I encountered some family conflict the other day that had a mixed outcome. The benefit of hindsight is 20/20 but when you read of an event that goes back centuries and centuries, you get a great deal of perspective. And that’s what happened to me when I read this account – one I have read dozens of times.
Things worked very differently back then.
Jacob fell in love with his beautiful future wife Rachel. Only problem was that Rachel had an older sister named Leah. It just wasn’t done in those days for the younger sister to marry before the older, so the girls’ Dad (Laban) swindled Jacob on the night of his wedding to Rachel and snuck Leah into the honeymoon suite. Don’t ask how it worked that Jacob didn’t know it was Leah but anyway, when he woke up, the wrong girl was in bed with him. He had married the wrong one. Outraged (how did that make Leah feel?), he had it out with Laban who agreed he could marry Rachel a week later, which he did.
Two wives now, Jacob had a torrid time – they were rabidly jealous sisters. One was loved (Rachel) but she could not fall pregnant. The unloved one was Leah who was fertile as could be and went onto have at least 4 boys. What they did in those days was if a wife was barren, she gave her hand maiden to her husband and had children through her. Rachel had a few children that way. When Leah saw she had stopped having children, she gave her hand maiden to Jacob and he had a couple more boys through her.
In the end Rachel fell pregnant and had Joseph. She had another son as well, Benjamin, but sadly, Rachel died while giving birth to him.
Altogether there were 12 sons born between Rachel, Leah and their hand maidens. They became the 12 tribes of Israel.
But what struck me the most was the outcome of this major conflict in the home.
- Unloved Leah gave birth to Judah, through whom Christ came.
- Loved Rachel gave birth to Joseph who would save Israel from starvation.
Amidst this huge conflict in a home thousands of years ago, as a fly on the wall, I would have said, “it’s not about now.”
It’s about what is to come.
We can’t imagine how the generations to come may possibly benefit from what we do today. Rachel and Leah could never have even vaguely begun to guess what the outcome of their boys would be. Neither can we.
The other thing that struck me about this is that both these women, regardless of how they felt, had value.
They were valuable.
Whatever we go through, those are two things to remember:
- It’s not about now.
- You have value.
Psalm 139:2-3
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
God knows it all!
#164 of my 1000 thanks is for ordinary days and profound lessons. 🙂
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