The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/genesis/30.htm

In our last study, we saw that Rachel could bear no children, but that Leah had given Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah to Jacob. And now, we find that Rachel is upset that she can bare no children and she is jealous of her sister Leah.

So far, Sarah, Rebekah, and now Rachel have all been barren, but in the end, God opens their womb. and just like Sarah who did not trust in God and told Abraham to use Hagar as a surrogate mother, Rachel is now giving her maidservant to Jacob to be a surrogate for her.

Should we be envious of someone else? Isn’t that called covetousness’? Did Rachel trust in God?

So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob, and she became a surrogate giving Jacob two sons, Dan and Naphtali.

And now, we have a competition going between Leah and Rachel. Leah gave Jacob her servant called Zilpah, as a surrogate, and she bore Jacob two sons, Gad and Asher.

I do not know the story of mandrakes, why they were so sought after in those days, but Reuben went into a wheat field and found some mandrakes and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel asked for some, but Leah snapped, (and I’m paraphrasing here) “You have taken my husband, and now you want my son’s mandrakes?”

And now things take a turn for the worse. Now Rachel trades Jacobs sexual services in exchange for some mandrakes, telling Leah, “you can sleep with Jacob tonight in exchange for mandrakes”.

So Leah prayed for children, God opened her womb once again, and Leah had two more sons and a daughter, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.

Then God opened Rachel’s womb, and she bore Joseph.

Now Jacob finished working for Laban for the agreed upon time of seven years and asked for permission to leave. But Jacob had been good for Laban and Laban’s wealth had increased, so he asked Jacob to stay.

In those days, livestock that was pure and unblemished were desired, in fact, when it came time to sacrifice an animal to God, the animal had to be blemished. So Jacob told Laban that he would work in exchange for all the spotted, speckled and brown sheep, and Laban agreed to it.

And I do not understand, it is over my head, but if Jacob took rods from certain trees, poplar, almond, and chestnut, and stripped the bark off showing the white flesh underneath, the sheep were sure to bear spotted, speckled, and brown lambs so that Jacobs wealth increased. The Bible doesn’t say why this worked, so I can only assume it was a blessing from God.

And while Jacob and his family were certainly blessed by the Lord, and were His chosen people, they certainly were no perfect. Let us learn from their behavior how to try to become better Christians.