Genesis 30

This chapter belongs to the Jacob narrative in Genesis. It follows Genesis 29, in which Leah bears four sons, and covers the period when Jacob was living in the household of his uncle Laban.

Outline

• Verses 1–8 Rachel, who is childless, gives her maidservant Bilhah to Jacob and gains Dan and Naphtali through her.
• Verses 9–13 Leah likewise gives her maidservant Zilpah and gains Gad and Asher.
• Verses 14–21 Leah and Rachel bargain over mandrakes that Reuben found in the field. Leah then bears Issachar and Zebulun, as well as a daughter, Dinah.
• Verses 22–24 God opens Rachel's womb, and Joseph is born.
• Verses 25–34 When Jacob says he wishes to return to his homeland, Laban asks him to name his wages. Jacob agrees to take the speckled and spotted sheep and goats as his hire.
• Verses 35–43 Jacob sets peeled rods in the watering troughs and lets only the stronger animals conceive before them, and he becomes exceedingly prosperous.

Key Verses

• Genesis 30:2 "Am I in God's stead": This reveals the chapter's underlying premise that it is God who gives children.
• Genesis 30:22 "And God remembered Rachel": After a long wait, Joseph is born, marking the starting point of the later Joseph narrative.
• Genesis 30:27 "the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake": Laban acknowledges that he has been blessed because of Jacob.

Characters and Places

• Jacob: The son of Isaac, who is serving in his uncle's household.
• Rachel and Leah: Jacob's two wives and the daughters of Laban.
• Laban: Jacob's uncle and father-in-law.
• Bilhah and Zilpah: The maidservants of Rachel and Leah, respectively. They become Jacob's concubines, and each bears two sons.
• Reuben: Leah's firstborn son.
• Haran: The place where Laban's family lived (Genesis 29:4).

Points for Reflection

• The practice of obtaining children through a maidservant also appears in the account of Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16. Similar customs are known to have existed in the ancient Near East, and the text itself offers no evaluation of the practice.
• The mandrake is known as a plant traditionally believed to promote fertility. The text, however, attributes Leah's conception to the fact that "God hearkened unto Leah" (v. 17).
• Many interpreters regard the notion that the rods could change the markings of the young as a folk belief of the time. In Genesis 31, Jacob describes the outcome as something God showed him in a dream (Genesis 31:10–12). Accordingly, some read this passage as an account of Jacob's cunning, while others read it as an account of God's providence.
• The sons born in this chapter form the foundation of the twelve tribes of Israel.