April 25, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Genesis? Here’s today’s reading:
Genesis 30 (NIV)
1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?……Continue Reading
A great deal of breeding happening in this chapter both human and animal!
The mess made when these two sisters are taking things into their own hands and trying to gain Jacob’s favor. It sounds like a crazy soap opera, give this one to him and that one to him and trading time with Jacob for mandrakes. Certainly these women are finding their identity in all the wrong places! It is wonderful to be a wife and mother but it is so much better to be a child of the Most High!
And as for Jacob’s breeding, I don’t know much about making spotted and speckled sheep but my assumption is that it was God’s hand that made that so successful and not poplar branches. It was obvious even to Laban that God was with Jacob and blessing him wherever he was.
Great comments, Kelly!
Genesis 30
The 2 wives gave Jacob to there maid servants to have more children. Then Leah and Rachel had more children of their own. Jacob wanted to go back to his home but Laban did not want him to. Jacob kept certain color and specks and strong. Laban ended up with all the weak flock. He did not know that Jacob became very rich with large stocks and maid and men servants Camels and donkeys. This is not surprising because his father Issac had blessed him in all that he did. I think Laban due to his deceit came back to bite him.
Laban keeps trying to deceive Jacob for now it is about the herds and sheep. Jacob desires to go home with his family and herds and sheep that he has worked for. Jacob realizes that Laban is trying to cheat him in the deal that they have made to each other so he works tirelessly to make what he deserves stronger and with God`s blessing. He works another 7 years and then has his family and all that he has earned in flight away from Laban before he knew it. Jacob has increased greatly with everything both family and possessions. May the Lord bless as we follow Him.
Genesis 30
Genesis 30
Genesis 30 and John 1-3.
Genesis 30
Strange culture, fraught with flagrant pleasure, and all the distress that goes with it. How in the world would a wife call a son of another woman hers?
Stepping aside from all this, it was before the Law, and during an age of permissiveness, with rules and standards that are not clearly articulated in Scripture to this point. Example: what exactly was Ham’s sin? Implied only that seeing the nakedness of others is unacceptable. No law to follow, other than your own.
Application today? hmmmm, let me see, do what is right in your own eyes. What is right to a thief, will not be right to you. The driver whose disabled vehicle on the Gold Star bridge in traffic, was rammed, did not use emergency flashers. He had no lawful right to drive, license suspended, no insurance. A soul is dead. But what he was doing that day was right in his own eyes. There was nothing wrong with anything he did in his eyes, up to the second of tragedy.
A witness point we can share to the unsaved stranger is just that. If your conscience is your rule for right or wrong, accept the wrong done to you, as those who harm you have the same right to choose good or evil for them. So smile when your house is broken through! Rejoice that the theif exercised his good conscience! Sounds like a twisted way to live and think.
Or, seek the righteousness of God from the heart, moved by the Spirit most-Holy, do right, flee evil, and encourage others to do so. Which advice will lead to a greater joy? Me and my house, we’ll choose the LORD! -reb
Genesis 30
Genesis 30
This chapter, like others, shows the wisdom that God had to have one man married to one woman. It shows the intrigue and jealousy that happens in the context of women vying for the man’s attention. Similar dynamics would happen too if multiple men were married to one women, there would just be more brawling and arm wrestling…How gracious and sovereign is God that He uses all this to establish the 12 tribes that will define Israel forever. God also blesses Jacob and lessens Laban through the dynamic Jacob setup with sheep and goats. Although Jacob probably believed there was something about the branches being in the trough (and maybe any sheep/goats would be attracted to the branches for food, so he put the branches out to draw his animals and the strong animals together), but it is ultimately God working in the flocks to bless Jacob. His hand is certainly on the people He has chosen. But it is His power and ability to do so that shines through more than the worthiness of the subjects receiving the blessing.
The baby battles begin!
Rachel and Leah strive to increase their offspring, as a means to Jacob’s heart.
I looked up the affects of poplar on livestock:
“Poplar cuttings are a beneficial supplement for increasing the reproductive rate of ewes grazing drought pasture during the pre-mating and mating periods.”
I have always thought of these practices as superstitious, but I can’t help but think of the statement that we have been “given everything for life and Godliness”. EVERYTHING (like pastor said on Sunday) the operative word. I am no herbalist, but there are many plants in our yards that we view as weeds, that are profitable for addressing ailments and for food. Just sayin’.
Good insights, Amy.
Genesis 30