Genesis 35:16-21

2009.Jul.03 12:00

Birth/Death

Read Genesis 35:16-21 | Full Chapter

And they journeyed from Bethel and had but a little way to go to Ephrath [Bethlehem] when Rachel suffered the pangs of childbirth and had hard labor. When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid; you shall have this son also. And as her soul was departing, for she died, she called his name Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [son of the right hand].
(Genesis 35:16-18, AMP)

People born in/near Bethlehem, according to the Bible (possibly different Bethlehems): Benjamin, the youngest son of Israel; King David; and Jesus Christ. Plays nicely on the town water tower, neh? Anyway.

As the family Jacob is wandering around Canaan (the benefit of nomadic patriarchs is you get to use the line “wandering around” a lot), Rachel goes into labor with the last of Jacob’s sons (and only, I believe, born in Palestine). Rachel dies around the end of labor but lives long enough to name her son, “Ben-oni”, which–according to the note in the Amplified version and Wikipedia–means ‘son of my sorrow/pain’. As literalist naming goes, it’s hard to fault the choice, but it’s not necessarily the sort of name you’d like to grow up with. So, Jacob renames him Benjamin. The Wikipedia article has some interesting discussion about the name, which I recommend at least perusing.

In any event, we once again see a name change (something that comes up less often from here on). It may even represent a change in the role of the tribe of Benjamin during the confederation days. This is the tribe that is very nearly extinguished in the Battle of Gibeah, recorded in Judges 19-21, but from which later the first king of Israel, Saul, is chosen. How well the name change fits just that part of their history.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar (monument) on her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed on and spread his tent on the other side of the tower of Edar.
(Genesis 35:19-21, AMP)

A time of rejoicing becomes instead a time of mourning, particularly for Jacob, who loved Rachel the most of his wives, and who will translate that into favoritism for her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. How the death of his mother at this point affects Joseph is an interesting question, but I see nothing in the Biblical account to shed any light on that query. How the death of Rachel affected Jacob is another question without any direct discussion, so far as I can tell, but it must be imagined it that this was an awful time for him, to understate it.

And, then, what of his other wives? After all, this is a coda to the rivalry between Leah and Rachel, of which their handmaids (and Jacob’s “lesser” wives) were necessarily a part. There’s never any real resolution here. Instead, the fighting and bitterness will continue to play a significant role in Benjamin’s generation.

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 4:1-2

2006.Jul.23 16:08

Child 1

Read Genesis 4:1-2 | Full Chapter

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
(Genesis 4:1-2, NASB)

Adam and Eve have children. At this point, they have two, apparently after being ejected from the garden. I can’t think of a time I’ve ever heard somebody preach from this passage–or even discuss it–without it being simply a prelude to the Cain & Abel Debacle. This can’t be blamed on the shortness of the passage–the church seems to place uncanny value on short passages. However, this is indeed a momentous occassion.

There is a great business about human identity vis-a-vis God’s identity throughout the Bible, emphasized in Genesis by the tree of knowledge and the fall. Recall the serpent’s argument: "You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil" (Genesis 1:4-5, MESSAGE) . There are things that clearly dilineate humanity from Jehovah. The issue with the trees center around his eternality (read, true life) and his knowledge of all things. Another major separating factor is God’s role as the creator.

Birth gives us an interesting perspective into God’s nature and our relationship with him. Indeed, earth seems to be the womb in which humanity gestates–Jesus speaks of the time before the tribulation as "beginning of birth pains" (Matthew 24:8, NIV) . If God conceived humanity in his mind, and created the womb, this life for us, that we might as individuals and a species be born into his kingdom, then pregnancy has much to teach us of his love for us and the pain and heartache he chooses to endure for our sakes.

When Eve is pregnant with Cain, she receives understanding that the fruit of knowledge could not give her, and as she shares her experience with Adam, so too does he gain understanding. How they will hurt for their children, they could not have known, but in the joy and love and pain of pregnancy and child-rearing, Eve and Adam can begin to understand why God created this world, created them upon it, and why he chose to allow them to bring on themselves the curse of sin.

It baffles me how the church can ever despise pregnancy, but we do it so often. How often out of the same mouth comes pro-life rhetoric and condemnation of women for their pregnancy. If it is a result of sin, well, whose life isn’t. We are all conceived in sin, we all choose to walk in it. Not one person is alive who cannot trace their life directly to some sin. But pregnancy, children, maturing, life, these are gifts of God, blessings that we might grow in understanding and so rejoice all the more in the incredible much he does for us.