First a disclaimer: this post is a rambling of thoughts... not very well organized.
Okay, so I'm reading along in Genesis and I get to one of the stories that I have always been fond of - Jacob in Paddan Aram. He is fleeing his home and went to his uncle's, Laban's, household. This is where he catches sight of Rachel. And it is love at first sight.... but Laban tricks him into marrying Leah her sister first and then he marries Rachel later. This is all very interesting to me but then I got to chapters 29 and 30. Jacob starts having children with the sisters... and their maidservants! Rachel, after being barren for some time, gave Jacob 2 sons; her maidservant gave him 2 sons as well; Leah's maidservant gave him 2 sons; and then Leah gave him 6 sons and... 1 daughter!?! One daughter in the whole bunch - 1 out of 13 children! I don't know why I find this so interesting. I also find it interesting that these two sisters are falling over each other to give Jacob children. They are having child after child, or when they don't conceive offering their maidservant to Jacob, to show each other up. The chapter reads pretty funny, especially verse 30:8 - "Then Rachel said, 'I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.'" I don't know whether to laugh or cry over these women feeling they have to compete for such a man as Jacob! The man that tricked his father and brother and ending up having to flee them and then he would soon trick his father-in-law as well! The other thing that I don't get is Rachel saying, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." in verse 30:6 when it wasn't Rachel's son at all, it was her maidservant's. And what does God have to do with it? Did God really lead her to give her maidservant to Jacob? It doesn't read that way to me. How often do I do that? How often do I say that God has had more of a part in something than he really did, where it was really my doing. But then there is the agrument, "Everything comes from God..." Hmmm....
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