Benoni\u2014Gen_35:18<\/p>\n
Of Jacob\u2019s twelve sons all but the youngest were born in Padanaram. That youngest, the only one native to the land of promise, was also the child of the well-beloved Rachel, whose earnest and not always reasonable craving for children had rendered much of her husband\u2019s life uncomfortable. At last her desires were gratified. She had one son in her own country. That was Joseph. And now, when Jacob was on the way from Bethel to join his father at Mamre, just before coming to Bethlehem, another was given to her. But this blessing was won at a costly price. She died in giving him birth. In her dying agony she gave her child the name of Benoni, \u201cthe son of my sorrow;\u201d but Jacob changed this name to Benjamin, \u201cson of the right hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus Jacob lost, soonest of all, and still young, the wife he loved most, and probably the only one to whom he felt bound by any other tie than that of duty. That loss\u2014and the deep pang it gave, he remembered well\u2014it was always present with him to his dying day. Witness that touching incident in his last discourse with Joseph\u2014the abrupt transition of ideas with which, while discoursing of other matters, he suddenly and sorrowfully remarks: \u201cAs for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath; and I buried her there, in the way to Ephrath.\u201d<\/p>\n
How is it that the favorite of Heaven should thus suffer? Except David\u2014also highly favored of God\u2014and scarcely excepting him, there is no man in all the Scripture so deeply tried in his affections as Jacob. That which he most loved\u2014on which his heart was most fixed, is constantly torn from him, and more than once he had occasion to ask,<\/p>\n
\u201cCould not the grave forget thee, and lay low<\/p>\n
Some less majestic, less beloved head?\u201d<\/p>\n
First he lost Rachel, whom he loved so that his seven long years of service for her, \u201cseemed to him but a few days for the love he bore to her.\u201d Then the son of the lost Rachel twines himself around his heart, and that son is also suddenly reft from him. He sees his bloody robe; he believes him torn of beasts; and when his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, he refused to be comforted, and he said, \u201cFor I will go down to the grave unto my son mourning.\u201d Next his Benjamin, the sole remaining relic of that beloved wife, is demanded from him, and he gives him up in the strong fear that he shall see his face no more. He resists long in this instance: \u201cMy son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him in the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.\u201d But stern necessity compels. He yields him up\u2014he suffers him to depart, with the sad words which strike the ear like a groan, \u201cIf I be bereaved, I am bereaved.\u201d Gen_42:38; Gen_43:14.<\/p>\n
It was, therefore, in his most treasured affections\u2014in the things that touch the heart most dearly\u2014that it was the lot of Jacob to be tried. We all have our trials\u2014one after this manner, another after that. This was his trial. And it is the hardest to bear. What is the wrath of man\u2014what is the loss of substance, of comfort, of health\u2014compared with such trial, such loss as this? The deceitfulness of Laban was hard: but he had a spirit that rose above it, that trod it down, that turned it to good. The fierce threats of Esau were terrible: but his heart was in God\u2019s hands\u2014he might relent, he did relent. But the grave knows no relenting\u2014the dead come back no more. All other loss is remediable\u2014but such as this never, while the heart lives to suffer. Besides, as in this case, it is the most loved that is soonest lost. Too strong earthly love\u2014and even love not all earthly\u2014seems to blight its object. It is burnt up suddenly, as by the very warmth of our affections, or it wastes silently away before their glowing heat.<\/p>\n
But why was the man chosen of God; even in his mother\u2019s womb, thus tried, where he would feel most severely? It may be for the very reason that this was the point in which he would feel most acutely, and in which, therefore, he might be most effectually corrected. He needed correction. There was much in him\u2014as in all of us\u2014of the earth, earthy, which needed sharp fires to burn it out; and this was the fire in which God tried him, because it would best purify him. Even the inordinacy of his affections needed correction. He was one of those men whose affections are not expansive but concentrative. There were many objects\u2014wives and children with claims upon his affection; but he must have some object to love pre-eminently, while the rest were less regarded. First there was Rachel, then Joseph, then Benjamin. But this inordinacy of special affection is often a snare to the soul. It borders on idolatry. It sets a rival on God\u2019s throne, and establishes a conflicting interest between earth and heaven. This must not be. It is dangerous and soul-destroying; and, therefore, often does God, out of mere kindness and pity, take away the desire of our eyes with a stroke. The wit of man can find no other reason than this most authentic one, why it is that the objects we cherish most are soonest lost.<\/p>\n
Again, we may observe in this the necessity of submitting our desires to God. Rachel made her own life and her husband\u2019s unhappy by her deep anxiety for children. Well, she has children, and she dies. Had children still been withheld from her, she might have lived many years, enjoying the society of him whose love was to her better than ten sons. How often thus are we judged and punished, by the gratification of our choice desires. We are not content to rely upon the Lord\u2019s judgment of what is best for us. We weary him with complaints as to what he sends, or what he withholds\u2014till at last he says, \u201cThey are given to idols; let them alone.\u201d Our wish is granted\u2014and we perish, or find that we have won only sorrow or shame.<\/p>\n
Happy they who, in the midst of such afflictions, from the loss of friends by death or circumstances, can say, with chastened hearts\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for my friends, they are not lost:<\/p>\n
The several vessels of thy fleet,<\/p>\n
Though parted now, by tempest tost,<\/p>\n
Shall safely in the haven meet.\u201d\u2014Baxter.<\/p>\n
No one can fail to be much struck by the deep significance of the change of the child\u2019s name from Benoni to Benjamin. Having regard to the significance of these names, the fact is wonderfully suggestive. There are few whom it will not remind how often that which came as a grief remains as a joy and a blessing\u2014how often, within their own experience, the son of their sorrow has become the son of their right hand. It had been something to change the name for one of neutral meaning\u2014that it might not remain as a memorial of grief; but it is more, when it is changed into a name of strength\u2014a name of gladness and of power. We have known the cases of men greatly bowed down by some affliction, which threatened to make life a blank and a burden to them\u2014but God enabled them to endure. God gave them strength; and in that strength they arose triumphant over privation and pain. Their very sorrow they seized, and made it an instrument of power. Their cross, when manfully taken up, became a sword in their hands, with which they went forth conquering and to conquer; and the thorny crown became a diadem of glory and beauty upon their brows. These are the Jacobs whose Benonis became their Benjamins.<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Benoni\u2014Gen_35:18 Of Jacob\u2019s twelve sons all but the youngest were born in Padanaram. That youngest, the only one native to the land of promise, was also the child of the well-beloved Rachel, whose earnest and not always reasonable craving for children had rendered much of her husband\u2019s life uncomfortable. At last her desires were gratified. … Continue reading ““083. BENONI\u2014GENESIS 35:18””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}