Rachel

Women of the Bible 
Rachel

Scripture References:

Genesis 29-31; 33:1-7; 35:16-26; 46:19-25; 48:7; Ruth 4:11; 1 Samuel 10:2; Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:18

Her History:

Rachel was a shepherdess

The name Rachel means “ewe” a female lamb. It was implied as a term of endearment. As she was a shepherdess, the Lord was her Shepherd!

Rachel was the daughter of Laban, Rebekah’s brother. So Rachel was Rebekah’s niece.

Rachel had two sons: Joseph and Benjamin

Her Romance:

Read Genesis 29:1-20

Rachel was loved greatly and pursued by Jacob.

Just like we saw with Rebekah we see here with Rachel that God brought about an extra ordinary circumstance while Rachel was faithfully doing her daily chores. It is when we are faithful with our every day responsibilities, working at them with all our heart unto the Lord, that God brings about and accomplishes His will in our life naturally.

Rachel wasn’t off on some journey or quest, she was doing what she was supposed to be doing, tending the sheep.

What responsibilities has God called you to be faithful with, in this season in your life? Take a moment to write them down.

God’s desire is that we be faithful with what He has called us to do and work hard at our responsibilities and He will move us forward and onward! God works and moves in the ordinary circumstances of our every day. He is interested more in our CHARACTER than in what we can do and accomplish for Him.

“We are apt to forget that often the most seemingly ordinary incidents in life are as much of the divine plan as the smallest parts of a watch, and upon these smallest parts of the plan all the others depend. Our steps, when ordered by the Lord, lead to great issue.” -Herbert Lockyer

All the little things DO matter to God!

“As I look back over my life, a major testing of my faith came with our three children, and a few years later, a fourth. (Then there was a period later on when we had four teenagers all at once.) I think God had looked down at me and said, “How are We going to get any fruit of the Spirit into this woman? How can We educate her? I know. We’ll send her to the School of Instant and Constant Motherhood. This is a good curriculum for teaching total dependence, patience, kindness, self-control, love -all the fruit of My Spirit.” -Cynthia Heald, A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God

In verse 3 we see Jacob went to a well. It is interesting to note that Eliezar, Isaac’s servant, found Rebekah at a well and Jacob encountered Rachel at a well. In Exodus 2:15-21 we read Moses sat down by a well and met Jethro’s seven daughters and married one of them, Zipporah. In the Old Testament you see women finding their future husbands by a well! How much more wonderful the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well now becomes!

Take a preview of this woman! Read John 4:6-26.

Jesus came and PURSUED this woman. He pursued her heart. In front of everyone He talked with her, He valued her and cared for her. JESUS pursues us! Ask Him to give you eyes to see the ways He is pursuing you!

Jesus wants to intimately pursue you. He knows everything about you but He wants you to know and discover more about Him and how He loves you. He wants to spend time with you so that you will begin to see and discover the ways He loves you!

Jacob waited seven years to marry Rachel.

Waiting is ROMANTIC.

God is waiting for you. Patiently and lovingly God is WAITING for you to discover His love.

Read Romans 8:35-39

What emotions do these scriptures invoke in you?

Read Ephesians 3:14-21.

Are you ready to begin a journey in love with Jesus? He wants to pursue you that you may discover the abundant love He has for you. He wants to give you stories.

Her Marriage:

Read Genesis 29:21-30; 30:1-2

Unfortunately, Rachel’s marriage had a whole lot of drama. What is unveiled through these verses is that Jacobs amazing love for Rachel wasn’t enough. A man’s love and pursuit is not enough to satisfy us!

Colossians 2:10 NKJV

and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Psalm 145:16 NKJV

You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Psalm 81:10 NASB

I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

Isaiah 55:2 NKJV

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Isaiah 58:11 NKJV

The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Rachel said “Give me children, or else I die!” Her being was bound up in having children and she was hurting Jacob because he felt his love wasn’t enough for her...because it wasn’t!

When the Lord did provide her with children, she died in giving birth to Benjamin, her second baby boy. In labor she named him “Benoni” which means “son of sorrow”. Children do not satisfy the longings of our heart. Children can bring pain and sorrow to our hearts. Only Jesus satisfies.

Her temptations:

Genesis 30:1 “Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister;”

Rachel had given into jealousy. A very ugly and ungodly characteristic! Leah was jealous of Jacob’s love for Rachel and Rachel was jealous of Leah’s fertile womb.

As sisters in Christ we are to love each other. We are to rejoice with our sister who is rejoicing and weep with our sister who is weeping (Romans 12:15)

The woman who is secure in the Lord’s love and her identity in Christ can point out the wonderful qualities and talents her sisters in Christ have and encourage and love them. NOT pointing out her flaws or making a slight jab or a joke to her, especially in front of others.

Here are examples of what not to say compared to the right heart attitude:

Wrong -“She is a little consumed with her appearance.” Right- “Wow, she is so beautiful and takes good care of herself.”

Wrong - “She puts her children before her husband.” Right-“She has such a great ability to love children.”

Wrong - “She’s always at home and never gets together with us.” Right- “She is a great homemaker and has such peace in her home.”

Wrong - “She has her priorities out of whack” Right-“God has opened opportunities for her in her workplace. How exciting!”

Her motherhood:

Children are God’s gift to give!

