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| == Fausset's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_37189" /> == | | == Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_57486" /> == |
| <p> (" an ewe ." ) (See JACOB; BENJAMIN.) (Genesis 29-33; [[ Genesis]] 35). Jacob' s first interview, courteous removal of the stone at the well's mouth, emotion, and kissing her in the usual mode of salutation in pastoral life in the East in those days, are simply and graphically narrated; his love to her making his seven years' service "seem but a few days"; the imposition of [[Leah]] upon him, his second term of service for her, and his receiving her in marriage. Even then disappointment followed in her childlessness at first; beauty and the grace of God do not always go together, "Rachel envied her sister" and said with unreasonable and impatient fretfulness, "Give me children, or else I die. " [[Jacob]] with just anger replied, "am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?" God took her at her word; she had Joseph, and in giving birth to [[ Benjamin]] "died. " </p> <p> At Joseph's birth she by his name ("adding") expressed her fond anticipation, "the Lord shall add to me another son" (Genesis 30:24). In obtaining her wish, the greatest joy to her, she suffered her sharpest pang; Ben-oni's ("son of her sorrow") birth was her death. Her stealing her father's images or teraphim , household gods in human form, used for divination (Judges 17:5; Judges 18:14; Judges 18:17-18; Judges 18:20; 1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Samuel 23:24; Ezekiel 21:21; Zechariah 10:2), and her dexterity and ready cunning in hiding them, mark a character that had learned much of her father's duplicity.( See TERAPHIM.) The old superstition from which [[Abraham]] had been called still lingered in the family (Joshua 24:2; Joshua 24:14). Not until Jacob reached [[Bethel]] did he bury the strange gods under the oak by Shechem. A little way from Ephrath, which is Bethlehem, Rachel died and was buried, and Jacob set a pillar on her grave. </p> <p> The patriarch on his death bed vividly recalls that tender, deep, and lasting sorrow (Genesis 48:7). Though fretful, cunning, and superstitions, Rachel still worshipped Jehovah; and after she had complained to her husband, and received his reproof, she turned in prayer to God, for we read "God remembered Rachel, and hearkened to her, and opened her womb" (compare 1 Samuel 1: 19). She had given up all her idols before the death stroke fell on her (Genesis 35), and, we may well believe, was prepared for her great change by the hallowing influences of God's blessing on her husband and his seed immediately before, at Bethel. Moreover, Joseph, the only son over whom she exercised a mother's influence, was from early years the choice one of the family; such a son must have had a mother not altogether dissimilar. Hers is the first instance recorded of death in childbirth, and her sepulchral pillar is the first on record in the Bible. </p> <p> [[ Caves]] were the usual places of sepulcher ( 1 Samuel 10:2 ). Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31: 15) says as to Nebuzaradan's collecting the captive [[Jews]] at Ramah, previous to their removal to [[Babylon]] (Jeremiah 40:1), "a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children ... refused to be comforted because they were not; thus saith the Lord, [[Refrain]] thy voice from weeping, for ... there is hope in thine end, that thy children shall come again to their own border." Rachel, who pined so for children and died in bearing "the son of her sorrow," and was buried in the neighborhood of [[ Ramah]] (of Benjamin) and Bethlehem, is poetically represented as "weeping" for her [[Ephraimite]] sons carried off by the Chaldees. Matthew (Matthew 2:17-18) quotes this as fulfilled in Herod's massacre of the innocents. </p> <p> "A lesser, and a greater, event of different times may answer to the single sense of one scripture, until the prophecy be exhausted" ( Bengel). Besides the reference to the [[Babylonian]] exile of Rachel's sons, the [[Holy]] Spirit foreshadowed Messiah's exile to Egypt, and the accompanying desolation caused near Rachel's tomb by Herod's massacre, to the grief of [[ Benjamite]] mothers who had "sons of sorrow," as Rachel's son proved to her. Israel's representative Messiah's return from Egypt, and Israel's (both the literal and the spiritual) future restoration (including the innocents) at His second advent, are antitypical to Israel' s restoration from Babylon, the consolation held out by Jeremiah. "They were not, " i.e. were dead (Genesis 42:13), does not apply so strictly to the Babylonian exiles as it does to [[Messiah]] and His people, past, present, and future. </p> <p> "There is hope in thine end," namely, when Rachel shall meet her murdered children at the resurrection of the