Name Meaning—Rachel was the first person in the Bible to have a proper name derived from the brute creation. Wilkinson remarks, “that, for the most part, the formation of a human name from that of an animal is traceable to some peculiarity either observed or desired in an individual, which would thus be most intelligently expressed in a rude and simple age.” Rachel, the name of Jacob’s beloved wife means “ewe,” employed more or less as a title of endearment, just as the word “lamb” is among ourselves. Laban, accustomed to tenderly nursing the weak ewes as they were born, thought “ewe” to be a fitting name for his second daughter.
Family Connections—Rachel was the daughter of Laban, the son of Bethuel and Rebekah’s brother. Rachel became the second wife of her cousin Jacob and the mother of his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. (Compare material under Leah.)
As we have already shown, the characteristic feature of the Bible in pairing certain individuals, compelling us to compare and contrast the lives they lived together, makes it difficult to separate any couple and deal exclusively with one or the other. Invariably, as in the instance of Leah and Rachel, their lives were lived out in close association. Yet we must try and isolate Rachel from her sister, for the galaxy of the Bible’s famous women would be incomplete without such a star. Surely, the much-loved wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph, Israel’s saviour, and also Benjamin, could not have been an ordinary woman even though she shone with reflected glory. From the many references to Rachel we have the following facets of her life and character—
She Was Naturally Beautiful
It would seem as if Rachel had all the loveliness of her aunt, Rebekah. The sacred record speaks of her as “beautiful and well favoured” (attractive). Her sister Leah was “tender-eyed,” meaning some form of eye blemish making her less appealing than Rachel who prepossessed Jacob physically. Seeing her in all her natural charm and beauty, Jacob loved her. Although beauty may be only skin deep, it nevertheless wins admiration. The Hebrew form of Rachel’s description (Genesis 29:17) suggests that she was “beautiful in form and beautiful in look.” That God does not look upon the outward appearance merely is evidenced by the fact, of which Ellicott reminds us, that “it was not Rachel, with her fair face and well-proportioned figure, and her husband’s lasting love, that was the mother of the progenitor of the Messiah, but the weary-eyed Leah.”
She Was Divinely Guided
While, as the younger daughter, it was Rachel’s task to go to the well and draw water for her father’s sheep, it was no mere coincidence that she went that day when Jacob arrived. She might have been sick or indisposed, and if Leah had had to go for the water that day, what a different story might have been written of Jacob, as well as of the history of Israel. Fleeing from his home to Haran, Jacob met God at Bethel and left it “lifting up his feet” (Genesis 29:1, margin), implying a lighthearted alacrity as he continued his journey with the divine promise in his heart, “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest” (Genesis 28:15). Thus, with the assurance of the divine presence and guidance as a guarantee of favor and safety he met the shepherds who told Jacob of Rachel (Genesis 29:6)—the name that was to charm his heart the rest of his life. That meeting between Jacob and Rachel was of God, and it was His providence that ordered the first glimpse of each other at the well. We are apt to forget that often the most seemingly ordinary incidents in life are as much of the divine plan as the smallest parts of a watch, and upon these smallest parts of the plan all the others depend. Our steps, when ordered by the Lord, lead to great issue.
As far as Jacob and Rachel were concerned that meeting was unforeseen and unpremeditated. “A divinely directed life is often shaped by circumstances that human prescience could not have foreseen.” As soon as they met it was love at first sight, at least with Jacob. The first sight of his cousin’s beautiful face and figure cast a spell over him and he “kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.” As she was his cousin, Jacob was not prevented from kissing Rachel by the etiquette of the East, which was the home of warm feelings and demonstrative actions. Probably the tears Jacob shed were those of gratitude to God in bringing him to his mother’s relatives, and also tears of joy because he knew instinctively that the lovely maiden he kissed would be his wife. Jacob removed the stone from the mouth of the well, helped Rachel water the flock, acquainted her with his story, and was taken home by an excited Rachel where he was hospitably welcomed.
