Transcendence

Seventeen: A Death, A Birth and a Dream

Israel's family continued to grow and prosper while in Bethel, in fact his beloved wife Rachel was pregnant for the second time. It was during her pregnancy that Israel decided it was time for his family to move on. 

The family packed up and headed toward Ephrath.

Another long and hard journey toward a new place, new people, new hope, and new challenges. While in route toward Ephrath, which was Bethlehem, Rachel went into labor. She was terrified because she was having great difficulty giving birth. The pain went on, and her nurse encouraged her by telling her she is having a beautiful baby boy. The joy of having another baby consumed her, but the pain was too much and she knew she was in trouble. 

Rachel died during labor and in her last breath she gave the baby the name Ben-oni, a name that means 'son of my misfortune' or 'son of my sorrow. (It is sad irony that Rachel claimed at one time she would die without children, and here she actually dies having a child. )

Israel was miserable over the loss of his wife. He loved her very much and was devastated and heartbroken.  Yet when he laid eyes on the little baby he instantly loved him. He saw the birth of his son as hope in a terrible time. Because of this he changed his name from Ben-oni to Benjamin; a name that means 'son of my good fortune' or 'son of my right hand'. (This shows that Israel wants to give the baby a more favorable name, one of strength, because the baby actually gave him strength to pull through a hard time. This is the only time Israel is involved in the naming of one of his children. Israel was at this time a proud father of twelve sons and one daughter. Benjamin was the only one born in Canaan.)

His beloved wife Rachel had died, and Israel needed to bury her. Unfortunately, they were out in the middle of nowhere. With no other option, and though he hated it very much, he buried her on the side of the road. Over her tomb he set up a pillar. That pillar still remains to this day.

With heavy hearts Israel and his family traveled on. 

After a long time of traveling they finally stopped and pitched their tents just beyond Migdal Eder. During their time at that stop Israel's firstborn son Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah. Israel heard of it and was angry (Reuben was Leah's first born son. He was well aware of his father's favoritism to his wife Rachel. He lived his whole life knowing his own mother was less loved than Rachel. He saw how Rachel's death affected his father. He may have went in to sleep with Bilhah because he felt it was time to make sure another woman didn't step in Rachel's place and become the most loved. Once Rachel was dead he wanted Leah - his own mother, to be most loved by his father, possibly for her sake, but also for his own. Being the favorite wife and first born son would come with perks. Reuben was already well aware that his father loved Joseph as his favorite son. There was most definitely already jealousy issues there. Sleeping with Bilhah and making sure his father knew about it would push her out of the chance to win as next best . Which would make the chances of Leah - his mother - becoming favorite more likely.)

To recount, Jacob, aka Israel, had twelve sons: The sons of Leah were Reuben ( his firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachael's maidservant Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Leah's maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher.

Israel's brother Esau, who had stayed on in Canaan during the years that Israel ran away to avoid being killed by him, had married Canaanite women. Like his brother, Esau's family quickly grew. His sons were Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam and Korah. Each of his sons had many sons, who grew up and had many sons of their own. As the years went by the generations grew.

As time went on Israel slowly continued to make his way back home, to the promised land of Canaan. He desperately wanted to see his father Isaac - who God had blessed with more years than he had expected. Isaac had given out his blessing years earlier anticipating his own death when Israel and Esau still lived with him. Yet, after all the years that had passed - after Israel had already raised sons of his own, his father Isaac was still alive and still living in Mamre, in Hebron, which was the place he was born to his parents Abraham and Sarah. It was the place he raised Israel and Esau.

It had been many, many years since Israel had seen his father. And, when he arrived with his family it was a very happy reunion. Isaac wasn't sure he would ever see his son again, and was so happy to meet his grandchildren. Though he never met Rachel, he was proud that Israel had chosen women from Laban's family to marry. It was what Rebecca, his mother,  wanted for him.

Isaac enjoyed many more years in Canaan together with both his sons Esau and Israel (Jacob). Their families grew and settled there in the beautiful place God had given them. Isaac died when he was one hundred and eighty years old. Both of his sons, Esau and Israel buried him. (Remember it was Israel's mother who was the one who forced him to not only take Esau's blessing but to run away until things settled down , yet there is no mention of a reunion with her. Sadly, she had made poor choices and in the end it was her own fault she never got to see her favorite son again.)

As time went on Israel and Esau's livestock and families grew until they were too numerous to remain living together. The land was not able to support such livestock so Esau took all he had acquired in the land of Canaan, along with all his family, livestock and all his possessions and moved them to a land some distance from his brother. He settled in the hill country of Seir. And there Esau became the father of the Edomites, where his sons, grandsons, and so on grew and prospered.(Later on we learn that Esau's descendants became great rulers and Kings of Edom, and this was long before any Israelite king had reigned. Many generations of Kings, rulers and chiefs were born of Esau and his descendants the Edomites.)

In Canaan, Israel raised his sons up and prospered. His son Joseph, who by this time was seventeen years old, was by far his favorite. He favored him because he was the first son born to him by his wife Rachel who he loved the most. Because of Israel's special love for Joseph he made his favorite son a richly ornamented robe for him to wear. Joseph's brothers hated him for being their father's favorite, and their jealousy kept them from ever saying a kind word to him.

One evening Joseph had a dream and when he told his brother's about it, they hated him all the more. Joseph told them, "In my dream we were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

After hearing about the dream his brothers thought Joseph was planning to reign over them, to rule over them all, which caused them to detest him more and more. But because Joseph was young and naïve, and probably very spoiled as a young man, he didn't know better than to tell them everything. He didn't understand at the time that God was revealing his future to him.

Joseph had a second dream , and again, foolishly he told his brothers everything. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

This time he also told his father about the dream and his father rebuked him saying, "Do you actually believe I and your mother and your brothers will bow down to the ground before you?" Israel kept it to himself that he was concerned about what the dream really meant.

His brothers were angry at Joseph, and their jealousy raged.

(Life question: Jealousy can grow and fester and eventually cause people to sin. Have you ever felt jealous toward someone? How did you handle it? Has someone every been jealous of you and acted out in violence or caused problems for you because of their jealousy? We should always pray that God will keep jealousy away from us and all those around us. We should pray for peace and with peace there is no room for jealousy. )