Genesis xxxv.
8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el
under an oak; and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.
9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram,
and blessed him.
10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: Thy name shall not be
called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his
name Israel.
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 labor.
17 The midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou, shalt 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.
Why Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, should be interjected here does not
appear. However, if all Isaac's and Jacob's children had been intrusted
to her care through the perils of infancy, it was fitting that the
younger generation with their father should pause in their journey and
drop a tear to her memory, and cultivate a tender sentiment for the old
oak tree at Bethel.
There is no manifestation of gratitude more beautiful in family life
than kindness and respect to servants for long years of faithful
service, especially for those who have watched the children night and
day, tender in sickness, and patient with all their mischief in health.
In dealing with children one needs to exercise all the cardinal
virtues, more tact, diplomacy, more honor and honesty than even an
ambassador to the Court of St. James. Children readily see whom they
can trust, on whose word they can rely.
In Rachel's hour of peril the midwife whispers sweet words of
consolation. She tells her to fear not, that she will have a son, and
he will be born alive. Whether she died herself is of small importance
so that the boy lived. Scott points a moral on the death of Rachel. He
thinks she was unduly anxious to have sons, and so the Lord granted her
prayers to her own destruction. If she had accepted with pious
resignation whatever weal or woe naturally fell to her lot, she might
have lived to a good old age, and been buried by Jacob's side at last,
and not left alone in Bethlehem. People who obstinately seek what they
deem their highest good, ofttimes perish in the attainment of their
ambition. (Thus Scott philosophizes.)
Jacob was evidently a man of but little sentiment. The dying wife
gasps a name for her son, but the father pays no heed to her request,
and chooses one to suit himself. Though we must admit that Benjamin is
more dignified than Ben-oni; the former more suited to a public
officer, the latter to a household pet. And now Rachel is gone, and her
race with Leah for children is ended. The latter with her maids is the
victor, for she can reckon eight sons, while Rachel with her; can
muster only four. One may smile at this ambition of the women for
children, but a man's wealth was estimated at that time by the number
of his children and cattle; women who had no children were objects of
pity and dislike among the Jewish tribes. The Jews of to-day have much
of the same feeling. They believe in the home sphere for all women,
that wifehood and motherhood are the most exalted offices. If they are
really so considered, why does every Jew on each returning Holy Day say
in reading the service, "I thank thee, oh Lord! that I was not born a
woman!"? And if Gentiles are of the same opinion, why do they consider
the education of boys more important than that of girls? Surely those
who are to fill the most responsible offices should have the most
thorough and liberal education.
The home sphere has so many attractions that most women prefer it to
all others. A strong right arm on which to lean, a safe harbor where
adverse winds never blow, nor rough seas roll, makes a most inviting
picture. But alas! even good husbands sometime die, and the family
drifts out on the great ocean of life, without chart or compass, or the
least knowledge of the science of navigation. In such emergencies the
woman trained to self-protection, self-independence, and self-support
holds the vantage ground against all theories on the home sphere.
The first mention we have of an aristocratic class of Kings and Dukes,
is in the line of Cain's descendants.
Genesis xxxvi.
18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau's wife: duke Jeush, duke
Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the
daughter of Anah Esau's wife.
The name Aholibamah has a suggestion of high descent, but the
historian tells us nothing of the virtues or idiosyncrasies of
character, such a high-sounding name suggests, but simply that she was
the daughter of Anah, and the wife of Esau, and that she was blessed
with children, all interesting facts, which might have been intensified
with a knowledge of some of her characteristics, what she thought, said
and did, her theories of life in general. One longs all through Genesis
to know what the women thought of a strictly masculine dynasty.
Some writers claim that these gross records of primitive races, have a
deep spiritual meaning, that they are symbolical of the struggles of an
individual soul from animalism to the highest, purest development of
all the Godlike in man.
Some on the Revising Committee take this view, and will give us from
time to time more exalted interpretations than the account in plain
English conveys to the ordinary mind.
In my exegesis thus far, not being versed in scriptural metaphors and
symbols, I have attempted no scientific interpretation of the simple
narration, merely commenting on the supposed facts as stated. As the
Bible is placed in the hands of children and uneducated men and women
to point them the way of salvation, the letter should have no doubtful
meaning. What should we think of guide posts on our highways, if we
needed a symbolical interpreter at every point to tell us which way to
go? the significance of the letters? and the point of compass indicated
by the digital finger? Learned men have revised the Scriptures times
without number, and I do not propose to go back of the latest Revision.
E. C. S.