RACHEL was Laban's daughter, for whom Jacob worked fourteen years to win as his bride. Laban had agreed to Jacob's marriage to Rachel if Jacob gave him seven years' labor, but substituted his elder daughter Leah under the wedding veil. Determined to have Rachel, Jacob agreed to work for Laban another seven years. Rachel bore him Joseph and Benjamin, his favorite sons (Genesis 27-32).

The Prioress, comparing the weeping mother of the murdered schoolboy to Rachel, who weeps for her children, PrT 625-627, refers to Jeremiah 31:15. Rachel's weeping is interpreted in Matthew 2:18 as a prophetic reference to the lamentation of the mothers whose children Herod the Great slew. The First Nocturne of Matins on the Feast of the Holy Innocents uses Jeremiah's words about Rachel. [Eglentyne: Jacob: Laban: Lia: Rebekka: Sarra]

The name occurs medially, PrT 627.