In verses 1-4, The situation in this household becomes even more complicated as Rachel is in despair. She was very beautiful, but no children whereas Leah, didn’t have Rachel’s beauty but had had four children. She was envious of Leah and spoke to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!” What a request? If I may say so, I am sure that they had tried, and Jacob’s answer was not unexpected. He was angry and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” The tension was clear, but Jacob, even though he answered correctly in that it is God’s prerogative to give children, he was quite direct and probably lacked pity. It wasn’t necessarily his fault, but it certainly wasn’t Rachel’s. There was no doubt that he loved Rachel, he had showed that by working for fourteen years for her. The dreaded plans of men and women come into play once again. She offered her maid Bilhah to bear children for her. Surely, they had heard about Abraham and Sarah and all the problems that caused. Jacob went along with it just as Abraham had done with Hagar many years before, and sure enough, Bilhah conceived and bore a son and, interestingly, Rachel named him Dan meaning’ judgment’ saying, (v5,6) “God has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” This seemed to suggest that she was vindicated in her envy over Leah.
It didn’t stop there, Bilhah bore Jacob another son and again Rachel named him, Naphtali, meaning ‘wrestle’ saying, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” When was this competition going to stop, it was virtually child abuse, using children to get at one another. What a household to be born into and to grow up in. One can see the beginnings of the characters of these boys which came to show in later life.
Was that not enough in this power struggle in this household? It seemed that Leah now said, ‘Anything you can do I can do better’ and having stopped bearing children herself, she gave her maid, Zilpah to Jacob and bore a son. Leah named him Gad, meaning ‘troop’ or ‘good fortune’ and Leah said, “A troop comes!” (v9-11)
In verses 12,13 we find that Zilpah bears Jacob another son and Leah named him Asher, meaning ‘happy’ saying, “I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.” I am not sure who would be happy, but she thought that other people may think she was. I guess that this home was anything but happy with the jealousy, envy and in-fighting going on there. It seemed that Jacob had little say in the names of these children, it was merely the battle between the two wives.
We have a somewhat strange interlude here in verses 14-18. Reuben, the oldest of the sons, went into the fields at wheat harvest and found mandrakes and brought them to his mother Leah. I believe a mandrake is a root, called the love apple in Hebrew, which was thought to increase fertility. Whether this was superstition or not I don’t know. Whatever it was, God used the occasion to cause Leah to bear children again, “God listened to Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a son”, she called his name Issachar meaning ‘reward’ because, she said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.”
It is apparent that the situation in the home caused them to have misguided ideas, but one thing was clear and that was that, for whatever reason, God is the one who causes women to conceive and bear children. The air was thick with hostility between the two wives, Rachel stated that Leah had stolen her husband. It was bad enough for the women but even worse for the children growing up in this atmosphere.
I don’t know if it was the mandrakes but whatever, it moved Jacob into action again and Leah conceived again and bore another son (v19,20). She said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun meaning ‘dwelling’.
In verse 21 we read that Leah then conceived again and this time bore a daughter and named her Dinah. Interestingly we are not told if there was a meaning to Dinah’s name. Perhaps baby girls were not given significant names. Jacob had ten sons and now a daughter. I wonder if he doted on her, most dad’s do! Up to now he seemed to have little to do with his sons, it doesn’t appear that he had much, if any, say in their names.
In these chapters and the ensuing ones to 35, we see what a terrible mess there was in this family. You might think you have got problems! Rivalry, favouritism, envy, sexual sins, uncontrolled desires, lack of self-control, sin, lack of trust in God show themselves and inevitably lead to family feuds and breakdowns, as well as sinful behaviour. What a way to start and what a family to be brought up in? Little wonder that awful things ensued. We couldn’t imagine a more dysfunctional family. You might think you have never had a chance because of your family upbringing and lots of children go on the wrong path as a result, but there is a ray of hope!
Then, something amazing happened and it begins with a strange statement in v22, “Then God remembered Rachel….” I don’t think God had ever forgotten Rachel. The word ‘remembered’ doesn’t imply that. God was working his purpose out and now it was Rachel’s turn to be involved in what would turn out to be the most important period of this dysfunctional family’s life. God never makes a mistake and often we have to be patient, in Rachel’s case, very patient. God often delays so that we may more thoroughly rely upon Him.
God was in control as He always is. He opened her womb as He had with Rebekah and Leah before her. Rachel conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called him Joseph meaning ‘May He add’. She was longing for another child and said, “The LORD shall add to me another son.” Thus, we encounter Joseph who will occupy the narrative in chapters 37 to 50 in this wonderful book.
We then have that wonderful phrase, “And it came to pass”. I might be wrong, but it infers that this was God’s plan, and this was going to happen in God’s will. After the birth of Joseph, Jacob asked Laban, having served him faithfully despite being deceived, to let him go home with his wives and children (v25-27). Laban, however, asked him to stay because The LORD had blessed him through Jacob’s being there. He had been there for over fourteen years, but he knew that the Promised Land was his and that’s where he should be. Laban was only thinking of himself and had experienced blessing through Jacob’s presence.
Laban asked Jacob to name his price. Jacob reminded him that when he had arrived Laban had very little by way of flocks it may have been that he only had the ones which Rachel brought to the well where Jacob met her, but now it had increased hugely. Jacob proposed a deal that he would take the speckled and spotted sheep and the brown lambs and the spotted and speckled goats and these would be his wages. The rest Laban could keep. He even went so far as to say that to show his honesty, that if any sheep, lambs or goats which were not speckled, or brown were found to be with Jacob, he could consider them as stolen (v28-34). Laban agreed the deal as no doubt there were many sheep, lambs and goats which were not speckled or brown, so he would get the best of the deal. It seemed that Jacob was prepared to trust God putting his reputation at risk if he took any that were clear.
Laban removed the speckled sheep, goats and brown lambs and put them in the care of Jacob’s sons and put three days journey between him and Jacob’s flock while Jacob remained to feed Laban’s flocks (v35,36). Jacob devised a method of feeding Laban’s sheep which entailed taking almond, poplar and chestnut trees, peeling white strips from them and putting them into the watering troughs. This caused the flocks to conceive producing speckled, streaked and spotted offspring and he separated them into his own flocks, and it turned out that Jacob’s flocks were stronger than Laban’s (v37-43). Jacob, therefore, became exceedingly prosperous in flocks, servants – male and female, camels and donkeys.
Please don’t ask me how this came about from the method used, but it is evident that The LORD blessed him, and he became very prosperous. I’m surprised that Laban didn’t notice this method of feeding but it is clear that God was with Jacob in it all and I don’t think for one moment that it was a deception, otherwise Laban the arch-deceiver would have noticed. It was all God’s doing.
Someone has said that if we want to prosper, we must a) not make wealth our goal, b) not be afraid to work for others to enable them to succeed, c) to work hard, and, d) trust in God.
This is not remotely like those who peddle the ‘prosperity gospel’ who say that if you are a Christian you will prosper in wealth and health and if you don’t, you lack faith.