saints bodily, and of [[ Israel]] nationally (Ezekiel 37). Literally, "each was not," i. e. each [[ Bethlehemite]] mother had but one child to lament, as Herod's limit, "two years old and under, " implies; a coincidence the more remarkable as not obvious. The singular too suits Messiah going to exile in Egypt, Rachel's chief object of lamentation. Rachel's tomb ( Arabic Κubbit Rahil ) is two and a half miles S. of Jerusalem, one mile and a half N. of Bethlehem; Muslims, Jews, and [[Christians]] agree as to the site. The tomb is a small square building of stone, with a dome, and within it a tomb, a modern building; in the seventh century A.D. there was only a pyramid of stones. </p> | | <p> ( Heb. Rachel', '''''רָחֵל''''' , a "ewe" or "sheep," as in Genesis 31:38; Genesis 32:14; Song of [[ Solomon]] 6:6; Isaiah 53:7; Sept. and New Test. '''''῾Ραχήλ'''' ' , [[Josephus]] '''''῾Ραχήλας''''' ), the younger daughter of the [[Aramean]] grazier [[Laban]] ( Genesis 29:16), whom Jacob, her near blood-relation, earned for his wife, as wages for a second seven -years' service ( Genesis 29:18 sq.). B.C. 1920. (See [[Leah]] ). After a long period of unfruitfulness, she bore him a son ( Genesis 29:31), [[Joseph]] ( Genesis 30:22 sq.). She went with him to Canaan, on which occasion she stole the household gods of her father and hid them artfully ( Genesis 31:19; Genesis 31:34), and finally died on the journey, after the birth of Benljamin, not far from [[ Ephrath]] ( Genesis 35:16 sq.). (See [[Rachels Tomb]]) </p> <p> "The story of Jacob and Rachel has always had a peculiar interest: there is that in it which appeals to some of the deepest feelings of the human heart. The beauty of Rachel, the deep love with which she was loved by Jacob from their first meeting by the well of Haran, when he showed to her the simple courtesies of the desert life, and kissed her and told her he was Rebekah's son; the long servitude with which he patiently served for her, in which the seven years '''''‘''''' seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her; ' their marriage at last, after the cruel disappointment through the fraud which substituted the elder sister in the place of the younger; and the death of Rachel at the very time when, in giving birth to another son, her own long-delayed hopes were accomplished, and she had become still more endeared to her husband; his deep grief and ever-living regrets for her loss ( Genesis 48:7) '''''—''''' these things make up a touching tale of personal anid domestic history which has kept alive the memory of Rachel '''''—''''' the beautiful, the beloved, the untimely-taken-away '''''—''''' and has preserved to this day a reverence for her tomb; the very infidel invaders of the [[Holy]] Land having respected the traditions of the site, and erected over the spot a small, rude shrine, which conceals whatever remains may have once been foulnd of the pillar first set up by her mourning husband over her grave. Yet, from what is related to us concerning Rachel 's character, there does not seem much to claim any high degree of admiration and esteem. The discontent and fretful impatience shown in her grief at being for a time childless, moved even her fond husband to anger ( Genesis 30: 1-2). </p> <p> She appears, moreover, to have shared all the duplicity and falsehood of her family, of which we have such painfll instances in Rebekah, in Laban, and, not least, in her sister Leal, who consented to bear her part in the deception practiced upon Jacob. See, for instance, Rachel's stealing her father's images, and the ready dexterity and presence of mind with which she concealed her theft (ch. 31): we seem to detect here an apt scholar in her father's school of untruth. From this incident we may also infer (though this is rather the misfortune of her position and circumstances) that she was not altogether free from the superstitions aind idolatry which prevailed in the land whence [[ Abraham]] had been called ( Joshua 24:2 ; Joshua 24: 14) , and which still to some degree infected even those families among whom the true God was known. The events which preceded the death of Rachel are of much interest and worthy of a brief consideration. The presence in his household of these idolatrous images, which Rachel, and probably others also, had brought from the East, seems to have been either unknown to or connived at by Jacob for some years after his return from Haran; till, on being reminded by the Lord of the vow which he had made at [[ Bethel]] when he fled from the face of Esau, and being bidden by him to erect an altar to the God who appeared to him there, Jacob felt the glaring impiety of thus solemnly appearing before God with the taint of impiety cleaving to him or his, and '''''‘''''' said to his household and all that were with him, Put away the strange gods from among you' ( Genesis 35:2). After thus casting