Ruth; 1 Samuel 1
The scriptures are full of treasure hunts and mysteries. If we hunt through the genealogy of Christ as recorded by Matthew, we find an odd collection of women mentioned: Tamar (Thamar), Rahab (Rachab), Ruth, and Bathsheba ("her that had been the wife of Urias") (Matthew 1:1-17). Matthew's purpose in writing his gospel was to convert the Jews to Christ, and so he specifically chose to mention those ancestors who had significance to the Jews. It's unusual that women would be mentioned at all--Luke's genealogy of Christ contains only the men (Luke 3:23-38)--but we find amazing treasures and mysteries in those particular women mentioned by Matthew. Not one of them had a perfect, traditional family situation. Each was faced with trying circumstances specifically relating to motherhood. Bathsheba had an extramarital affair with a king who then arranged the death of her husband so that he could marry her; Tamar was the twice widowed abandoned unwed mother of twins; Rahab was a converted Canaanite harlot, who endured the destruction of her entire city, integrated into a different culture, and raised a son whom we will see was a type of Christ; and that son's wife, Ruth, was a converted Moabite, a widowed pauper, who proposed her own marriage to a man much older than herself, and was undoubtedly not the first wife. It is Ruth's story that we tell today.
THE LETTER OF THE LAW
In the Old Testament, and up until the time of Christ, many of the Jews became obsessed with "the letter of the law," completely missing "the spirit of the law." What is really the difference between the two? One word: Love. The spirit of the law is found in the shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deut. 6:4-5). (See "Prayers" in a previous post.) The Book of Ruth is a beautiful story, tucked amid many bizarre and brutal accounts of justice twisted into vengeance, a perfect example of a family who lived the whole law, letter and spirit.
CHAPTER ONE: THE JOURNEYS
The levirate law is found in Deut. 25:5-10, the first part of which is: "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her." If the brother refuses, the woman has the right to confront him in front of the city elders, who then defend her case, and if he still refuses, he is shamed, but the woman is left destitute. Tamar was one who was dealt a terrible injustice when this law was not administered to her. (See Gen. 38, and "Opposites" in a previous entry.)
In the first chapter of Ruth, we find a family of three women who all have been widowed: Naomi and her two daughters-in-law. Naomi was an Israelite living in the land of the Moabites, about 30-40 miles from her homeland (Old Testament Institute Manual, p. 262). The Moabite god was Chemosh or Molech, and his worship was the cruelest idolatry known, involving horrific child sacrifice (Institute Manual, p. 247). Clearly, Naomi's daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, were converts to the gospel, or she would have been appalled at her sons' marriages.
At the deaths of her sons and the end of the famine that had brought her to Moab, Naomi decided to return to her kinsmen where she hoped to be cared for by family as tradition dictated. She sent her daughters-in-law back to their families for their own welfare, since she had no other son for them to marry (vs. 11-13). Orpah went back to her family, but Ruth "clave" unto Naomi, with the beautiful words, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me" (vs. 16-17). By staying with her mother-in-law, Ruth knew that she may be condemning herself to death by poverty, but she wanted to watch over her mother-in-law. In addition, she was true to the gospel and likely wanted to live among the believers. And so together they traveled back to Bethlehem.
Ruth ignored the letter of the law, and kept the spirit of the law, loving the Lord her God, and her mother-in-law as herself.
CHAPTER TWO: THE GLEANERS
The law of welfare practiced by the Israelites is stated in Lev. 19:9-10: "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God."
Ruth and Naomi were "welfare cases" and therefore Ruth went to glean in the fields. Providently, she happened to glean in the fields of a near kinsman to her father-in-law named Boaz. Boaz asked his servant who she was, and the servant answered that she was the Moabite who had come back with Naomi. Boaz treated Ruth with great kindness, calling her "daughter," telling her to glean only in his fields, commanding his reapers to leave extra for her. In one day, she gleaned an ephah of barley, or 2/3rds of a bushel (Bible Dictionary). Stunned at Boaz's generosity, she asked his reason. Boaz replied that her reputation had preceded her, since she had been so unusually kind as to leave her ethnic homeland and care for her mother-in-law.
Boaz kept both the letter and the spirit of the law, motivated by the love he saw Ruth exercising toward Naomi.
