Twelve sons, four mothers, equalling one complicated family. But we see a faithful God who is not fazed by family dysfunction, rivalry and failure.
“Jacob had twelve sons: 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.” (Genesis 32 v 22-26)
These verses are the ones we might be tempted to skip over. The sons of four women who would become the twelve tribes of Israel. In these four verses is the story of love, rivalry and heartache. This family were anything but peaceful. Leah and Rachel were constantly competing, and the sons would resent one another over time.
In this list of names, we don’t see the Biblical story that will unfold. Reuben, the firstborn, is not the one who will save them all; that will be someone near the bottom of the list, Joseph. The first king of the nation that will be born from this family will be Benjamin, but the greatest King born in a small, humble place of Nazareth will come from the fourth-born, Judah.
We can’t see this from the list of names born outside the Promised Land, in an exiled situation. That is the story we are being called to understand. They were born in the wandering years, but they tell the same story: we survived, we multiplied, for God did not forget us, even when we took our eyes off Him.
I think this is what speaks the loudest. Every name carries a story, and that wasn’t always a pretty one. Yet God’s story manages to weave throughout the human one. God had spoken to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and given them promises, and no matter what the ‘family’ did, He would continue to fulfil His word.
God has never required a perfect family to work through.
This is the heart of God’s message to the world in every generation: just because the family is messy, this will not affect His faithfulness to it.
Missions Paul 