The Gate of Heaven (51 page)

Dinah chewed on her lower lip, a sure sign that she was nervous. Turning to Demetrius, who was sitting beside the fire, she said, “I'm worried about Rachel.”

“So am I.” Demetrius picked up a stick, held it in the flame until it caught, and then held it up before his eyes. He watched it burn for a time and then tossed it onto the fire. “I wish we could have waited until she had the child.”

“That's what Father wanted to do, but she insisted.”

“It's been a hard trip on everybody, but most of all on Rachel.”

Indeed, the trip had been hard. They had passed through some dry, arid land, and water had been hard to find. The heat had been terrible, and the herders had been hard put to find enough water to keep the animals alive. They had lost several of them to wild dogs, despite their care.

Demetrius looked up at the stars that glittered above them. “Do you remember the star lesson?”

“Yes. There's the Little Cup and the Big Cup, and right there is the star that never changes.”

“That's right. I will teach you many more when we get to my home.”

“It seems impossible for us to be going there.”

“It's not. We will be there very soon.” He took her hand, and kissed it. “But all things seem slow to lovers.”

She reached out and put her hand against his cheek. She could not speak, so full was her heart. She had been this way since they had become engaged, and she said, “I hope I always love you as much as I do now.”

“Oh, much more!” He smiled and then took her hand and kissed it again.

Jacob stood before the altar he had built. He was exhausted, but now the trip was over. Everything about it had been hard. Rachel's condition had deteriorated so that Jacob walked in fear.

Now he stood before the altar he had built, and his mind went back to the times when God had spoken to him. This was the same country where God had met him and where he had seen the gate of heaven with angels going up and coming down the stairway. Of all the visits of the Most High, that had been the clearest, when God had been so real. But then during the many years that followed he'd had to struggle to keep himself reminded of the mighty promises he had received.

Jacob stepped forward and poured water over the altar and cried aloud, “O God, you are my God, and I love you!”

He prayed for a time, then took out a flagon of oil he had brought. As he poured it over the altar, the sun caught the oil and made it look like molten fire. Jacob stepped back and knelt down, putting his face on the ground. “You have kept your promise, O God. I left this land with nothing but a scrap in my hand, but I had your promise to multiply your blessings. And now, Lord, you have been faithful, and I bow before you and ask you for another blessing.”

As Jacob knelt there, God spoke to him in a simple, quiet way. He repeated the promise and reminded Jacob that his name was Israel and that out of him a nation would be born and kings would come forth from his loins. He reminded him that the very land that he gave to Abraham and Isaac would be his and his children's.

Finally Jacob arose, and he felt a great joy. As he made his way back to the camp, his mind went forward, and he had something like a dream, although his eyes were wide open. He saw a teeming multitude of people, all his descendants, worshiping the God of Bethel. The God of all the earth—the Strong God. It was more than his mind could take in, that from him all peoples of the earth would be blessed, and as he rode along, he was humbled by the vision he had seen and by the promises of God.

For Rachel every day seemed interminable. They had reached the land of Bethel and had stopped at a place called Ephrath. Things had gone so hard with her, but now she knew her hour had come. She called out, and Jacob was by her side instantly. “The pains are beginning,” she panted. “The child is coming.”

Jacob instantly began to shout for the midwives.

They came at once, along with Leah and his concubines, and he was thrust out, as was customary, for men were not welcome during a woman's travail. They had been careful to do their best for Rachel during the last few days. They had given her terrible-tasting medicines with a great deal of oil that made her ill. They included swine's fat, fish, herbs, and unmentionable things. Each night an offering was placed at her head—although they did not mention this to Jacob. They believed that the greedy demons might take it and leave her alone. The bed she lay on was in the center of the tent, and when she began to cry aloud, unable to contain herself, the midwives smeared the sides of the bed with the blood of a freshly slain lamb.

