Reading the Bible: Genesis, Episode 7
Yaakov, Rachel, and Lea
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Dream of ladder and conditioning the belief to God
so Yaakov (Jacob) escapes from his brother, hoping to find Lavan, his uncle, brother of Rivka. He is supposed to find his bride there. Yaakov is poor, without any property, running away in the desert, “sleeping with stone as a pillow” (to emphasize that. Genesis, 28:11). but he dreams the famous ladder dream, where God promises him greatness. The first interesting point in this chapter is that Yaakov is conditioning his belief in God only if he will help him to find a wife (Genesis, 28:20). No other believer has done such an act. Noah and Avraham — followed God even in hard times. Izhak did not really have a critical part in the story, and he is quite different from the other 2 fathers, in that manner.
“Falling in love” with Rachel
Yaakov meets Rachel when she was herding the sheep. He lifts a stone cover of the well in order to give water to the sheep. It is said that the stone was so heavy that It needed 3 men to be lifted. Meaning, he was super strong and it was publicly presented, so definitely an alpha…
Eventually, they kiss, and Yaakov cries… which is not so clear why, but…
He tells Rachel he is the son of Rivka and she brings him back home to Lavan. He probably assumes Yaakov is rich, since he remembers the wealth that Avraham servant provided when he took Rivka to Izhak. So he hosts him with much happiness. But in fact, it was not so.
Working for a wife
So, after a month of relaxation, Lavan understands that Yaakov intends to stay, and is not rich as expected. Lavan asks Yaakov to work for him (such a powerful man is quite a waste…). So he does. Worked 7 years to get Rachel as a wife. Yaakov was 84 when these years end and asks to get his wife, in order to start making babies (to fulfill god’s promise). It already sounds like Lavan did not willingly give his daughters, since Yaakov had to ask…
Lavan gives him his eldest first, Lea. Without saying this in advance. Perhaps Lavan hoped to marry lea during that time. But since it didn’t happen, so… this creates some turbulence, but Yaakov works 7 more years for Rachel.
Then, having the wife he wanted, he could have just come back home. But he doesn’t. He continues to work another 7 years (Genesis, 29:30). Unclear the reason why. Some translators say it is not an extra 7 years. To be checked…
The battle of wives
It is said that Yaakov loved Rachel much more than Lea, and that God sees that Lea is the hated one, so he “open her womb and Rachel is barren” (genesis, 29:31). This also means that Lea was barren before (you can imagine that Yaakov was with Lea already 7 full years and she didn’t have any kids so far). And i think that it means Lavan and Rivka and Sarah — all had the same genetic issue…
Lea gives birth to 4 sons (Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda). Each name has a meaning. Rachel envies her sister, and complains to Yaakov to give her sons as well… he gets angry at her for thinking him to be God in blocking her womb. This means that he was actually sleeping with both of them. So She gives Jacob her mistress instead, who gives birth to Dan and Naftali. These sons are accounted as jews even if came from a slave…
Lea, who now stopped getting pregnant, also gives Yaakov her mistress as well, and her sons were called Gad and Asher. It comes down to 4 women that this guy has babies from, 2 are slaves. Yehuda, the one that Moses and king David came from, is actually the son of Lea, not Rachel (that is why we say that we have 4 mothers, not 3). Lea’s sons are important as Rachel’s. Rachel is the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
This rivalry is something that can really be imagined… But if someone were forced to marry someone against their will, they would not have babies with them… So this multi wives relationship is quite weird. And we are getting drawn into that story. In this way, Jacob is similar to Avraham more than to Izhak, who only had Rivka.
Selling a night with Yaakov
The story of birth doesn’t end here. Rachel wants some flowers from Reuven's work, and asks Lea for them. It is obvious that there is a separation between the sons and this is a premise for the event that will happen between the brothers later with joseph.
So Lea asks for something in return and Rachel, who probably didn’t believe Lea could get pregnant again, promises a night with Yaakov. This tells us that Yaakov, either spent more time with Rachel, or that they had some sort of agreed division. That night lea actually gets pregnant and gives birth to Issachar.
