Latest / Scripture Central / Genesis 24-33 I Come Follow Me I Handmaidens, Harems and Heroines I Lynne Hilton Wilson

Transcript

Genesis 24-33 I Come Follow Me I Handmaidens, Harems and Heroines I Lynne Hilton Wilson · Scripture Central

0:00
I feel Rebecca is a woman of action.
0:03
She's extremely proactive. Look at some of the verbs that
0:05
are used to describe her in these sections of Genesis.
0:08
She is as strong as an ox. Listen to this.
0:12
She says, I will give you drink and I will feed your camels.
0:16
This is 10 to 30 gallons of water per camel.
0:20
She is probably getting water from a well for hundreds of
0:25
gallons of water and this is just an amazing feat.
0:29
I have worked for you for seven years, and you have completely
0:33
deceived me. And poor Leah as this pond, I
0:38
mean, how does she feel? My heart just goes out to her.
0:41
And these strained family relations become magnified as
0:45
time grows on. Because, Shalom.
0:52
Welcome back to Scripture Central.
0:54
I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, and I'm excited to talk about the
0:57
handmaidens and harems and heroines all over the Old
1:00
Testament as they are seeking for their Messiah.
1:04
And today and come follow me, we're looking at Genesis chapter
1:07
24 to 33, and we have a lot of women.
1:12
In fact, I am really excited about this.
1:15
We have 10 named women, 10 unnamed groups of women.
1:18
We get to talk about Rebecca and her mother and her maids, Katura
1:23
Esau's three wives, Jacob's four wives.
1:27
We get to talk about the difference between a concubine
1:30
and a wife and lots of great details about the women that
1:33
really to make this one of the most rich and beautiful sections
1:37
of the Old Testament, especially from the women's perspective.
1:41
Let's start out. We're about 18150 BC.
1:45
Noah is 3000 BC, Abrams about 2000 BC.
1:49
We're now down to the next generation, and Rebecca is 20
1:54
years younger than Isaac. And Isaac is getting married at
1:58
age 40 when he meets Rebecca. And in Genesis 24, this is the
2:03
longest chapter in the book of Genesis.
2:05
And the main character is Rebecca.
2:07
You know, we we are in Mesopotamia where Bethel's
2:10
daughter, her mom is unnamed, but her mom does play an
2:13
important role in these chapters.
2:15
So that's great. And we learn about this arranged
2:18
marriage between the first cousin once removed.
2:21
So Rebecca is being arranged to marry Isaac.
2:24
And as a nurse, I'm always interested in the genetic
2:27
combinations of some of these things.
2:28
And supposedly if you're going to do one generation removed,
2:33
even now it is legal to marry a first cousin once removed.
2:37
It's medically in a whole different plate as long as
2:40
you're a generation removed. So not that they knew or cared
2:43
about those laws, but I am interested in the health of the
2:46
child. But I just want to let you know
2:49
that I feel Rebecca is a woman of action.
2:52
She's extremely proactive. Look at some of the verbs that
2:55
are used to describe her in these sections of Genesis.
2:57
She carries, she volunteers, she hastens, she helps.
3:02
She ran, she directed, she chose, she veiled, she married,
3:07
she prays, she hears God, and she carries out God's direction.
3:14
You know, I just absolutely love the way we see Rebecca
3:18
fulfilling these prophecies that were given to Abraham as he is
3:22
praying for this marriage. It is interesting though, that
3:26
as it's described in the book of Genesis, that Rebecca has a lot
3:30
in common with her mother-in-law.
3:31
Now, she never knew her mother-in-law.
3:33
Remember, Sarah dies three years before and they said Isaac's in
3:37
great morning for three years. And when he marries, he is able
3:41
to fill that void in his life with his great love for his
3:44
beautiful wife, Rebecca. And when I said beautiful, I'm
3:48
talking more about the inside than the outside.
3:50
But I understand both are very real as we look at the parallels
3:54
between Rebecca and Sarah. Both matriarchs were married to
3:57
very close relatives. Both were barren for years.
4:01
Now Sarah, that was 75 years. For Rebecca, it was only 19.
4:06
But both are known for their righteousness and their faith.
4:10
Both are known because they pretend that their husband is a
4:14
sibling in a foreign land to protect their spouse.
4:18
Both bear a covenant heir. Who were their husbands second
4:22
sons? Isaac and Jacob are both the
4:24
second sons and both these second sons marriages were
4:27
arranged by the extended family. Both of these women are buried
4:32
in the same tomb in the field of Macklaw.
