Archive for month: June, 2021

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 30:25-43.  Let’s go!

Genesis 30:25-26 (NIV)
25  After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.
26  Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”

On verses 25-26:  Jacob has already completed the 14 years he agreed to work for Laban in exchange for his two wives Leah and Rachel.  Throughout these 14 years, Jacob never forgot God’s promise to him in Genesis 28:13-15 as well as his own prayer that God would bring him back safely to his father’s house (Genesis 28:20-22).  He is now taking steps to go back and requests Laban to let him go.  What can we learn from this?  Wherever you are, never forget God’s vision for your life and the dream God has placed in your heart.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 30:14-24.  Let’s go!

Genesis 30:14-18 (NIV)
14  During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15  But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16  So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
17  God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18  Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

On verses 14-18:  “Mandrakes” were a rare Middle Eastern plant that were traditionally thought to be an aphrodisiac, and were known among Greeks as “love apples” and among Arabs as the “devil’s apples”.  Leah’s son Reuben finds some mandrakes and brings them to his mom.  Rachel wants some of the mandrakes, so Rachel and Leah strike a bargain where Leah gets to sleep with Jacob that night and Rachel gets the mandrakes.  Later Leah gets pregnant and bears a fifth son, whom she calls Issachar, meaning “reward”.  Leah sees her fifth son as a reward from God for her giving her maidservant Zilpah to her husband.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 30:1-13.  Let’s go!

Genesis 30:1-2 (NIV)
1  When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2  Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

On verses 1-2: Jealous of the fact that her sister Leah had already borne four sons, Rachel idolizes the idea of having children, to the point of saying to her husband Jacob “Give me children or I’ll die!” (v1). Jacob rebukes Rachel for expecting him to be God in her life, since he is not God and can’t control whether they have children or not (v2). 

What can we learn from this? One clue that we have started to put something or someone else in the place of God is when we say things like “I can’t live without ___”. That’s when we begin to look to something or someone else to satisfy us in ways that only God can. Rather than placing your hope in people or circumstances, which can change, put your hope in God, who does not change.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 29:15-35.  Let’s go!

Genesis 29:31-35 (NIV)
31  When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32  Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”
33  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.
34  Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.
35  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

On verses 31-35:  Now both married to the same man Jacob, the two sisters Leah and Rachel begin the most heated rivalry ever recorded in the Bible between two sisters.  Leah is jealous and saddened that Jacob loves Rachel more.  It seems that with each baby she bears for Jacob, Leah somehow hopes it will cause Jacob to love her more.  Leah is desperately longing for her husband’s love and affection, but can’t seem to win it no matter what does.