30:1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 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?” 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.” 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. 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.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad. 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.
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. 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.
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. 21 Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
Jacob’s Prosperity
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.” 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.” 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?” 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.” 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.
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. (ESV)
There are some things in this chapter that are not good! Leah and Rachel are jealous of each other and making children a competition. Jacob is reaping the consequences of having more than one wife and having children with his servants. Laban is still trying to use Jacob for his own gain.
Yet, through all of this God is accomplishing his will. He is blessing Jacob because He is faithful to his promises. No matter how bad things around us get we can always count on God to work them for good to those who are his people, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28)!
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Wow! This whole chapter is pretty messed up. Like Paster Bobby said…the women are in a competition and Laban is using Jacob.
15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
I really am not sure how to word this exacty, but…
I think that it’s weird that Rachel is giving Leah permission to sleep with their husband. Plus I’m wondering if Jacob would be upset that he’s being hired to sleep with someone or being told that I’m sleeping with you tonight.
Pastor Bobby and Leah have it right: this chapter of the early history of Israel really shows how they need a savior to pay for their sins.
Every time I read about how they fought each other or relied on superstition instead of God, I’m convicted about how I do the same things and need the power of Jesus on the cross to make me clean. Thank You Lord for paying for EVERY sin once and for all. Help me to honor You today by living your way…
I would have to say that this is not one big happy family. More like one big UNhappy family. Like everyone before me said, this is pretty messed up. Leah and Rachel fighting over Jacob, “competing” to see who had more children, and giving him their servant girls. All of this is pretty messed up. But i’d have to say Jacob pretty much deserves it. He decieved his father and his brother Esau. God is making sure that Jacob gets what he deserved.
But like Bobby said, all of this is accomplishing God’s plan. All of Jacob’s children will become the tribes of Isreal. God is at work keeping his promise to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. All the names of Jacob’s kids become the names of the tribes. This shows that even when we are being punished or bad things are happening, it’s all part of God’s plan.
I think it is interesting how when Jacob disobeyed Isaac and specifically God’s plan, things got progressively worse. Something as simple as marrying a woman his father said no to, got him caught up in a lot of painful consequences. We can learn that we need to follow God’s plan and to listen to good advice. It’s not fun learning things the hard way.
It seems it would of been better if Laban hadn’t of tricked Jacob into marrying both his daughters. This whole mess probably wouldn’t be like this. But as Pastor Bobby and Romans 8:28 say God using all this bad to accomplish his good will and fulfill the promise he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is nothing that is not under God’s careful watch!
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.
Despite the imperfections in Rachel, God graciously gave her the ability to have children. The word “remebered” in this verse is the same as in Gen. 8:1 where it says God “remembered” Noah and so he dried up the earth after the flood. My Study Bible notes say that to “remember” in the Bible means so much more than recalling someone to mind. It means to express concern for someone and act with with loving care for him or her. We should be so grateful that we worship a God who remembers us despite our sin and shortcomings. God is so deserving to be praised for his attribute of being merciful. When I do my prayer time today you can bet that I will be spending some time praising God and thanking Him for His mercy to me.
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
Rachel was jealous because she wanted what Leah had, kids, and it led her to sin. Desires are not always a bad thing, in fact some desires are God-given, but when our desires become demands and we are going to sin to get them or sin if we do not get them fulfilled then we have went astray. Look at how the result of sin caused so many consequences both here in this chapter and also the past 27. God had a plan for Rachel and if she would have only trusted in His timing and providence she would have seen the result of His faithfulness. Aren’t we like that so often? We are quick to think God is being unfaithful or not hearing our prayers when we don’t get a microwave answer. How foolish that is!! Pray persistently and be patient and trust the Lord who was powerful enough to save a fallen world!
ahhhhh…its nice to have a day off :)
Anyway, this chapter is kinda crazy. Its full of jealousy and sin. But, like a few people already said, God continues to work through it to do his will. This is kinda like Pastor Mike’s sermon last week (i think it was last week, but with finals it feels like last month so im not really sure) where he talked about how God uses man’s evil for good. Its so awesome that we have such a great God, who, even though we are messed up, He can still accomplish His will.
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
Sisters in competition, yikes! Rachel and Leah were being jealous over each other because one had more kids than each other. I agree with Spencer that Laban shouldn’t have tricked Jacob into marrying both of these girls, but God’s promise is being fulfilled that Abraham’s decendents will be like the number of stars.
