Jacob's life was not perfect. He moved place to place and had issues. He just moved to Bethel and his wife was going to give birth. Genesis 35:16-17 says, "Then they moved to Bethel. While they were some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, "Don't despair, for you have another son."
In the Jewish culture at that time, wealth was number of kids an couple had. It was an great honor to have an son. Childbirth has never been easy and during Rachel's day, many women died giving birth.
I will never give birth to an child, but child birth is like life. Life can be painful.
Issues came up and the pain is great. We need to rely on Jesus during the painful times.
Genesis 35:18 says, "As she breathed her last- for she was dying- she named her son Ben-Oni."
If you are curious what Ben-One means, it means son of my trouble in Hebrew.
God never wanted women to have pain giving birth but since Adam sinned, they will have child birth pains. Genesis 3:16 says, "To the woman he said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children."
The good news is that modern medicine has helped childbearing greatly. Women don't die much anymore and kids are healthy. Rachel lived in times when it was dangerous to give birth to children.
Sin causes pain and troubles. Sin will cause death.
Genesis 35:18 says, "But his father named him Benjamin." Benjamin in Hebrew means son of my right hand. In the Jewish culture, the right hand is identified as an special place of honor. Jacob viewed his son as an great blessing.
We have an father in heaven that want us to be born again. We have sinned and death is our default position. Jesus came to this world to redeemed mankind. He did on the cross and arose from the dead.
If we repent from our sins and follow Him. We will have the Holy Spirit live in us.
John 5:24 says, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life."
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