Long had Rachel been praying to God for a baby of her own, but there were eleven other children in the family before she had one. But that one was to be the chief of them all; this was Joseph, of whom we shall, if the Lord will, soon be reacting. Rachel didn’t forget, as some do, when their prayers are answered, to thank God for the answer. She knew who it was that had heard her prayers, and she said, “God hath taken away my reproach,” for she had felt very sad to not have a baby of her very own to clasp in her arms; and she felt sure God would give her another one too. He did, but that belongs to the next chapter.
When Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away that I may go to my own place, and to my own country,” but Laban wanted to keep him. No doubt Jacob was a good worker, but it was not that only, for Laban had only a few animals when his nephew had come to live with and work for him, and by this time he had very many, so he said to Jacob (verse 27), “I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.” So they made a bargain that Jacob should take as his pay the odd looking cows, sheep and goats—the speckled and spotted cattle and goats, and the brown sheep—all the rest should be Laban’s. So the flocks were divided, and Jacob’s older boys took his animals three days’ journey away, while Jacob himself looked after Laban’s flocks.
Jacob now set to work to get the best of his uncle, but it was only God that made verse 43 of this chapter come true: “And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maid-servants, and men-servants, and camels, and asses.” But God was not finished with Jacob yet. He was watching over him, and giving him lessons to learn that were harder than any he had at school—if they had schools in those days!