Genesis 30:3 Kommentar

In this chapter we have an account of the increase, I. Of Jacob's family. Eight children more we find registered in this chapter; Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah, Rachel's maid (Gen 30:1-8). Gad and Asher by Zilpah, Leah's maid (Gen 30:9-13). Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah, by Leah (Gen 30:14-21). And, last of all, Joseph, by Rachel (Gen 30:22-24). II. Of Jacob's estate. He makes a new bargain with Laban (Gen 30:25-34). And in the six years' further service he did to Laban God wonderfully blessed him, so that his stock of cattle became very considerable (Gen 30:35-43). Herein was fulfilled the blessing with which Isaac dismissed him (Gen 28:3), "God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee." Even these small matters concerning Jacob's house and field, though they seem inconsiderable, are improvable for our learning. For the scriptures were written, not for princes and statesmen, to instruct them in politics; but for all people, even the meanest, to direct them in their families and callings: yet some things are here recorded concerning Jacob, not for imitation, but for admonition.

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 30 This chapter gives an account of Rachel's envy of her sister for her fruitfulness, and of her earnest desire of having children, which she expressed to Jacob in an unbecoming manner, for which he reproved her, Gen 30:1, of her giving her maid Bilhah to Jacob, by whom he had two sons, Dan and Naphtali, Gen 30:3; and of Leah's giving her maid Zilpah to him, by whom he had two other sons, Gad and Asher, Gen 30:9; and of Reuben's mandrakes he found in the field, and the agreement made between Rachel and Leah about them, Gen 30:14; and of Leah's bearing Jacob two more sons and one daughter, Gen 30:17, and of Rachel's also bearing him a son, whose name was Joseph, Gen 30:22; upon which he desires leave of Laban to depart into his own country, his time of servitude being up, Gen 30:25; which brought on a new agreement between him and Laban, that for the future he should have all the speckled, spotted, and brown cattle for his service, Gen 30:27; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a cunning scheme of Jacob's to increase that sort of cattle, which succeeded, and by which he became rich, Gen 30:37.

And she said,.... in order to pacify Jacob, and explain her meaning to him; which was, not that she thought it was in his power to make her the mother of children, but that he would think of some way or another of obtaining children for her, that might go for hers; so the Arabic version, "obtain a son for me": but, since no method occurred to him, she proposes one: behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her, take her and use her as thy wife: and she shall bear upon my knees; either sit on her knees in the time of labour, and so bring forth as if it was she herself; or rather bear a child, which Rachel would take and nurse, and dandle upon her knees as her own, see Isa 66:12, that I may also have children by her; children as well as her sister, though by her maid, and as Sarah proposed to have by Hagar, whose example, in all probability, she had before her, and uses her very words; See Gill on Gen 16:2.

Rachel envies her sister, and chides Jacob, Gen 30:1. He reproves her and vindicates himself, Gen 30:2. She gives him her maid Bilhah, Gen 30:3, Gen 30:4. She conceives, and bears Dan. vv.5, 6; and afterwards Naphtali, Gen 30:7, Gen 30:8. Leah gives Zilpah her maid to Jacob, Gen 30:9. She conceives and bears Gad, Gen 30:10, Gen 30:11, and also Asher, Gen 30:12, Gen 30:13. Reuben finds mandrakes, of which Rachel requests a part, Gen 30:14. The bargain made between her and Leah, Gen 30:15. Jacob in consequence lodges with Leah instead of Rachel, Gen 30:16. She conceives, and bears Issachar, Gen 30:17, Gen 30:18, and Zebulun, Gen 30:19, Gen 30:20, and Dinah, Gen 30:21. Rachel conceives, and bears Joseph, Gen 30:22-24. Jacob requests permission from Laban to go to his own country, Gen 30:25, Gen 30:26. Laban entreats him to tarry, and offers to give him what wages he shall choose to name, Gen 30:27, Gen 30:28. Jacob details the importance of his services to Laban, Gen 30:29, Gen 30:30, and offers to continue those services for the speckled and spotted among the goats, and the brown among the sheep, Gen 30:31-33. Laban consents, Gen 30:34, and divides all the ring-streaked and spotted among the he-goats, the speckled and spotted among the she-goats, and the brown among the sheep, and puts them under the care of his sons, and sets three days' journey between himself and Jacob, Gen 30:35, Gen 30:36. Jacob's stratagem of the pilled rods, to cause the cattle to bring forth the ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted, Gen 30:37-39. In consequence of which he increased his flock greatly, getting all that was strong and healthy in the flock of Laban, Gen 30:40-43.

