Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: Genesis 30

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Chapter 30

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.

when Rachel

29:31

Rachel envied

Envy and jealousy are most tormenting passions to the breast which harbours them, vexatious to all around, and introductory to much impatience and ungodliness. "Who is able to stand before envy?"

37:11 1 Samuel 1:4-8 Psalms 106:16 Proverbs 14:30 Ecclesiastes 4:4 1 Corinthians 3:3 Galatians 5:21 Titus 3:3 James 3:14 4:5

or else I die

35:16-19 37:11 Numbers 11:15,29 1 Kings 19:4 Job 3:1-3,11,20-22 5:2 Job 13:19 Jeremiah 20:14-18 John 4:3,8 2 Corinthians 7:10

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?

anger

31:36 Exodus 32:19 Matthew 5:22 Mark 3:5 Ephesians 4:26

Am I

16:2 25:21 50:19 1 Samuel 1:5 2:5,6 2 Kings 5:7

withheld

Deuteronomy 7:13,14 Psalms 113:9 127:3 Luke 1:42

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.

Behold

9 16:2,3

she shall

50:23 Job 3:12

have children by her

Heb. be built up by her.

16:2 *marg:; Ruth 4:11

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

to wife

16:3 21:10 22:24 25:1,6 33:2 35:22 2 Samuel 12:11

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.

A. M. 2256. B.C. 1748. God

29:32-35 Psalms 35:24 43:1 Lamentations 3:59

Dan

that is, Judging.

35:25 46:23 49:16,17 Deuteronomy 33:22 Jeremiah 13:2,24 15:14-20

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

A. M. 2257. B.C. 1747

Verse 8

And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

great wrestlings

Heb. wrestlings of God.

23:6 32:24 Exodus 9:28 1 Samuel 14:15 *marg:

and she

35:25 46:24 49:21 Deuteronomy 33:23

Naphtali

that is, My wrestling.

32:24,25 Matthew 4:13

Nephthalim

Verse 9

When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.

A. M. 2256. B.C. 1748. left

17 29:35

gave her

4 16:3

And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

she

35:26 46:16 49:19 Deuteronomy 33:20,21

Gad

that is, A troop, or company.

Isaiah 65:11

And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

A. M. 2257. B.C. 1747. Happy am I. Heb. In my happiness. will call

Proverbs 31:28 Song of Solomon 6:9 Luke 1:48

and she

35:26 46:17 49:20 Deuteronomy 33:24,25

Asher

that is, Happy.

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.

A. M. 2256. B.C. 1748. mandrakes. The mandrake may be the Hebrew {dudaim:} it is so rendered by all the ancient versions, and is a species of melon, of an agreeable odour. Hasselquist, speaking of Nazareth in Galilee, says, "What I found most remarkable at this village was the great number of mandrakes which grew in a vale below it. I had not the pleasure of seeing this plant in blossom, the fruit now (May 5th, O. S.) hanging ripe on the stem, which lay withered on the ground. From the season in which this mandrake blossoms and ripens fruit, one might form a conjecture that it was Rachel's {dudaim.} These were brought her in the wheat harvest, which in Galilee is in the month of May, about this time, and the mandrake was now in fruit." The Abbee Mariti describes it as growing "low like a lettuce, to which its leaves have a great resemblance, except that they have a dark green colour. The flowers are purple, and the root is for the most part forked. The fruit, when ripe in the beginning of May, is of the size and colour of a small apple, exceedingly ruddy, and of a most agreeable odour. Our guide thought us fools for suspecting it to be unwholesome."

Song of Solomon 7:13

Give me

25:30

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.

Numbers 16:9,10,13 Isaiah 7:13 Ezekiel 16:47 1 Corinthians 4:3

And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.

A. M. 2257. B.C. 1747

6,22 Exodus 3:7 1 Samuel 1:20,26,27 Luke 1:13

And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

and she

35:23 46:13 49:14,15 Deuteronomy 33:18 1 Chronicles 12:32

Issachar

that is, An hire.

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.