CHAPTER THREE: PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE
The law of the Moabite in the congregation stated that "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever: because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee...Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever" (Deut. 23:3-6). (See a previous post for the story of Balaam.)
So by her birth, Ruth was not just a second-class citizen in Israel, but was not allowed at all. The reasons were that not only did the Moabites refuse aid to Israel, they also led the Israelites into idolatry. Ruth, however, did the opposite of both of these: She aided Naomi at the peril of her own life, and she converted completely from idolatry. Boaz and the community all recognized this: "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth 2:12).
Naomi counseled Ruth to propose a Levirate marriage to Boaz, and Ruth boldly followed through. This turnabout was probably necessary, since the elderly Boaz was not the closest kinsman, and did not expect young Ruth to desire to be his wife. Boaz said, "And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman" (Ruth 3:10). The name Boaz meant "in him is strength, swiftness, quickness" (footnote to Ruth 2:1). Boaz lived up to his name, as Naomi testified, "Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day" (Ruth 3:18).
CHAPTER FOUR: REDEEMING
The levirate law was also called the law of the near kinsman (or go'el). The word levirate is taken from the Latin word levir, meaning "husband's brother." As stated above, the brother of a dead man was expected to marry his widow for the purposes of 1) saving her life, 2) returning her to her former status, and 3) providing seed to perpetuate her family. If there was no brother, the next nearest kinsman was to take the role. In the case of Boaz and Ruth, there was a closer kinsman, but Boaz emphasized that Ruth was a Moabitess (vs. 5) when approaching this man with her case, and the man rejected her, freeing Boaz to be her go'el. This word go'el literally translates to "redeemer," and was borrowed by the later prophets to describe Jesus Christ's role (Institute Manual, p. 230, 263).
Boaz acted as a true redeemer to Ruth and Naomi, and kept the whole law, letter and spirit, restoring to them all they had lost.
The community issued love and good wishes upon the marriage, hearkening back to their revered ancestors, Rachel, Leah, and Tamar (vs. 11-12). They said that Ruth was better to Naomi than seven sons (vs. 15). The number seven in Hebrew means perfection, so it really doesn't get any better than that.
The neighbors appropriately called Ruth Naomi's daughter-in-law, as did the narrator, but Naomi never did. Six times in the story she refered to Ruth as "my daughter," evidence of her great love for Ruth. Boaz did the same (except when downplaying her qualities in the presence of the other near kinsman).
CHRIST THE REDEEMER
The story of Boaz and Ruth is the story of Christ and us. Christ is our near kinsman, who 1) saves us from death, 2) raises us from our fallen state, and 3) gives us eternal increase. He is the family member who redeems us, the destitute.
Christ exercises both justice and mercy, the letter and spirit of the law.
We as Latter-day Saints have many commandments to obey. We could write an enormous, long list. But when Jesus was asked which of all the laws was most important, He quoted the shema: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40). Paul explained further, "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For [all the commandments are] briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:8-10). Christ (Jehovah) taught it; Paul explained it; Naomi, Ruth and Boaz lived it. As long as we act in love, we need not fear missing the spirit of any law.
John issued this injunction to us: "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:7-11).
Note: I chose to focus only on Ruth and cover Hannah and 1 Samuel in the next blog entry.
Showing posts with label Ruth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ruth. Show all posts
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Old Testament Lesson #10 Birthright Blessings; Marriage in the Covenant
(Genesis 24-29)
ISAAC'S QUEST FOR A COVENANT MARRIAGE
The overriding theme of the stories of these chapters is that it is not easy to come by a covenant marriage, but that when we put forth the tremendous effort required, the Lord will assist and blessings will ensue. Here are some incidents that teach these lessons:
Gen. 24--Abraham's servant was given the overwhelming responsibility of traveling back to the homeland to find a worthy wife for Abraham's birthright son, Isaac. He brought great riches with him as gifts, requiring ten camels for transport (vs. 10). The task was overwhelming, requiring divine guidance. The servant asked in prayer for a sign that the future wife of his master would be one who would offer him water, and additionally offer the ten camels water. This would certainly single out the woman, because, although offering water to a male traveler was fairly normal ettiquette, offering to water the camels was well beyond the call of duty. One camel could drink up to 30 gallons! It was an extraordinary young woman who would offer this service, perhaps it was even unheard of. But when the caravan arrived at the well, not only did Rebekah volunteer the service, but she "hasted" and she "ran" to complete it (v. 19-20). When the servant discovered that she was a cousin, and therefore met the requirement set forth by Abraham, he knew his prayer was answered (v. 23-27).