4:34
That's Genesis 4930. So it's, it's interesting to see
4:39
these parallels amongst our great matriarchs.
4:42
But in Abraham's 140 years old now, he is still being divinely
4:48
guided on this task of arranging this marriage.
4:51
Now it's about a 500 mile round trip.
4:54
You know, it's, it's going to be a month journey.
4:56
And at age 140, he is not going to go.
5:01
And he receives revelation to send one of his chief servants.
5:05
We don't know if it's Eliezer, the name that was given back in
5:07
Chapter 15. He has many people that work
5:09
with him, but he sends a marriage arranger who has great
5:14
faith. And as we read Genesis 24,
5:17
especially verse 2, verse 66, we see this servant praying.
5:21
We see him asking the Lord and setting up a scenario and saying
5:25
to the Lord, quote the damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy
5:29
pitcher, I pray thee that I may drink.
5:32
And she shall say, drink. That's in Genesis 2414, you
5:36
know. And, and the Lord agrees with
5:38
the situation that he sets out. He has so much faith, he's
5:42
begging the Lord for help. And Abraham had so much faith
5:45
and already his prophesied. It's going to come to pass that
5:47
after a 2 weeks journey, he's exhausted.
5:50
He's got 10 camels, he's got a lot of servants with him.
5:53
You know, it takes a lot of people for a long journey like
5:56
this just to heft your water. And when they get there to the
5:59
well, this prayer is offered. And before the prayer is
6:02
finished, this very young Rebecca, probably in her early
6:07
teens, she is not three years old like the Quran and other
6:10
extra biblical texts say. She is not an infant.
6:14
She's in her early teen years, comes and offers drink and not
6:19
only is she generous, not only is she a servant of God, but she
6:23
is as strong as an ox. Listen to this.
6:27
She says, I will give you drink and I will feed your camels.
6:31
Do you guys know how much a camel drinks?
6:33
This is 10 to 30 gallons of water per camel, depending on
6:38
their size and how thirsty they are.
6:40
He's got 10 camels. She is probably getting water
6:43
from a well for hundreds of gallons of water.
6:48
And this is just an amazing feat.
6:51
If the text is literal, which I assume it is because it fits in
6:54
the story and Joseph Smith did not change it, but all of her
6:57
kindness is repaid. And this wonderful servant of
7:01
God who is so humble and grateful for the kindness, he
7:06
repays her with an enormous amount of gold and jewelry.
7:10
It's actually 4 ounces of gold is the number if you use the
7:13
translation, it's about 110 to 115 grams of gold that he gives
7:18
her in jewelry. And so this wonderful servant
7:20
asks asks if she has space in her house to house them for the
7:25
evening. And the gracious young girl says
7:29
yes. I don't know if she's
7:31
12131415161718, but she is still very young if she's a virgin.
7:39
People were married very early in the ancient world.
7:42
And as she goes to the home and the family sees this gold
7:47
earring and on her nose or on her hands or on her ears or
7:51
wherever, different translations say different things.
7:53
They offer him dinner and he says, I will not eat until you I
7:57
tell you what I'm here for. And they arrange this marriage.
8:01
And I'm so touched by the spiritual sensitivity also of
8:05
her father Bethel and her brother Laban and her mother who
8:10
hear this. And they say this is Genesis 24,
8:14
verse 50. This is from the Lord.
8:17
We can say nothing. They see the hand of God in it.
8:20
They see how everything has been prepared and that God has
8:23
carried it out. But I'm so impressed that they
8:26
say they ask Rebecca's opinion. Now in the ancient world, this
8:31
wasn't always taken into account and I'm thrilled in the marriage
8:36
of our great patriarchs and matriarchs that the female was
8:41
asked for their opinion. And Ari, sweet Rebecca responds,
8:46
I will go. And they want her to stay for 10
8:49
days and get her things ready and packed up.
8:51
And this servant of Abraham says, Oh no, no, no, no, no,
8:54
this is a month long journey. I, I can't, I got to get going.
8:57
I want to leave immediately. And they said, what do you think
9:00
Rebecca? And she says I will go verse 58
9:05
and they leave soon, but they still have a two weeks journey
9:09
before they go though. There's a beautiful family
9:13
blessing that's given and because it says our sister,
9:17
don't assume that it's just from Laban.
