Team Leah

God has a plan for all of us, and often we have no idea what He is doing.  It may take years or we may actually never know in this lifetime why He orchestrated things the way He did.  God does not make us do things. We have free will. But He knows before we are born what we will do every second of every day, and He may use our decisions as He sees fit to accomplish His will.  Some of the bad things that happen in our lives are the result of God's judgment, and some are not.  But ALL tragedies give us an opportunity to see, acknowledge and act for His glory.  

Jacob's first and least preferred wife was Leah. She felt homely, was never loved like her sister Rachel, Jacob's preferred wife, and often quarreled with Rachel, both jealous of each other. 

But God knew of her distress and had a significant assignment for Leah, unbeknown to her.  Genesis 29:31-35 Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, "Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me."  Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, "Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also."  So she named him Simeon.  She conceived again and bore a son and said, "Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons."  Therefore he was named Levi.  And she conceived gain and bore a son and said, "This time I will praise the Lord.  Therefore she named him Judah.  Then she stopped bearing.

Leah learned of Jacob's God, prayed to Jacob's God, and recognized that God saw her pain and did something about it.  While this did not seem to gain her much more Jacob love, she did recognize with the birth of her fourth son Judah that her sons were answered prayer and gave God glory.  She knew she was loved by God, even if not loved by husband, and that Jacob's rejection became the reason for her abundant son blessing as she took her pain to the God who could help her with it.

Her spiritual life continues to grow as she names her boys from servant Zilpah, "Gad" meaning "good fortune" and "Asher" meaning "blessing".  Whereas the barren Rachel was still struggling in her faith during the servant birthing contest, naming the boys Bilhah bore "Dan" meaning "judging" and "Naphtali" meaning "winning".

The second class wife Leah grew in her confidence as she grew in her faith. Genesis 30:14-16  Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah.  Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of you son's mandrakes."  But she said to her, "Is it a small matter for you to take my husband?  And would you take my son's mandrakes also?"  So Rachel said, "Therefore he (Jacob) may lie with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes"  When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes."

Mandrakes are herbs with roots that can grow up to two feet long.  They produce small yellow fruits, resembling apples.  Rachel wanted the mandrakes as they were believed to simulate the womb and help with fertility.  God had blessed Leah with five sons.  She was the unchallenged matriarch of the family, and she would call the shots and make the deals. knowing she was loved and valued by God, if not by Jacob.  And she had no problem telling Jacob where he would be sleeping that night.  This encounter resulted in son number 5, Issachar, who she thanked God for.  After son number 6, Zebulun in Genesis 30:20 Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.  So she named him Zebulun.  Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.  I am going to assume this did happen and Leah's tent became the most preferred by Jacob.  But in the very next verse, we see that Jacob did still visit Rachel, and God saw to it that she too provided Jacob with a very storied son, Joseph.  Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.  So she conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach."  She named him Joseph, saying, "May the Lord give me another son."

Jacob's blatant preference for Rachel continues on in Genesis 33 when he goes out to meet his twin brother Esau, who he anticipates might be angry with him.  Genesis 33:1-2  Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him.  So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.  He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.  If there was going to be a battle, the maids and children would perish first, followed by Leah and her brood, and the preferred Rachel and Joseph would stand the greatest chance of being safe.  Don't think Leah did not pick up on Jacob's strategy!

Would Leah have come to faith if she had not struggled feeling unloved?  If Rachel married someone else and Leah had Jacob all to herself, would Leah have turned to God as quickly as she did when she was suffering, feeling unloved and inferior?  So often we do not turn to God when life is good.  We have it handled, we feel like we don't need Him today, save the requests for tomorrow.  Leah praised and gave thanks to God after giving birth to her sons despite the fact she was in a loveless marriage.  We too must pray, praise, and give thanks to God for who He is, not based on our current life circumstances.

The fact that Jacob did not prefer Leah in no way altered the plan God had for Leah's life.  She was first born, the first wife, and the first mother in her family and all of these are honored positions.  God has a plan for each of our lives and will make the circumstances work together for good if we choose to follow Him.  None of His plans for us involve evil or manipulation.  Rachel believed she was being punished by God and that was why her womb was closed.  Eventually she prayed with her whole heart to God and this, not her schemes to outdo Leah, allowed God to show His glory.  There needed to be enough older jealous brothers for God's Joseph plan to work, so maybe it wasn't judgment but timing (that further example of family dysfunction is a story for another time).

Leah eventually became grandmother of half of the tribes of Israel (6 out of 12).  Levi, her third son, was assigned by Jacob to the tribe of Israel that would serve as priests in the tabernacle and later the temple.  And her fourth son, Judah, was blessed by a dying Jacob with the promise that the Messiah would come through his descendants. 

