Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Seven more children are born to Jacob: whence he, in verse 25, thinks of returning to his homeland; but he is retained by his father-in-law through a new agreement and wage, in which he outwits his deceitful father-in-law, in verse 37, by a just trick through the peeling of rods: and thus he enriches himself.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 30:1-43
1. Now Rachel, seeing that she was barren, envied her sister, and said to her husband: Give me children, otherwise I shall die. 2. Jacob answered her angrily: Am I in the place of God, who has deprived you of the fruit of your womb? 3. But she said: I have my handmaid Bilhah: go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I may have children from her. 4. And she gave him Bilhah in marriage: who, 5. when her husband had gone in to her, conceived and bore a son. 6. And Rachel said: The Lord has judged in my favor, and has heard my voice, giving me a son, and therefore she called his name Dan. 7. And Bilhah conceiving again, bore another son, 8. for whom Rachel said: God has compared me with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called him Naphtali. 9. Leah, perceiving that she had ceased bearing, gave her handmaid Zilpah to her husband. 10. And when she, after conceiving, bore a son, 11. she said: Happily! and therefore she called his name Gad. 12. Zilpah also bore another. 13. And Leah said: This is for my blessedness: for women will call me blessed; therefore she called him Asher. 14. And Reuben, going out into the field at the time of wheat harvest, found mandrakes, which he brought to his mother Leah. And Rachel said: Give me some of your son's mandrakes. 15. She answered: Does it seem a small thing to you that you have taken away my husband, unless you also take my son's mandrakes? Rachel said: Let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes. 16. And when Jacob returned from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him. And she said: You shall come in to me, because I have hired you for my son's mandrakes. And he slept with her that night. 17. And God heard her prayers: and she conceived and bore a fifth son, 18. and said: God has given me my reward, because I gave my handmaid to my husband, and she called his name Issachar. 19. And Leah conceiving again, bore a sixth son, 20. and said: God has endowed me with a good dowry: this time also my husband will be with me, because I have borne him six sons: and therefore she called his name Zebulun. 21. After whom she bore a daughter, named Dinah. 22. The Lord also, remembering Rachel, heard her and opened her womb. 23. And she conceived and bore a son, saying: God has taken away my reproach. 24. And she called his name Joseph, saying: May the Lord add to me another son. 25. And when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his father-in-law: Let me go, that I may return to my homeland and to my own land. 26. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, that I may depart: you know the service with which I have served you. 27. Laban said to him: May I find favor in your sight: I have learned by experience that God has blessed me on your account: 28. set your wages and I will give them to you. 29. But he replied: You know how I have served you, and how great your possessions have become in my hands. 30. You had little before I came to you, and now you have become rich: and the Lord has blessed you at my coming. It is just, therefore, that I should at some point provide for my own household as well. 31. And Laban said: What shall I give you? But he said: I want nothing; but if you will do what I ask, I will again pasture and keep your flocks. 32. Go through all your flocks, separate all the speckled and spotted sheep: and whatever is dark, spotted, and variegated, both among the sheep and among the goats, shall be my wages. 33. And my justice will answer for me tomorrow, when the time of our agreement comes before you: and all that are not speckled, spotted, and dark, both among the sheep and among the goats, will convict me of theft. 34. And Laban said: I am pleased with what you ask. 35. And on that day he separated the she-goats and sheep, the he-goats and rams, that were speckled and spotted: but the entire flock of one color, that is, of white and black fleece, he delivered into the hands of his sons. 36. And he put a distance of three days' journey between himself and his son-in-law, who pastured the rest of his flocks. 37. Then Jacob took green rods of poplar, almond, and plane tree, and partially peeled them: and with the bark stripped off, whiteness appeared in the parts that were peeled: but those that remained intact stayed green: and in this way the color was made variegated. 38. And he placed them in the channels where the water was poured out: so that when the flocks came to drink, they would have the rods before their eyes, and would conceive at the sight of them. 39. And it came to pass that in the very heat of mating, the sheep gazed at the rods, and bore spotted and speckled offspring, sprinkled with diverse colors. 40. And Jacob divided the flock, and placed the rods in the channels before the eyes of the rams: but all that were white and black belonged to Laban: and the rest to Jacob, with the flocks kept separate. 41. Therefore when the early breeding sheep were mated, Jacob placed the rods in the water channels before the eyes of the rams and sheep, so that they would conceive while gazing at them. 42. But when the late breeding came, and the last conception, he did not place them. And so the late offspring became Laban's, and the early ones Jacob's. 43. And the man was enriched beyond measure, and had many flocks, maidservants and menservants, camels and donkeys.
