God opens and closes

Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. —Genesis 29:31

Like Abraham’s wife Sarah and Isaac’s wife Rebekah, Jacob’s wife Rachel had difficulty conceiving (Genesis 11:30; 25:21; 29:31; 30:1-2,17,22-23; Hebrews 11:11), although his wife Leah did not. Why would wives of the patriarchs—whom God had promised would be fathers of many nations—undergo long periods of infertility? 

One reason is that God was particular about the line through which the Messiah would come. Choice was and is His sovereign prerogative, and is not made according to the merit of the people involved (Psalm 145:17, Dt. 29:29). Often He chose the younger or lesser among brothers, to shock and surprise them and us. In Leah’s case He seems to be showing compassion to the unloved over the well-loved. He made Sarah wait until she was well past childbearing age to demonstrate His power. 

In the Bible, God is said to open and close wombs at His discretion. Just as Eve had God’s help in conceiving, the Bible explicitly states that Ruth and Hannah experienced the same assistance (Ruth 4:13; 1 Samuel 1:5-6,19-20). Samson’s mother and Elizabeth experienced long periods of barrenness until God announced they would have sons and then, presumably, enabled them to conceive (Judges 13:2-7; Luke 1:5-17). God was able to close all the wombs of the women in Abimilech’s household and make a virgin conceive and bare a child! (Gen. 20:18, Isaiah 7:14)

Does He only do this for the mothers of special people—prophets and people in the line of Christ? No. While God has set apart certain people for certain tasks before their birth or conception (Jeremiah 1:5, Galatians 1:15), scripture indicates He is intimately involved in the creation of each person, each bearer of His image:

• Deuteronomy 7:13, 28:4-18, 30:9 - God’s general blessing for Israel's obedience included “fruit of the womb”
• Job 12:10 - The life of every living thing and the breath of every man is in God’s hands
• Job 31:13-15 - The same God creates rich and poor, slave and free in the womb
• 1 Sam. 2:6 - “The Lord puts to death and makes alive.”
• Psalm 127:3 - “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” 

Parents contribute the physical components for new life, but life itself is God’s gift. And the mind of God is a mystery.

Just as you do not know the path of the wind, and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes everything. —Ecclesiastes 11:5

We shouldn’t marvel that God takes personal care with each new life. Life is His area of expertise and ownership. Indeed God’s power is so great that here are some other things He has opened and closed:

• Gen. 2:21 - God closed Adam’s flesh after removing his rib for the creation of Eve
• Gen. 7:16, 8:1-2 - God closed the door of the ark, and closed the fountains of the deep and floodgates of the sky
• Numbers 16:30-33 - God opened and closed the earth to punish the sons of Korah
• Num. 22:27-31 - God opened a donkey’s mouth to speak and Balaam’s eyes to see
• Acts 16:13-14 - God opened Lydia's heart to the gospel

Ourselves being finite, we must not think of God as being limited in any way. In Psalm 139:13, David said, “For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.” Was this true only of David because he was chosen to be king of Israel and the forebearer of Jesus? If that is the case, then the rest of Psalm 139 would not support the idea of God’s omniscience and omnipresence in all our lives. Indeed, David spoke for all of us when he marveled that “in Your book were written all the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (v. 16), and “How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God!” (v. 17).

A word about sister-keeping

Just as men are not always adept at brother-keeping, so women can fail at sisterly love. In Genesis 29:31-30:24, we see how Rachel and Leah’s relationship was put under stress by their father’s treachery and their husband’s favoritism, and poisoned by their own envy and jealousy. Rachel described their relationship as a wrestling match (Gen. 30:8). Leah accused Rachel of having stolen her husband (30:15); she tried to take solace in her children as compensation for Jacob’s inattention. Their story not only demonstrates the folly of bigamy, but also how a lack of sister-keeping deeply affects a family.

Next: Sister-keeping is for brothers too

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Image credit: Hannah at Prayer, by Wilhelm Wachtel, 1875-1942