Genesis 29 and
30, NIV emphasis in blue and green, [CJB
quotes in magenta], my comments in yellow
[I read the Bible to
consider the perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy. It’s
partially expressed by Hebrew scholars 3000 years ago in Genesis 1:26-28: Female& male-human-being may
and can, independent of other entities, choose to constrain political chaos on
earth. In other words, on earth, humankind has the power to pursue the
good. Jesus affirmed this idea in
Matthew 19:3-8, in Matthew 5:48, and in other dialogue. I think the next Bible
canon should include the law codes of Sumer and competing civilizations.
Resulting insights would take the heat off Judeo-Christianity, a Messiah vs
Christ conflict. The broader view could accelerate collaborative pursuit of
human being (verb) and lessen baby killing.]
29:1 Then
Jacob [the son of Isaac
and Rebekah. Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah.] continued on his
journey and came to the land
of the eastern peoples [the area containing Haran, in upper Syria, where Abram settled after
leaving Ur, perhaps with his elder brother, Nahor. Nahor begot Bethuel, who
begot Rebekah and Laban. Haran is far-north-west of Ur.]. 2 There
he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it
because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the
mouth of the well was large. 3 When
all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the
stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would
return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
4 Jacob
asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”
“We’re from Harran [So the shepherds were descendants of Terah],” they replied.
5 He said
to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”
“Yes, we know him,” they answered.
6 Then
Jacob asked them, “Is he well?”
“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes [Laban’s] daughter Rachel with the
sheep.”
7 “Look,”
he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered.
Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
8 “We
can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has
been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the
sheep.”
9 While he
was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she
was a shepherd. 10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of
his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the
stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of
her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
13 As soon
as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son [also Rebekah’s son], he
hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his
home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 14 Then
Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” [Laban and Jacob were each 3 generations from
Tehrah and cousins through both mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomes, female and
male genes, respectively.]
After Jacob had stayed with [Laban] for a whole month, 15 Laban
said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for
me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the
name of the older was Leah, and
the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah
had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and
said [to Laban],
“I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” [Since Laban’s sister Rebekah
married Isaac, Jacob was, from Tehrah, 3rd cousin through both
Rebekah and Isaac – not genetically promising to Rachel’s ova.
I am attracted to one of my first cousins but as a child knew better than to pursue
intimacy with her: I let her be and
silently appreciate from a distance. We have the advantage of 3,700 years’ since
the days of Jacob and humankind’s discovery of physics and progeny.]
19 Laban said,
“It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” 20 So
Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few
days to him because of his love for her.
21 Then
Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her [To promote
the-ineluctable-truth, rather than gender dominance, a civic culture develops
mutual civic appreciation -- “make love with her”.].”
22 So Laban
brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But
when evening came, he took his daughter Leah [A bait-and-switch rip-off!] and brought her to Jacob, and
Jacob made love to her. 24 And
Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter
as her attendant.
25 When
morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have
done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”
26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here [This is kin, addressing his cousin! It
reminds me of a Protestant kin fostering enmity with a Catholic cousin,
claiming, “Your children will burn in hell because they were not baptized by
emersion.” When the Catholic objects, his kin arrogantly responds, “That’s
what-we-believe”, as though theGod has no say. Lucky is the civic person, who
decides to remain humble to the-ineluctable-truth, including theGod, whatever
it may be, rather than self-subjugate to beliefs.] to give the younger daughter in marriage
before the older one. 27 Finish this
daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in
return for another seven years of work.”
28 And
Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his
daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his
daughter Rachel as her attendant. 30 Jacob
made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for
Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. [So, for 7 years, Jacob had 2 wives who each had a
slave. Four women knew he slept with 3 others they were aware of. I don’t think
this behavior conforms to Genesis 1:26-28.]
Jacob’s Children
31 When the Lord saw [This is the first citation of deity in this story.]
that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel
remained childless. [And,
the power is typically reactionary. That is, it is not an art of control but of
consequence.] 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. [Only after the 4th son did Leah praise the Lord. Did she
stop “making love”?]
[I want
to reduce my ignorance about the 12 tribes of Israel, so conducted a study to
produce the table below: Chronology of mothers of Israeli tribe-patriarchs who
were granted 12 lands, 2 to Joseph’s sons. Levites were administrators rather
than property holders; see Deuteronomy 18:1, which conflicts with Ezekiel 48:13.
Leah Reuben the Lord has seen my misery Ezekiel 48:6
Leah Simeon he
gave me this one too Ezekiel 48:24
Leah Levi I
have borne him three sons Deuteronomy
18:1 Ezekiel 48:13
Leah Judah I will praise the Lord Ezekiel 48:7
Bilhah Dan he
was vindicated Ezekiel 48:1
Bilhah Naphtali my
struggle Ezekiel 48:3
Zilpah Gad What
good fortune. Ezekiel 48:28
Zilpah Asher the
women will call me happy Ezekiel 48:2
Leah Issachar God
rewarded me for adultery Ezekiel 48:25
Leah Zebulun God
gave me honor Ezekiel 48:26
Leah Dinah (no
gratitude for daughters)
Rachel Joseph May
the Lord add a son; 2 lands
to 2 sons Ezekiel 47:13
Rachel
Benjamin son of my right hand 16 yrs later, Genesis 35:18 Ezekiel 48:23
Asenath Ephraim doubly fruitful Ezekiel 48:5
Hephzibah Manasseh God
made me forget Ezekiel 48:4]
30:1 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 [Jacob says “God” rather than “the Lord”. Are the words
of his question used elsewhere in the Bible? According to Genesis 1:26-28, on
earth theGod leaves it to female and male human being to rule to the good.], 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.[b]
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 [fertility
enhancement], 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?” [Personal division is inevitable when a man does not unite to his wife
as suggested in Genesis 1:26-28 and spoken by Jesus in Matthew 19:3-8.]
“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. [A bigamist seems at the mercy of his mates’ competition
between themselves and with him.]
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.”
Jacob’s Flocks Increase
25 After
Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I
can go back to my own homeland. 26 Give me my wives
and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You
know how much work I’ve done for you.”
27 But
Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I
have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me
because of you.” 28 He added, “Name
your wages, and I will pay them.”
29 Jacob
said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock
has fared under my care. 30 The little you
had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you
wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own
household?”
31 “What
shall I give you?” he asked.
“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this
one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let
me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or
spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled
goat. They will be my wages. 33 And
my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages
you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or
any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.”
34 “Agreed,”
said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35 That
same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all
the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the
dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day
journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest
of Laban’s flocks.
37 Jacob,
however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane
trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the
white inner wood of the branches. 38 Then he placed
the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would
be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks
were in heat and came to drink, 39 they
mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or
speckled or spotted. 40 Jacob
set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the
streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made
separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. 41 Whenever the stronger females were in
heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the
animals so they would mate near the branches, 42 but
if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals
went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43 In
this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and
female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
In the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB), “Adonai” is used when referring to God’s sovereignty and
authority, while “God” is used when referring to God’s power and might”. Perhaps the text was revised over the centuries.
[Concluding,
Genesis 29 and 30 reflect non-acceptance of the commission to male and female
humankind in Genesis 1:26-28: rule to the good on earth. Through many
expressions, the writers influence attributing constraint on theGod, whatever
that entity may be.]
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