Exo 23:20-33 By Little and Little I will Drive them out from Before Thee

[Study Aired September 19, 2022]

Exo 23:20  Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 
Exo 23:21  Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. 
Exo 23:22  But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
Exo 23:23  For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. 
Exo 23:24  Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
Exo 23:25  And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 
Exo 23:26  There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
Exo 23:27  I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
Exo 23:31  And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 
Exo 23:32  Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Exo 23:33  They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

This section of Exodus chapter 23 deals with the Lord’s provision to make us His people overcomers of the flesh. The Lord’s resources available to us to become overcomers are spelled out clearly in His words as follows:

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The whole essence of our walk with Christ is that we end up being presented blameless before God. This takes a whole lifetime. Sometimes, when we focus on ourselves, we see how frail we are and our inability to live according to the standards of the Lord. The effect of this is that we become discouraged. We are therefore admonished to focus on the goal and not on the hiccups in-between. Our Lord also went through what we are going through and has become the best example of one who persevered in spite of all the odds against Him to win the prize.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Heb 12:12  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

We are therefore admonished to encourage ourselves in the Lord, just like David did when his whole world had been turned upside down.

1Sa 30:6  And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Are you in distress, sickness, burdened with sin or facing any obstacle that you think is insurmountable? Then do as David did – encourage yourself in the Lord. To encourage ourselves in the Lord means that we do not know how things will end, but we are confident of this, that what He starts, He is able to bring to completion.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart and know that the Lord is here to let you know that He cares and has provided all you need to make it to the finish line!! May His name be praised!! Let’s now explore His available provision to make us His overcomers as we go through His words as follows:

Exo 23:20  Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 

The Angel here is our Lord Jesus Christ who led the people of Israel to the promised Land.

Amo 2:10  Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 
Amo 2:11  And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. 

Deu 1:30  The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 
Deu 1:31  And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

We know that Jesus Christ is the word of God. It is His words which keep us in the way and are able to bring us to the place He has prepared as stated in verse 20.

Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Exo 23:21  Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

This verse is another way of saying the following:

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

In the Bible, there are several examples of those who provoked or refused to obey our Lord’s voice and therefore, suffered the consequences of their actions. These are all written for our admonition upon whom “the ends of the world are come”.

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 
2Pe 2:3  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2Pe 2:5  And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 
2Pe 2:6  And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Exo 23:22  But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

This verse assures us that our protection lies in being obedient to the Lord. Our disobedience breaks the hedge the Lord has put around us giving way for the devil (serpent) to have us as a meal (bite us). We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Ecc 10:8  He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

Isa 1:19  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Isa 1:20  But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 

1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Exo 23:23  For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

As we have indicated, the angel that shall go before the Israelites is Christ our Lord, who is the word. The Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites and the Canaanites represent the flesh or the beast within. It is the fire of His words which destroys or cuts off the enemy of our land which is our bodies. The fire of the word is the tribulation and the persecution which arises because of the word we have received, and it is these that destroy the flesh or the old man.

Mat 13:21  yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Exo 23:24  Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

The gods that are being referred to are the gods of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and the Canaanites which represent the flesh. The gods of the flesh represent the deeds of the flesh to which we bow down. They are summed up as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We are admonished to overcome these deeds of the flesh.

1Jn 2:15  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Exo 23:25  And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

This verse is to show us that the Lord is not only interested in us serving Him. He is also interested in every aspect of our lives to ensure that we have all that it takes in this life to serve Him faithfully. Physically, the Lord will take care of what we eat and drink as we serve Him. There will always be bread on the table as we serve the Lord in truth and in spirit. This is all to ensure that we do not behave like people of the world whose focus in this life is what to eat and drink and being clothed.

Mat 6:25  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 
Mat 6:26  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 
Mat 6:27  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 
Mat 6:28  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
Mat 6:29  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Mat 6:31  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 
Mat 6:32  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 
Mat 6:33  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 
Mat 6:34  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Spiritually, what this verse is saying is that as we serve the Lord in truth and in spirit, He will enlighten our understanding regarding His word which is represented by bread and water.

