Rachel - Her Life And Times

Rachel - Her Life And Times

MENSTRUAL CYCLES

Rachel said to her father, ‘Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.’ So [Laban] searched but could not find the household gods” (Genesis 31:35). Rachel’s words here are the only mention in Scripture of a typical monthly menstrual cycle, other than the ceremonial laws covering menstruation found in Leviticus and referred to again in Ezekiel.

Rachel knew without a doubt that her ploy would successfully deter her father. By claiming to have her period, she not only kept the false gods she had stolen, she kept her very life, since Jacob had promised to kill whoever had stolen the idols from Laban.

During the time a Hebrew woman had her period, she was considered “unclean,” not really surprising considering the untidy nature of a monthly flow, especially in those days, long before the invention of feminine sanitary products. But the laws were more stringent than just to cover the very personal nature of a monthly period. Those who touched a woman at this time, even by chance, became unclean until evening. Wherever the woman slept or sat also became unclean. Anyone who touched her bedding or her seat was considered unclean until they washed their clothes, bathed, and waited until evening.

A woman was considered unclean for seven days, the normal length of a woman’s monthly period. She then customarily bathed in order to cleanse herself. This is probably the bath that Bathsheba was taking when spotted by King David (2 Samuel 11:2 – 4). Since she had just had her period, David could be sure Bathsheba’s child was his when she told him she was pregnant (her husband was a soldier off to war).

The natural flow of a woman’s period didn’t require sacrifices for her to be cleansed; merely bathing and waiting for a prescribed time was enough. A longer, less natural flow, usually caused by some infection or disease, required a sacrifice in order for the woman to be clean. Neither implied any moral failing on the part of the woman, but since blood was seen as a source of life, anything surrounding it became an important part of ceremonial law.

Many women consider their monthly period, and the discomfort and irritability that often come along with it, a monthly trial — something women must bear, and men, lucky creatures, are spared. However, it is only through this particular function of her body that a woman can reproduce and carry a child. Although at times messy, at times a nuisance, at times downright painful, only through this process does a woman have the opportunity afforded to no man — the opportunity to bear new life. And in so doing, to be uniquely linked to the Creator of all life.