God’s sovereign purposes must be fulfilled Ⅱ

1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I`ll die!”

Genesis 30:1

Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
Have you ever felt like that? That if you couldn’t do or achieve some great ideal you would surely DIE? If so, then you can certainly relate to the rest of humanity. In fact: 

The History of Humanity is the History of Struggle

Since the beginning of humanity, every member of the human race has been fighting for his or her own interests and rights. This is why people often say that human history is a history of struggle. There has always been, and will always be a struggle over politics, the economy, society, and culture.

The great empires that form the background of biblical stories, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece (the Hellenistic empire), and Rome each experienced a rise and fall through their own history of struggle.

And as long as human history continues, the history of struggle will continue.

In 1651, the British philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote of this concept in his book, Leviathan, expressing it as the “War of All Against All,” describing it as “a perpetual war of every man against his neighbor.” He argues that “The natural state of men, before they entered into society, was … a war of all men against all men.”

He goes on to state that every human being is free and equal and has the right to do anything they need to do to survive. However, if each person pursued such rights infinitely, it would lead to a natural state of this ‘War of All Against All’ as a result.

So what about the modern society we live in? Many social hierarchies and social classes that had once divided whole groups of people into different classifications have disappeared, but new social classes have now emerged according to a person’s economic power.

In a materialistic society, capital has become a symbol of power.

As such, we are always nervous in an infinitely competitive society. Then, how should we live in the history of this struggle?

Of course, there was also a struggle for each person in the Bible. But as we know, God’s sovereign purposes must be fulfilled throughout the history of human struggle.

In Genesis chapter 30 today, we will take a look at a handful of human struggles. Maybe some of us can relate to these struggles. Although desired outcomes may different, most struggles occur between the people we are closest to. And who are we closer to than our families? Let’s being our study of Genesis chapter 30 with:

The struggle between Leah and Rachel

Genesis 30:1-3 ;9

1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I`ll die!” 2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.”

…

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

In ancient Israeli culture, women who could not have children were shamed and looked down upon, relegating them to a lower place in the hierarchy of society. On the other hand, women who had many children increased in power, honor, and position in the family and society.

At that time, a child obtained through the union of a wife’s maidservant and her husband was recognized as her own because it was understood that maidservants were considered to be the property of their mistress.

This story hearkens back to that of Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather. At one point, Abraham’s wife Sarah could not have a son, so she gave her maidservant Hagar to her husband to sleep with in order to produce a child. The son that was born to Abraham and Hagar was named Ishmael, and he would have been considered Sarah’s child, and Abraham’s heir.

However, after Abraham and Sarah stopped trying to manipulate fate on their own and completely obeyed God, God granted them the son of promise through Sarah’s own womb, and they named him Isaac. In this case, because Abraham finally received the son promised to Sarah directly through his wife and not her maidservant, this tells us that the essence of problem solving depends on God’s sovereignty.

However, the history of human folly and failure is often repeated, and will be repeated here again with Jacob and his wives. Jacob’s wives, Rachel and Leah, engaged in a child birthing competition with each other that was supposed to enable them to gain more power and a higher position in the family.

Rachel, who was initially unable to get pregnant, gave her maidservant Bilhah to her husband to sleep with. Bilhah produced Dan and Naphtali for her mistress’ family line.

Leah later “saw that she had stopped having children”, and did the same, giving her maidservant Zilpah to her husband and receiving Gad and Asher for her family line.

After the score between their maid servants’ birth count was tied at 2 to 2, God opened both women’s wombs again and allowed them both to get pregnant again.

Leah gave birth to Issachar, Zebulun, and a daughter Dinah, and Rachel gave birth to Joseph through God’s sovereignty. 

Rachel was eager to have children and attempted to buy mandrakes from Leah.

Genesis 30:14-15

14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son`s mandrakes.”

15 But she said to her, “Wasn`t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son`s mandrakes too?”  “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son`s mandrakes.”

At that time, there was a widespread superstition that mandrake juice strengthened human reproductive power. So, by buying mandrakeks from Leah, Rachel was hoping to increase the headcount of her offspring. However, it wasn’t the mandrakes that had helped Rachel have a son, but God. After Joseph, Rachel stopped having children, but Leah was able to continue giving birth to more children.

Rachel and Leah had tried to use both maidservants and mandrakes to beat each other in their family building competition. But in truth, the birth of the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel was only achieved through God’s sovereignty, and not through their clever manipulation of the “game” and competitive tactics.

While the women of this family were busy struggling to gain influence over one another by building a longer and stronger family line for Jacob, the patriarch, Jacob and his uncle Laban were engaged in their own struggle over building wealth. Let us turn now to: 

The struggle between Jacob and Laban

to compare how their struggle for power and influence differed from that of Jacob’s two wives.

Like Rachel and Leah, Jacob and Laban fought against each other to build their families.

However, unlike Rachel and Leah, whose ultimate purpose had been united in building up a single family, that of their husband, Jacob and Laban’s ultimate purpose differed dramatically.

As Jacob’s family, possessions, influence, wealth, and power grew, he decided that he wanted to leave his uncle Laban’s household, in order to continue growing his own household, independent from his uncle.