Rebekah's family wanted to have a little time with her before she left them to marry Isaac (v. 55), but the servant wanted to obey the Lord immediately, since the Lord had answered his prayer so immediately (v. 56). Rebekah concurred, and went with the servant, never to see her family again. Upon their arrival at Isaac's property, she saw a man cutting through the field to meet them (v. 64-65), and was told it was her future husband. The closing words of this episode of the story are beautiful: "and she became his wife; and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (v. 67). Loving each other, and comforting each other are elements of a covenant marriage.
Gen. 25--While Isaac's brother Ishmael was blessed with a dozen sons, Rebekah was left childless. (It's interesting how many righteous women in the Old Testament struggle with fertility issues.) Finally, she was blessed with twin sons, Esau and Jacob. An interesting description is given of Jacob in the footnote to vs. 27: Jacob was "whole, complete, perfect, simple, plain." Jacob valued the birthright, and bought it from his brother (v. 31-33). Esau, like so many people, was overtaken by the physical desire of the moment, in his case hunger, and lost perspective of eternity. Unfortunately, many saints today do the same, selling their spiritual privileges for fleeting passions.
Gen. 26--Because Isaac continued in righteousness, the covenant promised to his father was restated in his behalf (vs. 2-5). The same can be true for each one of us, as covenant children, particularly as we receive our patriarchal blessing. Like his father, everywhere that Isaac went, he built an altar and called upon the Lord (v. 25).
Meanwhile Esau sold his birthright again, marrying outside the covenant and against his parents' wishes (v. 34-35) while Jacob remained unmarried until age 40, presumably because no covenant wife was available where they lived.
A little note of explanation: Both Abraham and Isaac, when they moved to a new land, ended up telling the local royalty that their wives were their sisters. Both wives were cousins, so this was true, "sister" and "brother" being general terms for relations. Why hide the fact that they were wives? Camille Fronk Olson explains that if a king desired the wife of another man, he would kill the husband [Women of the Old Testament, p. 32-33]. This deception, therefore, saved the lives of Abraham and Isaac. In both cases, the king, upon discovering that the object of his affection was already married, returned the wife to her husband, and promised protection for the husband from others who might desire the wife. So why did the deception have to occur in the first place? One idea: Perhaps the kings needed to personally get to know the people involved, and gain an appreciation for their integrity, before they would extend this highly unusual offer.
REBEKAH'S LEADERSHIP
"Rebekah is one of the greatest patterns in all the revelations of what a woman can do to influence a family in righteousness...Women are appointed, Rebekahlike, to be guides and lights in righteousness in the family unit and to engineer and arrange so that things are done in the way that will result in the salvation of more of our Father's children" (Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign, Jan. 1979, p. 62, 63).
Gen. 27--Isaac planned to bless his son Esau with the birthright, despite Esau's unworthiness. This would have been a grave error, and Rebekah saw that. She conspired with Jacob to put him in the right place at the right time to receive the birthright blessing. This is an example of a wife who kept her covenant to obey her husband "in righteousness." In this case, she would have been wrong to obey her husband, because in a matter of eternal importance, he was following convention and personal preference, rather than the Spirit. Rebekah, however, had received a revelation before the twins were born that the younger was to be the leader of the family (Gen. 25:23), and besides, Esau had given up his birthright twice, definitely demonstrating that he did not have the integrity or foresight to be the patriarch of the family.
When Isaac realized which son had received the blessing, he knew it was right. What a prophet binds on earth is bound in heaven, but also what he looses on earth is loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19). Isaac had the power to revoke the blessing, but he let it stand (v. 33), because he knew his wife was right. The Lord could easily have caused Jacob to be born before Esau, therefore preventing this problem from arising, but instead He chose to teach a lesson for many generations to come: Righteousness is more important than circumstance, and revelation is more important than tradition. When Isaac afterwards blessed Esau, he restated through revelation the same truth that had been revealed to Rebekah years before, that he would be subservient to his younger brother. Despite the outward confusion, the blessings were given correctly through the Spirit, as the Apostle Paul stated, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come" (Heb. 11:20).
