THROUGH THE BIBLE COMMENTARY

This program of daily devotions is designed to take you through the Bible in three years. It is our desire to help you gain a better general understanding of God's Word.

Please understand that in a study this brief, we will be concerned with only the major emphases and context of the Scriptures.

Each day a devotion for one or two chapters is posted, beginning with chapter one of Genesis and going through chapter twenty-two of Revelation. You are free to print each page as it appears.

Bruce McGee,Pastor
205 Adams
Columbia, LA 71418

GENESIS
CHAPTER 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. 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? 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. 4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.

Bigamy and polygamy breeds hatred among family members. Here we see
family members envying one another, slighting one another. Rachel
complicates the matter further by giving her handmaid to Jacob as
another wife!

5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. 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. 7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare 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.

From this new marriage comes two more sons: Dan and Naphtali. Notice
now that Jacob the "trickster" and manipulator is being
manipulated.

9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. 10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. 12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Leah now further complicates this family by offering her handmaid to
Jacob as a wife! Through this marriage comes two more sons
Gad and Asher.

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. 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. 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.

Notice how the envy, jealousy and manipulation leads to prostitution. Rachel
actually SOLD her bedright for some drugs (mandrakes). Mandrakes are
from the potato family and have a narcotic which excites the nervous system.
In other words, this drug acts as an aphrodisiac. What IRONY!! She
sells the bedright for an aphrodisicac!

17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 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. 19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 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. 21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

Well, the sale of the bedright worked out to Rachel's detriment. Leah has THREE
more children (2 of which are sons): Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.

22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

FINALLY Rachel has a son, Joseph. And she is promised another son.
Friends, children are a gift from God.
"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD; and
the fruit of the womb is His reward."
(Ps. 127:3)
Manipupation of natural events is biologically and chemically possible today. But
GOD is still the One Who orders the possibility of children!!
Now Jacob has twelve children; eleven sons and a daughter.

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. 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.

Notice that at about the same time as all these children are born,
Jacob's second seven years are completed. Now he wants to leave
and go back home.

29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. 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? 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. 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.

Jacob outlines a labor agreement for seven more years.
This time the wages will not be wives, but sheep.
Jacob is kind, and agrees to take only the "uglies" of the
flock for his wages.

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. 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. 39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 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. 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. 42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. 43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Is this some of the "old man" creeping back into the "born-again" believer?
Is Jacob using his old "trickery" again?
NO! Not really. Notice how Jacob used his knowledge as a shepherd.
Laban's focus was upon material things and self-importance. Jacob's
focus was upon honest plying of his trade, and the best use of the
knowledge God had given him.
Isaiah 28:26 says, "...God doth instruct him to discretion, and
doth teach him.
" And that verse, in context, is speaking of
utilizing the knowledge and ability God gives us.
You will also note that in Gen. 31:12, Jacob reveals that his
insight into this situation came from God.

Jacob used colored stakes to cause the weaker animals to breed
while looking upon color. Now I don't know much about sheep, or
about breeding animals. But I know that God blessed this instance.
Jacob simply practiced "Strong Breeding" among his flock, but didn't
with Laban's.
He paid particular attention to his own flock. That doesn't
mean that he didn't properly care for Laban's flock.

God was IN this plan. If God had not helped Jacob to
develop this plan, he would've been reduced to nothing. For the
Bible tells us in the next chapter that during this 3rd seven years
Laban changed Jacob's wages TEN times!! (Gen. 31:7)

Friends, we need to look for what GOD would tell us to do
in our employment. NEVER be dishonest. Just look for
God's leadership and Divine protection.

Please continue to follow along with us in Bible study.