out the polluting thing from his house. </p> <p> Jacob journeyed to Bethel, where, amid the associations of a spot consecrated by the memories of the past, he received from God an emphatic promise anid blessing, alnd, the name of the [[ Supplanter]] being laid aside, he had given to him instead the holy name of Israel. Then it was, after his spirit had been there purified and strengthened by communion with God, by the assurance of the divine love and favor, by the consciousness of evil put away and duties performed '' '''—''''' then it was, as he journeyed away from Bethel, that the chastening blow fell and Rachel died. These circumstances are alluded to here not so much for their bearinmg ulpon the spiritual discipline of Jacob, but rather with reference to Rachel herself, as suggesting the hope that they mav have had their effect in bringing her to a higher sense of her relations to that Great [[ Jehovah]] in whom her husband, with all his faults of character, so firmly believed." The character of Rachel cannot certainily be drawn from the few features given in the history; yet Niemeyer (Charak. ii, 315) thinks tliat sufficient ground exists for preferring the disposition of Leah to that of her sister, Those who take an interest in such interpretations may find the whole story of Rachel and Leah allegorized by St. [[ Augustine]] (Contra Faustum Manichoeum, 22:51-58, vol. 8, 432, etc., ed. Migne) and Justin [[Martyr]] (Dialogue with Trypho, c. 134, p. 360; see also Archer, Rachel a Type of the Church [Lond. 1843]). ( See [[Jacob]]). </p> <p> In Jeremiah 31:15-16, the prophet refers to the historical event of the exile of the ten tribes (represented by "Ephraim") under Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and the sorrow occasioned by their dispersion ( 2 Kings 17:20), under the symbol of Rachel (q. v.), i.e. Rachel, the maternal ancestor of the tribes of [[Ephraim]] and Manasseh, bewailing the fate of her children. This lamentation was a type or symbol of another connected with the early history of our Lord, which met with its fulfilment in the mournful scene at [[ Bethlehem]] and its vicinity, when so many infants were slaughtered under the barbarous edict of Herod ( Matthew 2: 16- 18). </p> |
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| == Bridgeway Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_18980" /> ==
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| <p> When Jacob went to Paddan-aram to find a wife, he met and fell in love with Rachel, the younger daughter of his uncle, Laban. Jacob worked seven years for [[Laban]] as payment for Rachel, but when the wedding day came, Laban deceived Jacob by giving him the older daughter, Leah, instead. After the wedding festivities he gave Rachel also to Jacob, but made Jacob work for him an extra seven years as payment for her. Laban also gave each of the two daughters a slave-girl as a wedding gift (Genesis 29:1-30). </p> <p> While Leah produced several sons for Jacob, Rachel remained childless. She then gave her maid to Jacob, so that the maid might bear sons whom Rachel could adopt as her own. Leah did likewise with her maid, after which she produced more sons of her own. Jacob already had ten sons and a daughter by the time Rachel gave birth to her first son, [[Joseph]] (Genesis 29:31-35; Genesis 30:1-24). </p> <p> Although Laban had enriched himself through his daughters’ bride price (Jacob’s years of hard work), he now planned to exclude them from the inheritance, in favour of his sons. This made Rachel so angry that when Jacob and his family left Paddan-aram for Canaan, she took her father’s idols with her. According to local custom, these gave her some claim to his inheritance (Genesis 31:1-21). Laban never regained his idols, but Jacob made sure that Rachel did not keep them once the family entered [[Canaan]] (Genesis 31:34-35; Genesis 35:1-4). </p> <p> Rachel died when giving birth to Benjamin, the only son of Jacob born in Canaan. She was buried near Ramah, on the road from Bethel to [[Bethlehem]] (Genesis 35:16-20; 1 Samuel 10:2; Jeremiah 31:15). Centuries later, Jeremiah imagined the dead Rachel mourning from her tomb as her descendants were led past on their way to captivity in a foreign land (Jeremiah 31:15). She might likewise have mourned over the slaughter of the [[Jewish]] babies by [[Herod]] (Matthew 2:16-18). </p>
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| == Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_53576" /> ==