Esau was so angry at being tricked, he plotted to kill his brother after his father's death (v.41). This was told to Rebekah and she sent Isaac away to stay with relatives, saying that otherwise she would lose both her sons in one day: one to murder, and the other to execution (v. 45; see Gen. 9:6). To Isaac, she stated the reason for sending him away to be the need for Jacob to find a wife among the covenant people, which was definitely necessary. Of course, this was the Lord's plan as well.
It is worth noting that later Esau took a covenant wife (Gen. 28:6-9), and that when Jacob returned to Canaan many years later, "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept" (Gen. 33:4).
JACOB'S QUEST FOR A COVENANT MARRIAGE
Gen. 28--As Jacob went on his journey, he was granted a remarkable dream in which he saw a ladder ascending into heaven, with angels traveling up and down it, and the Lord standing above it. The message of the dream was that the covenants Jacob made with the Lord were as rungs of a ladder to heaven. He himself would have to climb the rungs in order to obtain the promised blessings that would allow him to enter into heaven with the Lord (Pres. Marion G. Romney, "Temples--The Gates to Heaven," Ensign, Mar. 1971, p. 16) The Hebrew word translated as "ladder" could also be translated as "stairway" or "ramp." The choice the King James translators made to use the word "ladder" provides us with a great symbol of the effort and time required to make our way to heaven. We believe that it is through the merits of Christ that we are saved, but Christ requires us to move our hands and feet and climb the ladder of covenants in order to qualify for His grace. It is not an elevator.
David E. Bokovoy, instructor at the Boston LDS Institute, currently a doctoral student in Hebrew Bible studies, recommends circling "the place" or "this place" anytime it is found in the Old Testament, because it almost always refers to a temple place (Know Your Religion Lecture, Feb. 15, 2002, Logan, Utah). Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of god, and this is the gate of heaven...And he called the name of that place Beth-el" (v. 16-19). "Beth-el is [short for] Beth-Elohim, which means literally 'The House of the Lord'" (Pres. Romney, as noted above.) Even more interesting is to note a couple of additions which Joseph Smith made to verse 22 in his translation. (These additions are not in the LDS Bible footnotes.) The added words are in italics: And the place of this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be the place of God's house. (How much Hebrew did Joseph Smith know?)
Gen. 29--Interestingly, Jacob met his wife, Rachel, at a well, just as his father's servant had met his mother at a well. In this case, however, it was Jacob who served Rachel, by rolling away the stone covering, and drawing the water for the flock. Typically it was the woman's job to water the sheep, however in this instance it seems that a tremendous effort was required to open the well, since the shepherds were waiting for all to be gathered together in order to do it (v. 8). It was "a prodigious feat for one person--a measure of Jacob's elation at seeing [Rachel]" (Harper-Collins Study Bible, p. 44) Both of these covenant marriage relationships began with an act of great service: another lesson for us to follow throughout our marriages.
In an ironic twist, Jacob's father-in-law Laban and Rachel's older sister Leah tricked him into marrying Leah first, a similar act to the deception that Jacob and his mother worked in order to procure the birthright blessing. Of course, in keeping with social convention, the older daughter should be married first, and in all the seven years of labor, there was apparently no other suitor. Since parents always arranged their children's marriages, and the father had supreme rule over the family, it was not so strange for Laban to control the marriages of his daughters (Sidney B. Sperry, "Hebrew Manners and Customs," Ensign, May 1972). It certainly would have been nicer, though, if it could have been done honestly, as this method set up a conflict and competition in the family at the outset: Leah was "unloved" (another translation for the word used as "hated" in v. 31), while Rachel was cherished (v. 20).
