Year of the Bible
Genesis 30
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Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Chapter 30:
Cultural context is important for the two narratives of this chapter. First, we see what happens when women cannot fulfill their most important role in marriage, which is to have sons. Jealousy, anger, buying people off, and turning over handmaids as concubines all come into play as the two wives of Jacob vie for his attention and their own status (see 16:1-2). Jacob sleeps with four women who have eleven sons and one daughter, paving the way for the future twelve tribes of Israel. In the second half the chapter, Jacob has to negotiate his pay with Laban. He offers to take the imperfect animals of the flocks, but then Laban secretly removes them all! Jacob uses a practice of ancient animal husbandry which believed that what animals view when mating impacts their progeny. This allows him to raise imperfectly colored animals and grow in wealth.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 30:
1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son”; therefore she called his name Dan. 7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed”; so she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “Good fortune!” so she called his name Gad. 12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Blessed am I! For the women will call me blessed”; so she called his name Asher.
14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me, I pray, some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband”; so she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she called his name Zebulun. 21 Afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach”; 24 and she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
Jacob Prospers
25 When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know the service which I have given you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you; 28 name your wages, and I will give it.” 29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me. 30 For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly; and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now
when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31 He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it: 32 let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. 33 So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” 34 Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” 35 But that day Laban removed the he-goats that were striped and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons; 36 and he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flock.
37 Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. 38 He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the runnels, that is, the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39 the flocks bred in front of the rods and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding Jacob laid the rods in the runnels before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the rods, 42 but for the feebler of the flock he did not lay them there; so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man grew exceedingly rich, and had large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
As I ponder Jacob's confrontational dialogue with Laban, I ask you God, is there any dialogue that I need to have with you or with someone in my life that I've been avoiding? Who is that person and what is that situation that, out of love, needs my attention and action.
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Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
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Raquel veía que no daba hijos a
Jacob, y tuvo celos de su hermana.
Entonces dijo a Jacob:
–Dame hijos o si no moriré.
2 Jacob se enfadó con Raquel y exclamó:
–¿Acaso estoy yo en el puesto de
Dios que te ha privado del fruto de tu
vientre?
3 Ella respondió:
–Ahí tienes a mi esclava Bilhá; llégate
a ella y que dé a luz sobre mis rodillas.
Así, yo tendré hijos por medio de ella.
4 Y le dio a su esclava Bilhá por mujer,
y Jacob se llegó a ella. 5 Bilhá concibió
y dio un hijo a Jacob. 6 Entonces dijo
Raquel:
–Dios me ha hecho justicia y ha escuchado
mi voz dándome un hijo.
Por eso le puso por nombre Dan.
7 De nuevo concibió Bilhá, la esclava
de Raquel, y dio a Jacob un segundo
hijo. 8 Y Raquel exclamó:
–He peleado con mi hermana peleas
divinas, y he vencido.
Y le puso por nombre Neftalí.
9 Al ver Lía que había dejado de dar
a luz, tomó a su esclava Zilpá y se la dio
por mujer a Jacob. 10 Zilpá, la esclava de
Lía, dio un hijo a Jacob; 11 y Lía exclamó:
–¡Qué buena suerte!
Y le puso por nombre Gad.
12 Todavía Zilpá, la esclava de Lía,
dio un segundo hijo a Jacob, 13 y Lía dijo:
–Qué feliz soy, pues me felicitarán
las mujeres.
Y le puso por nombre Aser.
14 En los días de la siega del trigo, Rubén
salió al campo, encontró unas mandrágoras,
y se las llevó a su madre Lía.
Entonces le dijo Raquel a Lía:
–Por favor, dame de las mandrágoras
de tu hijo.
15 Ésta le contestó:
–¿No te basta con haberte llevado a
mi marido para que te lleves también las
mandrágoras de mi hijo?
Repuso Raquel:
–Está bien, que duerma contigo esta
noche a cambio de las mandrágoras de
tu hijo.