Isa 1:19  If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
Isa 1:20  but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Eating the good of the land is being given the privilege to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Another privilege we have been given by the Lord as we serve Him, as seen in verse 25, is that He will take sickness away from our midst. Spiritually, sickness refers to sin as shown in the following verses:

Isa 1:4  Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
Isa 1:5  Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 

Jer 6:7  As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me.
Jer 6:8  Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”

So, the Lord taking away our sickness means He will cause us to have victory over sin. Physically, the Lord takes away our sickness by healing us from our diseases.

Exo 23:26  There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.

The Lord’s elect will not cast their young. This means that the birth of the new man after the image of Christ within us shall not be aborted. That is to say that the Lord will complete what He starts within us.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Being barren means being unfruitful. Again, the Lord assures us that we shall be fruitful, although in this life it may seem that we are being unfruitful, in the fullness of time, we shall not be barren.

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

In verse 26, we are also told that the Lord will fulfill the number of our days. This means that what has been written in His book concerning us shall be fulfilled. Again, we are being encouraged by the Lord that what He starts, He will finish!!

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Exo 23:27  I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 

The birth of the new man within us makes the old man within us afraid knowing that a time will come when he will be overcome completely. This is demonstrated clearly by the story of David (represents the new man) when he spared the life of Saul (representing the old man) when he saw Saul in a cave sleeping. Saul’s admission that David will surely be king is to let us know that the new man will surely usurp the old man.

1Sa 24:16  And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. 
1Sa 24:17  And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. 
1Sa 24:18  And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not. 
1Sa 24:19  For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day. 
1Sa 24:20  And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. 
1Sa 24:21  Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house. 
1Sa 24:22  And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Our victory over the flesh is not a one-time victory. It is a process that takes a lifetime. Here in verse 29, we are being given a reason why our defeat of the old man or the flesh is a process that takes time. This verse is another way of saying the following:

Mat 12:43  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

In verse 30, we are told that the Lord wants us to increase as He drives out the old man. That is the only way that the beasts of the field will not multiply within us. The increase here refers to the growth of the new man who is after the image of Christ. As the old man continues to die, the new man also continues to grow within us.

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

Another reason why the death of our old man is a process is given in the Book of Judges as follows:

Jdg 3:1  Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 
Jdg 3:2  Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
Jdg 3:3  Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

Here in the Book of Judges, we are told that the reason that the Lord did not drive away all the enemies in the land was to teach the children of Israel how to war. In God’s wisdom, He leaves some of the nations in our land to train us how to war against the flesh. This war against the flesh is about how to overcome our carnal nature.  In the early stages of our walk with Christ when we are carnal, we are easily overcome by the flesh, and God uses this to teach us that this war against the flesh is not our fight but His. He teaches us to war by causing us to fail so that we can learn to depend on Him to overcome on our behalf. This happens only after we have gone through several cycles of defeat so that we come to acknowledge that we are the worst of sinners and that He alone can defeat the enemies on our behalf. When we have learned this lesson of knowing that we are the worst sinners and that we cannot help ourselves, except the Lord does it for us, then we have learned how to war.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Psa 18:31  For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
Psa 18:32  It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 
Psa 18:33  He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 
Psa 18:34  He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

Verse 34 says, “He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.” We all know that a bow of steel cannot be broken by our arms. That is to show us that this war against the flesh is like breaking a bow of steel.  Only God can accomplish it for us so that no flesh can glory in His presence!! That is why the righteous must fall seven times to know that the battle is the Lord’s and that is what this cycle of defeat by Israel is all about. Falling seven times means a complete domination by the flesh.

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Exo 23:31  And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

This verse tells us the thoroughness of the Lord’s work within us. Nothing of the enemy must remain within our members.

Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 
Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 
Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 
Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 
Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Any sin that is not dealt with can disqualify us from the reward. That is why we are admonished to purge out the old leaven of sin from our members.

1Co 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 
1Co 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Exo 23:32  Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Exo 23:33  They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

These verses continue to admonish us to get rid of all that belongs to the flesh within us. If we fail to do that, we shall end up being dominated by the flesh as we serve the god of this world. As we have indicated, this is not the work of man. We have to depend on the Lord entirely to do this work for us. If we allow our old man to dominate us, we will be ensnared to serve another Jesus.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

May the Lord continue to do His work in us as we die daily to the old man!! Amen!!

