“They journeyed from Bethel; and there was yet but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. And it came to pass when she had hard labor, that the midwife said to her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing (for she died) that she called his name Benoni [son of my sorrow]: but his father called him Benjamin [son of right hand]. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day” (Gen. 35:16-2016And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. 17And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. 18And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. 19And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. (Genesis 35:16‑20)).
The Government of God
The moral government of God is as sure as His grace, from the beginning to the end. Rachel had greatly sinned and kept her husband in the dark, when he unconsciously said that the one guilty (of stealing Laban’s images) should not live. Her theft was not only a sin against her father, but in what she stole, it was a heinous insult to God. And we have no evidence that there was adequate self-judgment. It is plain that Jacob at length became aware of idols in his household, the sin of which God’s call to Bethel laid on his conscience. To take his beloved away was a chastening, not to her only but to him also.
First Corinthians 11:27-32 is a most instructive teaching on the application of this truth, in which we learn the security of grace on the one hand, and on the other the Lord’s dealing with the inconsistent ways of those that are His. The Lord was then judging by sickness and even death the faulty state and walk of the Corinthian saints, that they should not be condemned with the world, because they were His and to be kept from “damnation.” They were judged in this temporal way for the blessing of their souls. It is a universal principle of God, and it is present in both Old and New Testaments. Only the display of grace under the gospel brings out not only His sovereign grace, but also His moral government, with special clearness.
Sorrow and Hope
Rachel’s name for the newborn child expresses her sorrow; Jacob, whatever his natural feelings over the dying wife of his heart, looks forward in hope. But it is not a heavenly hope in Benjamin, as Abraham had in Isaac, received from death to resurrection in a parable; it is the pledge of Israel in power, when she that represented the former state passes away by death. Israel must at the close be brought through deep affliction before emerging into victory over all their foes on the earth, through their long-disowned Messiah.
“Fear not” from the attending midwife was well-meant, but the Lord was calling her away from a scene where she had failed in testimony to Him and compromised her husband too. How could she be trusted in training her offspring in His fear? God had added another son, as she had said in faith, when her firstborn was given. It was fitting that she should depart.
Rachel’s Descendants
Little did Jacob think, when he erected a pillar of thanksgiving at Bethel in the place where God talked with him, that he would so soon after erect another pillar — one of sorrow upon Rachel’s grave. But he bows to the hand of chastening: Whom the Lord loves, He chastises, and scourges every son whom He receives. Jacob could not know, as it was not yet revealed, that near this very Ephrath should be born David, the king of Israel, the pledge and type of his greater Son, whose goings forth are from of old — from everlasting. The smitten Judge of Israel, who gave up His guilty people, will one day restore them, so that they shall abide and He be great, unto the ends of the earth.
Rachel dies, but the pillar that records it stands in Israel’s land and history till the kingdom. Benjamin himself typifies Christ, not at all as head of the church, but as the conquering Son of might when the kingdom is established in the land and the enemies perish before Him. Thus the two wives of Jacob aptly represent the fruitful Leah, and mother of the nations, and Rachel, Jacob’s first loved, who typified Israel after the flesh. After her comes Joseph, the bright witness of Christ sold and separate from His brethren, at God’s right hand while the Jews are disowned. Rachel’s dying gives birth to the son of her sorrow, but son of his father’s right hand, who shall devour the prey in the morning and at even divide the spoil (Gen. 49:2727Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. (Genesis 49:27)). “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong” (Isa. 53:1212Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)).
W. Kelly (adapted)