BEING "LOVED" OR "UNLOVED"
The people of the Old Testament times lived in an imperfect society with flawed families. Plural marriage was particularly plagued with feelings of competitiveness and unfairness, so much so that the problems of "loved" versus "hated" wives were actually recognized and addressed in the Law (Deut. 21:15-17). We today still live in a fallen world with imperfect people and troubled relationships. We may encounter discrimination, negligence, or abuse from others when we expected love and kindness. But God Himself is perfect, and His love is extended towards all. In the lives of Leah and Rachel, as in the lives of Sarah and Hagar, we see the impartial kindliness of the Lord. In both cases, both women found solace in their relationships with God. In both cases, the Lord blessed the less-loved wife with the compensatory joy of motherhood immediately, and made the favored wife wait a while. This delay of infertility, though, was followed by the delight of a son who had the birthright, or earned it through his righteousness. In all cases, the Lord communicated his care and concern to the woman in her individual trial (Sarah in Gen. 21:1, 6; Hagar in Gen. 21:17; Leah in Gen. 29:31-32; Rachel in Gen. 30:22).
God is always inviting, comforting, and encouraging, and is no respecter of persons. The scriptures show repeatedly that His love is offered to all: "He layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him" (2 Ne. 26:24); "Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price" (2 Ne. 26:25); "All men are privileged [to partake of God's goodness] the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden" (2 Ne. 26:28); "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men" (Alma 5:33); "Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Ne. 12:6).
In our times of affliction, or our situations of injustice, we can have confidence that the love of God will find us and compensate. "I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever" (Jacob 3:1-2).
COVENANT MARRIAGES BRING BLESSINGS
Despite the imperfections of the partners involved, covenant marriages put us on that ladder, bringing us ever closer to heaven. Both Leah and Rachel developed great faith through their marriage and child-bearing trials, which carried them through other trials. For example, when their prophet-husband received the command of the Lord to uproot the family and move back to his birthplace, where the threat of being murdered by Esau weighed heavily on his mind, he consulted both women, and both responded, "Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do" (31:14). Jacob did, and was joyously surprised by the heartfelt welcome of his now repentant brother Esau (Gen. 33). Generations afterward, when Boaz married Ruth, the blessing of the members of the wedding party to Ruth was that God would make her as great as Leah and Rachel. Together, these two women, with their two handmaids and their husband, bore and built the House of Israel, and their names are honored forever. Today, regardless of our circumstances, we similarly play a part in building our own branch of the House of Israel, and we can also leave a great legacy of faith as we make and remain true to our covenants.
ISAAC'S QUEST FOR A COVENANT MARRIAGE
The overriding theme of the stories of these chapters is that it is not easy to come by a covenant marriage, but that when we put forth the tremendous effort required, the Lord will assist and blessings will ensue. Here are some incidents that teach these lessons:
Gen. 24--Abraham's servant was given the overwhelming responsibility of traveling back to the homeland to find a worthy wife for Abraham's birthright son, Isaac. He brought great riches with him as gifts, requiring ten camels for transport (vs. 10). The task was overwhelming, requiring divine guidance. The servant asked in prayer for a sign that the future wife of his master would be one who would offer him water, and additionally offer the ten camels water. This would certainly single out the woman, because, although offering water to a male traveler was fairly normal ettiquette, offering to water the camels was well beyond the call of duty. One camel could drink up to 30 gallons! It was an extraordinary young woman who would offer this service, perhaps it was even unheard of. But when the caravan arrived at the well, not only did Rebekah volunteer the service, but she "hasted" and she "ran" to complete it (v. 19-20). When the servant discovered that she was a cousin, and therefore met the requirement set forth by Abraham, he knew his prayer was answered (v. 23-27).
Rebekah's family wanted to have a little time with her before she left them to marry Isaac (v. 55), but the servant wanted to obey the Lord immediately, since the Lord had answered his prayer so immediately (v. 56). Rebekah concurred, and went with the servant, never to see her family again. Upon their arrival at Isaac's property, she saw a man cutting through the field to meet them (v. 64-65), and was told it was her future husband. The closing words of this episode of the story are beautiful: "and she became his wife; and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (v. 67). Loving each other, and comforting each other are elements of a covenant marriage.
Gen. 25--While Isaac's brother Ishmael was blessed with a dozen sons, Rebekah was left childless. (It's interesting how many righteous women in the Old Testament struggle with fertility issues.) Finally, she was blessed with twin sons, Esau and Jacob. An interesting description is given of Jacob in the footnote to vs. 27: Jacob was "whole, complete, perfect, simple, plain." Jacob valued the birthright, and bought it from his brother (v. 31-33). Esau, like so many people, was overtaken by the physical desire of the moment, in his case hunger, and lost perspective of eternity. Unfortunately, many saints today do the same, selling their spiritual privileges for fleeting passions.
