The Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. ~Genesis 30:6
Vindicated? Umm…what? Her sister had children and she did not. Therefore she was angry.
She took out her anger on her sister and her husband, and probably everyone around her. The child here is Dan. He wasn’t even born directly to Rachel, but to her servant. And the tribe he founded messed up so badly that they’re not even mentioned by the time the New Testament comes around. Instead Joseph’s tribe is split between his two children so there are still twelve tribes.
Rachel is angry. And in that anger she uses words she doesn’t intend.
It’s one thing to randomly lose your temper, but to seek vindication? That’s a whole different level of anger.
After a second son by her servant, Rachel says, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed (Genesis 30:8).”
She’s still angry.
What triggered her anger? Remember they live in a world where men often took more than one wife. That was the culture around them; NOT God’s ideal. She was angry because her father made Jacob, the man she loved, work for seven years before marrying her, and on the wedding night, he gave Leah, her older sister, to Jacob instead. Then Leah was able to quickly conceive and bore several children.
The Bible makes is clear that Jacob loved Rachel. Her anger was never about his love, though she does have words for him in Genesis 30:1. Her anger was about jealousy over her sister’s favored position within society.
I confess: I have something I’ve been jealous about for several years. But jealousy in itself isn’t a bad thing. God loves us with a jealous love. In that context, He loves us in such a way that is solid and unshakable. Jealousy makes us want something in a concrete way. I am jealous for my boys to love God and to have a good education. I will do anything I can to make those two things happen (though I know both of those things are up to God, so for my part, I pray a lot).
But jealousy unchecked can turn disastrous. Rachel wanted something she didn’t have: children. And in her efforts to secure children, she fell into the same trap Sarai did back in Genesis 16. Nothing good can come from a servant serving as a surrogate mother. Bilhah and Zilpah don’t face the same poor treatment as Hagar, but they still were sitting ducks in the sibling rivalry of Rachel and Leah.
The moral of the story this week: be careful what you’re jealous for. Make sure those things are the same things God wants you to be jealous for.