Outside the tent Jacob paced frantically to and fro. Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah came and went, and each time one came out Jacob would frantically ask her, “How is she?” seeking some encouraging words.

Bilhah wanted to give encouragement, but when Jacob grabbed her and demanded to know how Rachel was, she shook her head. “She's very weak.”

Jacob could not be still. He was short-tempered, and even Dinah, who tried to comfort him, knew there was nothing anyone could say to him.

“She can't die. She mustn't die.” Jacob groaned this at first inwardly but finally began crying aloud and cared not that others heard it.

His cries mingled with the cries of Rachel. His were strong and agonized, while hers grew more and more feeble.

The anguish was more terrible than anything Rachel had known. Joseph's birth had been hard but nothing like this! She bit her teeth together, but her fortitude did not help her. The pangs came now in great waves, and she knew that this time there would be no joy for her in the birth of this child.

She looked up at Leah, who stood upright and then at the midwives, and she begged for Jacob.

The midwife said, “It's not fitting that a man should come into the tent during the birth.”

Rachel pleaded, but the tradition was too strong.

“It's been going on for two days,” Jacob whispered. “O God, why do you not have mercy?”

Jacob had not slept or eaten, nor had many others in the camp. They all knew of the terrible birth pangs, and the whispers were, “She is too old to be having a child.”

Finally the tent fell silent, and as Jacob became conscious of the change, he saw Bilhah come out. She approached him, her face pale and wet with perspiration.

“The child has come,” she said. “It is a son.”

“And Rachel?” Jacob demanded. He searched her face for an answer and saw only that which he feared.

“She yet lives. Go quickly,” Bilhah whispered.

Jacob entered the tent. Leah was cleaning the child, but Jacob paid the newborn no heed. He went straight to Rachel and fell down beside her. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was open. His heart suddenly contracted, and then he saw her chest move slightly.

“Rachel,” he groaned. “Rachel, my Beloved Wife…”

Rachel slowly opened her eyes, and her lips moved, but Jacob could not hear her. He stroked her brow and begged her to speak to him, and then Leah brought the child and put him beside Rachel.

Rachel's eyes were only half open, and Jacob knew that the end was near. He saw her look at the child and then she turned back to him. “He is…our son.”

“Yes,” Jacob groaned. He looked at the infant briefly but then turned back at once to Rachel.

“Call his name…Ben-Oni.”

The words were so faint that Jacob thought he had misunderstood. Ben-Oni meant “son of my trouble.”

“Yes, my Beloved Wife. His name shall be Benjamin, ‘son of my right hand.'”

Rachel arched her body then and reached out. She touched his face, and for one moment her eyes opened wide.

“I've always loved you,” she said, and her words were clear.

“And I have loved you, my Beloved Wife,” Jacob said, weeping.

And then Rachel's eyes slowly closed, but she smiled as she left Jacob alone with his son.

“I think my father…I think he cannot live,” Dinah whispered.

Demetrius stood beside Dinah. They were watching Jacob, who stood over the grave in which he had put his Beloved Wife.

“I never saw a man suffer so. How he loved her,” Demetrius said quietly.

Dinah reached out and took Demetrius's hand and said, “He will never be the same again.”

“I think you are right.”

“He was crippled in his hip after he wrestled with God, or the angel, but this hurt is in his heart. He limps physically now, but his heart will never heal.”

The two stood there clinging to each other as the sun went down, and Jacob finally knelt down and pressed himself against the earth, weeping and crying out, “Oh, Rachel…my Rachel!”

“Another week and you will be my wife!” Demetrius exclaimed, picking up Dinah and swinging her around. “Then I will have you exactly where I want you!” He put her down, kissed her, and then smiled. “Back in my homeland wives know how to treat their husbands.”

Dinah's eyes were dancing. It had been six months since the death of Rachel, and during that time she had given herself to comforting her father as best as she could. Now that she was to be a bride, however, she felt that her joy might overflow.