Jacob's Multiplying Family
Notes
Transcript
Text: Genesis 29:31-30:43
PRAY
Introduction
Genesis 1 began with God’s creation of all things and His commission to mankind to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, to subdue the earth and have dominion over all creation. Genesis 2 shows us that Adam and Eve lived in God’s garden, walked with God, and enjoyed a perfect relationship with each other as they lived out God’s command to have dominion over His creation.
But in Genesis 3 we learn that Adam and Eve rebelled against their Creator. Instead of subduing creation, they were subdued by creation, and their sin brought corruption, sin, and death into the world. Their relationship with God was broken, their relationships with each other were broken, and the whole world came under God’s curse.
But all hope is not lost. In the midst of the curse, God gave a promise. The seed of the woman — one of Adam and Eve’s descendants — would crush the serpent’s head. He would come and redeem God’s people from the curse of sin and death.
God carries on His rescue plan through Noah, as He delivers Noah’s family safely through the flood of His judgment and establishes His covenant with him and his family. The seed of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head will come through Noah’s family.
And then, in Genesis 12, God made these promises to Abraham:
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God promised him land, seed, and blessing — a place to live in fellowship with God, many generations of offspring, and blessing for the whole world through Abraham’s family. It will be through Abraham’s family that the curse is reversed and salvation comes for the world. The seed of the woman will come through Abraham’s line.
These promises (land, seed, & blessing) began to have a small measure of fulfillment in Abraham’s life, then they were passed down to his son Isaac, and most recently, we saw that the LORD Himself passed on these same promises to Jacob in Genesis 28. God will bless Jacob, give him the land, multiply his offspring, and make him a blessing for the world around him.
In this passage, even through a sinful family, God is bringing about His plan to restore mankind to fellowship with Him.
Multiplying People (29:31-30:24)
Multiplying People (29:31-30:24)
Summary of this section:
Jacob has 12 children with 4 different wives:
Leah has 7 children (6 sons and a daughter): Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, and Dinah
Leah’s servant Zilpah has 2 sons: Gad and Asher
Rachel’s servant Bilhah has 2 sons: Dan and Naphtali
Rachel has 1 son: Joseph (later on she will have Benjamin in Genesis 35, but she dies at his birth)
The Development in this story has to do mostly with their relationships with each other and with God.
It’s important to note that narratives in Scripture are, as a rule, descriptive rather than prescriptive. What that means is that the authors of narrative portions of Scripture are more interested in recording the historical account of what actually happened than giving us a moral evaluation of each story. So we need to evaluate this story (and others) based on other Scriptures to receive moral instruction. When we evaluate this story in light of the 10 Commandments and other laws given in the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy), we see that most of the actions in this account do not live up to the standards God gives.
Nevertheless, God is sovereignly orchestrating the events of this story to bring about the nation of Israel, and more importantly, the Seed of the woman who will be the Savior of the world.
One of the biggest takeaways from this section is that God is sovereign over life and conception, and ultimately over history, as God fulfills His promise to Jacob to multiply his seed and bless him.
Leah’s First 4 Sons (29:31-35)
Leah’s First 4 Sons (29:31-35)
31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
the LORD saw — God sees everything, and His eyes are especially directed toward those in desperate circumstances
Psalm 34:15 “15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.”
Psalm 145:18–19 “18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.”
Leah was hated — unloved, disregarded, scorned, despised (not the wife Jacob wanted, and yet he should have loved her and cared for her)
(the LORD) opened her womb — God is sovereign over life and death; He opens and closes wombs
Rachel was barren — the same problem as Sarah and Rebekah; Rachel responds like Sarah instead of like Rebekah
32 And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”
Reuben - “look, a son”
The LORD has looked upon my affliction - Leah’s focus on the LORD
Now my husband will love me — she desires affection from Jacob
33 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.
The LORD has heard — has she been praying? Seems to indicate she is taking her hurt and desires to God.
Simeon - “heard”, also includes “affliction”
34 Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.
Levi = attached
Leah is still seeking her husband’s affection and approval. This time she doesn’t mention the LORD — has her focus gotten off God?
35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.
