Genesis 35:16-20
The Road to Bethlehem

  1. Death and Birth (16-18)
    1. The Journey from Bethel
      1. Why do they journey from Bethel?
      2. Had not God told Jacob to go up to Bethel and DWELL there?
      3. Yet this proves impossible, and how could it not?
        1. Jacob is a sinner. His wives are sinners (as we are about to be reminded in Rachel's case). His children and all his household are sinners.
        2. How can this sinner actually dwell in the house of God all the days of his life?
        3. He and his family ritually purified themselves to come to Bethel
        4. But how can they maintain that purity?
      4. As much as Bethel is a SYMBOL of being brought near to God, it cannot provide the real thing.
      5. Bethel cannot take away Jacob's sins and exalt him to God's right hand.
      6. So he leaves, like Adam leaving the Garden of Eden, because he cannot dwell in God's presence.
    2. The Death of Rachel
      1. And on their journey, Rachel goes into labor, gives birth to a son, and dies.
      2. As she is in labor the midwives try to encourage her by telling her she is having another son.
      3. What irony!
        1. After all, this is what Rachel longed for.
        2. When she was barren, she saw that Leah her sister bore sons to Jacob and she envied her.
        3. So she said, "Give me sons or else I die!"
        4. And now she is having a son who is the cause of her death.
        5. When she finally bore a son to Jacob, she longed for more.
        6. She named that son "Joseph" meaning "to add," because she prayed, "May the Lord add to me another son."
        7. And so the Lord is answering that prayer, but at the expense of her life.
      4. A further irony
        1. Remember when Laban came and accused Jacob of stealing his gods?
        2. Jacob replied, "With whomever you find your gods, let him not live!"
        3. And the Scripture tells us he said this because he did not know Rachel had taken them.
        4. So it is that Jacob's words are carried out and Rachel, still of childbearing years, dies in labor. Jacob's words are carried out in a way he could not have imagined.
      5. So this death is a judgment on Rachel as well as, more broadly, an effect of the curse God has pronounced on childbirth.
    3. The Naming of the Son
      1. How can Rachel rejoice in such circumstances?
        1. She thought she would die if she didn't have a son; now she is dying because she is having a son.
        2. She bears a son, but will not live to nurse him or proudly present him to his father.
        3. The words of the midwives are of scant comfort to her.
        4. What a hopeless situation! How can it be remedied?
      2. Rachel, in despair, names the child Ben-Oni
        1. "Son of my sorrow"
        2. (The name can also mean "Son of my iniquity" or even "Son of my idolatry" which is a further irony. But the meaning intended hear is "Son of my sorrow.")
        3. What a dark name for the child!
        4. She dooms him by this name to carry about with him the memory of his mother's pain and death. She stamps him with this identity, a child of sorrow. A child of death.
      3. Jacob immediately rescues the child from this grim identity
      4. He names him Benjamin
        1. "Son of the right hand"
        2. From the lowest pit of despair Jacob exalts this son to his right hand.
        3. I hope that name has some significance for you as readers of Scripture.
      5. The right hand means favor, protection, and power.
      6. The right hand means favor
        1. When Jacob goes to bless Joseph's sons later in this book, Joseph presents the older one Manasseh to Jacob's right hand.
        2. He wants Manasseh to receive the greater blessing.
        3. But Jacob crosses his hands and puts the right hand on Ephraim, the younger. Thus Ephraim is the one who receives the greater favor.
      7. The right hand means protection
        1. Psalm 16:8 - Because the Lord is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
        2. Psalm 18:35 - You have also given me the shield of salvation/ Your right hand has supported me.
      8. The right hand means power
        1. Exodus 15:6 - Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
        2. Psalm 98:1 - His right hand and his holy arm have gained for him the victory.
      9. So Jacob redeems his son from the curse put on him at birth.
      10. He exalts him to the right hand of favor, protection, and power.
      11. And this is not even Jacob's right hand, necessarily, that we're talking about
        1. Not son of MY right hand
        2. But son of THE right hand
        3. Ultimately, Jacob is in faith commending his son to GOD'S right hand for power, protection, and favor.
      12. Ok, now we've set the scene, and I hope some of this has been suggestive for what I'm about to say….
  2. The Redemptive Context
    1. The Fall and the Curse
      1. This is part of the curse that came on Eve when she sinned
      2. Remember how things started out, with Adam and Eve being told "Be fruitful and multiply."
      3. Then Adam and Eve fell and childbearing was cursed
        1. Gen 3:16 - I will greatly increase the SORROW of your conception. In PAIN you shall bring forth children.
        2. So that curse is fulfilled in the present case to the utmost. Rachel not only brings forth a child, but in the process the further curse on all humanity is fulfilled in her, "Dust you are and to dust you shall return."
      4. But right before God cursed the woman's childbearing, he blessed it
        1. Gen 3:15 - I will put enmity between you and the woman. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
        2. Remember what that means?
        3. So Eve goes on to bear children in hope that this promise will be fulfilled.
        4. She goes through the cursed, painful, sorrowful process of labor in the hopes of bringing forth a child who will take away the curse and restore the broken relationship with God.
      5. Now put that in the context of God's words to Jacob before this son is born
        1. He told him "Be fruitful and multiply."
        2. Even though you are cursed and your wife is cursed, do not be afraid to bear children. The curse shall not have the final word.
        3. So he is prepared to face this moment bravely, in faith believing that even the curse of death cannot finally imprint a permanent identity on his son.
        4. In faith, he renames the son Benjamin. This child who was born under the curse, out of sorrow and into sorrow, will one day be rescued by God and exalted.
