From a previous article “ The Artist Hand” we see how  God used the lives of the Patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to weave through their lives facts about himself as types and shadows of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and future fulfillment that would come to pass in rich detail by God.

When reading the stories in the Old Testament keep the correct person of the Trinity in mind and see the Bible comes alive in richness beyond comprehension.
It’s almost like opening a book and suddenly it’s a pop-up book that has dimensions that go beyond the story.

In this segment, we should expect some details that occur before and after Joseph is born, because before he can become a type (Messiah) we should be able to glean some details before he was sold and sent to Egypt.

Rachel and Leah

Jacob as a type of the Holy Spirit ends up with a bride he wasn’t seeking (Leah) and had to work another 7 years to pay for Rachel.
This is what occurred in the New Testament for Jesus who was sent for Israel. Matthew 15:24
He (Jesus) came unto his own, and his own received him not. John 1:11

After Jacob fulfills Leah’s bridal week, Jacob then gets Rachel.
Rachel is barren for many years and she becomes jealous of her sister Leah because she is fruitful and gives sons to Jacob.
Jacob has worked for Laban for fourteen years for the two daughters.
Gen 31

Once Laban has been paid in full it’s at this point when Rachel gives birth to Joseph and Jacob is ready to leave with his wives but Laban begs him to remain because God has blessed Laban due to Jacob and so they both agree that Jacob will work for the spotted and speckled that are born within the flocks.
Jacob works a total of 20 years for Laban, fourteen years for Leah and Rachel, and 6 years for the spotted and speckled.

The representation of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jacob has generous amounts of detail that are fulfilled in the New Testament.
Seemingly insignificant details take on a new life in the New Testament when understood in the Old.
One example is Rachel willing to trade Jacob for the night in exchange for Leah’s mandrakes is a product of just information packed in the Old Testament. The mandrake story just seems to have no reason or meaning and seems to go nowhere, it’s just hanging there, making one wonder why it was important for us to know it?
Every detail in the Old Testament has a purpose!
There is nothing in the Bible that is insignificate, every smidgen of detail matters.

We know that in the New Testament when Christ was born, the nation of Israel (Rachel) was sleeping and rejected her Messiah, but can that be found in Genesis?

Trading Apples for Jacob

14And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. 15And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes. 16And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. Genesis 30

The fruit of the mandrake when ripe are about the size of a small apple.
The Arabs call it “devil’s apple,” narcotic, causing sleep so that the ancients used it as an anesthetic.
Interesting due to the fact that anesthetics result in a temporary loss of awareness.
The Arabs call it the devil’s apple due to its voluptuous attributes, ministering to indulgence in luxury,  pleasure, and sensuous enjoyment. Obviously Rachel wasn’t wanting the fruit to feel sexually attractive, since she traded Jacob for the fruit.

I don’t have to explain the symbolism of the apple. The idea of the fruit viewed as the “devils apple” brings us to the Garden of Eden.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. Genesis 3:6

Old Testament Becomes New

“Sleep well dear Rachel”, you just traded Jacob as a type of the Holy Spirit for lousy pieces of fruit. Since Rachel represents the “beloved Israel” she was slumbering when her Messiah was born in Bethlehem, totally unaware.
Not only was she fast asleep, but she also died on the way to Bethlehem. Genesis 35:19

In Jeremiah 31:15
This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.”
In Jeremiah, this takes on some spiritual significance. Not only the death of the innocent babes but an overview of the death or slumber of Israel as well.
An interesting note, Leah being a type of the church. Her death is never recorded, just the place where she is buried is mentioned.

Jacob leaves Padanaram

Jacob is told by God that it is time to go to Gilead and so he packs up his wives and servants and livestock and travels toward Gilead, but Laban catches up to him.
Before leaving Padanaram, Rachel had stolen her Father’s gods and Jacob was unaware that Rachel had taken them. When Laban asked about the theft of his gods, Jacob tells Laban that whoever has taken the gods “let him not live”
Jacob did not know his beloved Rachel had taken them.

This is a timeline.
Joseph is a type of the Messiah, from the previous article
Gospel according to Genesis and he is in the group that leaves for Gilead, but Benjamin has not been born yet. Which is important because he becomes a type also.
God uses different types due to people not living forever, so the types change with each generation but they are fairly easy to follow.
Keep in mind that Jacob stated “let him not live” whoever has taken the gods of Laban, so Jacob being a type for the (Holy Spirit) has implications for Rachel (Israel) in the New Testament.- The pronouncement of “death” occurs BEFORE the birth of Benjamin.
Benjamin becomes a type of the New Testament church – which you’ll see later, So the New Testament timeline has the death of Israel (Rachel) before the birth of Benjamin (church) which we already know through history, recorded hundreds of years before Christ that Israel rejected the Messiah and the Church was born.

Jacob’s continues on his way to Gilead and spends a night wrestling with God, which reminds us that although we may fight God and His will for us, in truth, as believers in Christ, we may well struggle with Him through the struggles of night, but by the breaking of dawn, if we continue on with him, His blessing will come. Jacob was renamed Israel and then God calls him to move on to Bethel and Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjamin and was buried in Bethlehem.

It’s shocking how vivid and precise these insignificant details are packed in the Old Testament that takes on a whole new realm when seen through the eyes of the person in the Godhead for which they represent.
Some of these types can be hard to comprehend because the timelines in the Old Testament have two timelines-one that is explaining the details in each of these people’s lives and a future far-reaching fulfillment that we understand in the New Testament.- But It’s all recorded in the Old Testament in precise detail, hidden behind a veil.

IT’S A MASTERPIECE