Genesis 30
Notes
Transcript
Background
Last week we saw Jacob find Rebekah’s brother Laban, along with his 2 daughters, Rachel and Leah. He met Rachel first and worked 7 years to marry her, but was given Leah instead. He worked another 7 years in order to be able to marry Rachel also.
1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”
2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3 She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.”
4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan.
7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
Jacob arrived in Haran and stayed there for 14 years to labor for his wives, Leah and Rachel. He worked for Laban in the fields as a shepherd.
Recall that Jacob preferred Rachel, but also that she was barren.
On the contrary, Leah bore 4 sons to Jacob.
Reuben - “behold a son”
Simeon - “hearing/heard”
Levi - “attached”
Judah - “celebrated/praised”
At this point, Jacob was around 83 years old when he started having children.
He had already worked for 7 years to get his wives, now he’s working for another 7.
During these 7 years, he had almost all of his children.
Rachel was barren, and since having children was a blessing for the family, she resented her sister.
She confronted Jacob, making an ultimatum he could not fulfill.
As we discussed last week, it is God who decides whether or not, and when, a woman might conceive.
3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
With that said, there are people today who are unable to have children for one reason or another. Ultimately, it is God who controls this.
God’s plan for our families and our lives does not always align with ours, but we must remember that His knowledge of what is and what might be is perfect.
God sees our circumstances and knows our sufferings.
God sees our circumstances and knows our sufferings.
In spite of this, we often try to take matters into our own hands, with mixed results in the outcomes.
This is why it is so important for us to seek His will and not our own.
12 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 “Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
23 “God understands its way, And He knows its place.
24 “For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens.
25 “When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure,
26 When He set a limit for the rain And a course for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out.
28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Notice Jesus’ instruction on this matter:
7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Rachel decided to take matters into her own hands.
In a similar manner to Sarah with Abraham, Rachel gave her maid to Jacob so that, through her, she might have a child.
In ancient cultures, this was actually not unheard of. Posterity was extremely important, polygamy was relatively not uncommon, and cultural status was well-known.
Like Sarah and Hagar, Rachel was the wife, and Bilhah became a concubine.
Notice that, when Bilhah conceived, Rachel declared her vindication.
Dan - “judge”
Naphtali - “my wrestling”
In her jealousy, she considers that the sons born through Bilhah is competition against her sister Leah, against whom she is competing.
4 I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.
And yet, as we’ve seen time and again, God can and will use these events for His purposes.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
Leah joined in the competition in the same manner as her sister, and gave Zilpah as a concubine to Jacob.
Recall her attitude in the previous chapter when she bore sons - seeking approval and worth.
Gad - “fortune/troop”
Asher - “happy”
The blessing in this, of course, misses what she found in the Lord with Judah - thanksgiving and praise. It was back to envy and competition.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
An interesting turn of events, but a snapshot of what their life was like, and what polygamy in general looks like.
Having multiple wives creates tension and stress within the household.
While it is not specifically prohibited in Scripture, the reality of it shows how contentious the situation will be.
Issachar - “he will bring a reward/recompense”
Zebulun - “habitation/exalted
Note the daughter, Dinah, for future reference.
Dinah - “justice/judgment
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.
23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
24 She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”
Rachel finally is able to have a child, her first.
Joseph - “let him/Jehovah add(ed)”
Jacob is about 90 years old when Joseph is born to him.
Notice how Rachel says her reproach is taken away.
25 Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.
26 “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account.”
28 He continued, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”
29 But he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me.
30 “For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:
32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
33 “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”
34 Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.”
35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.
36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
An interesting turn of events - Jacob wants to go home to Isaac and Rebekah, but Laban recognizes that he is blessed because of Jacob living in his midst.
Now Jacob is working for his own flock, which would be considered his wages.
Speckled and spotted domestic animals were not as valuable as white and was not as common.
Notice what Laban does here - he takes all of the existing spotted animals and removes them from his herds, in an effort to once again cheat Jacob.
37 Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods.
38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink.
39 So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40 Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods;
42 but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.
43 So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
Here we now see 2 things: the shrewdness of Jacob, and the favor of the Lord.
As has been continually happening to Jacob, Laban cheats and takes advantage of his nephew for his own gain.
This time, Jacob is able to beat him at his own game, but only thanks to the intervention of God.
Jacob’s husbandry practices seem a bit absurd to us, but really what matters is that his actions led to a strong, prolific herd, in spite of Laban’s attempts to deprive him of his wages.
God is just and faithful in all circumstances.
God is just and faithful in all circumstances.
Through God’s favor and intervention, Jacob was able to use his skill as a shepherd to grow his flock until he became “exceedingly prosperous.”
Jacob continued to inherit the blessings of Abraham and Isaac, as God’s chosen and favored son, to carry on the legacy of his grandfather.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
God sees our circumstances and knows our sufferings.
God is just and faithful in all circumstances.
Next week, we will continue with the story of Jacob in Haran.
Communion: We practice open communion, which means if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you may join the church in taking the Lord’s Supper. Communion is a practice of remembering what Christ has done by eating and drinking, and we are told that we must examine ourselves in the taking of communion, so that we do not eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. Take this time to examine yourself before we take communion together.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.