Genesis 35:16 - Meaning and Application

Here we read about the death of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife. She went into labor on the way and could not reach Bethlehem, the next town, though it was near. Pain in childbirth can come on suddenly, and it can be severe. Jacob may have quickly set up a tent for her, but that could not keep her safe.

Her labor was especially hard. This was one of the painful effects of sin, as God had said long before (Genesis 3:16). Human life begins with sorrow, and even its joys are often surrounded by pain. The midwife encouraged Rachel (Genesis 35:17), and she was close at hand, but even that did not save her.

Rachel had once said, when Joseph was born, “God will add another son.” Now the midwife reminded her that her words were coming true. But that kind of comfort did not keep her heart steady. Unless God removes fear, no human comfort can fully do it. In great danger, we often lean on hopes of rescue in this life, and those hopes can fail. It is better to rest our comfort on what cannot fail, the hope of eternal life.

Her labor brought life to the child, but death to her. Even though the pains of childbirth came into the world through sin, they have sometimes taken the lives of very godly women. Still, those women are not lost if they are saved through Christ with everlasting salvation. Rachel had once said with strong feeling, “Give me children, or I die,” and now that she had another child, she died. Her death is described as her soul departing. The death of the body is only the soul leaving for the world of spirits.

With her last breath, she named her son Ben-oni, which means “son of my sorrow.” Many children, even if their birth is not so hard, still become a sorrow to their parents later. Children already bring much trouble in being raised, carried, and cared for. For that reason, when they grow up, they should try to be a joy to their parents and make up for that trouble if they can. Jacob changed the boy’s name to Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand.” That is, he was very dear to him, like a strength at his right hand, a help in his old age.

Jacob buried Rachel near the place where she died. Since she died in childbirth, it was sensible to bury her quickly, rather than take her to the family burial place. If the soul is at rest after death, it matters little where the body lies. Where the tree falls, there it remains. The text does not mention mourning at her death, because that would be easy to assume. Jacob surely grieved deeply.

Great troubles can come right after great comforts. Lest Jacob be lifted up by the visions of God that he had received, this sorrow came as a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. Those who enjoy the special blessings of God’s children must still expect the troubles that belong to all people. Deborah, who would have comforted Rachel if she had lived, had died only a little earlier. When death enters a family, it often strikes more than once. God sometimes speaks once, yes twice, through it. Jewish writers said that the deaths of Deborah and Rachel were a penalty for the murder of the people of Shechem, which had happened because of Dinah, a daughter in that family.

Jacob set up a pillar over Rachel’s grave so that her burial place would be known long afterward, as Rachel’s tomb (1 Samuel 10:2). God later arranged for this place to fall within Benjamin’s territory. Jacob had earlier set up a pillar to remember his joys (Genesis 35:14), and here he sets up one to remember his sorrow. It is good for us to remember both, and it is good for others to learn from both. Much later, the church understood that what God said to Jacob at Bethel, both by his word and by his discipline, was meant for them too: “There he spoke with us” (Hosea 12:4).