9:19
Remember in in Hebrew, the relate family relationships are
9:22
a little bit different and and the words are a little more
9:25
general. Kinsman is sometimes for sister,
9:29
sometimes for daughter. So we have here this very ironic
9:33
statement in the blessing Genesis 24, verse 60, where the
9:38
hope is given that our sister, may you increase to thousands
9:42
upon thousands, may your offspring possess the cities of
9:45
your enemies. You know, this would be very
9:48
difficult now for Rebecca to realize that she is going to be
9:51
infertile from age 20 to age 39 before she has the revelation
9:58
that she will be able to have a baby, that she will be able to
10:00
bear twins actually. But verse 61 says that Rebecca
10:04
and her attendants, so we've got some females with us here, got
10:09
ready. They mounted the camels.
10:11
There's 10 camels. So I don't know if they were all
10:14
just carrying the extra poles for the tent and water and food,
10:17
or if each of these women were able to ride on the camels.
10:21
But I don't know if you've ridden on a camel.
10:22
They are not very comfortable. I think I would have rather
10:25
walked, but that's a long journey, several 100 miles
10:29
maybe. I would have appreciated a ride
10:30
periodically. But the servant takes off,
10:33
Rebecca goes with them, and after two weeks they come back
10:37
to the land where Abram is living and a young man is out in
10:41
the field working. He's 40 years old.
10:43
He's not a young man. He's a grown adult and
10:47
beautiful. Rebecca asks the servant, who
10:49
I'm sure they've become very good friends by this time, who
10:52
is that young man? And he says that in the distance
10:55
is Isaac. She hops off the camel.
10:57
She veils herself, as was the custom.
10:59
And the word veil is not just on her hair.
11:02
It is covering her face. It is something hanging down in
11:06
Hebrew. And Abraham is able to meet her.
11:08
And the marriage occurs and they fall madly in love with each
11:13
other, each other. It is a marriage arranged by
11:16
God. And there's a wonderful rabbinic
11:18
thought that says, what has God been doing since the creation of
11:22
the world? Then the rabbi's answer, God has
11:25
been arranging marriages, this man to that woman and that man
11:30
to this woman. And I am grateful for those
11:35
marriages that have been arranged by God and pray that
11:39
each of us can treat our marriage as something as divine
11:42
as Abraham's and Rebecca's. Every marriage is a miracle to
11:47
me, and every marriage has challenges.
11:49
And I am so proud of the very difficult circumstances that
11:53
allowed Isaac and Rebecca to try to make their marriage work even
12:00
during very difficult situations.
12:03
Now I don't know if the chronology of Genesis 25 is
12:07
correct, but it says that as soon as Isaac gets married,
12:11
Abraham marries again and he marries Katura and they have a
12:17
beautiful 35 year marriage that produces six sons.
12:21
We don't know if there's any daughters that come out of this,
12:23
but these six sons, we learn a little bit about the posterity
12:27
of them and they become the lineage of Jethro.
12:31
Do you remember Moses, father-in-law is named Jethro
12:36
and he holds the Melchizedek priesthood that he receives
12:40
through Abraham's lineage. So it's not just one and done.
12:44
It's not just Isaac who gets the we stood here.
12:47
The Melchizedek priesthood line also came through with some of
12:50
the katura's sons. This was a gift for the
12:53
righteous. It's only changed when there is
12:57
the Law of Moses to only come through the Levitical line
13:00
through Aaron's descendants much much later.
13:03
But right now with Abraham had multiple righteous sons who
13:08
received the Melchizedek priesthood is what the text
13:10
sounds like, especially when we read it in Doctrine Covenant
13:13
section 84 verse 6 and 7 that says that Jethro held the higher
13:19
priesthood that he passed on and ordained to Moses.
13:22
But let's go back down to Genesis.
13:24
And chapter 25 says that while Abraham is reproducing, sweet
13:30
Isaac and Rebecca are not. And as there are 6 more young
13:36
children born to Abraham and Coutura, none are born to
13:40
Rebecca and Isaac for 19 years. But I just cannot overestimate
13:44
that in that ancient culture, this was so difficult.
13:48
This was a woman's primary gift to the world and she couldn't do
13:51
it. And many prayers were given.
13:54
We have two that are specifically mentioned in
13:56
Genesis where Rebecca is playing and where Isaac is praying for
14:00
Rebecca and the Lord answers those prayers and the couple is
14:04
able to conceive. But Rebecca is sick as a dog.
14:10
She's 39 years old now, Isaac is 59.
14:14
And she pleads with the Lords to understand what is going on.
14:18
It says in verse 22 of chapter 55 in the NIV translation, the
14:23
babies jostled with each other within her and she said, why is
14:28
this happening to me? So she went to inquire the Lord
14:32
and verse 23, the Lord said to her, quote, two nations are in
14:36
your womb and two people from within you will be separated.
