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Genesis 31

¹⁷ So Jacob put his wives and children on camels, ¹⁸ and he drove all his livestock in front of him. He packed all the belongings he had acquired in Paddan-aram and set out for the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived. ¹⁹ At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her. ²⁰ Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving. ²¹ So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River,^[b] heading for the hill country of Gilead.

Genesis 31

²⁵ Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead ………  ³⁰ I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?” ³¹ “I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. ³² But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols.

Genesis 35

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set up a stone monument over Rachel’s grave, and it can be seen there to this day.

I believe Rachel died in childbirth because of the oath Jacob made in Genesis 31:32.

Yes, it was unintentional because Jacob did not know she had taken the gods, however because of this oath he lost the woman he had worked 14 years for. Think about this, everything was finally coming together for Jacob … his favourite wife who had been barren for so long was pregnant with a second child. He now had the wealth, the blessings and was on his way to his destiny BUT because of one rash statement, made probably not in anger, he lost his loved one.

Be careful of the words you say and the oaths you make … they can come back to haunt you.   The Bible says that ‘the tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences’.

We now live in an era of grace so it may not be a physical death but we can ‘kill’ our loved ones emotionally. Words once spoken can take root and do damage for a lifetime. Words like:

• you will never amount to much
• you are hopeless
• you are inferior
• you are a mistake and we wish you were not born
• you are not as smart as your sister

While words like this may not kill physically, they can ‘kill’ initiative, self confidence, potential and self worth and end up destroying that persons life. 

Whenever you have a choice, pause, think about the impact of your words and speak LIFE into that situation.

Be blessed.