"Greetings in the Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
Today's Blog Title: "The Surrogate Wife's"
Today's Scripture Reading: Genesis 30:1-24
Today's Key Verse: "Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach." So she called his name Joseph, (which means "He will add) and said, "The Lord shall add to me another son."
Today will be part one, of two parts from Genesis Chapter 30. In verse 1, we are told that Rachel envied her sister, which would describe a strong inner feeling of rage, and in fact her envy was just like that of Sarai's, against Hagar back in Chapter 16. Rachel tells Jacob, "Give me children, or I will die". Jacob then, because of this comment, becomes angry at Rachel and says to her, "Am I the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"
Rachel wanted a child so bad, that she gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob as a surrogate wife (which in Chapter 16 we read that Sarai did the same thing with Hagar with Abraham). In this time period, a maid could be given to the husband as a surrogate, to protect an infertile wife, because a woman could have been divorced if she failed to conceive.
Bilhah conceives twice and bares Rachel two sons. Dan (which means Judge) because God had answered her pleas, and because of her struggles with Leah, and that she had prevailed, she name the second son Naphtali.
Now Leah realized that she was now infertile, and sends her maid Zilpah into Jacob, and her maid has two more sons for her. The first was Gad (which means "A troop comes") and the second son from Zilpah, she named Asher, because she was happy about her numerous sons.
In verse 14, we see that Reuben while harvesting wheat found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Mandrakes during that time, were regarded as an aid to conception. Their smell was associated with lovemaking. This discovery of mandrakes led to another problem between Leah and Rachel, because Rachel had asked her sister for some of them. Leah's response to that question in verse 15 was, "Is it no small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" So in other words she said, "NO WAY".
Jacob comes in from the field, and Leah basically hires him to be with her that evening with the mandrakes that Reuben had brought to her. We now see that Leah's womb was reopened and she bore Jacob two more sons, Iaachar and Zebulun. Leah was still hoping that Jacob would love her, and dwell with her because she had bore him 6 sons. Leah now conceives again, and this time we see the first daughter born to Jacob. She was given the name Dinah.
Now in verse 22, we see that God enabled Rachel to have a child. In that verse there are 3 key words that show us that conception is a gift from God: (1) remembered (2) Listened (3) Opened. Once again, we see that God does things in accordance to His will, and time plan, and not ours. You have to remember that in Rachel's culture, a woman without child was scorned. By giving Rachel a son, God had removed her shame, and brought great joy to her life. What a Loving and Caring God we serve. So far between Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah and Rachel 11 of the future tribes of Israel have been born.
Tomorrow God willing, we will continue with verses 25-43.
Today's Closing Question and Comment: "Do you pray for things now, or in accordance with God's will?" Prayer is a privilege that we as believers have, because of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus listens to us, and intercedes for us before His Father. Sometimes when we pray, and it seems like He isn't listening to us, because our prayers aren't being answered we just need to remember, that God does things in accordance to His Will, and His Time Plan for us. We saw today, how God listened to the prayers and pleas of Leah, and she conceived and then we saw, how God enabled Rachel to have a son, and the joy that it brought to her. God does answer prayer. We need to just be : PATIENT, WAIT, and LISTEN.
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer! Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose Truth and Faithfulness, engage the WAITING soul to BLESS
And since HE bids me seek His face, BELIEVE His WORD and TRUST His GRACE
I'll cast on Him my EVERY CARE, and WAIT for THEE, Sweet hour of prayer
Have a God Filled and a Spirit Led Day. Go in Peace, Serve the Lord with Gladness and Love God More Today.
Yours In Christ,
Cindi
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