Old Testament Scriptural Summaries and Commentary
Genesis 30-39 -- Sunday School Gospel Doctrine Class
Lesson #11 - "How Can I Do This Great Wickedness"
Book Reference: The Old Testament Made Easier, Part One; by David J. Ridges, Cedar Fort Publisher; Springville, UT
Genesis 30—Conflict – Leah and Rachel – Jacob and Laban
Because Rachel is
barren and jealous of her sister Leah, she said to Jacob, "Give me
children, or else I die." Jacob is
angry at her words and said, "Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from
thee the fruit of the womb?" (vv. 1-2)—In
other words, God gives you children.
There is nothing I can do about it.
Then Rachel gives her handmaid, Bilhah, to Jacob so she will have
children through her. And Bilhah
conceived and bare Jacob a son and Rachel called his name Dan. Bilhah
conceived a second time and he was named Naphtali (vv. 3-8). Leah sees that she had "left
bearing" and gives her maid Zilpah to Jacob. And Zilpah bears Jacob two sons whose names
are Gad and Asher (vv. 9-13).
Leah and Rachel argue
over mandrakes found by Leah's first son Reuben—thought to be some kind of fertility fruit plant (see Internet,
Wikipedia). In exchange for the plant,
Rachel sends Jacob to Leah and Leah conceives sons Issachar and Zebulun,
and a daughter, Dinah. And, at
long last, God remembers Rachel’s pleas and prayers and she conceives and bares
Joseph (vv. 14-24).
After Jacob completes
his fourteen years of servitude, he asks Laban to send him away, back to his
own place and country. Laban begs him to
stay and offers him wages as he knows that the Lord has blessed Jacob. But Jacob asks only for the brown, speckled
and spotted sheep and goats for his pay;—so
he can tell by their color and spots they were those given to him by Laban and
not of Laban's flock. Laban agrees
with his request, and Jacob said to Laban, "I will again feed and keep thy
flock" (vv. 25-35).
Then Laban puts
"three days" journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest
of Laban's flocks. For the next six
years (see Genesis 31:38) Jacob prospers using strange methods of multiplying
his flocks—and keeps them separate from Laban's. "And the man [Jacob] increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants,
and menservants and camels, and asses"—because
he was blessed by the Lord (Ridges, p. 342) (vv. 36-43).
Genesis 31—The Lord commands Jacob to return to his own country
After 20 years "Laban
has done everything he could to cheat Jacob, but Jacob has still prospered."
Laban squandered his daughters’ dowries which were the proceeds of the work
that Jacob did for each of his wives for seven years (see v. 15) (Ridges, p. 342).
Now Laban’s sons grow
jealous of Jacob saying, “Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s.” And Laban's "countenance" toward
Jacob has changed (vv. 1-2). The Lord
tells Jacob that he has seen all that Laban has done to him (v. 12). He tells him to return to the land of his
kindred and He, the Lord, will be with him.
Jacob has seen in a dream that it is the Lord who caused the flocks to
be "ringstraked, speckled, and grisled" and it was "God [who]
hath taken away the cattle of [Leah and
Rachel's] father, and given them to me" (v. 3, 8-9, 12).
Leah and Rachel agree
their father has sold them [to Jacob]
and has also taken the money that was their inheritance (v. 15). They said to Jacob, "whatsoever God hath
said unto thee, do." And Jacob gathers
his sons, wives, cattle and all his goods and left Haran
(without telling Laban) to go to his father, Isaac, in the land of Canaan (vv. 16-18). After three days, Laban discovers that Jacob
had fled with "all he had" and [someone] "Rachel had stolen the
images that were her father's." He pursued Jacob for seven days and found
him in the mount of Gilead (vv. 19-23). That
night, God came to Laban in a dream and told him not to speak to Jacob either
good or bad. But Laban asked Jacob why
he left secretly and carried his daughters away "as captives taken with
the sword." And Laban lied to Jacob
that he would have let them go willingly.
Then Laban told Jacob what God had said to him (in the dream) and he
accused Jacob of stealing his gods (vv. 24-30).
We are not told why Rachel took
the images or what they represent.
Scholars have many theories, but we will have to wait for another time
and place for the answer (see Ridges, p. 344).
Jacob was surprised (as
he did not know that Rachel had taken the images.) And Jacob said to Laban, "with
whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live." Laban searched everything but didn't find
them. When he approached Rachel as she
sat on them, she told him she couldn't get up because “the custom of women” was
upon her. And the images were not found
(vv. 31-35).