Verse 1: She Envied Her Sister
1. SHE ENVIED HER SISTER. — Among brothers and sisters, if one is preferred or excels another, envy easily arises. Moreover, Rachel was not yet holy, indeed not yet faithful; for she still worshipped idols, as I will discuss at chapter 31, verse 19.
GIVE ME CHILDREN. — The Hebrews think Rachel is alluding to Rebekah and Isaac, Genesis chapter 25, verse 21, as if to say: Make it happen, O Jacob, and obtain by your prayers that I become fruitful, just as your father by praying obtained offspring for your mother Rebekah, namely you and Esau.
Verse 2: Am I in God's Place?
2. AM I IN GOD'S PLACE? — Am I God, or do I act in God's place and role? As if to say: Ask God, not me, for children. So the Chaldean paraphrase. Beautifully and symbolically, Richard of St. Victor, in the book called Benjamin Minor, explains these handmaids thus: "Each one," he says, "took her handmaid — Leah took Zilpah, Rachel took Bilhah — that is, affection took sensuality, reason took imagination. Sensuality serves affection, imagination is the handmaid of reason. And each of them is recognized as so necessary to her mistress, that without them the whole world would seem to be able to confer nothing upon them. For without imagination, reason would know nothing; without sensuality, affection would savor nothing. Imagination therefore (as a handmaid) runs back and forth between mistress and servant, between reason and sense: and whatever it has drawn in externally through the sense of the flesh, it represents internally for the service of reason. But sensuality also busies itself and is anxious about frequent service, and is itself always and everywhere ready to attend upon her mistress Leah. It is she who customarily seasons and serves the foods of carnal delights, and invites to their enjoyment before the proper time, and provokes beyond measure," etc.
The Rabbis teach that God reserved four keys to Himself. First, the key of rain, so that He might send and pour it forth from His treasuries at will, Deuteronomy 28:12. Second, the key of life, that is, of generation, as is evident in this passage. Third, the key of nourishment, for driving away famine, Psalm 145:16. Fourth, the key of tombs, that is, of resurrection, Ezekiel 37:12.
Verse 3: That She May Bear upon My Knees
3. THAT SHE MAY BEAR UPON MY KNEES — that is, so that I may receive the son born from her, as from my handmaid, as my own, as mothers are accustomed to set their children upon their knees, Isaiah 66:12. From this it is clear that neither Jacob by taking the handmaids as wives, nor his wives by offering and giving them to him, sinned through lust; but they did this from a desire for abundant offspring, which was the blessing of that time, promised to Abraham and his posterity. Jacob therefore asked for and received one wife, namely Rachel: but when Leah was substituted for her, he was compelled to marry her also: a third, namely her handmaid, Rachel here adds, being barren, so that she might at least adopt children from her; in like manner Leah adds a fourth, having now ceased bearing, verse 9. So St. Augustine.
Verse 6: The Lord Has Judged in My Favor (Dan)
6. THE LORD HAS JUDGED IN MY FAVOR — as if to say: I was engaged with my sister in a kind of dispute and contest: for I competed with her over offspring and fruitfulness, and until now, because I was barren, I was inferior to her; but now I have risen above her, and God has judged the case in my favor, so that I am no longer considered barren but fruitful and prolific, just like my sister. Hence she called her son Dan, that is, judgment, or a lawsuit, that is, one adjudicated in my favor by God.
