Genesis 30:1-8

2008.Dec.19 07:12

The Handmaid

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall die!" Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" Then she said, "Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her." So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son." Therefore she called his name Dan. Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed." So she called his name Naphtali.
(Genesis 30:1-8, ESV)

If you haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, quit reading this and go read that, now. Seriously. The read her novel, The Blind Assassin for a little (just a little) cheering up. The Handmaid’s Tale references this narrative. Anyway.

Rachel, more loved by Jacob, is barren. Story of Genesis, right? She complains to her husband. Jacob is angered because he feels there’s nothing he can do. There’s a fair chance he’s right. His point is that he is not God. A surprisingly wise point from him. Now, what do these two do? Do they talk to Yahweh about it? Well, there’s no record of them doing so. Instead, Rachel takes matters into her own hand, and our apparently rather horny patriach willingly goes along.

Specifically, Jacob sleeps with Rachel’s maidservent Bilhah, at Rachel’s suggestion. The technique is effective in so far as Bilhah has two sons, Dan and Naphtali, who Rachel considers as her own children. As with Leah, one of Rachel’s biggest concerns in having these sons–if less than directly–is her status in relation to Leah. Rachel now is both the object of Jacob’s infatuation and has “given him” sons. So, she has “prevailed.”

I have a hard time not assuming that God’s reason for the inclusion of this narrative is to remind us how of our focus can get because of sin (jealousy, in this case). Having children just to say “I’m better than you?” How absurd. But that’s one of the things sin does. It makes us absurd.

Genesis 25:19-21

2008.Apr.12 02:56

Prayer for Kids

Read Genesis 25:19-21 | Full Chapter

These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
(Genesis 25:19-21, ESV)

Back to barrenness. Hmmm.

Having and trying to have children has a strong emotional component; it’s likely that Rebekah and Isaac have become very frustrated over the years of trying to have children and not being able to. But, in the end, they do have two sons.

There’s probably a half-dozen lessons in this: patience, seeking God’s help through prayer, not blaming God, three other lessons left as an exercise to the reader to fill out the half-dozen.

Barrenness, in the sense of not being able to have children, can symbolize a number of other things, especially as relates to “my plans”. I plan to do this or that but I keep running into walls. When Paul and Timothy "passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia" (Acts 16:6, NASB) , that’s an instance of a barren plan. The intention and desires are there, but something keeps it from happening. In this example, that something is God’s will, but it’s often “other stuff” that gets in the way.

It’s seems to me, perhaps inaccurately, that the best way to deal with barrenness is not to get caught up in it. In other words, ask God to heal whatever is the problem, when appropriate, and then go on. It’s so easy to get focused on being frustrated with the one issue that won’t work out. Again, I look at Paul and his various compatriots in Acts. When they have to leave a city, or don’t get to go on to one, they don’t obsess with that city, with that barren country, rather they go on to the next place. They keep fulfilling the specific will of God in their lives, not so much by looking for “open doors” and all that, but by being persistent in the practice of sharing the gospel of Jesus, regardless of location or situation. God can keep me from acting in certain places and environments, if I am acting continuously according to his directions to me; but it will be of no benefit for him to direct me to a situation if I am not anyway doing his will.

So, to return to Rebekah and Isaac, my hope is that they didn’t allow this lack of children to keep them from pursuing God’s will in all other areas of their lives. Still, that doesn’t mean they stop hoping nor that they stop "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving [letting their] requests be made known to God" (Phillipians 4:6, ESV) .

Genesis 21:1-8

2007.Nov.13 01:04

The birth of Isaac

Read Genesis 21:1-8 | Full Chapter

Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
(Genesis 21:1-3, NASB)

God fulfills a promise. Years after hope no longer makes sense, Sarah and Abraham have the child they’ve desired. And Yahweh takes another step in fulfilling his promise of creating from these two a great nation, because of their faith. Not only does God fulfill this promise, he does so just when he said he would. Isn’t he great?

I can’t help but consider, though, if the last chapter is in sync chronologically, whether Yahweh healed, as it were, Sarah’s barrenness (or Abraham’s infertility? Well, I suppose he was fertile once before, anyway…) at the same time as doing so for Abimelech’s wife and servants. I don’t know that there is any valuable point to be made about that, but it strikes me as neat.

