3902. Genesis 30

1. And Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children], and Rachel was jealous of her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me sons; if you do not, I am dead.

2. And Jacob flared up in anger against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God's place, who is withholding from you the fruit of the womb?

3. And she said, Behold, my maidservant Bilhah; go [in] to her, and let her bear [a child] upon my knees, and I too shall be built up from her.

4. And she gave him Bilhah her servant-girl as his wife, and Jacob went [in] to her.

5. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.

6. And Rachel said, God has judged me, and also has heard my voice, and has given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan.

7. And Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl, conceived again and bore a second son to Jacob.

8. And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali.

9. And Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, and she took Zilpah her servant-girl, and gave her to Jacob as his wife.

10. And Zilpah, Leah's servant-girl, bore Jacob a son.

11. And Leah said, A troop comes! And she called his name Gad.

12. And Zilpah, Leah's servant-girl, bore a second son to Jacob.

13. And Leah said, In my blessedness! for the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher.

14. And Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found dudaim in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, Give me now some of your son's dudaim.

15. But she said to her, Is it a small thing for you to have taken my husband? And will you take also my son's dudaim? And Rachel said, Therefore he will lie with you this night [in return] for your son's dudaim.

16. And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come [in] to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's dudaim. And he lay with her that night.

17. And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

18. And Leah said, God has given me my reward, because I gave my servant-girl to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.

19. And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

20. And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; once again my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun.

21. And afterwards she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.

22. And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.

23. And she conceived and bore a son, and she said, God has taken away ¹ my reproach.

24. And she called his name Joseph, saying, May Jehovah add to me another son.

25. And it happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away and let me go to my own place and to my own land.

26. Give me my womenfolk and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.

27. And Laban said to him, If now I have found grace in your eyes have learned from experience, and Jehovah has blessed me for your sake.

28. And he said, Indicate your wages to me, and I will give them.

29. And [Jacob] said to him, You know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me.

30. For you had few before I came, and they have increased into a multitude; and Jehovah has blessed you since I set foot here. And now, when shall I, even I, provide for my own house?

31. And he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything; if you will do this one thing for me, I will return, feed, and guard your flock.

32. I will pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted member of the flock, and every black one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the she-goats; and that will be my wages.

33. And my righteousness will answer for me on the morrow, when you come [to look] over my wages that are before you; every one that is not speckled and spotted among the she-goats, and black among the lambs, is one stolen by me.

34. And Laban said, Behold, let it be according to your word.

35. And he removed on that day the variegated and spotted he-goats, and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, every one that had white in it, and every black one among the lambs; and he gave them into the hand of his sons.

36. And he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob was feeding the rest of Laban's flocks.

37. And Jacob took for himself fresh rods of poplar, and hazel and plane, and stripped white strips on them - an exposing of the white which was on the rods.

38. And he set the rods which he had stripped in runners, in the troughs of water where the flocks came to drink, in front of the flocks; and they came on heat as they came to drink.

39. And the flocks came on heat at the rods, and the flocks brought forth variegated, speckled, and spotted ones.

40. And Jacob singled out the lambs, and set the faces of the flock towards the variegated, and every black one in Laban's flock; and he put his own droves apart and did not put them near Laban's flock.

41. And so it was, whenever those came on heat - those of the flock which came together first - that Jacob put the rods before the eyes of the flock in the runners, so that they would come on heat at the rods.

42. And before [the eyes of those of] the flock which came together later he did not put [the rods] in. And those which came together later were Laban's, and those which came together first were Jacob's.

43. And the man became very very prosperous, ² and he had many flocks, and servant-girls and slaves, and camels and asses.

CONTENTS

The previous chapter dealt, through Jacob's four sons by Leah, with the state of the Church, that is, of the person who is becoming the Church, as regards the ascent from truth which is the truth of faith towards good which is the good of love. The present chapter deals - through Jacob's sons by the servant-girls of Rachel and Leah, and through those also by Leah and lastly Rachel - with the means by which natural truth becomes joined to spiritual good, and also with the order in which this is effected with one who is being regenerated.

