The Jacob-Rachel-Leah Story
It is recommended that the series “A New Way to View The Women of the Bible,” “Women are Equal to Men,” and “Jacob and Esau Birthrights and Blessings” be read before reading the posts in this series.
Review of the previous post.
The previous post, post number 6 of 8, continues the discussion of God’s part in this story with a discussion which includes a suggestion that a barren woman can still be a “wife”.
Preview of this post.
This post, post number 7 of 8, discusses Rachel’s theft of Laban’s idols.
III. The theft of Laban’s household idols
Next, comes the question of why Rachel stole the family idols before she left Laban’s house and why she refused to return them (Genesis 31:30). One would think that God would punish Rachel for thievery and perhaps punish her for idolatry. Yet He didn’t[1]. Why?
Some commentators suggest that Rachel was trying to wean her father from idolatry[2], and others suggest that Rachel was trying to deprive her father of the ability, through divination, to detect Jacob’s whereabouts[3], and still others speculate that the theft is anger at Leban, or an attempt to have indicia of leadership[4]. Some might argue that the prohibition against thievery and idolatry began at Mt. Sinai and thus did not apply here (but this would be countered by those who argue the Patriarchs were subject to these rules even before they were given at Sinai and that Rachel’s thievery may even have violated Noahide Law). The idolatry issue is analogous to the situation concerning multiple wives. That is, merely because idolatry was a common practice in the Near East at the time and merely because the Bible appears to tolerate or even ignore such practices in other people, such practices seem to reject what the Bible teaches about One God. With regard to thievery, many would consider the just-mentioned explanations to be mere excuses. There is no excuse for thievery (certainly not after Sinai) and God later severely punished people and, indeed, entire nations, for idolatry. Thus merely finding excuses for Rachel’s thievery does not provide an explanation of why God did not punish Rachel. There may be another explanation. Furthermore, some sources suggest that Rachel’s thievery was ultimately punished by her later death in childbirth[5].
The biblical text notes that Rachel was sitting on the idols when Laban caught up to the family (Genesis 31:34). Because of this, it is possible that Rachel was trying to use those idols as fertility tools. Rachel had had great difficulty getting pregnant under Jacob’s god, so she was desperate and was attempting to supplement the power of this god with other means. She hedged her bets by having Leah marry Jacob, why would she not hedge her bets here as well? That is one explanation of why Rachel was sitting on the idols. One cannot blame her, she had spent the past fourteen years and had virtually no luck while her sister was extremely fertile with the same man. She knew that women were valued as baby producers; therefore, her self esteem required that she produce babies, especially when contrasted and directly juxtaposed with the great success her sister had with the same man. Such a situation would cause desperation in nearly any woman, and such desperation might cause her to steal the idols[6]. From a human perspective, people understand such acts as being those of desperation and thus can forgive them.
From a moral perspective, God’s apparent overlooking of Rachel’s thievery and idolatry can be interpreted as God understanding that Rachel was not entirely responsible for the difficult situation in which she had been placed as opposed to the situation where a human being is responsible for a situation in which he finds himself, and took the circumstances into account. This teaches an understanding God.
Preview of the next post.
The next post, post number 8 of 8, presents a short discussions of a conclusion that might be drawn from this story.
[1] Some, such as Yair Zakovitch, in his book “Jacob” at p 82, states that Rachel was punished – she died in childbirth, and this claim is often backed up by alleging that the name Rachel gave to her child: Ben-oni (Gen 35:18), which means son of my misfortune, or son of my sin or wickedness, is related to her guilt in the theft of the idols. However, punishment for thievery was not included in Noahide law and death seems to be out of proportion to the crime, especially since it involved theft of idols which God hated anyway. Also, if her death in childbirth is punishment for the theft of Laban’s idols, Rachel was not given any chance to repent. Therefore, there is basis for believing that Rachel was not punished for this act.
[2] S. Dresner, Rachel (Minneapolis: Augsbury Fortress, 1984) p. 61.
[3] L. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006) p. 436, see also, Yair Zakovitch, Jacob (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p 82.
[4] A. Bellis, Helpmates, Harlots and Heroes 2nd ed. (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2007) p. 72.
[5] Bereishit Rabbah 74.32. Also, this might be the reason that Rachel is not buried with Jacob, she could not be accepted there due to her reversion to idol-worshiping in this episode.
[6] See, Raver, Listen to Her Voice, 65. Also, note that it was Rachel, who only has one child and who has had extreme difficulty getting pregnant, who stole the idols and not Leah who has several children and apparently has had no difficulty getting pregnant.