As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”
Near the end of his life, Jacob adopts Joseph's two sons as his own. Then he stops and speaks of a roadside grave. Why does a dying man mention a burial while he is handing out an inheritance?
The one time he spoke of it
Genesis records Rachel's death in chapter 35. Jacob himself never speaks of it — until now:
L. M. GrantVerse 7 is the only expression we hear from Jacob's lips about the death of his favoured wife, Rachel. How deeply his heart was affected is not dwelt on at all. He held his feelings back, yet the memory was still real and painful. He tells Joseph the exact place where she died and where he buried her. These were things he would not forget.
"As for me"
Jacob has just spoken of the inheritance waiting for Joseph's sons. Then he turns to himself, and the two futures stand side by side:
Hamilton SmithHe sees a great inheritance in the land stretching before them and their descendants. But as for himself, all his earthly joys in Canaan ended with the death of his best-loved wife… For Rachel he had suffered, toiled, and lived, and with her every earthly joy closed for Jacob. It was as if he said to Joseph, "Your two sons have bright earthly prospects before them, but as for me, mine were all buried in Rachel's tomb." But the faith of the dying man looks beyond the end of all earthly joys… If he speaks of Rachel's tomb on the way to Ephrath, he adds something telling: "that is, Bethlehem."
Ephrath, that is Bethlehem
The name Jacob adds has a history of its own:
Morrish Bible DictionaryBethlehem first appears in the Bible in connection with the death and burial of Rachel (Genesis 35:19)… Bethlehem means "house of bread". That is a very fitting name for the place the Saviour would come from as a man — He who was the living bread that came down from heaven… It was apparently first called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; Genesis 48:7), and afterwards Ephratah (Ruth 4:11; Psalm 132:6). Scripture once calls it Bethlehem Ephratah, that is, the fruitful, because the ruler of Israel was to come from there (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4, 15; John 7:42). This led to Herod's killing of the infants (Matthew 2:16-18).
One writer ties Jacob's lifelong grief to the spot where he laid her:
The Bible TreasuryDeath created an emptiness that can never be filled. Jacob never forgot the loss of Rachel for the rest of his life… He buried the one he loved where Christ, the real comfort for every grieving heart, was to be born.
Son of sorrow, son of the right hand
There Rachel gave birth to a son and died. The mother and the father gave the boy opposite names. The second name shows where Jacob's faith was looking:
An Outline of Sound WordsThe dying Rachel called the child Benoni (son of my sorrow), but Jacob called him Benjamin (son of the right hand). Near Bethlehem the true Son of the Right Hand would come into the world. There Jacob shows his faith in God by the name he gives his son. At that spot the door seemed to close on Jacob's deepest joys. Yet that same spot is where his brightest hopes would be made sure, in the Baby to be born at Bethlehem.
A loss received from God's hand
Jacob tells the story without a word of complaint:
Leslie M. GrantRachel's death was certainly one of the most painful lessons Jacob had to learn. It went deep into his soul. Yet his history says nothing about how Jacob felt about it… He felt it. Yet I think in Jacob we now have a submission of heart. He recognised that it had come from the hand of God, and he accepted it. He had learnt his lesson, learnt to submit to God.
Rachel's grave in the Gospel
When Herod killed the children of Bethlehem, Rachel appeared again in Scripture — in a place no reader would expect her:
W. T. P. WolstonRachel had been dead for centuries and centuries. But the Spirit of God puts it in this remarkable way, as if her spirit had risen from the dead… We should not have expected Rachel to meet us here. But, as I said before, Bethlehem was the place where she died. Her children died there too, simply because it was the spot where her Saviour and theirs — and, thank God, my Saviour — was born.
Summary
- Grave. Jacob never spoke of Rachel's death anywhere else. Here he names the road, the distance and the burial place — details a grieving man does not forget.
- Grief. "As for me" sets the bright future of Joseph's sons against Jacob's own. His earthly joys all lay buried in Rachel's tomb.
- Gift. He adds "that is, Bethlehem" — the house of bread, the fruitful town the ruler of Israel would come from.
- Faith. The mother named her baby son of my sorrow. The father renamed him son of the right hand, and the place of loss became a place of hope.
- Echo. Centuries later Rachel weeps again over the children of Bethlehem — in the town where her Saviour was born.