Footnotes:

776. '[Every] bird according to its kind' means all spiritual truth, 'flying things' means natural truth, and 'winged thing' sensory truth. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already about birds, as in 40. The most ancient people likened man's thoughts to birds, for in relation to things of the will, thoughts are like birds. Since bird, flying thing, and winged thing are mentioned here, and come consecutively in the way that intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and sensory impressions do in man, and to prevent anyone doubting that this is what they mean, let other places from the Word of a confirmatory nature be quoted, from which as well it will be evident that 'beasts' means such things as have been stated.

[2] In David,

You have given Him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the fields, the flying things of the air, ¹ and the fish of the sea. Psalms 8:6-8.

This refers to the Lord, whose dominion over man and over what belongs to man is described in this fashion. If this were not so, what would 'dominion over beasts and birds' really be? In the same author,

Fruit tree and all cedars, wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and flying thing - they shall glorify the name of Jehovah. Psalms 148:9-10, 13.

'Fruit tree' is the celestial man, 'cedar' the spiritual man, 'wild animal and beast and creeping thing' the goods of these kinds of man, as in the present context. 'Flying thing' is their truths from which they are able to glorify the name of Jehovah. This a wild animal, a beast, a creeping thing, or a flying thing can never do. In secular literature such statements can be used as hyperbole, but in the Word of the Lord they are never just hyperbole but meaningful signs and representatives.

[3] In Ezekiel,

They start to tremble before Me - the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, ² and the wild animals of the field, and every creeping thing creeping over the ground, and every man that is on the face ³ of the ground. Ezekiel 38:20.

The fact that 'beasts' and 'birds' here have such meanings is quite clear, for what would Jehovah's glory be if fish, birds, and beasts were to start to tremble? Could anyone think that such utterances are holy if they did not embody holy things within them? In Jeremiah,

I looked, and behold, there was no man; all the birds of the air ² had fled. Jeremiah 4:15.

This stands for all good and truth. Here 'man' stands as well for good that stems from love. In the same prophet,

They have been laid waste so that no man passes through, neither do men hear the voice of the herd. From the birds of the air ² down to beasts, they have scattered, they have gone away. Jeremiah 9:10.

This in a similar way stands for the departure of all truth and good.

[4] In the same prophet,

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts and the birds have perished, for men said, He will not see our latter end. Jeremiah 11:4.

Here 'beasts' stands for goods, and 'birds' for truths, which perished. In Zephaniah,

I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the air ² and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off mankind from the face ⁴ of the ground. Zephaniah 1:3.

Here 'man and beast' stands for the things which belong to love and good deriving from love, 'the birds of the air ² and the fish of the sea' for those which belong to the understanding and so to truth. These are called 'stumbling-blocks' because for wicked people it is goods and truths, not beasts and birds, that are stumbling-blocks. These are also plainly referred to as man's. In David,

The trees of Jehovah are watered abundantly, and the cedars of Lebanon which He planted. In them flying things build their nests. Psalms 104:16-17.

'The trees of Jehovah and the cedars of Lebanon' stands for spiritual man, 'flying things' for his rational or natural truths which are like 'nests'. What is more, 'the birds build nests in the branches' was a common saying by which people meant truths, as in Ezekiel,

[5] On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bring forth a branch, and bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and under it will dwell every flying thing of every sort, ⁵ in the shade of its branches they will dwell. Ezekiel 17:23.

This stands for the Church among gentiles which was spiritual and which is 'a noble cedar'. 'Birds of every sort' ⁵ stands for truths of every kind. In the same prophet,

In its branches all the birds of the air ² made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

This refers to Asshur, which is the spiritual Church and is called 'a cedar'. 'Birds of the air' ² stands for its truths, 'beasts' for its goods.

[6] In Daniel,

Its branch was fair, and its fruit much, and food for all was on it. The beast of the field had shade under it, and in its branches dwelt the flying things of the air' ¹ Daniel 4:12, 11.

Here 'beast' stands for goods, and 'flying thing of the air' ¹ for truths. This may become clear to anyone, for what else would bird and beast dwelling there really be? The same applies to what the Lord said, The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a big tree so that the birds of the air ¹ dwelt in its branches. Luke 13:19; Matthew 13:32; Mark 4:32.

Footnotes: