A Reflection on the First Two Chapters of the Book of Genesis
By Laura Dysart
Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
With the understanding of the above verse in the context of Christ and His Bride, we may now consider its relevance to the rest of humanity.
Returning to this history of Jacob and Laban: the first person of Laban’s family that Jacob encounters is Rachel (Mark 16:9; John 20:11-16), Laban’s daughter who would become Jacob’s beloved wife (Genesis 29:9-11). The imagery presented in their meeting evokes several symbols also found in the New Testament: Rachel is introduced caring for her father’s sheep, an allusion to the Bride of Christ’s role in the New Testament (John 14:26-27; John 20:17-18 – read the passage in terms of directive (Christ) and response (Mary)). Jacob removes the stone blocking the well to water the flock, an allusion to His Passion, when He cleanses, conceives, and weds His Bride (Solomon 4:12; John 20:19-29 – consider that Thomas prefigures the Bride of Christ in this passage, while the other disciples represent the mystical body of Christ. This is again revealed in the history of St Paul (Acts 9:1-5), and the fact that Christ returned eight days later (1 Corinthians 15:8), and points to the Bride’s identity as the repentant one (Luke 7:36-50)). After watering the flock, He kisses her, chronologically placing her Passion and their wedding after the sanctification of the saints (Acts 2:2-4; John 20:17 – read the passage in terms of chronology of events, once again reaffirmed with the history of doubting Thomas in John 20:19-29 – the Bride comes after the rest of the faithful).^
With the intention of marrying Rachel, Jacob agrees to tend to his uncle Laban’s flock for seven years (Genesis 29:18). However, on the night of their wedding, Laban exchanges Rachel for her older sister, Leah (Lia) (Genesis 29:22-23). Jacob is forced to work another week (seven days) before being wed to Rachel (Genesis 29:28). As a result, Jacob ends up with two wives.
Leah represents the mystical body of Christ – all of the children of God who make up the New Testament. Leah is the firstborn, which may be read as an allusion to the children of Adam, and described as being bleary-eyed, an allusion to their fallen state (Genesis 29:17; Matthew 13:14). Thus, the history of Jacob and Laban acknowledges that the Church, the assembly of the people of God, altogether and in their own right, may be called the Bride of Christ.
Within the context of the days of creation, this event takes place on the sixth day, when God forms, from the earth, all beasts, and fowl in the air. Being made of the earth, which, in the context of Christ’s history, is the material and immaterial substance of His Bride, they are best understood as an extension of her, and for this reason, from her perspective, they exist not as a personification of her rival or sister-wife, but as her many children.* Therefore, coupled to the narrative of Jacob and his two wives, is Rachel and her maidservant:
And Rachel, seeing herself without children, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die. And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb? But she said: I have here my servant Bala: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children by her. And she gave him Bala in marriage: who, When her husband had gone in unto her, conceived and bore a son. (Genesis 30:1-5)
The maidservant represents humanity in their fallen state. Within each human exists the potential to become an eternal creation of God, molded in His image and likeness, which is represented by the child that is born to the maidservant. She is called the maidservant because the fallen humanity’s current material substance will eventually fall away, and the child born from it, in the true narrative of God, will be reborn of water and Spirit and of the new earth, making the Bride of Christ their legitimate mother for all eternity (John 3:3-5). For that reason, even though she’s not our literal, corporeal mother now, nor is she corporeally a part of us,** she is the mother of all the faithful who are baptized in the grace of God, and she is destined to become the Mother of all the living in the world to come.
For this reason, despite having a legitimate claim to the title of Bride of Christ, being made of her substance through baptism, all of the faithful are called to renege the title in humility, or at the very least debase it in acknowledgement of the Bride’s station (Job 19:20) as God’s chosen singular manifestation of the helper of Christ; choosing instead, for ourselves, the station of child of God (e.g., Matthew 18:3), in acknowledgement of our covenant with her (1 Timothy 2:11-14***).
The history of Sarai and Hagar(Agar) reveals the fall-out for all those who refuse:
Now Sarai the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children; but having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Agar, She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at least. And when he agreed to her request, She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife. And he went in to her. But she, perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiving herself to be with child, despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee. And Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold thy handmaid is in thy own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her, she ran away. (Genesis 16:1-6)
The proper conclusion of the narrative of the two wives is revealed in the history of Adam and Eve: Adam and God, perceiving the creatures born on the sixth day as being not like himself (Genesis 2:20), proceeds to create Eve. Thus, though the Bride exists as a creation of blood and water, her espousal to the Holy Spirit is a fundamental facet of her identity, and, as revealed in this telling of the seventh day, the starting point of her creation:
This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ: not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit which testifieth, that Christ is the truth. And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. And there are three that give testimony on earth: the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three are one. (1 John 5:6-8)
And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. (Genesis 2:22)
^ – Also consider the imagery of the disciples in the boat with nets full of fish while on the lake and Christ standing on shore presented at the end of the Gospel of John (John 21:1-14). The Bride of Christ’s role is revealed through the actions of the beloved disciple (John 21:7), Peter (John 21:7 – consider Peter’s nudity in conjunction with Noah’s nudity (Genesis 9:21), and Peter jumping in the lake alone in conjunction with Jonah’s being tossed in the sea (Jonah 1:15)- both scenes symbolize the Passion of the Bride), and the ship (John 21:3 & 8 – consider the mystical body of Christ – all those united together through baptism with the grace of God – water and the Holy Spirit – thus the Bride of Christ becomes the literal vehicle which delivers them to salvation), and the entire scene points to the mechanics of the Church in salvation history. Finally, the scene itself also suggests what happens after death, when the Bride of Christ delivers all those who are saved to the new earth (or heaven), where Christ resides – the firstborn among all creatures (Colossians 1:15). [This latter scene is also suggested by the three appearances of Christ after His Resurrection – firstly, because it points to His three ‘births’ – on the first day, on the sixth day, and on the seventh day of creation, and secondly, because it points to His three revelations on this earth – firstly, as the Son of Man, secondly, as God (to His Bride alone, during her corporeal life), and thirdly, as the Son of God (Revelation 12:5). Thus the third, and final appearance of Christ points to His locale being an allusion to heaven, or the new earth]
* – They are vessels of the grace of God, which manifest her immaterial presence on earth.
** – Aside from when we receive the eucharist.
*** – Being without sin, and fully united to God as the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Bride of Christ is God’s chosen mouthpiece to the world (e.g., John 2:1-5). Whereas, Eve became the mouthpiece of the serpent: so all fallen women share that same risk (Revelation 2:20-23).
Part 8 will be posted on July 4th, 2024…
the responsory 