Rachel turned her cry for children into prayer. Genesis 30:22 “Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.”

Rachel’s was the first recorded instance in the Bible of death through childbirth.

Read Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:18

“Rachel’s cry for children was prophetic of the slaughter of the innocents when Christ was born (Matthew 2:16-18). Jeremiah pictures Rachel as rising from the grave to weep over the children being carried away to Babylon, never to return (Jeremiah 31:15). Thus the ‘Benoni’ of Rachel’s heart as she died has been re-echoed throughout the entire history of Israel.” –Herbert Lockyer

Life Lesson:

Only Jesus satisfies!

Psalm 62:5 NKJV

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.

Psalm 86:10 NKJV

For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

Eve

 Women of the Bible

Eve

Scripture References:

Genesis 2 and 3; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:13

Her history:

EVE was the first : woman, wife, mother, grandmother.

She was the first to sin, cry and laugh. She was the first to go through labor.

She was the first woman to be blessed and the first woman to be cursed.

Though she was the first in many ways she was the last of God’s creative acts.

Eve was never a daughter or a sister.

She was created by God in the Garden of Eden and she lived there.

Imagine a Garden designed and planted by God Himself. What thoughts that come to mind as to what this garden was like?

Genesis 2:9 NASB “And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing  to the sight and good for food…” This Garden had everything Eve would need because that is how God works. God always does things in such a way that He gives us all we need and He gives us what is good for us.

“Woman” is more of a generic designation than a name, and is associated with Eve’s relation to Adam, a relation she was created to fulfill. Literally “woman” means “man-ess.” Then both Eve and her husband are called “Adam.” –Herbert Lockyer

Genesis 5:2 NASB “He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man (Lit. Adam) in the day when they were created.”

God made them one   flesh. This helps us understand the equality in God’s eyes of men and women.

Adam named and called her Eve. Genesis 3:20 NASB “Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.”

Genesis 2:22 NASB “And the LORD GOD fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.”

The word “fashioned” in Hebrew is “banah” meaning “to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue”

God created Eve to cause “Adam” or mankind to continue. He made her so she could bear children and the human race could fill the earth.

Her marriage:

Eve was part of the first marriage that was handpicked by God.

THE KEY to finding the right man is to becoming the right woman.

Press through the temptations to go to your husband first before the Lord and don’t allow your husband to become an idol.

When we look to our husbands to meet our needs we will be left disappointed and unsatisfied.

He created marriage for the purpose of bringing God glory and for it to be a picture of Christ’s union with the Church. (see Ephesians 5:22-33)

Eve was Adam’s jewel. We need to carry ourselves as our husband’s jewel, as his treasure.

Her temptations:

Eve was the first woman to sin! She was the first woman to be tempted. The first to encounter Satan and his lies.

God also put the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen 2:9)

“The tree of knowledge of good and evil was designed as a test of obedience. Our first parents had to choose whether to obey God or break His commandments. When they actually ate the forbidden fruit, the consequences of their actions became self-evident. They found themselves in a different relationship to God and to sin. The tree of life was the antidote against disease and bodily decay. Access to it was based upon a proper relationship with God. The real question which faced Adam, Eve and us today is: Which path should be chosen? What kind of relationship do we want with God?” –Key Word Study Bible Explanatory Notes

The lie Satan presented to Eve was that “You will be like God”. Women have more of a natural desire for spiritual things. We need to be aware of this and make sure we are submitting fully to the accuracy of the Word of God.

1 Timothy 2:14 NASB “And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.”

Eve was tempted to leave the covering of her husband and make a decision without him. We can be tempted to make decisions without our husbands. However, we do not like it when they do that to us! Men and women think differently and we need to run things by our husbands and learn how to make decisions together as one and it will always be the better way.

We learn through Eve’s encounter with the serpent that Satan is: crafty, he questions what God says, he lies about what God says the consequences of sin will be, he mixes the truth in with the lie, he snares us with enticing and convincing words.

Satan doesn’t just know what to say to us, he knows how to say it to us!

Her motherhood:

Eve was the first mother and she had the first son. She was the first to labor and bring into the world a sinner.

Her children were: Cain, Able and Seth and numerous other children.

She is known as the mother of us all.

Life Lesson:

2 Corinthians 11:3 NASB “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

Don’t be deceived by the enemy to be led away from a simple and pure relationship with Jesus!!!!!

Your Reaction to Temptation

The first video for the Book Club will be posted on Tuesday...just to give you all a little more time who are in the process of getting the book. If you get it later then we started, no big deal...just go back and watch the previous videos to catch up! Again we will only be going through one chapter a week.

This morning this scripture stuck out to me. Be greatly encouraged by it!

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it."

What is the thing you turn to in your flesh when pressures arise? Does the enemy have a "temptation button" in your life that he can push to guarantee a trip up? Do not be alarmed as if this was only happening to you. We all are tempted and battle specific faults and failures. But please do not settle there. Recognize an area of temptation where the enemy always has victory. Search out the scriptures concerning it and cry out to God. He will break down the stronghold. Be persistent and persevere. Train your mind to turn to the scriptures instead of your fleshly reaction. I have a feeling the enemy will reconsider tempting you in that way when your every reaction is prayer and the Word. I know he doesn't want you to do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!