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RACHEL
AT THE WELL
Rachel
was the beautiful daughter of Laban, brother of Isaac. Every
afternoon, she watered her flock of sheep at a well near Haran, an
outpost of the ancient city of Ur.
One
afternoon a young traveler called Jacob happened to be
there. He chatted with the shepherds, telling them who he was and asking
about other members of his family - they had originally come from this area.
The men pointed towards a woman in
the distance, telling Jacob she was the daughter of his mother’s brother.
When Jacob saw Rachel at close quarters he was instantly smitten. In an act of
bravado he removed the great stone cover of the well single-handed, no
doubt hoping to impress the
young woman. He was successful.
In
response, Rachel ran to her father’s house and told him about the young
man. Her father Laban ran out to meet Jacob, welcoming him warmly. Jacob
stayed with Rachel’s family for a month, and during this time he fell
deeply in love with Rachel.
JACOB ASKS FOR RACHEL
Jacob approached Laban for permission to marry
Rachel.
But Jacob was empty-handed, and could not produce the normal
bride-price for Rachel.*
Laban agreed
that his daughter might marry Jacob but stipulated that, as a bride price,
Jacob must contract to work for him for seven years (the seven year cycle
was a sacred one in the ancient world).
Jacob agreed, and he and Rachel
settled down to see out the long period of waiting. What neither of them realized was that Laban had agreed to let 'his
daughter' marry Jacob, but had not specified which daughter it would be.
Rachel had an older sister Leah, not so beautiful, and the older sister in a family was usually married before
her younger sister.
LABAN TRICKS JACOB
The seven years
passed, and Jacob demanded his bride. The girl was dressed in her finest clothes, including a
rich head-dress and veil that covered her face. When the drinking banquet was over
her father led her, still veiled, into the room of her bridegroom, and she and Jacob made love. By this time,
he had drunk a considerable
amount.
When the
morning dawned, Jacob realized his mistake. The bride in his bed was
not Rachel, but Leah - he had been tricked into marrying the wrong
sister. There was a kind of horrible irony in this: Jacob had outwitted his brother
Esau; now he was outwitted by someone even wilier
than himself. Moreover, he was fooled with the same trick: he
pretended to be his brother Esau, and now Leah had pretended to be her
sister Rachel.
JACOB MARRIES BOTH SISTERS
Needless to say, he
was enraged at the trick that had been played on him. Laban simply
shrugged his shoulders. Jacob insisted, and they came to an arrangement:
he and Rachel would marry after the traditional week that Jacob must spend
as Leah's bridegroom, and work for another seven years to pay the
bride-price for her. He never forgave
Leah for her part in the deception. She was the 'unloved' wife, but the
original Hebrew word is better translated as 'hated'.
Rachel
may have been the more loved of the two, but she was not the most
fertile. Though she and Jacob were deeply in love, she did not conceive
for many years.
Leah
on the other hand had no problem in bearing children. Almost immediately
after marrying Jacob and despite the fact she was 'unloved', she became
pregnant and gave birth to a series of male babies. She bore Reuben, then Simeon, then Levi,
then Judah. Each time she had another son, she prayed that Jacob would
finally love her as he loved Rachel. He never did.
RACHEL
CANNOT CONCEIVE
Rachel
faced a different problem. No matter how she prayed to God, no matter how
much she was loved by Jacob, Rachel did not conceive. In desperation she
gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob, so that he could conceive a child with
Bilhah as a surrogate mother for Rachel. This practice was common in the
ancient world and it was a step up the social ladder for the woman, who
became a concubine instead of a servant.
Bilhah
had a son, whom Rachel named Dan. Then she had a second son, and Rachel
called him Naphtali.
In response, Leah gave her own maid Zilpah to Jacob, and this resulted in
yet more sons: Gad and Asher.
A bitter rivalry developed between the two women.
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'When Jacob saw Rachel at close
quarters he was instantly smitten. In an act of bravado he removed the great stone
cover of the well single-handed, no doubt hoping to impress the
young woman. He was successful.'
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THE
MANDRAKE ROOTS
One day,
Leah’s son Reuben found some mandrake roots in the fields. Mandrake
roots were a popular aphrodisiac in the ancient world, probably because
they looked like the sexual organs of a well-endowed man. Reuben took the
mandrakes to his mother, and when Rachel saw them she asked Leah if she
could have some of them. Leah agreed, on condition that Rachel commanded
Jacob to have sexual intercourse with Leah that night. Rachel complied,
and this resulted in a fifth son for Leah. She called him Assachar. Later,
another son arrived for Leah, called Zebulun. Finally, she bore
Jacob a daughter, Dinah.
RACHEL
HAS A CHILD AT LAST
Only
then, at the end of this long wait, did Rachel finally become pregnant. She
bore a son called Joseph, and the birth of this son seemed to galvanize
Jacob into action. He decided to break away from Laban's tribe and go out on
his
own.
JACOB
OUT-MANEUVERS LABAN
Jacob asked Laban's permission to leave and take a proportion of the
flocks with him as his wages. Once again Laban tried to trick Jacob
- there could be no amicable
resolution between these two. Jacob won the battle of wills because he
was skilled in animal husbandry. He knew about
cross-breeding techniques and was able to develop a
particular type of animal that Laban had previously agreed Jacob might
keep. Naturally, Laban and his sons resented Jacob's success.
