“Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.” (v.22)
In Rachel’s day it was a great disgrace and sorrow for a woman not to be able to bear children, and being childless to this point had brought Rachel to the point of desperation. In her frustration Rachel tells Jacob to either giver her a child or she would die (v.1).
Rachel’s desperate and irrational request of Jacob caused him to be angry because he knew that he was not able to do what only God is able to do, to cause a child to be conceived (v.2). Jacob fires back in anger at Rachel asking her if she thought that he was God that he could do such a thing. Then, he heaps judgment upon Rachel inferring that there must be some sort of sin in her life that has caused God to curse her womb and keep her from having children. (v.2).
This situation can cause great frustration between husbands and wives. However, judging and condemning each other is something that husbands and wives and people in general should never do. We are not God and thus we cannot be someone else’s judge, nor do we know why God has done or not done something in someone’s life.
The idea of God’s sovereignty over the womb is a repeated theme in the Bible. God granted twins to Rebekah (Genesis 25:21), He opened the womb of Leah (Genesis 29:31), and He closed the womb of Hannah, for a time (1 Samuel 1:5). The purposes of God in opening one and closing the other may be completely unknowable, but God has His purposes. In Rachel’s case, He wanted her to believe the promise, to remain faithful, to trust in Him, and not in all her scheming.
After reading about all that Rachel endured, and what she herself did in order to give her husband a child, we finally learn from verse 22 that Rachel has indeed now gone to the Lord and waited on Him in prayer “for the Lord remembers her and opens her womb,” and she gives birth to Joseph. Oh that we all may learn this great truth to wait upon the LORD in prayer, rather than to trust in our own schemes. It will save us a great deal of grief and develop a strong unwavering faith, that will endure anything life can throw at us.
The Truth: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