Verse 8: God Has Compared Me with My Sister (Naphtali)
8. GOD HAS COMPARED ME WITH MY SISTER. — In Hebrew it is naphtule Elohim niphtalti, which the Chaldean renders: God has compared me, and I have been compared; the Septuagint: God has received me, and I have been compared. But literally you would translate: with wrestlings of God (that is, great and difficult ones: for things that are great are said to be "of God") I have cunningly wrestled, and I have prevailed. It is a metaphor taken from wrestlers, who by the intertwining of limbs, now in this direction, now in that, one twists the other, so as to overthrow and throw him down; which is a matter of cunning and craftiness rather than of strength and power. For the root patal means to twist, and to do so cunningly, as wrestlers are accustomed to act shrewdly and deceitfully: hence petil is called a twisted thread, and niphtal is called fraudulent and deceitful. Rachel therefore says: I contended and wrestled, as it were, with Leah over fruitfulness and the glory of offspring, and I have now cunningly overcome her who bears no more, since I ingeniously and shrewdly substituted my fertile handmaid for my barren self with my husband: hence she called her son Naphtali, as if to say, one who wrestles, who contends, and does so shrewdly and cunningly. Hence Josephus interprets Naphtali as meaning "artful," that is, crafty and cunning; Oleaster translates it as "enveloped," which amounts to the same thing: for cunning people are accustomed to wrap up and conceal their stratagems.
Verse 11: Happily (Gad)
11. HAPPILY. — In Hebrew it is bagad, which can be read and translated in two ways: First, divided as ba gad, that is, a troop or army has come, as if to say: I have now borne so many sons that I can form a battle line from them: so the Chaldean and Aquila. Second, as one word, as Hebrew manuscripts generally read: begad, that is, fortune, fortunately, happily. So the Septuagint and our translator. Hence also Rabbi Solomon translates it as: a good star has come, or a good planet, as if to say: A more benign star has shone upon me, and, as Seneca says, a gift of influential Fortune.
Note: The Hebrew word Gad properly signifies one who is girded, or equipped for battle, namely a soldier or army: hence it signifies Mars, the god and patron of warfare; from this it further signifies fortune. For the Gentiles believed Mars bestowed good fortune, victory, and spoils upon soldiers: and so for Gad, which is in the Hebrew, our translator, Pagninus, and the Hebrews translate it as fortune, Isaiah 65:11. Hence also the Arabs, according to Aben Ezra, call Gad God: just as the Cimbri and Germans called God "God," from the Hebrew Gad, as it seems (although Goropius thinks "God" is said as if "goet," that is, good): for they were warlike; and therefore they worshipped as God Mars and Fortune, that is, Gad. So then Leah called this son Gad, that is, good fortune, says Theodoret and St. Augustine, perhaps because in the house of Laban her father, who was a gentile and idolater, she had often seen Gad, that is, Fortune, named and perhaps worshipped. For many Gentiles worshipped Fortune as God.
Verse 13: This Is for My Blessedness (Asher)
13. THIS IS FOR MY BLESSEDNESS. — For I am now blessed with a sixth son; now not only from myself, but also from my handmaid Zilpah, just as my sister Rachel from Bilhah, I give offspring to my husband; and therefore I will be called blessed by all on account of my many children: hence she called her son Asher, that is, blessed. To this the Blessed Virgin Mother of God alluded when she sang: "All generations will call me blessed." For what the Poet sang about Livia, wife of Caesar Augustus, who was the mother of Drusus and Tiberius Caesar:
"Nor is any mother more fortunate than yours, who through her two births gave so many blessings;"
this far more truly applies to the one birth of the Blessed Virgin.
Verse 14: Reuben Found Mandrakes
14. AND REUBEN WENT OUT. — Reuben was then five years old: for all these twelve children, except Benjamin, were born to Jacob from four wives during the second seven years of servitude, that is, seven years from the marriage of Rachel and Leah. For the last, Joseph, was born at the end of this seven-year period, verse 25. Therefore, since Leah bore four sons to Jacob in the first four years of this seven-year period, namely Reuben first, Simeon second, Levi third, Judah fourth, after whom she ceased bearing: it follows that Reuben was already five years old. For after this, Leah again in the sixth year bore Issachar, and in the seventh and final year of childbearing bore Zebulun.
