Jealousy is a sin that hampers all relationships.  Jealousy comes from comparing ourselves to others which turns all our thoughts, words, and actions into a competition for affection, worth, and value.  Leah and Rachel are two sisters who are extremely jealous for the affection of Jacob who was fooled into marrying both.  Laban created this competition of comparison from the moment Jacob came into their lives.  Laban used Jacob as a way to solve a cultural issue—marrying off both daughters. 

Jacob’s past was also filled with jealousy.  This trait is not new to him.  Jacob was the twin brother to Esau. The two of them, with different interests and abilities, were in constant competition of their parents’ favor—and blessing!  “Issaac loved Esau, Rebekah loved Jacob.”  God loved them each one of His created; but chose Jacob to carry on the promise He gave to Abraham. 

This chapter in the story of God shows His amazing wisdom as He sorts through all the jealousies, competitions, and comparisons of sinful souls while accomplishing His will in them.  Jealousy still exists today—in my family and probably in yours when we pause to admit it. 

RECAP:  Jacob left his home and started a four hundred-mile trip north to Harran to search for a wife. Jacob married, secured work, and had twelve sons.  Jacob’s wives knew that children were one way that God blesses his people. The meaning of many of the children’s names reflect this understanding: Judah means “praise;” Gad means “lucky;” Asher means “happy;” Zebulun means “honor.” More than merely status symbols, these children became the patriarchs of Israel.

Genesis 30

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, 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.

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, 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?”

“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.

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.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Since the fall, jealousy (and all related sins) is a generational curse that is birthed and expanded from self-will.  Jealousy destroys our relationships with each other and in turn with God.  Jesus came to reverse the curse!  While on earth, Jesus taught the opposite character traits to desire and obtain so that we may live with each other in peace and unity. (See Matthew 5-7 as a reference to this teaching) We are “blessed,” Jesus teaches, as we grow to be more and more in every way like Him.  Jesus is the one who modeled a life of following God’s will and purpose.  Jesus came to serve, not to be served.  Jesus was sent to seek and to save the lost—all the lost of the world.  Jesus did exactly what His Father in Heaven told him to do—even willingly obeying God’s plan to lay down His life for our redemption.

What Jesus was not—

Jesus did not sin.  He was never jealous of the priests, teachers of the law and the scribes.  He did not seek position for He was God, the Word of God in flesh but did not seek equality with God while He walked the earth among humanity.  Jesus did not manipulate the thoughts of the lost; He saw their hearts and grieved over their hardening arteries and told the Truth of how to turn from their wicked ways.  Jesus did not hold a grudge or become bitter over being slandered, beaten, and hung on a cross; instead He forgave them.  Jesus could have called down thousands of angels to rescue him—but He did not.

We are not Jesus, the one sinless, who saves us; but we are the saved to tell others who Jesus is and what He did and does for us!  We are commanded to point the Way to leaving sin’s darkness to live as children of the Light of God’s love, mercy, and grace!  All because of Jesus, God’s Son.

“Get rid of it,” says Paul!  “It” is sin.  We need Jesus to do this for us.  We cannot do it without Him.

“That, however, is not the way of life you learned…when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:20-32

Looking ahead…

Rachel conceived and gave birth to a son whom she named Joseph. The mandrakes had nothing to do with this pregnancy; it was God who blessed her in answer to her prayers. The Hebrew word qsaf means “take away,” and yosef means “to add.” God had taken away her “disgrace” of being childless and had added to her blessings. Her declaration “The LORD shall add to me another son” (v. 24) was eventually answered in the birth of Benjamin (“son of my right hand”), but the delivery led to her death (35:16–20). Many years later, it was Joseph whom God would use to save the entire family during the time of terrible famine.  Yeah, “spoiler alert”.  But we need to connect the dots in God’s story through His beloved.

Lord,

Thank you for helping to see how sin can corrupt not only us but our relationships with others as well as with you.  Forgive us our sins as we forgive others who sin against us.  May our first thought be your love in us when faced with difficulties as humans.  Even today, guide and and provide all you know we will need as we walk with you, relate to you and others, while seeking Truth in all things. May your will be done.

In Jesus Name, Amen