Rachel envied her sister. Genesis 30:1-13 Rachel's impatience T. H. Leale. I. IT WAS UNGODLY. 1. She was the victim of unholy passions. Envy and jealousy. 2. She took a despairing view of life. 3. She failed rightly to recognize the true Author of all good things. II. IT LED TO THE ADOPTION OF WRONG EXPEDIENTS. Showing impatient haste of unbelief, and a want of confidence in God. III. IT HAD AN INFLUENCE FOR EVIL. 1. Upon her own character. Boasting (vers. 6, 8). 2. Upon her sister (ver. 9). ( T. H. Leale. ) Domestic irritations D. G. Watt, M. A. I. JACOB TOOK UPON HIMSELF DOMESTIC TROUBLES, II. IT REQUIRES SOMETHING ELSE THAN THE ATTAINMENT OF OUR WISHES TO BRING HAPPINESS. III. BLESSINGS DO NOT ALWAYS COME AS WE EXPECT. IV. HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. V. THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE GRADUALLY FULFILLED. VI. THE UNDESERVING ARE BLESSED BY GOD. VII. HAVE PATIENCE WITH IRRITATING ASSOCIATES. ( D. G. Watt, M. A. ) Envy The infatuated Caligula slew his brother because he was a beautiful young man. Mutius, a citizen of Rome, was noted to be of such an envious and malevolent disposition, that Publius, one day, observing him to be very sad, said: "Either some great evil has happened to Mutius, or some great good to another." "Dionysius the tyrant," says Plutarch, "out of envy, punished Philoxenius the musician, because he could sing, and Plato, the philosopher, because he could dispute, better than himself." Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis, because he could draw a stronger bow than himself or any of his party. With great wrestlings have I wrestled. Genesis 30:8 Great wrestlings W. M. Statham, M. A. Thus speaks Rachel; and this woman's experience, multiplied as it is a thousand-fold in hearts that never told their struggles, shows us that life is not so calm as it seems. Beneath many a placid stream there are deep and dangerous under-currents. Often a quiet face hides the deep things, which even the dearest intimacies cannot draw out, and which constitute the tragedies of the heart's history. It is well that we learn the need of wrestling; for life, especially Christian life, has flesh and blood to battle with. Paul says, "we wrestle"; and goodness, even at its best, is dearly bought and hardly won. I. THIS IS TRUE OF THOSE WHO ARE OUTWARDLY THE WEAKEST. Nothing betokens the warrior; there is no mailed breast, no gauntleted hand. The character seems like the face perhaps, to be common-place and dull. But what a world there is within the humblest forms that move to and fro amongst us! That plain face that we mark no loveliness in, is beautiful perhaps in the eyes of angels — that unillustrious life is associated with paths where some Goliath has been laid low, and where the Philistine host has been dispersed. II. THIS IS TO BE THE LOT OF OUR CHILDREN. Listen, and you may hear a sigh as of a distant storm, in the spring breeze of childhood's morning, which may break into a weird tempest over their heads before the evening comes. These children of ours cannot do without religion, without Christ — the Brother and the Saviour of men. Do these little ones look made for the endurance of hard wrestlings? Perhaps not. But these little hands will be stretched out in the dark night; these little feet will have to climb in loneliness the toilsome way, when you and I are gone. Who can wonder that we wish to see them before we die in the covert of the great rock? III. THIS IS THE ONLY PATH TO VICTORY. God sees that it is best. The oak that struggles with the tempest strikes deeper root in the soil; and the faith that has struggled with doubt is the firmest of beliefs. The love which has learnt human insincerity, learns to prize beyond all price the less demonstrative love of true natures. We gain conquest through hardship, defeat, and peril. We wrestle with great wrestlings over inborn tastes and desires, over habits that have steadily risen to dominance, over affections that are carnal and corrupt, and over enemies visible and invisible. For ease is death. When we cease to wrestle, the enemy binds us with fetters of iron. Conquer we may and can — through the faith that looks upward all through the wrestling years. To him that overcometh the glorious promise of victory is vouchsafed. But the struggle will be severe; we shall have not only ordinary sorrows, superficial anxieties, but great wrestlings; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. These wrestlings are not mere matters of mental energy; they are connected with moral pain. Dispositions natural to us have to be overcome; human nature, like a child, likes to be spoiled and petted — it can ill-endure rebuke and resistance I Consequently the battle is hard, and there is no plaudit of honour, no noise of conquest, no palm-wreath on the brow. IV. THIS IS THE ANCIENT WAY. It leads us back to Moses, to Abraham, and to Jacob who was left alone — "and there wrestled a man with him till the break of day" ( Genesis 32:24 ). And that we have a Divine nature is proven by man's spiritual wrestlings from the earliest dawn of history. And the rendering of this text, as you will see in the margin of your Bibles, leads us to think of God. "With great God-wrestlings have I wrestled." And this ancient way will be our way too. ( W. M. Statham, M. A. ) And God remembered Rachel. Genesis 30:22-24 God's favour towards Rachel T. H. Leale. I. IT WAS LONG DELAYER. Discipline. II. IT WAS GRANTED TO HER AFTER SOME SOLEMN LESSONS HAD BEEN LEARNED. 