REMARKABLE GRACE – Genesis 30:1-24

Identity and self worth are issues that have plagued the human race since the fall. Women of scripture have wrestled with the cultural pressures of their day which discouraged them by the expectations of society’s sinful and arbitrary standards. In many cases, the social norms reflected a perversion of God's law and order in a vain attempt to achieve deliverance from the curses of the fall. In Rachel and Leah's day, this included the practice of handmaid surrogacy in the case of bareness. If a woman suffered the shame of childlessness, according to the customs of the pagan nations, she may offer her servant as a concubine to her husband to birth children she could then claim as her own. This practice was implemented in Jacob's household and with it came only more anguish, jealousy, strife, and heartache. Jacob's early legacy is quite the sinful spectacle as his 2 wives and 2 concubines compete for status, resorting to all manner of desperate schemes. These disruptive beginnings, however, will serve as a stage to feature the glorious power of redemption throughout covenant history. Paul can write Rom 8:28 with authority, in part, because he has witnessed God's remarkable grace in the course of scriptural history. Jacob's testimony is a conspicuous example. Furthermore, the testimony of Rachel, acknowledging the hand of God's deliverance from the trial of bareness, will be echoed by covenant women to come -- even Elizabeth; the mother of John the Baptist. Jacob's family teaches us that if we try to deliver ourselves, we only add to our reproach, while true salvation promises according to the Word of