Rachel

Genesis 29-31; 33; 35:16-21, 24-25; 46:19, 22, 25; 48:7; Ruth 4:11; 1 Samuel 10:2; Jeremiah 31:11-21; Matthew 2:18

  • Genesis 29: 16-18 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, so he said [to Laban], “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

  • Ruth 4:11 Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem;

  • Matthew 2:18 A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.

“Jacob and Rachel at the Well” by Francisco Antolínez from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Rachel, the wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is one of the matriarchs of Israel. Like the matriarchs Sarah and Rebekah before her, Rachel struggles with barrenness. Her difficulty in conceiving plays a role in her rivalry with her sister Leah, who also married Jacob. 

Rachel’s story begins in Genesis 29:1-14 when she meets her future husband at a well, a common setting for a meet-cute in the Bible. The match seems fated; Rachel’s father Laban is Jacob’s uncle. But Laban is as much of a trickster as his nephew and swaps Leah for Rachel at the wedding, ensuring Jacob remains in his service for longer. 

Rachel is Jacob’s favorite. God sees Leah is unloved, so acts on her behalf by making her abundantly fertile. Rachel gives her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a surrogate. Leah does the same with Zilpah. Rachel eventually has a biological child of her own—Joseph.

While Rachel’s story is largely defined by her attempts to bear children, an episode in Genesis 31 gives insight into her character. When Jacob leaves Laban’s household, Rachel steals the teraphim, or the household gods, from her father. Laban pursues Jacob and his family. Jacob adamantly denies the theft, even going so far as to swear “anyone with whom you find your gods will not live” (Genesis 31:32). 

Rachel proves herself to be as much of a trickster as her father, her husband, and her aunt Rebekah. She avoids detection by refusing to move from where she’s sitting, claiming she can’t do so because she’s menstruating. The men make peace and go their separate ways, both unaware of what Rachel has done. It’s a satisfying episode. Jacob famously tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright with the help of his mother Rebekah. Laban tricked Jacob into extra years of service.  Finally, the men get their comeuppance. Both are tricked by Rachel. 

In a tragic twist, Rachel conceives a second son but dies shortly after giving birth to Benjamin. While she and her sister were rivals in life, they’re remembered together in death as the women “who together built up the house of Israel” (Ruth 4:11). 

  • Rachel’s name means “ewe.”

  • Rachel is introduced in Genesis 29:9 as a shepherd. “Shepherding in the Bible is a powerful and dominant metaphor for leading the people of Israel as a civil (monarch) and religious (prophet) leader and for God’s own care of God’s people” (Womanist Midrash by Wilda C. Gafney, p. 54). 

  • Rachel and Leah have a rare moment of unity in Genesis 31:14-16. The two daughters, angry with their father for the wealth he accrued through their husband’s labor, urge Jacob to leave their father’s household.