Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible
Chapter 29 reached a new low of depravity. Let's see if we can go any lower today.
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.
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?
Poor Rachel; all she wants is some children. I guess since we know Jacob has children with his other wife Leah, that the problem is with Rachel. What will she do?
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.
Just like her mohter-in-law / grand-aunt, Sarah!
30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
Bom-chicka-bow-wow. Lots of porn in this here Genesis. I guess by the standards of the time, this is quite explicit, with all the going in unto hers.
This is Jacob's third wife.
30:5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
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.
30:7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
30:8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
30:9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
Wife #4! Honestly, I never knew that Genesis was such a hotbed of polygamist action.
30:10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son.
30:11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
30:12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.
30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
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.
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.
Confusing pronoun usage here, to know who is speaking to whom. But basically, Leah's son Reuben has found some mandrake plants, and Rachel asked Leah for some of them. Leah says, "you've taken my husband, now you want my mandrakes too?" To which Rachel replies, "if you let me have some of these mandrakes, then I'll let you sleep with Jacob."
First of all, these are just plants, right? Couldn't Rachel (or one of Bilhah's sons) just go find or grow their own? Why is this a point of contention? Secondly, why does Leah need Rachel's permission to sleep with her own husband? And third, why does Leah think that Rachel stole her husband? If anything, it's the other way around.
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.
I've paid for you with mandrakes, now I want you to come in unto me, baby. Bom-chicka-bow-wow.
30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
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.
30:19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.
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.
30:21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
30:24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.
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.
Okay, that's it for the children in this chapter. I wonder, when God says "be fruitful and multiply," if this (incest and polygamy) is what he has in mind?
We so seldom hear about daughters, it makes me think that Dinah is referenced here because she's going to be married off to some other member of the family pretty soon. My guess would be Rachel's son Joseph (who cares that they're half-siblings; this just makes it more likely).
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.
Once his marriage to Laban's daughters was official (consummated, whatever), why would Jacob need to get Laban's permission to do anything?
30:27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
I'm getting rich off of you, please don't go! It's not because he liked Jacob, or would miss his daughters; it's because he sees how he is benefited personally by Jacob's skills as a rancher.
30:28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
30:29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
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?
Sounds like, in addition to the tithing that he promised God, Laban has garnished Jacob's wages.
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.
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.
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.
30:34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
30:35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ring-streaked 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.
30:36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
30:37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
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.
30:39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted.
Wow, what an amazing ignorance of genetics and biology being described here. Sounds more like "wives tale" kind of thinking (with apologies to wives everywhere): if you conceive before white-speckled rods, you will bear white-speckled offspring. Really? I can forgive Jacob not knowing any better, as it wasn't until the work of people like Gregor Mendel (who published Experiments on Plant Hybridization around 1865) that we really started to understand genetics as it pertains to heredity. But you'd think that God would know how heredity works, wouldn't you? It also demonstrates that the Bible was written by, you know, ignorant humans, that they would refer to such nonsense as this as if it were true.
In reading the commentary, the fact that Jamieson accepts this view (his theology requires his credulity) means that it's not just ancient authors/readers who were so ignorant. This is part of the danger of religion in society today, that otherwise intelligent people can be made to believe impossibilities on the basis of religious faith. Oh sure, this particular example is pretty harmless and silly, but any parent who withholds medical treatments, or a person who kills a doctor for performing abortions, or who attacks a gay person, and so on and on, is an extension of this problem.
30:40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, 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.
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.
30:42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
30:43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.
I suppose the implication is that he sold much of the cattle that he produced, increasing his wealth and ability to purchase slaves, camels and donkeys.
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