14:41
One people will be stronger than the other and the older will
14:46
serve the younger. She gets some phenomenal
14:50
revelation here and this second twins birth is part of this
14:56
fulfillment. Do you remember the story in
14:58
chapter 25, verse 26, where it says that the twin grasps the
15:02
heel of his brother and comes out?
15:05
Now I, I used to work labor and delivery.
15:07
This is not a healthy delivery. If you're coming out with an arm
15:12
instead of head first, this seems like an excruciating
15:15
delivery. But this little phrase grasping
15:18
the heel may not be literal because that's an idiom.
15:21
That's a Hebrew idiom that means he is going to deceive.
15:25
And Rebecca took this prophecy so seriously, so to heart, that
15:30
she not only names her second son Jacob, which means Sir Plant
15:35
or one who overreaches, but she also treasured this divine
15:40
prophecy and acted on it and allowed it to deliver her
15:44
actions throughout her life. And as we hear some of these
15:48
crazy stories that that she does and we think, what kind of a
15:51
deceiver are you? Go back to the prophecy and she
15:56
is acting, I believe, to fulfill that prophecy.
16:00
Now, there's a lot of the story we're not told, but I see
16:04
Rebecca as a woman of God who was given a prophecy and she
16:08
acts to try to fulfill that prophecy over many generations.
16:12
But before we see that prophecy fulfilled, we're told in Genesis
16:16
that Isaac and Rebecca and the twins and all the people that
16:20
are with them, these nomads, this community, move at least
16:25
five times around the promised land during a 60 year period.
16:31
They are actually back in Abimelechs area.
16:35
I don't think it's the same Abimelech because it's been 60
16:37
years, but they go back down to this area West of the Gaza Strip
16:43
and just inland of the Mediterranean down South.
16:48
And the Lord promises Rebecca and Isaac the same covenants
16:52
that were promised to Abraham and Sarah that they too.
16:56
This is I'm just going to read from Genesis chapter 26, verse
16:58
four. I will make your descendants as
17:01
numerous as the stars of the sky and I will give them all these
17:05
lands. This is a beautiful repetition
17:07
through each generation and through your offspring, all
17:10
nations of the earth will be blessed.
17:12
I'm now to verse 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did
17:17
everything I required of him. But I also have to say the
17:20
reason why this is being repeated is because Isaac and
17:22
Rebecca are also obeying as their twins grow.
17:26
They are very, very different. One's a hunter, 1's Harry, one's
17:31
loves his mother, one more loves his father and Esau gets married
17:36
to two of the local girls, Judith and Besmoth and they have
17:40
a lot of Hittite traditions and Rebecca and Isaac do not
17:44
appreciate Esos choice of wives. In fact, in the BSB translation,
17:49
it says of Genesis 2746, Rebecca says, I, I am weary of my life
17:55
because of these Hittite women. You know, they're living right
17:58
there. Their tents are right next to
18:00
each other. And she is going crazy by his
18:02
choice of wives. And I appreciate the fact that
18:06
this is who the local women were.
18:08
Of course, he's going to marry some of the Canaanites.
18:10
You know, that's who they are. But it sounds as if they did not
18:14
share the same traditions. They did not share the same
18:19
religion. And it's really very, very
18:21
difficult. We already know that Esau
18:23
doesn't value his religion because of the story of the of
18:27
the pottage. We already know that Esau
18:29
doesn't value his birthright because of the story of, oh,
18:32
I'll sell it to you for a bowl of, of lentil soup or whatever
18:36
it was. But as we see the maturing of
18:39
this family of a difficult situation where someone loves
18:44
the covenant, someone doesn't love it quite as much.
18:46
It sounds as if Isaac goes blind.
18:49
And by the time he's 100 years old, he has lost his sight.
18:53
Now remember, Isaac lives to 180.
18:56
He is blind for 80 years. Rebecca is 20 years younger than
19:00
he is and she has to take care of a blind spouse in a tent in
19:05
the ancient world for 80 years. This is an enormous task and
19:12
take that into mind as we look at this story, as Rebecca tells
19:16
Jacob, I want you to follow me. And in fact, in chapter 27 verse
19:22
13, she says, your curse will be upon me.
19:25
My son, do what I say. Just obey my voice and go and
19:30
get them. This is the BSB translation.
19:32
This story is strange. We know that Jacob is trying to
19:37
pretend to be Esau. It looks as if they're lying and
19:41
I just have to step back and say we do not have the whole story.
