Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Scripture for the Day
Genesis 35:16-21

The Birth of Benjamin and the Death of Rachel

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. When she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; for now you will have another son.” As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

Obstetrics has made such amazing strides in protecting the health and wellbeing of mothers and their children during pregnancy and birth that we can easily forget how dangerous bringing a new life in to the world was, prior to the modern era. Modern medicine has not reduced risk to zero, of course, as a pastor I’ve sat and prayed with several families who were grieving the loss of a loved one or of a different future, but our culture has a habit of not talking about such sensitive subjects. Our lesson this morning is a heartbreaking reminder that even within the story of the founding of God’s Chosen People there is tragedy and sorrow; maybe we don’t talk about it, but we can’t avoid it, it’s part of the human condition.

Rachel, the beloved of Jacob, bore him two sons, Joseph and the infant from our lesson whose name hangs in the balance. Two pregnancies, two births, and this one ended with the death of Rachel. With her dying breath, Rachel told the women attending her that she wants to name her infant son, Ben-oni, that is, “Son of my Suffering.” Saddling a child with a negative name is not unprecedented in the story of the Jewish People, Seth means “substitution,” Nahor means “snorting,” Amos means “Bearer of Burden,” but this was not to be the fate of this child. Jacob made sure he would carry the name God intended for him, Benjamin, which means, “Son of my right hand.”

God has a plan for Benjamin and his descendants. During the great famine, when ten brothers traveled to Egypt for provisions, Joseph, hid his identity and convinced them to send his baby brother, whom Jacob had tried to shield from danger. Joseph further tricked them by framing Benjamin of theft, he had servants hide a chalice in his saddlebag, and threatened to keep him as a slave. The brothers confess that if they don’t return with the, supposed, sole heir of Rachel, their father will die of grief. It was the threat of Benjamin’s imprisonment and anguish by their brothers that revealed their contrition for their previous betrayal of Joseph. It was then that he disclosed his ruse and embraced his family. Joseph invited Jacob and his brothers to Egypt and set the stage the Jewish People’s eventual liberation by God in the Exodus. As the story closes, Jacob is on his deathbed, and brings each son forward to tell them their fate. Jacob tells Benjamin, “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil.” When the Israelites came back to the Promised Land hundreds of years later the Benjaminites are revealed as fierce warriors. The first Israelite king, Saul, was from their tribe.

God’s providential hand was there all along and for those of us who know the New Testament side of the story, we know that the Jewish People from whom Jesus came were made up of the descendants of three of the 12 brothers: Judah, Levi, and Benjamin. Jesus came from the line of Judah, of course, but the Apostle Paul was a Benjaminite. To further accentuate the connection, the place where Rachel died was near the village of Ephrath, also known as Bethlehem. Jacob erected a pillar over her grave on the outskirts of the village where Jesus was to be born.

Modern medicine, especially public health, had made us complacent that we, as a society, would be able to handle just about any disease that came along. Alas, Covid-19 has shown the weaknesses in our global systems and that the human condition means we are still susceptible to disease and death.

When we went on lock-down back in March I had every confidence that we’d “flatten the curve,” be back to our normal lives by August. Now, it appears that conditions are continuing to worsen. So many families are grieving the loss of loved ones and I fear the pandemic’s toll will get worse. Collectively, we’re all lamenting the future that could have been.

I can see how someone might lose faith in the midst of a pandemic, throw up one’s hands and name this as a season of suffering but the faithful have the example of Jacob. Even in the midst of his unfathomable grief and sorrow he sought to do God’s will. He named his son for an imagined better future. Even now, we can turn to our scriptures and see how God’s hand guided the patriarchs in the time of Jacob and the fledgling church in the time of Paul. In our current era, we can turn to those within our faith family who bear witness how God has been present in their lives and the lives of they we know and we can return the favor and witness to them. Albert Schweitzer once said, “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” This is why we exist as a community, the church, to rekindle one another. The church, and the people who embody it can witness, even through a veil of tears, that God is with us and God’s People will prevail.

Let us pray:
Merciful God,
you know our anguish, not from afar,
but in the suffering of Jesus Christ.
Take all our grieving and sorrow,
all our pain and tears,
and heal us according to your promises
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Book of Common Worship, PC(USA)