When Rachel realised she couldn’t give Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister, Leah, Genesis 30:1 / Genesis 29:31-35. She asks Jacob to give her children, or she will die, Genesis 30:1.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This is called Rachel’s rash prayer, for God indeed gave her children, and she died! Genesis 35:16-20.’
It seems as though Rachel is desperate to have children, and although she knew that Jacob couldn’t do anything to help her, he appears to know this was God’s department, Genesis 30:2. Jacob seems to at least empathise with her frustration.
Isaac prayed that God would open Rebekah’s womb and waited, Genesis 25:21. They both came to the conclusion that the only way she could have children was by doing what Abraham and Sarah did with Hagar, Genesis 16:1-2.
Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah so that she could have children, which Rachel could raise, Genesis 30:3. After Jacob had slept with Bilhah, Genesis 30:4, she became pregnant, Genesis 30:5, and she conceived children.
Dan was the first to be born, whose name means ‘he has vindicated’, Genesis 30:6 / Genesis 49:16-18, and then Naphtali was born, whose name means ‘my struggle’, Genesis 30:7-8 / Genesis 49:21.
It seems as though Leah now recognised that she couldn’t have any more children, so she gets some help from her servant named Zilpah, who was given to Jacob as his wife, Genesis 30:9 / Genesis 29:35.
Waltke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The terms wife and concubine are used more loosely in the patriarchal period. Three women in the patriarchal period are called both wife and concubine: Hagar, Genesis 16:3 / Genesis 25:6, indirectly. Keturah, Genesis 25:1 / Genesis 25:6 / 1 Chronicles 1:32, and Bilhah, Genesis 30:4 / Genesis 35:22. Each of these concubines is an auxiliary wife to the patriarch, not a slave, but subordinate to the wife who is her mistress. After the patriarchal period, the term wife is never used as a synonym for concubine. Zilpah, though never called a concubine, Genesis 30:9, has the same social position as Bilhah, Genesis 37:2.’
Jacob then sleeps with her, and Zilpah gives birth to a child and names him Gad, which means ‘good fortune’, Genesis 30:10-11 / Genesis 49:19, and then she has another child named Asher, whose name means ‘happy’, Genesis 30:12-13 / Genesis 49:20.
When we read these passages, it raises the question about why there is so much emphasis on having children. We must remember that having large families was important back then, as it was a sign that God was blessing you, and it also gave the impression of power.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This exceedingly important section of Genesis presents the Twelve Patriarchs, fathers of the Twelve Tribes, from whom Christ himself named his holy church, calling it ‘The Twelve Tribes of Israel’, Matthew 19:28. Along with the Twelve Apostles of the New Dispensation, these are also symbolically presented in Revelation as ‘The Four and Twenty Elders on Their Thrones before God’, Revelation 11:16.’
The reason Reuben went to find some mandrake plants was that, at that time, they believed that these would help with fertility, Genesis 30:14 / Song of Songs 7:13.
Harrison, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), called ‘The Love Apple,’ is a stemless perennial of the nightshade family, having emetic, purgative, and narcotic qualities. The forked, torso-like shape of the tap-root gave rise to many superstitions. Aphrodisiac properties were ascribed to it. The plant grew widely in Palestine.’
Rachel asks Leah for some of Reuben’s mandrakes, Genesis 30:15. Leah isn’t happy with this and asks, wasn’t it enough that she took away her husband? Will she take her son’s mandrakes too? Genesis 30:15. In other words, she’s telling Rachel, you can’t have your cake and eat it, as the saying goes.
Rachel agrees and tells Leah she can sleep with Jacob in exchange for Reuben’s mandrakes, Genesis 30:15. When Jacob returns, Leah meets him and tells him that he must sleep with her because she has hired Jacob with Reuben’s mandrakes, and so, Jacob goes ahead and sleeps with her, Genesis 30:16.
Sailhamer, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Just as Jacob had purchased the birthright for a pot of stew, Genesis 25:29-34, so also Leah purchased the right to more children by Jacob with the mandrakes of her son Reuben, Genesis 30:14-16.’
