Genesis 30

CHAPTER 30THEME: Birth of Jacob’s sons; birth of Joseph to Rachel; Jacob prepares to leave LabanWhen we come to this chapter, we see that God is moving in spite of Jacob’s sin. God is not moving because of it, but in spite of it. The theme of the chapter is the family of Jacob and the birth of his sons. Jacob longs to leave Laban, and Jacob makes a shrewd bargain with him.

Genesis 30:1

BIRTH OF JACOB’S SONSYou see, a woman in that day was disgraced unless she had an offspring, and the more children she had, the better was her position.

Genesis 30:2

We find here Jacob and Rachel reverting to the practice of that day. Remember that Abraham and Sarah had done the same thing. God did not approve of it then, and He is not going to approve of it now. The Bible gives us an accurate record, but that does not mean that God approved of all that was done. In fact, it is quite obvious that He disapproved of this. My, the strife that we have already called to your attention in Abraham’s family. It was also in the family of Isaac. Now it is in Jacob’s family alreadyand he is in for a great deal more trouble. The next verses of this chapter tell of the birth of two sons of Jacob by Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; two sons by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; and then the birth of two more sons by Leah.

Genesis 30:22

This is the boy who will go down into the land of Egypt. We will follow him later in the book, as he is quite a remarkable person. Later on Benjamin will be born to Rachel. We will conclude this chapter by listing the twelve sons of Jacob because they are important. The twelve tribes of Israel will come from them and finally the nation of Israel.

Genesis 30:25

JACOB PREPARES TO LEAVE LABANNow listen to Uncle Labanhe’s not through yet, you may be sure of that!

Genesis 30:27

This is quite interesting. You may recall that Abimelech, king of Gerar, found that he was blessed when Isaac was in his midst. Now Uncle Laban has discovered that God is with Jacob and has blessed him for Jacob’s sake. So Uncle Laban says, “My boy, don’t rush off; don’t leave me. I’ve been blessed, and I want to raise your wages.”

Genesis 30:28

Jacob knows by now that, any time Uncle Laban makes a deal, he is the one who will come off the winner. Jacob has learned this lesson, and he wants to leave.

Genesis 30:29

Listen to Jacob complaining. He is singing the blues! He is saying, “All I’ve got out of all this service for you are two wives with their two maids and a house full of boys.” In fact, he has eleven boys at this point. What in the world is he going to do? How is he going to feed them? He says, “God has blessed you and He has prospered you, and I don’t have anything.”

Genesis 30:31

In other words, the pure breeds will be Laban’s, but the offbreeds, those that are not blue-ribbon cattle, will be Jacob’s. Jacob said, “You just let me have these, and that will be my wages.” That sounds like a pretty good proposition for Laban.

Genesis 30:33

They would not be able to breed with the others. Jacob would take the off-breeds so that only the full breeds would mate and bear offspring, and those would belong to Uncle Laban. The others would be his. Jacob is making a very interesting deal.

Genesis 30:36

There have been various explanations of this. There are those who say this is nothing in the world but pure superstition. Others say it is an old wives’ tale and is certainly something which ought not to be in the Bible record. It is my judgment that it is important that this record appears in the Word of God. Of course, there were genetic factors involved, but I don’t feel that we should rule out this as being a superstition. The point is that both Laban and Jacob believed that the white streaks in the rods caused the offspring to be ringstraked.

That is the important part of the story. Maybe you are too smart to believe it, but these two boys believed it. Regardless of whether or not there was value in it, Jacob is using trickery. He had been quite a trickster, but he has met an uncle who is a better trickster than he is, and now Jacob is trying to make a comeback. This is all I will say about it at this point, and we will see that the next chapter will throw new light on this entire incident. Now here is the list of Jacob’s twelve sons who will eventually comprise the twelve tribes of the nation Israel. Born to Leah:-1021. Reuben-1022. Simeon-1023. Levi-1024. Judah-1025. Issachar-1026. Zebulun-1027. Dinah (daughter)-102Born to Bilhah, Rachel’s maid:-1021. Dan-1022. Naphtali-102Born to Zilpah, Leah’s maid:-1021. Gad-1022. Asher-102Born to Rachel:-1021. Joseph-1022. BenjaminBelieve me, Jacob had his hands full with these twelve boys! Also, we find that there was a girl, and her name was Dinah. We will see in the next chapter that God has called Jacob to leave Haran and return to the land which He has promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I am sure that God is thinking of Jacob’s childrenHe doesn’t want them to grow up in the environment of Laban’s household.