Hello and welcome to the Women’s Weekly Bible Challenge! I’m Lisa Ann. Today’s Bible study will be Part 1 of a 2-Part series on Barrenness.
I chose this topic as it pertains to women. ‘Barren’ is a term not applied to men in scripture, although I did find one reference to the words ‘barren’ and ‘male’ in Deuteronomy 7, which we will look at in this study.
Men are usually referred to as childless, not barren; however, we do not find any man mentioned in the Bible that is permanently childless.
- Abraham called himself ‘childless’ in Genesis 15:2, but he was only childless for a season.
- God told Jeremiah to write down King Jehoiakim as childless, not because he had no children, but, because none of his sons would ever sit on the throne of David (Jeremiah 22:30; 36:30).
The word ‘barren’ is found in 23 verses in the King James Bible, plus one reference to 'barrenness'. Most often it refers to a woman, but it is also used to describe land.
📓NOTE: The first time that a word is used in scripture will
often define it for us, so let’s take a look at the first occurrence of ‘barren’
in scripture.
Genesis 11:30 But
Sarai was barren; she had no child.
The Holy Spirit defines for us that a barren woman has no
child.
One of the oldest
references to ‘barren’ in the scriptures is found in the book of Job.
Job 39:6 Whose house
I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.
The LORD is speaking of the wild ass in this passage, and He
defines the word as it pertains to land, equating barren land to ‘the wilderness’.
There is only one reference to the word ‘barrenness’.
Psalm 107:34 a
fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell
therein.
This psalm, which I encourage you to read in full, is an historical review of God’s relationship with the nation of Israel. When God brought them out of Egypt, He
provided food and water for them in the barren
wilderness. Forty years later He brought
them into the very fruitful Promised Land, but when things were going well for
the nation, they forgot God. As punishment for breaking His covenant, God
turned the fruitful land into barrenness. There is a theme of barrenness in
the Old Testament as it relates to Israel.
References to barren as it describes land:
It is interesting to note that the covenant God made with the nation of Israel included the promise of no barrenness in man or cattle:
We will be reading these passages together later in this study, but first let’s make a list of all the women who were spoken of as barren in the Bible.
BARREN WOMEN IN SCRIPTURE
·
Sarai – Genesis 11:30
·
Rebekah – Genesis 25:21
·
Rachel – Genesis 29:31
·
Manoah’s wife – Judges 13:3
·
Hannah – 1 Samuel 1:2 and 2:5
·
Elizabeth – Luke 1:7, 36
DISPENSATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
We will consider the last three women first:
- Manoah’s wife is Samson’s mother
- Hannah is Samuel’s mother
- Elizabeth is John the Baptist’s mother
All three of these barren women are descendants of the nation of Israel.
Manoah and his wife were of the tribe of Dan (Judges 13:2).
Hannah, whose husband (Elkanah)was called an Ephrathite, dwelt in the land of Bethlehem-Judah (Ruth 1:2; 1 Samuel 1:1; 17:12). Elkanah was a LEVITE. See 1 Chronicles 6:16-30.
Elizabeth and Zacharias were from the tribe of Levi. Elizabeth was called a daughter of Aaron. Her husband Zacharias was a priest. (Luke 1:5-6; 1 Chronicles 24:1-10).
📔 NOTE: When studying scripture, we must always consider the context
of every passage we encounter. All three of these women were barren under the covenant of the Law of
Moses.
Now let’s read those covenant promises God made to the nation of Israel under the Law of Moses.
Exodus 23:25 And ye
shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and
I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26 There shall nothing cast
their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will
fulfil.
Deuteronomy 7:14 Thou
shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren
among you, or among your cattle.
The covenant of God with the nation of Israel was
conditional. There were many “Ifs” and
“Thens” in the contract: If they obeyed, then God would bless
them; if they disobeyed, then God would curse them. Israel entered this covenant agreement with
God at Mount Sinai when they answered together and said, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do”. (Exodus 19:8; 24:3)
Therefore, it is important to understand that these women were
experiencing barrenness because the nation of Israel had backslidden;
they had forgotten God and turned back from following the law. When we read this
list of barren women, we must consider the condition of the nation of Israel,
not the women themselves.
We find no fault in Elizabeth, Hannah or Manoah's wife. In fact, we see that Elizabeth is described as
‘righteous’ and ‘blameless’ (Luke 1:5-6). God was not personally punishing these women; they were suffering due to the sin of the nation and because
God was keeping His word. Therefore, God
had to intervene in the lives of these faithful women in order for each one to
conceive.
