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Genesis 30a:

Reading #124  The children

Let’s carry on with our story.

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Genesis 30:

1 And [during this time] when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”

2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, “Am I in God's stead, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

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Sarah had waited over twenty-five years for her the birth of her son, Rebekah for twenty before Jacob was born, but Rachel who was much more impatient and envious held her husband responsible soon after their marriage although he had proved that he was not at fault by producing children with Leah.

He in turn blamed our loving Father, but that was not true either. 

God has always been blamed by unbelievers for natural disasters, both in geographic and human affairs.  They call them “Acts of God”. 

But there are other explanations and we as Christians should not fall into the trap of believing that God deliberately kills or punishes (for a good purpose, of course, as it is always said).  They, the unbelievers, totally leave out of the equation that fact that we have an enemy intent on causing harm and misery: we should not.  However, Rachel and Jacob were no better and no worse than many others before and since that time in this matter. 

Eve blamed the Son of God for her mistake (after all, He had made the serpent), and Adam blamed both God and Eve for his choice, so it is a long-standing error!  Genesis 3:12-13. 

How few of us want to admit that we in our humanity cause most of our own vexing problems with only a little “help” from Satan, and none at all from God. 

But Jesus explained to Moses one day that we not only harm ourselves and our loved ones by our behaviour, but also pass on a legacy to our descendants, which we call heredity.

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Genesis 34:

6 And the LORD [the Son of God] passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, “ [I am] the LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin [where I am allowed to], and that will by no means clear the guilty [the non-repentant, because they will not let Me]; visiting the [results of] iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and to the fourth generation [through the natural laws of genetics and example].

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Not understanding (or ignoring) this principle, Rachel brought forward a human way of solving the problem.  It couldn’t be her fault, or one of her ancestors she thought, but she had learned from Sarah’s example how to fix it!  And, instead of suggesting that they approach God in prayer to find out His answer to the problem, Jacob went along with the proposal because it was “normal” in that country.  It is obvious that this was done only to pacify Rachel because Jacob already had his heirs, the four sons of Leah.

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Genesis 30:

3 And she [Rachel] said, “Behold my maid Bilhah, go in to her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.” 4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in to her. [She was a willing participant.] 5 And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. 6 And Rachel said, “God has judged me [given me justice], and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son”: therefore called she his name “Dan” [“judging”].

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But God had nothing to do with this human plan.  It was eventually prophesied of Dan that he would be “a snake in the grass.”  Genesis 49:16-17.

The phrase “she shall bear upon my knees” was a local term meaning that although the handmaid was the mother and now a secondary wife, the children would be considered as belonging to Rachel.  At birth the child was first placed on the lap of the main wife as a symbol of adoption, and then given to the natural mother to nurse.  This arrangement was quite legal in that area for the natural population, but should have been seen as illegal for God’s children who operate under different laws.  In this we see Sarai’s mistake being repeated. Genesis 16:1-2.  

So now a contest started in which God’s original plan for the descendants of Abraham could have been lost.

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Genesis 30:

7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again [she retained the privileges and position of wife permanently], and bore Jacob a second son. 8 And Rachel said, “With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed”: and she called his name “Naphtali” [“my wrestling”].

9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her [to] Jacob to wife [another willing partner]. 10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “A troop comes”: and she called his name “Gad” [“a troop”, or “large family”].

12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters [the women of Israel] will call me blessed”: and she called his name “Asher” [“Happy”].

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Neither Rachel nor Leah give any praise to God in the naming of these three children.  Maybe they were conscious that they were doing all this out of spite, with no shade of necessity to ease their consciences.  Jacob doesn’t seem to have had any problem with two other wives either, who obviously liked their new positions.

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Genesis 30:

14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah [They were regarded as a fertility aid].

Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me, I pray you,  [some] of your son's mandrakes.” 15 And she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband?  And would you take away my son's mandrakes also?” And Rachel said, “Therefore he shall lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes.”

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The names given to children in those days generally expressed either a desire on the part of the parent for the future of the child, or a “Thank You” for the blessing of it.  In these cases it seems that the latter was the mainspring for only five out of the eight.  Both sisters had now publicly embraced their husband’s way of religion and were following the true God to the best of their ability and understanding, but so keen was Rachel to use the fertility aid, in which she seems to have great faith, that she gave up her rostered night with Jacob.

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Genesis 30:

16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for surely I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night. 17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob the fifth son. 18 And Leah said, “God has given me my hire [reward], because I have given my maid to my husband”: and she called his name “Issachar” [“Hired”, or rewarded for her faith, but in actual fact it was presumption!]. 

19 And Leah conceived again, and bore Jacob the sixth son. 20 And Leah said, “God has endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me [permanently], because I have born him six sons [personally]”: and she called his name “Zebulun” [“Dwelling”].

21 And afterwards [sometime later] she bore a daughter, and called her name “Dinah” [“Judgment” or “Vindication” of her position].

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This is the only one of Jacob’s daughters that we know of by name.  When and to whom the others were born is obviously not important to the record kept by the Spirit, although He mentions them.  Genesis 37:35; 46:7.

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Genesis 30:

22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb [so the mandrake didn’t work]. 23 And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, “God has taken away my reproach”: 24 and she called his name “Joseph” [“Adding”]; and said, “The LORD shall add to me another son [as well as Bilhah’s children].”

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Because of the fact that there were four women involved in these births it is very likely that they all occurred during the second seven years Jacob worked for Rachel, and therefore more than one wife would have been pregnant at any one time.  However long it took for these events to happen and the animosity to build up, when the fourteen years was completed Jacob began to have thoughts of returning home.

More next week,

Bye

Ron

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