FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis 30: A Race for Children & Cheats at war
v.1-3
Rachel becomes Jealous
v.4-8
Rachel's servant, Bilhah, bears two sons
v.9-13
Leah's servant, Zilpah, bears two sons
v.14,15
Rachel & Leah negotiate
v.16-21
Leah has two more sons and a daughter
v.22-24
Rachel eventually has a son
v.25-26
Jacob asks to leave and go home
v.27-34
Laban & Jacob negotiate over flocks
v.35,36
Laban cheats Jacob
v.37-43
Jacob counter-attacks and becomes rich
v.1-3
Rachel becomes Jealous
v.1
When
Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became
jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children,
or I'll die!”
v.2
Jacob
became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who
has kept you from having children?”
v.3
Then
she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that
she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through
her.”
[Notes:
Rachel
becomes very upset with this situation and blames Jacob who, of
course can't do anything about their child-bearing capabilities.
So Rachel gives him her servant girl, Bilhah, to have a son by
proxy.]
v.4-8
Rachel's servant, Bilhah, bears two sons
v.4,5
So
she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob
slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
v.6
Then
Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea
and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.
[5th
Son: Dan
here means he has vindicated]
v.7
Rachel's
servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
v.8
Then
Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and
I have won.” So she named him Naphtali. [6th
Son: Naphtali
means my struggle]
[Notes:
Bilhah
promptly has two sons.]
v.9-13
Leah's servant, Zilpah, bears two sons
v.9
When
Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant
Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
v.10 Leah's
servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
v.11
Then
Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad.
[7th
Son: Gad can mean good fortune. ]
v.12
Leah's
servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
v.13
Then
Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So
she named him Asher. [
8th Son: Asher means happy.]
[Notes:
Leah
feels she has stopped being able to have children and so copies
her sister and hands over her servant to have children for her,
again by proxy. She too has two sons.]
v.14,15
Rachel & Leah negotiate
v.14
During
wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some
mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said
to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.” [mandrakes
were plants thought to increase fertility]
v.15
But
she said to her, “Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband?
Will you take my son's mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said,
“he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes.”
[Notes:
A
somewhat strange interlude. Mandrakes were strange plants that
apparently increased fertility and so, after Reuben having collected
some, Rachel barters with Leah to have them [presumably to help
her conceive]. The price was allowing Leah back into bed with
Jacob.]
v.16-21
Leah has two more sons and a daughter
v.16
So
when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out
to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired
you with my son's mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
v.17
God
listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and
bore Jacob a fifth son.
v.18
Then
Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.”
So she named him Issachar. [9th
Son: Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for
reward.]
v.19
Leah
conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.
v.20
Then
Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time
my husband will treat me with honour, because I have borne him
six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. [10th
Son: Zebulun probably means honour]
v.21
Some
time later she gave birth to a daughter and
named her Dinah.
[Notes:
Leah
now has two more sons and a daughter. Meanwhile the mandrakes
don't seem to be doing much for Rachel.]
v.22-24
Rachel eventually has a son
v.22
Then
God remembered Rachel ; he listened to her and
enabled her to conceive.
v.23
She
became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken
away my disgrace.”
v.24
She
named him Joseph, [11th
Son: Joseph
means may he add.] and
said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
[Notes:
After
Leah has finished having children, Rachel does eventually conceive
and Joseph is born.]
v.25-26
Jacob asks to leave and go home
v.25
After
Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on
my way so I can go back to my own homeland.
v.26
Give
me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will
be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you.”
[Notes:
By
now Jacob has had enough of working for Laban and yearns to go
home.]
v.27-34
Laban & Jacob negotiate over flocks
v.27
But
Laban said to him, “If I have found favour in your eyes, please
stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me
because of you.”
v.28
He
added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
v.29
Jacob
said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your
livestock has fared under my care.
v.30
The
little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord
has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something
for my own household?”
v.31
“What
shall I give you?” he asked. “Don't give me anything,” Jacob replied.
“But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending
your flocks and watching over them:
v.32
Let
me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every
speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-coloured lamb and every
spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages.
v.33
And
my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check
on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that
is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-coloured,
will be considered stolen.”
v.34
“Agreed,”
said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”
[Notes:
Laban
knows when he is a good thing and barters with Jacob to carry
on working. Jacob suggests they divide the flocks so he will take
the ones looking or considered less perfect and they agree to
this.]
v.35,36
Laban cheats Jacob
v.35
That
same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted,
and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white
on them) and all the dark-coloured lambs, and he placed them in
the care of his sons.
v.36
Then
he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob
continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.
[Notes:
Laban
being the deceiver that he is, sneaks out all of those good ones
and takes them away while Jacob has to continue caring for the
remaining flocks, having to wait for more of that description
to be born.]
v.37-43
Jacob counter-attacks and becomes rich
v.37
Jacob,
however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane
trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing
the white inner wood of the branches.
v.38,39
Then
he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so
that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came
to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they
mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were
streaked or speckled or spotted.
v.40
Jacob
set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest
face the streaked and dark-coloured animals that belonged to Laban.
Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them
with Laban's animals.
v.41,42 Whenever
the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches
in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near
the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place
them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones
to Jacob.
v.43
In
this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large
flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
[Notes:
However
Jacob is also a schemer, remember, and so he devises a strategy
whereby he dyes or marks the strongest sheep so that when they
reproduce they appear to be the defective ones. Whether this works
or whether he marks them the moment they are born, is uncertain.
Nevertheless, the outcome is that he gets the best and the most
and becomes richer.]
Continue to Chapter 31