Leah outlived Rachel, but dies before Jacob.  Was she alive, living with Jacob's grief over the presumed loss of Joseph?  Did she experience the famines that took her sons to Egypt looking for food?  Did she move with the family to Goshen, Egypt after it was discovered that Joseph was still alive and second only to Pharoah?  The bible does not say exactly where or when she died, but we do know from Genesis 49:31 where she was buried.  (Jacob telling his sons to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah)  There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah."  Transporting her bones from Egypt to Canaan during grief and famine would have been an effort for Jacob, so I am inclined to think she died in Canaan before the family took off for Egypt.  God's plan was always for her to be buried with the patriarchs and matriarchs.

Who are these Gospel Writers?

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are the first four books of the New Testament that relate Jesus’ life as He lived it on Earth.  They are referred to as gospels and are not ancient fables written hundreds of years after the events they described.  None of them begin “once upon a time” since all of them were written by people who actually talked with Jesus, or knew someone who directly talked with Jesus.  Each gospel writer had a different personality, background and purpose for writing that impacted the focus and view points of their retellings.  The exact dating as to when each book was written is debatable, but they were  all probably written within 50 years of each other, after Christ's death and resurrection but while eyewitnesses to Jesus were still alive.

Matthew:   Evidence suggests that an unknown Jewish Christian, probably a scribe, composed this Gospel between the years 55-65 AD, based on Matthew’s direct encounters with Jesus. Matthew was an apostle of Jesus, a former tax collector who would be required to know Greek and also be well organized.  Tax collectors wrote in shorthand so Matthew was able to record words as they were spoken.  Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that Matthew captures in Chapters 5-7 is likely a word for word account of that message.  55-65  AD means 55-65 anno domino, or 55-65 years after the birth of Christ, so Matthew was written 20-30 years after Christ was crucified.  As a Jew (also fluent in Hebrew), Matthew was very familiar with the Old Testament prophecies of a promised Messiah that would come through the line of David.  Matthew provides Jesus's genealogy showing that He did indeed descend from David and points out in Matthew 9:27 and 21:9 that Jesus was referred to as "the Son of David". 

Mark:  Mark was also probably a scribe and a companion of Peter, another of the 12 apostles.   Mark grew up in Jerusalem, and was an eyewitness of many of the events in the life of Jesus. After Jesus was crucified, Mark, also known as John Mark, traveled with his cousin Barnabas and Paul. Mark appears to be the earliest of the Gospels, written only 55-59 AD.  Although a Jew, Mark wrote for a gentile audience, not focusing on genealogies nor frequently referencing the Old Testament.  This may have been due to Peter's influence, having seen gentiles receive the Holy Spirit after his vision from God and visit with Cornelius. (Acts 10:1-48).  Mark was probably also influenced by this mother who was a prominent Christian Jew.  Mark highlighted that Christ did not come to be served by others, but to serve everyone, Jew and gentile. Mark 10:45  "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,  but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."   

Luke:  Luke was the beloved physician of Paul, and also the probable author of The Acts of the Apostles.   Luke wrote more of the New Testament than any other human writer did (assuming that Paul did not author the letter to the Hebrews). He was the only gentile to have his writings included in scripture.  Since it seems that Paul was still alive at the end of Acts, dating it in the early 60’s, Luke may have been written around 58-65 AD.  And he makes it very clear in Luke 1:3 that he was taking great care to investigate and record the truth.  His gospel was composed with a gentile audience in mind, and his intent was to show that a Christian’s faith is based upon historically reliable and verifiable events.  Luke also recorded Jesus' genealogy back to Adam which was historically reliable and verifiable.

Although no competing theories as to who wrote Matthew, Mark, and Luke have been discovered, technically all four Gospels are anonymous.  All kinds of skeptics will tell you that we don’t know with 100% certainty who wrote the first three gospels and they are right. However, there is no apparent motivation for the people of the newly formed church to lie about who wrote these stories.  Matthew had been a hated tax collector, and Mark and Luke were not apostles themselves. 

Those living when the Gospels were written had no motive to assign authorship to the less famous Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  They were assigned authorship since they were believed to be  "at the scene" or reporting on someone who was at the scene. The much later apocryphal gospels (not included in the bible) chose more well-known names to be their fictitious authors - Judas, Philip, Peter, Mary and James.  How do we know they were made up authorships? These later books were written after the year 200 AD, and Judas, Philip, Peter, Mary and James were all long gone at that point.  

John:  Since this Gospel speaks of “a disciple who Jesus loved” that is connected with its writing, the author is probably Jesus’ beloved apostle John.  John often refers to himself as Jesus’ favorite and was most likely the youngest disciple.  Most scholars consider John the latest of the Gospels written between the years 85-90 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.  John also wrote a few letters that are included in the New Testament: 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John.  And he wrote the last book of the New Testament, Revelations, a dream which came to him detailing how Jesus would come again for final victory.  The other three gospels narrate the actions and teachings of Jesus.  John's focus was on highlighting Jesus' deity, "the Son of God" who was sent by "God the Father", fully God and fully human.  John does not start with Jesus' birth, but Jesus as "the Word" before creation who was involved with the Father and the Spirit in the creation story.

