What are we listening to?

Not much to say today, but I wanted to share this song that lifted me up. I'm praising God today!




What are you listening to, today?

Rachel weeping

Do you remember some verses in the Bible that mention Rachel weeping? Let's look for them:

This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15)

A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. (Matthew 2:18)

Now, earlier in our study of Rachel, we noted that she gave birth to her second son on the road home to Jacob's family. In tears and pain, Rachel was delivering her son beside the road, with no conveniences, no comforts. As she cried, she knew that this child was the source of her weeping, and at the same time, her hope for the future. She must have realized her strength was ebbing, for she wanted to name the child Ben-oni (son of my sorrow):

They left Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into hard labor. 17 During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid. You have another son.” 18 As her life faded away, just before she died, she named him Ben-oni, but his father named him Benjamin. (Genesis 35:16-18)

Jacob must have had tears streaming down his dusty cheeks as he gathered the wee babe into his arms -- the son of his beloved and lovely Rachel. Scholars tell us that they buried her near the area called Ramah. This area would figure significantly in the later history of the Hebrew people, in the time of the prophet Jeremiah. The kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south, shared an uneasy border and the town of Ramah was located on that border.

If we look at the history, Rachel was the mother of Joseph; Joseph was the father of Ephraim and of Manasseh -- they would be counted as Jacob's sons, and therefore two of the twelve tribes. Their descendants were counted in the nation of Israel. Benjamin's descendants were of Judah. So, to weep for her "children," Rachel (in the prophecy) is bitterly crying for the entire Hebrew nation.

Israel was the first to be taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and the final remnants of Judah were led into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar's men over one hundred years later. The land was left desolate, as if the people "were not," or were dead. Ramah was the gathering point; all of the people were assembled there for the long trek into captivity. So, Rachel's weeping in Jeremiah was for the terrible suffering of her descendants. They are being led away from the very spot where she is buried, and "she refuses to be comforted." Yet again, her offspring are both the cause of her weeping and her hope for the future, as we'll see.

In Matthew's gospel, Rachel weeps again, but this time it is over the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem. There are no words of comfort for her here, as there are in Jeremiah, but the very next verse offers hope by speaking of Herod's death, and the return of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to the land of Israel. The situation seemed bleak, but there is hope.

God's words to Rachel, and to us, are the focus of our study this week. I hope you will join us as we study!

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

We celebrate our Savior today!

Friday slowdown

One name
Holds weight above them all
His fame
Outlasts the earth He formed
His praise
Resounds beyond the stars
And echoes in our hearts
The greatest One of all

His face
Shines brighter than the sun
His grace
As boundless as His love
He reigns
With healing in His wings
The King above all kings
The greatest One of all

Lift up our eyes, see the King has come
Light of the world reaching out for us
There is no other name
There is no other name
Jesus Christ our God

Seated on high, the undefeated One
Mountains bow down as we lift Him up
There is no other name
There is no other name
Jesus Christ our God

Find hope
When all the world seems lost
Behold
The triumph of the cross
His power
Has trampled death and grave
Our life found in His name
The greatest name of all

Why did Rachel steal the idols, conclusion

We've looked at several possible reasons why Rachel stole the household gods, or idols, from her father's tent, when Jacob and his family left Laban's stomping grounds and headed for home.
Maybe because she wanted a keepsake?
Naah.
Perhaps to keep the idols from telling Laban where they were headed?
Nope, he could easily follow their trail.
To sell any gems on the idols, in case they were in dire straits?
Welllllll.....
To make certain of Jacob's legal status - to prove he was no longer Laban's servant?
Possibly.

But scholars have offered up another possible reason for the theft.
Perhaps Rachel wanted a backup.
A backup to Jacob's God, Yahweh.
Rachel's family worshiped idols. As a child, she would have participated in the rituals and pageantry associated with them. She would have watched the sacrifices, the chants, the divinations, and more. When he was introduced to Jacob, her father Laban became a man of two religions: he was aware of Jehovah, but he also liked his household gods -- after all, they never questioned his motives or his actions, and never challenged his conduct or made him pay any consequences for his treachery or immorality!
We can see that he may have been awe-struck by the God of his fathers, and find it inspiring that He could help, but hey, He didn't always respond. It was nice to have these other gods who could be more cooperative, right?
So, the images made excellent backup gods. Maybe Rachel thought that if Jacob's God didn't answer, it would be nice to consult these idols that she had known for all these years.

Did you know there is a story in II Kings that sounds a lot like Rachel . . .

It is when the final piece of Israel fell to the Assyrians. The current king of Israel, Hoshea, decided the time was right to throw off the yoke of servitude to the Assyrians, and so he stopped paying tribute to them, and reached out to the ruler of Egypt, instead. This didn't work too well. The king of Assyria sent his armies to carry off the last remnant of the Hebrew people to Babylonia.

His usual way of doing things was to re-settle a conquered land with different people. These people would be more pliable, more willing to show loyalty to him. So he sent a multitude of settlers into the land of Samaria.

He didn't consult Yahweh.
We can see that God not only thought of the people of Israel as His, He also thought of the land of Israel as His, too. Ravenous lions descended from the hills to kill people, devour cattle, and generally scare the population to pieces. The settlers were superstitious, and they believed that the wild beasts were the instruments of the offended God of Israel. The complaints came thick and fast to the king.