Jacob was angry with
Laban and he recounts his service to him over the last twenty years and he said
to Laban, "thou has changed my wages ten times."—meaning Laban had not dealt fairly with Jacob. Then Laban got nasty about all Jacob had taken
with him, and Jacob informed him that had it not been for "the God of
Abraham and the fear of Isaac," he would have been sent away with nothing. But God had seen Jacob’s afflictions and the
labor of his hands and rebuked Laban in the dream (vv. 36-42).
Then Laban and Jacob
made a covenant that they would not do harm to each other as God was their
witness. They built a pillar of stones and Laban said to Jacob, "Behold
this heap, and behold this pillar,…be witness [as a symbol], that I will
not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap
and this pillar unto me, for harm." And in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and
daughters and blessed them and returned to his place (vv. 44-55).
Genesis 32—Jacob’s
name is changed to Israel
At the time that
Jacob left his home and parents, Esau threatened to kill him because Jacob was
given the birthright blessing by Isaac (instead of Esau) under false pretenses (Genesis 27:41). Now, he is returning and
is fearful of how Esau will accept him.
As Jacob continues on
his way, "angels of God met him."—are
with him (vv. 1-2). He sends out
messengers to Esau in the land of Seir, in the country of Edom, to tell him
that he has his own wealth and that he hopes to find grace [mercy, kindness] in his sight. They bring back the word that Esau is on his
way to meet him and he is bringing 400 men with him. Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed so he
divides the people and all the animals in two parts—that if one is taken the
other shall escape (vv. 3-8).
And Jacob turns to
the God of his fathers and asks for protection as was promised by the Lord when
he told him to leave Haran (see Genesis 31:3).
And he humbles himself saying, "I am not worthy of the least of all
the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy
servant." And he prays to the Lord
for deliverance from his brother Esau.
Jacob remembers the covenant the Lord made with him and his father's
before him that his seed will be as numerous "as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be numbered" (vv. 9-12).
The next morning,
Jacob sends presents to Esau by his servants of many goats, camels, cows,
bulls, and asses—a total of about 580
animals (Ridges, p. 351). He told
the servants to go ahead of the rest and when Esau meets them, tell him,
"They be thy servant Jacob's "it is a present sent unto my lord Esau:
and, behold, also he is behind us."
And Jacob hoped these would appease Esau that he would be accepted of
him (vv. 13-21).
Jacob sent his wives
and his sons with all that he had across the river Jabbok so he was left alone.
That night he wrestles with a man [messenger]
all night. Jacob prevails and asks the
man to bless him. In the morning his hip
is out of joint where the hollow of his thigh had been touched (vv. 22-26).
Ridges quotes Joseph Fielding Smith:
"Who wrestled with Jacob on Mount Peniel? The scriptures say it was a man. The Bible interpreters say it was an
angel. More than likely it was a
messenger sent to Jacob to give him the blessing. To think he wrestled and held an angel who
couldn't get away, is out of the question.
The term angel as used in the scriptures, at times, refers to messengers
who are sent with some important instruction.
Later in this chapter when Jacob said he had beheld the Lord, that did
not have reference to his wrestling" (Doctrines
of Salvation, Vol. 1, page 17) (Ridges, p. 352).
And the Lord appeared
to Jacob and changed his name to Israel—meaning “He perseveres with God” (see footnote 28b). And Jacob named the place Peniel: "for I
have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." As he continues on his journey he
"halted upon his thigh"—he was
limping because of the injury to his hip (vv. 27-31).
Genesis 33—Esau welcomes Jacob
As Esau and his 400
men approach, Jacob divides his family into two groups and goes in front of
them, "and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to
his brother" (vv. 1-3). Esau runs to meet him and embraces and
kisses him and they both wept. And Jacob
introduces his family to Esau. Esau asks
Jacob about all the animals that were sent to him as a gift, and Esau said, “I
have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself” (vv. 4-9).
But Jacob was so
grateful for Esau’s forgiveness ("because God hath dealt graciously with
me"), that he begged him to keep the gift and Esau accepted it. And Esau wanted to make the rest of the
journey with Jacob, but Jacob told him he needed to go slow for the sake of the
children and the animals. So Esau and
all his company returned to his home in Seir (vv. 10-16).