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| <p> <strong> RACHEL </strong> ( <strong> [[Rahel]] </strong> in Jeremiah 31:15 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , ‘ewe’). The younger daughter of Laban, and favourite wife of Jacob ( Genesis 29:28-30 ), who married her after her sister Leah. In the quarrel between Jacob and Laban, she, as well as Leah, took the part of Jacob ( Genesis 31:14-16 ). When leaving her father, she stole his household divinities, the teraphim ( Genesis 31:19 ) an incident which suggests the laxity in worship and in ideas of property characteristic of the times. Her sons were Joseph and Benjamin: she died in giving birth to Benjamin. </p> <p> <strong> Rachel’s grave </strong> . The location of this is disputed. It was near <strong> [[Ephrath]] </strong> . Genesis 35:16; Genesis 35:19-20 , 1 Samuel 10:2 , Jeremiah 31:15 indicate that it was on the N. border of Benjamin towards Ephraim, about ten miles N. of Jerusalem. In other places, however ( Ruth 1:2; Ruth 4:11 , Micah 5:2 ), Ephrath is another name for <strong> Bethlehem </strong> , as it is also explained in Genesis 35:19; Genesis 48:7 . In accordance with this latter group of passages, tradition from at least the 4th cent. has fixed the spot 4 miles S. of [[Jerusalem]] and 1 mile N. of Bethlehem. [[Either]] the northern location is correct, or there are here two variant accounts. The former view is probably to be preferred, since Rachel has no connexion with Judah. In that case ‘that is Bethlehem’ is an incorrect gloss. Cf. also Ramah, <strong> 3 </strong> . </p> <p> [[George]] R. Berry. </p>
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| == Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_74559" /> ==
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| <p> Ra'chel. (ewe or sheep). The younger of the daughters of Laban, the wife of Jacob, (B.C. 1753), and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. The incidents of her life may be found in Genesis 29-33; Genesis 35. The story of Jacob and Rachel has always had a peculiar interest. The beauty of Rachel, Jacob's deep love and long servitude for her, their marriage, and Rachel's death on giving birth to Benjamin, with Jacob's grief at her loss, Genesis 48:7, makes a touching tale. Yet from what is related to us concerning her character, there does not seem much to claim any high degree of admiration and esteem. </p> <p> She appears to have shared all the duplicity and falsehood of her family. See, for instance, Rachel's stealing her father's images, and the ready dexterity and presence of mind with which she concealed her theft. Genesis 31:1. "Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem," (B.C. 1729), "and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day." Genesis 35:19-20. The site of Rachel's tomb, "on the way to Bethlehem," "a little way to come to Ephrath," "in the border of Benjamin," has never been questioned. It Is about two miles south of Jerusalem and one mile north of Bethlehem. </p>
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| == Morrish Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_68315" /> ==
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| <p> The beautiful daughter of Laban, for whom Jacob served seven years, which seemed to him but a few days, because of his great love for her. When the time was expired Jacob was cheated by Laban, and Leah was given him instead. He served another seven years for Rachel. She was at first childless, and foolishly said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die"; for which she was duly rebuked by her husband. [[Apparently]] she prayed to God, for we read that He 'hearkened' to her: she bore Joseph and then Benjamin, at whose birth she died. Jacob set up a pillar at her grave. </p> <p> It was Rachel who stole the household gods of her father, and then with cunning concealed them. [[Otherwise]] we read nothing of her character: at home she had evidently been in a bad school. Her history is given in Genesis 29 Genesis 35 . In the N.T. she is represented as weeping for her children when Herod slew the young children, Matthew 2:17,18 , a fulfilment of that spoken in Jeremiah 31:15 (where she is called RAHEL), though the circumstances in the two cases were different. A mother in Israel weeping for the loss of her children applies to both. </p>
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| == American Tract Society Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_17016" /> ==
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| <p> [[Ewe]] or sheep, Ruth 4:11 , the younger sister of Leah, daughter of Laban, and the chosen wife of Jacob, though her sister was favored with more children. Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and died soon after the birth of the latter. See her history in Genesis 29:1-35:29 . Her sepulchre, half an hour's walk north of Bethlehem, is shown unto this day, the spot being marked by a Mohammedan wely or tomb, a stone enclosure and a dome. The prophecy, Jeremiah 31:15 , representing her as mourning over her posterity, the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, is quoted in Matthew 2:18 , in reference to the massacre at Bethlehem, in which undoubtedly many of her descendants suffered. It is supposed that one of the many places called Ramah was adjacent to Bethlehem. </p>
