Genesis 30
1 Rachel, in grief for her barrenness, gives Bilhah her maid unto Jacob.
5 Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali.
9 Leah gives Zilpah her maid, who bears Gad and Asher.
14 Reuben finds mandrakes, with which Leah buys her husband's company of Rachel.
17 Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.
22 Rachel bears Joseph.
25 Jacob desires to depart.
27 Laban detains him on a new agreement.
37 Jacob's policy, whereby he becomes rich.
Rachel <07354> [when Rachel.]
Rachel ............ jealous <07065 07354> [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?"
I'll die <0369 04191> [or else I die.]
furious <0639> [anger.]
God <0430> [Am I.]
exclaimed ........... kept <04513> [withheld.]
servant <0519> [Behold.]
bear children <03205> [she shall.]
family <01129> [have children by her. Heb. be built up by her.]
wife <0802> [to wife.]
God <0430> [A.M. 2256. B.C. 1748. God.]
Dan <01835> [Dan. that is, Judging.]
[A.M. 2257. B.C. 1747.]
desperate struggle <05319 0430> [great wrestlings. Heb. wrestlings of God.]
So she <07121> [and she.]
Naphtali <05321> [Naphtali. that is, My wrestling.]
[Nephthalim.]
stopped <05975> [A.M. 2256. B.C. 1748. left.]
Jacob <05414 03290> [gave her.]
named <07121> [she.]
Gad <01410> [Gad. that is, A troop, or company.]
happy <0837> [A.M. 2257. B.C. 1747. Happy am I. Heb. In my happiness. will call.]
named <07121> [and she.]
Asher <0836> [Asher. that is, Happy.]
mandrake ....................... mandrakes <01736> [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."
Give <05414> [Give me.]
[A.M. 2257. B.C. 1747.]
named <07121> [and she.]
Issachar <03485> [Issachar. that is, An hire.]
Now ... husband <06471 0376> [A.M. cir. 2258. B.C. cir. 1746. now will.]
named <07121> [and she.]
Zebulun <02074> [Zebulun. that is, Dwelling.]
[Zabulon.]
<07121> [A.M. cir. 2259. B.C. 1745. and called.]
Dinah <01783> [Dinah. that is, Judgment.]
took note <02142> [remembered.]
enabled ... to become pregnant <06605> [opened.]
barrenness therefore was reckoned a reproach. The intense desire of having children, observable among the Jewish women, arose not only from this reproach of barrenness, but from the hope of being the mother of the promised seed, and Him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.
She <07121> [And she.]
Joseph <03130> [Joseph. that is, Adding.]
Send <07971> [Send me away.]
home <04725> [mine.]
country <0776> [and to.]
wives <0802> [my wives.]
know <03045> [for thou.]
favor <02580> [favour.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
increased <06555> [increased. Heb. broken forth.]
Lord <03068> [and the.]
<07272> [since my coming. Heb. at my foot.]
long <04970> [when.]
wages <07939> [of such.]
integrity <06666> [righteousness.]
testify <06030> [answer.]
later <04279 03117> [in time to come. Heb. to-morrow.]
stolen <01589> [that shall be.]
Supply the ellipsis by inserting "if found," after "stolen," and the sense will be clear.
So ..... removed <05493> [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.
care ... his <03027> [the hand.]
Jacob <03290> [Jacob.]
fresh-cut .... poplar <03839 03892> [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.
gave birth <03205> [brought forth.]
stronger females ... in heat ............... flock ..... mate <06629 03179 07194> [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.
The Lord will, in one way or other, honour those who simply trust his providence.
