Rachel was much loved by Jacob from the time they first met. Through her father’s wicked scheming, however, she was deprived of being Jacob’s sole wife as was intended, and as a result there was much unhappiness between her and Leah. Movement away from God’s word will always involve this.
Rachel seems to have been marked by the superstition, 30. 14, and idolatry, 31. 34, of her father Laban, and only when these were put away was the family able to get back to Bethel, 35. 2.
When in labour for Benjamin she tried to name him Benoni, which means ‘Son of my sorrow’, but Jacob named him Benjamin, meaning ‘Son of my right hand’. This points to the great Antitype, Christ, who was the ‘man of sorrows’ before He entered heaven itself via Calvary and became the son ‘at the right hand’ of the Father.
Rachel is marked out chiefly, however, as a type of the mothers of Israel yearning for their sons. Her cry, ‘Give me children or I die’, 30. 1, shows clearly that this was the overwhelming desire of her heart.
This cry echoes through the Scriptures, firstly in Jeremiah’s day. The setting is that the sons of Israel were gathered together by Nebuchadnezzar to be taken away into captivity, Jer. 31. 15; 40. 1. The prophet takes up the figure of Rachel’s weeping for her children that were no more.
The second echo of her lamenting voice is in the early New Testament when wicked Herod slaughtered the innocents, Matt. 2. 17. The figure is that of her voice being so intense in sorrow that it carries from Bethlehem, near where she was buried south of Jerusalem, to Ramah situated north of Jerusalem, a distance of approximately 10 miles.
The lesson for us is clear. Are our prayers that intense concerning the desperate plight of those who are lost and bound for hell? Are we so crying out to the Lord for spiritual children? Would that God might pluck them as brands from the burning, and that they might be born into God’s family by means of new birth.