27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”
I found it so interesting how Laban wanted Jacob to stay after all that time. AND THIS CHAPTER REMINDS ME OF A SOAP OPERA!!!! seriously! Jealously, scandals, trickery, and a lot of sin! AND A LOT OF KIDS! Those poor children are going to have to be raised to live in a home like that, it’s sad. And then I thought to myself, there are kids that are raised in homes worse than that, homes that have no Christian influence. It made me very grateful that I live in a home where I’m raised to love the Lord and God has chosen me! I think all of us can be grateful for that! But it’s a reminder that some don’t know the gospel until we tell them about it, so lets always proclaim His name where ever we go! mmmmmmmhmm And later we learn that Joseph is one of the only brothers that does grow up to become a true believer! So we must also remember that just because one grows up in a Christian home, doesn’t mean that that one person is a Christian, so we can still tell them the gospel anyways and be an example for them. :D
Yes Nathan, it is quite nice :)
I thought it was cool what Bobby pointed out; that even in sin God’s will is acomlished. Nothing can stop what He has planned for us and He never goes back on promises, no matter how sinfull or stupid we are.
Instead of praying and having faith in the Lord, Leah and Rachel took their own selfish desires and took them over His plans. They had in their minds that it was a competition to have children for their husband instead of knowing that God had a plan for them. After they were able to bear children THEN they praised God and began to say how wonderful He is. This is just like the world today. We don’t praise God and thank Him for what He has already given to us, but we are already wanting something else. Then once God has given to us what we wanted we will thank Him then and forget about Him usually the next day. We need to remember to praise God continually and pray with out stopping.
OH MY GOS B, I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT!! haha it reminded me of a soap opera too!! This whole chapter is quite interesting with all that is going on, and now Jacob has LOTS of kids!! I also found it interesting to see how God mentioned Leah’s daughter, Dinah in verse 21. So what did i take from this passage?? It definitely reminded me of how God is always looking after us, even when we do not realize it! Unlike what Rachel and Leah did, instead of depending on ourselves, we should be asking for God to guide us each day, putting our TRUST in his plan for us. :D
I spent some time considering this scripture before reading the comments online and I agree with Pastor Bobby and Leah.
It is a sad day when competition, jealously and deceit take over our lives, replacing the love and support you would normally expect within a God fearing family. It seems to me that there is a huge focus on self gratification and little concern for the will of God or the wellbeing of others. I think Galatians 5:19-24 are great verses to consider when we may be tempted to compare ourselves to others. Our focus should always be on pleasing God and not on ourselves. I pray that we would be genuinely pleased when witnessing God’s blessing in the lives of others as we trust in Gods Sovereignty for our own.
Another chapter of shady behavior that God uses to accomplish his purpose. This is encouraging because if we look at our lives honestly we can see periods of sin and disobedience. However, despite our bad, God accomplishes His good. Romans 8:28 is an awesome promise!
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.”4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her,5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
Wow, looks like somebody is getting jealous. Never knew that there was this level of a need for children. To make your husband sleep with another woman to get children! Man oh man, Lea and Rachel are being selfish. Pretty intense chapter!
Wow two sisters are both jealous of each other and that isn’t good. Even as bad as it can get we can still rely on God for those who are living for him. Romans 8:28. Sorry for my pretty lame comment today. My brains lost some cells.
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
The line “or I’ll DIE!” REALLY stuck out to me. How many things do we want so bad that we would die with out them? Although this probably isn’t how it was intended, but this could be applied to serving and living for God. Like without Him, I would DIE!!
It’s not too hard to see how this situation would have been a lot easier to manage if Laban had not been deceitful to Jacob. But yet, even in the midst of this drama, we can clearly see how God is using the situation to benefit Jacob and make His future nation of Israel strong and prosperous! This should give us confidence that God can use any situation for good and is always working things out for His glory and our benefit; it is only when we lose sight of this and get caught up in the ‘injustice’ of our own situations that we feel like life is spiraling out of control!
im kinda echoing what Pastor Bobby said. when the Bible mentions something, that doesnt make it okay, in this case it is Jacob’s bigamy. clearly Jacob is reaping the punishments of his two wives. though he was in a ough situation, he still sinned.
this instance reminds us that we are punished for sin. as Christians, it may be easy for us to abuse the grace God has given, and if we are true Christians, we wont. however, it reminds us that though we will not face God’s wrath in hell, we have punishments for our sin, becu=ause our God is merciful, gracious, but also just. the holy God we serve cannot tolerate sin
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”
learning from the entire chapter, Persistent prayer is muy importante! rachel got angry with jacob because she didnt pray persistently! God may not give everything to us, but that’s because it doesnt really pertain to anything useful in our lives, or may not be needed at this moment in time.
Cameron, i dont get how Jacob is “reaping the punishments of his wives”. could you explain it? thanks.
This chapter is diverse! There is just stuff going on left and right. I found it strange that Jacob layed with his servant to have a son for his barren wife. I was thinking, “wait… isn’t that a sin?” But I keep forgetting that the Ten Commandments havent even come up yet. Moses wasn’t even born! I’m excited to get to that story though!
This is a very interesting chapter! I guess what I saw was that Rachel and Leah were jealous of each other which is never good! This is a good reminder for me that God always has a plan and we should trust him and not get jealous of others but to remember that we are living for God and that he has our life in his hands!
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.