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| == Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary <ref name="term_81336" /> ==
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| <p> the daughter of Laban, and sister of Leah. The [[Prophet]] Jeremiah 31:15 , and St. Matthew 2:18 , have put Rachel for the tribes of [[Ephraim]] and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, the son of Rachel. This prophecy was completed when these two tribes were carried into captivity beyond the Euphrates; and St. Matthew made application of it to what happened at Bethlehem, when Herod put to death the children of two years old and under. Then Rachel, who was buried there, might be said to make her lamentations for the death of so many innocent children sacrificed to the jealousy of a wicked monarch. </p>
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| == Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_43358" /> ==
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| <p> In flight from his brother, Esau, Jacob met her when Rachel brought the sheep to water. She immediately become the object of his attention. See [[Jacob]] . </p> <p> Two Old [[Testament]] passages outside Genesis name Rachel. Ruth 4:11 calls her one who built up the house of Israel. Jeremiah 31:15 refers to her weeping over children being taken in Exile. Matthew ( Jeremiah 2:18 ) cited Jeremiah's reference of weeping in connection with Herod's order to kill male children under two. </p>
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| == Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary <ref name="term_48606" /> ==
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| <p> A well-known and interesting name in the Bible, the beloved wife of the patriarch Jacob, and daughter of Laban. The name itself means sheep. And from being engaged in keeping flocks, in these early days of patriarchal simplicity, it is probable the name was taken on that account. Her history we have, Genesis 29:30, etc. It may be observed, that we have a city in the tribe of [[Judah]] called Rachal, or Rachel; probably in honour of this mother in Israel. (1 Samuel 30:29) </p>
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| == Easton's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_33232" /> ==
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| Genesis 29:6,28Genesis 30:22-24 <p> This name is used poetically by (Jeremiah 31:15-17 ) to denote God's people mourning under their calamities. This passage is also quoted by Matthew as fulfilled in the lamentation at Bethlehem on account of the slaughter of the infants there at the command of Herod (Matthew 2:17,18 ). </p>
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| == People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70697" /> ==
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| <p> Rachel (râ'chel), an ewe. The daughter of Laban and wife of Jacob. Her history is given in Genesis, chaps. 29-35. She died after giving birth to Benjamin, and was buried near the road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Genesis 35:19. </p>
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| == International Standard Bible Encyclopedia <ref name="term_7537" /> ==
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| <p> ''''' rā´chel ''''' ( רחל , <i> ''''' rāḥēl ''''' </i> , "ewe"; Ῥαχήλ , <i> ''''' Rhachḗl ''''' </i> ( Genesis 29:6; Jeremiah 31:15 , the King James Version "Rahel")): </p> 1. Biography: <p> An ancestress of Israel, wife of Jacob, mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel was the younger daughter of Laban, the Aramean, the brother of Jacob's mother; so Rachel and Jacob were cousins. They met for the first time upon the arrival of Jacob at Haran, when attracted by her beauty he immediately fell in love with her, winning her love by his chivalrous act related in Genesis 29:10 ff. According to the custom of the times Jacob contracted with Laban for her possession, agreeing to serve him 7 years as the stipulated price ( Genesis 29:17-20 ). But when the time had passed, Laban deceived Jacob by giving him Leah instead of Rachel. When Jacob protested, Laban gave him Rachel also, on condition that Jacob serve 7 years more (Genesis 29:21-29 ). To her great dismay "Rachel was barren" (Genesis 29:30 , Genesis 29:31 ), while Leah had children. Rachel, envious of her sister, complained to Jacob, who reminded her that children are the gift of God. Then Rachel resorted to the expedient once employed by [[Sarah]] under similar circumstances (Genesis 16:2 ff); she bade Jacob take her handmaid Bilhah, as a concubine, to "obtain children by her" ( Genesis 30:3 ). Dan and [[Naphtali]] were the offspring of this union. The evil of polygamy is