1. Dependence. 2. Patience. 3. Faith and hope. III. IT AWAKENED GRATITUDE. 1. Grateful recognition of God's dealings (ver 23). 2. Heartfelt acknowledgment of God (ver. 24). ( T. H. Leale. ) Send me away that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Genesis 30:25 The lights of home H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A. There is in Switzerland a hill known as the Heimweh Fluh, or Home-sick Mount. It is so called because it is usually the last spot visited by the traveller when leaving that part of the country at a time when his thoughts are turned homeward. It commands a glorious view of the whole valley of Interlaken, with its fields and pastures, its villages and lakes, with a back-ground of snow-capped mountains. It is a fair scene, but the heart of the traveller is not there. His thoughts are with his friends and loved ones at home. He looks upon the homesick mount, and seems to murmur with the patriarch Jacob, "Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country." There are many such homesick mounts, such landmarks, to remind us of home. The sailor on the slippery deck points to some dark towering cliff, and says, "We shall soon see the Lizard Light"; or, "Yonder is Beechy Head!" The traveller along the wintry road strains his eyes through the darkness to catch a glimpse of the lights of home. And we, if we have learnt to think of our life here as a pilgrimage, shall often stand, as it were, upon some Heimweh Fluh, some mount of home-sickness, and whilst we gaze on the beauties of this world; we shall feel, "This is not my home, I am a stranger and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." We shall press onward "through the night of doubt and sorrow," straining our eyes to catch sight of the lights of home. Let us, by God's grace, try to live and work for Him daily, and when death comes we can say, without fear, "Send me away, that I may go to mine own place, and to my country." The dying Baxter , who wrote "The Saints' Rest," said, "I am almost well, and nearly at home!" and another dying man exclaimed, "I am going home as fast as I can, and I bless God that I have a good home to go to." Yes, that thought of home is a blessed one, both for time and for eternity. During the American Civil War the two rival armies were encamped opposite each other on the banks of the Potomac River. When the federal bands played some national air of the union, the confederate musicians struck up a rival tune, each band trying to out-play and silence the other. Suddenly one of the bands played " Home, Sweet Home," and the contest ceased. The musicians of both armies played the same tune, voices from opposite sides of the river joined the chorus, "There's no place like home!" So we, the pilgrim band, are bound together by that one strong link — we are going to our own place and our own country, "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." When that brave soldier of Jesus Christ, Charles Kingsley, lay dying, he was heard to murmur, "No more fighting; no more fighting." No one knows the full meaning of those words except one who has fought the good fight, whose life has been one long battle with sin. Those words have no meaning for the coward who yielded himself a prisoner to the enemy, the drunkard who never fought against his besetting sin, the angry man who never wrestled with the demon of his temper. What know they of fighting? ( H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A. ) I have learned by experience. Genesis 30:27 Moral and religious lessons gained by experience W. M. Taylor, D. D. The words are Laban's, and, taken in their connection, they intimate that even an utterly wordly man, such as he was, may be forced to acknowledge the moral providence of God, whereby He takes especial and peculiar care of His servants. Look at the moral and religious lessons which a thoughtful man may learn by experience. I. We learn by experience MUCH THAT IS WHOLESOME ABOUT OURSELVES. By the blunders we have made, the falls we have suffered, the injuries we have sustained, the sins we have committed, and the wrongs we have inflicted on others, God has enlightened us in the knowledge of ourselves, and made us feel that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. II. Experience has taught us MUCH REGARDING THE WORLD AND ITS PLEASURES, POSSESSIONS, AND ENJOYMENTS. Even in the case of the Christian, there is much to wean him from the world as the years roll on. As he grows older the world becomes less and less to him, and Christ becomes more and more. He learns to delight in God, and his growth in holiness becomes the ambition of his life. III. The experience of the lapse of years teaches US MORE AND MORE OF GOD AS THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. We have increasing proofs of God's wisdom and God's faithfulness. Whoever has been false to us, He has remained true. This testimony of experience thus grows with our growth and strengthens with our strength. It is a fortress which is utterly impregnable. ( W. M. Taylor, D. D. ) Experience