The Royal Rachel
While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. Genesis 29:9 NASB
Shepherdess – Today is the birthday of my daughter, Rachel. On this day of celebration, I want to look at her name and a verse that talks about her character. It’s the story of Jacob’s first encounter with the woman he loves. What’s interesting about this story is Rachel’s unusual role. It would have been quite strange for a woman to be a shepherdess. It wasn’t just the demands of tending sheep. Shepherds spent many days and nights in the field, alone. For a woman, this was particularly dangerous. Rachel must have had a strong will, a sense of inner confidence, and a certain public prowess in order to successfully manage a job like this. The Paleo-Hebrew construction of her name shows us a bit more.
Reysh-Chet-Lamed, “the head (highest)-fence (separate)-control (authority)”—that sums it up. Here is a woman above the rest, separate or as we might say, “In a class of her own.” This is a woman who knows control and who has, by virtue of her character, authority. These images play well with the probable root of her name, ra’a.
The root rāʿâ is cognate to Akkadian reʿû, a very ancient word, used as an honorific title in royal names and inscriptions from the time of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300 b.c.). A cognate, rʿî, is an important root in Ugaritic. Cognates are also found in Aramaic, Phoenician, and other Semitic languages. rāʿâ occurs over 160 times in the ot, the participial form rōʿeh “shepherd” occurring over 60 times. It is the primary term for “feeding” domestic animals. Since the most common occupation in Palestine from greatest antiquity was shepherding, the term is basic to the description of the people of the country in all historical periods.[1]
From very ancient antiquity, rulers were described as demonstrating their legitimacy to rule by their ability to “pasture” their people. Hammurabi and many other rulers of ancient western Asia are called “shepherd” or described as “pasturing” their subjects. In the ot, however, it is the Lord who feeds his people and is praised for his mercy in providing for them[2]
It’s nice to see my daughter live up to her namesake. There is a special uniqueness to her (of course, you’d expect me to say that. She is my youngest, and only, daughter). I am quite sure that any father with a daughter would feel the same. Ubiquity, however, is not a sign of ordinary. Today she displays the same inquisitiveness that sent her head over heels off a railing when she was three. She has the same adventurous spirit as that teenager who peered over the edge of Victoria Falls from Devil’s Pool. And she has the same heart for others that I saw in Zambia, Manila, Israel, and America. She’s made my life much, much better for just being here.
Topical Index: Rachel, ra’a, rōʿeh, shepherdess, Genesis 29:9
[1] White, W. (1999). 2185 רָעָה. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 852). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
