Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, by R.A. Torrey, [ca. 1880], at sacred-texts.com
Genesis Chapter 30
Overview
Gen 30:1, Rachel, in grief for her barrenness, gives Bilhah her maid unto Jacob; Gen 30:5, Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali; Gen 30:9, Leah gives Zilpah her maid, who bears Gad and Asher; Gen 30:14, Reuben finds mandrakes, with which Leah buys her husband's company of Rachel; Gen 30:17, Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah; Gen 30:22, Rachel bears Joseph; Gen 30:25, Jacob desires to depart; Gen 30:27, Laban detains him on a new agreement; Gen 30:37, Jacob's policy, whereby he becomes rich.
when Rachel: Gen 29:31
Rachel envied: Envy and jealousy are most tormenting passions to the breast which harbours them, vexatious to all around, and introductory to much impatience and ungodliness. "Who is able to stand before envy?" Gen 37:11; Sa1 1:4-8; Psa 106:16; Pro 14:30; Ecc 4:4; Co1 3:3; Gal 5:21; Tit 3:3; Jam 3:14, Jam 4:5
or else I die: Gen 35:16-19, Gen 37:11; Num 11:15, Num 11:29; Kg1 19:4; Job 3:1-3, Job 3:11, Job 3:20-22, Job 5:2; Job 13:19; Jer 20:14-18; Joh 4:3, Joh 4:8; Co2 7:10
anger: Gen 31:36; Exo 32:19; Mat 5:22; Mar 3:5; Eph 4:26
Am I: Gen 16:2, Gen 25:21, Gen 50:19; Sa1 1:5, Sa1 2:5, Sa1 2:6; Kg2 5:7
withheld: Deu 7:13, Deu 7:14; Psa 113:9, Psa 127:3; Luk 1:42
Behold: Gen 30:9, Gen 16:2, Gen 16:3
she shall: Gen 50:23; Job 3:12
have children by her: Heb. be built up by her, Gen 16:2 *marg. Rut 4:11
to wife: Gen 16:3, Gen 21:10, Gen 22:24, Gen 25:1, Gen 25:6, Gen 33:2, Gen 35:22; Sa2 12:11
am 2256, bc 1748
God: Gen 29:32-35; Psa 35:24, Psa 43:1; Lam 3:59
Dan: that is, Judging, Gen 35:25, Gen 46:23, Gen 49:16, Gen 49:17; Deu 33:22; Jer 13:2, Jer 13:24, Jer 15:14-20
am 2257, bc 1747, Gen 30:7
great wrestlings: Heb. wrestlings of God, Gen 23:6, Gen 32:24; Exo 9:28; Sa1 14:15 *marg.
and she: Gen 35:25, Gen 46:24, Gen 49:21; Deu 33:23
Naphtali: that is, My wrestling, Gen 32:24, Gen 32:25; Mat 4:13, Nephthalim
am 2256, bc 1748
she: Gen 35:26, Gen 46:16, Gen 49:19; Deu 33:20, Deu 33:21
Gad: that is, A troop, or company, Isa 65:11
am 2257, bc 1747
Happy am I: Heb. In my happiness, will call. Pro 31:28; Sol 6:9; Luk 1:48
and she: Gen 35:26, Gen 46:17, Gen 49:20; Deu 33:24, Deu 33:25
Asher: that is, Happy
am 2256, bc 1748
mandrakes: The mandrake may be the Hebrew dudaim. It is so rendered by all the ancient versions, and is a species of melon, of an agreeable odour. Hasselquist, speaking of Nazareth in Galilee, says, "What I found most remarkable at this village was the great number of mandrakes which grew in a vale below it. I had not the pleasure of seeing this plant in blossom, the fruit now (May 5th, O. S.) hanging ripe on the stem, which lay withered on the ground. From the season in which this mandrake blossoms and ripens fruit, one might form a conjecture that it was Rachel's dudaim. These were brought her in the wheat harvest, which in Galilee is in the month of May, about this time, and the mandrake was now in fruit." The Abbee Mariti describes it as growing "low like a lettuce, to which its leaves have a great resemblance, except that they have a dark green colour. The flowers are purple, and the root is for the most part forked. The fruit, when ripe in the beginning of May, is of the size and colour of a small apple, exceedingly ruddy, and of a most agreeable odour. Our guide thought us fools for suspecting it to be unwholesome." Sol 7:13
Give me: Gen 25:30
Num 16:9, Num 16:10, Num 16:13; Isa 7:13; Eze 16:47; Co1 4:3
am 2257, bc 1747, Gen 30:6, Gen 30:22; Exo 3:7; Sa1 1:20, Sa1 1:26, Sa1 1:27; Luk 1:13
and she: Gen 35:23, Gen 46:13, Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15; Deu 33:18; Ch1 12:32
Issachar: that is, An hire
am cir, 2258, bc cir, 1746
now will: Gen 30:15, Gen 29:34
and she: Gen 35:23, Gen 46:14, Gen 49:13; Jdg 4:10, Jdg 5:14; Psa 68:27
Zebulun: that is, Dwelling, Mat 4:13, Zabulon
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and called: Gen 34:1-3, Gen 34:26, Gen 46:15
Dinah: that is, Judgment
remembered: Gen 8:1, Gen 21:1, Gen 29:31; Sa1 1:19, Sa1 1:20; Psa 105:42
opened: Gen 30:2, Gen 21:1, Gen 21:2, Gen 25:21, Gen 29:31; Psa 113:9, Psa 127:3
"Be fruitful and multiply," was the blessing of God: barrenness therefore was reckoned a reproach The intense desire of having children, observable among the Jewish women, arose not only from this reproach of barrenness, but from the hope of being the mother of the promised seed, and Him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.
