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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. XXX.
In this chapter we have an account of the increase,
I. Of Jacob’s
family. Eight children more we find registered in this chapter;
Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid,
Gad and Asher by Zilpah, Leah’s maid,
Issachar, Zebulun,
and Dinah, by Leah,
And, last of all, Joseph,
by Rachel,
II. Of Jacob’s estate. He makes a new
bargain with Laban,
And in the six years’ further
service he did to Laban God wonderfully blessed him, so that
his stock of cattle became very considerable,
Herein was fulfilled the blessing with which Isaac dismissed him
“God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee.” Even
these small matters concerning Jacob’s house and field, though
they seem inconsiderable, are improvable for our learning. For
the scriptures were written, not for princes and statesmen, to
instruct them in politics; but for all people, even the meanest,
to direct them in their families and callings: yet some things
are here recorded concerning Jacob, not for imitation, but for
admonition.
| Increase of Jacob’s Family. | B. C. 1745. |
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1 And when Rachel saw that she
bare Jacob no children, Rachel
envied her sister; and said unto Jacob,
Give me children, or else I die.
2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled
against Rachel: and he said, Am I in
God’s stead, who hath withheld from
thee the fruit of the womb?
3 And
she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go
in unto her; and she shall bear upon
my knees, that I may also have children
by her.
4 And she gave him
Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob
went in unto her.
5 And Bilhah
conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
6 And Rachel said, God hath judged
me, and hath also heard my voice,
and hath given me a son: therefore
called she his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah
Rachel’s maid conceived again, and
bare Jacob a second son.
8 And Rachel
said, With great wrestlings have I
wrestled with my sister, and I have
prevailed: and she called his name
Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she
had left bearing, she took Zilpah her
maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
10 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a
son.
11 And Leah said, A troop cometh:
and she called his name Gad.
12 And
Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second
son.
13 And Leah said, Happy
am I, for the daughters will call me
blessed: and she called his name Asher.
We have here the bad consequences of that
strange marriage which Jacob made with the
two sisters. Here is,
I. An unhappy disagreement between him
and Rachel
(v. 1, 2),
occasioned, not so much
by her own barrenness as by her sister’s fruitfulness.
Rebekah, the only wife of Isaac,
was long childless, and yet we find no uneasiness
between her and Isaac; but here,
because Leah bears children, Rachel cannot
live peaceably with Jacob.
1. Rachel frets. She envied her sister,
v. 1.
Envy is grieving at the good of another, than
which no sin is more offensive to God, nor
more injurious to our neighbour and ourselves.
She considered not that it was God
that made the difference, and that though, in
this single instance her sister was preferred
before her, yet in other things she had the
advantage. Let us carefully watch against
all the risings and workings of this passion
in our minds. Let not our eye be evil
towards any of our fellow-servants because our
master’s is good. But this was not all; she
said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Note, We are very apt to err in our desires
of temporal mercies, as Rachel here.
(1.) One child would not content her; but, because
Leah has more than one, she must have
more too: Give me children.
(2.) Her heart
is inordinately set upon it, and, if she have
not what she would have, she will throw
away her life, and all the comforts of it.
“Give them to me, or else I die,” that is, “I
shall fret myself to death; the want of this
satisfaction will shorten my days.” Some
think she threatens Jacob to lay violent hands
upon herself, if she could not obtain this
mercy.
(3.) She did not apply to God by
prayer, but to Jacob only, forgetting that
children are a heritage of the Lord,
Ps. cxxvii. 3.
We wrong both God and ourselves
when our eye is more to men, the instruments
of our crosses and comforts, than to
God the author. Observe a difference between
Rachel’s asking for this mercy and
Hannah’s,
&c. Rachel envied;
Hannah wept. Rachel must have children,
and she died of the second; Hannah prayed
for one child, and she had four more. Rachel
is importunate and peremptory; Hannah
is submissive and devout. If thou wilt
give me a child, I will give him to the Lord.
Let Hannah be imitated, and not Rachel;
and let our desires be always under the direction
and control of reason and religion.
2. Jacob chides, and most justly. He loved
Rachel, and therefore reproved her for what
she said amiss,
v. 2.
