Bible Study Online ArticleLocated at the Bottom of Page In the last article we learned that Rachel out of desperation had given herself over to the idea of giving her maidservant Bilhah over to her husband. She had decided that she would bear Jacob's children through her maidservant while she remain barren.
Rachel plan would seem to work as planned, being that Bilhah did bear Jacob two sons who were named: Dan and Naphtali. Now we find that the child-bearing competition between the two sisters begins to heat up - and the score between Rachel and Leah, is now four to two - in Leah's favor. Now personally, I find this whole situation to be very interesting. Being that often times I wonder: Why do we continue to fall into these types of traps and snares, that would allow our quest for bragging rights and being of good reputation, bring us into compromising ordeals? Why is it so hard for us to be able to recognize the traps that these so-called opportunities really are when it comes to gaining one's approval and pleasing people? However, we now find that Leah is feeling the pressure to respond to Rachel and Bilhah's actions, and on top of this, she has foolishly given herself over to the idea that her child-bearing advantage is not what it use to be. Now keep in mind that Rachel hasn't given birth to any children that she can actually call her own. It's amazing that Leah doesn't understand this... Nevertheless, Leah is so determined to keep her child-bearing lead over Rachel that it causes her to follow in her younger sister's same desperation footsteps. So Leah enacts the same game plan that Rachel did before her, by turning to her own handmaiden Zilpah. Now keep in mind that Leah puts aside the fact, that regardless of what Rachel does from this point on when it comes to child-bearing that it should not matter to her, because her sons hold the propriety advantage within the family -- no matter what. This is a fact, being that Leah's children came directly from her and not some other. However, at this point in her life, Leah hadn't bore Jacob any children in about a year, so she begins to panic. Make no mistake, Leah is determined when it comes to her quest to hold that prestige child-bearing honor within Jacob's household. But you know what? Maybe I'm not being fair to Leah, perhaps we should look at this situation from her perspective... And if we were to do so, we could easily see how Leah might have felt this way. After all, Jacob did not want her to begin with, he loved Rachel with all his heart and because of this Leah would feel very insecure around Rachel, being that she could not compete with her sister's beauty. The only thing that she felt like she had the advantage in, when it came to the two of them -- was child-bearing. But now Leah begins to think that she is now barren and being that she had not conceived a child for Jacob within over a year, she panics. Now we find that she had been emotionally blinded by her pride and insecurities, for she fails to trust in the Lord that has been so good to her. Who knows... perhaps if she had more faith, Leah would've been able to see that God had already given her the highest of honors when it came to the House of Jacob. These "honors" in which I'm referring to, deals with God giving her the privilege to be the mother of Jacob's first born son Reuben. This alone would be a tremendous blessing that came with immediate benefits. And according to the Sacred Scriptures her third child Levi, would eventually become the founder of the Levites and the Levitical Priesthood. And once again, this is a tremendous honor, being that the Levites will play a very important and crucial role when it comes to the nation of Israel. As for her fourth child Judah he would eventually become the founder of the Kingdom of Judah (the tribe of Judah). For me personally, the honor doesn't get any higher than this, being that this is the tribe that our blessed Savior, Jesus (Yeshua) Christ would eventually come from. Like I stated earlier, that in itself, in my personal opinion, is the highest honor that could bestowed upon a mother. Well, unless you're Mary, the direct mother of Jesus. However, with Leah not knowing what she already has, she becomes snared and trapped by her insecurities and pride. She decides to give her maidservant Zilpah over to her husband Jacob in order for her to be his wife. And like he did before with Rachel - Jacob would accept Zilpah as his wife, and consummate their marriage union by laying with her. And because of this, Zilpah would become pregnant with her first child and bear Jacob his seventh son from out of the three women. Zilpah would name her son Gad. This is in response to her emotions at the time, for the name "Gad" means (good luck cometh) Now I would like to point out that Leah is from the same area that Abraham was from, which was the city "Ur of the Chaldeans." As I once stated before, the Chaldeans were devout astrologers during Abraham's time. So it shouldn't surprise us that the name Gad, is also the same name that the Arabians used in regards to the planet, Jupiter. However things wouldn't end there, for we find that Zilpah would bear her second son, which was Jacob's eighth son in total. And Leah would name this child "Asher" which signifies (happy): "How happy I am! The women will call me blessed." Jacob now has eight sons between three of the four women at this point. He has six with - Team Leah and two with - Team Rachel. How will 'Team Rachel' respond after finding themselves down two to six? **YOUR CURRENT BIBLE STUDY ONLINE SERIES WOULD BE HERE** 43) Jacob - The Path of Uncertainty 44) Jacob - The Stone Pillow Dream 46) Jacob - The Love Season of Reaping 49) <-CURRENT BIBLE STUDY ONLINE PAGE-> 50) The Mandrake Plant of Love  |
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