George Matheson draws our attention to the interesting fact that the meeting of Jacob and Rachel is “the first courtship in the Bible growing out of a cousinly relationship—in other words, as having its roots in a previous friendship.” Jacob, a poet by nature, dazzled by Rachel’s beauty, broke out into a deep love before marriage—a thought to ponder in these days when young people are being told that pre-marital experiences are quite in order, to test whether they are suited for each other. Jacob was to prove that the typical trial of love is waiting, and he had to wait many a year before the one whom he loved, as soon as he saw her, became his wife.
She Was Deeply Loved
We are distinctly told that “Jacob loved Rachel,” and that the seven years he served Laban for his daughter, “seemed to him but a few days, because of the love he had for her” (Genesis 29:18, 20). Even after Jacob found that he had been deceived by Laban and had been given Leah instead, he served and waited for Rachel another seven years because “he loved her more than Leah” (29:30). From the first moment Jacob saw Rachel he loved her, and she became his choice as a wife. But while she alone was in the heart of her lover, “the real choice was not Jacob’s but God’s, and for the first place God had chosen Leah.” In his second marriage, Rachel only received half of Jacob, the other half had been given to her rival sister.
While Leah might have had “the keys of Jacob’s house, Rachel had the keys of his heart. Leah seems to have influenced his judgment: Rachel never ceased to hold his love. Leah bore Jacob six stalwart sons, Rachel was the mother of only two: but the sons of Rachel were dearer to him than the sons of Leah.” Jacob is outstanding among male lovers in the Bible for the true, romantic, abiding love he bore for Rachel. Whether such a deep and ardent love was reciprocated we are not told. The Bible has no reference to Rachel’s love for Jacob. She appears as a somewhat placid character. We have no record of any grief she felt, or protest she made when she discovered how Leah had taken the first place in Jacob’s life. We would like to believe that Rachel’s love for Jacob was as romantic as his was for her, and that also the years she had to wait for him seemed but a few days because of her heart’s affection for Jacob.
She Was Cruelly Deceived
The deceit perpetrated by Laban upon Jacob, Leah and Rachel, adds color to the record. Laban cunningly beguiled Jacob into marriage with Rachel’s elder sister and less beautiful sister. Jacob had accepted Laban’s terms to take no wages for his labor in his fields, and at the end of the seven years' waiting expected to receive Rachel. In the gloom the bride appears closely veiled, according to custom. The ceremony is performed and the wedded pair return to their bridal chamber. But in the light of early morning Jacob discovers Laban’s duplicity—a duplicity in which Leah must have had a part. How shocked Jacob must have been to behold the plain-looking, undesired Leah instead of the face of his dearest Rachel.
Leah, by her father’s deceit, had stolen her sister’s blessing. Isaac had blessed Jacob, believing him to be Esau, and now Jacob marries Leah believing her to be Rachel. In the moment of his surprised discovery did Jacob remember how he had stolen his brother’s birthright by covering himself with a hairy skin and venison-smell, and making himself appear as Esau? Was this a retributive providence for his own deception of his blind and dying father?
Laban condoned his unrighteous act by declaring that in those times the younger daughter should not be given in marriage before the first-born. He should have told Jacob this when he covenanted to serve the first seven years for Rachel, or before the marriage anyhow. Jacob then became involved in two marriages, which were not deemed unfitting in an age when polygamy was tolerated even by godly men. For another seven years Jacob toiled bravely on, true love enabling him to persevere until Rachel was his. What interests us is the absence of any recorded protest on Rachel’s part against her father’s deception! Why did she not cry out when she saw that Leah, instead of herself, was being given to Jacob? If Rachel had resentment at the hour of marital vows between Jacob and Leah, she must have suppressed it. Why was she so placid amid such a calamity, at least for the man who loved her so deeply? Unmurmuringly, she goes on waiting for another seven years, ere she is able to share Jacob with the woman who by that time had borne him many children. Perhaps the deep, unchanging love Jacob had for Rachel found little echo from her own heart.
