11 little patriarchs

Genesis 29: in which Jacob meets future wives Rachel and Leah, is cheated by Laban, and becomes a father.

Jacob meets the “graceful” and “beautiful” Rachel at the well at which she waters her father’s sheep. (He rolls away the heavy stone cover of the well for her.) Laban is happy to meet him, and Jacob is also introduced to Rachel’s elder sister, Leah. The two men agree that the Jacob will work for Laban for seven years for Rachel. However, on the wedding night Laban instructs Leah to sleep with Jacob, who discovers the subterfuge too late – “When morning came, it was Leah!”

Laban’s excuse is that it is not done to marry off the younger sister before the elder. So Jacob works another seven years for Rachel. When the Lord sees that Leah is unloved by Jacob he “open[s] her womb” and not Rachel’s. Leah bears Jacob four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah (ancestor of the Davidic kings – Notes). The Notes suggest that Rachel’s barrenness is the price Jacob pays for cheating his brother out of the patriarchal blessing. Still, Jacob is becoming the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Each son has what the Notes call a “naming speech”, made by their mothers, and the name of each is wordplay based on the speeches. The sons and their naming speeches are listed below.

Genesis 30: in which Jacob’s wives quarrel, more children are born, and Jacob cheats Laban.

Rachel demands children from Jacob, who angrily retorts “am I in place of the Lord, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” Like Sarah before her, Rachel sends her husband a substitute, in this case her maid Bilhah, “that she may bear upon my knees”. Apparently Bilhah’s children will be regarded as Rachel’s. Bilcah bears Jacob two sons, Dan and Naphtali, who receive naming speeches from Rachel. Not to be outdone, Leah sends Jacob her maid Zilpah, who bears Jacob Gad and Asher.

Reuben finds some mandrake which he give to his mother. Obviously thinking that this may help her conceive Rachel requests some from Leah – who is none too pleased at the prospect, but who does give her some in exchange for Leah being allowed to sleep with Jacob. “You must come to me,” she tells Jacob, “for I have hired you with my son’s mandrake”. Leah gives birth to Issachar, then to Zebulun, followed by a daughter, Dinah. Rachel’s plan didn’t work.

Now “God remember[s] Rachel”. Joseph is born to her, and gets two naming speeches, each from a different source text. The Notes point out that before this God also “remembered” Noah (and saved him from the Flood) and Abraham. In all these cases the remembering entailed a beneficial act towards the person. So I guess it should be read as a sign of God’s munificence, rather than indicating that Rachel had been left out in the cold previously.

Laban refuses to let Jacob leave and tells him that he can name his own wages if he stayed. (Laban says that he learned through divination that God blessed him because of Jacob.) Jacob chooses all the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, and all black lambs from Laban’s flocks, to which the latter agrees. Before Jacob can collect these animals Laban removes them from the herds. Undeterred, Jacob practises some sympathetic magic – he places partly stripped rods of wood at the troughs where the herds drink and breed, and takes the striped, speckled and spotted offspring of the strongest animals. (Under the influence of the varicoloured rods the animals drop varicoloured offspring.) In this way he becomes exceedingly rich in livestock, and also in male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. He shares his blessings in material possessions with his grandfather and father.

Points to ponder

In the beginning Jacob has a plan, which is foiled by Laban and Leah’s deceit. Then, although he does get to marry his first love, she is kept barren while God makes Leah “fruitful”. God has his own plan – and appears to accomplish it via Laban’s deceit. The Notes suggest that Jacob is now paying for his own past deceitful acts. Maybe this is also why he gets cheated out of livestock by Laban. And then of course Jacob himself cheats Laban to end up with what Laban agreed he should have, and more. So God has plans that are fulfilled no matter the machinations of humans? Are these plans fulfilled with the aid of human deceit, or do they change in response to them?

Naming speeches

Son	Mother	Naming speech
Reuben	Leah	Because the Lord looked on my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.
Simeon	Leah	Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.
Levi	Leah	Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have born him three sons.
Judah	Leah	This time I will praise the Lord.
Dan	Rachel (Bilhah)	God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.
Naphtali	Rachel (Bilhah)	With might wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed.
Gad	Leah (Zilcah)	Good fortune.
Asher	Leah (Zilcah)	Happy am I! For the women will call me happy.
Issachar	Leah	God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband.
Zebulun	Leah	God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.
Dinah	Leah	None
Joseph	Rachel	God has taken away my reproach. (E) | May the Lord add to me another son. (J)

~ by tamfuwing on July 10, 2008.