(Key verses: Gen 29:31-35; Gen 30:1-24)

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loves the world, pointing to all in the first Adam as they are all linked to the process of eventually being conformed to the spiritual image of the last Adam, Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate focus of this love of God (Joh 3:6; Rom 8:29; 1Co 15:22). God created the first Adam and all in him in a marred condition, and they will all receive spirit life through the gift of the faith of the last Adam, Jesus Christ, whom the Father appointed as the Saviour of all in the world of the first Adam (Jer 18:4; Eph 2:8-9; 1Ti 4:10; Tit 2:11-13; Tit 3:3-6; 1Jn 4:14). God does not love the natural man and all in this physical creation the way He loves the new man in Christ, and He advises His elect to have the same focus:

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

God’s love for this last Adam is therefore His focus as He also loves His elect more in this age as He is preparing them for their important task at hand to be rulers on this earth in the symbolic thousand-year reign and to be the judges in the lake of fire (Joh 3:16; 1Co 6:2-3; Rev 20). The flesh, however, wants to be accepted and loved apart from God’s eternal spiritual purposes. It is this selfish craving in each natural heart that is also the focus of the trouble in the new household of Jacob. The struggle for love and children is the struggle between Leah and Rachel. Jacob was in love with Rachel, and his uncle Laban promised him Rachel if Jacob will work for him for seven years. When the seven years of service were completed, Jacob wanted his wife, and Laban organised a feast to celebrate the occasion. However, Jacob could not discern properly who the veiled bride was as Laban also brought her to Jacob in the evening. When Jacob woke up the next morning, he saw that he slept with Leah, the elder sister of Rachel:

Gen 29:25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?

Jacob, the deceiver and manipulator, was deceived by Laban, and in his self-righteous heart he could not accept this. Seeing the evil around us is easy for our carnal mind, but to see the same evil inside is humiliating. The theme of sanctification is also highlighted in the life of Jacob who started off as a deceiver and manipulator but is taken through much purging in order to place him in the right position to be the servant for his master’s use. Jacob is set apart to serve God’s purposes and not his own:

2Ti 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these [selfish, deceitful heart and actions], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Leah is given to us as the type of the false bride or church who we all encounter on our spiritual journey when we are convinced, by our own deception, that we have found the true bride of Christ. Jacob will have to fulfill his duties to Leah, as the dominion of flesh and the influence of spiritual Babylon in our own lives must run its full course as determined by our heavenly Father:

Gen 29:26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
Gen 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

It is therefore important to see how Jacob also treated Leah with respect and also submitted to the customs of that country. We must respect God for the time He ordained for us to be under tutors and governors of the flesh until the time that the faith of Christ is given to us which will bring us to spiritual maturity (Gal 3:22-25; Gal 4:1-5):

Gen 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week [Hebrew: “shâbûa” linked with “shâba” which has more to do with a complete period of time, which links spiritually with the number seven]: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
Gen 29:29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

Rachel is the symbol of God’s true church when we receive the faith of Christ to serve God and His children (Rom 12:2; 1Jn 5:2-3):

Gen 29:30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him [Laban] yet seven other years.
Gen 29:31 And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

The word “hate” indicates to love to a lesser extent in this case also, as Jacob loved Leah and will have several children with her. His love for Rachel was more than his love for Leah, and this once again helps us to see the way we need to understand God’s love for the world versus His love for His elect. God’s love for His elect is witnessed in their love for Him as they seek and do His will by dying to self and denying the attachments of flesh (Mat 10:37-39; Luk 14:26):

Pro 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

The favoured and much beloved wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shared the same problem. God chose to close the wombs of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel, and they could not produce an offspring initially. The concubines and other wives of these patriarchs, however, brought forth children first, and this only emphasizes that flesh is prosperous and productive long before the spirit man is formed in us. The flesh is given a head-start by God to even have an appearance of maturity. Leah is shown to us with more experience in child bearing than Rachel as Leah conceived four sons initially. Leah first conceived the elder son for Jacob, which was a huge plus in her understanding of things:

Gen 29:32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben [Hebrew meaning: “behold a son!”/ “who sees the son”/“the vision of the son”] for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.

