August 12, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: John 5-6

Weekly Memory Verse: Romans 8:1

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Genesis 29:31-30:24 (NASB95)
³¹ Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” ³³ Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. ³⁴ She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. ³⁵ And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing. 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. 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. 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. 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.””^[1]

The family squabbles are interesting in this section of scripture.  What is more interesting than that is the children that are born of the parents. 

Leah's children were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah.  Rachel's children were Joseph and Benjamin. Bilah's children were Dan and Naphtali. Zilpah's children were Gad and Asher.  Isn't it interesting that Leah was the mother of half of the tribe.  Not only that, two of her sons turned into two of the most significant tribes of Israel, Levi, father of the Levites, and Judah, father of the tribe of Judah, (the messianic line of Christ).  Of Rachel's children, Benjamin is the only tribe that survived to New Testament times.  This is interesting because at the end of the book of Judges, Benjamin was almost eradicated by the rest of the tribes who were cutting out immorality that had crept into Benjamin.  Outside of these three tribes, the other tribes seem to have disappeared after the Assyrian captivity.  God knows where these tribes went, and will regather them according to His promise.

One other thought, Bilah was used in the same manner that Hagar was used with Abraham.  She was used as a surrogate mother for Rachel, (so to speak).  This is the first time that this mistake had been made since the trouble with Hagar and her son Ishmael.  Yet God did not judge Bilhah and Zilpah like he did Hagar, and their children are not considered to be children of promise. 

The most significant thing about this passage is that Leah and Rachel are sisters, and they have developed a vicious rivalry between them.  Leah is obviously God's chosen in the marriage, this is demonstrated through her faith.  Rachel is Jacobs favorite, and is not below using her maid to have children.  Leah follows Rachel's example in using her maid, which shows that she is human.  God continually blesses Leah, He even blessed her when she surrendered the mandrakes to Rachel.  The mandrakes were supposed to be an aphrodisiac, and in giving them away to Rachel, God proved that He was better in giving of life than worldly wisdom.  Leah became pregnant and had three more children. 

Have you considered why Dinah was mentioned in the list of children?  I am wondering if it was because she was the seventh child.  This places God's mark of approval on her according to the divine number of seven.  It could also indicate that God had ordained her in the order of men.  Something to think about.  Consider also that later, Dinah was raped by Shechem, and as a result of that, retribution was taken upon those people.  It could be that she is mentioned because of the problems that are associated with her later.

After that, God opened Rachel's womb and she had Joseph.  God made her wait longer to prove to her that the giving of life comes through Him.  After she had Joseph, she demonstrated faith by naming him in hopes of another son.  God later rewarded her with Benjamin, but at the same time took her life. 

Genesis 30:25-43 (NASB95)
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. 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.^[2]

Laban recognized that Jacob had caused him to prosper.  Notice though, Jacob had learned his lesson on being deceitful.  In the transaction that takes place in this chapter, Jacob deals fairly with Laban.  He continues to water and herd Laban's flocks, but turns the knowledge that he had gained by shepherding the flocks for the twenty years into practical use as he carefully causes his own flocks of spotted and blemished animals to increase.  This may not sound like much, but when you consider, the spotted and blemished, and the black sheep were very few in number compared to the unspotted and unblemished. 

After removing the spotted and blemished, his sons took the herd of rejects three days journey to take care of them.  This was an insurance policy for Laban because with that distance he was certain that there would not be foul play.  Can you imagine the concern that Laban had to have after tricking Jacob into the marriage with Leah, then making him work for him another seven years for Rachel? 

I had always been under the impression that the two flocks were kept side by side.  Where it would make sense that Jacob would deliberately short Laban's flock while using the sticks on his own flock.  With the flocks seperated by three days journey, it makes sense that Jacobs flock became stonger through good breeding habits, and Laban's flock was weaker because no special effort was made to increase the size of his flock.  In other words, it appears that Jacob did not make an effort to purposefully short-change Laban.  He did not return evil for the deceptive ways that he had been treated in the past.

Jacob took a big risk by taking the few sheep for his wages.  God honored this, and as Jacob practiced good husbandry, his animals bred and multiplied quickly.  The sticks are a little confusing, from the context, it seems that they caused the animals to want to breed.  One thing that is interesting is that Laban in the hebrew is the word for "white", so when Jacob peeled back the bark, he used the "laban" white insides to cause the animals to reproduce. 

One last thought on this passage, Jacob can be a picture of a God does not seek out the perfect. He doesn't seek out the best of the flock to be His followers.  When God seeks out people, He seeks out the ones who are black sheep, the blemished and spotted goats, and the undesirable of the flock of the world.  Through His careful care and guidance, these who are spotted and undesirable become powerful through His power.  In the end, the strength of the ones salvaged from the world is much greater than the strength that is in the world.  When God changes our lives, He puts His life in us, even though we have a spotted and blemished background, He causes us to increase in Him.  We become light bearers, and soldiers for the Kingdom of God.  We are ambassadors who are temporarily assigned to this world because the new life that is in us is focused on a new heaven that we are looking forward to.

Questions for thought:

1. How did God use the squabble between Leah and Rachel?

2. Did Jacob use deception in dealing with the wages from Laban?

Father, we have studied how that Jacob learned his lesson and dealt honorably with Laban.  Give each of us wisdom in our business practices to represent You in all of our situations.

In Him,

Joe Turner.