When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children or I’ll die!” Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.”
So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan. Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” So she named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. Leah said, “How happy I am, for women will call me happy!” So she named him Asher.
At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” Rachel said, “he may go to bed with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son’s mandrakes.” So he went to bed with her that night. God paid attention to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” So she named him Issachar.
Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time. Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. Then God took note of Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”
In approaching the topic of the life of Jacob, there were a lot of avenues down which we could have ventured. Covering this section of scripture naturally means a narrowing down and a focusing on certain topics and ideas. There were many more stories we could have looked at before this, and likewise many more stories that come after which we will not consider. Our focus has very much been on Jacob and his blessings. Even then, we are missing out some relevant passages. One of Jacob's great blessings, of course, is his family. Jacob fathers twelve sons and a daughter in the following passage.
Literal reading
When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children or I’ll die!” Jacob became furious with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.”
So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.
This passage has a heavy focus on women and their children. While that isn't always the case, and sometimes they are on the periphery, it is not uncommon in scripture for women to be front and centre. Again, we can notice that there are themes and ideas which are repeated from earlier in the Genesis narrative which are being brought to our attention. While we've seen many examples of brothers fighting and vying for the upper hand, in this text we are presented with a pair of squabbling sisters. Unlike Cain and Abel, or Jacob and Esau, there is no indication that one of the siblings desires to murder the other, but Rachel tells Jacob that her rivalry with Leah is killing her. There is an intensely fierce rivalry that nearly drives the family apart. Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob, compete through childbearing for the affections of their husband and to be the family matriarch.
The very fact that Jacob has two wives triggers an alarm to us that Jacob has strayed from the ideal laid out in Genesis 2. The union in the garden is a physical one but also a metaphysical one; Adam and Eve come together and are called 'one flesh'. What Jacob knows about the idyllic couple is unclear, but we as the reader should be aware of it. Jacob, in taking two wives, has not followed the Eden blueprint for family life and so his children are born into chaos. It ought to be noted that Jacob was not wholly to blame, Laban played a major role in arranging that both of this daughters marry his nephew in a short space of time. What we see unfolding is the competition between Leah and Rachel in providing sons to Jacob. Leah produces children and Rachel does not. In the previous chapter Leah bore four sons; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
Rachel, then, gives Bilhah, her handmaid, to Jacob to produce children on her behalf. A handmaid was a woman who, among other things, was expected to be used for birthing children to a man when his wife could not. The children from this union would be raised as children of the man and his wife. The birth mother would not be considered a wife and was not usually a free woman. This is an abhorrent practice and should rightly make us uncomfortable. For Jacob, however, he was following in Abraham's footsteps; Abraham and Sarah used the same tactic to produce Ismael when waiting for Isaac. We can be sympathetic with Rachel, her sister was outperforming her and she was barren.
Allegorical reading
Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan. Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.
When Leah gives birth to her sons, she calls them names which demonstrate her thankfulness to God. When Rachel's handmaid gives birth she names them in reference to her competition with her sister. This is her struggle. The matriarchs all struggle with fertility but Rachel's struggle is intensified by her sister's success. She is wrestling with Leah. Jacob and Esau were involved in a conflict inside the womb, but Leah and Rachel were involved in a conflict with their wombs. Wombs in Genesis are arenas for conflict. The battle over the womb is one that which begins in Genesis 3. When Eve takes the fruit her share in the curse is that childbearing will be fraught with difficulty, but her promise is that through her seed the serpent will be defeated.
Births and struggles usually result in the arrival of a saviour. Jochebed with Moses, Hannah with Samuel, and Mary with Jesus demonstrate this. Moses is born to Jochebed during a time when male babies are being thrown into the river, but by traversing the waters he survives to lead his people across the sea and into freedom. Hannah also shares her husband with another woman and cannot produce children. God gifts her a son, Samuel, who unifies the people in a time of trouble. The promise given to Eve of the seed who would defeat the snake is fulfilled in Mary. Mary also conceives supernaturally and her son, Jesus, is the deliverer of humanity from sin and death. These other Christ-like figures are also accompanied by suffering and struggle. Rachel was not alone in her suffering. When she finally gives birth to Joseph it comes as a relief, but his life will be full to turmoil. Joseph, like Moses, Samuel, and Jesus, would be given over to God. Joseph prefigures Moses and Christ in particular; he leaves his home land, he grows up in Egypt, he brings his people out of danger and into peace.
