We are still in chapter 30 of Genesis with our word for today used for the first time in the Bible. שְׂכַרְתִּ֔י the root of our word is שָׂכַר hire, take into paid service. It is used 18 times in the Old Testament. The word can be used for simple hire for work jobs to be performed to accomplish good causes like restoring the temple. We see it used this way in 2 Chronicles 24:11-12 They שֹׂכְרִים֙ hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.
But most of the time our word is used to hire someone to accomplish something negative to someone else without a relational dynamic to it. Deuteronomy 23:4 they שָׂכַ֨ר hired Balaam...to pronounce a curse on you. 2 Kings 7:6 Look, the king of Israel has שָֽׂכַר hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us! Nehemiah 6:13 He had been שָׂכוּר֙ hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me. Proverbs 26:10 Like an archer who wounds at random is one who שָֽׂכַר hires a fool or any passer-by. In these uses a good way to describe the relationship between the one paying for the work and the one hired is more of using them instead of desiring a closer relationship with them. This is what we see going on in our chapter today.
Genesis 30:14-16 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 your son's mandrakes.” But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.” When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have שְׂכַרְתִּ֔י hired you with my son's mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
This is a far cry from what God desires marriage to be. It should be more like what Adam said about his wife eve. Genesis 2:22-24 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. This one flesh idea is what God created marriage to be. It is an intimate journey that husband and wife share together. This idea is expanded on in the New Testament. Ephesians 5:25-31 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless...“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
Unfortunately, intimacy is not in a lot of marriage relationships but rather this idea of using and being used like with Jacob Rachel and Leah. The good news is that we are all married to Christ who is the perfect husband regardless of what our situation is here on this fallen messed up corrupted place. Even here in this life we can connect with Christ who raises us up to be with him in the heavenly realms. I’ll close with this great reminder of God’s love for us in Christ. Romans 8:28, 31-32, 38-39 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,…For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