She shall bear upon my knees - The handmaid was the sole property of the mistress, as has already been remarked in the case of Hagar; and therefore not only all her labor, but even the children borne by her, were the property of the mistress. These female slaves, therefore, bore children vicariously for their mistresses; and this appears to be the import of the term, she shall bear upon my knees. That I may also have children by her - ואבנה ממנה veibbaneh mimmennah, and I shall be built up by her. Hence בן ben, a son or child, from בנה banah, to build; because, as a house is formed of the stones, etc., that enter into its composition, so is a family by children.

DOMESTIC JEALOUSIES. (Gen. 30:1-24) 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 Gen 25:22) and of Hannah (Sa1 1:11).

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.

Bilhah's Sons. - When Rachel thought of her own barrenness, she became more and more envious of her sister, who was blessed with sons. But instead of praying, either directly or through her husband, as Rebekah had done, to Jehovah, who had promised His favour to Jacob (Gen 28:13.), she said to Jacob, in passionate displeasure, "Get me children, or I shall die;" to which he angrily replied, "Am I in God's stead (i.e., equal to God, or God), who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?" i.e., Can I, a powerless man, give thee what the Almighty God has withheld? Almighty like God Jacob certainly was not; but he also wanted the power which he might have possessed, the power of prayer, in firm reliance upon the promise of the Lord. Hence he could neither help nor advise his beloved wife, but only assent to her proposal, that he should beget children for her through her maid Bilhah (cf. Gen 16:2), through whom two sons were born to her. The first she named Dan, i.e., judge, because God had judged her, i.e., procured her justice, hearkened to her voice (prayer), and removed the reproach of childlessness; the second Naphtali, i.e., my conflict, or my fought one, for "fightings of God, she said, have I fought with my sister, and also prevailed." אלהים נפתּוּלי are neither luctationes quam maximae, nor "a conflict in the cause of God, because Rachel did not wish to leave the founding of the nation of God to Leah alone" (Knobel), but "fightings for God and His mercy" (Hengstenberg), or, what comes to the same thing, "wrestlings of prayer she had wrestled with Leah; in reality, however, with God Himself, who seemed to have restricted His mercy to Leah alone" (Delitzsch). It is to be noticed, that Rachel speaks of Elohim only, whereas Leah regarded her first four sons as the gift of Jehovah. In this variation of the names, the attitude of the two women, not only to one another, but also to the cause they served, is made apparent. It makes no difference whether the historian has given us the very words of the women on the birth of their children, or, what appears more probable, since the name of God is not introduced into the names of the children, merely his own view of the matter as related by him (Gen 29:31; Gen 30:17, Gen 30:22). Leah, who had been forced upon Jacob against his inclination, and was put by him in the background, was not only proved by the four sons, whom she bore to him in the first years of her marriage, to be the wife provided for Jacob by Elohim, the ruler of human destiny; but by the fact that these four sons formed the real stem of the promised numerous seed, she was proved still more to be the wife selected by Jehovah, in realization of His promise, to be the tribe-mother of the greater part of the covenant nation. But this required that Leah herself should be fitted for it in heart and mind, that she should feel herself to be the handmaid of Jehovah, and give glory to the covenant God for the blessing of children, or see in her children actual proofs that Jehovah had accepted her and would bring to her the affection of her husband. It was different with Rachel, the favourite and therefore high-minded wife. Jacob should give her, what God alone could give. The faithfulness and blessing of the covenant God were still hidden from her. Hence she resorted to such earthly means as procuring children through her maid, and regarded the desired result as the answer of God, and a victory in her contest with her sister. For such a state of mind the term Elohim, God the sovereign ruler, was the only fitting expression.