Genesis 30:4 NIV

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Genesis 30:1-43

CHAPTER 30 Jacob with Laban 1. The sons of Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 30:1-8 ) 2. The sons of Zilpah: Gad and Asher (Genesis 30:9-13 ) 3. The children of Leah: Issachar, Zebulon and Dinah (Genesis 30:14-20 ) 4. The birth of Joseph (Genesis 30:22-24 ) 5. Jacob’s request to return (Genesis 30:25-26 ) 6. Laban’s confession and Jacob’s prosperity (Genesis 30:27-43 ) Little comment is needed on this. The avarice and deceit of Laban is matched by the dexterity and cunning of... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 30:1-43

THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN RACHEL AND LEAH The fruitfulness of Leah moved Rachel to jealousy, then her demand to Jacob for children moves him to anger (vs.1-2). We may see a serious lesson in Rachel's words, "Give me children or else I die." If we do not see evident fruit, we have the tendency to give up: the exercise of soul that desires true godliness may virtually die. Many Christians have their proper growth stunted by this very thing. On the other hand, Jacob's anger does not help the... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Genesis 30:1-43

JACOB AND LABAN THEIR FIRST MEETING (Genesis 29:1-14 ) Jacob’s journey to Haran, his mother’s country, was first to the north and then the east, re-traversing the original course of his grandfather Abraham. As he nears its termination; his attention is attracted by the shepherds with their flocks around a well, whose mouth is covered with a stone. Inquiry reveals that they belong to Haran, and are acquainted with his uncle Laban. Rachel, his daughter and the keeper of his sheep, will be... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Genesis 30:1-43

In the Service of Laban Genesis 29-31 The story occupied by Genesis 29-31 represents one of the oft-recurring mysteries of human life. That is to say, in view of what has just taken place, that story seems to be an anti-climax, and is felt to be, in some serious sense, even a disappointment. It is almost impossible to bring the mind from the contemplations upon which it has just been fixed to read such an incident as that which spreads itself over these three chapters. When a man has seen... read more

George Haydock

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Genesis 30:4

Marriage. The Manichees condemned Jacob for having more than four wives at once. But St. Augustine replied, it was not then unusual or forbidden. He took the two last only at the pressing instigation of Rachel and Lia, and that only for the sake of children. Lia herself was forced upon him. (contra Faust. xxii. 48.) read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 30:1-13

1-13 Rachel envied her sister: envy is grieving at the good of another, than which no sin is more hateful to God, or more hurtful to our neighbours and ourselves. She considered not that God made the difference, and that in other things she had the advantage. Let us carefully watch against all the risings and workings of this passion in our minds. Let not our eye be evil towards any of our fellow-servants, because our Master's is good. Jacob loved Rachel, and therefore reproved her for what she... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Genesis 30:1-13

The Sons of Bilhah and Zilpah v. 1. And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. Barrenness was considered a special punishment and curse of God in the Old Testament, especially in the families of the patriarchs, in whose case the longing for the Messiah intensified the desire for children. Rachel, therefore, seeing her sister Leah bearing one son after the other, was filled with envy and impatience,... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Genesis 30:1-24

SECOND SECTIONJacob’s wives and children. Jacob and Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter. First and second treaty with Laban. His involuntary consummation of marriage with Leah. The double marriage. Leah’s sons. Rachel’s dissatisfaction. The strife of the two women. The concubines. Jacob’s blessing of children Genesis 29:1 to Genesis 30:241Then Jacob went on his journey [lifted up his feet] and came [fled] into the land of the people [children] of the east [morning]. 2And he looked, and behold a... read more

Frederick Brotherton Meyer

F.B. Meyer's 'Through the Bible' Commentary - Genesis 30:1-24

Sons Born to Jacob Genesis 30:1-24 The details of this paragraph are given with great minuteness, because they concern the twelve sons of Jacob, the forefathers of Israel. After all, history is made in the nursery, and we are very much what our mothers have made us in the formative years. An old Spanish proverb says, “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.” Leah’s influence on her boys, as judged by their subsequent life, was anything but healthy; yet with Jacob being the man he was,... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Genesis 30:1-43

In reading these stories we must never forget that we are looking at things as they were in that far-gone time and must make all necessary allowances for the imperfect light in which these people lived. That, however, does not prevent our seeing how much is chronicled here which contradicts the principle of faith. It is the story of domestic trouble and heart-burning out of which arose actions utterly out of keeping with the life of simple trust. Nevertheless, throughout there is a manifest... read more