01.12.2017 – Old Testament: Gen 30.1–2

To read the Bible in a year, read Genesis 29–30 on January 12, In the year of our Lord 2017

By Don Ruhl

Rachel wanted children. Therefore, she demanded of her husband Jacob that he give her children. However, he had already been able to father children with Leah. That meant Rachel could not produce children.

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 God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (Genesis 30.1–2). 

Jacob realized that Rachel was the one incapable of having children until God granted that blessing to her.

Rachel thought this way, because she saw children as a blessing and not an inconvenience. Jacob also realized that he could only do so much. He was not God.

Questions:

• How do you view children?
• Has someone asked or demanded of you something that you could not do?