In our study of Genesis chapter thirty, we look at the hand of God at work in building the house of Israel.
Now, if God speaks to you in this study, you can save your own personal notes on this page. Then, every time that you look at this study, your notes will automatically be added to the page. To add a note or to display your previous notes, click on the YOUR NOTES button.
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing children for Ya'akov, she envied her sister and said to Ya'akov, "Give me children, or I will die!" This made Ya'akov angry at Rachel; he answered, "Am I in God's place? He's the one who is denying you children."
In the last chapter, we saw Le'ah give Ya'akov four sons and, because Rachel had given none, she became jealous and complained to Ya'akov. We remember from Genesis 3, that a woman's desire would be for her husband and that is talking about building his house or heritage. She basically told him that, without children, her life as well as their marriage had no meaning and this made Ya'akov angry.
She said, "Here is my maid Bilhah. Go, sleep with her, and let her give birth to a child that will be laid on my knees, so that through her I too can build a family." So she gave him Bilhah her slave-girl as his wife, and Ya'akov went in and slept with her. Bilhah conceived and bore Ya'akov a son.
So Rachel gave her maid to Ya'akov and this brings to mind Avraham, Sarah, and Hagar but this case is different in that God had not promised Rachel children where He had promised Sarah and Avraham. This is a selfless act in that she wanted to be a part of building the house of Ya'akov even if that meant her husband being with her maid. We see that she gave the maid to be his wife and so it was to be within the covenant of marriage that she bore him another son.
Rachel said, "God has judged in my favor; indeed he has heard me and given me a son." Therefore she called him Dan. Bilhah Rachel's slave-girl conceived again and bore Ya'akov a second son. Rachel said, "I have wrestled mightily with my sister and won," and called him Naftali.
Rachel's response to the birth of this son is that it is approval from God and so she names the boy Dan which means "judged". Then, the maid had a second son and Rachel's response is that she named the boy Naptali which means "struggled" and, in the original hebrew, this struggle is that she prayed diligently about the situation between her, her sister, and Ya'akov. She simply wanted them to be united in the building of the house of Ya'akov.
When Le'ah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah her slave-girl and gave her to Ya'akov as his wife. Zilpah Le'ah's slave-girl bore Ya'akov a son; and Le'ah said, "Good fortune has come," calling him Gad. Zilpah Le'ah's slave-girl bore Ya'akov a second son; and Le'ah said, "How happy I am! Women will say I am happy!" and called him Asher.
Now, we see that because Le'ah was not having any more children, She also took her maid and gave her to Ya'akov to be his wife so that she could continue with the building of the house of her husband. The maid gave birth to ason whom she name Gad which means "good fortune" and it speaks of the providence of God. Then, the maid gave birth to another son and Le'ah name him Asher which speaks of happiness and being blessed. She was made happy as the women spoke of how blessed she was to have another son.
During the wheat harvest season Re'uven went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Le'ah. Rachel said to Le'ah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
The harvest season is a time of blessing and God's provision and it was during this time that Re'uven, the firstborn son of Ya'akov, went out and got some mandrakes. We are not sure what mandrakes are other than natural produce from the land but they are associated with blessing and Re'uven brought them back to his mom (le'ah). When Rachel saw them she asked for some in hopes of be blessed with a son from her own womb to continue building the house of her husband.
She answered, "Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you have to take my son's mandrakes too?" Rachel said, "Very well; in exchange for your son's mandrakes, sleep with him tonight."
The answer of Le'ah speaks of the fact that she had been the first wife of Ya'akov (even though it had happened through deception) and, when Rachel married Ya'akov and was special to him, it was as if she had stolen the husband of Le'ah. Evidently, it was Rachel's night to sleep with her husband but she agreed to give up her night in exchange for the mandrakes and presumably the blessing to come.
When Ya'akov came in from the field in the evening, Le'ah went out to meet him and said, "You have to come and sleep with me, because I've hired you with my son's mandrakes." So Ya'akov slept with her that night. God listened to Le'ah, and she conceived and bore Ya'akov a fifth son. Le'ah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my slave-girl to my husband." So she called him Yissakhar. Le'ah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Ya'akov. Le'ah said, "God has given me a wonderful gift. Now at last my husband will live with me, since I have borne him six sons." And she called him Z'vulun.
