finally, Rachel managed to have a child, a son.
She named him Joseph. And she knew that she would someday have another son.
(29:31-30:24)
Rachel went with Jacob back to Canaan. As they left,
she stole Laban's household idols of his gods. When Laban learned that Jacob had
left, he took his men and chased Jacob. He wanted to say good-bye to his family,
and also to get his idols back. He overtook Jacob in the mountainous area of
Gilead. Jacob didn't know that Rachel took the idols, and he allowed Laban to
search his people for them. Laban searched for the idols, but he couldn't find
them. (Rachel was sitting on them.) Laban said good-bye to his daughters, and
went home. (chapter 31)
Later Jacob took his family to the city of Bethel.
(35:6) After they left, they went to the city of Ephrath (also called
Bethlehem). During their journey,
Rachel gave birth to another son. She died in childbirth. Before he died, she
named the son Ben-oni. But after she died, Jacob renamed the son Benjamin.
Rachel was buried on the way to Ephrath. (35:16-20)
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