The Hebrew meaning of the name “Reuben” indeed relates to sonship which links him to the all-important inheritance and rights of the firstborn, and that is what Leah was so excited about. What Leah did not know was that the son of man is not the true heir of the more important spiritual inheritance (Job 25:6; Psa 146:3-4). The flesh has a way of convincing itself of its own delusions and beliefs. The rights of the firstborn are reserved exclusively for God’s spiritual elect in Christ, “the firstborn of every creature” (Col 1:15; Rev 3:14). Leah will get four sons in this first fertile period of her life to complete this whole delusion of godly prosperity and favour which she also wants Jacob to see:

Gen 29:33 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon [Hebrew meaning: “hearing”]

The second son of Leah is named Simeon, meaning “hearing”, as she believed the Lord heard her prayer, and this son is the proof of her answered prayer to be the beloved wife of Jacob. God’s elect knows that the trials of faith are of much deeper spiritual value when our prayers are not answered in the way and time our flesh wants things to happen (1Pe 1:7-9). It is indeed through patience and much tribulation that we take possession of our spiritual inheritance – not through quick fixes (Act 14:22; Rev 14:9-12). This is what Rachel is learning as she witnessed all of this:

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

The third son of Leah was called “Levi” which means “joined to”:

Gen 29:34 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.

Levi will be the head of the tribe of priests at a later stage, serving in the earthly tabernacle and temple. Leah believed that she was joined to Jacob in a deeper spiritual sense after the birth of this third son. Flesh has the delusion that it can please God and be even joined to God in that same condition. Natural man’s faith convinces him that he will appear in the same body in the resurrection as some even described this resurrected body as ‘spiritual flesh’ when the scriptures are clear that the body that is raised is totally different from the one that is buried (1Co 15:36-50). No-one will be joined to the true Christ and His elect with carnal aspirations and high-mindedness:

Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Leah’s fourth son was called “Judah”, meaning “praise”:

Gen 29:35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise [Hebrew: “yâdâh” and “êth”] the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.

Although the flesh indeed praises God, this praise is more about what flesh receives to consume it upon its lusts. That is why the self-centeredness of flesh is incapable of receiving the spiritual inheritance of God (Joh 7:18; Php 2:3-5):

Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Leah “left bearing” after her fourth son for the time being, even while the flesh of Rachel also shows envy towards Leah as Rachel now vents her frustration towards Jacob:

Gen 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Gen 30:2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

Jacob has been learning since he left Canaan that all things are from God, and he could not be held responsible for God’s actions, even through the dream he had at the place he named Bethel afterward (Gen 28:11-22). God is the only responsible Being, and no one can take this position if they know the truth of God’s sovereignty over all things (Rom 11:36; Eph 1:11). However, Rachel, not adhering to the words of Jacob, did exactly what Sarah did with Abraham (Gen 16:1-3). Jacob, like his grandfather Abraham, followed his wife’s counsel and slept with her handmaid Bilhah, who became Jacob’s concubine:

Gen 30:3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
Gen 30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.

To bear upon another’s knees is to claim ownership to their offspring – “that I may also have children by her”. Rachel named the first son Bilhah bore for Jacob, “Dan”:

Gen 30:5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
Gen 30:6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.

“Dan” means judge or judgment, as this announces what Rachel and Jacob, as types of God’s elect, will first go through as they will be the first to learn about their own evil hearts and the true righteousness of God (Isa 26:9):

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Bilhah conceived another son for Rachel after she bore Dan:

Gen 30:7 And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
Gen 30:8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

The name “Naphtali” carries the meaning of wrestling or fighting, which again emphasizes the battle between these two women in our own lives in the form of the flesh or fleshly church versus the spirit or spiritual assembly in the true Christ (Gal 5:17). Like the typical elect of God, Rachel now also must learn that nothing of eternal value will come the easy way. All God’s true spiritual inheritance will come through much resistance. The levels of persecution and hatred from those who are “after the flesh” will not subside, but rather increase (Gal 4:29). Although Leah had four sons of her own flesh against Rachel’s two sons through her handmaid Bilhah, this did not satisfy Leah. She could not bear children of her own at this stage, but then gave her handmaid, Zilpah, to sleep with Jacob to have more offspring through her:

Gen 30:9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
Gen 30:10 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a son.
Gen 30:11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

The first son which Zilpah bore for Leah as Jacob’s seventh son, was called “Gad”, Gad means “a troop cometh” which connects with overcomers in warfare (Gen 49:19). Seeing that Gad is an offspring of the handmaid of Leah, the negative application applies first, as the flesh indeed overshadows our life from our birth, and we are under the dominion of its lusts and pride (1Jn 2:16). Gad and his offspring will also have a positive application in the overcoming Christ (1Ch 5:17-22). The second son which Zilpah bore for Leah from Jacob was Asher:

Gen 30:12 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son.
Gen 30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

The meaning of Asher’s name connects with fleshly happiness through Leah’s emotional state of mind. Happiness is a temporary emotion which our old man is given by God to keep him going amidst his otherwise dreary life. Outward earthly happiness is the worldly counterfeit of true inward joy, which is part of the fruit of the spirit of God in His elect (Gal 5:22-23). The prosperity gospel is well loved in spiritual Babylon, as it overpowers those who are searching for “these things” of the earth which bring temporary happiness long before the kingdom of God is first established in their lives. The flesh always has things the wrong way around:

Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Now the eldest son of Leah, Reuben, has grown big enough to start playing his role in this battle between Leah and Rachel, and also in the household of Jacob:

Gen 30:14 And 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.

Much has been speculated about these mandrakes which Reuben brought his mother Leah, but this happened in the time of the wheat harvest or the feast of weeks (Pentecost) which was later established in the calendar of the physical nation of Israel. This harvest was one of the three major harvests in Israel:

Deu 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Exo 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

This wheat harvest is all about the resurrection of the “kind of firstfruits” which is reserved for God’s elected church which is represented by Rachel and not Leah (Jas 1:18; 1Co 15:23). Mandrakes are also described in the scriptures as giving off a sweet or pleasant fragrance which also is connected to the elect of God:

Son 7:12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
Son 7:13 The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

This pleasant fragrance of the true doctrine of Christ is earmarked for God’s elect because the world and its churches cannot appreciate the “sum of” God’s true doctrine, combining the old and the new, which fulfills the true savour of the knowledge of God’s Word (Psa 119:160 ASV; Isa 28:9-10; Mat 13:52; Joh 17:3; 1Co 2:13). The churches of this world, which Leah and her more children symbolize (the “many”), can only corrupt the word of God with their false doctrines as they also add and take away from all the words man must live by (Mat 4:4; Rev 22:18-19):

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
2Co 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

Leah actually accused Rachel of taking her husband which was not the case at all:

Gen 30:15 And 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.

The Word of Christ, like the mandrakes in the wrong hands, will be twisted and abused to serve the interest of the flesh. Leah could not let go of her carnal aspirations and fleshly lusts to be the true wife of Jacob. She seduced Jacob again to sleep with her as he came from the field in the evening indicating that although we are the elect of God, we can never assume we have arrived. We are in the process of being saved and should always be on guard (2Sa 11:1-27; Pro 4:23; 1Co 10:12; 1Pe 5:8). This time Leah was able to conceive a fifth son for Jacob called Issachar:

Gen 30:16 And 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 hire [Hebrew: śâkar = temporary purchase] thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
Gen 30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
Gen 30:18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire [Hebrew: śâkâr = payment/ wages/ compensation], because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

Issachar means “there is recompense” as even the flesh demands its wages for work done. Leah saw this son as her reward for giving her maiden, Zilpah, to Jacob. The number five has to do with grace through faith, and this is how the natural mind sees grace as his reward for his own faith. It is all about physical rewards which God must give when the flesh believes it has done good deeds. However, all the good deeds of flesh are but a filthy cloth of self-righteousness (Isa 64:6):