19:45
But Rebecca is acting on the prompting she received earlier.
19:50
And I trust. I trust God more than I trust
19:54
myself. I trust God more than I trust
19:56
any other human being. And God has put in place the
20:01
Holy Spirit of promise to know if a ordinance or a blessing or
20:06
a covenant is being lived. We know the Holy Spirit of
20:10
promise will seal and ratify our blessings and our covenants if
20:16
they are done correctly. But we also know the Holy Spirit
20:19
of promise will not seal those covenants and those promises if
20:24
we are not living our part of that blessing.
20:27
So. Rebecca may be acting unusual.
20:31
Isaac may be acting not like a prophet, but I trust God, and I
20:36
trust that the words given to Isaac, he says, are from God.
20:42
And Isaac trusts them, and Rebecca trusts them, even though
20:46
the story is a little difficult to swallow.
20:48
But of course, Esau is furious and he wants to kill his brother
20:53
and so wonderful Rebecca tells his her second son Jacob.
20:59
I want you to, I want to arrange your marriage.
21:01
I want you to get out of here. I want you to go visit my
21:03
brother. It's a long way away and I'll
21:07
try to calm down. Esau and Rebecca encourages him
21:11
to go and so he goes this over 200 miles Mesopotamia, and he
21:16
arrives at the exact same well where his mom met Abraham's
21:21
servant and he is prayerful and he meets his cousin and his
21:27
future wife. You know, the the women at the
21:29
well had a good reputation for great marriages.
21:32
I don't know how you're arranging your marriages these
21:34
days. You know, we use a little
21:36
different techniques, but I'm all in favor of asking God to
21:39
help you arrange your marriages. Now interestingly, when Jacob
21:44
meets Rachel and he immediately has love at first sight, he
21:49
tells her that he is Rebecca's son, not Isaac's son.
21:55
And again, the timing of God is actually miraculous.
21:59
Now remember at this time that Esau realizes his parents are
22:04
mad about his wife as they see Jacob having an arranged
22:08
marriage. So he says I'm going to take a
22:10
third wife and this time I'm going to do it within the family
22:13
so my parents will like her. So Esau goes down to Hagar's
22:18
granddaughter in the South. Now remember Hagar is Egyptian
22:22
and Abraham and Hagar have Ishmael and Ishmael's daughter
22:28
McAuliffe is the one that now is chosen to be married.
22:33
I think this is wonderful that both Abraham and Esau have no
22:38
problem marrying people from other cultures and having
22:43
children with people of other cultures when they are within
22:46
the covenant. And it appears that the reason
22:51
why Esau chose this granddaughter of Hagar, this
22:54
granddaughter of Abraham, is because possibly they were still
22:58
in the covenant. And this is a beautiful example
23:02
of of our patriarchs disregarding color and race and
23:08
being more worried about the conditions of the heart.
23:11
But as we return now to Jacob in Genesis 25, he's in Mesopotamia.
23:16
He's fallen in love at first sight with this beautiful
23:20
cousin. And he explains to her brother,
23:23
her father, his uncle in Mesopotamia, this family of
23:28
shepherds, that he is Rebecca's son, Jacob, and that he would
23:35
like to work for them and that he would like to marry this
23:40
daughter. And in fact, he will be willing
23:42
to work for seven years for this marriage.
23:46
It's interesting the way the editors have put this text
23:49
together because in Genesis 27, Jacob has just tricked his
23:53
father. And now in Genesis 29, Jacob
23:57
becomes tricked by his future father-in-law.
24:01
The trickster is being tricked at by the end of the seven
24:04
years, when the marriage actually occurs sometime Rachel
24:09
and her older sister Leah had to know about the father's double
24:13
dealing. You know, 1 is in the daytime
24:16
married and 1 is in the night in the bedroom, and the ceremony is
24:22
with Rachel. And in the darkness of the night
24:26
is Leah. And this strained family
24:30
relationship becomes a daily struggle.
24:35
And Rachel is said that she has a lovely figure, that she's
24:38
beautiful. And Leah is described in some
24:42
translations with tender eyes, some with weak eyes, some with
24:47
beautiful eyes. You know, the the Hebrew word
24:49
has a, has something about her eyes.
24:52
It was not appealing. But that's not the issue.
24:55
The issue is the deception is the problem.
24:59
And I think Jacob, as we read his entire life over the next
25:02
few weeks, grows to love both of these women.
25:05
He cares deeply about them and their children.
