Macrocosm


Genesis 35:16-29
16Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.
17And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”
18And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
19So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),
20and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.
21Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
23The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali.
26The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
27And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.
28Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.
29And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

These few verses may look innocuous enough. They tell the story of Rachel’s death, the birth of the last son of Jacob and a list of Jacob’s sons. But in these verses, we find a few clues as to how Jacob’s sons will become the “Children of Israel”, God’s chosen people.

It was no secret that Rachel was Jacob’s true love. He favors her most inside of this family made of two sisters and their maids. And she bears the last son to Jacob – Benjamin which also brings about her death. This happens as he is moving his family to their final home near in Bethlehem. Now let’s look at verse 23 for in that verse we find some clues as to the future of Jacob’s descendants.

The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 

In this culture, the right of the firstborn is huge. That would mean that Reuben should be the one to inherit everything. But he makes a critical error, which we read about in verse 22.

While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. 

While this is a repugnant act according to our sensibilities, it was common practice at that time for the concubines of a man to go to his oldest son upon his death. Reuben jumps the gun a little and sleeps with Bilhah (Rachel’s maid and mother of two of Reuben’s half-brothers) before Jacob dies. This is a major mistake. In doing this Reuben is telling everyone that he is the dominate male in the home. His father is already dead in his eyes. Jacob takes note of this major move on Reuben’s part and basically removes from him the right of firstborn. Following Reuben, in birth order, we have Simeon and Levi who were responsible for the massacre of Shechem and Hivites as revenge for Dinah's rape. This was a terrible act in the eyes of Jacob and thus, they are removed as candidates for the birthright. That brings us to Judah. If you will recall, Jesus is from the tribe of …. Judah. 

While these are little details in the story they do all point to the fact that the Bible is one complete story; one big picture. All of the pieces fit together as God had planned for them to fit. Our lives lay in the hands of a God whose plan has always been perfectly formed. There are those in Christendom today who would say that God has made mid-course corrections to his plan when things didn’t go quite as He has planned. They are wrong. The Scriptures do not support that idea. When taken as a whole, what we see is God’s perfect will and way always rises to the top. That is true not only in the big picture of our salvation through Christ, but also in our everyday lives. From the macrocosm to the microcosm God’s got everything under control.

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