Genesis 30:14-24 Click here for Bible Verses
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.
What can we learn from this? Notice all the transactional and commercial/business language used by Leah and Rachel when talking about mandrakes, family and sex. Because Leah and Rachel envied one another and because both of them were greedy for more children, they reduced their own family relationships and sex to bargaining chips in a commercial deal. Even the way Leah speaks about God in verse 18 has a hint of that commercialism, as if to say, “Because I did a good and unselfish thing for God (i.e. giving my maidservant Zilpah to Jacob), God gave me a baby as my reward.” That’s what envy and greed can do. Envy and greed can cause us to take the precious gifts God has given us, including the people in our lives, and turn them into mere commercial instruments for our own selfish purposes. For more on overcoming envy and greed, check out episodes 1 and 3 of our Take Me Hiya series HERE.
Genesis 30:19-20 (NIV)
19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.
20 Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
On verses 19-20: Leah’s mentality of trying to earn honour and favour from Jacob comes back again. She hopes that by bearing a sixth son, Jacob would treat her with honour. It’s a hard life when you keep trying to live for the approval of people. Instead of living for the approval of people, rest secure in the knowledge that you are already approved, justified, accepted and loved unconditionally by God through Jesus Christ. Only with that security can we rest easy and enjoy being the people God made us to be. As Paul says in Galatians 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Genesis 30:21 (NIV)
21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
On verse 21: Leah gives birth to a daughter called Dinah. Dinah’s tragic story is told in Genesis 34.
Genesis 30:22-24 (NIV)
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.
23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”
24 She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”
On verses 22-24: By God’s grace, Rachel finally becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. In response she says, “God has taken away my disgrace” (v23). She calls her son “Joseph”, which means “may he add”, because Rachel hopes that God will add to her one more son. But Joseph himself would be an especially important addition to the family, as we will see in later chapters.
Just as God took away Rachel’s disgrace by giving her a son, so God took away our disgrace by giving us a son – His only Son, Jesus Christ. Just as Joseph would one day save his family from certain destruction because of a famine, so this Son Jesus would save us from certain destruction because of our sins.
Heavenly Father, I pray that I would not be ruled by envy or greed and thereby fail to treasure the people and other gifts You have given to me. Rather than living for others’ approval, may I simply rest secure in the acceptance, approval and love You have given to me. Thank You that You took away my disgrace when You gave me Your Son Jesus. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