📓NOTE: These three women are not randomly chosen but are from tribes in Israel that represent positions of authority. This pictures Jesus Christ.
- Samson, a Judge from the tribe of Dan, whose name means ‘Judge’
- John, a Priest from the tribe of Levi, who ministered in the wilderness instead of the Temple
- Samuel, the Prophet who anointed the first King of Israel.
CONCLUSION:
Barrenness was national punishment on Israel!
Next we will consider the first three barren women mentioned in Scripture:
- Sarai
- Rebekah
- Rachel
These are the wives of the fathers of the nation of Israel: Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.
One of God’s titles in the Bible is “The God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob” (Exodus 3:6; Matthew 22:32).
This identifies God with the physical fathers of the nation of
Israel. God had made many promises to
these men regarding their seed inheriting the land and a kingdom which would rule
over all the kingdoms of the earth (Deuteronomy 14:2; 28:13).
Sarai, Rebeka and Rachel lived before there was a Law of Moses. Their barrenness was not punishment for breaking any laws. The nation of Israel did not yet exist.
Q: So, why do we see
barrenness in this chosen line of women?
A: Through
barrenness, God was protecting His seed.
God had declared to Satan in the Garden of Eden that the seed of the woman would bruise
Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15).
It seems obvious in light of Genesis 6:1-4 and elsewhere in scripture, that because of God’s promise of a seed that would bruise Satan’s head, Satan would attempt to contaminate the seed line to prevent his own demise. Through barrenness, God protected these women and their seed from contamination! He wanted the world to know, without a doubt, that Israel and the seed that came from them was His work, His chosen nation and people (Deuteronomy 14:2; 1 Peter 2:9). The conception of the seed line was only achieved through God’s miraculous intervention.
- Sarah’s conception was an obvious miracle of God, as she bore Isaac at 90 years of age (Genesis 17:17)!
- Rebekah and Isaac had been married 20 years and had no children until Isaac entreated the Lord for her (Genesis 25:19-26).
- Rachel, was barren for approximately 20 years (Genesis 31:38) before God opened her womb (Genesis 30:22).
A CLOSER LOOK AT RACHEL
Finally, God had mercy on Rachel, and she bore Joseph, a
type of Christ.
As a young wife, she had cried out to her husband Jacob in
despair, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1). She was asking the wrong person! Evidently she finally got around to asking God
because scripture says, “God hearkened
to her and opened her womb” (Genesis 30:22).
At Joseph’s birth, Rachel prophesied that “The Lord shall add to me another son”
(Genesis 30:24). When the second son came, Rachel died. She did not get to mother her last son,
Benjamin.
📔NOTE: Benjamin is the
only son of Jacob born in the land of promise. The other sons were born in Syria while Jacob
served his uncle Laban.
Rachel was buried between Bethel and Ephrath, which is Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19). The little town of Bethlehem shares a heritage with both tribes of Benjamin and Judah.
Jeremiah prophesied of a time of sorrow for Israel, followed
by a resurrection (“hope in thine end”, Jeremiah 31:17).
Jeremiah 31:15 Thus
saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, and bitter weeping;
Rahel weeping for her children Refused to be comforted for her children,
because they were not.
Compare this to the New Testament quote.
Matthew 2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard,
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children,
and would not be comforted, because they are not.
This was fulfilled when Herod murdered all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under. This was Satan's attempt to destroy the coming Seed that would bruise his head.
This scripture sheds light on the
beginning of sorrows that was about to come upon the nation of Israel, known as
“the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7) and “the 70th week of Daniel”
(Daniel 9:24), which was to immediately follow the cutting off of Messiah.
📓NOTE: Rachel named
her son, Benoni, the son of my sorrow; Jacob renamed him Benjamin, the son of
my right hand. This points us to Jesus, “a
man of sorrows” born to die for the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:3), and the
first begotten son who would sit at the right hand of the Father (Psalm 110:1;
Matthew 22:44; Colossians 3:1).
**All scripture points us to Jesus Christ!**
Q: Why did the “time
of Jacob’s trouble” and the 70th
week of Daniel not occur when it was prophesied?
A: Something changed!
WE’LL PICK UP THE STORY NEXT WEEK Click this link for PART 2 OF BARRENNESS
Bible Challenge for next week:
- Read Stephen’s speech in Acts chapter 7, and especially note his prayer in verse 60.
- Read Acts 6:5
- Read Luke 21:15
- Read Matthew 12:31-32
- Read Romans chapter 9 – 11
If you have any questions, enter your comment below.
See you next time!
The material in this blog is covered in this video:
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