Read the latest from JWA from your inbox. She possessed the art of silence [when she knew that her sister was given to Jacob deceitfully, but remained silent and did not tell him]; all of her descendants continued in this path, and could keep a secret. Gen. 30:14relates that Reuben found mandrakes, which are prophylactic, in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Higger], chap. pseudo-Jonathan ad loc.). She was responsible for taking the sheep to the well for water every day. https://www.learnreligions.com/rachel-favored-wife-of-jacob-701193 (accessed May 1, 2023). And this was not allI went under the bed where he lay with my sister: he would speak with her, and I responded every time, while she remained silent, so that he would not recognize her voice. Buber],Vayeze19). Themidrashasserts that the salvation that occurred in his time in the war at Gilgal(Josh. Rachel probably conceived Benjamin, her second son, in the spring of 2265 AM (1739 BC). As she was beautiful and well favored, Jacob fell in love with her and agreed to serve Laban for seven years on the condition that at the end of that time Rachel should become his wife. Zavada, Jack. In yet another exegetical understanding, Rachel said: May the Lord add another son for me for exile, because the ten tribes were exiled beyond the Sambatyon river, while the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were dispersed throughout all the lands. Rachelis depicted in theTorah she-bi-khetav: Lit. Before her death, Rachel names the newborn. Jacob said to Rachel: who has deniedyoufruit of the wombHe denied you, but me He did not deny [since I have sons from Leah]. For instance. According to this view, from the outset the birthright belonged to Rachels son, which was the intent of both God and Jacob. [2] Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban. Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women. Jacob loved Rachel but was indifferent toward Leah. We only know the age of Jacob during this period of time. She told her father she was having her period, making her ceremonially unclean, so he did not search near her. Tadshe, in Epstein, "Mi-admoniyyot ha-Yehudim," Supplement, p. 31 December 1999. Jacob loved Rachel but was indifferent toward Leah. l.c. This midrash compares the barrenness of the three Matriarchs and the conduct of the three Patriarchs, which intensifies the criticism of Jacob, who should have acted as his forefathers did, and pray on behalf of Rachel in accordance with her wishes. Jacob was 77 years old, and he loved Rachel immediately. Then she waived this status when she consented to Leahs marriage to Jacob. You are your mothers son! Rachel: The Epitome of Motherhood - Bereishit (Genesis) - Parshah - Chabad Due to Rachels good deeds or to Reubens sin, the initial order was restored. 3). That was a lie. At the well at Haran, Jacob found Rachel, Laban's younger daughter, tending sheep. Rachel initially relies on her handmaiden Bilhah to bear children in her place, but Rachel eventually becomes pregnant and goes on to have one other child. Rachel unquestionably had Jacob's favor, but Rachel was sterile, while Leah was fertile. God took pity on Leah and allowed her to bear children, while Rachel was barren. Yet he did not bring his beloved Rachel there, nor did he carry her to the more distant Hebron, but laid her to rest alongside the road. If she had, then she would not have been able to employ a ruse to stop her father from searching her belongings too closely (see below). Buber],Mikez13). ; Gen. R. lxxiv. How old was Jacob when he married? - The Bible Made Plain It seems to just throw out there that Rachel was 36 when she died; since Yaakov married her after 7 years working for Lavan, and he left Charan after another 7 years after they got married, plus 6 years after all but Binyamin were born, and Rachel died at the end of the two-year journey back to Yitzchak, they were married for 15 . Leah's life as Jacob's wife was distressful. R., Petita, 25). His prophecy was fulfilled, asJer. Rachel's words at the birth of Joseph, "The Lord shall add to me another son" (Gen. xxx. God took pity on Leah and allowed her to bear children, while Rachel was barren. Themidrashlists three reasons for Jacobs crying on this occasion. The Bible does not say when Rachel was born, nor how old she was when she married Jacob, nor how long she lived. This well had a heavy stone to cap it by night, and Rachel was accustomed to waiting for someone to roll the stone away when all the flocks were gathered. cit.). Gen. Rijksmuseum The story of how Jacob ends up marrying his two cousins, Leah and Rachel, begins in Canaan, with the marriage of his older twin, Esau, to two Hittite women of whom Isaac and Rebekah do not approve. Rachel's death was so deeply felt by Jacob that he considered it the greatest of all his sorrows (Ruth R. i. Theodor-Albeck, MS. Vatican, p. 1243]). This midrash uses a common date to connect various historical events. After the week had passed, Jacob prepared for his wedding night. The midrash relates that Rachel was twenty-two years old when she was married to Jacob (Seder Olam Rabbah 2), and her barrenness lasted for fourteen years (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah 18, p. 99). What age were Leah and Rachel when they got married it is known before You that Your servant Jacobs love for me knew no bounds, and he worked for my father for seven years for me. Unbeknownst to Jacob, Rachel stole her father's household gods or teraphim. In the four years following their marriage, Leah had four sons; Rachel had none. xxxi. After that I consoled myself, I suffered [to overcome] my desire and had compassion for my sister that she not suffer disgrace, and I gave her all the signs that I had given to my husband, so that he would think that she was Rachel. While Rachel was barren for the first fourteen years of her marriage, she is still described as Jacobs preferred wife and a powerful woman. Jacob told her that he was the son of her aunt Rebekah. Due to the shame that Benjamin suffered through no fault of his own, he merited having the Divine Presence rest in his portion [the Temple was erected in the portion of the tribe of Benjamin], which thereby publicly proclaimed his innocence. All the furrows that I plowed in your mother [i.e., acts of intercourse] should I not have done with Rachel? "order." According to Gen. R. (lxxii. At the end of twenty years of service (seven each for Leah and Rachel, and six more for a portion of Laban's flocks), Jacob and Laban fell out. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Benjamin, who had just been born, needed a wet nurse; a miracle was performed for Bilhah and her breasts filled with milk, thus enabling her to nurse the newborn(Tanhuma,Vayeshev7; see also the entry: Bilhah). The younger daughter of Laban and the wife of Jacob, Rachel is the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who become two of the twelve tribes of Israel ( Gen 35:24; 46:15-18). pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxx. The regimen of rituals, songs and textual readings performed in a specific order on the first two nights (in Israel, on the first night) of Passover.Seder Olam Rabbah2). How old were Rachel and Leah when they married Jacob? How old - Quora Jacob then married Rachel and worked for Laban another seven years for her. An opposing exegetical view, however, notes that when Jacob sent for his wives to come to the field(Gen. 31:5), theTorahstates: Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the fieldhe called to Rachel first, and therefore she acted properly when she was the first to respond to him. Jacob said to himself: When Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, went to fetchRebekah, he brought with him ten camels and all the bounty of his master(Gen. 24:10), while I have not a single nose-ring or band. The second reason for his weeping was his foreseeing that Rachel would not be buried together with him (Gen. Rabbahloc. After Rachels death, Bilhah took her place. God accepted her prayer and the sex of the fetus in her womb changed to female(BTBerakhot60a;Tanhuma[ed. Bethlehem is now an Arab-controlled town. The uncertainty arises from the unknown time between Jacob leaving Paddan-aram and arriving in Ephrath which was presumably at least 2 years (with Bethel in between) and when Joseph was 17 years old. The midrash adds that Laban entered Rachels tent twice, because he knew that she was inclined to steal. Jack Zavada is a writer who covers the Bible, theology, and other Christianity topics. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. After discovering that he had been tricked, Jacob married Rachel also and then worked out another seven-year contract for this marriage. When Rachel saw that her sister was pregnant, she prayed and caused the fetuss sex to change(JTBerakhot9:3, 14[a]). Love in the Bible: From God's Love to the Most Romantic Scriptures, Meet Isaac in the Bible: Abraham's Miracle Son, Meet Eve: The First Woman, Wife, and Mother of All the Living, Bathsheba, Mother of Solomon, Wife of King David, A Profile of Abraham of the Jewish Nation, 8 Mothers in the Bible Who Served God Well, M.A., English Composition, Illinois State University, B.S., English Literature, Illinois State University. Gen 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Laban's younger daughter, who became one of Jacob's wives (Gen. xxix. The Rabbis speak of the passionate love for Rachel exhibited by Jacob, who already understood from their first encounter that she was his intended bride. 1; Gen. R. lxxi. Joshua son of Nun was an Ephraimite, one of Rachels descendants. Rachel is mentioned twice in the Old Testament beyond her story in Genesis. cit.). Some rabbinical writings suggest that Rachel and Leah were twins, and were fourteen years old at the time of Jacob's first meeting with Rachel. On this date Joseph left the Egyptian prison; and on this date, Israel went forth from their servitude in Egypt(BTRosh Hashanah10b11a). Meet Rachel - Favored Wife of Jacob. 19; Gen. R. lxxxii. In the midrashic account, many years later, when Josephs goblet was found in the sack of Benjamin(Gen. 44), the tribes stood about, beat Benjamins shoulders, and cried out: Oh thief, the son of a thief, you have shamed us! When Naphtali was born, Rachel felt that her competition with her sister had reached a point of equilibrium. The exegetes holding this view find Rachels words(Gen. 30:15) to be somewhat prophetic: I promise, he shall lie with you tonightwith you he will lie [in the grave], but with me he will not lie [in the grave]. 