Gen. 29:31-30:24

1. Locate the passage

This passage continues the story of Jacob’s growing family. For the first time, God is involved in the story, not by Jacob’s initiative, but because nothing and no one escapes His attention.

2. Genre

The passage is narrative. It records the frequent expressions of Leah and Rachel as Leah vies for their husband’s affection and Rachel competes against her to produce sons.

3. Determine the structure of the passage

4. Exegete the passage

This passage contains the story of the wife-swapping misadventures of Jacob

The interesting part of this story is the passiveness of Jacob. Continuing a theme of him being controlled by the women in his life, Jacob never objects to the competition and manipulations for his affection. Instead, he is a willing participant, witnessed by the children that result from all the arrangements.

Note that the Lord plans long-term. God used the deception, preferences and negotiations to produce the 12 sons who would become the fathers of the 12 tribes of His people. These tribes will chart the history of the nation of Israel until this day.

29:31-35 – God saw the Leah was unloved

• Like Gen. 1:4, 31; 3:6; 6:12 this phrase does not suggest God becoming aware, but He divine omniscience in that nothing escapes His attention.
• Notwithstanding Leah’s perception that she is unloved (perhaps by comparison), Jacob, despite not wanting to marry her in the first place, does spend enough time with her to have four children and for her to realize that she has “stopped” bearing children (29:25).
• The word “ra’ah” occurs in vs. 31 expressing that the Lord “saw” that Leah was unloved and also in the name, “Reuben.”
  • “Reuben” comes from the root of “ra’ah” (to see) and “ben” (“son”). The name means, “See, a son!”
  • Thus, God saw and Leah saw!
  • Leah appropriately credits the Lord for the blessing of a son
• God has looked upon (Hb. “shama;” “heard”) my affliction
  • The Hb. word, “onee” (“affliction”) is the same word used of Hagar in 16:11 when the angel of the Lord informed her that she was with child because the Lord “heard” her affliction.
    • Leah may well see her role as comparable to Hagar with Sarah.
  • The name, “Simeon” means, “heard.” So, as Reuben reminder Leah that the Lord had seen her affliction, Simeon reminder her that He had heard her requests for a son.
    • Leah still perceives that she is “unloved” by her husband and the first child did not resolve it.
  • The name, “Levi” sounds like the Hb. word for “become attached to” (“lavah”)
    • Thus, Levi is a prayer that her husband will “lavah” (become attached to) her.
  • The name, “Judah” means, “praise.” Finally, her name reflects her gratitude to the Lord and not her wished-upon affection from her husband.
  • Then, she stopped bearing
    • The text isn’t clear if her husband stopped giving his sexual attention to his wife in order to dedicate that attention to Rachel, or if, after trying, she was no longer becoming pregnant
    • The issue certainly isn’t that she was unable to bear more children (See 30:14-21).

30:1 – Rachel, in her desperation for children, blasphemously demands children of her husband.

• Note that “Rachel saw” is parallel with “the Lord saw” in 29:31.
  • Rachel’s response was envy and a desperate demand of her husband.
• The love of her husband was not enough (Cf. 1 Sam. 1:8 – though Hannah responded more appropriately than did Rachel) for Rachel. She saw her life’s value revolved around her ability to bear children.
• Perhaps she was demanding that Jacob stop having sexual relations to Leah, so that she might be able to have more opportunities to conceive.

30:2 – Jacob’s response to Rachel’s demand is anger. But, Jacob is aware that the Lord    had “withheld” children from her.

• The Hb. “mana” suggests the idea of “hindering” and not inability

30:3-8 – Rachel conceives of the plan to obtain children through a surrogate — her maid,    Bilhah.

• Again, Jacob willingly goes along.
• The name, “Dan” means, “judge.” Rachel perceives that God has weighed in and judged her case and given her a child
• The name, “Naphtali” means, “struggle.” Rachel believes that she is struggling with her sister.
  • The fact that she believes she has “prevailed” isn’t based on mathematics, as Leah still has four sons to her two. But, perhaps she believed that since she has the most recent sons, she is prevailing.

30:9-13 – Leah saw what Rachel did and decides to try a similar strategy and convinces Jacob to have children through her maid, Zilpah.

• Again, Jacob willingly goes along.
• Leah saw (Cf. 30:1)
• The name, “Gad” means, “fortune” and comes from her exclamation that she has had “good fortune.”
• The name, “Asher” means, “blessed,” or “happy.”
• The word “asher” occurs three times in this verse.
  • I am happy … they will call me happy … his name is happy.