25:08
But it is hard, and it's especially hard on these two
25:12
sisters. Not only was it difficult, but
25:16
when I can just imagine the betrayal and the hurt that Leah
25:20
felt, Of course Jacob's going to be furious.
25:24
Of course he's going to be outraged when he gets up and
25:26
says, how did you deceive me? I have worked for you for seven
25:30
years, and you have completely deceived me.
25:34
And poor Leah as this pawn, I mean, how does she feel?
25:39
My heart just goes out to her. And these strained family
25:43
relations become magnified as time grows on because Rachel is
25:48
the preferred wife, but Leah is blessed by God to have children.
25:54
And it's so paradoxical. You know, God works in such
25:58
interesting ways to see this bitter irony that the fertility
26:03
is given to the sister who's not as loved.
26:06
But this paradox changes. And interestingly, Rachel's womb
26:12
is opened after she helps her sister conceive again in this
26:18
silly story of the mandrakes from Genesis chapter 30, verses
26:23
14 and 21. These mandrakes really had some
26:26
strong properties. It's a hallucinogen.
26:28
In fact, the Greeks even use it to put someone under before they
26:30
did surgery. But I don't know anything about
26:32
a love potion or making you more fertile.
26:34
I don't know if that's that's been studied but it seems to me
26:39
that the real problem was Rebecca is the wife that Jacob
26:43
slept with and why Leah couldn't conceive is because of that.
26:47
But when Leah gives Rachel her sons mandrakes if she can please
26:53
for one more night sleep with her husband, and she's able to
26:55
conceive and have more children, you know, and the 12 tribes are
26:58
born. But poor, poor Rachel is so
27:04
desperate to have children that she follows her grandmother's,
27:08
Sarah's example and offers her handmaiden and was able to
27:14
receive two children. And as Leah watches that
27:17
example, she does the same thing and offers her handmaiden.
27:22
So Bill ha, the servant and concubine of of Rachel is able
27:27
to bear two sons. And and Rachel says, I'm going
27:30
to be the surrogate mother. I'm going to adopt these quote.
27:33
This is from Genesis 30, verse 3.
27:36
She shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by
27:40
her. You know, she's looking at this
27:42
as a surrogate way of having children.
27:45
And Rachel claims the children by naming them.
27:48
And Rachel names Bill has children, Dan meaning God has
27:52
judged, and Nephthali meaning I have prevailed.
27:55
But interestingly, as these little boys grow up and Rachel
28:00
is finally able to bear her first born, Joseph, from that
28:04
point on in the text, Bill has two sons are connected only with
28:07
her and she has her own tent and she is their mother.
28:11
And she is finally called the wife of of Jacob.
28:14
But Zilpah, the concubine of Jacob also had a very close
28:18
relationship that Leah would trust That and Leah follows the
28:22
example and offers her. I don't think that Jacob slept
28:27
with these women very often. They both have two sons and
28:30
there is is not a lot of other communication about any of their
28:35
relationships. It's more of a concubine
28:38
relationship rather than a wife relationship until the very end
28:41
when they are called the secondary wives.
28:43
But Leah claimed Zilpah's two sons as well by naming them Gad,
28:49
meaning how fortunate and Asher meaning the happy one.
28:53
And we don't know if Zilpah and Bill Hall are living in the same
28:56
tent or not. But over these 20 years of
28:59
serving Laban for the two wives and for the property, Rachel and
29:06
Leah agree that it's time to go. And we'll hear more about that
29:10
in the future. But I'm grateful for these
29:13
twelve sons. And on my slides into my
29:14
handouts, I have them all listed and color-coded so you can see
29:17
which ones go where. And and as they leave
29:20
Mesopotamia, are coming back to Canaan.
29:22
We have a very clear outline of how they're lined up and who's
29:26
going to be presented first to Eson.
29:29
We know exactly where everyone sits on the social paradigm.
29:33
And the very last, the very beloved the Queen Wife is
29:37
Rachel, and the Queen Prince, the heir, is her first born,
29:43
Joseph. And that's what we'll pick up
29:45
next week. These stories are hard to
29:48
understand. They're difficult, but they are
29:50
beautiful to look at how God intervenes in our lives.
29:55
And just because you're doing what's right does not mean
29:58
you're going to have an easy life.
30:00
And you can be barren and you can have family struggles and
30:03
you can stay loyal to God. I am so grateful to have a God
30:09
directing my life and to have the Spirit of God and I pray as
30:13
you study your scriptures, you can draw closer to him as well.
30:18
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.