Maybe since they saw she is “back in action”, Lea gives birth later also to Zvulun. And then comes an interesting turn. Lea gives birth to a girl, Dina! Some say that Rachel prayed it would not be a boy, since, in that situation, Rachel would be as a slave (since she didn’t give birth to any child in the family so far). But having a girl in the family, means that there is something under her…
Rachel gives birth
But God listens to Rachel, and gets her pregnant. She gives Yosef (Joseph). Apparently, some say that there was a lot more in the background here. That Yaakov thought of banishing Rachel for being barren, and then Esav will take her, but also he would have banished her… that’s why God “listened to her” and gave her a son. I think as this in a more simple way, since Yosef has a big role in the story to follow.
The return of Yaakov
Rachel giving birth gives Yaakov some assurance that God is with him. And he decides to go back to his land. Probably now he is not afraid anymore to face Esav. Remember how different Yaakov was when he was at the house of his mother, a vegetarian gentle boy. Now he is the father of 11 boys, and with 2 wives and 2 slaves.
Yaakov asks Lavan permission to leave back to his land. Lavan asks what to give him as a reward. And Yaakov asks for some cattle. But Lavan has only his cattle. So Yaakov asks for only the “bad” ones.
The miracle of the sheep (or genetics)
Yaakov herds the bad-looking sheep, makes them go pregnant, and eventually, after several generations, he gets a really good and healthy breed of cattle. This was accounted as a miracle by the others, who later say he cheated and stole.
Anyway, in genetics, some bad genes can be transferred to the son, but it can be fixed in the grandson. So perhaps this is what happened here as well.
Edit 3.12.2022: Yaakov is described to put peeled branches near the drinking area of the sheep. A peeled branch would be one-colored, while the sheep are described to be spotted, distorted and imperfect. Yaakov also described petting them and making them fertile.
So now Yaakov is also rich with cattle.
Running away from Lavan
As Lavan’s people are saying Yaakov got rich on account of Lavan, God reveals to Yaakov and tells him it's time to go back. Lavan himself started dying, so Yaakov probably imagined the girls might want to stay there. He explains to the two wives, and asks them to understand that God is the one who helped him to go against all odds, from being a poor person to the one he is today.
Rachel and Lea answer with a very surprising answer. It is not only that they say yes and obey. They say that they have no place here, they have no inheritance (since they are girls), and that their father sold them as if they were slaves.
Yaakov gathers all his people and runs away. But after 3 days Lavan realizes what happens (which probably means that he went away himself for 3 days, because this is not something you can miss).
It is then said that he makes in 1 day the length of what Yaakov did in 7 days. This is reasonable since Yaakov went with cattle and equipment, while Lavan probably traveled light.
Lavan asks Yaakov why he ran away without letting him say goodbye. Even when Eliezer came to take Rivka, he was saying that they must depart immediately. But Yaakov runs away.
Rachel steals
Lavan blames Yaakov for stealing something from him, and Yaakov denies it, without knowing that Rachel took something. While Lavan searches all the tents (quite a weird situation for itself), Rachel puts these things under the saddle of the camel, and sits on top of it. (it is said that she dies later because of that crime).
After not finding anything in the search, Yaakov gets angry. “20 years I worked for you without any harm or steal. Why do you treat me like a thief?”. 14 years for your daughters and 6 for making the herd.
Then he says: “if it wasn’t for the God of my father Avraham and fear of Izhak, i would have been poor” (Genesis, 30:42). Why would he not say “God of Izhak”? Some say it's because Izhak was still alive and Yaakov did not want to give respect to a righteous man while still alive.
Lavan responded that he never wanted to do any evil or bad to him or to his daughters. I am very happy for your happiness. Let's make a pact. They placed a stone in the Galed, and decided that they will not see each other again, by not passing this place again. They have decided on a border… Which is a quite weird decision for 2 people who wanted to have peace.
After Lavan blessed his daughters in the morning, he goes back to his way.
Yaakov called this place Mahanaim. These places are in the northern part of israel.
Lavan is accounted as a treacherous person. but I find him quite good actually. he has always been a good host, he welcomed people to his house, allowing them to work for him. he did not do anything wrong. when he believed someone stole from him, he wanted to search and find the things.
Edit in 3.12.2022: the word “Lavan” in Hebrew means “white”, which also comes to signify purity in Jewish culture. But this is intended just to emphasize the darkness of Lavan from the inside. He might be called Lavan but actually, he was not quite a nice person. When the two daughters willingly run away with him from the house of their father without a doubt or regret, it tells a lot about the person.
