Day 022 (Genesis 30-31) - Year 7
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Yesterday when we left off, Jacob had just married two sisters, Leah and Rachel, due in part to some deception from his father-in-law, and Jacob's wife, Leah, had just had four sons.

Today we open with Rachel being envious of Leah's ability to bear children. She puts some weight on Jacob to get her pregnant, but Jacob gets defensive and points out that only God can give life. We'll see that repeatedly in this chapter. Rachel decided to follow the ways of her grandmother-in-law slash great-great-aunt Sarah by offering her maidservant Bilhah to her husband. If you recall, this did not go well for Sarah. Stick around to see if it solves all Rachel's problems.

Bilhah had two children for Jacob and Rachel. But then Leah follows suit and gives her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob, and she has two more sons. So now the tally is Leah, four, Leah by Zilpah, two, and Rachel by Bilhah, two. But this sibling rivalry is far from over. Bitterness and jealousy have been growing in their hearts. And left unattended, a bitter heart will often resort to manipulation and retaliation, which is what Leah does next.

Since Jacob probably spent most nights with Rachel, the wife he loved, Leah trades Rachel some plants in exchange for a night with Jacob. Interestingly, this particular plant, the mandrake, was believed to promote fertility, but it's also used to treat stomach ulcers, which I'm guessing they both had a lot of by this point.

Do you see all the striving on both parts? Do you see how it's never enough for either of them? Do you see how the spirit of greed and comparison and their scarcity mentality is driving all their actions? This isn't love for God. It isn't love for Jacob. It doesn't even seem like love for their children. It looks a lot more like fear and idolatry and self-promotion.

Leah got pregnant for the fifth time and thought it was God's reward for generously sharing her servant with Jacob. But verse 17 tells us what actually happened. God just heard her cries. Leah didn't earn pregnancy through holy actions and good behavior, especially since coercing your husband into infidelity isn't exactly good behavior. She controlled and manipulated. She misunderstands God's ways. And still, God heard her desires and responded with a yes.

Then Leah had two more kids, a sixth son and a daughter named Dinah. So now we're up to 11 children between one wife and two maidservants. But then Rachel had a son, Joseph, bringing the total to 12. You can imagine which of these children might have been Jacob's favorite and why. Around the time Rachel gives birth to Joseph, Jacob also wraps up his 14 years of service to his father-in-law Laban, so he asks for permission to leave.

Remember, he needs to go back to Canaan because that's the land God promised to him. But Laban doesn't want him to leave because he finds out that he's being blessed by God through Jacob's presence there. Laban got that information from a wicked source, but it was accurate. By the way, we don't really have any indication that Laban worshipped Yahweh, even though he's related to Abraham. So it's not surprising that he would seek out divination. We don't have time to unpack divination today, but we'll cover it a bit more in the days ahead.

Jacob and Laban try to act like they're making a deal for Jacob to stay and keep tending his flocks, but they're both still up to their old tricks, not to mention some weird livestock breeding techniques that Jacob borrowed from local magicians. Despite his sin, God does make him animal rich, which was pretty rich back then. But the problem was, God didn't want him to stay there and just keep getting wealthier. He wanted Jacob back in the land he promised to give him.

Jacob is eventually prompted in that direction via some rumors among Laban's sons, the disrespect of Laban, and a command from God. Jacob tells his wives why he's taking them away from their family of origin, and they quickly see his point. They realize what a trickster their dad is. Honestly, everybody in this story is kind of a manipulator of sorts. And in one of the rare times when both sisters agree, they say to Jacob, "'Whatever God has said to you, do.'"

which is the best advice ever. In Jacob's explanation of why they're leaving, he plays dumb about his own trickery, and he credits God for accomplishing it. Honestly, it feels wrong to me that he conflated his theft and God's blessing, but I just wanted to highlight it because we'll come back to that in a bit. It's been 20-ish years since Jacob left Canaan after the trick he pulled on his dad, but now he packs up his wives and kids and sneaks off to Canaan, the land God promised to him through his dad Isaac and his grandfather Abraham.

But as they're on the way out, Rachel steals some of Laban's household gods, which is most likely a reference to idols of some sort. And it's just more evidence for us that Laban doesn't worship Yahweh. We don't know why Rachel wants these household gods. Maybe she worships them too. Maybe she wants to sell them. Maybe she wants her dad to stop worshiping them. It took Laban three days to realize that roughly 20 people were missing from his territory, but then he pursued them.

While he was on his way after them, God appeared to him in a dream and warned him to basically keep his mouth shut. Don't say anything good or bad. But when he finally caught up with him, he acts all nice at first, like, you guys, I didn't even get to say goodbye. But then he cuts to the chase by pointing out that his household gods are missing. Thus begins the search for the household gods, which Rachel hides under the camel's saddle and a ruse about her period.

Laban tries to save face by setting up an agreement between the two of them at a place called Mizpah. And here we have a passage of scripture that is often taken out of context. In fact, I gave this verse to a college boyfriend when he was leaving for the summer, having zero idea what it implied. It says, "...the Lord watched between you and me when we were out of each other's sight."

Sounds sweet, right? Except knowing the history between Jacob and Laban, it's actually more like Laban was saying, I don't trust you. So remember that even when I can't see you, God sees you. So you better not do anything sketchy. Needless to say, I did not marry that college boyfriend. I blame it on the passage.

Jacob and Laban set up two separate witnesses for this treaty, a stone pillar and a heap of stones. Again, these tend to be pagan practices even though they're both invoking God's name. But one interesting thing here, some theologians believe that Jacob's singular pillar is intended to represent his worship of a monotheistic God.

the one true God, Yahweh, whereas Laban's pile of rocks is supposed to represent that he is polytheistic, which means he worships many gods, like the ones he used to have in his home before his daughter stole them. After they make the agreement, Laban starts his journey back home. What was your God shot today? I hinted at mine earlier. It's something that showed up at least twice in our reading today. Remember when Leah manipulated both Rachel and Jacob so she could sleep with Jacob and then praised God for her pregnancy?

And remember how Jacob manipulated the breeding processes and praised God for his abundance, even while playing dumb about his actions when he recounted the story to his wives? If you're like me, your sense of right and wrong might be kicking in, your love of justice and your desire for the truth. But let's look past ourselves to see what we can see about God here. He is kind to sinners. That's good news because that's all of us.

Luke 6.35 says, He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. You guys, that's me 10 times a day. Does God hate sin and injustice and ingratitude? Of course, absolutely. But today we see his mercy. Today we see his kindness and his provision to the flawed kids he has adopted into his family. I'm so glad I've been adopted by a kind father because he's where the joy is.

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