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The sixth and last son that Leah personally conceived for Jacob was Zebulun:

Gen 30:19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.
Gen 30:20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

Zebulun was the tenth son of Jacob (six sons from Leah), and this all complements the number of fleshly man (the number ten combining with the number six). The name “Zebulun” means “habitation” which is the temporary dwelling which flesh is. Zebulun’s habitation was indeed “at the haven of the sea” which is spiritually the symbol for flesh and all its activities as expressed by Jacob at his death (Isa 60:5; Rev 13:1; Rev 17:1,15,18):

Gen 49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

Leah also bore Jacob one daughter after this last son:

Gen 30:21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

God will not change His mind on anything, as He had it all worked out before this physical age began. God never forgets His plan for mankind and is constantly working everything for His purposes and for the benefit of His elect. The time has come for Rachel to bring forth her firstborn:

Gen 30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
Gen 30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
Gen 30:24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

God So Love The World
Why God Hates All Flesh
The Meaning of ‘Hated of All Men’
The Three Barren Wives of The Patriarchs
Once In Grace Always in Grace
Numbers in Scripture

Hi Mike, Something keeps nagging at me about the wives of the patriarchs. Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel were all barren until the Lord opened their wombs. I can’t help but think this has some spiritual application that I am missing. It must have something to do with the elect or the chosen, but I can’t quite get a grasp on it. If you have any thoughts on it I would welcome any direction on how to study this out. Thank you, D____

Hi D___,
Thank you for your question. You say:
“Something keeps nagging at me about the wives of the patriarchs. Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel were all barren until the Lord opened their wombs. I can’t help but think this has some spiritual application that I am missing. It must have something to do with the elect or the chosen, but I can’t quite get a grasp on it.
Well, this question itself indicates that God is in the process of opening your eyes to see and your ears to hear the things of the spirit. You are so right. All the wives of the Patriarch’s were barren for a very good spiritual reason. What happened to them, happened and was written for one reason:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

So how are we being admonished when we read of all the wives of the three patriarchs being barren until they are older? The answer, as is usually the case, is that these wives of the patriarchs typify us.
What the world cannot see is that we are all the fruitful wife of the flesh, first. Then later, only after we have done all the flesh can do and we have demonstrated that the flesh cannot in and of itself, bring forth the manchild who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron, only then are we brought to see that it is only through Christ in us that we can now become the heir who is more than a servant:

Gal 4:1  Now I say, [ That] the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

There it is, we all “were children… in bondage.” But when the fullness of time was come, we became the sons of the freewoman and “received the adoption of sons.”
It is the previous verse to chapter 4:1 which talks of the sons of the qualifications of becoming “the seed of Abraham.

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [ to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Chris t.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

And it is at the end of chapter four that we are told that “When the fulness of time comes, we are no longer under bondage as we were to begin with. We are now ” the son of the freewoman.” It is here in Galatians four that we are shown that before we can be the son of the free woman, we must come to recognize ourselves as the son of the bondwoman, a child still under the bondage of the law, no better than a slave.
It is Galatians four which helps to open our eyes to what Christ meant when He said that we must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, we must be the bond servant before we can become the son of the freewoman, we must be the tares, before God sends his angels to bind all the tares in us and burn them in us, so that the good grain, the word of God in the children of God, is all that remains. We must come to see that “we all were… children of God’s wrath, even as others.” We must come to see that we must “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book,” not just the good sayings, but we must be careful “not to add to or take away from the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

We live every word, even the plagues of God’s wrath, if we hope to be part of and in His temple.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Rev 1:3  Blessed [ is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Notice, “the time is at hand… I come quickly.” This is not a book about events 2,000 years hence. Here are the ‘is, was, and will be’ words of God on this subject:

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Paul tells us that we are that temple:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

But both Paul and the book of Revelation tell us that we will not be in that temple until after God’s wrath has been poured out upon our unfruitful unrighteousness and ungodliness and rebellion:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

This is first true of God’s elect:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Now suppose we think we can somehow avoid being “the children of wrath even as others,” what happens then? Here is God’s sober warning to all who subscribe to any of the many and varied versions of being raptured out of having to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4, Luk 4:4).