A. K. H. Boyd, D. D. Find men where you may, they all agree in owning that they owe much to the same Instructor: they all agree in owning that they have grown wiser for the teaching of that unflattering Preceptor, who knows no royal road to truth, and in whose stern school you must stumble once, that you may learn to avoid falling again. And truly here is the best way to learn — the way that sinks the deepest, and is remembered the best. And if it be true, as the proverbial saying would have it, that experience teaches the foolish, surely it is true no less that experience makes the wise. And as experience is the teacher that instructs all men. and instructs them unthanked and unasked, so there are many things which no other can teach us: many lessons we never learn, and many matters we never rightly understand, till we have "learned by experience." We shall never know, for example, what our hearts can feel and bear, by the descriptions of other people; no account can make us understand what great sorrow is, or great anxiety, or buoyant gladness, or hearty gratitude, or fixed determination; we must feel in ourselves the quickened pulse of hopefulness, the laden heart of care, the blankness of disappointment and failure; or we shall never know what they mean. Even Jesus Christ, our Maker, gained that consummate sympathy with us which it became our Saviour to have, through actual experience. But there is one class of subjects one great subject which above all others we must know by experience, or we shall not know at all. My brethren, this is a thing that is hard upon mere human reason; this matter of the real power and efficacy of prayer. If there be any truth in what we believe of the power of prayer, it is the mightiest agent — save God Himself — in all the universe: it is stronger than the hurricane that wrecks a navy: stronger than the great ocean to which man's mightiest works are as a plaything. Christian brethren, let us frankly confess what a weak state, what an insecure position we should be in, if we were taking all this on hearsay. Why, it looks such a truly monstrous deal to believe, that positively for your credit as a reasonable man, you would be half ashamed to say you fancied all this. Never concern yourself to unravel the threads the sceptic has twisted; never set yourself to answer by argument the objections he has raised. It can be done, but there is a far better way. Tell him that your Bible bids you pray, and assures you that prayer shall prevail; but tell him more — and God be thanked if you can say so much — tell him that you have put the matter to the proof! — that you were not content to take the thing on the word of others; that you fairly tried, and that you "learned by experience" that prayer is heard and answered! Another thing that we may learn by rote, but that we never shall really believe till we learn it by experience, is the insufficiency of this world to satisfy the soul; the great truth, that "This is not our rest." For experience alone is enough to bring men to the strong belief, that all worldly things, even when possessed in their intensest degree, leave an aching void within the soul — many a stated man of pleasure, many a successful man of ambition, has told us as much as that — but it needs God's Holy Spirit to touch the soul, before it can take the next step — before it can draw the final conclusion — that the right things for the soul to love and seek are beyond the grave, and that the heart's true home and abiding treasure are there. But we shall give the remainder of our time to looking at one great fact which is best learned by experience — I mean the preciousness, the all-sufficiency, the love and grace, of our blessed Saviour. You remember it is written, "Unto you which believe He is precious." Now that seems to mean, that to those who believe, He is more precious than He is to other people; that, in a peculiarly strong sense, His preciousness is a thing that must be learned by experience. So it is. And it is easy to see how it must be. For the value of a thing is understood fully only by those who know how much they want it. And if a man feels that he does not want a thing — that he can do perfectly well without it — why, he will esteem it as of very little value indeed. Now a perfectly worldly and unconverted man feels he needs food, he cannot do without that; and so of course he sets a value on it. He feels he needs a home to dwell in — he cannot do without that; and so of course he sets a value on it. He feels he needs friends — that life would be a poor, heartless thing without them; and so he sets a value on them. But the quite worldly and unconverted man, who brings everything to a quite worldly estimate, does not feel he needs Christ; he never feels any want of Him; he thinks he can do quite well without Him; and of course he sets no value on Him; of course the Saviour is not precious to that man — how can He be? But, brethren, look to the man who has been convinced of his sin and misery by the Spirit of God; and that only our Redeemer can save us from that dismal estate, and see what he thinks of Christ! Yes, that convicted sinner has found his need of the Saviour. He has learnt that food and raiment, and all things men work hardest for and value most, are not the one thing needful — are worth nothing when compared with a saving interest in the blessed Lamb of God. He has "learned by experience I " He has felt a want, felt that the Saviour alone could supply that want; and he knows what Christ is worth, by what Christ has done! ( A. K. H. Boyd, D. D. ) Experience J. Parker, D. D. 1. The true teacher. 