It's a Fifth Boy!

Baby showers galore! 

...And a sixth boy! A seventh boy!! Look, it's the eighth boy! Your ninth boy! It's a tenth baby boy! It's a girl! It's boy number eleven!

Today's reading is from Beresheet (Genesis) chapter 30.

Beresheet 30:1-8 "Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or else I die!' And Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, 'Am I in the place of Elohim, who has withheld you the fruit of the womb?' So she said, 'Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.' Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, 'Elohim has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.' Therefore she called his name Dan. And Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, 'With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.' So she called his name Naphtali."

Now Jacob has three wives, two of which are literally competing to see who will have the most sons for Jacob, and the third is helping out the second. Talk about sibling rivalry!

Beresheet 30:9-13 "When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as wife. And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, 'A troop comes!' So she called his name Gad. And Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, 'I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.' So she called his name Asher."

Jacob is now married to four women, still competing against each other. If you'll notice, however, Jacob isn't talking about loving anyone other than Rachel. He hasn't suddenly developed a fancy for Zilpah or Bilhah, he hasn't mentioned loving Leah, there's only Rachel.

Beresheet 30:14-16 "Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, 'Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.' But she said to her, 'Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?' And Rachel said, 'Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes.' When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, 'You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes.' And he lay with her that night."

I don't really know what mandrakes are. I'm guessing they're some kind of plant. At any rate, Leah's winning the competition, but not winning Jacob's love. Jacob loves only one of his wives, and Leah can't change that.

Beresheet 30:17-21 "And Elohim listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, 'Elohim has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.' So she called his name Issachar. Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. And Leah said, "Elohim has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.' So she called his name Zebulun. Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah."

Leah and Zilpah have had a total of eight boys for Jacob, and Rachel's maid Bilhah had two. Ten boys now. Oh, and one girl. Dinah, though she is only a girl, is not to be forgotten; what happens to her later starts a feud. If you could call it that. I think it might better be described as a massacre...

Beresheet 30:22-24 "Then Elohim remembered Rachel, and Elohim listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, 'Elohim has taken away my reproach.' So she called his name Joseph, and said, 'Yahuah shall add to me another son.'"

Eleven boys now, and one girl. Twelve children in all at the moment, and Rachel is already expecting a thirteenth. Only one was really born to Rachel though, and that is Joseph. Traditionally, special privileges go to the firstborn, but will Jacob count Reuben as his first born, or Joseph as his first born? What of Zilpah and Bilhah's sons? Or will he just say he has four firstborn sons and split up the special treatment between the four of them? You have to remember though, Jacob still only loves Rachel.

Beresheet 30:25-26 "And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, 'Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.'"

Jacob's been working as a shepherd for Laban ever since he first met Rachel. It's hard to say how long ago that was, but he worked seven years before marrying Leah, and has had twelve kids thus far... Let's guess one kid per year... He's worked roughly nineteen years for Laban. Give or take. A general summary of the rest of the chapter goes thusly... Laban wants Jacob to take some sheep and goats with him; he can take the speckled and brown ones; Laban wants only the white ones. Jacob then shows what he knows about the sheep-breeding process, and how he realized that spots and speckles and general brown-ness are genetic traits passed down through generations of sheep and goats... Basically, he wound up with a LOT of sheep and goats.

A little bit of homework: Look up the names of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah, and Joseph. There's a link at the end of yesterday's post.

Tomorrow's reading is Genesis 31.

-Kj