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

There will be no one in the kingdom of God who has not first had the “unfruitful works of darkness” reproved and burned out of them:

Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

This is Mat 13, which has two parables of a sower in it. What does Christ tell us of his parables in this chapter?

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

That is a very legitimate question. Why did Christ speak in parables? What are Christ’s parables all about? Here is Christ’s answer to both of those questions:

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

That is right, Christ spoke in parables to keep the multitudes from “knowing the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” That is His own reason for speaking in parables. In verse 34 we are told this:

Mat 13:34  All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

And where was this “kingdom of God” the mysteries of which Christ is hiding from the multitudes? It is to come sometime in the future? No, all who think so will be sorely disappointed. I did not say that there was not a future time when “Our Lord and His Christ” would “rule the kingdoms of this world.” That will take place:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

What I did say, and what the scriptures teach, is that these sayings all “come quickly, shortly and soon.” So where then is this “kingdom of God” which is “at hand?” Both John the Baptist and Christ said “the kingdom of God is “at hand.”

Mat 3:1  In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Mat 3:2  And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And we too, are to teach the same:

Mat 10:7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

How can that be? How is it that the kingdom of heaven is at hand? There are two reasons why the kingdom of heaven, the mysteries of which Christ’s parables hide to this day, is “at hand.” The first is the fact that the King of the kingdom has come and is here:

Mar 1:14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Joh 18:37  Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

But Christ was crucified that very day. How now would his disciples hear the “many things” they were not yet able to bear? Here is how that would be done:

Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

So where did the king of the kingdom go? Here is the part that has the orthodox Christian church baffled to this day. Here is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which we hear but we don’t seem to know what it means. It is a lack of understanding of this Truth that answers your question about the spiritual significance of the wives of the patriarchs. It is failing to understand the spiritual truth and the depth of that spiritual truth which will keep us unfruitful and barren until the time appointed of the Father. Here is where the kingdom of God is at this time:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Until we see that Christ spoke in parables to hide from the multitudes the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven within us, we will go around in this life looking for the coming of a physical kingdom. Indeed there will be a physical kingdom which will rule this earth with a rod of iron for a thousand years, but if you do not see that the parables are all about a kingdom which is within the hearts and minds of God’s people even now, then you will not be in that blessed and holy first resurrection, to rule over the people of this earth first, followed by the rulership and the purification of the spiritual bodies of all men of all time along with the great Red Dragon and all of his minions. The secret of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven is not the rulership of this world by the saints of God. That is not the secret which Christ’s parables hides. Here is the secret mystery which necessitated Christ speaking to the multitudes in parables:

Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

What is it that keeps us barren for so many long years? Why can we not see this mystery? What is this mystery which had been hid for so long from the generations of mankind?

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

There it is for all the world to see and to know, and yet our eyes are blinded to the fact that all the prophecies of all the prophets deal with Christ and his kingdom of God within. We read Christ’s parables and we see only the words and not the message. We appropriate the good, and we put the bad on some other bad guy. But that is not how we come to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is the whole parable, the good and the bad, simply because that is what we do. It is you and I who stone the servants of our Lord when He sends them to get the fruit of His vineyard. It is you and I who kill His Son. It is you and I who are the Pharisee looking down on the Publican, the older son hating the prodigal, the ninety and nine sheep who need no repentance, and we are also the self- righteous Pharisee who drag the poor harlot to Jesus to be stoned for her weaknesses. That is what is the kingdom of God within before “the time appointed of the Father to bring us to sonship.
The wives of the patriarchs are us, until we are crushed to powder and brought to see that we of ourselves can do nothing but sin and commit the most heinous atrocities against our Lord and His Christ. We have no fruit of ourselves:
So we are admonished:

Eph 5:11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them [ within and without].

Tit 3:14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope this helps you to see that the wives of the patriarchs were all unfruitful and barren for our admonition, simply to show us that we are all required of our Creator to come to see flesh for what it is and for what “we all” are guilty of being “chief of sinners:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time pas t ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

1Ti 1:15  This [ is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 

Your brother in Christ,
Mike