[00:00:00] Welcome to Gracious Words. Gracious Words is taken from the weekly women's Bible study
[00:00:14] taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:30] It seems that Jacob has met his match with Laban. Once the perpetrator of deceit, now Jacob is
[00:00:42] the victim and finds he is married but not to the wife of his choosing.
[00:01:00] We will fall on hard easy surrender, we surrender to you.
[00:01:14] And now here is part two of Cheryl's message titled A Tale of Two Sisters.
[00:01:19] Now the wedding night has come and Laban no doubt because it's a wedding feast those could last
[00:01:27] for seven days he plies Jacob with wine and food and then sends him into a dark tent.
[00:01:34] Does any of this sound familiar? Then in that dark tent, Leah is dressed up like Rachel.
[00:01:44] So Leah goes into the dark tent pretending to be her younger sister.
[00:01:50] Dressed like her younger sister. In the darkness just like Isaac.
[00:01:57] Who had darkness because he couldn't see and Jacob was sent into that tent pretending to be his older
[00:02:05] brother. Dressed as his older brother, applying his father with wine and savories too.
[00:02:15] So at this wedding after all of the festivities, Jacob's in the dark tent.
[00:02:23] Leah comes in dressed like Rachel. Now the wedding night ratified the marriage. You could have
[00:02:30] this ceremony but it wasn't considered ratified until the wedding night. So Jacob awakes in the morning
[00:02:40] only to realize he has married the wrong daughter. Laban justified his deceit by cultural protocol.
[00:02:49] In his culture, the eldest must be given in marriage first. Isn't that interesting? It's her birthright
[00:02:56] to be married first. The fact that her father wants to pawn her off by deceit is also telling.
[00:03:02] The fact that there have been no suitor for Leah in seven years is also telling.
[00:03:09] She is unwanted in her own father's household. She is unwanted by any of the men who live in
[00:03:17] her own. It's a culture that a spins your daughter was considered a deficit. So Laban encourages Jacob
[00:03:25] to fulfill his week for Leah. Now they would have a week again, this is celebration but a week was
[00:03:32] reserved to the bride and for the groom we would call it a honeymoon. But in those days it was to
[00:03:37] guarantee the conception of the first child. To give the wife time to conceive and no doubt this
[00:03:46] is what happens with Leah. Then after seven days, Rachel is given to Jacob as a wife and then
[00:03:54] Rachel has seven days alone with Jacob to conceive. On Jacob must work another seven years
[00:04:04] for Rachel. He works hard for Laban for 14 years. He has two wives who have plans for him
[00:04:13] and every day when he comes in from a hard day's work, after watching the flocks of Laban
[00:04:18] and the cattle of Laban, he has a different sleeping partner. It might be Leah, might be Rachel,
[00:04:26] might be Bilha or Zilpa. After 14 years of working for Laban, Jacob is ready to return to Canaan but
[00:04:33] he has no wives but he has only wives and sons, no riches. He has no way to support them
[00:04:39] but he is ready to gather up his whole clan and go back to Isaac. Laban bargains with him
[00:04:46] to work another seven years. Laban says this, I have learned by divination that God is blessed me
[00:04:53] because of you. Divination doesn't necessarily mean by means of magic. It could mean that
[00:04:59] I've divined or I've realized spiritually that I've had an epiphany, that the reason I'm blessed
[00:05:07] is because of you. So Jacob negotiates with Laban. Jacob will work for livestock. Jacob greets
[00:05:15] to take the least of Laban's flock, the speckled, the streak, the spotted. Laban agrees to these terms
[00:05:21] but before these terms can start, what does Laban do? He removes all the streak, the spotted
[00:05:27] and the speckled out from his livestock that Jacob will be taking care of. He gives it to his own
[00:05:37] sons and he sends his sons 50 miles away so that Jacob will have to start from scratch because the
[00:05:46] idea is that streak will give birth to streak, striped will give birth to striped but when you're
[00:05:51] starting again with solids the odds go way down that there will be any streak spotted or speckled.