She Was Lamentably but Not Finally Barren
Once Rachel became Jacob’s second wife, her continued barrenness created an unreasonable and impatient fretfulness within her soul. Seeing Leah’s many happy children made her jealous. What anguish is wrapped up in the phrase, “But Rachel was barren” (Genesis 29:31). Says Donald Davidson, “Rachel would taunt Leah on not having the love of her husband, while Leah would find revenge in the childlessness of her rival.” Ra
ชื่อความหมาย — ราเชลถูกคนแรกในพระคัมภีร์จะมีชื่อเฉพาะที่ได้มาจากการสร้าง brute หมายเหตุ Wilkinson ส่วนใหญ่ การก่อตัวของชื่อมนุษย์จากสัตว์ว่าบังคับให้หลุดบางสังเกต หรือต้องการในแต่ละบุคคล ซึ่งจะดังสุดฉลาดแสดงในยุคที่หยาบ และง่าย ขึ้น" ราเชล หมายถึง ชื่อของภรรยารักยาโคบ "ewe ทำงานน้อยเป็นชื่อของ endearment เหมือนกับคำว่า"แกะ"เป็นหนึ่งในตัวเอง เป็นอย่างยิ่ง ชินพยาบาล ewes อ่อนละม่อมเป็นจะเกิด คิดว่า "ewe" เป็น ชื่อเหมาะสมสำหรับลูกสาวของเขาที่สองเชื่อมต่อครอบครัว — ราเชลเป็นลูกสาวของพี่ Bethuel และของ Rebekah เป็นอย่างยิ่ง ราเชลกลายเป็น ภรรยาของยาโคบญาติของเธอและแม่ของบุตรทั้งสอง โจเซฟและเบนจามิน (เปรียบเทียบวัสดุภายใต้ลีอาห์)เหมือนเรามีแล้ว คุณสมบัติลักษณะของพระคัมภีร์ในบางบุคคล จับใจเราสามารถเปรียบเทียบ และเปรียบต่างชีวิตที่พวกเขาอาศัยอยู่ด้วยกัน จับคู่ยากแยกคู่ใด ๆ และโดยเฉพาะกับหนึ่งหรืออื่น ๆ คงเส้นคงวา ในอินสแตนซ์ของลีอาห์ราเชล ชีวิตได้อาศัยออกในความสัมพันธ์ที่ใกล้ชิด แต่ เราต้องพยายาม และแยกราเชลจากน้อง สำหรับกาแล็กซี่ของผู้หญิงที่มีชื่อเสียงในพระคัมภีร์จะไม่สมบูรณ์ โดยไม่มีดาวดังกล่าว แน่นอน ภรรยาที่รักมากของยาโคบ และแม่ saviour โจเซฟ อิสราเอล และเบนจามิน อาจไม่ได้เป็นผู้หญิงธรรมดาแม้เธอ shone ความรุ่งโรจน์สะท้อน จากการอ้างอิงมากมายกับราเชล มีแง่มุมต่อไปนี้ชีวิตของเธอและอักขระ —เธอสวยงามตามธรรมชาติมันจะดูเหมือนว่า ราเชลมี loveliness ทั้งหมดของป้าของเธอ Rebekah คอร์ดศักดิ์สิทธิ์พูดของเธอ "สวยงาม และดี favoured" (น่าสนใจ) ลีอาห์น้องสาวของเธอคือ "วิธีการชำระเงินตา หมายถึง รูปแบบของฝ้าตาที่ทำให้เธอน้อยกว่าน่าสนใจกว่า ราเชลที่ prepossessed ยาโคบจริง เห็นเธอในเสน่ห์ธรรมชาติและความงามทั้งหมดของเธอ ยาโคบรักเธอ แม้ว่าความสวยงามอาจจะเฉพาะผิวลึก มันอย่างไรก็ตามโชคดีชื่นชม แบบฟอร์มภาษาฮิบรูคำอธิบายของราเชล (ปฐม 29:17) แนะนำให้ เธอ "สวยงามในแบบฟอร์ม และสวยงามในรูปลักษณ์" ว่า พระไม่มองรูปลักษณ์ภายนอกแต่จะเป็นหลักฐานความจริง ที่ Ellicott นึก ว่า "มันไม่ราเชล หน้าแฟร์และรูปสัดส่วนห้องพัก ของเธอ และสามีของยาวนานรัก ถูกแม่ของ progenitor ยาห์ แต่ลีอาห์อ่อนล้าตา"เธอได้แนะนำถูกขณะ เป็นน้องสาว มันเป็นงานของราเชลไปดี และตักน้ำสำหรับแกะของพ่อของเธอ มันเป็นเพียงเรื่องบังเอิญที่เธอไปวันนั้นเมื่อการมาถึงของยาโคบ เธออาจมีการเจ็บป่วย หรือ indisposed แล้วถ้าลีอาห์เคยมีไปน้ำวันนั้น อะไรเรื่องราวต่าง ๆ อาจมีการเขียน ของยาโคบ เช่นเดียว กับประวัติศาสตร์ของอิสราเอล หลบหนีจากบ้านของเขาเพื่อ Haran ยาโคบได้พบพระเจ้าที่ Bethel แล้วก็ปล่อย "ยกเท้า" (ปฐมกาล 27 กำไร), หน้าที่ lighthearted alacrity ขณะที่เขายังคงเดินทางของเขากับพระเจ้าในหัวใจของเขา "ผมกับท่านเล่า และจะทำให้ทั้งหลายทั้งหมดที่ whither พระองค์ goest" (ปฐมกาล 28:15) ดังนั้น ด้วยความมั่นใจของพระเจ้าสถิตอยู่และคำแนะนำเป็นหนังสือค้ำประกันของโปรดปรานและความปลอดภัย เขาพบ shepherds ที่บอกยาโคบราเชล (ปฐม 29:6) คือชื่อที่จะใช้เสน่ห์ของเขาหัวใจส่วนเหลือของชีวิตของเขา