MANDRAKES. — In Hebrew it is dodim, that is, breasts, by which more recent interpreters understand lilies. But far better and more truly our translator renders it as mandrakes; for mandrakes have the appearance of breasts. Second, they are fragrant and beautiful. Third, they induce sleep; hence they are given to those who are to be cut by surgeons, so that they may not feel the pain of the cutting. Fourth, by many they are said to have the power of a love potion, say Dioscorides and Theophrastus. Fifth, they promote fertility: for they stimulate menstruation, and thus purge and prepare the womb for conception, says Aristotle, book 2 of On the Generation of Animals, and Epiphanius in the Philologus, chapter 4.
You will say: The mandrake is very cold; therefore it hinders conception. So St. Augustine, book 22 Against Faustus, chapter 56, where he thinks the mandrakes were sought by Rachel not for conception, but on account of the rarity of the fruit and the pleasantness of the fragrance. Levinus Lemnius responds, in his book On the Herbs of Sacred Scripture, chapter 11, that the mandrake, because it is extremely cold, in cold regions and cold wombs causes sterility; but in hot and torrid regions, such as Judea and Mesopotamia, where Jacob and Rachel lived, it produces fertility, because it tempers and moistens the heat and dryness of the womb. See more in Dioscorides, book 6, chapter 6, and Mattioli in the same place.
For these reasons, then, Rachel sought this mandrake and purchased it from Leah, but in vain and with no result: for, as is clear from what follows, she remained barren for three more years, after which she was made fruitful not by the mandrakes but by God's power, whether natural or supernatural, and bore Joseph.
Tropologically, St. Cyril, book 11: The mandrake, he says — that is, by the sleep and death of the cross — Christ restored, healed, and made the Church fruitful. Again, the fragrant mandrake is a symbol of good reputation, says St. Augustine above; for this should be sought and cultivated by everyone.
Philo says the mandrake extends its roots underground, resembling a human corpse: hence this root is called by Pythagoras anthropomorphon, and by Columella a semi-human. Perhaps also in Rachel's time there were imposters similar to our own, who from the mandrake root (although Mattioli thinks they do this not from the mandrake but from bryony), which has the appearance of human thighs and feet, carve out little figures, in which by inserting millet seed into the finest cuts, they cause little roots to grow out like human hair, and then sell them at great price, as if these things had been animated beings under the earth, which they had extracted at peril of their lives beneath the gallows, and which possessed rare and hidden powers — for example, of making the barren fruitful; so that from this belief Rachel so eagerly sought them.
Verse 16: You Shall Come in to Me (Issachar)
16. YOU SHALL COME IN TO ME. — Jacob was accustomed, for the sake of peace and fairness, to distribute the nights among his individual wives; and since this night belonged to Rachel, she ceded her right to Leah for the price of the mandrakes: for at this price Leah seemed to purchase her husband from her sister for that night, according to the ancient custom, which I discussed at chapter 29, verse 18. So St. Augustine. And hence she called her offspring Issachar, as if ies sachar, that is, there is a reward, namely of my mandrakes which I sold to Rachel, or rather the reward of my charity and generosity, by which I gave my handmaid to my husband, as Leah herself says. Moreover, properly and simply Issachar is the same as sachar, that is, reward. For the Yod added and prefixed to proper names is usually a heemantic, or formative element of the name, as is evident in Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Jehovah, etc. So the Septuagint, St. Jerome, Josephus.
Verse 20: Zebulun
20. ZEBULUN. — Zebulun means the same as dwelling-place, or one who cohabits, as if to say: On account of so many children of mine, my husband will love me, and will cheerfully and steadfastly dwell with me.