God listened to Leah, and although Rachel still couldn’t have children, Leah went on to have a fifth child, Genesis 30:17, and he was named Issachar, which means ‘reward’, Genesis 30:18 / Genesis 49:14-15.
Sometime later, she gave birth to her sixth child, Genesis 30:19, and named him Zebulun, which means ‘honour’, Genesis 30:20 / Genesis 49:13. Later still, she had another child whose name is Dinah, which means ‘judgment’, Genesis 30:21, this was Jacob’s only daughter.
Here we see that God blessed Rachel, and her frustration was over. God opened up her womb, Genesis 30:22, and she became pregnant and said, God has taken away my disgrace, Genesis 30:23.
She gave birth to a son, who was named Joseph, which means ‘he may add’, Genesis 30:24 / Genesis 49:22-26. This is Rachel’s first son and Jacob’s eleventh. This was all part of God’s plan, Isaiah 55:8-9.
Jacob knows it is time to go home, and he knows where he belongs, Genesis 30:25-26. There’s no doubt that Laban was a selfish man because he deceived Jacob into working for him for an extra seven years, Genesis 29:27. Here, he asks Jacob to stay with him only because he has been richly blessed by God because Jacob stayed with him all this time, Genesis 30:27.
Laban asks Jacob how much it will cost for him to stay and work for him, Genesis 30:28. In other words, he only wanted Jacob to stay because he thought Jacob was the reason he was being so blessed, Genesis 30:27.
Jacob tells Laban that he is fully aware that he has worked for him and his livestock have done really well under Jacob’s care, Genesis 30:29. He tells him that the little he had before Jacob came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed Laban wherever Jacob has been, Genesis 30:30.
It’s now Jacob’s turn to get something from Laban. He asks Laban when he can do something for his own family, Genesis 30:30. Laban asks Jacob what he would give him, and Jacob replies he doesn’t want anything; however, if he could do anything, it would be one thing: Jacob will continue to tend Laban’s flocks and watch over them, Genesis 30:31.
Jacob asks to go through Laban’s flock and remove every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-coloured lamb and every spotted or speckled goat, and they will be his wages, Genesis 30:32. Jacob tells Laban his honesty will testify for him in the future, whenever Laban checks the wages he has paid him, Genesis 30:33.
Any goat in Jacob’s possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-coloured, will be considered stolen, Genesis 30:33. Laban agrees to the terms and conditions, Genesis 30:34.
And so, Jacob took the offer so that he could get the best animals from Laban’s flocks. Jacob wanted to reject the speckled, spotted, not dark coloured, and the spotted and speckled goats because these animals were considered the inferior breed of the flocks.
He would use these dark coloured sheep and goats to develop his own flocks. The reason for doing this is simple enough: it would make it easier to spot which animals belonged to Laban and which animals belonged to Jacob.
Sadly, we see once again the kind of character Laban is: on the very day that the deal was made, he secretly removed from his flocks the coloured goats and sheep that Jacob had said he wanted, and gave them to his sons, Genesis 30:35.
If that wasn’t enough, he then moved away, putting a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks, Genesis 30:36.
While Laban was a three-day journey away, Jacob decided to do some deceiving of his own. He takes fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and makes white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches, Genesis 30:37.
He then places the peeled branches in watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink, Genesis 30:38. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, Genesis 30:39, they mated in front of the branches, and they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted, Genesis 30:40.
What Jacob was doing in the breeding process was restraining the breeding with the males that had irregular colouring. When the goats and sheep gave birth, he separated the irregular-coloured ones in order that they alone would be raised for breeding among themselves, Genesis 30:40.
There isn’t anything superstitious about what Jacob does here; this is God’s work. We know this is God’s work because later he tells his wives, This is God’s work, Genesis 31:10-12.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘God sovereignly overruled to bless Jacob as He had promised in spite of Laban’s deceit and Jacob’s deviousness, Job 5:13 / Psalms 7:15 / 1 Corinthians 3:19.’
He kept the spotted and speckled animals for himself and left the other animals for Laban, Genesis 30:41-42. As a result of this breeding process, Jacob’s livestock increased abundantly, as did his female and male servants, camels, and donkeys, Genesis 30:43.