Genesis 29:31 - Exposition

And when the Lord saw —literally, and Jehovah saw . As Eve's son was obtained from Jehovah ( Genesis 4:1 ), and Jehovah visited Sarah ( Genesis 21:1 ), and was entreated for Rebekah ( Genesis 25:21 ), so here he again interposes in connection with the onward development of the holy seed by giving children to Jacob's wives. The present section ( Genesis 29:31-35 ) is by Davidson, Kalisch, and others assigned to the Jehovist, by Tuch left undetermined, and by Colenso in several parts ascribed to the Elohist. Kalisch thinks the contents of this section must have found a place in the earlier of the two documents— that Leah was hated ,— i . e . less loved (cf. Malachi 1:3 )— he opened her womb (cf. 1 Samuel 1:5 , 1 Samuel 1:6 ; Psalms 127:3 ): but Rachel was barren —as Sarai ( Genesis 11:30 ) and Rebekah ( Genesis 25:21 ) had been. The fruitfulness of Leah and the sterility of Rachel were designed not so much to equalize the conditions of the sisters, the one having beauty and the other children (Lange), or to punish Jacob for his partiality (Keil), or to discourage the admiration of mere beauty (Kalisch), but to prove that "the origin of Israel was to be a work not of nature, but of grace" (Keil).