30:14-24 – Leah’s oldest son Reuben, who must have been in his mid-teenage years becomes the occasion for the next round between Rachel and Leah

• See 31:14 – Jacob had been with Laban 20 years at this point. So, since 20:25 implies that as soon as Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob wanted to leave, Reuben would likely be in his mid to late teens
• Rachel, much like Esau (Gen. 25:30) sold something precious for a meal. Moreover, like, Esau, she would later regret the deal.
• Leah’s resentment towards her sister has not subsided and resists giving her sister the mandrakes
  • It is Rachel who came up with the transaction of the sexual attention of her husband for a meal.
    • Like Abraham trading on his wife’s sexual favors for security and money, Rachel trades the sexual favors of her husband for food.
    • Again, Jacob willingly goes along.
  • That mandrakes have sometimes been associated with an aphrodisiac and increase one’s ability to conceive may imply their superstition, but misses the point of the text.
    • Thus, 30:17 says, “God listened;” as 30:22 states, “God remembered.”
      • Leah and later Rachel did not conceive because of their consumption of mandrakes, but because of the favor of the Lord
    • God listened
      • The text reminds us that He is the source of life and that He listened to the request (implied in the text) of Leah for another son
        • Her previous inability to conceive children wasn’t resolved through her manipulation, but the Lord who listened to her request.
      • “You must come in to me”
        • Leah did not wait for Jacob to return; she went out to meet him
        • Her aggressiveness “you must” and language “I have hired you” suggest that she knows that this is a business transaction and not another attempt to gain her husband’s affection.
      • The name, “Issachar” means, “wages.” Leah views her fifth son is the result of her transaction.
      • The name, “Zebulun” is a play on the word, “gift” (Hb. “zebed”)
        • Like with 30:13 (Asher), the word “zebed” occurs three times in 30:20.
        • Leah exclaims, “God has gifted me … with a good gift … she called his name gift.”
      • Afterward, Leah gave birth to a daughter, Dinah.
        • Dinah, like the name “Dan” means, “judge.” Leah continues to feel vindicated by the Lord.
      • The fact that Leah bore Jacob three more children suggests that he continued to sleep with her as long as she continued to bear children.
        • It also adds weight to the view that Jacob did not stop sleeping with Leah after their fourth son together, the Lord no longer allowed her to conceive.
      • The Lord remembered Rachel is comparable to the Lord who saw Leah in 29:31.
        • This is not indicating that He had previously forgotten her.
        • The text emphasizes His grace – He remembered!
          • He “opened” supports the claim of Jacob in 30:2 that the Lord was the reason that Rachel could not bear children
        • The name, Joseph means “add.” Rachel named her son in hopes that the Lord would add another son to her.

5. Let the structure of the text drive the sermon

Exp. The passage reveals: God’s justice, God’s grace, God’s goodness, God’s patience, and God’s compassion

Exp. God’s forgiveness of my sin does not negate the consequences of it for my life or my family.

Exp. This text reveals an unloved wife with children and a barren beloved wife

Exp. Leah believed that she could make her husband love her by bearing him sons.

Exp. More significant in the text is the sovereign hand of the Lord. Rachel was not barren for physical reasons, she was prevented from conceiving by the Lord

Exp. This is another episode of barren women among the Patriarchs (See note on 11:30 above).

All my children:

Leah	Zilpah	Rachel	Bilhad
1. Reuben	7. Gad	11. Joseph	5. Dan
2. Simeon	8. Asher	12. Benjamin	6. Naphtali
3. Levi
4. Judah
9. Issachar
10. Zebulun

• God’s activity in my life is never “Plan B.”
  • While, on the surface, it may seem that the children of Jacob are the result of struggles, strategies, and negotiations, the text is consistently clear that they are a result of the Lord’s blessing.
  • Indeed, “children are a blessing from the Lord” (Ps. 127:3); with the emphasis of that verse being the last three words.
  • What seems missing in this pericope is Jacob and his wives (with the possible exception of (30:17) seeking the Lord instead of trying to manipulate Him.

• Significance in the family must never be perceived by what one can do for me
  Exp. Sadly, Laban has put his daughters in this position; for Leah to be unloved, and Rachel to complete with her. All so he could prove a point to Jacob.
  • Jacob is a pawn in this episode
  • Leah perceives her value in life is in her ability to bear children for her husband
    • Yet, despite bearing him 6 sons, she never “feels” loved by him.
  • Bilhah and Zilpah (who never speak in the text) serve as pawns in a larger game between two sisters.
  • Rachel knows she is loved by her husband, but negotiates the sexual favors of her husband for a meal of mandrakes.

 

• The Blessings on our Family are Gifts from the Lord
  Exp. The text calls on us to honor the Lord for His blessings on our family and to rely on Him in our needs.
  Exp. I need to seek God’s plan for my family
  Exp. Despite all the deception, competition, and manipulation – God is about to  do something with Jacob’s sons that no one could have imagined!

Application:

• God sees those who are broken-hearted
• I can turn to God in my need
• God loves the unloved
• What God gives is much better than what I can procure or manipulate on my own.
• The wisdom of God’s plan for marriage (one man and one woman for life) is seen in the strife, competition, and manipulation that has and will continue to plague this family