Judah = praise
Leah turns to the LORD again, and rather than clinging to her unfulfilled desire, she chooses to worship and thank and praise the LORD.
Despite the ugly circumstances, Leah seems to be responding in a proper way.
4 mentions of the LORD in this section; contrast with Rachel’s response in ch. 30.
Rachel’s Reaction and Plan (30:1-3)
Rachel’s Reaction and Plan (30:1-3)
1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
How do you think about God’s blessing on other people?
Envy, greed, covetousness?
Contentment, thankfulness, gratitude?
The LORD is absent from Rachel’s thinking
In this culture, barrenness was like death — the death of your family
2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
Am I in the place of God? — the question Joseph later asks his brothers (Gen 50:19)
Jacob is acknowledging his inability to produce the desired seed (conception and life is God’s work, not ours; this should inform the way we think about alternate forms of bringing about children today. Science has come up with ways to “solve” infertility in a variety of ways, but we as Christians must think about these things in a way that submits to the sovereignty of God in this matter, valuing what He values, and trusting Him when He leaves our desires unfulfilled)
We need to think biblically about this matter; God opens and closes wombs; He decides when life happens and when it doesn’t, and we need to submit to Him.
Jacob still (as I understand the flow of his life) has not embraced the LORD as his God. But he is starting to say and do some right things in this passage.
God has withheld from you the fruit of the womb
This is a true statement — similar to what Sarah said in Genesis 16:2 “2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”
1 Samuel also acknowledges God’s sovereignty in the case of Hannah’s barrenness in 1 Samuel 1:5 “5 But to Hannah he [Elkanah] gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.”
The LORD is the one who grants life and conception, as Solomon acknowledges in Psalm 127:3 “3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”
More important than children, Rachel needs a relationship with God. She needs to know the LORD, call out to Him, trust in Him, submit to Him. But sadly she does not.
She responds like Sarah (giving her servant to her husband as a wife) instead of like Rebekah (praying and trusting the LORD).
3 Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.”
“be built up”, which sounds like the Hebrew word for sons
This is exactly what Abraham and Sarah did, and Jacob and Rachel should have known this is not going to turn out well (Gen 16:1-3).
Bilhah’s Sons (30:4-8)
Bilhah’s Sons (30:4-8)
4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.
Dan = judge
7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
Naphtali = wrestling
Rachel’s math isn’t so great (she thinks she’s winning with 2 sons, but Leah has 4)
Zilpah’s Sons (30:9-13)
Zilpah’s Sons (30:9-13)
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
Leah now caves to the corrupt practices of her sister.
10 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad.
Gad = good fortune
12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
Asher = happy
Leah’s and Rachel’s Argument (30:14-16)
Leah’s and Rachel’s Argument (30:14-16)
14 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 that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
Mandrakes are a plant with a root that resembles a human being, and people believed that this plant caused fertility. So what’s happening here is another human attempt to bring about what only God can give.
Relational problems exposed
Conflict between the 2 sisters
Treating Jacob like a prostitute
Leah’s 3 Additional Children (30:17-21)
Leah’s 3 Additional Children (30:17-21)
17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
Issachar = wages
Leah is still thinking about God, but her thinking is very twisted. God’s blessing doesn’t always indicate His approval.
19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son.
20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.
Zebulon sounds like both the Hebrew word “endow” and “honor”
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
Rachel’s Son (30:22-24)
Rachel’s Son (30:22-24)
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
God remembered Rachel; 2 other times that God “remembered” in Genesis — giving special attention to people in need
God remembered Noah, Genesis 8:1 “1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”
God remembered Abraham, Genesis 19:29 “29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.”
God listened to her — has Rachel started praying?
God opened her womb — again, emphasizing the sovereignty of God over conception; the mandrakes didn’t do the trick; God opened her womb.
23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
Very different from the way people think about infertility now; it was a matter of shame and disgrace when a woman couldn’t bear children.
Even in the NT, Elizabeth expresses this same sentiment: Luke 1:25 “25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.””
In Hannah’s case in 1 Samuel 1, the reproach led to taunting by her husbands other wife: 1 Samuel 1:6–7 “6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.” And the text goes on to say that she was grieved, she was in bitter distress, and she prays out of the depth of her anguish and grief.