Perhaps the reason this possibility strikes me is because of a mental constraint I tend to put on my understanding of Yahweh: I often think of God’s actions as being purely practical. He does such and such with the goal of bringing people to him, picking whichever option is best towards that end. Now, that may not be at all accurate anyway, but that is the way I tend to think about why he does things. So inclined, it strikes me particularly when he does something that seems to me primarily aesthetic. Did God create rainbows principally because they made a striking symbol of his promise, or did he create them because he thought they were beautiful, then used them as a symbol? Is that actually a sensible question? Probably not. But I need to remember that Jehovah does seem to like beautiful things, and to not try to restrict him to “the practical”.

Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
(Genesis 21:4-8, NASB)

So, what do the happy parents do in response to this. They largely forget about Hagar and Ishmael, apparently, but that’s for next entry. Aside from this unhappy point, Abraham and Sarah obey and celebrate. Abraham circumcises Isaac as God had previously commanded him, and they have a feast on Isaac’s, erm, weaning-day? And Sarah laughs.

I think that’s a good way to respond to Yahweh’s fulfilled promises: obedience and celebration.

Genesis 20:17-18

2007.Nov.10 03:41

Barrenness

Read Genesis 20:17-18 | Full Chapter

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
(Genesis 20:17-18, NKJV)

Quick review:

Abraham and Sarah go to Gerar.
King Abimelech: “Hey, that 90 year old lady [referring to Sarah] is H-O-T!”
Abraham to Sarah: “Say you’re my sis.”
Sarah: “I’m his sis.”
Abimelech says, “Sweet, consider yourself my prisoner.”
God: “Abimelech, Sarah’s married. You’re a dead man.”
Abimilech: “I didn’t know.”
God: “Then fix it.”
Abimelech to Abraham: “Oops.”
Abraham: “Figured you’d kill me.”
Abimelech: “Here’s Sarah… and some silver”

So, now Abraham and Sarah are back together, and a bit richer (Although I would not want to be there when Sarah and Abraham first discuss this fiasco). Abraham responds by praying. Yahweh responds by healing. Various women in Abimelech’s country respond by having babies. Chalk up one by barrenness on the OT themes board.

Barrenness as a concept is strange. The relevant entry from dictionary.com here is “not producing or incapable of producing offspring; sterile”. That’s a big “or”. Not producing offspring and incapable of doing so are pretty different. And —-, there’s a lot of questions in that phrase. Is a women only barren if she is actively trying to conceive. Since barrenness is used metaphorically, is a task only barren if it has been attempted? And, aside from trying to parse the definition, there’s ten thousand cultural issues wrapped up in this concept, including stupidities like woman viewed like land, valued only for what they “produce”. Bleh.

It’s an interesting side note that God orchestrated the birth of the Messiah to require a “fertile” woman (the English language occassionally completely sucks) but not a fertile man. I wonder if Yahweh may have been making a statement there?

To this particular passage though, there’s a few implications (not explicit, so I’m guessing here) that I want to consider:

The women in the king’s household were barren, possibly since the moment Sarah was brought into the king’s…whatever. (the barrenness is explicit; what I’m trying to highlight is the implication that this had been going on for some time. I guess that is pretty obvious though; it’s not something that becomes apparent in a couple of days).
Abimelech was not motivated by this (granted, I’ve been biased against this guy throughout my study of this chapter, so I may be reading in too much), and did not act until he was convinced that his very life was at stake. It’s so important to pay attention to what Yahweh is doing in our lives; don’t wait until you’re at the edge of losing everything.
Yahweh’s blessing doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the king’s expectation. God heals Abimelech (of what I don’t know), but that’s all of two words. The attention is on Yahweh healing the barrenness of these various women. (sorry, “infertile” and “sterile” are the only synonyms I can think of and I’m not keen on either word).
While Abraham and Abimelech are playing these goofy games, Sarah and the women of Abimelech’s court are suffering in various ways – I’m assuming that’s God’s healing implies they were wanting children. I could be quite wrong. God is teaching the “powerful men” some lessons but he’s also focused on Sarah, the queen, and the servants.

So, aside from the ten thousand issues with barrenness here, it’s that subtle thing God does so often in the Bible. Yes, here we’re recording the big events, in the lives of the rich and powerful. And boom, God says, hey, that’s great that you grew up a little, now I’m going to bless…your servants!

Oh, snap.

Come back next entry for the surprise conclusion…

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