Note, Faithful reproofs
and products and instances of true affection,
Ps. cxli. 5; Prov. xxvii. 5, 6.
Job reproved
his wife when she spoke the language of the
foolish women,
See
He was angry, not at the person, but at the
sin; he expressed himself so as to show his
displeasure. Note, sometimes it is requisite
that a reproof should be given warm, like a
medical potion; not too hot, lest it scald the
patient; yet not cold, lest it prove ineffectual.
It was a very grave and pious reply which
Jacob gave to Rachel’s peevish demand: Am
I in God’s stead? The Chaldee paraphrases
it well, Dost thou ask sons of me? Oughtest
thou not to ask them from before the Lord?
The Arabic reads it, “Am I above God? can
I give thee that which God denies thee?”
This was said like a plain man. Observe,
(1.) He acknowledges the hand of God in the
affliction which he was a sharer with her in:
He hath withheld the fruit of the womb. Note,
Whatever we want, it is God that withholds
it, a sovereign Lord, most wise, holy, and
just, that may do what he will with his own,
and is debtor to no man, that never did, nor
ever can do, any wrong to any of his creatures.
The keys of the clouds, of the heart,
of the grave, and of the womb, are four keys
which God had in his hand, and which (the
rabbin say) he entrusts neither with angels
nor seraphim. See
Rev. iii. 7. Job xi. 10; xii. 14.
(2.) He acknowledges his own inability
to alter what God had appointed:
“Am I in God’s stead? What! dost thou
make a god of me?” Deos qui rogat ille
facit–He to whom we offer supplications is to
us a god. Note,
[1.] There is no creature
that is, or can be, to us, in God’s stead. God
may be to us instead of any creature, as the
sun instead of the moon and stars; but the
moon and all the stars will not be to us instead
of the sun. No creature’s wisdom,
power, and love, will be to us instead of God’s.
[2.] It is therefore our sin and folly to place
any creature in God’s stead, and to place
that confidence in any creature which is to be
placed in God only.
II. An unhappy agreement between him
and the two handmaids.
1. At the persuasion of Rachel, he took
Bilhah her handmaid to wife, that, according
to the usage of those times, his children by
her might be adopted and owned as her mistress’s
children,
v. 3,
&c. She would rather
have children by reputation than none at all,
children that she might fancy to be her own,
and call her own, though they were not so.
One would think her own sister’s children
were nearer akin to her than her maid’s, and
she might with more satisfaction have made
them her own if she had so pleased; but (so
natural is it for us all to be fond of power)
children that she had a right to rule were
more desirable to her than children that she
had more reason to love; and, 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,
(1.) At law. She
calls the first son of her handmaid Dan (judgement),
saying, “God hath judged me”
(v. 6),
that is, “given sentence in my favour.”
(2.) In battle. She calls the next Naphtali (wrestlings),
saying, I have wrestled with my sister,
and have prevailed
(v. 8);
as if all Jacob’s
sons must be born men of contention. See
what roots of bitterness envy and strife are,
and what mischief they make among relations.
2. At the persuasion of Leah, he took
Zilpah her handmaid to wife also,
v. 9.
Rachel had done that absurd and preposterous
thing of giving her maid to her husband, in
emulation with Leah; and now Leah (because
she missed one year in bearing children) does
the same, to be even with her, or rather to
keep before her. See the power of jealousy
and rivalship, and admire the wisdom of the
divine appointment, which unites one man
and one woman only; for God hath called us
to peace and purity,
Two sons
Zilpah bore to Jacob, whom Leah looked
upon herself as entitled to, in token of which
she called one Gad
(v. 11),
promising herself
a little troop of children; and children are
the militia of a family, they fill the quiver,
(happy), thinking herself happy in him, and
promising herself that her neighbours would
think so too: The daughters will call me
blessed,
v. 13.
Note, It is an instance of the
vanity of the world, and the foolishness bound
up in our hearts, that most people value
themselves and govern themselves more by
reputation than either by reason or religion;
they think themselves blessed if the daughters
do but call them so. There was much amiss
in the contest and competition between these
two sisters, yet God brought good out of this
evil; for, the time being now at hand when
the seed of Abraham must begin to increase
and multiply, thus Jacob’s family was replenished
with twelve sons, heads of the
thousands of Israel, from whom the celebrated
twelve tribes descended and were named.