ที่ประชุมระหว่างยาโคบราเชลของพระเจ้า และก็จัดเตรียมของเขาที่สั่งเหลือบแรกกันที่ดี Apt จะลืมมักจะปัญหาสามัญที่สุดดูเหมือนว่าในชีวิตเป็นของพระเจ้าวางแผนเป็นส่วนที่เล็กที่สุด ของนาฬิกา และ เมื่อส่วนประกอบเหล่านี้น้อยที่สุดของแผนทั้งหมดอื่น ๆ ขึ้นอยู่ได้ ขั้นตอนของเรา เมื่อสั่ง โดยพระเจ้า นำไปสู่ปัญหาใหญ่เป็นที่กังวลยาโคบและราเชล ที่ประชุมไม่คาดฝัน และ unpremeditated "ชีวิตพระเจ้าโดยตรงเป็นมักรูป โดยไม่มี foreseen prescience มนุษย์" ทันทีที่พวกเขาได้พบ ได้รักที่ตา น้อยกับยาโคบ ภาพแรกของลูกพี่ลูกน้องของเขาหน้าสวยและรูปสะกดกว่าเขา และเขา "รั้งราเชล ยกเสียงของเขา และร้องไห้" เพราะลูกพี่ลูกน้องของเขา ยาโคบไม่ป้องกันไม่ให้จูบราเชล โดยมารยาทของตะวันออก ซึ่งเป็นบ้านของความรู้สึกที่อบอุ่นและการดำเนินการที่นิยม กัน คงน้ำตาหลั่งยาโคบมีของความกตัญญูต่อพระเจ้าในการนำเขาให้ญาติของแม่ของเขา และน้ำตาของความสุข เพราะเขารู้ instinctively ที่หญิงสาวสวยที่เขารั้งจะเป็นภรรยาของเขา ยาโคบเอาหินออกจากปากดี ช่วยราเชลน้ำแกะ รู้จักเธอกับเรื่องของเขา และถูกนำกลับบ้าน โดยมีราเชลตื่นเต้นที่เขาได้รับ hospitablyGeorge Matheson draws our attention to the interesting fact that the meeting of Jacob and Rachel is “the first courtship in the Bible growing out of a cousinly relationship—in other words, as having its roots in a previous friendship.” Jacob, a poet by nature, dazzled by Rachel’s beauty, broke out into a deep love before marriage—a thought to ponder in these days when young people are being told that pre-marital experiences are quite in order, to test whether they are suited for each other. Jacob was to prove that the typical trial of love is waiting, and he had to wait many a year before the one whom he loved, as soon as he saw her, became his wife.She Was Deeply LovedWe are distinctly told that “Jacob loved Rachel,” and that the seven years he served Laban for his daughter, “seemed to him but a few days, because of the love he had for her” (Genesis 29:18, 20). Even after Jacob found that he had been deceived by Laban and had been given Leah instead, he served and waited for Rachel another seven years because “he loved her more than Leah” (29:30). From the first moment Jacob saw Rachel he loved her, and she became his choice as a wife. But while she alone was in the heart of her lover, “the real choice was not Jacob’s but God’s, and for the first place God had chosen Leah.” In his second marriage, Rachel only received half of Jacob, the other half had been given to her rival sister.While Leah might have had “the keys of Jacob’s house, Rachel had the keys of his heart. Leah seems to have influenced his judgment: Rachel never ceased to hold his love. Leah bore Jacob six stalwart sons, Rachel was the mother of only two: but the sons of Rachel were dearer to him than the sons of Leah.” Jacob is outstanding among male lovers in the Bible for the true, romantic, abiding love he bore for Rachel. Whether such a deep and ardent love was reciprocated we are not told. The Bible has no reference to Rachel’s love for Jacob. She appears as a somewhat placid character. We have no record of any grief she felt, or protest she made when she discovered how Leah had taken the