Seen, Heard, Remembered - Genesis 29:31-30:24

Bible Study Lesson for April 7

In the last few verses of chapter 29, the narrative shifts to the women, Leah and Rachel, and the men, Jacob and Laban, fade into the background. There is an inevitable struggle between Rachel and Leah as sisters married to the same man. Their siblinghood gives way to rivalry as both of them seek to provide Jacob with the heir he needs to carry the promise forward to the next generation. As readers of Scripture today, we recognize the twelve sons of Jacob will father the twelve tribes of Israel. After studying the last 28 chapters of Genesis, it should not surprise us that the twelve tribes are born out of struggle.

Obviously, this passage spans quite a bit of time: eleven sons are born to Jacob in twenty-nine verses. The chapter gives some insight into the names of the twelve tribes, which may have helped to give some identity to the families that made up the tribes. For instance, the name “Asher” means happiness or blessedness. This may have represented an identity of blessed joy in the Lord that the people of Asher could aspire to. However, the main point of the passage is the relationship of Leah and Rachel to each other and God’s relationship to them. Reading the naming stories as an ongoing conversation reveals some things about this dynamic between Rachel, Leah, Jacob, and the Lord.

The first part of the story focuses on Leah, the mother of Jacob’s first four sons. In three of the birth stories, Leah invokes the name of the Lord as a God who sees, a God who hears, and a God who is worthy of praise. Indeed, the story begins with God’s empathy for unloved Leah (29:31). God sees and hears the plight of those who cry out in misery that they are forgotten or mistreated. We might remember Ishmael’s mother Hagar crying out to God and then naming God El-roi, “the God who sees” (Genesis 16:13). Like Hagar, God sees Jacob’s mistreatment of Leah.

30:1-21 focuses on Rachel’s reaction to Leah’s improvement in circumstance. Though Rachel remains the preferred and beloved wife, Leah is the provider of children and so Rachel is driven to jealousy. She follows the path of Sarai in Genesis 16, using her servant as a surrogate mother to provide children in her name. This proposed solution to her barrenness is apparently not satisfying, as she also seeks to boost her fertility with a home remedy in verse 14. This section of the story quickly introduces six more sons, born to Bilhah, Zilpah, and once again to Leah. Leah’s desire is to be honored by her husband. Jacob does not honor Leah and her six sons and daughter Dinah and this disappoints Leah. At her best, Leah is focused on God’s love and care for her, but the rivalry with her sister and her desire for her husband’s love take over her story and her motivations. This is as understandable and relatable as it is tragic.

It is also worth noting that in chapter 30, no one says the name of the Lord until Joseph is born. Leah and Rachel have lost sight of God as they fight with each other. Leah had called God by name three times in Chapter 29, declaring with her son’s names: The Lord sees, the Lord hears, the Lord will be praised. Rachel likewise invokes God in a prayer, “May the Lord add (Hebrew yasaf) to me another son!” The Lord is a seeing, hearing, remembering God. Rachel’s desire for another son beyond Joseph will be answered eventually, but it will come at a cost.

Rachel’s attempts to produce a son by her own insistence (“Give me children, or I shall die!” 30:1) and by her own craftiness (“Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes!” 30:14) both fail. Instead, she is given a son, Joseph, when God remembers her. Verse 22 changes her story, “God remembered Rachel, and God heeded her and opened her womb.” Like Sarah and Rebekah, the fact of Rachel’s barrenness is overcome by the sheer power of God to overturn such things. God remembering is not an indication that God has forgotten, rather it reminds us that sometimes God is long delayed in fulfilling promises. In Genesis 8:1 God remembers Noah after six months in the ark. In Genesis 19:29 God delivers Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because God “remembered Abraham.” In the Exodus God will remember the people of Israel in bondage in Egypt (Exodus 2:24). The people of God can find comfort in God’s memory. When we feel forgotten, we can rest assured that God remembers.

In life’s struggles we can often feel alone and abandoned, like we have to look after our own issues because no one else will take up our cause. Like Leah and Rachel, we turn against our sisters and brothers— those who are closest to us—in our desire and attempts to get our own needs met. But we can rest assured that the God we serve sees us, hears us, and remembers us, even in dark times and trials. Before we pray, God knows what we need. We are never out of sight. We are never out of mind.