14 And Reuben went in the days
of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes
in the field, and brought them unto
his mother Leah. Then Rachel said
to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy
son’s mandrakes.
15 And she said
unto her, Is it a small matter that thou
hast taken my husband? and wouldest
thou take away my son’s mandrakes
also? And Rachel said, Therefore he
shall lie with thee to night for thy
son’s mandrakes.
16 And Jacob came
out of the field in the evening, and
Leah went out to meet him, and said,
Thou must come in unto me; for
surely I have hired thee with my son’s
mandrakes. And he lay with her that
night.
17 And God hearkened unto
Leah, and she conceived, and bare
Jacob the fifth son.
18 And Leah said,
God hath given me my hire, because
I have given my maiden to my husband:
and she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again,
and bare Jacob the sixth son.
20 And
Leah said, God hath endued me with
a good dowry; now will my husband
dwell with me, because I have borne
him six sons: and she called his name
Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bare
a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
22 And God remembered Rachel, and
God hearkened to her, and opened
her womb.
23 And she conceived, and
bare a son; and said, God hath taken
away my reproach:
24 And she called
his name Joseph; and said, The LORD
shall add to me another son.
Here is, I. Leah fruitful again, after she
had, for some time, left off bearing. Jacob,
it should seem, associated more with Rachel
than with Leah. The law of Moses supposes
it a common case that, if a man had two wives,
one would be beloved and the other hated,
But at length Rachel’s strong
passions betrayed her into a bargain with
Leah that Jacob should return to her apartment.
Reuben, a little lad, five or six years
old, playing in the field, found mandrakes,
dudaim. It is uncertain what they were, the
critics are not agreed about them; we are
sure they were some rarities, either fruits or
flowers that were very pleasant to the smell,
Note, The God of nature has
provided, not only for our necessities, but for
our delights; there are products of the earth
in the exposed fields, as well as in the planted
protected gardens, that are very valuable and
useful. How plentifully is nature’s house
furnished and her table spread! Her precious
fruits offer themselves to be gathered by the
hands of little children. It is a laudable
custom of the devout Jews, when they find
pleasure, suppose in eating an apple, to lift
up their hearts, and say, “Blessed be he that
made this fruit pleasant!” Or, in smelling
a flower, “Blessed be he that made this flower
sweet.” Some think these mandrakes were
jessamine flowers. Whatever they were,
Rachel could not see them in Leah’s hands,
where the child had placed them, but she
must covet them. She cannot bear the want
of these pretty flowers, but will purchase them
at any rate. Note, There may be great sin
and folly in the inordinate desire of a small
thing. Leah takes this advantage (as Jacob
had of Esau’s coveting his red pottage) to
obtain that which was justly due to her, but
to which Rachel would not otherwise have consented.
Note, Strong passions often thwart
one another, and those cannot but be continually
uneasy that are hurried on by them.
Leah is overjoyed that she shall have her
husband’s company again, that her family
might yet further be built up, which is the
blessing she desires and devoutly prays
for, as is intimated,
where it is said,
God hearkened unto Leah. The learned bishop
Patrick very well suggests here that the true
reason of this contest between Jacob’s wives
for his company, and their giving him their
maids to be his wives, was the earnest desire
they had to fulfil the promise made to Abraham
(and now lately renewed to Jacob), that
his seed should be as the stars of heaven for
multitude, and that in one seed of his, the
Messiah, all the nations of the earth should
be blessed. And he thinks it would have
been below the dignity of this sacred history
to take such particular notice of these things
if there had not been some such great consideration
in them. Leah was now blessed
with two sons; the first she called Issachar
(a hire), reckoning herself well repaid for her
mandrakes, nay (which is a strange construction
of the providence) rewarded for
giving her maid to her husband. Note, We
abuse God’s mercy when we reckon that his
favours countenance and patronize our follies.
The other she called Zebulun (dwelling), owning
God’s bounty to her: God has endowed me
with a good dowry,
v. 20.
