Rachel’s Tomb

"And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. Tthe sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Ebulon. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad, and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." (Genesis 35:16-29)

Finally, we see the birth of Jacob's last son, Benjamin, making the number of his sons: twelve. Rachel did not survive the birth of Benjamin, however, and as she was dying she proclaimed the baby's name to be Benoni, which means "son of my sorrow." Jacob, however, changed the baby's name immediately to Benjamin: "son of the right hand" which in Hebrew indicates a deeper meaning of: "son of good fortune" (or "prosperity.") It is interesting to note that Rachel's midwife prophesied over the birth of Benjamin and what she prophesied came to pass. Even though Rachel died, the baby lived. And Rachel was buried in Bethlehem, actually somewhat on the outskirts of that city. And we are not told why he did not carry her body on to the family tomb which Abraham had purchased so many years before. Perhaps, the Lord instructed him to leave her there. Here is an excerpt from a Jewish website concerning Rachel's grave:

"Rachel's Tomb is located in the city of Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem. For centuries, it lay on a deserted roadside, and Rachel's descendents would come here to pour out their hearts to her – the mother who dwells in a lonely wayside grave in order to be there for her suffering children…"

This same website (www.chabad.org) states that Joseph was seven at the time of his mother's death. It also gives information on how the grave might have been marked, saying that it was marked first with stones (which would have been the only way to mark it when Jacob buried her, I imagine), then with a tiny dome upheld by four beams from the 5^th century A.D. until the mid-1800's at which time a Jewish couple added walls to the dome and a room for visitors. The Midrash (a Jewish book of Rabbinical wisdom) provides its own suggestion as to why Jacob buried Rachel in this lonely place. You can find that reason here on this website as well, under the tab labeled "Spiritual." There are many websites that speak about Rachel's Tomb as it is a sacred memorial to the Jews to this day.

Jacob's father, Isaac, dies sometime after Jacob's return to his homeland. Isaac lives to be 180 years old (fourscore = 4 x 20 = 80). And thankfully, because of God's grace towards Jacob in softening Esau's heart towards Jacob, he and his brother Esau come together to bury their father.

Now we take a look at Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son, the son of Leah. Reuben slept with Bilhah who was originally Rachel's handmaid, and then became Jacob's concubine for the purpose of bearing him sons during that period of time when Rachel was barren, before the Lord opened up her womb. Again, we are not told why Rebuen decided to do such a thing that was extremely dishonoring to his father and I would think to his half-brothers by Bilhah as well: Dan and Napthali. But he might have been driven more by lust than by a desire to hurt his father, for further on in our study we will see that he does several things that indicate how important his father Jacob is to him. I believe Reuben does love his father, so I believe this was either lust or perhaps he intended for some reason to hurt his half-brothers by this action with their mother. We just don't know why, and the Lord who inspired all scripture must have decided that the reason behind his actions were not as important as the action itself. And sadly, just as will happen with Simeon and Levi, Reuben also will pay a price for his actions.

The reality that we must face is that there is always a price attached to each and every sin. The work of the enemy, Satan, who had his way with Reuben here, blinds each of us with momentary deception that causes us to lose sight of the price of sin, and causes us to momentarily forget how wrong sin is. He causes us to momentarily forget God and what is right. But he cannot have his way in us, in other words, he cannot deceive us, unless we open the door and let him in. In the case of lust, it is said that it is not the first glance that causes sin, it is the second. And this is true whether it is sexual lust or material lust or power lust or any other lust, for many sins are a product of lust. It is when we linger and dwell upon the possibilities of sin, all of which takes place first in our mind, that Satan is able to enter in and bring sin to fruition in us through our actions. And when sin is fulfilled in us, then Satan leaves us and the deception lifts and we see what we have done. Often, it is at that moment, when the deception lifts and our eyes are opened again to see, that we are left wondering how we could have done such a thing.

And just as there are two very real realms, the earthly and the heavenly, the physical and the spiritual, the price for sin must be paid in both realms. Adam and Eve died two deaths: one spiritual and one physical for their sin. So will we.

An example of this is of the sin of sexual immorality as was displayed by Reuben. Sin in this area can cause a person to lose his or her spouse if they are married and sin in adultery, or lose relationship with some other loved one who was hurt by their actions, or they can contract disease from sexual immorality, sometimes even a fatal disease. There are many different ways that sin can cause us (and others) severe loss or pain, not only from sexual immorality which is the sin we happen to be discussing from this passage of scripture, but from all sin, no matter how small. The consequences of our sin all happens in the physical realm and are labeled temporal or short-lived. Even though the consequences of our actions can last our entire life, still that is as long as the consequences or punishment of our sins can last in this physical realm; and then it comes to an end.

But in the spiritual realm, where time has no end, the consequences or punishment for sin continues eternally. The sin is, after all, against a Holy God, our creator, our heavenly Father. We who are His creation have him to answer to. And when we sin, no matter how small or how large the sin, we have sinned against God. And there is an eternal price to pay; one that will NEVER end. In a place called HELL. And our punishment will continue into eternity.

We can only be thankful then that we have a heavenly Father who truly loves us and cares for us, and wants us to be free from the bondage to sin and from the punishment, both temporal and eternal, that accompanies sin. He loved us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for our sins, so that if we choose to accept Him in our place, as God intends for us to do, we will not need to suffer the eternal consequences of our sin. Jesus gave His life for us to pay for our sins Himself. Who in their right minds would reject such a divine deal?

Unless, of course, they are under the blindness of that fatal deception we spoke of earlier. In which case, I pray for open eyes to "see" and open ears to "hear" the Truth that is JESUS CHRIST: God's plan to save us from eternal Hell and to give us eternal LIFE instead!

"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:17)

"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…" (1 Timothy 2:3-6)