There is another woman who we have not yet mentioned; the Church is a mother of many children. The Church participates in the same reality as Eve, Mary, and Rachel. The Church is described as the bride of Christ, and those who pass through her waters receive a new birth. Like Eve from Adam, the Church comes from the side of Christ. She too is called to go forth and multiply, not only by physical means (children being born into Christian homes), but also by spiritual means (conversion). This means that we, as members of the Church, are siblings. The Church shares the burden of her predecessors; she struggles, and at times suffers from infertility. Just like Eve is the mother of all life, the Church is the mother of eternal life. And just as we shall see with Rachel, her ability to produce children will ultimately depend her love.
Eschatalogical reading
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. Leah said, “How happy I am, for women will call me happy!” So she named him Asher.
Leah, despite being the victim of her father, is greatly blessed by God. He makes her womb fruitful and she bears many sons. Laban tricked Jacob into marrying her and Leah was unloved in the marriage. But God favours Leah. He sees that she is hated and blesses her. And, as we've already noted, Leah is thankful to God. She gives birth to six sons and a daughter, and her handmaid gives birth to two more sons. These sons become the heads of tribes of the nation of Israel in the future. Leah is the mother of the greater part of the people of God. Leah is the firstborn, so if we were trying to categorise how God works within the human familial power dynamics this would seem to go against the flow. More often than not God sides with the younger sibling. So why Leah? Despite being the eldest, Leah is the least in the family. Her younger sister is beautiful and favoured by the two men in her life. God sides with the powerless, with the unloved, and with those who cry out to Him.
This is precisely why some people reject Christianity. Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th century German philosopher, gave perhaps one of the most convincing critiques of Abrahamic religion. He hated both Christianity and Judaism because he saw them as justifications for weakness. Nietzsche sees patience, kindness, selflessness, and sacrificial love as damaging to the development of humanity. He believed that society had become soft and had lost its perchant for cruelty, which he saw as a necessary characteristic for the furtherance of the human race. He claimed that Christianity, by turning weaknesses into virtues, turned people into slaves. In scripture God sides with the weak and powerless, and throws down the strong. The Kingdom of God is not made up of the strongest, most intelligent, or wealthiest members of society, rather, the poor, the lowly, the humble, and the meek will inherit the earth. Contrary to Nietzsche, humanity has no real power of its own. We are in every moment fully reliant on God's power for our very existence. And so every attempt to exalt oneself ends in humiliation. Only those who humbly lean on God will prosper.
Moral reading
At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” Rachel said, “he may go to bed with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son’s mandrakes.” So he went to bed with her that night.
There is a moral lesson in this narrative. Reuben finds mandrakes in the field and brings them home to his mother, Leah. Mandrakes, it is assumed, have something to do with fertility or perhaps act as an aphrodisiac. Rachel, seeing this, asks Leah if she can take the mandrakes; she is still hopeful of conceiving. Leah is protective of the mandrakes but moreso of Jacob's affections. Leah and Rachel agree a trade; the mandrakes for a night with Jacob. Again, this is reminiscent of Jacob and Esau's deal with the lentils. Leah sleeps with Jacob that night and she becomes pregnant, giving birth to Isaachar. Leah actually gives birth two more times after this. Rachel has the mandrakes, however. How do we interpret this deal? We see a change in Rachel; she is willing to cooperate with Leah and share Jacob. The two work together for each other's good and meet each other's needs. Rachel believed that the mandrakes might help with her fecundity. In fact, is only when Rachel changes her perspective that her womb in opened.
The problem with Rachel's attitude prior to this was that she was living and acting in fear. She saw her sister's accomplishments and compared them to her own. Sisters ought to celebrate in the successes of her siblings, but Rachel was caught in competition with Leah. What Rachel lacked was the virtue of justice. Justice, unlike the modern notion of the justice system, means giving to others their due. In the modern moral imagination we think of people having rights, and our rights dictate what others can and cannot do to us. Rights act as a protection to our dignity. While this can be very helpful, it falls short of the notion of justice which deals with our obligations to one another. Rachel, because of her fear and shame, treated her sister like an enemy. The deal with the mandrakes shows us that Rachel was now beginning to act justly; she realises her obligations to Leah. Once her sister is no longer competition, once she participates with her sister and seeks her good, she is free to see her as a sister.
How much blessing is denied to us by our stubborn, fearful hearts? We fight, we compare, we compete, and so we struggle. The day we begin to seek the good of our neighbour, the moment we learn to forgive those who have sinned against us, the instant we repent from our selfish attitudes; God opens our hearts. Selfishness and competition is borne of fear. We don't trust in God's goodness and we convince ourselves that we have to snatch it to get by. This is the whole story of the life of Jacob. How much good have we forfeited by our sinful attitudes? Once we are weaned from our constant self-regard we can become fertile springs of goodness and love for others. We won't see others as enemies but as siblings.