Gen. 30:9-269When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. 10And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. 11And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. 12And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. 13And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher. 14And 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. 15And 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 to night for thy son's mandrakes. 16And 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. 17And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. 19And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 20And 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. 21And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 22And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24And she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son. 25And 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. 26Give 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. (Genesis 30:9‑26)
“WIEN LEAH saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.” v. 9. Surely the whole pattern before us is thus far not one of faith, but the activity of the mind and the natural reasonings that would not wait on God for blessing. Leah imitated her younger sister in giving her maid to Jacob and through this strange arrangement two additional sons were born Gad and Asher, making eight sons now in the household. Shortly thereafter God did bless Leah with two additional boys and a daughter. These were named Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah.
“And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her... and [she] bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.” vv. 22-24. With the birth of Joseph there were eleven sons and one daughter born to Jacob. Joseph was actually the first son born by Rachel and his birth marked a very important point in her life, as it soon did in Jacob’s. This was the first son for whom there was any evidence of looking to God, and He who loves to answer the prayer of a penitent heart “hearkened unto her.” Happy in the answer of her cries to God she exclaimed: “God hath taken away my reproach.” “The LORD shall add to me another son.” Surely she had entered a real period of faith in God and this was the introduction to important changes that were going to take place in the entire family.
“And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, to my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go.” 25,26. If the birth of Joseph marked a turning point in the life of Rachel it also had its good effect upon Jacob. After fourteen years in Padan-Aram, bargaining with and being deceived by Laban, while living among his idols, he was now weary of this life and found his thoughts turning to Canaan, of which the Lord had said: “I will bring thee again into this land.”
Joseph was the true child of promise, of whom a great deal will later be recorded, and was to have the special love of his father, although Jacob could scarcely enter into it at this time. But it was apparent that God touched his heart and turned his eyes in the right direction.
In Rachel, the much-loved wife we have a picture of Israel: “of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came” (Rom. 9:55Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:5)). In the two sons she presented to her husband we have types of Christ: Joseph, type of Him, the despised, rejected, suffering but exalted One; Benjamin born in the land, “son of my sorrow,” but also “son of my right hand” (Gen. 35:1818And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. (Genesis 35:18)). In a future day He will return in power and this remnant of Israel will acknowledge the long-rejected One as Jehovah their God; for “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. Psa. 110:33Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. (Psalm 110:3).
ML-10/16/1966