[00:06:00] So this is again, this is Laban being Laban, right? This has been deceitful. So Jacob starts from
[00:06:09] nothing. Now not to be outdone or outwitted by his uncle Laban. Jacob thinks in his heart too
[00:06:17] complete this game you won't find out in the scriptures, you just have to have a divine revelation
[00:06:21] that he's thinking of. But using a combination of folklore and science, Jacob makes the strongest
[00:06:28] animals together. He peels back the branches, exposing the white. Now this is a word play in the Hebrew
[00:06:37] because the word Laban actually means white or whitey. So what Jacob does is he exposes the white
[00:06:46] of the branches to get the goats and the sheep and the cattle to have spots and speckles and streaks.
[00:06:59] Now, do you think that worked? No. Some think he's actually thinking it's working that it's producing
[00:07:07] this other's think. He's reminding God that Laban cheated him by exposing the white at the mating
[00:07:15] troughs and saying, God, you know what? Laban has done to me. Get even with him. What it is we don't
[00:07:22] know. But it's interesting that during these seven years Jacob's wealth increases to unparalleled
[00:07:29] success. He's exceedingly prosperous with all the disadvantages. He prospers. He gets large
[00:07:38] blocks. He gets male and female servants. He gets camels. He gets dunkeys in seven years.
[00:07:46] He goes from impoverished and having nothing but children and wives to having exceeding large
[00:07:54] blocks, male servants, camels and dunkeys. That's better than Amazon stock. That's crazy. Now
[00:08:05] meanwhile, in Jacob's house something else altogether is going on. Rachel who has all the natural
[00:08:15] advantages is bearing. Let's talk about Rachel's advantages. We talked about her beauty,
[00:08:22] her perfect figure. But let's talk about her personality. She's got personality. She ran and told
[00:08:30] her father she could make demands of Jacob. She's a woman with skills useful. She's strong. She's brave.
[00:08:41] But also emotional strength. She's wanted. She's loved. She's esteemed and valued.
[00:08:48] Yet she has a nine discontent. Her natural advantages were not substitutes for the
[00:09:00] bareness that she carried. And this bareness that she had caused her to be so jealous of her sister's
[00:09:11] fruitfulness, she becomes jealous of the one with all the disadvantages. She becomes competitive
[00:09:19] and she becomes angry. Rachel's natural advantages moved her to seek natural means to alleviate
[00:09:28] this bareness. She had gotten so used to leaning into her natural advantages. You know there's
[00:09:36] nothing worse than seeing a 90-year-old try to flirt. You know you're just like oh don't
[00:09:45] or you know no offense but those older women that are showing off things that should have been
[00:09:49] covered. You know when I see some of these aging stars wearing outfits that you know bikinis,
[00:09:59] it's like no, no, no, no. You know put those away. You know don't burn them even. It's just not a good
[00:10:08] book but they're still leaning on the past on what they used to be. I remember there was a lady
[00:10:15] she was in her 80s and Brian was when we were in Vista. And I was I think 24-25 at the time.
[00:10:24] And she came to church with all these pictures of her in a bikini when she was in her like 40s
[00:10:30] and she says I have something to show you. You think your wife is so good looking, take a look at
[00:10:35] these. And Brian's like maybe not. He saw the first one and said maybe not. I think these would be
[00:10:41] really good to show your husband. Oh he's seen him but I just want to show you. Your wife's got
[00:10:46] nothing compared to what I have. And he was like okay I think there was a little dementia there
[00:10:51] obviously. But you know to lean into there are people I have seen that lean into those natural
[00:11:03] advantages and get used to using natural advantages because they've always had them. It's very
[00:11:12] very dangerous. And what we see in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 30 is that she went to Jacob. She
[00:11:22] blamed Jacob for her problems. She says give me children or else I die. It's your fault.
[00:11:30] I'm blaming you. I've got all the natural advantages. This should not be happening to me.
[00:11:36] It's got to be your fault. But Jacob says you're problems with God. See God I am in the place of God
[00:11:45] who is withheld from you the fruit of the womb. You need to go to God. Then she comes up with a plan
[00:11:54] not unlike Sarah's to acquire children through serigates. This was very common in the eastern
[00:12:03] culture. This this the serigate pregnancies with the maids and we look at it and go and that's
[00:12:12] because we're westerners. But in the eastern culture having children was so important. So important
[00:12:20] and especially she wants her children to be in the lineage to be under the promises of Abraham. She
[00:12:29] wants a part in that. So she gives her made Bilha to Jacob as a serigate mother but when Bilha gives
[00:12:39] birth to two sons Rachel names these sons Dan and Natalie and these names she justifies these names
[00:12:46] Dan means judge but it reflects Rachel's belief that she was in the right against her sister.
[00:12:55] I've my sister this this is right and both of the names have to do with her sister she's measuring
[00:13:03] herself by her sister not by God but by her sister. Natalie means she justifies it as I have
[00:13:10] wrestled with my sister and one. Now Rachel then hears that Ruben Leah's son has found
[00:13:19] mandrakes in a field and Rachel bargains a night with Jacob for them. Now mandrakes I'm going to
[00:13:26] read you this. Mandra Gora a Thessonorum is a stimulus perennial route in the potato family because
[00:13:33] you want to know this. Found growing in Stony ground it resembles the human figure and has a narcotic
[00:13:43] and purgative properties which explain its medicinal use. It's shape and pungent fragrance.
[00:13:51] Maybe the origin of its use and fertility rights and as an afrodigiac it has dark green
[00:13:59] wrinkled leaves this is so you can recognize it if you see it in your yard from which rise of violet
[00:14:05] bell shaped flower. We're on the lookout it's fruit is a yellowish berry approximately the size
[00:14:13] of a small tomato which can be consumed just in case you're hungry you want something extra for your
[00:14:20] salad the mandrake is native to the Mediterranean region but not common in Mesopotamia now you know
[00:14:27] now you know now you can go home you know Rachel believes that if she has this fruit this is the
[00:14:33] cause of the beariness. First Jacob's the cause then she tries the serigates now she has this
[00:14:40] afrodigiac this will make all the difference this is the remedy this is the solution for her beariness
[00:14:51] and it doesn't work instead what happens Leah gets a knight with Jacob and she
[00:14:59] she gets pregnant and she conceives three more times finally after
[00:15:08] Leah has three more children so it's seven oh Rachel we're told that God remembered or was mindful
[00:15:20] of Rachel interestingly enough Sarah Rebecca and Rachel were all described in the Bible as beautiful
[00:15:29] and yet all three women were described as baron. God used Sarah's beariness to bring out a covenant
[00:15:40] child to arrest Abraham and Sarah's attention on the miraculous on the singularity
[00:15:50] of this son of this covenant son God used Rebecca's beariness to get Isaac praying and Rebecca
[00:15:58] to seek him concerning her pregnancy and the sons she would give birth to but Rachel's beariness
[00:16:06] did not result in any special revelation from God of a covenant son or a special work.
[00:16:17] Rachel has what we might call a user relationship with God she pleads for God for a child
[00:16:25] there are some people who this is what the relationship with God is like it's God give me what I want
[00:16:32] God give me what I need rather than God give me you
[00:16:43] when Rachel has a son she names this son Joseph saying God will give me another the name Joseph
[00:16:54] don't get upset if he named your son Joseph or if he named your daughter Rachel
[00:16:59] this is unpopular with people of those names this Bible study Joseph means I want another one
[00:17:07] or not enough insufficient discontent. Later we'll read next week in Genesis 31, 34 or
[00:17:19] Rachel steals her father's idols and lies about it jeopardizing Jacob trying to get some
[00:17:26] inheritance from her father by stealing idols were not only images to other gods I dole trade
[00:17:34] but they also represented land rights and they were usually made of silver or gold as to have value
[00:17:40] you see Rachel is still seeking natural advantages when Rachel gives birth to a second son
[00:17:48] this will be in Genesis 35 she names him Benoni or son of my sorrow
[00:17:56] or the son that killed me the son that cursed me such a name would be a curse on the child
[00:18:03] and a constant reminder that he had caused his mother's death she's because of her own self-centeredness
[00:18:11] in her death she's bringing a curse to her son Jacob intervenes and this is the only child he names
[00:18:20] on he changes the name from Benoni to Benjamin strength of my right hand now Leah has all the
[00:18:30] disadvantages she's weak-eyed whatever that means to you she's ponded off by her father
[00:18:39] she is married by pretending to be someone else she is unloved she's unwanted her sister is jealous
[00:18:46] of her and she's in an emotionally unhealthy atmosphere yet the names of Leah's children
[00:18:55] reveal much about what was going on in her heart and life the name Ruben seen is justified as
[00:19:06] God has seen my affliction God knows what I'm going through the name Ruben is hearing or God
[00:19:17] has heard my prayers these names are reminiscent of what Hagar realized Hagar who had all the
[00:19:25] disadvantages she was the bond servant she was taken advantage of Sarah treated her cruelly