Jacob had not endowed
her when he married her, nor had he
wherewithal in possession; but she reckons
a family of children not a bill of charges, but
a good dowry,
She promises
herself more of her husband’s company now
that she had borne him six sons, and that, in
love to his children at least, he would often
visit her lodgings. Mention is made
(v. 21)
of the birth of a daughter, Dinah, because of
the following story concerning her,
Perhaps Jacob had other daughters, though
their names are not registered.
II. Rachel fruitful at last
(v. 22):
God remembered
Rachel, whom he seemed to have
forgotten, and hearkened to her whose prayers
had been long denied; and then she bore a
son. Note, As God justly denies the mercy
we have been inordinately desirous of, so
sometimes he graciously grants, at length,
that which we have long waited for. He
corrects our folly, and yet considers our
frame, and does not contend for ever. Rachel
called her son Joseph, which in Hebrew is
akin to two words of a contrary signification,
Asaph (abstulit), He has taken away my reproach,
as if the greatest mercy she had in
this son was that she had saved her credit;
and Jasaph (addidit), The Lord shall add to
me another son, which may be looked upon
either as the language of her inordinate desire
(she scarcely knows how to be thankful
for one unless she may be sure of another),
or of her faith–she takes this mercy as an
earnest of further mercy. “Has God given
me his grace? I may call it Joseph, and say,
He shall add more grace! Has he given me
his joy? I may call it Joseph, and say, He
will give me more joy. Has he begun, and
shall he not make an end?”
| Jacob’s Bargain with Laban. | B. C. 1745. |
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25 And it came to pass, when Rachel
had borne Joseph, that Jacob said
unto Laban, Send me away, that I
may go unto mine own place, and to
my country.
26 Give me my wives
and my children, for whom I have
served thee, and let me go: for thou
knowest my service which I have done
thee.
27 And Laban said unto him,
I pray thee, if I have found favour in
thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned
by experience that the LORD hath
blessed me for thy sake.
28 And he
said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will
give it.
29 And he said unto him,
Thou knowest how I have served thee,
and how thy cattle was with me.
30 For it was little which thou hadst before
I came, and it is now increased
unto a multitude; and the LORD hath
blessed thee since my coming: and
now when shall I provide for mine
own house also?
31 And he said,
What shall I give thee? And Jacob
said, Thou shalt not give me anything:
if thou wilt do this thing for me, I
will again feed and keep thy flock:
32 I will pass through all thy flock to day,
removing from thence all the speckled
and spotted cattle, and all the brown
cattle among the sheep, and the spotted
and speckled among the goats: and
of such shall be my hire.
33 So shall
my righteousness answer for me in
time to come, when it shall come for
my hire before thy face: every one
that is not speckled and spotted among
the goats, and brown among the sheep,
that shall be counted stolen with me.
34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it
might be according to thy word.
35 And he removed that day the he goats
that were ringstraked and spotted, and
all the she goats that were speckled and
spotted, and every one that had some
white in it, and all the brown among
the sheep, and gave them into the hand
of his sons.
36 And he set three days’
journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and
Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
We have here,
I. Jacob’s thoughts of home. He faithfully
served his time out with Laban, even
his second apprenticeship, though he was an
old man, had a large family to provide for,
and it was high time for him to set up for
himself. Though Laban’s service was hard,
and he had cheated him in the first bargain
he had made, yet Jacob honestly performs
his engagements. Note, A good man, though
he swear to his own hurt, will not change.
And though others have deceived us this
will not justify us in deceiving them. Our
rule is to do as we would be done by, not as
we are done by. Jacob’s term having expired,
he begs leave to be gone,
Observe,
1. He retained his affection for the land
of Canaan, not only because it was the land
of his nativity, and his father and mother were
there, whom he longed to see, but because it
was the land of promise; and, in token of his
dependence upon the promise of it, though he
sojourn in Haran he can by no means think
of settling there. Thus should we be affected
towards our heavenly country, looking upon
ourselves as strangers here, viewing the
heavenly country as our home, and longing
to be there, as soon as the days of our service
upon earth are numbered and finished.
We must not think of taking root here, for
this is not our place and country,
2. He was desirous to go to Canaan,
though he had a great family to take with
him, and no provision yet made for them.