2. The universal monitor. 3. The indisputable evidence. 4. Experience of sin, pardon, peace. 5. Character thus becomes argument. 6. Let sin be subjected to this test. 7. The Christian triumphant here. 8. Many can answer by experience who cannot answer by controversy. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Learning by experience Homilist. The world is a school, and the period of our remaining here is the school-time of our existence. The school is a severe one, the discipline is hard, and the process is often tedious. God is the teacher, and He has many assistants, which in various ways and manners are used to bring the soul to saving knowledge of the truth. Now, there is no method so potent for impressing facts on the mind as actual practice. Theory is an ideality which amid the whirl of time and business is soon dissipated. It is only when we ourselves apprehend, through actual touching and handling, that we get a positive and practical knowledge of anything. The most learned engineer who ever lived would feel at a terrible loss if put to drive an express locomotive or to superintend the engines of a vast steamship, if he had never seen one before, although he might have read and written on the subjects all his life. The most skilful theoretical architect would shrink from the ordeal of practical building. I. We learn by experience THE FLIGHT OF TIME. The child is scarcely conscious that time moves at all. It is to him a calm, placid, unruffled lake. But the illusion is gradually dispelled. Youth deepens into maturity, maturity glides into incipient decay, and the soul is startled to find how rapidly life is passing. Then it begins to fly by like a rushing river torrent. II. We learn by experience THE FRAILTY OF HUMAN NATURE. The curse of decay comes as a revelation. Death of a playmate or relation startles the little soul and awakens an unknown terror. Then with the flight of time comes the realization of weakness within ourselves. III. We have learned by experience the DISAPPOINTMENTS OF EARTH. How has the sanguine heart grown broken and seared! The rosy vision has minished into darkness. Disappointments! IV. We have learnt by experience THE VANITY OF TRUSTING TO SELF. Self-sufficiency is man's heritage and Satan's mightiest weapon. The best contrived scheme brought to nought, the wisest forethought nullified, the labours of a lifetime lost, have shown us how vain is man. V. We have learned by experience THE UNENDING LOVE, COMPASSION, AND GOODNESS OF GOD. ( Homilist. ) Experience Seeds and Saplings. I. SOME OF THE LESSONS LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE. 1. The unsatisfying nature of all earthly objects. 2. The preciousness of Christ. 3. The efficacy of prayer. 4. The benefit of affliction. 5. The sustaining power of God's grace. II. THE REASONS WHY GOD TEACHES US BY EXPERIENCE. 1. Because we will not learn our duty without it. 2. Because the lessons thus acquired are the most valuable and permanent. 3. Because we are then more useful to our fellow-men. ( Seeds and Saplings. ) Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. Genesis 30:28-43 Jacob's new contract of service T. H. Leale. I. IT WAS ENTERED UPON IN OPPOSITION TO HIS BETTER FEELINGS AND CONVICTIONS. II. IT WAS MARKED BY WORLDLY PRUDENCE. 1. The prudence which calculates. 2. The prudence which takes advantage of superior knowledge. ( T. H. Leale. ) Lawful diligence blessed Fuller. A Divine benediction is always invisibly breathed on painful and lawful diligence. Thus the servant employed in making and blowing of the fire, though sent away thence as soon as it burneth clear, ofttimes getteth by his pains a more kindly and continuing heat than the master himself who sitteth down by the same; and thus persons industriously occupying themselves thrive better on a little of their own honest getting than lazy heirs on the large revenues left unto them. ( Fuller. ) Advised diligence Franklin. What though you have found no treasure, nor has any friend left you a rich legacy! Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Then plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell or to keep. Work while it is called to-day, for you know not how much you may be hindered to-morrow. One to-day is worth two to-morrows, as poor Richard says; and further, never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day. ( Franklin. ) Holiness Jeremy Taylor. God has given us precepts of such a holiness and such a purity, such a meekness and such humility, as hath no pattern but Christ, no precedent but the purities of God; and, therefore, it is intended we should live with a life whose actions are not chequered with white and black, half sin and half virtue. God's sheep are not like Jacob's flock, "streaked and spotted," it is an entire holiness that God requires, and will not endure to have a holy course interrupted by the dishonour of a base and ignoble action. I do not mean that a man's life can be as pure as the sun, or the rays of celestial Jerusalem; but like the moon, in which there are spots, but they are no deformity; a lessening only and an abatement of light, no cloud to hinder and draw a veil before its face, but sometimes it is not so severe and bright as at other times. Every man hath his indiscretions and infirmities, but no good man ever commits one act of adultery; no godly man will at any time be drunk; or if he be he ceases to be a godly man, and is run into the confines of death, and is sick at heart, and may die of the sickness — die eternally. ( Jeremy Taylor. ).

