This summer, and into the fall, we are looking at men and women in the Bible who can inspire us to remember that God uses even flawed and fumbling humanity to build the Kingdom of God. We have already looked at Elizabeth and Zechariah from the New Testament in June, and Sarah with her husband Abraham from Genesis in July. We now move forward a couple generations to look at Leah and Jacob (Abraham’s grandson). Theirs was a troubled relationship, and yet God was present and active in their lives.
Isaac, the miraculous son of Abraham and Sarah’s old age, marries
Rebecca. She bears him twin sons: Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 25:19-26) We hear
that Rebecca receives a prophecy stating, The sons in your womb will become
two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One
nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your
younger son. As the boys grow, the sibling rivalry seems to be fostered by
the parents. We learn that Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the
wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Jacob seems to take advantage of this by tricking his
brother out of his birthright with lentil stew. When Isaac is old and blind, he
wants to bless his sons. Rebecca convinces Jacob to trick the old man into
giving him the blessing of the first-born son. (Genesis 27:1-40). Esau is,
understandably, enraged and Jacob flees to Haran where he meets his mother’s
brother Laban and his two daughters. In Genesis 29, we read how Jacob loves
Rachel, the younger daughter, but is tricked into marrying the elder one, Leah.
When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her
to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. Bearing children was
important in tribal cultures because it ensured the lineage. Because she cannot
conceive, Rachel starts a sort of ‘birthing competition’ by giving her maid to
Jacob to bear children she can claim. Leah, even though she has four children,
responds by offering her own maid to Jacob. (Genesis 29:40-30:24)
Finally, God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her
prayers by enabling her to have children. She became pregnant
and gave birth to a son. “God has removed my disgrace,” she said. And
she named him Joseph, for she said, “May the Lord add yet another
son to my family.”
What can we learn from all this dysfunctional family dynamics from four millennia ago?
It would be easy to stand apart and say, ‘that’s awful and
the parents should have known better.’ Then we might be self-convicted by
realizing that we have our own competitive tendencies. Perhaps not amongst our
families (although every family likely has some dysfunction and competition).
There are other ways we can compete and try to outdo each other. Or we simply
think we are better than someone else because we can do a task better, or
because we are lucky enough to have more privilege.
