26 Give H5414 me my wives H802 and my children, H3206 for H2004 whom I have served H5647 thee, and let me go: H3212 for thou knowest H3045 my service H5656 which I have done H5647 thee.
And he went in H935 also unto Rachel, H7354 and he loved H157 also Rachel H7354 more than Leah, H3812 and served H5647 with him yet seven H7651 other H312 years. H8141
And Jacob H3290 fled H1272 into the country H7704 of Syria, H758 and Israel H3478 served H5647 for a wife, H802 and for a wife H802 he kept H8104 sheep.
And Laban H3837 said, H559 It is better H2896 that I give H5414 her to thee, than that I should give H5414 her to another H312 man: H376 abide H3427 with me. And Jacob H3290 served H5647 seven H7651 years H8141 for Rachel; H7354 and they seemed H5869 unto him but a few H259 days, H3117 for the love he had H160 to her.
And he said H559 unto him, Thou knowest H3045 how H834 I have served H5647 thee, and how H834 thy cattle H4735 was with me. For it was little H4592 which thou hadst before I H6440 came, and it is now increased H6555 unto a multitude; H7230 and the LORD H3068 hath blessed H1288 thee since my coming: H7272 and now when H4970 shall I provide H6213 for mine own house H1004 also?
And Jacob H3290 answered H6030 and said H559 to Laban, H3837 Because I was afraid: H3372 for I said, H559 Peradventure H6435 thou wouldest take by force H1497 thy daughters H1323 from me.
This twenty H6242 years H8141 have I been with thee; thy ewes H7353 and thy she goats H5795 have not cast their young, H7921 and the rams H352 of thy flock H6629 have I not eaten. H398 That which was torn H2966 of beasts I brought H935 not unto thee; I bare the loss H2398 of it; of my hand H3027 didst thou require H1245 it, whether stolen H1589 by day, H3117 or stolen H1589 by night. H3915 Thus I was; in the day H3117 the drought H2721 consumed H398 me, and the frost H7140 by night; H3915 and my sleep H8142 departed H5074 from mine eyes. H5869 Thus have I been twenty H6242 years H8141 in thy house; H1004 I served thee H5647 fourteen H702 H6240 years H8141 for thy two H8147 daughters, H1323 and six H8337 years H8141 for thy cattle: H6629 and thou hast changed H2498 my wages H4909 ten H6235 times. H4489
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 30
Commentary on Genesis 30 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 30
Ge 30:1-24. Domestic Jealousies.
1. Rachel envied her sister—The maternal relation confers a high degree of honor in the East, and the want of that status is felt as a stigma and deplored as a grievous calamity.
Give me children, or else I die—either be reckoned as good as dead, or pine away from vexation. The intense anxiety of Hebrew women for children arose from the hope of giving birth to the promised seed. Rachel's conduct was sinful and contrasts unfavorably with that of Rebekah (compare Ge 25:22) and of Hannah (1Sa 1:11).
3-9. Bilhah … Zilpah—Following the example of Sarah with regard to Hagar, an example which is not seldom imitated still, she adopted the children of her maid. Leah took the same course. A bitter and intense rivalry existed between them, all the more from their close relationship as sisters; and although they occupied separate apartments, with their families, as is the uniform custom where a plurality of wives obtains, and the husband and father spends a day with each in regular succession, that did not allay their mutual jealousies. The evil lies in the system, which being a violation of God's original ordinance, cannot yield happiness.
20. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry—The birth of a son is hailed with demonstrations of joy, and the possession of several sons confers upon the mother an honor and respectability proportioned to their number. The husband attaches a similar importance to the possession, and it forms a bond of union which renders it impossible for him ever to forsake or to be cold to a wife who has borne him sons. This explains the happy anticipations Leah founded on the possession of her six sons.
21. afterwards, she bare a daughter—The inferior value set on a daughter is displayed in the bare announcement of the birth.
Ge 30:25-43. Jacob's Covenant with Laban.
25. when Rachel had born Joseph—Shortly after the birth of this son, Jacob's term of servitude expired, and feeling anxious to establish an independence for his family, he probably, from knowing that Esau was out of the way, announced his intention of returning to Canaan (Heb 13:14). In this resolution the faith of Jacob was remarkable, for as yet he had nothing to rely on but the promise of God (compare Ge 28:15).
27. Laban said … I have learned—His selfish uncle was averse to a separation, not from warmth of affection either for Jacob or his daughters, but from the damage his own interests would sustain. He had found, from long observation, that the blessing of heaven rested on Jacob, and that his stock had wonderfully increased under Jacob's management. This was a remarkable testimony that good men are blessings to the places where they reside. Men of the world are often blessed with temporal benefits on account of their pious relatives, though they have not always, like Laban, the wisdom to discern, or the grace to acknowledge it.
28. appoint me thy wages, and I will give it—The Eastern shepherds receive for their hire not money, but a certain amount of the increase or produce of the flock; but Laban would at the time have done anything to secure the continued services of his nephew, and make a show of liberality, which Jacob well knew was constrained.
31. Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing—A new agreement was made, the substance of which was, that he was to receive remuneration in the usual way, but on certain conditions which Jacob specified.
32. I will pass through all thy flock to-day—Eastern sheep being generally white, the goats black, and spotted or speckled ones comparatively few and rare, Jacob proposed to remove all existing ones of that description from the flock, and to be content with what might appear at the next lambing time. The proposal seemed so much in favor of Laban, that he at once agreed to it. But Jacob has been accused of taking advantage of his uncle, and though it is difficult to exculpate him from practising some degree of dissimulation, he was only availing himself of the results of his great skill and experience in the breeding of cattle. But it is evident from the next chapter (Ge 31:5-13) that there was something miraculous and that the means he had employed had been suggested by a divine intimation.
37. Jacob took rods, &c.—There are many varieties of the hazel, some of which are more erect than the common hazel, and it was probably one of these varieties Jacob employed. The styles are of a bright red color, when peeled; and along with them he took wands of other shrubs, which, when stripped of the bark, had white streaks. These, kept constantly before the eyes of the female at the time of gestation, his observation had taught him would have an influence, through the imagination, on the future offspring.
38. watering troughs—usually a long stone block hollowed out, from which several sheep could drink at once, but sometimes so small as to admit of only one drinking at a time.