This shows the great amount of patience Rachel had. She was pleading with God to grant her children and after many years He finally did. This shows that if we persevere in praying and pray passionately and ask for what is in Gods will, He will answer our prayers. Sometimes it takes really long for prayers to be answered, but God never forgets our pleas and requests. We need to lift up our requests to God, but it is also essential to Praise and adore Him, confess our sins, thank him, and ask for spiritual protection.
Right on Bobby, just like Pastor Mike said(and backed up with scripture) God uses evil for good. But, He still wants you to not sin even though He can make good out of your sin. There are no loopholes in the Bible except that Jesus died for our sins and if we have faith in Him and repent from our sins, we will be saved.
lucky ducks i want a day off :)
I agree with pastor bobby…rachel being jealous was definatly not a good thing, she should have been patient! but one hting i noticed that she did was she did not give up inher prayer of asking God to open her womb. In a recent message Pastor Bobby told us to pray fervently and not to give up on what we are asking (as long as it is God’s will)…so there was a great example of that!
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
Wow it sounds almost like a reality show! Just think all this would have happened if Jacob didn’t deceive his father.
This passage, and entire story, really expresses the importance of leaving God in control. We need to trust God that His plan is far greater than any plan we could ever think of. God is great; He knows what is best and will provide for us. We need to make sure that we ask God, through prayer, to lead of our lives. We need to allow Him to work through us. The Holy Spirit will guide us and keep our path straight. We just have to believe it!
Janiel- because Jacob’s marrying and having children with more than one person, he has had to deal with all of the consequences of that, which are his wives making childbearing a competition. he has to deal with the rivalry of his sisters, which doesnt seem like it would be fun
hope that helps!
i think we all need to remember that God already has a plan for our life, and even when things don’t go our way, or God takes a little while to answer our prayers, we need to remember that God loves us and he will answer our prayers in his own timing.
43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
Like some have said, this is a pretty messed up situation. And its basically Jacob’s own fault for his deception. Yet God still blessed him greatly. God is always faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful, and He works through everything for good, even our mistakes. Its so good to know that God forgives us, but instead of continuing to displease Him with sin, we should be trying to instead glorify Him for He is so deserving of it.
1When Rachel saw thatshr was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2Jacob became angry with her and said,”Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from not having children?”
in these two verses out of jealousness Rachel wants a child because her sister Leah had children. but I love how Jacob comes back by saying how if he and Sarah really needed a child, that God would give them one. we can’t try to make out our lives on our own, but fully trust in God to give us what we need.
This chapter is really interesting. I am so comforted in knowing that God is in control of every situation, good or bad. Even in this complex competition of child bearing that took place way back then.
the latter part of this chapter shows that God is fulfulling his promise to Jacob by blessing him with lots of livestock, and taking away from Laban, who tried to cheat Jacob out of what was rightfully his.
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.
It, says that God LISTENED to her. Rachel obviously had been praying about this, and from the way that this chapter shows her attitude, it is something that she prayed about consistently, just like we talked about in small groups. We need to pray continually about the things that we want/need, and God will give them to us if there isn’t a reason not to, like the parable of the man knocking on the door for bread.
ok how in the world does giving ur servant to your husband to have a child then in turn make him ur child….these people thought so strangly….
anyways there was that….something I found cool about the chapter is how Jacob alows God to bless him. He doesn’t go trying to get some payment from Laban with his own hands…saying ya laban you give me half of ur flock and everyother animal born after that….no he takes a little but then lets God do the rest! cool faith….
Totally agree with everything Pastor Bobby said! There is so much sin yet even through all of it, God is being faithful and fulfilling his promises.
Im just going to echo what everyone has said about the sin that happened in this chapter! Its incredible how even though we are sinful by birth, the Lord loves us and has given us the chance to live with him forever!
Echoing Derek, echoing everybody. It is amazing how God still love us, even when we blatantly disobey Him. Jacob had about 4 wives, but God used him to be the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Pastor Bobby brought up a great point about all the bad things going on in this chapter. The other issue that Rachel is demonstrating is her lack of trust in what God has promised. Not only was she making the children a competition, she showed no faith in God’s promise.
We have a whole book full of promises that have been proven over and over. My prayer is that I and we as believers, trust what the Bible promises and in order to trust it, we need to know what it says. We should all make it a bigger priority to learn what our God has promised to us.
This chapter was basically all insane. There were so many sinful and just crazy things that were going on. There was alot of jealousy, a man with more than one wife and a guy using another man for his own personal benifits. This chapter is jsut definately one of those ones that is just like do not ever do what you see in this chapter!!!!
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
Jealousy is not a good thing especially to have it with ur sister or family membere u should be happy no matter what God gives you.
As everyone else mentioned, jealousy is a main theme in this chapter that causes multiple problems. Jealousy is all over the place in the OC culture as people want, want, want so much. Whether it be designer jeans, a car, a job, a house, or children that are being coveted, we need to remember that God has blessed us with sooooo much! God has given us things and withheld things in life for reasons. Trust that His plan is bigger than us!