Jacob journeyed on to
Succoth, built a house and shelters for his animals. Then he crossed the Jordan River to Shalem, a
city of Shechem (about 20 miles west of Succoth)
in the land of Canaan
Genesis 34—The rape of Jacob and Leah’s daughter Dinah
This is an unpleasant
chapter.
While Jacob and his
family are temporarily living in Shechem, Dinah, Jacob’s daughter by Leah, goes
out to visit some of the women of the land.
While out, she is abducted by Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, who is
"prince of the country” and she is raped by him (vv. 1-2). Although Shechem forced himself on Dinah, he falls
in love with her and wants her for his wife. Shechem and his father Hamor goes to Jacob and
pleads for Dinah to become his son’s wife (vv. 3-12).
The rape of their
sister enrages Jacob’s sons. They devise
a scheme for revenge by agreeing to let Dinah marry Shechem if every male among
the city of Shechem
Three days after the
men have been circumcised and are sore from the surgery, Dinah’s brothers
Simeon and Levi strike and kill all the men with their swords and take Dinah
away out of Shechem's house and out of the city. Now, the sons of Jacob plunder the city and
take all the sheep, oxen, asses and everything in the city including the wives
and children (vv. 24-29).
And Jacob said to [his son] Simeon, "Ye have troubled
me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land." He believes that the Canaanites and the
Perizzites will come against him to kill him.
Jacob’s sons feel justified and Simeon said to Jacob, "Should he [Shechem]
deal with our sister as with an harlot?” (vv. 30-31).
Genesis 35—Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies; Jacob returns to Isaac and Isaac dies
God tells Jacob [now Israel] to leave Shechem and go to
Beth-el. Jacob took away the strange
gods [idols] from his [unrighteous] household members and
buried them under a tree at Shechem. He tells them to "be clean," and
to change their clothing for they are going to Beth-el to build an alter unto
God who has blessed him in the day of his distress. God again blessed them as they traveled
through the cities on their way without being pursued (vv. 1-5).
At Beth-el he builds
an altar and worshiped God who had appeared to him there when he fled from his brother. And again God appeared to Israel (Jacob) and blessed him. And again said to him: "thy name shall
not be called any more Jacob, but Israel."
God repeats the Abrahamic Covenant: "I am God Almighty: be fruitful
and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings
shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to
thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land" (vv.
6-12).
As they journeyed
from Beth-el, Rachel "travailed" and her labour was hard. She bore a son and he was named Benjamin. But Rachel died from childbirth and was buried
in Bethlehem where Jacob marked her grave with a pillar (vv. 16-20).
Israel [Jacob] and
his company journeyed beyond the tower of Edar [between Beth-el and Hebron]
where he spread his tent (v. 21).
"Jacob was travelling from Bethel to Bethlehem (Ephrath) when
Rachel died in childbirth. After burying Rachel in the vicinity of Bethlehem
(Gen. 35:19; 48:7) he 'journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar'
(35:21). Jacob appears to have stayed in the region to pasture his flocks. This
tower would be a watchtower used to protect the flock from wild beasts and
thieves. Presumably the tower already existed when Jacob visited the area,
although the place may have been named from a tower that no longer existed in
his days." (The tower of the flock, David
Green; http://www.testimony-magazine.org)
While Israel (Jacob) was here, Reuben "went
and lay" with Bilhah his father's concubine (v. 22).
►Ridges comments: "[Israel's] son, Reuben, the first son of the
first wife, Leah, will commit a terrible sin that involves incest. As a result, he will lose his
birthright. Joseph is the next in line,
since he is the first son of the second wife, Rachel. Thus, Joseph will receive the
birthright" (p. 362).
►(First Chronicles 5:1-2.) —"Now the sons of Reuben the
firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch
as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto
the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is
not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above
his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but
the birthright was Joseph’s.")
►“All down through the history of God’s dealings with his people,
including those with the house of Israel, concubines were legal wives married
to their husbands in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. … Anciently
they were considered to be secondary wives, that is, wives who
did not have the same standing in the caste system then prevailing as did those
wives who were not called concubines” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed.
[1966], 154).
"Now the sons of
Jacob were twelve." Verses 23-26 lists the names of all the sons who
become the "Twelve Tribes of Israel" (Ridges, p. 362) (v. 22).