Benson Commentary Genesis 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. Genesis 30:1 . Rachel envied her sister — The Hebrew women considered barrenness as one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall them, not only from a natural desire of children, but from their eager wishes to be the means of fulfilling the promise to Abraham, and bringing forth that seed in which all the families of the earth were to be blessed. But Rachel does not seem to have been chiefly actuated by this motive in desiring children, but by envy of her sister; hence she says, Give me children — A child would not content her; but because Leah has more than one, she must have more too. And her heart is set upon it: she repines, and grows impatient with her husband; else I die — That is, I shall fret myself to death; the want of this satisfaction will shorten my days. Observe the difference between Rachel’s asking for this mercy, and Hannah’s, 1 Samuel 1:10 , &c. Rachel envied, Hannah wept: Rachel must have children, and she died of the second; Hannah prayed for this child, and she had four more: Rachel is importunate and peremptory, Hannah is submissive and devout; If thou wilt give me a child, I will give him to the Lord. Let Hannah be imitated, and not Rachel; and let our desires be always under the conduct and check of reason and religion. Genesis 30:2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Genesis 30:2 . And Jacob’s anger was kindled — He was angry at the sin, and showed his displeasure, by a grave and pious reply: Am I in God’s stead? — Can I give thee that which God denies thee? He acknowledges the hand of God in the affliction: He hath withheld the fruit of the womb. Whatever we want, it is God that withholds it, as sovereign Lord, most wise, holy, and just, who may do what he will with his own, and is debtor to no man; who never did, nor ever can do any wrong to any of his creatures. The key of the clouds, of the heart, of the grave, and of the womb, are four keys which God has in his hand, and which (the rabbins say) he trusts neither with angel nor seraph. He also acknowledges his own inability to alter what God appointed; am I in God’s stead? There is no creature that is, or can be, to us, in God’s stead. God may be to us instead of any creature, as the sun instead of the moon and stars; but the moon and all the stars will not be to us instead of the sun. No creature’s wisdom, power, and love, will be to us instead of God’s. It is therefore our sin and folly to place that confidence in any creature which is to be placed in God only. Genesis 30:3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. Genesis 30:3 . Behold my maid Bilhah — She will rather have children by reputation than none at all; children that she can call her own, though they be not so. But had she not considered her sister as her rival, and envied her, she would have thought Leah’s children nearer to her, and more entitled to her care than Bilhah’s could be. As an early instance of her dominion over the children born in her apartment, she takes a pleasure in giving them names that carry in them nothing but marks of emulation with her sister. As if she had overcome her, 1st, At law, she calls the first son of her handmaid Dan, judgment; saying, God hath judged me — That is, given sentence in my favour. 2d, In battle, she calls the next Naphtali, wrestlings, saying, I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed — See what roots of bitterness envy and strife are, and what mischief they make among relations! Genesis 30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. Genesis 30:5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. Genesis 30:6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. Genesis 30:7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. Genesis 30:8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. Genesis 30:9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. Genesis 30:9 . Rachel had absurdly and preposterously put her maid into her husband’s bed; and now Leah, because she missed one year in bearing children, doth the same, to be even with her. See the power of rivalship, and admire the wisdom of the divine appointment, which joins together one man and one woman only. Two sons Zilpah bare to Jacob, whom Leah looked upon herself as entitled to, in token of which, she called one Gad, promising herself a little troop of children. The other she called Asher, happy, thinking herself happy in him, and promising herself that her neighbours would think so too. Genesis 30:10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. Genesis 