The king decided to send one of the captive priests of Israel back to Samaria. His instructions were to teach the inhabitants how to worship "the God of the land." We don't know his name from the scriptures, but we know that he was headquartered in Bethel, and that he traveled from city to city, teaching everyone who would listen the laws of Moses. He was successful in one sense: the Babylonian settlers began to fear the Lord.

But here is the rub: they continued to worship idols. They were truly afraid of the lions of Jehovah, but they only gave lip service to Him. They continued to revere their own gods. They appeared to be devout believers but remained idolatrous. In short, they were pretend believers; they had no real love for the Lord.

This was very similar to Rachel, who had idols in her home (until in chapter 35 of Genesis, when Jacob puts his foot down and says everyone must ditch their idols). It also looks a lot like people today whose religion is only ritual and ceremonies. When "lions" of sickness, financial hardship, and affliction appear, these people pray for God to help them. Afterwards, they forget to give thanks, and they go right back to the gods they have created themselves; they forget about the God of creation.

We don't know for sure, from Genesis, why Rachel stole the idols. But if we look at the people in II Kings who are so similar, we can guess that she wanted an extra measure of blessings and protection. When Jacob had said to his wives that it was time to leave, she had voiced her recognition of God's blessing and direction (verses 14-16), but she must have wanted something more to reassure and comfort her as she left her home for an unfamiliar land. She had just enough faith in God to say she would go, but it wasn't enough to give her emotional security.
Most of us don't have little household gods in our homes. We don't have figures sitting on a shelf that we cling to for protection and security, to ask if we should go one way or another. But do we cling to things besides God for that security? Success, our finances, our jobs, our good deeds -- all of these can be our idols.

Perhaps we should challenge ourselves to show faith -- to learn to let go of "things" and instead, trust our Lord completely!

Why did Rachel steal the idols, continued

We're continuing to study Rachel this week, and we're focusing on why she stole those household idols from her dad, Laban. I thought a little background might help us to better understand what this story is about . . .

Household gods, or teraphim, were common in the homes of this era. Their name could be translated "figures" or "images" or even "oracles." Some of them were fairly large, as seen when Michal, David's wife, uses one to make it look like David is asleep in his bed (I Samuel 19). Others, as in our story now, were smaller -- these were small enough to be hidden under the saddle for Rachel's camel. These figures were thought to provide protection, and also answer questions (divination). Kind of like an ancient ouija board, I guess. (Grin)

Some people have guessed that Rachel may have been looking around inside her father's tent before she left. In much the same way that we might look around in the house our parents lived in for years, and that perhaps we grew up in. Memories pop up with each glance around the rooms. Rachel was leaving home, and she had no way of knowing if she would ever see her father again. Perhaps she wanted to take something with her that reminded her of him and of her childhood. On the spur of the moment, she grabbed the images and left home.
I think the household gods had too great a daily significance to be something she took as a simple keepsake. Let's keep looking . . .

Was she worried that the idols might tell her father where they were headed? Perhaps they might assist Laban in tracking down Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, and all the children, servants, and the flocks. They were, in essence, running away -- would the idols tell Laban where to look?
This doesn't sound right, either. Laban, as an experienced cattle and sheep herder, would know in what direction they had gone . . . there would be no way to disguise the tracks of the immense herds of cattle and sheep, the tracks of the ox carts carrying belongings, the prints of the camels in their slow plodding across the sandy soil. It would be very easy to follow them, and to catch up.

Perhaps she was taking them as an insurance policy, of sorts. Of course, she loved Jacob with all her heart, and had all the confidence in the world in his ability to care for her . . . but hoping that all will go well doesn't insure a comfortable financial future. If famines were to come, and perhaps the cattle dwindled away, or if enemies stole the stock, the household gods could help. Why? Because these idols were often decorated with precious gem stones, and in an emergency, those could be sold.

Other scholars discuss a legal reason for Rachel's actions. Some ancient records seem to say that the household gods were sometimes symbols of property rights and family status. Having them in one's possession could indicate that the keeper had certain important privileges. I guess it was like who has the scepter of a kingdom, or to whom did they give the key to the city? (Grin) So, if Jacob had possession of the idols, it might prove that he was no longer in servitude to Laban. It could even mean that he was entitled to a portion of his estate. Jacob might already have attained this position, but perhaps Rachel wanted to make sure -- to give it a stamp of approval.

We've already seen Rachel as a charming and beautiful woman who won Jacob's heart at their first meeting at the well. We've seen her as a desperate woman, agonizing over the fact that she was barren. We've seen her jealousy of her sister, and we've seen her as a schemer who used her husband as a bargaining chip. Now we see that she is an independent and resolute woman. She has seen the relationship between her father and her husband becoming more strained, and she is taking the lead over her sister by siding with her husband. In the moment that they were leaving, she is motivated to take a most decisive action -- she is taking what she believes to be the law into her own hands.

This might be the reason she stole the idols. Jacob certainly was clueless. He either wasn't paying attention to the legal stuff, or he wasn't aware that she was going to do something impetuous! He did, however, make an extreme (and ultimately tragic) oath. He vowed that whoever was found holding the idols would be killed (verse 32).

I think there is one more possibility for why Rachel stole the household gods . . . we'll look at that when we conclude our study tomorrow.

Verses that inspire

In the past few weeks, I have returned to these verses in John's gospel more than once. They have taken on a renewed significance to me.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

I hope that you will be blessed by these, and that if you have a verse or a passage that has meant much to you recently, that you will leave a comment and let others read it, too.