Gen. 26--Because Isaac continued in righteousness, the covenant promised to his father was restated in his behalf (vs. 2-5). The same can be true for each one of us, as covenant children, particularly as we receive our patriarchal blessing. Like his father, everywhere that Isaac went, he built an altar and called upon the Lord (v. 25).
Meanwhile Esau sold his birthright again, marrying outside the covenant and against his parents' wishes (v. 34-35) while Jacob remained unmarried until age 40, presumably because no covenant wife was available where they lived.
A little note of explanation: Both Abraham and Isaac, when they moved to a new land, ended up telling the local royalty that their wives were their sisters. Both wives were cousins, so this was true, "sister" and "brother" being general terms for relations. Why hide the fact that they were wives? Camille Fronk Olson explains that if a king desired the wife of another man, he would kill the husband [Women of the Old Testament, p. 32-33]. This deception, therefore, saved the lives of Abraham and Isaac. In both cases, the king, upon discovering that the object of his affection was already married, returned the wife to her husband, and promised protection for the husband from others who might desire the wife. So why did the deception have to occur in the first place? One idea: Perhaps the kings needed to personally get to know the people involved, and gain an appreciation for their integrity, before they would extend this highly unusual offer.
REBEKAH'S LEADERSHIP
"Rebekah is one of the greatest patterns in all the revelations of what a woman can do to influence a family in righteousness...Women are appointed, Rebekahlike, to be guides and lights in righteousness in the family unit and to engineer and arrange so that things are done in the way that will result in the salvation of more of our Father's children" (Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign, Jan. 1979, p. 62, 63).
Gen. 27--Isaac planned to bless his son Esau with the birthright, despite Esau's unworthiness. This would have been a grave error, and Rebekah saw that. She conspired with Jacob to put him in the right place at the right time to receive the birthright blessing. This is an example of a wife who kept her covenant to obey her husband "in righteousness." In this case, she would have been wrong to obey her husband, because in a matter of eternal importance, he was following convention and personal preference, rather than the Spirit. Rebekah, however, had received a revelation before the twins were born that the younger was to be the leader of the family (Gen. 25:23), and besides, Esau had given up his birthright twice, definitely demonstrating that he did not have the integrity or foresight to be the patriarch of the family.
When Isaac realized which son had received the blessing, he knew it was right. What a prophet binds on earth is bound in heaven, but also what he looses on earth is loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19). Isaac had the power to revoke the blessing, but he let it stand (v. 33), because he knew his wife was right. The Lord could easily have caused Jacob to be born before Esau, therefore preventing this problem from arising, but instead He chose to teach a lesson for many generations to come: Righteousness is more important than circumstance, and revelation is more important than tradition. When Isaac afterwards blessed Esau, he restated through revelation the same truth that had been revealed to Rebekah years before, that he would be subservient to his younger brother. Despite the outward confusion, the blessings were given correctly through the Spirit, as the Apostle Paul stated, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come" (Heb. 11:20).
Esau was so angry at being tricked, he plotted to kill his brother after his father's death (v.41). This was told to Rebekah and she sent Isaac away to stay with relatives, saying that otherwise she would lose both her sons in one day: one to murder, and the other to execution (v. 45; see Gen. 9:6). To Isaac, she stated the reason for sending him away to be the need for Jacob to find a wife among the covenant people, which was definitely necessary. Of course, this was the Lord's plan as well.
It is worth noting that later Esau took a covenant wife (Gen. 28:6-9), and that when Jacob returned to Canaan many years later, "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept" (Gen. 33:4).
JACOB'S QUEST FOR A COVENANT MARRIAGE
Gen. 28--As Jacob went on his journey, he was granted a remarkable dream in which he saw a ladder ascending into heaven, with angels traveling up and down it, and the Lord standing above it. The message of the dream was that the covenants Jacob made with the Lord were as rungs of a ladder to heaven. He himself would have to climb the rungs in order to obtain the promised blessings that would allow him to enter into heaven with the Lord (Pres. Marion G. Romney, "Temples--The Gates to Heaven," Ensign, Mar. 1971, p. 16) The Hebrew word translated as "ladder" could also be translated as "stairway" or "ramp." The choice the King James translators made to use the word "ladder" provides us with a great symbol of the effort and time required to make our way to heaven. We believe that it is through the merits of Christ that we are saved, but Christ requires us to move our hands and feet and climb the ladder of covenants in order to qualify for His grace. It is not an elevator.