Gen 29:31; Sa1 1:5, Sa1 1:6; Isa 4:1; Luk 1:21, Luk 1:25, Luk 1:27
And she: Gen 35:24, Gen 37:2, Gen 37:4, 39:1-23, Gen 42:6, 48:1-22, Gen 49:22-26; Deu 33:13-17; Eze 37:16; Act 7:9-15; Heb 11:21, Heb 11:22; Rev 7:8
Joseph: that is, Adding, Gen 35:17, Gen 35:18
Send me away: Gen 24:54, Gen 24:56
and to: Gen 24:6, Gen 24:7, Gen 26:3, Gen 27:44, Gen 27:45, Gen 28:13, Gen 28:15, Gen 31:13; Act 7:4, Act 7:5; Heb 11:9, Heb 11:15, Heb 11:16
my wives: Gen 29:19, Gen 29:20, Gen 29:30, Gen 31:26, Gen 31:31, Gen 31:41; Hos 12:12
for thou: Gen 30:29, Gen 30:30, Gen 31:6, Gen 31:38-40
favour: Gen 18:3, Gen 33:15, Gen 34:11, Gen 39:3-5, Gen 39:21, Gen 47:25; Exo 3:21; Num 11:11, Num 11:15; Rut 2:13; Sa1 16:22; Kg1 11:19; Neh 1:11, Neh 2:5; Dan 1:9; Act 7:10
the Lord: Gen 30:30, Gen 12:3, Gen 26:24, Gen 39:2-5, Gen 39:21-23; Psa 1:3; Isa 6:13, Isa 61:9, Isa 65:8
Gen 30:5, Gen 31:6, Gen 31:38-40; Mat 24:45; Eph 6:5-8; Col 3:22-25; Tit 2:9, Tit 2:10; Pe1 2:15, Pe1 2:18
increased: Heb. broken forth, Gen 30:43
and the: Gen 30:27
since my coming: Heb. at my foot, Deu 11:10
Sa2 21:4-6; Psa 118:8; Heb 13:5
of such: Gen 30:35, Gen 31:8, Gen 31:10
righteousness: Gen 31:37; Sa1 26:23; Sa2 22:21; Psa 37:6
answer: Isa 59:12
in time to come: Heb. to-morrow, Exo 13:14
that shall be: Supply the ellipsis by inserting "if found," after "stolen," and the sense will be clear.
Num 22:29; Co1 7:7, Co1 14:5; Gal 5:12
he removed: From this it appears, that, as Jacob had agreed to take all the parti-coloured for his wages, and was now only beginning to act upon this agreement, and consequently had as yet no right to any of the cattle, therefore Laban separated from the flock all such cattle as Jacob might afterwards claim in consequence of his bargain, leaving only the black and white with Jacob.
the hand: Gen 31:9
Jacob: Gen 31:9-13
green poplar: Livneh is the white poplar, so called from the whiteness of its leaves, bark, and wood, from lavan to be white., hasel, Jerome, Hiller, Celsius, Dr. Shaw, Bochart, and other learned men, say, that luz is not the "hazel" but the almond-tree, as the word denotes both in Arabic and Syriac.
chestnut tree: The Heb. word ârmon, signifies "the plane-tree," so called from the bark naturally peeling off, and leaving the trunk naked, as its root âram, signifies. Eze 31:8
brought forth: Gen 31:9-12, Gen 31:38, Gen 31:40, Gen 31:42; Exo 12:35, Exo 12:36
whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive: As the means which Jacob used would not in general produce similar effects, nay, probably the experiment was never in any other instance tried with effect, it is more in harmony with Divine truth to suppose that he was directed by some Divine intimation; and rendered successful, if not by a direct miracle, yet at least by the Lord's giving a new and uncommon bias to the tendency of natural causes. Gen 30:41
Gen 30:30, Gen 13:2, Gen 24:35, Gen 26:13, Gen 26:14, Gen 28:15, Gen 31:7, Gen 31:8, Gen 31:42, Gen 32:10, Gen 33:11, Gen 36:7; Ecc 2:7; Eze 39:10; The Lord will, in one way or other, honour those who simply trust his providence.