apparent from the dismal rivalry arising between the two sisters, each seeking by means of children to win the heart of Jacob. In her eagerness to become a mother of children, Rachel bargained with Leah for the mandrakes, or love-apples of her son Reuben, but all to no avail (Genesis 30:14 ). [[Finally]] God heard her prayer and granted her her heart's desire, and she gave birth to her firstborn whom she named Joseph (Genesis 30:22-24 ). </p> <p> Some years after this, when Jacob fled from Laban with his wives, the episode of theft of the teraphim of Laban by Rachel, related in Genesis 31:19 , Genesis 31:34 , Genesis 31:35 , occurred. She hoped by securing the household gods of her father to bring prosperity to her own new household. Though she succeeded by her cunning in concealing them from Laban, Jacob later, upon discovering them, had them put away (Genesis 35:2-4 ). In spite of all, she continued to be the favorite of Jacob, as is clearly evidenced by Genesis 33:2 , where we are told that he assigned to her the place of greatest safety, and by his preference for Joseph, her son. After the arrival in Canaan, while they were on the way from Beth- <i> '''''el''''' </i> to Ephrath, i.e. Bethlehem, Rachel gave birth to her second son, Benjamin, and died (Genesis 35:16 ff). </p> 2. Character: <p> In a marked manner Rachel's character shows the traits of her family, cunning and covetousness, so evident in Laban, [[Rebekah]] and Jacob. Though a believer in the true God (Genesis 30:6 , Genesis 30:8 , Genesis 30:22 ), she was yet given to the superstitions of her country, the worshipping of the teraphim, etc. (Genesis 31:19 ). The futility of her efforts in resorting to self-help and superstitious expedients, the love and stronger faith of her husband (Genesis 35:2-4 ), were the providential means of purifying her character. Her memory lived on in Israel long after she died. In Rth 4:11, the names of Rachel and Leah occur in the nuptial benediction as the foundresses of the house of Israel. </p> Rachel's [[Tomb]] <p> ( רחל קברת מצּבת , <i> ''''' maccebheth ''''' </i> <i> ''''' kebhurath ''''' </i> <i> ''''' rāḥēl ''''' </i> ): In Genesis 35:20 we read: "Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the [[Pillar]] of Rachel's grave unto this day," i.e. the time of the writer. Though the pillar, i.e sepulchral monument, has long disappeared, the spot is marked until this day, and Christians, Jews and Mohammedans unite in honoring it. The present tomb, which, apparently, is not older than the 15th century, is built in the style of the small-domed buildings raised by [[Moslems]] in honor of their saints. It is a rough structure of four square walls, each about 23 ft. long and 20 ft. high; the dome rising 10 ft. higher is used by Mohammedans for prayer, while on Fridays the Jews make supplication before the empty tomb within. It is doubtful, but probable, that it marks the exact spot where Rachel was buried. There are, apparently, two traditions as to the location of the place. The oldest tradition, based upon Genesis 35:16-20; Genesis 48:7 , points to a place one mile North of Bethlehem and 4 miles from Jerusalem. Matthew 2:18 speaks for this place, since the evangelist, reporting the slaughter of the innocents of Bethlehem, represents Rachel as weeping for her children from her neighboring grave. But according to 1 Samuel 10:2 ff, which apparently represents another tradition, the place of Rachel's grave was on the "border of Benjamin," near Beth- <i> '''''el''''' </i> , about 10 miles North of Jerusalem, at another unknown Ephrath. This location, some believe, is corroborated by Jeremiah 31:15 , where the prophet, in relating the leading away of the people of Ramah, which was in Benjamin, into captivity, introduces Rachel the mother of that tribe as bewailing the fate of her descendants. Those that believe this northern location to be the place of Rachel's grave take the words, "the same is Beth-lehem," in Genesis 35:19; Genesis 48:7 , to be an incorrect gloss; but that is a mere assumption lacking sufficient proof. </p> <p> Mr. [[Nathan]] Strauss, of New York City, has purchased the land surrounding Rachel's grave for the purpose of erecting a Jewish university in the Holy Land. </p>
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| == Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_16513" /> ==
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| <p> Ra´chel (an ewe), one and the most beloved of the two daughters of Laban, whom Jacob married (, seq.), and who became the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, in giving birth to the latter of whom she died near Bethlehem, where her sepulcher is shown to this day . For more minute particulars see Jacob, with whose history Rachel's is closely involved. </p>
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| ==References == | | ==References == |
