that Jeroboam set up one of his calves. It is impossible for the best men to entail upon a place so much as the profession and form of religion.
16. And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. 17. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her. Fear not; thou shall have this son also. 18. And 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. 19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem. 20. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
We have here the story of the death of Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob.
1. She fell in travail by the way, not able to reach to Beth-lehem the next town, though they were near it; so suddenly does pain come upon a woman in travail, which she cannot escape, or put off. We may suppose that Jacob had soon a tent up, convenient enough for her reception.
2. Her pains were violent. She had hard labour; harder than usual: this was the effect of sin, ch. 3. 16. Note, Human life begins with sorrow, and the roses of its joy are surrounded with thorns.
3. The midwife encouraged her, v. 17. No doubt, she had her midwife with her, ready at hand, yet that would not secure her. Rachel had said, when she bare Joseph, God shall add another son; which now the midwife remembers, and tells her her words were made good. Yet this did not avail to keep up her spirits; unless God command away fear, no one else can. He only says, as one having authority, Fear not. We are apt in extreme perils, to comfort ourselves and our friends with the hopes of a temporal deliverance, in which we may be disappointed; we had better found our comforts on that which cannot fail us, the hope of eternal life.
4. Her travail was, to the life of the child, but to her own death. Note, Though the pains and perils of child-bearing were introduced by sin, yet they have sometimes been fatal to very holy women, who, though not saved in child-bearing, are saved through it with an everlasting salvation. Rachel had passionately said, Give me children, or else I die; and now that she had children, (for this was her second,) she died. Her dying is here called the departing of her soul. Note, The death of the body is but the departure of the soul to the world of spirits.
Her dying lips called her new-born son Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow. And many a son, not born in such hard labour, yet proves the son of his parent's sorrow, and the heaviness of her that bare him. Children are enough the sorrow of their poor mothers, in the breeding, bearing, and nursing, of them; they should therefore, when they grow up, study to be their joy, and so, if possible, to make them some amends. But Jacob, because he would not renew the sorrowful remembrance of the mother's death, every time he called his son by his name, changed his name, and called him Benjamin, The son of my right hand, that is, "very dear to me; set on my right hand for a blessing; the support of my age, like the staff in my right-hand."
6. Jacob buried her near the place where she died; as she died in child-bed, it was convenient to bury her quickly; and therefore he did not bring her to the burying-place of his family. If the soul be at rest after death, it matters little where the body lies. In the place where the tree falls, there let it be. No mention is made of the mourning that was at her death, because that might easily be taken for granted. Jacob, no doubt was a true mourner. Note, Great afflictions sometimes befal us immediately after great comforts. Lest Jacob should be lifted up with the visions of the Almighty which he was honoured with, this was sent as a thorn in the flesh to humble him. Those that enjoy the favours peculiar to the children of God, must yet expect the troubles that are common to the children of men. Deborah, who, had she lived, would have been a comfort to Rachel in her extremity, died but a little before. Note, When death comes into a family, it often strikes double. God by it speaks once, yea twice. The Jewish writers say, "The death of Deborah and Rachel was to expiate the murder of the She chemites, occasioned by Dinah, a daughter of the family."
Lastly, Observe Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave, so that it was known long after, to be Rachel's sepulchre, (1 Sam. 10. 2.) and Providence so ordered it, that this place afterward fell in the lot of Benjamin. Jacob set up a pillar in remembrance of his joy, (v. 14.) and here he sets up one in remembrance of his sorrows; for, as it may be of use to ourselves to keep both in mind, so it may be of use to others to transmit the memorials of both: the church, long afterward, owned that what God said to Jacob at Beth-el, both by his word and by his rod, he intended for their instruction, (Hos. 12. 4.) There he spake with us.
21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. 22. And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23. The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's first-born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: 24. The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: 25. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: 26. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram. 27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father, unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 28. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. 29. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and as gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Here is,
1. Jacob's remove, v. 21. He also, as his fathers, sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, and was not long in a place. Immediately after the story of Rachel's death, he is here called Israel, (v. 21, 22.) and not often so, afterward: the Jews say, "The historian does him this honour here, because he bore that affliction with such admirable patience and submission to Providence." Note, Those are Israels indeed, princes with God, that support the government of their own passions. He that has this rule over his own spirit, is better than the mighty. Israel, a prince with God, yet dwells