    2. The History of Israel
      1. Benjamin's birth encapsulates the history of the nation that will descend from him and his brothers.
      2. Israel will collectively become sons of sorrow, just as Benjamin is named
        1. They will be taken into captivity in Egypt
        2. And there they will suffer and wait for someone to come and give them a new name.
        3. God will come and give them a new name. He will call them "my son."
        4. And he will exalt these sons of sorrow to his right hand - he will favor them, and protect them, and exercise his awesome power on their behalf.
        5. This long journey from slavery to freedom is given in a very quick picture in the naming and renaming of Benjamin.
      3. Much later, Israel's history will repeat itself
        1. They will be taken into captivity in Babylon
        2. And why? Because of their own sin and disobedience
        3. And so their children will be born captives because of their parents' disobedience
        4. Does this sound familiar?
          1. It's like being born of Adam
          2. It's like Benjamin becoming a son of sorrow because his mother lays her sorrow upon him.
          3. He is BORN under a curse - as are we all.
        5. The captives will be restored.
        6. They went out with weeping, but as the redeemed of the Lord they shall return and come with singing unto Zion.
        7. These sons of sorrow will be exalted again to God's right hand - to the position of his favor, protection, and power.
        8. It is this transformation that is foreshadowed and summarized in the transformation of Benjamin from a son of sorrow to a son of the right hand.
    3. The History of Christ
      1. The history of Israel encapsulates the history of Christ
        1. Matthew tells us this over and over in his gospel
        2. And the fact that Israel is called God's "son" is further evidence.
        3. Here at last is the true son of God who enters this world a son of sorrow and even goes down to the grave, but in the end is exalted to God's right hand.
        4. Therefore Benjamin's birth encapsulates the history of Christ (because it encapsulates the history of Israel).
      2. Thus it was prophesied throughout the Old Testament
        1. He would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
        2. Yet to this man of sorrows, the Lord would say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
      3. He was born in a low condition, made under the law. He underwent the miseries of this life, endured the wrath of God in the cursed death of the cross, was buried and continued under the power of death for a time.
      4. All the curse that rightly came through Adam descended upon him.
      5. All the judgment that rightly came to Benjamin - that Benjamin should truly be a son of sorrow - was poured out on his head.
      6. All the condemnation of which you and I are heirs in Adam…
        1. He bore it! HE was the son of sorrow.
        2. And now he is the son of God's right hand.
      7. Is this not what he himself proclaimed?
        1. Even as he fulfilled his name as a man of sorrows, he proclaimed his coming glory - "I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
        2. And because he endured the cross, God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name.
      8. Is this not what the apostles proclaimed concerning him?
        1. Acts 2:29ff. - Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30"Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31"he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32"This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33"Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
        2. Acts 5.30ff. - The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31"Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
    4. The History of the Church
      1. Stephen
      2. James
        1. James and John came to Jesus asking that when he came into his kingdom they might sit beside him, one at his right hand the other at his left.
        2. They are asking to be Benjamins, sons of his right hand. They do not understand that this means requesting first to be Ben-Oni's, sons of his sorrow. He tells them this.
        3. "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I will drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"
        4. Still they do not understand and so say, "We are able."
        5. And he replies, indeed you will, but it is not for me to give away the position upon might right hand or on my left.
        6. They did not understand this then, but they saw their Lord crucified, buried, and raised again, ascending into glory at God's right hand. Then they were prepared to suffer with him, to be sons of his sorrow if only they might become sons of the glory in which he dwelt at God's right hand.
        7. So it came about during the early days of the church that King Herod took James and executed him.
        8. James, like Stephen before him, became a son of sorrow
      3. Paul
      4. Time will fail me if I mention all the others in the New Testament who have became sons of sorrow for Christ and just as surely became sons of God's right hand in him.
      5. And even then I will not have mentioned all those of whom history tells us, from Polycarp, a disciple of John, who was executed for Christ in the 2nd Century, to this Century's Bruce Hunt, OPC missionary to North Korea who was twice imprisoned and cruelly treated for his faith, being offered release if he would recant his testimony.
      6. It is truly a CLOUD of witnesses that testifies to you with one voice, brothers and sisters.
      7. Every single one of these sons of sorrow has been exalted to God's right hand, just as Stephen the first martyr was.
      8. Hear what they say! They lost nothing by suffering for Christ.
      9. Heb 12:1,2 - Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
      10. Let us hear further what it means that this son of sorrow has been exalted to God's right hand. This is a major Biblical theme; let us not miss it.
        1. Ephesians 1:16ff. - that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
        2. Col 3:1 - If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
        3. Romans 8:34ff. - Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  3. Burial and Resurrection (19-21)
    1. Jacob's Hope
      1. This death of Rachel is a judgment for her sin in taking the idols.
      2. This death of Rachel is from God's curse on childbirth in particular and humanity in general. That curse has reigned over mankind since Adam and Eve left the garden.
      3. But Jacob's hope is that the final word from God to his people will not be a word of curse and judgment and death but of life and redemption and blessing.
      4. So he erects a pillar
        1. Remember what that has meant for him
        2. It points to heaven where his favor, protection, and power are.
        3. To erect it over Rachel's grave is to speak of his hope that the Lord can remedy even this.
      5. Jacob's hope is the hope of resurrection.
      6. Rachel dies on the way to Bethlehem, she does not reached that holy place
    2. Jacob's Hope Vindicated in Christ
      1. But one day there will be born a son of Jacob in that place
      2. And he, the son of sorrow, shall become the true Benjamin, the son of God's right hand.
    3. The Church's Hope
      1. Let us therefore express our hope as well.
      2. The child born at Bethlehem, in low circumstances, surrounded by those who wished to kill him, has been exalted to God's right hand.
      3. With him, then, the curse is reversed and you have nothing to fear.
      4. God's favor, protection, and power are yours in him.
      5. And at the last day, "He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"

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