_A.M. 2255. B.C. 1749._ Here we have the increase, ( 1,) _ Of Jacob's family; eight children more being registered in this chapter._ (2,) _ Of Jacob's estate. He comes upon a new bargain with Laban, Genesis 30:25. And in the six years' further service he did to Laban, God wonderfully blessed him,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rachel envied her sister_ The Hebrew women considered barrenness as one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall them, not only from a natural desire of children, but from their eager wishes to be the means of fulfilling the promise to Abraham, and bringing forth that seed in which all the fam... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jacob's anger was kindled_ He was angry at the sin, and showed his displeasure, by a grave and pious reply: _Am I in God's stead?_ Can I give thee that which God denies thee? He acknowledges the hand of God in the affliction: _He hath withheld the fruit of the womb._ Whatever we want, it is God... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold my maid Bilhah_ She will rather have children by reputation than none at all; children that she can call her own, though they be not so. But had she not considered her sister as her rival, and envied her, she would have thought Leah's children nearer to her, and more entitled to her care tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Rachel had absurdly and preposterously put her maid into her husband's bed; and now Leah, because she missed one year in bearing children, doth the same, to be even with her. See the power of rivalship, and admire the wisdom of the divine appointment, which joins together one man and one woman only.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Found mandrakes_ The word דודאים, thus rendered, is only found here and Song of Solomon 7:13; and it is not agreed among interpreters whether it signifies a fruit or a flower. It is thought, however, by many, that mandrake-apples are here meant, which, according to Pliny, are of the size of filbert... [ Continue Reading ]
_God hearkened unto Leah_ And she was now blessed with two sons, the first of whom she called _Issachar, hire_, reckoning herself well repaid for her mandrakes; nay, (which was a strange construction of the providence,) rewarded for _giving her maid to her husband._ The other she called _Zebulun, dw... [ Continue Reading ]
Mention is made of Dinah, because of the following story concerning her, chap. 34. Perhaps Jacob had other daughters, though not registered.... [ Continue Reading ]
_God remembered Rachel_ Whom he seemed to have forgotten, and _hearkened to her_, whose prayers had been long denied, and then she _bare a son._ Rachel called her son Joseph, which, in Hebrew, is akin to two words of a contrary signification: _Asaph, abstulit_, he has _taken away_ my reproach; as if... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have learned by experience_ The best way of learning. And it would be well if we always remembered and adhered to what we have thus learned. But, alas! we are too apt to forget or neglect it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Removing all the speckled and spotted_ He does not mean, that those cattle which were already speckled and spotted, &c., should be given him; for that does not agree with what went before: _Thou shalt not give me any thing_, that is, I will take nothing that is now thine. Besides, it would have bee... [ Continue Reading ]
Laban was willing to consent to this bargain, because he thought, that if those few he had that were now speckled and spotted were separated from the rest, the body of the flock, which Jacob was to tend, being of one colour, either all black or all white, would produce few or none of mixed colours,... [ Continue Reading ]
_He gave them into the hands of his sons_ To be fed apart by themselves, lest Jacob should get any of them to mix with those of one colour. _He set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob_ Such journeys as flocks are able to make, that they might not so much as see one another. Between this an... [ Continue Reading ]
_And pilled white streaks in them_ Pilled off the bark from the rods, at certain distances, till the white appeared between the bark. _He set the rods in the gutters_ Or channels of water, at the time when the cattle were wont to couple, that their fancies might be painted with such divers colours a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jacob set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked_ Having used the pilled rods by divine direction, and seeing the effects they produced, he here employs his own natural sagacity, and turns the faces of Laban's flocks toward the ring-streaked and the brown, that by looking frequently on th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The man increased exceedingly_ Upon the whole of what is said here, and in the following chapter, we may conclude that Jacob's behaviour in this affair was generous, fair, and candid; that he chose the ring-streaked cattle with a view to prevent disputes, trusting that God would so order it, agreea... [ Continue Reading ]