"Do not fear, for you have another son."

"Rachel Dies While Giving Birth to Benjamin,"  Cayley

The Word for today:

Genesis 35

If I had to reduce the Bible to a single passage, it might be this one:

And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, "Do not fear, for you have another son."

And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).  (Genesis 35:17-19)

Do not fear, for you have another son…

A dying race, dead in sin, would bring forth another son--the Son of Man.  He was already on his way to Bethlehem:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.  (Isaiah 9:6-7)

This Son of Man would be Ben-Oni, the Son of Her Sorrow.  He would die giving birth to many.

And this very same Son would be Benjamin, the Son of His Right Hand--the son of power, the victorious one.

Who is this Son of Man?

We live in the valley of the shadow, in Psalm 23.  Behind us, in Psalm 22, her Son of Sorrow died:

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Ahead of us, in Psalm 24, lives the Son of His Right Hand:

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!  (Psalms 24:7-8)

The Son of God is the Son of Man--

and we are the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Selah. (1)

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(1) see Psalm 24:6