[And He Walks With Me] Genesis 30

1-22        The competition between Rachel and Leah is birthed out of envy (1). In 29:30, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, which made Leah jealous of Rachel’s love. Her bitterness is evidenced in the names she assigned to her sons in 29:31-35. Now, though, Rachel envied her sister for the children she had. Envy happens when we focus on what you do not have rather than what we do have. It is the opposite of contentment, which St. Paul extolled in Philippians 4:11-12; 1 Timothy 6:6-10. Envy inevitably births a spirit of competition that can never be satisfied. Indeed, neither Leah nor Rachel could win this competition because, as Jacob rightly observes in verse 2, it is God who has withheld offspring from Rachel and given them to Leah.

3        Concerning Rachel’s decision to give Jacob Bilhah in order to bear children for me, see note on 16:1-3.

9        Concerning Leah’s decision to give Zilpah…to Jacob as a wife, see note on 16:1-3.

10        Leah’s first sons were named out of her bitter jealousy toward Rachel. Only now does she begin to focus on what she has rather than what she does not have. Consider, though, how many years she wasted, and the impact those names would have on her children’s lives as they knew that they were not good enough fo their mom.

12        Leah’s happiness is still vicarious. She is happy because other women think she is blessed and should be happy. That is, she takes joy in the fact that others are envious of her. When this is our source of joy and happiness, it will inevitably crumble and fail.

14-16        The emptiness of Leah’s happiness is here exposed. She was happy because others envied her, but when it came down to it, she was still envious of something she did not have: Jacob’s love. When we focus on the things that we do not have, there will always be one more thing that we need to be happy. There will always be someone bigger and better for us to envy, and as a result, any happiness we experience will be transient at best.

Notice that the women’s envy and competition does not just affect them: Jacob is reduced to a man-whore. When we are locked in a spirit of competition, it reduces everyone and everything around us to a commodity.

14        “The roots of the mandrake plant were considered an aphrodisiac byt the ancients, and used to promote sexual activity and conception (cf. Song 7:13).”^[66]

26        Jacob has certainly met his obligations under his contract with Laban. He was to work seven years for Rachel, but Laban gave him Leah instead and demanded he work another seven years for Rachel. He did that, and now, Jacob was ready to get away from Laban because, even when Laban was not cheating him, everything Jacob did was for Laban’s benefit rather than his own family’s.

27-28        If I have found favor with you is rather ironic. Laban cheated Jacob to get 14 years of work instead of 7, and Jacob’s own life was negatively impacted by the competition between his wives (see 1-24). It is difficult to see how Laban might think he could have possible found favor with Jacob. Yet, this is how narcissists work: they dismiss their own wrongs (If I have found favor with you), then use flattery (the Lord has blessed me because of you) and extravagant promises (Name your wages, and I will pay them) that they have no intention of keeping so they can keep others under their control.

32        Shepherds routinely worked for some by-product of the herd. This may be a percentage of the wool or milk produced, or of the new births. There is at least one text from Ischali indicating that a shepherd was granted 20%. Jacob suggests that his share should be distinguished by their coloring. The Awassi fat-tailed sheep typical of the region was almost always white, and the goats that were common in the area were almost always black. Therefore, speckled, spotted, and dark-colored sheep, as well as spotted and speckled…female goats were not common. Certainly, they did not amount to 20% of the flock.^[67]

33        Notice that, despite his past as a trickster and manipulator, Jacob was trying to be honest and accountable.

34-36        In contrast to Jacob (see note on vs 33), Laban went that day and removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats. Even in ancient times, they understood enough of genetics to recognize that spotted, streaked, and speckled animals were far more likely to give birth to spotted, streaked, and speckled animals. He then put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, effectively hiding all of the assets he just agreed to give Jacob as wages. Therefore, Laban went immediately to defraud Jacob by doing everything he could to ensure that only pure white and black animals would be born. Moreover, he knew that his flocks were blessed because of Jacob (27), and removing the spotted, streaked, and speckled animals removed them from his presence and thus his blessing.

37-40        It is unclear what Jacob intended to accomplish by placing these peeled branches of fresh poplar, almost, and plane wood… in the water channels. It may have been rooted in some superstition concerning fertility, or it may have been thought to be some sort of sheep and goat aphrodisiac. It should be noted, though, that the portion of the flock Jacob was tending including only the all-white sheep and all-black goats. Further, he separated the lambs so his animals would not breed with Laban’s. Therefore, by rules of genetic heredity, Jacob’s actions should have resulted almost exclusively in sheep and goats that would be pure in color and therefore benefit Laban, and Jacob could not be accused of working to sabotage Laban’s flocks. That is, instead of acting in an underhanded, manipulative way, Jacob endeavored to conduct himself with the utmost integrity and accountability. His actions, then, stand in stark contrast to those of Laban (see note on vss 34-36). They also stand in stark contrast to the way Jacob conducted himself in Gen 25:29-34; 27:1-40.

When Jacob conducted himself with integrity, even though that should have meant blessing to Laban and not himself, the flocks bred… and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young. Clearly, God blessed Jacob for his integrity.

41-43        Jacob demonstrates further knowledge of husbandry in working to mate the stronger of the flock and excluding the weaklings of the flock. From the start, this should have blessed Laban far more than Jacob because all the animals left in Jacob’s care were pure in color. However, due to God’s providence, it ended up blessing Jacob, and the man became very rich with many flocks, female and male slaves, camels and donkeys.

[66] Sproul 2016, Genesis 30:14

[67] Keener and Walton 2016, Genesis 30:32