"Jacob's Sons"
Here we have an accounting of the sons of Jacob. I find it interesting some of the dynamics between Rachel and Leah. Quickly, the tallies (in this passage) are:
- Leah: 4 (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah)
- Bilhah (Rachel's slave): 2 (Dan, Naphtali)
- Zilpah (Leah's slave): 2 (Gad, Asher)
- Leah: 2 (Issachar, Zebulun)
- Rachel: 1 (Joseph)
Firstly, you'll notice that Jacob had children with his wife's slaves. In those times, from my understanding, if a woman could not conceive, she would offer her slave as a surrogate.
Secondly, which wife did Jacob love most?
Rachel.
Then why does Leah have more children?
Because Rachel was loved more than Leah, God closed Rachel's womb and allowed Leah to have more children. For Leah, having children was a way by which she sought attention from her husband. Rachel was not to be outdone, hence the offering of her slave and Leah then followed suit.
Leah's second set of children, interestingly enough, developed from an arrangement worked out by Rachel and Leah regarding Rachel wanting some food that Reuben, Leah's son, had harvested.
God eventually opened Rachel's womb again so she could have a son for Jacob. It seems as if God were saying to her "all right, you've dealt enough with this".
What can we take away from this? Well, if anything, we can easily see the degree to which polygamy is unwise. Just look at the competition between the two sisters. They grew envious of each other, one for the attention and one for the children. Additionally, imagine Jacob being caught in the midst of this. God initially sanctioned marriage as monogamous in Genesis 2. Here He shows why we should stick with it.
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