But Laban saw that Jacob was a good worker, and urged him to stay under his roof in order to further expand Laban’s own wealth and influence by leveraging Jacob’s prosperity for his own benefit. Laban realized that God had blessed Jacob, and attempted to negotiate a contract with him in order to trap Jacob into staying. The salary negotiations between the two contained an unconventional proposal which allowed for Jacob to set his own wages.

Genesis 30:31-32 ;34-36

31 “What shall I give you?” he asked.  “Don`t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages.

34 “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban`s flocks.

Jacob agreed to continue his life as a salaryman under his uncle Laban’s employment. But, he also did not forget that he made a vow to God when he had left his father’s house. Recall that Jacob had promised that if God protected him and allowed him to return to his father’s house, he would serve God as his master.

Therefore, Jacob proposed a completely new deal on Laban’s unconventional wage contract. At first glance it seems like such a suggestion would ultimately work against Jacob. But Laban knew that Jacob was clever, so he ordered his sons to move the livestock that Jacob had proposed to receive as his wages to a long distance away, hoping to prevent him from becoming prosperous.

But, Laban clearly underestimated Jacob, who was able to cleverly absorb most of Laban’s property over a period of time by causing Laban’s flocks to mate in such a way as to produce the type of offspring he desired, and that the two had agreed would be Jacob’s wages.

In modern terms, Laban’s family embezzled Jacob’s full salary, but through clever manipulation of the animals under his care, Jacob eventually became the majority shareholder in Laban’s company. This story illustrates that God’s blessing has now returned to Jacob, and been removed from Laban.

God blessed Jacob so that both his family and wealth would grow greatly. Then, through the struggle between Jacob and Laban, God eventually led Jacob out of Laban’s house along with his large family and abundant wealth. God accompanied Jacob, becoming his Lord and Master, and later grew the entire Israelite nation out of Jacob’s offspring.

The Israel nation grew and prospered, and over the next nearly two thousand years, endured countless additional struggles. At times they were blessed greatly as Jacob and his family had been. At other times, they endured war, invasion, and even capture and enslavement. As the nation grew, so grew its struggles, in the same way that as history lengthens, so lengthen the struggles of humanity. But finally, the nation’s greatest struggle came in the form of a baby, who grew to become a man who challenged the status quo, and many viewed as a revolutionary, or a visionary prophet, or simply a mad man. Yet, very few people at that time realized the truth about who he really was, and what he actually came to do. Let us turn now to:

The struggle between the people and Jesus Christ

From even before Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem, people fought and struggled around him. They did not realize that Jesus was their master, sent by God and one with God, and only sought to use him for their own benefit in much the same way that Leah and Rachel had tried to use their maid servants to benefit themselves, or Laban had tried to use Jacob to benefit himself.

Many disciples and the crowds who followed him confessed Jesus as the Messiah of Israel only because they had expected him to come in power, to rebuild the Davidic dynasty. They confessed Jesus as a political messiah who would destroy the great Roman empire, liberate the Jews, and rule the whole world.

John 19:18-19

18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others — one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Those who opposed Jesus regarded him as a political revolutionary and a demagogue of the crowd. They considered Jesus a challenger to their political or religious power.

Yes, everyone thought they had figured Jesus out. Either he was on your team and would lead it to ultimate victory, or he was against your team and would seek to overthrow your power. But everyone understood that with Jesus, a great struggle was inevitable.

But then, the unthinkable happened. Jesus, the central figure of history, and the central figure of all political and religious struggle at that time, died – without a struggle – on the cross, completely shattering the expectations of all the people – both those for him, and those against him. 

Yes, in death, Jesus shattered everyone’s expectations. There would be no great uprising, no great political or religious struggle, no overthrowing of any earthly powers, and no restoration of Israel’s former glory. Everyone had been wrong about him.

But then, three days later…

Jesus rose again, defeating death, sin, and hell. It was through Jesus’ death rather than through his life that he accomplished the prophecy and the work of the Messiah, bringing resurrection and life, and the forgiveness of sins and a restoration of a right relationship to God the father, to everyone who puts their trust in him.

Actually, during Jesus’ life, he was not concerned about the struggles of humanity, the war of all against all. Instead, Jesus followed and obeyed God’s sovereign will, which was established for the sake of all humanity, in order to end our neverending struggles against God, against each other, and against sin and death. But because Jesus didn’t follow the expectations the people had for him, he disappointed everyone who had followed him, although he satisfied God.

As a result of Jesus’ obedience to God’s sovereign will, we have good news through him!

If Jesus had spent his time on earth focused only on solving humanity’s struggles and living up to other people’s expectations, then we would not have been able to gain eternal life through his death and resurrection. Although there may have been some temporary benefits to Jesus’ help in the moment, there could have never been eternal benefits without his sacrifice.

Jesus pursued the will of God and now he comes to each of us individually and invites us to allow him to become the savior we all need. We are still living in the struggles of history and if we only focus on our own needs and benefits, we will never stop fighting with one another and with God.

According to the idea of a ‘struggle society’, all our neighbors are competitors and enemies.

However, from a Christian perspective, all our neighbors become brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore, let us give up our own judgments and obey God’s sovereignty. Let us love our brothers and sisters in Christ. And before doing all this, let us pray for wisdom to live in this life of struggles as Jesus did! This is the best way Jesus has shown us to live.

Matthew 22:37-40

37 Jesus replied: “`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.` 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.` 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Amen.