Today’s passage: Genesis 29:31-30:24
Helpful thoughts:
- There were multiple consequences to Laban’s actions resulting in Jacob having multiple wives. There were also multiple consequences for the actions of Jacob, Leah, Rachel and others subsequent to the arrangement of the marriages.
- Many of the consequences were negative.
- At least 13 of the consequences were positive.
- When Rebekah remained barren for an extended time, Isaac prayed for her, and God answered that prayer with the conception of Jacob and Esau. When Rachel was barren, Jacob did not pray. Instead, they copied the practice of Abraham and Sarah (Hagar & Ishmael).
- Rachel celebrated the birth of her son by asking for another. The birthing of her next son resulted in her death.
Questions to consider:
- Who is the giver of life? Did Leah or Rachel (Or Bilhah, or Zilpah) have any more or any fewer children than the Lord intended for them to have?
- What did Leah and Rachel want? Besides more children, what was it they really wanted? What desires motivated their actions? What thinking informed their desires?
- What hardships and relational conflicts must have arisen from all this rivalry and intimacy among four women? What good did God bring from all of it? What can we learn from this? How should we value all new life?