I Am Not Ashamed

This and most of my blog posts of late are my study notes from a chronological Bible study I am currently doing.  As I truly believe that all the world's problems could be solved by intimately knowing God and His plan for our salvation in Jesus, I write to share His Word with my personal thoughts, and also sharing some insights I receive from some of the great commentaries from centuries past.  I prefer the older teachings, because I truly believe in recent years we have lost our way.  We want to mold scripture into what we believe for our current culture.  We want to worship a god of our own devices.  There is only salvation in the one true God of the Bible, and I know when we truly seek Him, He will be found and He will reveal His truth to us.  This blog is my little way of saying I know this to be true and I am not ashamed to tell the world this is how I try to live privately and publicly.  I wish everyone would seek the true God of the Bible and discover what He said about Himself, and that is why I repost Bible scripture, even though it is out there in millions of places.  God's Word is life, and I truly wish it for everyone.

Picking up in the 30th chapter of Genesis:

(Genesis 30:1) And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die!" (2) And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

The beautiful Rachel who had the true love of her husband now envied her sister.  She made the unreasonable demand to her husband that he give her not just one child, but children, or she would fret herself to death.  Her ugly jealous demands made Jacob angry.  It was not his fault that she had had no children; it was, of course, God who had withheld children from her.

(3) And she said, "Behold my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear upon my knees, that I also may have children by her."

Perhaps Rachel was not being as unreasonable as it first sounded.  She surely knew it wasn't in Jacob's power to give her children of her own, but it was in his power to take her maid and give her children that way.  Bilhah would bear a child upon Rachel's knees which sounds like Rachel would be there in labor receiving the child immediately and taking it as her own. 

(4) And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. (5) And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. (6) And Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore she called his name Dan.

Jacob agreed to take Bilhah as a wife, and she conceived and bore a son.  Rachel named the baby Dan, which literally meant "judge", because she felt God had judged her and her situation.  God had heard her plea for a child and gave her one through her maid.  She felt righteously judged by God in that He had blessed her with a child according to her plan.

(7) And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. (8) And Rachel said, "With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed." And she called his name Naphtali.

Rachel's maid had another son, and Rachel named this one Naphtali, which meant "wrestling", because it represented the great wrestlings she felt she had had with her sister.  Obviously, there had not really been wrestling on the part of Leah; she just naturally bore children.  But with the envious human nature of Rachel, she saw herself in a contest with her sister, and she had prevailed.

(9) When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as wife.

So now it appears it has become a contest!  Leah, not content with the first four sons she bore to Jacob, witnessed what Rachel had done in giving her maid to Jacob, and it would seem decided she might have more children that way, too.  It might be argued that Leah simply did this as a natural next step because she had stopped bearing, but I don't think so.  With the great dramatic emotion Rachel first used to get Jacob to take her maid as wife, it doesn't seem that that was the routine way of doing things.  I am pretty sure we can assume that Leah has taken her place in this rivalry.

(10) And Zilpah Leah's maid bore Jacob a son. (11) And Leah said, "A troop comes", and she called his name Gad.

Leah's maid did bear Jacob a son, and she called his name Gad, meaning "troop" or "fortune".  She herself explained her choice of names by saying, "A troop comes".  It appears she meant her good fortune with a troop of children, whether she meant at the present, or that they would now come with Zilpah helping her.

(12) And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. (13) And Leah said, "I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed." And she called his name Asher.

Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob another son, and Leah called his name Asher, which meant "happy" or "blessed".  She spoke of both meanings when she explained her choice of names.

(14) And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." (15) And she said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband? And would you take my son's mandrakes also?" And Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

Meanwhile, Jacob's firstborn son, Reuben, has grown, and was in the field one day during harvest and found some mandrakes, and Rachel asked for some.  Apparently, Leah still felt slighted, even after her maid had given Jacob more children.  As for Rachel, some scholars think the mandrake mentioned here was an aphrodisiac that would help with conception, so that may explain why she wanted them so.

(16) And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night.

Ironically, Jacob, who had taken his brother's birthright in exchange for food, was now himself traded for mandrakes. 

(17) And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. (18) And Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband." And she called his name Issachar.

God heard Leah's prayer and granted the desire of her heart, that she should have another child.  She called this son's name Issachar, which literally meant "there is recompense" or "he will bring a reward".  She decided herself that God had paid her for her mandrakes and rewarded her because she had given her maid to her husband.  Of course, God requested no such thing of her, but that was her reasoning.  However, it is true that God blessed her with another child.

(19) And Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. (20) And Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons." And she called his name Zebulun.

Leah bore another son, her sixth, and Jacob's tenth.  She named this son Zebulun, which meant "habitation" or "dwelling", because she believed that surely her husband would live with her all the time, since she had borne him six sons.

(21) And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

After bearing Jacob six sons, Leah bore a daughter she named Dinah, meaning "judgment" or "justice".  She probably not only thought God had judged her favorably, but maybe decided He had even judged in her favor over Rachel, by giving her so many children.

(22) And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. (23) And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach." (24) And she called his name Joseph, and said, "The LORD shall add to me another son."

Then God remembered Rachel--not that He had ever forgotten her, but He now answered her prayer and gave her a son.  She considered her barrenness a reproach and a disgrace, but felt God had taken that away.  She named the child Joseph, which literally meant "Jehovah has added", because indeed the Lord had done just that.

This is not the end of this chapter, but as I am following a chronological Bible reading schedule by Skip Andrews, this is where the study ends for now.