David E. Bokovoy, instructor at the Boston LDS Institute, currently a doctoral student in Hebrew Bible studies, recommends circling "the place" or "this place" anytime it is found in the Old Testament, because it almost always refers to a temple place (Know Your Religion Lecture, Feb. 15, 2002, Logan, Utah). Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of god, and this is the gate of heaven...And he called the name of that place Beth-el" (v. 16-19). "Beth-el is [short for] Beth-Elohim, which means literally 'The House of the Lord'" (Pres. Romney, as noted above.) Even more interesting is to note a couple of additions which Joseph Smith made to verse 22 in his translation. (These additions are not in the LDS Bible footnotes.) The added words are in italics: And the place of this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be the place of God's house. (How much Hebrew did Joseph Smith know?)
Gen. 29--Interestingly, Jacob met his wife, Rachel, at a well, just as his father's servant had met his mother at a well. In this case, however, it was Jacob who served Rachel, by rolling away the stone covering, and drawing the water for the flock. Typically it was the woman's job to water the sheep, however in this instance it seems that a tremendous effort was required to open the well, since the shepherds were waiting for all to be gathered together in order to do it (v. 8). It was "a prodigious feat for one person--a measure of Jacob's elation at seeing [Rachel]" (Harper-Collins Study Bible, p. 44) Both of these covenant marriage relationships began with an act of great service: another lesson for us to follow throughout our marriages.
In an ironic twist, Jacob's father-in-law Laban and Rachel's older sister Leah tricked him into marrying Leah first, a similar act to the deception that Jacob and his mother worked in order to procure the birthright blessing. Of course, in keeping with social convention, the older daughter should be married first, and in all the seven years of labor, there was apparently no other suitor. Since parents always arranged their children's marriages, and the father had supreme rule over the family, it was not so strange for Laban to control the marriages of his daughters (Sidney B. Sperry, "Hebrew Manners and Customs," Ensign, May 1972). It certainly would have been nicer, though, if it could have been done honestly, as this method set up a conflict and competition in the family at the outset: Leah was "unloved" (another translation for the word used as "hated" in v. 31), while Rachel was cherished (v. 20).
BEING "LOVED" OR "UNLOVED"
The people of the Old Testament times lived in an imperfect society with flawed families. Plural marriage was particularly plagued with feelings of competitiveness and unfairness, so much so that the problems of "loved" versus "hated" wives were actually recognized and addressed in the Law (Deut. 21:15-17). We today still live in a fallen world with imperfect people and troubled relationships. We may encounter discrimination, negligence, or abuse from others when we expected love and kindness. But God Himself is perfect, and His love is extended towards all. In the lives of Leah and Rachel, as in the lives of Sarah and Hagar, we see the impartial kindliness of the Lord. In both cases, both women found solace in their relationships with God. In both cases, the Lord blessed the less-loved wife with the compensatory joy of motherhood immediately, and made the favored wife wait a while. This delay of infertility, though, was followed by the delight of a son who had the birthright, or earned it through his righteousness. In all cases, the Lord communicated his care and concern to the woman in her individual trial (Sarah in Gen. 21:1, 6; Hagar in Gen. 21:17; Leah in Gen. 29:31-32; Rachel in Gen. 30:22).
God is always inviting, comforting, and encouraging, and is no respecter of persons. The scriptures show repeatedly that His love is offered to all: "He layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him" (2 Ne. 26:24); "Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price" (2 Ne. 26:25); "All men are privileged [to partake of God's goodness] the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden" (2 Ne. 26:28); "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men" (Alma 5:33); "Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Ne. 12:6).
In our times of affliction, or our situations of injustice, we can have confidence that the love of God will find us and compensate. "I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever" (Jacob 3:1-2).
COVENANT MARRIAGES BRING BLESSINGS
(This is my own photograph of the Salt Lake City Temple.
I hold the copyright, but you are welcome to use it
for teaching purposes.)
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