Opening
Individuals: Take time to think back about your past week. Where have you seen God work in your life or answer prayer? Write down any prayer requests you have.
Group: Open the study by sharing life updates, reviewing highs and lows of your past week, or sharing prayer requests and praises.
Icebreaker: Do you have kids? If so, tell the group a little about them.
All: Begin the study with a word of prayer, asking God to open your heart for today’s study. You can also pray for any prayer requests now, or save that for the end.
Study
Read today’s passage: Genesis 29:31-30:24.
31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”
33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.
34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.
35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
30 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?”
3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”
4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.
7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”
“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
What is the context for this passage?
This passage continues the story of Jacob, the final patriarch in the line of Abraham. After angering his brother Esau by stealing his birthright and his blessing, Jacob leaves home and travels to his mother’s family for safety. Rebekah’s brother Laban takes him in, and Jacob falls in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel. In wage negotiations, Jacob and Laban agree that Jacob will work seven years in exchange for Rachel as his wife.
Everything goes as expected—until the wedding night. Jacob works for seven years, the wedding arrives, he gets married—and to his surprise, he discovers Leah has been married to him instead of Rachel. Laban defends himself by saying that their custom is for the oldest daughter to marry first. So they negotiate another seven years of work for Rachel. Jacob worked seven years to marry one sister, waited a week, married the other sister as well, and then worked another seven years for her. Within the span of a week, Jacob gains not only two wives but their two attendants as well. Through all of this, Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah, and everyone knows it. And what happens after marriage? Children.
One more note for those who read the story and wonder about the significance of mandrakes. A mandrake is a flowering plant in the nightshade family that has large, forked roots that sometimes resemble a human face and body. They were believed to be an aphrodisiac and were commonly eaten to promote fertility. Mandrakes are mentioned one other time in the Bible in Song of Solomon 7:13. I’m not sure how well they work, since in this story Leah has at least three more children before Rachel has her first son.
Read the passage again.
Explore a different version if you have one available. If you are online, here is Genesis 29 in NIV through Bible Gateway. You can change the version by using the dropdown menu at the top right of the page.
Try to summarize the passage in your own words.
Answer these three questions about the passage:
1. What does the passage say about God?
God sees and hears his people. Throughout this passage, we see several places where Leah and Rachel refer to God hearing or seeing them. First, God saw that Leah was not loved, so he gave her children. Then, when Leah had Reuben, she said, “the Lord has seen my misery.” When she has Simeon, she said, “The Lord heard that I am not loved.” When Bilhah had Dan, Rachel said, “[God] has listened to my plea.” Throughout the entire story, God pays attention to and responds to his people.
God has control over childbearing. This story starts out with a fundamental truth: God is the one who controls childbearing. God enabled Leah to conceive but not Rachel. With almost every child, Leah and Rachel give credit to God for their son. They know that the blessing of a child is a blessing from God. Finally, God enables Rachel to conceive as well.
God created people to have children. Both biologically and emotionally, God created people to have children. God created people to have the right anatomy for a man and a woman to create a new life, a child. In this way, God created a way for humanity to continue. However, it’s not just our anatomy that supports having children. God also created people to emotionally desire having and raising children.
God remembers those who have been faithful to him. Rachel went many years without bearing a child, watching painfully as her sister and two of their servants bore Jacob 10 sons. But God did not forget Rachel. Finally, God remembered Rachel and gave her a son.
2. What does the passage say about people?
People long to be loved. Something that comes out over and over again in this passage is the desire of each of these wives to be loved by their husband. Leah said several times that maybe now her husband would love her because she bore him sons. Rachel knew she was loved, but she felt disgrace because she didn’t have children. Wanting to be loved is a natural human response.
Sometimes people don’t love others the way they should. Based on Leah’s continued focus on gaining Jacob’s love, it seems that Jacob didn’t love Leah, at least not how she wanted to be loved, and it was obvious. Yes, Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah, but every person still deserves to be loved.
People often tend to be focused on themselves. Almost every time Leah and Rachel had sons (either themselves or through a servant), they were focused on their own needs and desires. Leah frequently commented about gaining her husband’s love, and Rachel just wanted to win her struggle with her sister for their husband’s affection.
People who are blessed by God worship him. After Leah had her fourth son, she finally placed her focus on God rather than on her husband. Of the 6 children Leah bore herself and the 2 borne through her servant, Judah is the only one where Leah’s entire focus was on praising God. Interestingly, Judah’s line is the one through whom Jesus would come.
People become jealous when others have what they do not. Jealousy is everywhere throughout this story. Leah is jealous of Rachel because Jacob loves Rachel and not her. Rachel is jealous of Leah because Leah has borne children and Rachel hasn’t. Jealousy and trying to gain what they do not have drives every decision in this story, including the decision of both women to give their servants to Jacob to bear more children.
