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GENESIS 30
This chapter gives an account of Rachel’s envy of her sister for her fruitfulness, and of her earnest desire of having children, which she expressed to Jacob in an unbecoming manner, for which he reproved her, Ge 30:1, of her giving her maid Bilhah to Jacob, by whom he had two sons, Dan and Naphtali, Ge 30:3; and of Leah’s giving her maid Zilpah to him, by whom he had two other sons, Gad and Asher, Ge 30:9; and of Reuben’s mandrakes he found in the field, and the agreement made between Rachel and Leah about them, Ge 30:14; and of Leah’s bearing Jacob two more sons and one daughter, Ge 30:17, and of Rachel’s also bearing him a son, whose name was Joseph, Ge 30:22; upon which he desires leave of Laban to depart into his own country, his time of servitude being up, Ge 30:25; which brought on a new agreement between him and Laban, that for the future he should have all the speckled, spotted, and brown cattle for his service, Ge 30:27; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a cunning scheme of Jacob’s to increase that sort of cattle, which succeeded, and by which he became rich, Ge 30:37.
GENESIS 31
This chapter relates how that Jacob observing that Laban and his sons envied his prosperity, and having a call from God to return to his own country, acquaints his wives with it; and reports to them Laban’s ill usage of him, and the wonderful appearance of God to him, and for him, and his orders to him to depart from thence, Ge 31:1; to which they agreed, knowing full well their father’s unkindness, and that they had nothing to expect from him, and therefore judged it best to go off with what they had got through the gift of God unto them, Ge 31:14; upon which Jacob set out privately, with all he had, towards his own country, while Laban was shearing his sheep, Ge 31:17; three days after, Laban, being informed of it, pursued after Jacob, and overtook him at Mount Gilead; but was warned by the way to be cautious what he said to him, Ge 31:22; yet nevertheless he warmly expostulated with him about his secret flight, not giving him the opportunity of taking his leave of his children, and especially for taking away his gods, Ge 31:26; to which Jacob gave an answer, Ge 31:31; and in his turn was warm likewise, and chided Laban severely for his hot pursuit of him, his charge of stealth, when he could find nothing on him, his hard labour for the space of twenty years with him, and his ill requital of him for it, Ge 31:36; however, upon the whole, an amicable agreement was made between them, and they parted in a friendly manner, Ge 31:43.
Taken from John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, published roughly around 1748-1760.
Chronological Bible Readings 