CHARACTERS: Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah
ADVERSARY/Challenge: Barrenness or Infertility
SIMILARITIES:
1. All three women were passionately loved by their husbands.
2. All three women came from a culture where barrenness/infertility was the greatest misfortune that could befall them. Women who were infertile were viewed with shame and reproach and considered less than other women.
3. All three women were aware of the practice of obtaining children through a maid or second wife.
DIFFERENCES:
1. Only two of the three women had rivals that added to the challenge of being infertile.
2. All three took different approaches to the required warfare.
DAY 1: REBEKAH
Genesis 25: 20-21 – And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
- Who was Rebekah? Read Genesis 22: 23 and Genesis 24-25
- For how many years was Rebekah facing this challenge? (Compare Genesis 25: 20 and 25:26).
- What was Rebekah’s response or reaction to her infertility? Fight or Not to Fight?
- Only one verse was given to describe the whole ordeal, verse 21, and we see Rebekah’s husband as the one engaging in warfare on her behalf. It appears as if she chose not to fight? What do you think might be some reasons that she would make that choice?
– Could it be that she had given up hope of ever having a child because of the number of years that they had been trying and so stopped engaging in warfare? (See Proverbs 13:12)
– Could it be that she felt that her husband, being born out of a similar situation, was more suited for this challenge so he should engage in this warfare? (See Genesis 16: 1-2; 18:9-15; 21:1-8 - What was her husband’s response to this challenge? How does his response inform or aid in her warfare?
- What strategy did Isaac use to fight this adversary, to wage a good warfare?
TIME FOR ACTION:
– In what ways or in what types of challenges is your reaction to NOT FIGHT similar to Rebekah’s?
– What can you learn from Rebekah’s account that can inform you as to how to watch your warfare?
DAY 2: HANNAH
1 Samuel 1: 5-7, 10 (NIV) – But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.
- Who was Hannah? Read 1 Samuel 1: 1-2
- For how many years was Hannah facing this challenge?
- What was the climate in Hannah’s household? How was this climate different from Rebekah’s?
– Hannah did not only have to deal with the shame and reproach of being barren, but she had an adversary who provoked her sore with the goal of making her fret (KJV). - What was Hannah’s initial response to the challenge? To fight or Not to Fight?
- What was her husband’s response to this challenge? How does his response inform or aid in her warfare?
- Where was Hannah (in what environment) when she decided to fight?
- What strategy did she use to fight this adversary, to wage a good warfare?
– From a place of distress, bitterness, and anguish, Hannah somehow found inner strength to fight. Even though she prayed out of a sorrowful spirit (verse 15), God confirmed through the priest that he heard her cry and would grant her petition.
TIME FOR ACTION:
– In what ways or in what types of challenges is your reaction to NOT FIGHT similar to Hannah’s?
– What does it take to cause you to fight when you should?
– What can you learn from Hannah’s account that can inform you as to how to watch your warfare?
DAY 3: RACHEL
Genesis 30: 1,8 – And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed….
- Who was Rachel? Read Genesis 29: 1-30
- For how many years was Rachel facing this challenge?
- What was the climate in Rachel’s household? How was this climate different from Rebekah’s and Hannah’s? Read Genesis 29: 31-35
- How was the relationship between Rachel and her rival, Leah different from that of Hannah and her rival, Peninah? Read Genesis 30:1-21
- What was Rachel’s initial response to the challenge of being infertile? To fight or Not to Fight?
- When did Rachel decide to fight? What was her motivation to fight?
- What was her husband’s response to this challenge? (Genesis 30:2) How does his response inform or aid in her warfare?
– When Rachel decided to fight, Jacob’s response to her attitude was, And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
– In his anger, Jacob pointed her to the only one who could change her situation. But she was so consumed by the spirit of envy that she could not hear. She proceeded to launch a full-scale attack against her sister. - What strategy did she use to fight this adversary, to wage warfare? Was her warfare a good warfare?
– By her own admission in verse 8, Rachel saw this as a contest, and she chose to wrestle with her sister.
– Six children later, she was still barren. It wasn’t until she finally turned to God, that her situation changed (Genesis 30:22)
TIME FOR ACTION:
– In what ways or in what types of challenges is your reaction to FIGHT in the flesh similar to Rachel’s?
– What triggers you to fight in the flesh?
– What does it take to cause you to abandon fighting in the flesh and fighting as prescribed by the word of God?
– What can you learn from Rachel’s account that can inform you as to how to watch your warfare?
DIG DEEPER:
1. Blog Post – Do you have a strategy for your warfare?
2. Devotional – To Fight or Not to Fight?