Skeptics point out that often the gospel stories do not completely match up and may even appear to contradict each other.  But lets agree that if all gospel accounts were perfectly identical, skeptics would claim that the writers colluded so that their stories would match, much like when witnesses to a crime are suspected of "getting their story straight" when they report what they saw using the exact same words. 

On the other hand, if there are discrepancies, skeptics may claim that the writers cannot be trusted.  Believable eyewitnesses to a  robbery give independent accounts, agreeing on the key information (who had the gun), but offering different perspectives based on what they could see from their angle and varying life experiences/perspectives which may influence what facts they consider important and how much detail to provide. Scholars who study all the differences in the gospels are convinced that we have a factual and reliable record of Jesus' life and ministry.  

Police interview all the witnesses at a crime scene since more details can be gained by comparing and contrasting the different eye witness accounts. Our Christmas nativities depict the birth of Jesus where both the shepherds and the magi show up to worship the new born baby.  Matthew mentions only the magi (Matthew 2:1-2) not the shepherds, and Luke mentions only the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20) not the magi.  However, neither Matthew nor Luke claim to be capturing every detail of Jesus' birth (although physician Luke did promise to provide us lots of nitty gritty).  They are different men writing to different people, so it is not surprising that different details would be included in their narratives.  And remember Mark and John did not go into "birth of Jesus" detail at all!  We can be sure that both the shepherds and the magi came to worship Jesus, although the magi many months later which is maybe why Luke left it out.

Sometimes witnesses provide significant additional information.  Matthew 14: 22:33, Mark 6:48-51, and John 6:16-21 all record that Jesus walked on water.   But only Matthew reports that Peter got out of the boat in a failed attempt to join Jesus.   Matthew 28-33 , (Peter speaking) "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  And He said, "Come!"  And Peter said got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!".  Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"  When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.  And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying "You are certainly God's Son!" No mention of Peter's attempt to walk on water in Mark, maybe because Mark was Peter's scribe and he didn't think his lack of faith was a flattering picture to highlight!  Perhaps John, who was actually in the boat, was so overwhelmed by what Jesus was doing that he paid little attention to Peter's flailing in the water.  Although a man of detail, Luke opted to not include the "walking on water" story at all, perhaps because neither he nor his great influencer Paul were there.  Different accounts add additional information.  All the books of the Bible are God inspired and true, so if Matthew says Peter got out of the boat, Peter got out of the boat.  The other gospels do not dispute this, they just don't cover it.

What Truck?

Magician/atheist Penn Jillette once asked a brilliant question.  “If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…  How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?  How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”  Jillette gave this example to further make his point: “If I believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, that that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point that I tackle you, and this (missing out on eternal life) is more important than that (getting killed by a truck).” 

In Matthew 13 Jesus relates several parables to explain the Kingdom of Heaven and who will find their way there.  Matthew 13:51-52, “Have you understood all these things” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they (the disciples) replied.  He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Followers are required to bring out their spiritual treasures and share with others the eternal truths that God has made known to them. We all have busy lives, but we are told to look for and share the gospel with people who do not believe in Jesus.

Jesus' storeroom of treasure parable supports atheist Jillette.  A Christian’s goal should not be to simply pursue a happy healthy life in this world until called to heaven.  God wants us to engage and love others, investing our time and resources (our storeroom treasure) on this earth to encourage those who have been put in our lives to turn to Jesus for salvation and to walk faithfully with Him. By sharing Jesus, we are tackling those who are in the path of Satan's truck.

How do you tackle someone who does not see the Satan truck coming?  The most important thing we can do is pray.  Pray for wisdom for yourself to find the right words to share Jesus and to do it kindly and with respect.  Pray that God will open eyes so that those in the truck path see it coming and get out of the way.  Pray that God will soften hearts so that those in the truck path feel God's love, become captured by who He is, and jump out of the path of the truck. 

Believers, be ready to boldly share your faith to those in the path who are reaching out their hand, showing some interest in being rescued.  Faith comes from hearing about faith.  Be ready to explain why you read, what you have learned from and how you try to follow God's word.  What does your new life look like because you found faith?

And finally, don't be a hypocrite and play in front of the Satan truck yourself.  If you want to pull people from the path of the Satan truck, let them see all the changes God made in you once you got out of the path.  Ultimately, it will be God's power and grace that saves those in the path.  

When confronting the Satan truck, this meme seems appropriate:

It's not our job to convert people.  It's not our job to save people.  It's not our job to convict people.  It's not our job to convince people.  It is our job to tell people.  The convincing, convicting, converting, and saving is the work of the Holy Spirit.

 Ignoring the Satan truck does not make it go away.   God might be asking you to take a rejection risk, extend your hand and give a big pull. Go tell of this fully human, fully God figure named Jesus.