He had got wives and children with Laban,
but nothing else; yet he does not solicit
Laban to give him either a portion with his
wives or the maintenance of some of his
children. No, all his request is, Give me my
wives and my children, and send me away,
v. 25, 26.
Note, Those that trust in God, in
his providence and promise, though they
have great families and small incomes, can
cheerfully hope that he who sends mouths
will send meat. He who feeds the brood of
the ravens will not starve the seed of the
righteous.
II. Laban’s desire of his stay,
In love to himself, not to Jacob or to his wives
or children, Laban endeavours to persuade
him to continue his chief shepherd, entreating
him, by the regard he bore him, not to
leave him: If I have found favour in thy eyes,
tarry. Note, Churlish selfish men know
how to give good words when it is to serve
their own ends. Laban found that his stock
had wonderfully increased with Jacob’s good
management, and he owns it, with very good
expressions of respect both to God and Jacob:
I have learned by experience that the Lord has
blessed me for thy sake. Observe,
1. Laban’s
learning: I have learned by experience. Note,
There is many a profitable good lesson to be
learned by experience. We are very unapt
scholars if we have not learned by experience
the evil of sin, the treachery of our own
hearts, the vanity of the world, the goodness
of God, the gains of godliness, and the like.
2. Laban’s lesson. He owns,
(1.) That his
prosperity was owing to God’s blessing: The
Lord has blessed me. Note, worldly men,
who choose their portion in this life, are often
blessed with an abundance of this world’s
goods. Common blessings are given plentifully
to many that have no title to covenant-blessings.
(3.) That Jacob’s piety had
brought that blessing upon him: The Lord
has blessed me, not for my own sake (let not
such a man as Laban, that lives without God
in the world, think that he shall receive any
thing of the Lord,
Jam. i. 7),
but for thy
sake. Note,
[1.] Good men are blessings to
the places where they live, even where they
live meanly and obscurely, as Jacob in the
field, and Joseph in the prison,
[2.] God often blesses bad men with outward
mercies for the sake of their godly relations,
though it is seldom that they have either the
wit to see it or the grace to own it, as Laban
did here.
III. The new bargain they came upon.
Laban’s craft and covetousness took advantage
of Jacob’s plainness, honesty, and good-nature;
and, perceiving that Jacob began to
be won upon by his fair speeches, instead of
making him a generous offer and bidding
high, as he ought to have done, all things
considered, he puts it upon him to make
his demands
(v. 28):
Appoint me thy wages,
knowing he would be very modest in them,
and would ask less than he could for shame
offer. Jacob accordingly makes a proposal
to him, in which,
1. He shows what reason he had to insist
upon so much, considering,
(1.) That Laban
was bound in gratitude to do well for him,
because he had served him not only faithfully,
but very successfully,
Yet here
observe how he speaks, like himself, very
modestly. Laban had said, The Lord has
blessed me for thy sake; Jacob will not say
so, but, The Lord has blessed thee since my
coming. Note, Humble saints take more
pleasure in doing good than in hearing of it
again.
(2.) That he himself was bound in
duty to take care of his own family: Now,
when shall I provide for my own house also?
Note, Faith and charity, though they are
excellent things, must not take us off from
making necessary provisions for our own
support, and the support of our families.
We must, like Jacob, trust in the Lord and
do good, and yet we must, like him, provide
for our own houses also; he that does not the
latter is worse than an infidel,
1 Tim. v. 8.
2. He is willing to refer himself to the
providence of God, which, he knew, extends
itself to the smallest things, even the colour
of the cattle; and he will be content to have
for his wages the sheep and goats of such
and such a colour, speckled, spotted, and
brown, which should hereafter be brought
forth,
This, he thinks, will be a
most effectual way both to prevent Laban’s
cheating him and to secure himself from
being suspected of cheating Laban. Some
think he chose this colour because in Canaan
it was generally most desired and delighted
in; their shepherds in Canaan are called
Nekohim
(Amos i. 1),
the word here used for
speckled; and Laban was willing to consent
to this bargain because he thought if the few
he has that were now speckled and spotted
were separated from the rest, which by agreement
was to be done immediately, the body
of the flock which Jacob was to tend, being
of one colour, either all black or all white,
would produce few or none of mixed colours,
and so he should have Jacob’s service for
nothing, or next to nothing. According to
this bargain, those few that were party-coloured
were separated, and put into the
hands of Laban’s sons, and sent three days’
journey off; so great was Laban’s jealously
lest any of them should mix with the rest of
the flock, to the advantage of Jacob. And
now a fine bargain Jacob has made for
himself! Is this his providing for his own
house, to put it upon such an uncertainty?