They produced another son and we are told that this was a sign of God's approval as she sacrificially gave the maid to Ya'akov to help build up the house of her husband and so she named him Yissakhar which speaks of a reward. She had another son and praised God for his bountiful provision and she thought that, through this great provision, she would live longer with Ya'akov than the other three wives. With this in mind, she name him Z'vulun which speaks of living together.
After this, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
Now, we see a daughter and anytime a woman is brought forward it usually speaks of redemption. In this case, she named the daughter Dinah which comes from the same root word as Dan which refers to judgement.
Then God took note of Rachel, heeded her prayer and made her fertile. She conceived, had a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." She called him Yosef, saying, "May ADONAI add to me another son.
In the original Hebrew, it says that God "remembered" Rachel and anytime we see God remembering it has to do with His covenant so, in light of that covenant, God allowed Rachel to bare a son. She named the son Yosef which speaks of an addition which replaced her disgrace at being infertile.
After Rachel had given birth to Yosef, Ya'akov said to Lavan, "Send me on my way, so that I can return to my own place, to my own country. Let me take my wives, for whom I have served you, and my children; and let me go. You know very well how faithfully I have served you."
As soon as Yosef was born, we see that Ya'akov desired to return to the promised land and this speaks again to the fact that the covenant is tied to the land of Canaan. He speaks of the fact that his household has been built and that he has worked to do so.
Lavan answered him, "If you regard me favorably, then please listen: I have observed the signs that ADONAI has blessed me on account of you. Name your wages," he said; "I will pay them." Ya'akov replied, "You know how faithfully I have served you and how your livestock have prospered under my care. The few you had before I came have increased substantially; ADONAI has blessed you wherever I went. But now, when will I provide for my own household?"
Now, we see that Lavan hesitates to let Ya'akov and his household go which is the same thing that he had done with Yitz'chak and Rivkah in chapter 29. Even Lavan who was a deceiver could see that he was blessed because of the hand of God at work in the life of Ya'akov and so he wanted to hang on to that and keep them there as long as he could. He wanted the blessing of Ya'akov for himself instead of being shared with the entire world as was God's plan.
Lavan said, "What should I give you?" "Nothing," answered Ya'akov, "just do this one thing for me: once more I will pasture your flock and take care of it. I will also go through the flock and pick out every speckled, spotted or brown sheep, and every speckled or spotted goat; these and their offspring will be my wages. And I will let my integrity stand as witness against me in the future: when you come to look over the animals constituting my wages, every goat that isn't speckled or spotted and every sheep that isn't brown will count as stolen by me." Lavan replied, "As you have said, so be it."
When asked what Lavan would have to give him to stay, Ya'akov responded that he should be given nothing but that they should come to an agreement on his wages and Lavan agreed.
That day Lavan removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted and all the female goats that were speckled or spotted, every one with white on it, and all the brown sheep; turned them over to his sons; and put three days' distance between himself and Ya'akov. Ya'akov fed the rest of Lavan's flocks.
Before the agreement could be implemented, Lavan took the animals that would have belonged to Ya'akov and gave them to his sons and sent them away.
Ya'akov took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white streaks on them by peeling off the bark. Then he set the rods he had peeled upright in the watering troughs, so that the animals would see them when they came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the animals mated in sight of the rods and gave birth to streaked, speckled and spotted young.
Now, we see a process that is hard to understand but basically Ya'akov took some branches from trees and split them baring the white insides and he put them at the troughs where the animals would drink. When the animals saw them they would mate and produce offspring with white on them. The Hebrew word for white is "lavan" and this is likely being used to expose the treachery of Lavan in dealing with Ya'akov.
Ya'akov divided the lambs and had the animals mate with the streaked and the brown in the flock of Lavan. He also kept his own livestock separate and did not have them mix with Lavan's flock. Whenever the hardier animals came into heat, Ya'akov would set up the rods in the watering troughs; so that the animals would see them and conceive in front of them; but he didn't set up the rods in front of the weaker animals. Thus the more feeble were Lavan's and the stronger Ya'akov's. In this way the man became very rich and had large flocks, along with male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.
Somehow and personally I believe it is through listening to God, Ya'akov knew how to overcome the deceit of Lavan and we see that Ya'akov was blessed for his efforts.
Read about what we do with the data we gather and the rules you agree to by using this website in our privacy policy.