Gen 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

So we see the rivalry and competition between two sisters who in other circumstances would probably love one another. God never sanctions plural marriages although we see that He doesn't cause His grace and calling to be removed from Jacob because of it. I believe sincerely that God prefers one wife to one husband for our natural lifetime. The reason I believe that is because God loves us. He loves women as well as men. He wants us to be happy in our temporary life here as much as possible. As we see Leah and Rachael fighting for the love of their husband, we see the harm plural marriages can cause. In the beginning when God first created Adam and Eve, He only creates one wife for Adam. I really believe that is what He intended. Religious leaders that teach plural marriages as a direct obedience to God are not reading the same bible I read. We are not to make doctrines from the events in the lives of those written about in the bible. We are not to make doctrines even from the lives of the good men of God.  We are not to make doctrines and teachings from even Paul, Peter and John.  We are to base our doctrines on the teachings of the word, not on the experiences of  people.   Plural marriages were started for one reason and that is men's lust. Except in the case of Jacob were he was tricked into this way of life, I believe it is men's lust that causes him to have more than one wife. Never should a religious leader order their congregations to do this as a commandment.  God never gave any such commandment.  Usually a man will prefer one over the other and how unhappy the neglected one would feel.

Gen 30:2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

Jacob's love for Rachel doesn't stop him from getting angry at her, saying that he is not to blame for her barrenness. I do notice that Sarah, Rebecca and now Rachel seems to have had a problem with barrenness. It must have been an inherited problem. In the case of Sarah and Rebecca; they only had one pregnancy. Rachel had two but the second one killed her at childbirth.

Gen 30:3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
Gen 30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
Gen 30:5 And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

If a maid or servant had a child, the child was considered to be Rachel's. The maid had no say in its upbringing. They accepted it a normal I'm sure but I sometimes wonder how they must have felt about all this.

Gen 30:6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.

Dan means judgment. Rachel believed God was giving judgment in her case to allow a child to be granted to her.

Gen 30:7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.
Gen 30:8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

Naphtali meant "my wrestling". Rachel believed herself to be wrestling with her sister and prevailing.

Gen 30:9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
Gen 30:10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bore Jacob a son.
Gen 30:11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

Leah wasn't satisfied with her four sons, she had to have more to complete with Rachel. Gad means, "a troop cometh" or Fortune comes.

Gen 30:12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bore Jacob a second son.
Gen 30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Asher means happy. Having another son made her happy to have excelled over her sister. Although the twelve tribes of Israel came from these children, it is sad to read about the heartache that was caused by this competition between the two sisters. It is commendable that they did consider children to be a blessing and a gift from God. It is so different from our attitude today when many think children are a burden and do not want to be bothered by them.

Here is what the Psalms say about children:

Psa 127:3 Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

We should think of children as a reward from God and also as having the privilege to train them up in the knowledge of the word of God.

Psa 128:1 A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
Psa 128:2 For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Psa 128:3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Psa 128:4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.

Notice the Psalm above does not say, "thy wives" but "thy wife". Having children is a reward for men that fear the Lord.

Gen 30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
Gen 30:15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes.

Jacob must have still preferred Rachel, seeing that Rachel used Jacob as bargaining power to get what she wanted out of Leah. This must have been some rare plant that Rachel desired above the favor of Jacob.

Gen 30:16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

Oh how different we see things in this modern day we live in. If I had to hire my spouse's attention, I would say, forget it and just tell myself to "get a life."

Gen 30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob the fifth son.
Gen 30:18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

Leah named Issachar meaning that she believed God had given her her hire or what she bargained for.

Gen 30:19 And Leah conceived again, and bore Jacob the sixth son.
Gen 30:20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

Leah still had hopes that Jacob would live with her instead of Rachael. Now she supposed that God gave her a dowry which would entice Jacob to dwell with her. Rachel obviously is the one in control of Jacob.

Gen 30:21 And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

Finally a girl is born but later is the cause of much trouble in the tribes of Israel though not of her own doing, but because of the circumstances that will surround her.

Gen 30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

God is going to use the child of Rachel's to save a whole nation.

Gen 30:23 And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
Gen 30:24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

Joseph meant a remover or increaser.

Gen 30:25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.

We see here how Jacob still prefers Rachel. As soon as a child is born from her, he decided that it is time to go home. It is obvious from the beginning that the son of Rachel is his pride and joy. This partiality brings great sorrow to him later on. Perhaps the idolatry and sin of those that were influencing his other children was something Jacob wanted to avoid with Joseph. Perhaps too, this son being born reminded him that his place was not in this country but in the land promised to his grandfather Abraham and was to be for his descendants.

Gen 30:26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
Gen 30:27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.

Laban knew that the Lord was with Jacob and it caused him to be blessed also by having Jacob around. He wasn't ready to part with his best worker.

Gen 30:28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
Gen 30:29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
Gen 30:30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
Gen 30:31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:
Gen 30:32 I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
Gen 30:33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
Gen 30:34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
Gen 30:35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
Gen 30:36 And he set three days' journey between himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
Gen 30:37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Gen 30:38 And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
Gen 30:39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted.
Gen 30:40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.
Gen 30:41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
Gen 30:42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
Gen 30:43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Whether this method of conceiving cattle worked or whether God just blessed Jacob with more cattle, is not really known but Jacob was a good business man and did what he thought would increase his flocks. Whatever happened caused more bad feelings between Jacob and Laban's other children so it would have probably been better for Jacob to have insisted on leaving then and there and not stayed any longer. When it is time to go, it is time to go.

I read something yesterday that interested me. When a preacher is called to preach a message, he has to know when to stop. I heard something similar years ago. A pastor was reading the word and he felt like stopping at a certain verse but he didn't. He continued on and something was lost that was meant to be preached.

If a preacher doesn't know when to stop and he continues saying things that the spirit of God isn't prompting him to say, he loses the effectiveness of the message that he originally was meant to deliver. We have to know when to stop. At the same time, there may be a time when the spirit of God doesn't want the message stopped just because the clock says, time to stop. I believe it was time for Jacob to leave when he felt like leaving after the birth of Joseph. Who knows. Perhaps the heart of Esau wouldn't have been ready to receive him at this time and the delay turned out to be good for Jacob instead of bad. Whatever the reason for this delay though we see that bad feelings developed. If the Lord had not of protected Jacob, Laban might have killed him.

Jacob seems to be an easy going person that was easily influenced by others. Yet we also see God dealing with Jacob many times until he came to trust in him instead of trying to do things by trickery and being deceitful.

Our Lord Jesus came from a line of imperfect people to show us how much we needed a savior from the sin that was killing our souls. He was the only one to live perfectly. He was without sin so that when he was sacrificed, his death could count on our behalf.  We by believing in Him, could have forgiveness of sin and life eternal.  God used imperfect people to bring us His own Son.  He didn't withdraw His promises from these imperfect people even though they failed time after time.  God doesn't excuse their failure but He keeps His promise to send a savior in spite of their failures.  All through the Old Testament we can see the future of salvation by grace and not works.  If we all got what we deserved, none of us would make heaven.  It is His grace that saves those who believe.  It isn't because the Jews deserved it or because we deserve it.  It is His mercy and grace that reached down from heaven and made a perfect way for all to be saved from the sin that destroys into the salvation which brings eternal life.  It is all God, not our goodness that brings this about.

Genesis 31