Finally, after 20
years, Jacob returns to his father Isaac in Hebron
Genesis 36—A record of Esau’s posterity
Verse one states that
Esau was also known as “Edom mount Seir
Genesis 37—Joseph
is sold into Egypt
"And Jacob dwelt
in the land wherein his father was a stranger [not a Canaanite] in the land of Canaan." His son, Joseph, the son of Rachel, Jacob’s
first love, was now 17 years old. He was
feeding the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah, and the sons of
Zilpah, when he returned to his father with "their evil report"—something they did that was wild or foolish. "Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than all his children being the child of
his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours." For this reason his brothers hated him, and
could not speak "peaceably" to him. And Joseph dreamed dreams and told his father
and brothers of his dreams in which they bowed down to him and he ruled over
them. And his father rebuked him for his
words, but his brothers envied him and hated him more for his dreams and
his words (vv. 1-11).
While the brothers
were in Shechem feeding Jacob’s flocks, his father sent Joseph to check on
them. They weren't there but had gone to
Dothan [fifteen to twenty miles north,
Ridges, p. 372].
So Joseph went after
them. And when the brothers saw him in
the distance, they plotted to slay him. But
Reuben stopped them from killing him and instead, when Joseph came near to his
brothers, they stripped off his coat of many colours and "cast him into a
pit" with no water in it—a dry well (vv.
12-24).
As the brothers sat down to eat, they looked
up and saw a company of Ishmeelites from Gilead with camels carrying spices,
balm and myrrh to Egypt. Judah said to
his brothers, "Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not
our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh." But it was too late as some Midianite
merchantmen had already taken Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaeelites
for twenty pieces of silver. When Reuben
returned to the pit, Joseph was gone. So
the brothers took the coat and dipped it into the blood of a goat and took it
to their father saying, "This have we found; know now whether it be thy
son's coat or no." Jacob knew it
was Joseph’s coat believing that an evil beast had devoured him and he mourned
many days. Jacob's sons and daughters
tried to comfort him but he refused to be comforted. He said to them, "For
I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning" and he wept for his
son. (vv. 25-35).
And Joseph was taken
into Egypt and sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, who was the captain of
the guard (v. 36).
Genesis 38—Judah
Judah leaves his home
and marries a Canaanite woman who is the daughter of Shuah. And she bares him three sons, Er, Onan, and
Shelah. When Er is a man, Judah
Judah then promises
Tamar that she can marry Shelah, the third son, but she will have to wait until
he grows up. And in the process of time, Judah's wife dies, and Tamar saw that
Shelah was grown and she was not given unto him to wife. Tamar is displeased and devises a plot
against Judah
And Tamar went away
from the place. The next day Judah
Note: Ruth (Ruth 4:18) traces her genealogy to
Pharez, Jesse, and David. This is the
line that the Savior comes through.
Genesis 39—Potiphar’s wife
Joseph was taken to
Egypt to be sold as a slave by the Ishmeelites and Potiphar, an officer of the
Pharaoh bought him. Potiphar saw that
Joseph had the Lord with him and everything he did prospered because of his
righteousness. And Joseph was made
overseer of all of his master’s house and the Lord blessed all in Potiphar's house
and field (vv. 1-5).
"Joseph was a
goodly person, and well favoured"—meaning
well built and handsome. Potiphar’s
wife casts her eyes [looks with lust]
on Joseph and said to him, “Lie with me.”
But Joseph refuses and tells her that his master trusts him and he said,
“how can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” But day by day she keeps asking Joseph and he
continues to reject her. Finally, one
day when none of the men were in the house, she grabs him by his cloak and he
fled from her leaving his garment in her hand (vv. 6-12).
Then, she called the
men of the house and tells them a lie that Joseph tried to rape her but she
cried out and he left without his cloak.
She spoke to Potiphar (her husband) saying, "The Hebrew servant,
which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me." And his
wrath was kindled against Joseph and he takes Joseph and puts him in prison
(vv. 13-20).
But the Lord was with
him and he gained favour with the prison keeper who makes Joseph the overseer
of all the prisoners. And all that he
did, "the Lord made it to prosper" (vv. 21-23).
"And we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
(Romans 8:28.)
Elder Hartman Rector Jr. explained: “[The] ability to turn everything into
something good appears to be a godly characteristic. Our Heavenly Father always
seems able to do this. Everything, no matter how dire, becomes a victory to the
Lord. Joseph, although a slave and wholly undeserving of this fate,
nevertheless remained faithful to the Lord and continued to live the
commandments and made something very good of his degrading circumstances.
People like this cannot be defeated” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1972, 170;
or Ensign, Jan. 1973, 130).
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