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| <ref name="term_37189"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/fausset-s-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Fausset's Bible Dictionary]</ref> | | <ref name="term_57486"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/rachel+(2) Rachel from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref> |
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| <ref name="term_18980"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/bridgeway-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Bridgeway Bible Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_53576"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-bible/rachel Rachel from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_74559"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/smith-s-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Smith's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_68315"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/morrish-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Morrish Bible Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_17016"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_81336"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/watson-s-biblical-theological-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_43358"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_48606"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hawker-s-poor-man-s-concordance-and-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_33232"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/easton-s-bible-dictionary/rachel Rachel from Easton's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_70697"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/people-s-dictionary-of-the-bible/rachel Rachel from People's Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_7537"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/international-standard-bible-encyclopedia/rachel Rachel from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]</ref>
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| <ref name="term_16513"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/kitto-s-popular-cyclopedia-of-biblial-literature/rachel Rachel from Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature]</ref>
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Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
(Heb. Rachel', רָחֵל , a "ewe" or "sheep," as in Genesis 31:38; Genesis 32:14; Song of Solomon 6:6; Isaiah 53:7; Sept. and New Test. ῾Ραχήλ , Josephus ῾Ραχήλας ), the younger daughter of the Aramean grazier Laban ( Genesis 29:16), whom Jacob, her near blood-relation, earned for his wife, as wages for a second seven-years' service ( Genesis 29:18 sq.). B.C. 1920. (See Leah). After a long period of unfruitfulness, she bore him a son ( Genesis 29:31), Joseph ( Genesis 30:22 sq.). She went with him to Canaan, on which occasion she stole the household gods of her father and hid them artfully ( Genesis 31:19; Genesis 31:34), and finally died on the journey, after the birth of Benljamin, not far from Ephrath ( Genesis 35:16 sq.). (See Rachels Tomb)
"The story of Jacob and Rachel has always had a peculiar interest: there is that in it which appeals to some of the deepest feelings of the human heart. The beauty of Rachel, the deep love with which she was loved by Jacob from their first meeting by the well of Haran, when he showed to her the simple courtesies of the desert life, and kissed her and told her he was Rebekah's son; the long servitude with which he patiently served for her, in which the seven years ‘ seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her;' their marriage at last, after the cruel disappointment through the fraud which substituted the elder sister in the place of the younger; and the death of Rachel at the very time when, in giving birth to another son, her own long-delayed hopes were accomplished, and she had become still more endeared to her husband; his deep grief and ever-living regrets for her loss ( Genesis 48:7) — these things make up a touching tale of personal anid domestic history which has kept alive the memory of Rachel — the beautiful, the beloved, the untimely-taken-away — and has preserved to this day a reverence for her tomb; the very infidel invaders of the Holy Land having respected the traditions of the site, and erected over the spot a small, rude shrine, which conceals whatever remains may have once been foulnd of the pillar first set up by her mourning husband over her grave. Yet, from what is related to us concerning Rachel's character, there does not seem much to claim any high degree of admiration and esteem. The discontent and fretful impatience shown in her grief at being for a time childless, moved even her fond husband to anger ( Genesis 30:1-2).
