Review: Rachel (Wives of the Patriarchs Book #3): A Novel by Jill Eileen Smith
- Booknerdian
- Nov 26, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 1
If you’re a person of faith, you undoubtedly know the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah inside and out and might wonder how a deep dive into this story could reveal anything new.
God has blessed Jill Eileen Smith with the gift of augmenting biblical accounts to make ancient stories relevant and accessible to readers today in order to deepen our faith in God (who is the same yesterday, today, and forever) and to make the scriptures come alive.
Rachel will pull you into another time, and you will experience a gambit of emotion as you relate to each character’s predicament. The culture might be different, but the human condition is still the same.
What Is Rachel About?
After tricking his father into giving him the blessing instead of Essau, Jacob flees Canaan to escape his brother’s wrath and to find a wife in his mother’s homeland. When he reaches his destination, he meets Rachel at the well and is immediately smitten with her. Since his haste means he was unable to bring his wealth with him, he agrees to work seven years for Rachel’s father, Laban, to pay the bride price for Rachel. Unfortunately, Jacob finds himself on the other end of a bait and switch scheme when he is duped into marrying Rachel’s sister, Leah, whom he does not love.
Although Jacob receives Rachel as his wife shortly after, he has to work another seven years for Leah. Laban’s wealth increases because God is with Jacob, so Laban continuously plots to keep Jacob from returning to his homeland.
The book centers on the emotional stress Rachel and Leah endure as a result of sharing the same man. Jacob’s heart belongs to Rachel, yet Leah hopes to earn his love, and she thinks bearing him a string of sons will win his affection.
Rachel is barren for several years, which is a constant source of anguish. She is jealous of her sister who conceives easily, especially since Leah rubs it in with the names she strategically bestows upon each child.
While Rachel is jealous of her sister’s fertility, Leah is equally jealous of the place Rachel has in Jacob’s heart. Jacob spends the majority of his time with Rachel, and when she does bear him two sons, he elevates their status above all his other sons, which makes his older children resentful and bitter.
Jacob’s multiple encounters with the one true God are remarkable. Jacob’s unwavering faith, his obedience, and his trust in God’s promise are an enduring example to us today.
Review of Rachel by Jill Eileen Smith: It's a Reminder that Human Nature Never Changes
Men do not like conflict, especially when they are at the center of a love triangle. Tending the sheep gives Jacob an excuse to stay away from camp for nights at a time. What man wants to return home from a hard day’s work to two women squabbling and jabbing at each other? The author captures many truths like this one that transcend time.
A bride eagerly anticipates her wedding day, especially after waiting seven years to be with the man she loves. To be forced to hide while her sister marries HER man would enrage anyone! The reader feels Rachel’s sorrow deeply across the centuries. It’s so unjust!
Some sympathize with Leah. She was plain and the oldest. If she didn’t marry before Rachel, she would never find a husband because she would be deemed unworthy. You can understand her situation, but what she does is inexcusable. Still, many feel that over time, Jacob should love her and treat her equally. I disagree. She stole what didn’t belong to her. She tried to lord her children over Rachel, and she lamented at Jacob’s lack of love, but she deserved NOTHING for what she did. I wanted Jacob to put her aside, but he does the honorable thing, which points to the mercy and kindness of God. We don’t get what we deserve.
We all know people like Laban! He’s a shyster and the type of man who will smile and pat you on the back while he’s stabbing you in it at the same time.
Throughout Rachel, you feel what the characters feel because the human heart is still the same! It’s one of the ways the books pulls you into its pages. The author does an exemplary job in imagining how each person would respond to their lot, and I suspect we would have felt and acted the same way.
The Book Nerd Weighs in on Rachel
Rachel is the first book I’ve read by Jill Eileen Smith, and I am completely captivated. Like many of you, I have read the biblical account numerous times, yet the scriptures offer only a highlight of Rachel’s story. Smith pulls you into the characters’ day-to-day lives, and even though her fictionalized version stems from inventiveness, it feels right! Smith’s retelling is authentic. The events unfold naturally and progress as one might expect.
Since I’m familiar with the biblical story, I knew how Smith would be forced to end the novel, yet it still didn’t stop my tears from flowing like it was the first time I’d heard the account. Smith revitalizes the story into something you don’t merely read—you experience it for yourself. What an amazing talent to be able to bring the bible to life!
You feel Rachel’s anger at sharing a husband with the sister she’d hoped to escape, and you understand her devastation over remaining childless while her adversary produces one child after another. You experience Jacob’s anger and frustration with Laban for his dishonest dealings, yet you marvel at the favor Jacob has with God and how he humbly deals with the curve balls he is thrown. You are pricked with fear when Jacob encounters Essau and when Laban chases him down after he leaves his land. Yet, you might even feel a twinge of sadness that Leah must go through life being unloved. Why didn’t Laban marry her off? He had SEVEN years to get her a husband while Jacob worked for Rachel!
As long as we are on the Earth, we will have struggle, yet the same God whom Jacob knew and served is the same God who loves and provides for us now, and we can trust Him to be faithful to His promises. That truth of who God is shines through this insightful novel as it retells a familiar story in an intimate way.
List of Books by Jill Eileen Smith
You might be a person who sometimes finds parts of the Bible to be a little dry. Once you read one novel by Jill Eileen Smith, you will be hungry for more because she adds living water to the passages to make them intensely engaging. You won’t be able to put these books down! Check out her other inspiring works:
The Wives of King David
Wives of the Patriarchs
The Loves of King Solomon
Daughters of the Promised Land
Standalone Novels
Non-Fiction
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Review of Rachel by Jill Eileen Smith
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