30:11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. Genesis 30:12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. Genesis 30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher. Genesis 30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. Genesis 30:14 . Found mandrakes — The word ?????? , thus rendered, is only found here and Song of Solomon 7:13 ; and it is not agreed among interpreters whether it signifies a fruit or a flower. It is thought, however, by many, that mandrake-apples are here meant, which, according to Pliny, are of the size of filberts. They were pleasant to the smell, ( Song of Solomon 7:13 ,) and probably also desirable for food. Whatever they were, Rachel could not see them in Leah’s hands, but she must covet them. Genesis 30:15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes. Genesis 30:16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. Genesis 30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. Genesis 30:17 . God hearkened unto Leah — And she was now blessed with two sons, the first of whom she called Issachar, hire, reckoning herself well repaid for her mandrakes; nay, (which was a strange construction of the providence,) rewarded for giving her maid to her husband. The other she called Zebulun, dwelling, owning God’s bounty to her, God has endowed me. Jacob had not endowed her when he married her; but she reckons a family of children a good dowry. Genesis 30:18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. Genesis 30:19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. Genesis 30:20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. Genesis 30:21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. Genesis 30:21 . Mention is made of Dinah, because of the following story concerning her, chap. 34. Perhaps Jacob had other daughters, though not registered. Genesis 30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. Genesis 30:22 . God remembered Rachel — Whom he seemed to have forgotten, and hearkened to her, whose prayers had been long denied, and then she bare a son. Rachel called her son Joseph, which, in Hebrew, is akin to two words of a contrary signification: Asaph, abstulit, he has taken away my reproach; as if the greatest mercy she had in this son were, that she had saved her credit: and Joseph, addidit; the Lord shall add to me another son: which may be looked upon as the language of her faith: she takes this mercy as an earnest of further mercy: hath God given me this grace? I may call it Joseph, and say, he shall add more grace. Genesis 30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: Genesis 30:24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. Genesis 30:25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Genesis 30:26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. Genesis 30:27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. Genesis 30:27 . I have learned by experience — The best way of learning. And it would be well if we always remembered and adhered to what we have thus learned. But, alas! we are too apt to forget or neglect it. Genesis 30:28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it . Genesis 30:29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. Genesis 30:30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came , and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? Genesis 30:31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: Genesis 30:32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. Genesis 30:32 . Removing all the speckled and spotted — He does not mean, that those cattle which were already speckled and spotted, &c., should be given him; for that does not agree with what went before: Thou shalt not give me any thing, that is, I will take nothing that is now thine. Besides, it would have been no wonder if those that were spotted already should bring forth others like themselves. But the sense is, that he would separate all the spotted sheep and goats, and then, out of those which were of one colour, would have all that should fall hereafter of the before-mentioned variety. Jacob desired to make a clear bargain, about which they might have no disputes. Had they agreed for a particular number of cattle every year, there might have been room for cavil and suspicions; for if any of the flock had by accident been lost, they might have differed whether Jacob’s or Laban’s were the lost cattle. But, to prevent all possible disputes, “Let me,” says Jacob, “have all the speckled and spotted cattle, and then, whenever you have a mind to look into my stock, my integrity will come before your face,” or be conspicuous, which is the meaning of the next verse. Genesis 30:33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. Genesis 30:34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. Genesis 30:34 . Laban was willing to consent to this bargain, because he thought, that if those few he had that were now speckled and spotted were separated from the rest, the body of the flock, which Jacob was to tend, being of one colour, either all black or all white, would produce few or none of mixed colours, and so he should have Jacob’s service for nothing, or next to nothing. Genesis 30:35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. Genesis 30:35-36 . He gave them into the hands of