first place in Jacob’s life. We would like to believe that Rachel’s love for Jacob was as romantic as his was for her, and that also the years she had to wait for him seemed but a few days because of her heart’s affection for Jacob.She Was Cruelly DeceivedThe deceit perpetrated by Laban upon Jacob, Leah and Rachel, adds color to the record. Laban cunningly beguiled Jacob into marriage with Rachel’s elder sister and less beautiful sister. Jacob had accepted Laban’s terms to take no wages for his labor in his fields, and at the end of the seven years' waiting expected to receive Rachel. In the gloom the bride appears closely veiled, according to custom. The ceremony is performed and the wedded pair return to their bridal chamber. But in the light of early morning Jacob discovers Laban’s duplicity—a duplicity in which Leah must have had a part. How shocked Jacob must have been to behold the plain-looking, undesired Leah instead of the face of his dearest Rachel.
Leah, by her father’s deceit, had stolen her sister’s blessing. Isaac had blessed Jacob, believing him to be Esau, and now Jacob marries Leah believing her to be Rachel. In the moment of his surprised discovery did Jacob remember how he had stolen his brother’s birthright by covering himself with a hairy skin and venison-smell, and making himself appear as Esau? Was this a retributive providence for his own deception of his blind and dying father?
Laban condoned his unrighteous act by declaring that in those times the younger daughter should not be given in marriage before the first-born. He should have told Jacob this when he covenanted to serve the first seven years for Rachel, or before the marriage anyhow. Jacob then became involved in two marriages, which were not deemed unfitting in an age when polygamy was tolerated even by godly men. For another seven years Jacob toiled bravely on, true love enabling him to persevere until Rachel was his. What interests us is the absence of any recorded protest on Rachel’s part against her father’s deception! Why did she not cry out when she saw that Leah, instead of herself, was being given to Jacob? If Rachel had resentment at the hour of marital vows between Jacob and Leah, she must have suppressed it. Why was she so placid amid such a calamity, at least for the man who loved her so deeply? Unmurmuringly, she goes on waiting for another seven years, ere she is able to share Jacob with the woman who by that time had borne him many children. Perhaps the deep, unchanging love Jacob had for Rachel found little echo from her own heart.
She Was Lamentably but Not Finally Barren
Once Rachel became Jacob’s second wife, her continued barrenness created an unreasonable and impatient fretfulness within her soul. Seeing Leah’s many happy children made her jealous. What anguish is wrapped up in the phrase, “But Rachel was barren” (Genesis 29:31). Says Donald Davidson, “Rachel would taunt Leah on not having the love of her husband, while Leah would find revenge in the childlessness of her rival.” Ra
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