24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
Joseph means “may He add”, but also sounds like the verb “he has taken away”
Instead of responding with praise and thanks, Rachel expresses discontentment. One is not enough.
So different from Hannah’s reaction to God’s blessing with a son: 1 Samuel 1:27–28 “27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.” And in 1 Samuel 2:1–2 she offers up a beautiful prayer of praise to the LORD: “1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”
Leah is the only one in this passage responding in a remotely right way to God’s providence, and even she is overly focused on getting her husband’s approval.
Multiplying Possessions (30:25-43)
Multiplying Possessions (30:25-43)
Jacob’s Plan (30:25-26)
Jacob’s Plan (30:25-26)
25 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country.
26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.”
Jacob is ready to go back home.
God has brought about the fulfillment of His promises of seed (children) and now Jacob mentions the promise of “land” (country in v. 25 is the word “land” in Hebrew); and Laban is going to acknowledge that God has fulfilled the 3rd promise, blessing for the world through Abraham’s family.
Laban’s Counter Offer (30:27-28)
Laban’s Counter Offer (30:27-28)
27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.
28 Name your wages, and I will give it.”
Divination involves going to false gods for insight or information about the future.
The verb “learn by divination” is very similar in Hebrew to the noun for “serpent” or “snake”, which also connects this practice with the devil who appeared to Adam and Eve as a serpent.
The LORD has blessed me because of you — fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would bless the world through them.
Jacob’s Acceptance (30:29-34)
Jacob’s Acceptance (30:29-34)
29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me.
30 For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?”
Jacob acknowledges God’s blessing.
Jacob is concerned about providing for his family — perhaps a growth in maturity? He’s not only concerned about himself, but now thinking about others?
One of the most positive signs we’ve seen in Jacob yet.
31 He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it:
32 let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages.
33 So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.”
34 Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.”
The terms of the contract are set, and just as before, Laban breaks the contract and swindles Jacob.
Laban’s Deception (30:35-36)
Laban’s Deception (30:35-36)
35 But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons.
36 And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
Jacob was supposed to be the one separating these animals to keep them for himself, but instead Laban takes them and keeps them from Jacob. So Jacob comes up with his own deceitful response to benefit himself.
Jacob’s Response (30:37-43)
Jacob’s Response (30:37-43)
37 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.
38 He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,
39 the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks,
42 but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
As someone who knows very little about animals and breeding, I’ve always found this passage a little mysterious. I did learn a little this week about some possible ideas of what Jacob is doing here. Answers in Genesis has an interesting article on this story.
Perhaps partly through his work with these animals over many years, but even more clearly by divine revelation as we see in Genesis 31, Jacob has come to know which ones are stronger and perhaps even the genetic characteristics of the different sheep.
In Genesis 31:10-11, Jacob recounts to his wives a dream he had in which God’s angel gave him information and helped him know how to breed these animals to his advantage. God sees the way Laban is mistreating Jacob, and God is causing Jacob to prosper. But Jacob needs to respond in obedience to this revelation from God, and that’s what we find him doing.
Again, it seems that there are signs of progress in Jacob’s life.
Regarding the sticks from these various trees that he put in their watering troughs, it’s possible that they may have had some medicinal value to strengthen the flocks or perhaps to alter their appearance.
So we don’t know exactly what this process or practice entailed, but it’s clear that Jacob is seeking to multiply his possessions, and it’s apparently in obedience to God. Ultimately, then, Jacob is blessed, not because of his ingenuity, but because God chose to bless him. And Jacob acknowledges this in the coming chapters.
God is the one who made Jacob’s family fruitful and gave him these 12 children.
God is the one who made Jacob’s work fruitful and multiplied his flocks.
Application
If you are enjoying abundance and prosperity, acknowledge that it comes ultimately from God, not because of your wisdom or effort.
Because God is sovereign over all things, because He sees and knows and is in control of all your circumstances, …
Trust God’s Providence in your life
Keep your focus on God
Be content with what God gives you
More important than family or possessions is your relationship with God.
