Jacob had worked for Laban seven years in order to receive the hand of his daughter, Rachel, in marriage; however, at the end of the seven years Laban deceived Jacob and gave him his oldest daughter, Leah, instead (29:15-26). Laban agreed to also give Rachel to Jacob as a wife if he would work another seven years (29:27). Without hesitation, Jacob agreed to work another seven years for Laban to receive Rachel as his wife, but many problems arose from this polygamous relationship when Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah (29:30). ”When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me’” (29:31-32, NLT). Following the birth of Reuben, Leah gave birth to three more sons and she thought that the birth of each son would cause Jacob to notice her, but he did not (29:33-35).
Rachel became envious of her sister, Leah, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!” (30:1). Jacob became angry at Rachel’s demand and responded, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (30:2). The child-bearing issue becomes a source of contention for Leah and Rachel so they begin using their maids as surrogates (30:3-21). In this culture, a surrogate giving birth while sitting on the knees of the wife was symbolic of the wife giving her husband a child. Rachel’s maid Bilhah, conceived Dan and Naphtali (30:3-8) while Leah’s maid Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher (30:9-13). There is a break in the story when Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son through Leah, finds mandrakes (orange colored fruit) in the field and brings them to his mother (30:14a). Mandrakes were superstitiously viewed as a fruit which resulted in fertility, so when Reuben brought them to Leah, Rachel asked her sister for some of the mandrakes in hopes that she could get pregnant (30:14b). Leah responded to Rachel’s request in anger saying, “Wasn’t it enough that you stole my husband? Now will you steal my son’s mandrakes, too?” (30:15a, NLT). Rachel then said to Leah, “I will let Jacob sleep with you tonight if you give me some of the mandrakes” (30:15b, NLT). Agreeing to the bargain with Rachel, Leah slept with Jacob that night and gave birth to a fifth son who she named Issachar (30:16-18). Leah also gave birth to a sixth son, Zebulun, and she hoped that this son would cause Jacob to dwell with her (30:19-20). ” Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. ’God has removed my disgrace,’ she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, ‘May the Lord add yet another son to my family’” (30:22-24). The actions of Leah and Rachel show the dangers caused by envy and jealousy.
Dear God, keep me from envy and jealousy.
