- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Apr 8, 2022 13:18:03 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Genesis 30:22-31:2
Haftara- 1Samuel 1:1-11
D’rash: Last week, if you read the parashah you saw combined with this week’s reading the account of the birth of the named progenitors of all but two of the twelve tribes of Yisroel. Benyamin will appear in ch. 35, and in ch. 48 we’ll see Yoseph is not named other than as fathering Ephraim and Manasseh who will head two separate tribes.
Also last week we saw God’s compassion towards the unfavored wife:
Genesis 29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
We also see an unhealthy competition growing between Rachel and Leah:
Genesis 29:9-10 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
-Genesis 30:1,3-5 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” … Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children [be built up, which sounds like the Hebrew for children] through her.” So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
-Genesis 30: 9-10 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
The servants children would have belonged to the wives. Quite probably the servants also would have laboured on the knees (or laps, but the knees were the indicator) of their respective masters, indicating the children were Rachel and Leah’s. However, as I said last week, a mother does not forget her child. And the servants would most likely have been intimately involved in rearing them. Also both Rachel and Leah did have children of their own (see above). So the stage is set for a four way competition within the family, and Ya’aqov has shown himself susceptible to the compelling of a strong female influence when he followed his mother’s advice on tricking his father in stealing the birthright. This will not make for a healthy family, and will lead to a lot of sorrow.
In fact, the term “affliction” is seen in chs. 16 & 17 when God shows compassion on Hagar, and here on Leah in vs. 32:
H6040 עֳנִי ‛ŏnı̂y; depression, misery - afflicted, trouble.
In many near-eastern societies barrennes was seen as a curse, or a punishment from their deities (in this case from God). Thus Rachel’s cry “Give me children, or I shall die!” Life for a childless woman was not worth living. This would only intensify the competition. And there was still the ultimate trickster, Ya’aqov’s uncle, Lavan.
Genesis 30:25,31-36 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. … He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock.
So Lavan’s offer of “fair” compensation was a lie, as he tries to further trick and defraud his nephew. However Ya’aqov proves the better strategist as he arranges for the flocks to bear spotted and speckled offspring:
Genesis 30:37-39,41-42 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. … Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
And so Ya’aqov’s wealth grew at the expense of his uncle:
Genesis 30: 43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
The term translated “increased” here is פָּרַץ pârats- to break out; breach, break (away, down, forth, in, up); burst out; spread abroad; compel,; disperse, grow, increase, open, press, scatter, urge. This can not only mean to grow wealthy, but could be associated with his breaking away from Lavan and his restrictions; his unjust domination and trickery.
Ya’aqov heard the sons of Lavan were talking behind his back. He also noticed that Lavan looked differently upon him:
Genesis 31:1-2 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.
And so God was preparing him to move.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; Dr D. Stern; Dr Eli of the Israel Bible Center; JPS Study TNK; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 31:3-32:2
Haftara- Jer 30:10-16
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Genesis 30:22-31:2
Haftara- 1Samuel 1:1-11
D’rash: Last week, if you read the parashah you saw combined with this week’s reading the account of the birth of the named progenitors of all but two of the twelve tribes of Yisroel. Benyamin will appear in ch. 35, and in ch. 48 we’ll see Yoseph is not named other than as fathering Ephraim and Manasseh who will head two separate tribes.
Also last week we saw God’s compassion towards the unfavored wife:
Genesis 29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
We also see an unhealthy competition growing between Rachel and Leah:
Genesis 29:9-10 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
-Genesis 30:1,3-5 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” … Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children [be built up, which sounds like the Hebrew for children] through her.” So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
-Genesis 30: 9-10 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
The servants children would have belonged to the wives. Quite probably the servants also would have laboured on the knees (or laps, but the knees were the indicator) of their respective masters, indicating the children were Rachel and Leah’s. However, as I said last week, a mother does not forget her child. And the servants would most likely have been intimately involved in rearing them. Also both Rachel and Leah did have children of their own (see above). So the stage is set for a four way competition within the family, and Ya’aqov has shown himself susceptible to the compelling of a strong female influence when he followed his mother’s advice on tricking his father in stealing the birthright. This will not make for a healthy family, and will lead to a lot of sorrow.
In fact, the term “affliction” is seen in chs. 16 & 17 when God shows compassion on Hagar, and here on Leah in vs. 32:
H6040 עֳנִי ‛ŏnı̂y; depression, misery - afflicted, trouble.
In many near-eastern societies barrennes was seen as a curse, or a punishment from their deities (in this case from God). Thus Rachel’s cry “Give me children, or I shall die!” Life for a childless woman was not worth living. This would only intensify the competition. And there was still the ultimate trickster, Ya’aqov’s uncle, Lavan.
Genesis 30:25,31-36 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. … He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock.
So Lavan’s offer of “fair” compensation was a lie, as he tries to further trick and defraud his nephew. However Ya’aqov proves the better strategist as he arranges for the flocks to bear spotted and speckled offspring:
Genesis 30:37-39,41-42 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. … Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
And so Ya’aqov’s wealth grew at the expense of his uncle:
Genesis 30: 43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
The term translated “increased” here is פָּרַץ pârats- to break out; breach, break (away, down, forth, in, up); burst out; spread abroad; compel,; disperse, grow, increase, open, press, scatter, urge. This can not only mean to grow wealthy, but could be associated with his breaking away from Lavan and his restrictions; his unjust domination and trickery.
Ya’aqov heard the sons of Lavan were talking behind his back. He also noticed that Lavan looked differently upon him:
Genesis 31:1-2 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.
And so God was preparing him to move.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; Dr D. Stern; Dr Eli of the Israel Bible Center; JPS Study TNK; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 31:3-32:2
Haftara- Jer 30:10-16
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
