August 8th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Turning Point

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, I wonder at the miracle of my body. It is amazing! What’s more amazing is that it’s the temple of Your Spirit.

Read Genesis 29:31-30:24

[31] When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. [32] Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” [33] She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. [34] Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi. [35] She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children. [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 servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.” [4] So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, [5] and she became pregnant and bore him a son. [6] Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan. [7] Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. [8] Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali. [9] When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. [10] Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. [11] Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad. [12] Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. [13] Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher. [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.” [16] So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. [17] God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. [18] Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. [19] Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. [20] Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. [21] Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. [22] Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. [23] She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” [24] She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

When did you first begin to follow the Lord? What was happening in your life at the time?

Think Further

A long time ago, a teacher colleague of mine told this story to an assembly of young teenagers as though he were giving the sports report: “Leah 1, Rachel 0; Leah 2, Rachel 0” (and so on). He glossed over things somewhat with the addition of Bilhah and Zilpah into the relationships, but his version of the story, in addition to appealing to the sports fans, captured the element of competition very well. 

Emotions are more obvious in this reading, being directly mentioned and evident in the conversations, but there is little sense of the passing of time. Of course, a number of years went by while Jacob’s sons and daughter were born. There was a long time for Rachel’s jealousy to fester, for her to grow desperate and bargain with her sister. There’s a feeling of anything you can do, I can do better as they each give their maids to Jacob. Leah’s desire for Jacob’s respect and affection after giving him all those sons is most touching. Also, despite the fact that Bilhah’s sons would be considered as if they were Rachel’s own, she still has a sense of shame within her that is only dispelled by Joseph’s arrival. Jacob is in the middle of this emotionally-charged atmosphere, contributing to the mix by loving one sister more than the other, but unable to give her what she so desires, until “God remembered Rachel” (22).

Commentators indicate that the birth of Joseph is a turning point. Jacob’s life story revolves around the birth of his sons, Joseph specifically. This careful arrangement of the narrative is also seen in other Bible stories, such as that of the flood, and Zacchaeus. God’s intervention is always decisive in that it brings about a change in thinking or circumstance, and things are reversed.

Apply

Reflect on any occasions in your life where God intervened in a direct way. What led up to that? What followed? Give thanks for his loving hand on your life.

Closing prayer

Mighty God, I praise You for timely interventions in my life, for turnaround circumstances that You accomplished. What a great God You are!

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store