[00:19:37] but when she ran away God spoke to her told her she would give birth to a son ishmael
[00:19:43] and she named the well where God met her Elroy or you are the God that sees Genesis 1642 and she named
[00:19:54] her son ishmael or God hears these are the very attributes that Leah acknowledges the Lord
[00:20:02] Shirley looked on my affliction the Lord has heard that I am unloved her third son is named
[00:20:10] attached Levi speaking of a hope that will not be fulfilled her fourth son is named Judah or praise
[00:20:20] at this time in her life she stops conceiving which could mean that Jacob is not coming into her
[00:20:27] anymore now that he's got billha and Rachel he's a little busy
[00:20:33] and he's not coming into her life
[00:20:35] Leah then offers her maid Zilpa to Jacob in offering their maid in the eastern culture this was
[00:20:43] something beneficent remember Sarah did it for Abraham that Abraham might have a covenant
[00:20:49] son they think they're doing something that honors their husband because their goal is to give
[00:20:56] their husband as many sons as possible we would slap our husband silly if they tried this
[00:21:05] it's like you want to just put over this don't try this at home or any place else
[00:21:12] Zilpa like billha these are names we should all remember has two sons that Leah names
[00:21:20] gad or a troop comes it means strength or blessing out sure means blessed are happy they have nothing
[00:21:28] to do with Rachel they're not take this Rachel look at this Rachel these only have to do with
[00:21:36] Leah's relationship to God then after the mandric incident it is Leah not Rachel who conceives
[00:21:44] now she bears two more sons and a daughter isa car God has given me my hire or God has rewarded me
[00:21:53] God has blessed me Zebulan God has endowed me with the good endowment and then dine at God has been
[00:22:05] right in his judgment or God has been good
[00:22:10] though Leah is the disadvantage she turned her attention to God you see disadvantages
[00:22:17] when given to God can become advantages because we realize one that this world has nothing to offer us
[00:22:29] that we will not find our value in this world I don't think there's anything better than that
[00:22:38] I think that happened to me sometime in my 50s and in my 50s it was like wow my daughters get all
[00:22:44] the attention now you know people rush to bag their groceries and they're like you can do it yourself
[00:22:51] I hope you brought your own bags but hands away of turning our attention heavenward to the one who
[00:23:01] will be our guide even into our old age who loves us just as much as he loved us when we are
[00:23:09] when we were young and vibrant that we are more important than Sparrows Matthew 10 29 331
[00:23:18] that we no matter what our age no matter what we look like no matter what our physical shape
[00:23:27] that we have all been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus the greatest most valuable commodity
[00:23:33] of all time all place all people and in the entire world was shed for each of us first Peter 118
[00:23:45] in 19 Lee's value came from God's attention to her and on her Jeremiah 9 23 through 24 says let not
[00:23:58] the wise man glory in his wisdom let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory
[00:24:04] in his riches but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me the Lord
[00:24:12] that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in
[00:24:20] these I delight the Lord to hear your family
[00:24:33] deficit and need should always drive us to God instead of trusting God Rachel's desire for
[00:24:38] children to row over to scheme plan and take matters into her own hands trusting God when nothing
[00:24:45] seems to be happening is difficult however it is harder to live with the consequences of
[00:24:51] taking matters into our own hands Rachel finally prayed and God in his timing gave her a son of her own
[00:24:58] God always remembers even though we may think he forgets we hope you have been blessed by today's
[00:25:05] Bible study for more information about the gracious words radio program and the teaching ministry
[00:25:10] of Cheryl Broderson please visit our website at graciouswords.com coming up next time on the
[00:25:16] gracious words program we'll conclude our look at the tale of two sisters as we continue our series
[00:25:22] our great creator in the book of Genesis with Cheryl Broderson we do hope you make plans to join us
[00:25:29] again for more information please visit our website at graciouswords.com
[00:25:40] we will follow our needs and surrender we surrender to you
[00:25:53] this program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California
Sponsors