She appears, moreover, to have shared all the duplicity and falsehood of her family, of which we have such painfll instances in Rebekah, in Laban, and, not least, in her sister Leal, who consented to bear her part in the deception practiced upon Jacob. See, for instance, Rachel's stealing her father's images, and the ready dexterity and presence of mind with which she concealed her theft (ch. 31): we seem to detect here an apt scholar in her father's school of untruth. From this incident we may also infer (though this is rather the misfortune of her position and circumstances) that she was not altogether free from the superstitions aind idolatry which prevailed in the land whence Abraham had been called ( Joshua 24:2; Joshua 24:14), and which still to some degree infected even those families among whom the true God was known. The events which preceded the death of Rachel are of much interest and worthy of a brief consideration. The presence in his household of these idolatrous images, which Rachel, and probably others also, had brought from the East, seems to have been either unknown to or connived at by Jacob for some years after his return from Haran; till, on being reminded by the Lord of the vow which he had made at Bethel when he fled from the face of Esau, and being bidden by him to erect an altar to the God who appeared to him there, Jacob felt the glaring impiety of thus solemnly appearing before God with the taint of impiety cleaving to him or his, and ‘ said to his household and all that were with him, Put away the strange gods from among you' ( Genesis 35:2). After thus casting out the polluting thing from his house.
Jacob journeyed to Bethel, where, amid the associations of a spot consecrated by the memories of the past, he received from God an emphatic promise anid blessing, alnd, the name of the Supplanter being laid aside, he had given to him instead the holy name of Israel. Then it was, after his spirit had been there purified and strengthened by communion with God, by the assurance of the divine love and favor, by the consciousness of evil put away and duties performed — then it was, as he journeyed away from Bethel, that the chastening blow fell and Rachel died. These circumstances are alluded to here not so much for their bearinmg ulpon the spiritual discipline of Jacob, but rather with reference to Rachel herself, as suggesting the hope that they mav have had their effect in bringing her to a higher sense of her relations to that Great Jehovah in whom her husband, with all his faults of character, so firmly believed." The character of Rachel cannot certainily be drawn from the few features given in the history; yet Niemeyer (Charak. ii, 315) thinks tliat sufficient ground exists for preferring the disposition of Leah to that of her sister, Those who take an interest in such interpretations may find the whole story of Rachel and Leah allegorized by St. Augustine (Contra Faustum Manichoeum, 22:51-58, vol. 8, 432, etc., ed. Migne) and Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho, c. 134, p. 360; see also Archer, Rachel a Type of the Church [Lond. 1843]). (See Jacob).
In Jeremiah 31:15-16, the prophet refers to the historical event of the exile of the ten tribes (represented by "Ephraim") under Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and the sorrow occasioned by their dispersion ( 2 Kings 17:20), under the symbol of Rachel (q.v.), i.e. Rachel, the maternal ancestor of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, bewailing the fate of her children. This lamentation was a type or symbol of another connected with the early history of our Lord, which met with its fulfilment in the mournful scene at Bethlehem and its vicinity, when so many infants were slaughtered under the barbarous edict of Herod ( Matthew 2:16-18).
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