My Right Hand

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

MY RIGHT HAND

Gen 35:16-20

16 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17 And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have another son." 18 As she breathed her last — for she was dying — she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.   19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel's tomb.

NIV

This was a sad moment in the life of Rachel and Israel as she gave birth to the twelfth son of Israel and breathed her last. When his name was still Jacob, and he first met her and wanted her as his wife, we are told he loved Rachel. Leah and the two handmaidens, Bilhah and Zilpah, bore Jacob sons, but Rachel was his right hand. That is the meaning of the name Benjamin, son of  my right hand. Is this not the lesson all men should take to heart? First and foremost, men are commanded to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church. We are confident that Jacob loved Rachel this way, for he worked fourteen years for her. He gave of himself for her. We would think most men give of themselves, work, labor, and provide as best they can for their wives and families. But the lesson revealed to us is that, by naming him Benjamin, son of my right hand, Israel says Rachel was his right hand. Men are not only commanded to love their wives, but to see them as their right hand. The name Benjamin is important, as that tribe camped to the right of the tabernacle, serving as its right hand and buffering Judah. Both King Saul and the Apostle Paul were from the tribe of Benjamin. It might be seen that because Benjamin buffered Judah, the tribe, the right hand of God came to earth; Israel naming him the son of my right hand was prophetic. However, we still come to the relationship between Israel and Rachel, a bond, a love for all time. We think a man's love for his wife should be recorded as a love for all time. Whatever is said about a man, whether about his career, his accomplishments, or his service to the Lord, the most important remembrance should be that he loved his wife and that she was his right hand, that which is his source of strength.