16 Y al llegar Jacob del campo por la
tarde, Lía salió a su encuentro y le dijo:
–Vente conmigo, pues he pagado
por ti con las mandrágoras de mi hijo.
Y Jacob se unió a ella aquella noche.
17 El Señor escuchó a Lía, que concibió
y dio a Jacob el quinto hijo. 18 Dijo Lía:
–Dios me ha pagado por dar mi esclava
a mi marido.
Y le puso por nombre Isacar.
19 De nuevo concibió Lía y dio a Jacob
el sexto hijo. 20 Dijo entonces Lía:
–Dios me ha hecho un buen regalo,
esta vez me ganaré a mi marido pues le
he dado seis hijos.
Y le puso por nombre Zabulón.
21 Después dio a luz una hija y le
puso por nombre Dina.
22 Dios se acordó de Raquel. Dios la
escuchó y la hizo fecunda. 23 Ella concibió
y dio a luz un hijo, y exclamó:
–Dios ha quitado mi afrenta.
24 Y le puso por nombre José, diciendo:
–Que el Señor me añada otro hijo.
25 Después de que Raquel diera a luz
a José, dijo Jacob a Labán:
–Déjame marchar, que quiero ir a
mi casa y a mi tierra; 26 dame las mujeres
y los hijos por los que te he servido
y me iré, pues tú conoces el servicio que
te he prestado.
27 Le respondió Labán:
–Si me aprecias, quédate; he recibido
un oráculo de que el Señor me ha
bendecido por tu causa.
28 Y añadió:
–Fíjame tu salario y te lo pagaré.
29 Le dijo Jacob:
–Tú sabes cuánto te he servido y
cómo le ha ido a tu ganado conmigo,
30 pues lo poco que tenías antes se ha convertido
en mucho; el Señor te ha bendecido
con mi llegada. Ahora bien, ¿cuándo
voy a hacer algo por mi casa?
31 Labán le preguntó:
–¿Qué tengo que darte?
–No me des nada –respondió Jacob–;
haz únicamente lo siguiente: Volveré
a pastorear y a cuidar tu rebaño.
32 Pasaré hoy entre todo tu rebaño; tú
aparta las reses listadas y oscuras; y todas
las negras de entre las ovejas, y las
oscuras y con pintas de entre las cabras,
serán mi paga. 33 Así el día de mañana
mi honradez responderá de mí. Cuando
te persones a comprobar mi paga, todo
lo que no tenga pintas ni sea oscuro entre
las cabras, o negro entre las ovejas, se
me considerará un robo.
34 Respondió Labán:
–Está bien; sea como dices. Aquel mismo día Labán apartó los
machos cabríos oscuros y con pintas
negras, todas las cabras oscuras y con
pintas, todo lo que tenía algo de blanco, todas
las ovejas negras, y las entregó a sus hijos.
36 Se alejó de Jacob tres días de camino,
mientras que Jacob pastoreaba el resto del
rebaño de Labán.
37 Jacob se procuró unas varas verdes
de álamo, almendro y plátano; y peló en
ellas unas franjas, dejando al descubierto
lo blanco de las varas. 38 Luego colocó
las varas descortezadas en los pilones
de los abrevaderos de agua donde el ganado
venía a beber, justo delante del ganado
que se apareaba al venir a abrevar.
39 Así el ganado se apareaba delante de
las varas y paría crías con pintas negras,
reses listadas y oscuras.
40 Jacob apartó los corderos y puso
ese ganado junto al que tenía pintas o
era negro en el rebaño de Labán, e iba
poniendo sus hatos aparte, sin mezclarlos
con el rebaño de Labán. 41 Y siempre
que se apareaban las reses más fuertes
ponía Jacob las varas delante de ellas en
los pilones, para que se aparearan delante
de las varas; 42 en cambio, no las
ponía cuando las reses eran débiles. Así,
las endebles eran para Labán y las fuertes
para Jacob. 43 El hombre se enriqueció
muchísimo y tenía rebaños numerosos,
siervas y siervos, camellos y asnos.
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).