If these cattle bring forth, as usually cattle
do, young ones of the same colour with themselves,
he must still serve for nothing, and
be a drudge and a beggar all the days of his
life; but he knows whom he has trusted, and
the event showed,
(1.) That he took the best
way that could be taken with Laban, who
otherwise would certainly have been too hard
for him. And,
(2.) That it was not in vain
to rely upon the divine providence, which
owns and blesses honest humble diligence.
Those that find men whom they deal with
unjust and unkind shall not find God so,
but, some way or other, he will recompense
the injured, and be a good pay-master to
those that commit their cause to him.
| Jacob’s Ingenious Policy. | B. C. 1745. |
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37 And Jacob took him rods of
green poplar, and of the hazel and
chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes
in them, and made the white appear
which was in the rods.
38 And he
set the rods which he had pilled before
the flocks in the gutters in the
watering troughs when the flocks came
to drink, that they should conceive
when they came to drink.
39 And
the flocks conceived before the rods,
and brought forth cattle ringstraked,
speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob
did separate the lambs, and set
the faces of the
flocks toward the ringstraked,
and all the brown in the flock
of Laban; and he put his own flocks
by themselves, and put them not unto
Laban’s cattle.
41 And it came to
pass, whensoever the stronger cattle
did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods
before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters,
that they might conceive among
the rods.
42 But when the cattle
were feeble, he put them not in: so the
feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger
Jacob’s.
43 And the man increased
exceedingly, and had much cattle, and
maidservants, and menservants, and
camels, and asses.
Here is Jacob’s honest policy to make his
bargain more advantageous to himself than
it was likely to be. If he had not taken
some course to help himself, it would have
been a bad bargain indeed, which he knew
Laban would never consider, or rather would
be well pleased to see him a loser by, so little
did Laban consult any one’s interest but his
own. Now Jacob’s contrivances were,
1. To set peeled sticks before the cattle where
they were watered, that, looking much at
those unusual party-coloured sticks, by the
power of imagination they might bring forth
young ones in like manner party-coloured,
Probably this custom was commonly
used by the shepherds of Canaan,
who coveted to have their cattle of this
motley colour. Note, It becomes a man to
be master of his trade, whatever it is, and to
be not only industrious, but ingenious in it,
and to be versed in all its lawful arts and
mysteries; for what is a man but his trade?
There is a discretion which God teaches the
husbandman (as plain a trade as that is), and
which he ought to learn,
2. When he began to have a stock of ringstraked
and brown, he contrived to set them
first, and to put the faces of the rest towards
them, with the same design as in the former
contrivance; but would not let his own, that
were of one colour,
Strong impressions,
it seems, are made by the eye, with
which therefore we have need to make a
covenant.
3. When he found that his project
succeeded, through the special blessing
of God upon it, he contrived, by using it
only with the stronger cattle, to secure to
himself those that were most valuable, leaving
the feebler to Laban,
Thus Jacob
increased exceedingly
(v. 43),
and grew very
rich in a little time. This success of his
policy, it is true, was not sufficient to justify
it, if there had been any thing fraudulent or
unjust in it, which we are sure there was
not, for he did it by divine direction
(ch. xxxi. 12);
nor was there any thing in the
thing itself but the honest improvement of
a fair bargain, which the divine providence
wonderfully prospered, both in justice to
Jacob whom Laban had wronged and dealt
hardly with and in pursuance of the particular
promises made to him of the tokens
of the divine favour, Note, Those who,
while their beginning is small, are humble
and honest, contented and industrious, are
in a likely way to see their latter end greatly
increasing. He that is faithful in a little
shall be entrusted with more. He that is
faithful in that which is another man’s shall
be entrusted with something of his own.
Jacob, who had been a just servant, became
a rich master.
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