1) is only once (Gen. R. xlv. She spoke in precise language when she said: May the Lord add another son for meshe did not say other sons, rather, there will be one more son from me. At such an age, a girl might be given adult responsibility in a family that did not (yet) have sons. I acted kindly with her, I was not jealous of her, and I did not cause her to be shamed and disgraced. 21). Lit. Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid. (NIV), Genesis 35:24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. Gen. 35:18attests: But as she breathed her lastfor she was dyingshe named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. The Rabbis explain that Rachel called the child the son of my suffering [in Aramaic], while his father gave him the Hebrew name Benjamin. The midrashic sources specify that Rachel died at the age of thirty-six (SederOlam Rabbah2) and list three women who had difficult childbirths and died: Rachel, the wife of Phinehas(I Sam. Leah conceived a son that very evening, and bore him the next year. When Leah was brought under the wedding canopy, Rachel thought: Now my sister will be shamed [when Jacob discovers the fraud and does not marry her]. She gave the signs to Leah. 14). Hadjittofi, Fotini, and Hagith Sivan. Midr. Jacob is ultimately allowed to marry Rachel, which he does immediately after the festivities related to his wedding to Leah end, in exchange for another seven years' labor. Rebekah had sent him there to be safe from his angry twin brother, Esau . 28:20) his tribe received the jasper [yashfe, with the meaning ofyesh pehthere is a mouth] stone in the High Priests breastpiece. Themidrash, however, presents two principal approaches to this question. 40) are considered by the Rabbis to symbolize the four matriarchs, Rachel, who died the youngest, they consider symbolized by the willows of the brook, which fade sooner than any other plant (Lev. Gen. 29tells of the first meeting between Jacob and Rachel at the well. Rachel married Jacob after he was tricked into marrying her sister Leah. [2] Thus Leah would be the older sister only in the sense of having been born first. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/rachel-favored-wife-of-jacob-701193. Jacob retorted in anger that he did not stand in the place of God, Who alone decided questions of that sort. 2227 AM-m. 2245 AM-2266 AM) (ca. Buber],Vayeshev19). Rabbah37:1). But the Bible makes no specific statement to this effect. At the same time, they also illustrate the intricate and complex relationship betweenLeahand Rachel, the two sisters and the two wives of Jacob whose fate was intertwined. Leah was busy with raising her children and therefore could not care for the needs of the household. The impregnation of Sarah and Rachel, the Matriarchs of the nation, heralds that God will also deliver their descendants from the troubles they would suffer in the future. God asked Leah: Is this the reward for a good deed? The Rabbis seek to discover the reason why Rachels womb was opened. xxi., where the number 37 must be corrected to 36). Rachel, in Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), one of the two wives of the patriarch Jacob. According to these first two traditions, Naphtalis name portrays an experience undergone by Rachel. Bilhah: Midrash and Aggadah | Jewish Women's Archive She died after bearing her second son, in 2266 AM. How old was Rebekah when she married Isaac in the Bible? The Rabbis did not view this exchange between the sisters favorably. As related inGen. 32:7, before the meeting with Esau, Jacob was apprehensive that his brother was preparing to fight him, and he therefore divided his family into two camps. However, the text of Genesis 35:9-15 is a narrative that begins with a recapitulation of an earlier incident: the second appearance of God to Jacob and the renaming of Jacob to Israel. This was the year in which Jacob fled in secret from Laban. God said to Jacob: Is this how one replies to embittered women? In the morning, Jacob discovered he had been tricked. Themidrashrecords a disagreement among the Rabbis concerning the origins of Elijah. So lonely was she that even the Lord took notice of it and blessed her with many children as consolation. In the fourth interpretive possibility, the name given by Rachel portrays the childs character, thus predicting the future. As Rachel's death occurred fifteen years after her marriage, she must have died at the age of thirty-six (Seder 'Olam Rabbah l.c. 9). The marriage of Rachel in the Bible was one of the most captivating episodes recorded in the book of Genesis, a story of love triumphing over lies. Laban would take these gifts and give them to Leah, and Rachel would remain silent (Tanhuma[ed. Friedmann (Ish-Shalom)], chap. Jacob was quite old compared to other generat. Jacob's other wife is Rachel's sister Leah, which causes issues between the sisters, especially because Leah is able to bear children.
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