At
this stage, Jacob felt God calling him to return to his homeland. Rachel
and Leah were also dissatisfied. It was time to go. They both urged Jacob to take
action.
RACHEL
STEALS THE HOUSEHOLD GODS
It
seems that Rachel was still angry at her father for what he
had done to her. Before they set out, she took the small figurines that
represented the protective deities of her
father's family (the teraphim), telling no-one what she was
doing. Years ago on what should
have been her wedding night, Laban had stolen Rachel's happiness. Now she
stole something that was precious to him. The
teraphim were a form of title deed, and owning them was the prerogative of the head of the
family. By taking them Rachel secured this position for her husband.
The
clan assembled, ready to return to the land of Jacob's
father, Isaac. They crossed the Euphrates and headed towards the hill
country of Gilead. But
it was not going to be as easy as that. Laban pursued them, caught up with
them, and confronted them. Where were the household gods? They were
missing and Laban wanted them back.
This
was news to Jacob - he did not know Rachel had taken them. He then said
something rash: that whoever had done such a thing should die.
RACHEL
TRICKS HER FATHER
Laban
did a search to find the teraphim. He entered the
tents of Jacob, Leah, and the two maids - each of the woman in a
polygamous marriage had her own separate tent. He found nothing. Then he
went into Rachel's tent, where the teraphim were indeed hidden in
saddle-bags. She greeted her father respectfully but did not rise from where she
was sitting. She explained demurely that she could not do so, since she
was menstruating. This
meant that the cloth on which she was sitting was ritually unclean, and
could not be touched by anyone except her.
Rachel's
manner was so sweet and demure that Laban did not
argue, and left her tent
empty-handed. He had to back down. The two men
made a face-saving covenant, and early the next morning Laban said
good-bye to them all, and left.
RACHEL
DIES IN CHILDBIRTH
When
Laban was gone Rachel's family moved on, and by the time it reached its
destination Rachel was pregnant again. On the way to Ephrath she went into
labor, but this time things did not go well for her. The pains were very
bad, and Rachel suffered terribly. To comfort her the midwife told her it
would be a boy - and it was, but Rachel would not live to see him grow. She
died in childbirth.
Rachel had said once that she would die if she had no sons. In the end it was having sons that killed her.
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LO
INTERESTING
WEBSITES -
stories, pictures, reconstructions
Information
on the dowry and bride-price; marriage and childbirth in the ancient world
WOMEN IN THE
BIBLE: MAJOR EVENTS
Lies,
lies, lies - the story of Rachel's husband Jacob
BIBLE PEOPLE: JACOB
The
Terephim, and ancient religious beliefs and practices
BIBLE
ARCHAEOLOGY: ANCIENT RELIGIONS
Photographs
of the sort of tent Rachel lived in
BIBLE
ARCHITECTURE: HOUSING
What
became of Rachel's son Joseph
BIBLE
PEOPLE: JOSEPH OF EGYPT
Rachel
worries about her son and That Woman
BIBLE
WOMEN: POTIPHAR'S WIFE
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ACTIVITIES
AND FOCUS QUESTIONS
Deception
- it's everywhere
The story of Rachel is permeated with deception. Virtually everyone in the
story is deceitful or deceived, at one point of another.
Make a list of all the ways that deception occurs in the modern world -
for example in the media which may favor one point of view, politician or
brand name; in the reporting of news; in advertising in all forms of the
media; or in any other forms you can think of. Does it matter? Why, why
not?
Do you encounter deception in your everyday life? If so, give examples and
discuss the impact this has on your life and world view.
Deciding
what's important
Jacob is prepared to work for seven years to get Rachel as his wife. She
is prepared to wait seven years for him. Have there been things in your
life that were so important that you were prepared to make great
sacrifices to get/achieve them? Were they worth the wait and effort?
What have been the most important people/things/events in your life?
Were there things you thought were important that turned out to be a
disappointment?
Make lists of these items, and compare the items with someone else's - or
just spend some quiet time thinking about it by yourself.
In
depth study of one person's story
Choose one of the people whose stories are told on this site and develop a
PowerPoint presentation about them.
The presentation must be at least 10 slides long and should include
* a supporting image/picture/painting of each person
* a map of Israel showing
the cities and areas where the story took place.
You may call up other websites to support your ideas.
In
your presentation (approximately 10 minutes), answer the following questions:
1.
What are the main events of the person's life?
Tell the story.
2.
What
were their main qualities? What made them stand out from the crowd?
3.
What obstacles did they face?
Did they overcome them, or go with the flow? Explain.
4.
How did they use their abilities to do God’s work?
5.
Which part of their story appeals to you most? Why?
You
must include three short quotations from the Bible texts to illustrate the
points you are making.
Focus
Questions
1. What are the most interesting moments in Rachel's story?
2. In the story, who speaks and who listens? Who acts? Who gets what they
want? If you were in the story, which person would you want to be friends
with? Which person would you want to avoid?
3. What is God's interaction with the main characters? What does this tell
you about the narrator's image of God? Do you agree with this image?
4. What is happening on either side of the story, in the chapters before
and after it? Does this help you understand what is happening?
5. The narrator/editor has chosen to tell some things and leave other
things out. What has been left out of the story that you would like to
know?
6. Are the characteristics and actions of the people in the story still
present in the world? How is the story relevant to modern life, especially
your own?
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Bible
Stories: People of
the Old Testament -
Bible Study Resource: Rachel and Jacob
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