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GENESIS 30
Jacob’s children and their ever competing mothers; Jacob’s wages -- (DATE: After 1700 before Christ)
DISCOVER Genesis 30: Seeing her sister bear so many children for Jacob, Rachel directed her frustration at her husband, demanding children of her own from him; else she would die in shame. Jacob, who still did not fully accept the LORD as his God, like his fathers had done, did not intercede for Rachel as his father had done for Rebekah. Jacob simply accepted that he is not God, and therefore he was not able to make Rachel’s womb bear fruit. In order to deal with her situation, Rachel then gave her maid Bilhah, whom her father had gifted her at her marriage, to Jacob, so that she might bear children in her stead. Thus Jacob went in to her and, to Rachel’s great joy, Bilhah bore him two sons, Dan and Naphtali. -- Now that her younger sister had two children of her own (even though by substitution), Leah saw her merit to Jacob dwindle, so in order for her status not to diminish she too gave her maid Zilpah, which her father had gifted her at her marriage, to Jacob. And Jacob accepted her, causing Zilpah to bear two sons for Leah, Gad and Asher, to weigh up Rachel’s sons. -- By the time Leah’s firstborn, Reuben, was old enough to go out into the fields, he one day during the harvest brought his mother some mandrake roots. When Rachel saw them, she asked her sister to share some with her, but for Leah this was nothing but greed, as her younger sister already had the favor of their husband. So Rachel offered what her sister desired most in exchange for the mandrakes: another undisturbed night with Jacob, to which Leah agreed. Overjoyed with this trade, Leah welcomed Jacob back when he came from the field and demanded his attention, praying to God that she might bear another child that night. And God heard her request, granting her a fifth son, Issachar. But God’s blessing did not end with him, so Leah bore a sixth son, Zebulon, and even a first daughter, Dinah, for her husband. -- Now that his blessing for Leah had reached its fullness, God turned to her younger sister Rachel and opened her womb, which he had closed for Leah’s sake, allowing Rachel to finally bear for Jacob a son of her own flesh and blood, Joseph. -- When the time came at which Jacob had finished paying Laban the bride-price for his daughters, he asked to be discharged from Laban’s services, so that he might go with what is his and return to his family in Canaan. Laban, however, was loath to lose him, as he was keenly aware that Jacob was blessed by God, and through him so was he, as long as Jacob remained with him. So Laban tried to haggle with Jacob that he might remain with him instead of leaving. Seeing an opportunity for caring for his soon to be independent household, Jacob agreed to work for his uncle a while longer, demanding only the speckled and striped sheep and goats as well as the black lambs that would be in the flock he cared for. Laban agreed to this payment, but when the time came for the men to take the flocks out, he made sure that Jacob would only handle a pure white herd, giving all the speckled and striped and black animals to his own sons to care for. -- Jacob did not mind, however, and instead made sure to breed the strong animals in his care under specific circumstances he created by the use of sticks of popler, almond and plane trees. This led to plenty of striped, speckled and black offspring among his totally white herd. Thus he became very wealthy, with large herds, male and female servants, donkeys and camels.
PRAYER: Almighty God, we thank you that through these unusual family jealousies and tensions you continued to fulfill your promise to Abraham and Isaac that they would have plenty of offspring. Thank you for honoring the trust of Rachel in you as her God by giving her the long awaited son Joseph. And thank you that you honored the expectation of Jacob in you from your encounter with him in Bethel and made him very wealthy through hard work and clever strategies. You are the source of all what is good for our life. We praise you and honor you for your great kindness. Amen.
QUESTION 30: How did God help Jacob become very wealthy?