Rachel

Overview

Rachel was the younger daughter of Laban, Jacob's uncle, whom Jacob loved at first sight and served seven years to marry, years Scripture says 'seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.' Laban's deception on the wedding night gave Jacob Leah instead, requiring Jacob to work another seven years for Rachel as well. Though deeply loved, Rachel remained barren for years while Leah bore son after son, provoking Rachel's anguished cry, 'Give me children, or else I die.' In her distress she gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob as a surrogate, following the customs of the day, before God finally 'remembered Rachel' and opened her womb, giving her Joseph. Years later, traveling with Jacob's household, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin near Bethlehem, naming him with her dying breath 'Ben-oni,' son of my sorrow, before Jacob renamed him Benjamin, son of my right hand. She was buried on the way to Ephrath, and her tomb became a lasting landmark in Israel's memory.