Spurgeon Morning and Evening March 8 PM

Biblical Context

The story of Rachel naming her dying son Ben-oni, only for Jacob to rename him Benjamin, stands as a heart-wrenching moment in the book of Genesis. This event comes at a time of significant transition for Jacob’s family, as they return to Bethel after a long stay in Paddan Aram. Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, faces the painful reality of childbirth, a process that ultimately takes her life. It’s a bittersweet ending to a long journey, marking the birth of Jacob’s twelfth son, Benjamin, who would become the father of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rachel’s naming of her son, ‘Ben-oni,’ speaks volumes about her final moments—overwhelmed by her suffering and approaching death. It reflects the raw, human experience of pain and loss. However, Jacob’s immediate renaming of the child to ‘Benjamin’ isn’t just a correction; it’s an act of faith and hope. It changes the narrative from one of terminal sorrow to one of blessing and strength. This small act by Jacob tells us a lot about how God often changes our perspective, moving us from despair to a place of promise, even when we’re facing what feels like unbearable loss.

Key Word Study

Let’s look at the name Ben-oni from Genesis 35:18. In Hebrew, בֶּן־אוֹנִ֖י (Ben-oni) breaks down into two parts. ‘Ben’ (בֶּן) simply means ‘son of’. The second part, ‘oni’ (אוֹנִ֖י), is more complex and can carry a dual meaning. While Rachel clearly used it to mean ‘my sorrow’ or ‘my pain,’ the root word ‘on’ can also refer to ‘strength’ or ‘vigor.’ This hidden duality is pretty amazing. Rachel, in her pain, sees only ‘son of my sorrow,’ but if you dig deeper, the word itself holds the possibility of ‘son of my strength.’ This shows us how much our current state can color our view of things. What seems like pure grief might actually carry an underlying, unrecognized strength or a future blessing, waiting for a different perspective to bring it out.

From Sorrow to Strength: Seeing God’s Hand in Every Trial

You know, for every tough situation we face, there’s always a bright side and a dark side. Rachel, in her final moments, was completely lost in the pain of her labor and her own death. It was hard. But Jacob, even as he cried over losing his wife, could still see the gift of his child being born. He recognized the mercy in it. It’s good for us when, even as our bodies and feelings mourn what’s hard, our faith can still stand strong in God’s faithfulness.

Think about Samson. You remember when he found honey in the lion’s carcass? The Bible says in Judges 14:8-9, Some days later, when he went back to get her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees and some honey. He scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his parents, he gave them some, and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. Our own tough times will yield something sweet like honey too, if we just look at them the right way.

It’s like how a stormy sea actually feeds so many creatures with its fish. Or how a wild forest, full of danger, still blooms with the most beautiful flowers. That fierce, stormy wind? It actually sweeps away sickness. And the biting cold frost? It loosens the soil, getting it ready for new life. Dark clouds don’t just threaten; they bring bright, clean drops of rain. And black earth, which seems so plain, grows colorful, happy flowers. There’s good hidden in every bad situation, you’ll find it.

But sometimes, when our hearts are heavy, we get really good at finding the worst possible way to look at a trial. If there was only one muddy pit in the whole world, we’d probably end up neck-deep in it. If there was only one lion in the desert, we’d be the ones to hear its roar. We all have a little bit of this sad, foolish way of thinking in us. At times, we’re just like Jacob, who cried out in Genesis 42:36, You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me! It feels like everything’s crashing down, doesn’t it?

But faith works differently. Faith’s way of living is to give all your worries to the Lord, and then to expect good things to come even from the worst disasters. Think of Gideon’s men. You remember how they didn’t worry about their broken pitchers? In Judges 7:19-20, we read, Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow, and cried out, ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’ They actually rejoiced because the lamp inside blazed even brighter once the pitcher was gone. That’s faith!

Out of the rough, ugly oyster-shell of what’s hard, faith pulls out a rare, valuable pearl of honor. From the deep, scary ocean-caves of distress, faith brings up the priceless coral of experience. When you’re having a flood of good fortune, and it starts to go away, faith helps you find treasures hidden in the sand that’s left behind. And when your sun of delight sets and it gets dark, faith turns your hope like a telescope to the bright, starry promises of heaven. Even when death itself shows up, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave. That’s how our dying Benoni, our son of sorrow, becomes our living Benjamin, our son of the right hand, full of God’s strength and blessing. You’ve got this because God’s got you.