People become angry when people want them to control something they cannot control. Although Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah, he becomes angry with Rachel when she accuses him of not giving her children. Jacob knows this is beyond his control, so he gets angry with Rachel because he can do nothing to change her ability to get pregnant.
When people don’t get what they want, they try to take things into their own hands. Rachel wasn’t able to have children, so instead of being satisfied with what God had provided for her, she decided to take things into her own hands by giving Jacob her servant Bilhah to sleep with and bear her a son. This is so reminiscent of Sarah, who gave Hagar to Abraham when Sarah was not able to bear Abraham a son. Later in the story, Leah does the same thing when she realizes she has stopped having children.
Some people feel that not being able to have children is a disgrace. Based on her response when she finally gave birth to Joseph, Rachel felt that not being able to have children was a disgrace. Indeed, people of that time felt that not being able to have children was a curse from God. By finally having a son, Rachel felt that her disgrace was removed.
3. What does the passage say about God’s plan?
God’s plan was to give Leah love and favor through bearing children. God knew that Jacob did not love Leah, so he built favor for her through giving her children and withholding children from Rachel. Of Jacob’s 12 children, Leah bore half of them, and 2 more were borne through her servant.
God’s plan was to make Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into a great nation. After generations of struggling to have children, God finally has a patriarch that has many children. Although we only see 11 children in this story, Jacob eventually has 12 sons, which become the 12 tribes of Israel.
God’s plan was for Rachel to have Jacob’s youngest sons. After much patience and distress and jealousy, Rachel finally had a son with Jacob. Later, she has another son. These two sons are key to the future of the national of Israel. If Rachel would have had many sons, or if she would not have had trouble bearing children, these sons may not have had quite the same impact on the story as they did due to the wait their parents had to endure before they were born.
How does the passage fit into the overarching story of the Bible?
Sometimes it’s easier to understand a passage if you have a little outside knowledge from other passages in the Bible. This section will help provide that outside perspective.
Back in Genesis 12, God promised Abraham that he would make Abraham into a great nation. Abraham waited 25 years for God to give him the promised son through whom he would become a great nation. Abraham’s son Isaac then waited 20 years after his marriage to Rebekah before God gave them twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob becomes the final member of the three patriarchs, and God’s promise to build Abraham into a nation finally seems like it might become a reality. With 12 sons, Jacob has a good start on building a massive family tree.
We see throughout the rest of the Old Testament that Jacob’s 12 sons do indeed become a great nation, the nation of Israel. In fact, they become so numerous that the Egyptians were afraid of them and placed them into slavery. Despite the efforts of the Egyptians to slow the growth of the Israelite population, the Israelites numbered 600,000 men plus women and children when they are finally freed from slavery and escape from Egypt (Exodus 12:37). God had fulfilled his promise.
Making Abraham into a great nation was only part of God’s promise. God also promised that the whole world would be blessed through Abraham. What was this blessing? This blessing was Jesus, the Messiah, God himself come to earth to pay the penalty for our sins and bring salvation to all who believe. I find it interesting that Jesus came through the line of Judah. Judah was Leah’s child, not the beloved Rachel’s. Also, Judah was the first son that Leah had that she didn’t try to use to manipulate Jacob into loving her. Instead, she simply praised God for his birth. This was the son through whom Jesus would come.
Discussion
Individual: Answer the following questions thoughtfully for yourself.
Group: Pose these questions for discussion.
All: If you are willing to share, I’d love to hear your thoughts to these questions. Feel free to use the comment section to start a discussion about this passage.
What else strikes you about this passage?
How does the passage affect how you view God? How you view yourself?
How does this passage affect how you will live your life?
Additional Study
For additional study related to this topic, read Matthew 1:1-17.
Premium Resources
For Bible Essential studies, you can use my thoughts as your devotional, or you can download and use the journaling sheet to work through the passage on your own. If desired, you can then compare your thoughts to mine. Journal sheets can be downloaded and used now or later. They can be printed and filled in by hand or saved and filled out electronically. Journal sheets are available for individual or group use.
If you plan to lead a group study, a PowerPoint presentation is also available.
You can access these resources by clicking here: Genesis 29-30 Resources
Or you can download the journal sheets here*:
*Substack doesn’t support PowerPoint file downloads yet, so if you want to access the PowerPoint file for group study, you will need to download it from the resource page linked above.
Is there any lesson to taken from the structure and interlinks between the family members in the story of Jacobs Many Children? What does it mean that Jacobs wives give their servants to him to marry and bear children with? Is this a moral lesson for us today or is this type of polygamous marriage now outdated?
This was TOTALLY AWESOME Karen...thank you!!!
READ THIS!!! IT ROCKS!!!