his sons — To be fed apart by themselves, lest Jacob should get any of them to mix with those of one colour. He set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob — Such journeys as flocks are able to make, that they might not so much as see one another. Between this and the 37th verse, the Samaritan copy inserts a paragraph about the angel’s appearing to Jacob in a dream, which is not found in any other version; but is related by Jacob himself in the following chapter, Genesis 30:11 , as a thing which had happened to him, and which justifies the policy which the subsequent verses represent him as using. Genesis 30:36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. Genesis 30:37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. Genesis 30:37-38 . And pilled white streaks in them — Pilled off the bark from the rods, at certain distances, till the white appeared between the bark. He set the rods in the gutters — Or channels of water, at the time when the cattle were wont to couple, that their fancies might be painted with such divers colours as they saw in the rods. As it appears from Genesis 31:10 , that God, to reward Jacob’s fidelity, and punish Laban’s injustice, determined that the cattle should generally be speckled and spotted; so it is probable he directed him to take this method to attain that end; not as though it were sufficient of itself to produce such an effect, which any person that will make the trial will find it is not; but as a means which God would bless in order to it, and which Jacob was required to use in testimony of his dependance on God, as Naaman was required to wash in the river Jordan, in order to his being cured of his leprosy. Much being said by authors concerning the surprising effects which impressions made upon the imaginations of pregnant animals will have upon the form, shape, and colour of the young, Dr. Shuckford observes, “1st, That it cannot be proved that the method which Jacob used is a natural and effectual way to produce variegated cattle; the ancient naturalists having carried their thoughts upon these subjects much further than they will bear; that the effect of impressions upon the imagination must be very accidental, because the objects that should cause them may or may not be taken notice of. But, 2d, Granting that they might naturally produce the effect here mentioned; yet if, as is probable, Jacob used the rods in obedience to a special divine direction, without knowing any thing of their natural virtue, the effect must still be ascribed immediately to God himself; just as in the case of Hezekiah, though the figs which were applied for his recovery might be a natural remedy for his distemper; yet, since the application of them was not made by any rules of physic then known, but by a divine direction, the cure is justly ascribed to the immediate hand of God.” Genesis 30:38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. Genesis 30:39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. Genesis 30:40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. Genesis 30:40 . Jacob set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked — Having used the pilled rods by divine direction, and seeing the effects they produced, he here employs his own natural sagacity, and turns the faces of Laban’s flocks toward the ring-streaked and the brown, that by looking frequently on them, they might be disposed in their conception to bring forth the like. And he put his own flocks apart, lest, by looking at Laban’s, their young might fall off from being ring-streaked and brown. Genesis 30:41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. Genesis 30:42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. Genesis 30:43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses. Genesis 30:43 . The man increased exceedingly — Upon the whole of what is said here, and in the following chapter, we may conclude that Jacob’s behaviour in this affair was generous, fair, and candid; that he chose the ring-streaked cattle with a view to prevent disputes, trusting that God would so order it, agreeably to his petition at Beth-el, that he should have enough, being determined to be content with what God’s providence should give him; and that, when he made use of the rods, it was an act of faith, and in obedience to God’s command. We have the more reason to think this, because we find nothing but good arose to Jacob from it; whereas, we may remark, that though the Scripture often mentions the misconduct of good men, yet it always takes care to inform us, that evil arose to them in consequence of such actions. We may observe also God’s faithfulness; he had promised Jacob at Beth-el to be with him in all places whither he should go; and we find him accordingly blessing Laban because he was with him: so that, though Laban had but little when Jacob came to him, it was, under him, increased to a multitude. We ought likewise to take notice that, though Jacob, from what he says to Laban in the following chapter, appears to have been a most industrious, faithful servant, yet he attributes all the increase of the flock to the blessing of God, and not to his own care. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Genesis 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.