Genesis 30:1 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!” 2 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?”
"Jacob’s household is the original community of Israel, as the twelve tribes descended from the twelve sons make explicit. The dysfunction and dissension within the family foreshadow later events, both in Israel and in the life of the church….The elect are promised a future of blessedness—not a present state without blemish.” (Brazos Theological Commentary)
Rachel envied her sister. "She considered not that God made the difference, and that in other things she had the advantage.” (Matthew Henry) FOR THE HEBREW, barrenness "was one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall them, not only from a natural desire of children, but from their eager wishes to be the means of fulfilling the promise to Abraham, and bringing forth that seed in which all the families of the earth were to be blessed. But Rachel does not seem to have been chiefly actuated by this motive in desiring children, but by envy of her sister; hence she says, Give me children A child would not content her; but because Leah has more than one, she must have more too. And her heart is set upon it: she repines, and grows impatient with her husband; else I die. AND JACOB'S ANGER WAS KINDLED… He was angry at the sin, and showed his displeasure, by a grave and pious reply: Am I in God’s stead? — Can I give thee that which God denies thee?” (Benson Commentary)
3 So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.” 4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. [Literally Judge] 7 And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali. [Literally My Wrestling]
"Reflecting an allowable custom of her day, Rachel gives her maidservant Bilhah to Jacob as a surrogate wife, much as Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham. Bilhah gives birth to Dan and to Naphtali.” (The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary) Yet, it was still sin of the marriage covenant, as well as evidence of a covenant of works, rather than that of faith.
Rachel "will rather have children by reputation than none at all; children that she can call her own, though they be not so. But had she not considered her sister as her rival, and envied her, she would have thought Leah’s children nearer to her, and more entitled to her care than Bilhah’s could be. As an early instance of her dominion over the children born in her apartment, she takes a pleasure in giving them names that carry in them nothing but marks of emulation with her sister. As if she had overcome her, 1st, At law, she calls the first son of her handmaid Dan, judgment; saying, God hath judged me — That is, given sentence in my favour. 2d, In battle, she calls the next Naphtali, wrestlings, saying, I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed — See what roots of bitterness envy and strife are, and what mischief they make among relations!” (Benson Commentary)
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as wife. 10 And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “A troop comes!”[fortune] So she called his name Gad. [Literally Troop or Fortune] 12 And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.” So she called his name Asher. [Literally Happy]
"Rachel had absurdly and preposterously put her maid into her husband’s bed; and now Leah, because she missed one year in bearing children, doth the same, to be even with her. See the power of rivalship, and admire the wisdom of the divine appointment, which joins together one man and one woman only. Two sons Zilpah bare to Jacob, whom Leah looked upon herself as entitled to, in token of which, she called one Gad, promising herself a little troop of children. The other she called Asher, happy, thinking herself happy in him, and promising herself that her neighbours would think so too." (Benson Commentary) But in this state, neither of the wives of the patriarch would be happy or content.
14 Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar. [Literally Wages] 19 Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.[Literally Dwelling]
They bartered with mandrakes— "In exchange, she agreed to let Leah live as wife with Jacob. For some unexplained reason [perhaps, merely Jacob’s love for Rachel), Leah had apparently lost her privileges as wife.” (Believer's Bible Commentary) "This scene of Rachel’s seemingly unquenchable desire… recapitulates Esau’s ravenous hunger.” (Brazos Theological Commentary) And like the transaction with Jacob and Esau, both parties were involved in the sin of striving for favor, rather than contentment with their respective lots. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do as he pleases. "Mandrakes, incidentally, are plants related to the deadly nightshade, which the ancients believed were helpful in promoting fertility in infertile women.” (The Preacher’s Commentary) So, it seems that they were both placing hope in false gods, or perhaps science... just in case Yahweh was not God.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
'Mention is made of Dinah, because of the following story concerning her, chap. 34. Perhaps Jacob had other daughters, though not registered.” (Benson Commentary)
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 So she called his name Joseph, [Literally He Will Add] and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.”
This last text makes "it clear that it is not mandrakes that bring fertility to Rachel. She gives birth to Joseph not because of magic [or science] but because God remembers her and opens her womb.” (The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary) He [Yahweh] will add: "At last Rachel bore her first son and named him Joseph, expressing faith that God would give her still another son.” (Believer's Bible Commentary) So faith has finally also entered the heart of the beloved wife of Jacob.
Genesis 30:25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”
Send me away, that I may go to... my country. "Canaan, which he calleth his country, in regard both of his former and long habitation in it, and of the right which he had to it by God’s promise: see Genesis 28:13.” (Matthew Poole)
Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you… "Jacob’s request implies that Laban as the head of the family possessed control over his married daughters and their children...” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) The dowry for them had been rendered and Jacobs "now wants Laban to acknowledge the fulfilment of his contract by giving him his wives and his children that he might depart...” (H C Leupold) "The fourteen years being gone, Jacob was willing to depart without any provision, except God's promise.” (Matthew Henry) It is noted that dowries are meant to show that the suitor has the means to care for the prospective bride. And it is here noted that he came with nothing and planned to leave with nothing but his family. It was however evident that Yahweh would provide for them.
27 And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” 28 Then he said, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”
Laban “was averse to a separation, not from warmth of affection either for Jacob or his daughters, but from the damage his own interests would sustain. He had found, from long observation, that the blessing of heaven rested on Jacob, and that his stock had wonderfully increased under Jacob's management.” (Jameson, Faucett and Brown Commentary)
29 So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. 30 For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?”
31 So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: 32 Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. 33 So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”34 And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!”
"Laban is ready to go almost any limit to retain a man whose services have been so advantageous to himself… He makes Jacob a proposition which at once substantially alters Jacob’s status. From the position of a bound servant he is raised to that of a partner who may freely dictate his own terms.” (H C Leopold)
"What shall I give thee?... "Thou shalt not give me anything’… Yet Jacob will do the work of a shepherd… 'I will pasture’ 'yea, also guard them,' i. e. use the best of caution in all his work on one condition which he is about to state, v. 32, 33. The plan suggested puts the possibility of acquiring wealth entirely in the providence of God. Jacob does not know whether it will please God to have him acquire wealth. Now to understand what follows it must be borne in mind that sheep are normally white in the Orient (cf. Ps. 147:16; Song 4:2; 6:6Dan. 7:9); goats are normally black or brown-black (Song 4:1b). The exceptions to this rule are not numerous. Yet Jacob will take only the exceptions. If he is to acquire wealth according to God’s will, the Almighty Disposer of events must grant it." (H C Leupold)
So my righteousness will answer for me… Yahweh would judge the motives of Jacob and rule accordingly. By the outcome, we will know the truth.
35 So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. 38 And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Some believe that there was religious (pagan) or scientific implications in the act, but I believe that Yahweh “God must have told him to put the rods in the troughs and though there was no intrinsic merit in the rods, the act itself was an act of faithful obedience which God was pleased to bless by a miraculous intervention, in much the same way that He acted in response to Moses and his brass serpent... however it was accomplished, Jacob came away from the situation immeasurably more prosperous than he went into it despite the fact that his initial proposal was so loaded in Laban’s favor that he regarded it as an offer he couldn’t refuse! Surely there is a reminder here that the Lord had once again intervened on his servant’s behalf…” (The Preacher’s Commentary)