A. M. cir. 2258. B.C. cir. 1746. now will

15 29:34

and she

35:23 46:14 49:13 Judges 4:10 5:14 Psalms 68:27

Zebulun

that is, Dwelling.

Matthew 4:13

Zabulon

Verse 21

And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

A. M. cir. 2259. B.C. 1745. and called

34:1-3,26 46:15

Dinah

that is, Judgment.

And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

remembered

8:1 21:1 29:31 1 Samuel 1:19,20 Psalms 105:42

opened

2 21:1,2 25:21 29:31 Psalms 113:9 127:3

And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

29:31 1 Samuel 1:5,6 Isaiah 4:1 Luke 1:21,25,27

And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

And she

35:24 37:2,4 39:1-23 42:6 48:1-22 49:22-26 Deuteronomy 33:13-17 Ezekiel 37:16 Acts 7:9-15 Hebrews 11:21,22 Revelation 7:8

Joseph

that is, Adding.

35:17,18

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.

Send me away

24:54,56

mine

18:33 31:55

and to

24:6,7 26:3 27:44,45 28:13,15 31:13 Acts 7:4,5 Hebrews 11:9,15,16

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.

my wives

29:19,20,30 31:26,31,41 Hosea 12:12

for thou

29,30 31:6,38-40

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.

favour

18:3 33:15 34:11 39:3-5,21 47:25 Exodus 3:21 Numbers 11:11,15 Ruth 2:13 1 Samuel 16:22 1 Kings 11:19 Nehemiah 1:11 2:5 Daniel 1:9 Acts 7:10

the Lord

30 12:3 26:24 39:2-5,21-23 Psalms 1:3 Isaiah 6:13 61:9 65:8

And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.

29:15,19

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

5 31:6,38-40 Matthew 24:45 Ephesians 6:5-8 Colossians 3:22-25 Titus 2:9,10 1 Peter 2:15,18

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?

increased

Heb. broken forth.

and the

since my coming

Heb. at my foot.

Deuteronomy 11:10

when

2 Corinthians 12:14 1 Timothy 5:8

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:

2 Samuel 21:4-6 Psalms 118:8 Hebrews 13:5

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.

of such

35 31:8,10

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.

righteousness

31:37 1 Samuel 26:23 2 Samuel 22:21 Psalms 37:6

answer

Isaiah 59:12

in time to come

Heb. to-morrow.

Exodus 13:14

that shall be

Supply the ellipsis by inserting "if found," after "stolen," and the sense will be clear.

And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

Numbers 22:29 1 Corinthians 7:7 14:5 Galatians 5:12

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.

he removed

From this it appears, that, as Jacob had agreed to take all the parti-coloured for his wages, and was now only beginning to act upon this agreement, and consequently had as yet no right to any of the cattle, therefore Laban separated from the flock all such cattle as Jacob might afterwards claim in consequence of his bargain, leaving only the black and white with Jacob.

the hand

31:9

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.

Jacob

31:9-13

green poplar

Livneh is the white poplar, so called from the whiteness of its leaves, bark, and wood, from lavan to be white.

hasel

Jerome, Hiller, Celsius, Dr. Shaw, Bochart, and other learned men, say, that luz is not the "hazel" but the almond-tree, as the word denotes both in Arabic and Syriac.

chestnut tree

The Heb. word armon, signifies "the plane-tree," so called from the bark naturally peeling off, and leaving the trunk naked, as its root aram, signifies.

Ezekiel 31:8

And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

brought forth

31:9-12,38,40,42 Exodus 12:35,36

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.

whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive

As the means which Jacob used would not in general produce similar effects, nay, probably the experiment was never in any other instance tried with effect, it is more in harmony with Divine truth to suppose that he was directed by some Divine intimation; and rendered successful, if not by a direct miracle, yet at least by the Lord's giving a new and uncommon bias to the tendency of natural causes.

And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

30 13:2 24:35 26:13,14 28:15 31:7,8,42 32:10 33:11 36:7 Ecclesiastes 2:7 Ezekiel 39:10 The Lord will, in one way or other, honour those who simply trust his providence.