Verse 23: God Has Taken Away My Reproach
23. MY REPROACH — my barrenness, which was then a disgrace and dishonor.
Verse 24: May the Lord Add to Me (Joseph)
24. MAY THE LORD ADD TO ME. — Rachel wishes for a second son to be added to her; hence from this wish and desire she calls her son Joseph; Joseph therefore means the same as adding, or increasing, as is clear from chapter 49, verse 22.
St. Cyril, book 11, provides the allegory of these eleven names of the Patriarchs. For the allegory of this entire chapter, see St. Augustine, book 22 Against Faustus, chapters 46 and following.
Allegory and Symbolism of the Twelve Names
Symbolically, Richard of St. Victor, in his book On the Twelve Patriarchs, takes them as twelve pious dispositions and virtues of the soul. Hear him:
"Fear, which is the beginning of wisdom, is the first offspring of the virtues. He who desires to have such a son should attend to the evils he has done, not only diligently but also frequently. From such consideration fear is born, namely that son who is rightly called Reuben, that is, son of vision. Therefore when he is born, his mother rightly exclaims: God has seen my humiliation; because then one truly begins to see and to be seen: to see God through the gaze of fear, to be seen by God through the regard of piety.
"When the first son is born, the second follows, because it is necessary that sorrow follow upon great fear. But God will not despise a contrite and humbled heart, but will hear it for His kindness' sake; and therefore such a son is called Simeon, that is, hearing.
"But what consolation, I ask, can there be for the penitent and truly grieving, except the one hope of pardon? This is that third of Jacob's sons, who is therefore called Levi, that is, added. Not 'given' but 'added' does the divine word name this son, lest before fear and fitting sorrow of repentance, anyone should presume upon the hope of pardon.
"But just as after daily increasing fear, sorrow necessarily arose, so likewise after hope is born, love arises. This therefore is the son who is born in the fourth place, and is called Judah, that is, confessing, in Sacred Scripture. Because what we love, we both praise with our mouth and confess with our heart.
"These are followed by Dan and Naphtali, sons from Rachel's handmaid; and because through the office of Dan we accuse, condemn, and chastise enticing thoughts, we rightly call him Dan, that is, judgment. Hence it is written: Dan will judge his people. If therefore he guards this people of his well, if he diligently exercises his judgment, it will come about that in the other tribes there will rarely be found anything that ought to be condemned.
"But Naphtali brings the image of eternal goods before the eyes of the mind; and because he is accustomed to convert any recognized nature of visible things to a spiritual understanding, he is rightly called Naphtali, that is, conversion.
"Seeing therefore that her sister Rachel rejoiced over adopted offspring, Leah also was provoked to give her handmaid to her husband; from whom Gad and Asher were born, namely the rigor of abstinence and the vigor of discipline. Gad therefore is born first, because it is more important that we first be temperate regarding our own goods, and then strong in tolerating the evils of others. Through Gad the evils rising up within are repressed; through Asher the evils assailing from without are repelled; hence it is said: Gad, girded for battle, shall fight before him.
"These are Gad and Asher, who exclude false joy and introduce true joy, and therefore after their birth comes Issachar, who is interpreted as reward. For what other reward do we seek for so many and such great labors than true joy?
"After Issachar, Zebulun is born, who is interpreted as the dwelling-place of strength; because through the tasting of interior joy, hatred of vices is generated, and the strength of true fortitude is acquired. This is Zebulun, who by growing angry is accustomed to appease the anger of God, who by piously raging against human vices, by seemingly not sparing them, better spares them." He then proves this with the examples of Moses, Phinehas, and Elijah.
But how difficult it is to preserve all these children of Jacob — virtues, I mean, of the soul — without discernment! This may be inferred from the fact that "without it we can neither acquire the goods of the soul nor preserve those already acquired. This therefore is that Joseph, who is indeed born late, but is loved by his father more than the rest: who knows not only how to grow with growing virtues, to advance with those advancing; but also from the failings of his brothers to tend toward progress, and from the losses of others to acquire the gains of prudence. Therefore he is rightly called by his father Joseph, that is, increase, and increasing son; him the sun, moon, and stars adore, that is, father, mother, and brothers, because all the virtues honor discernment as their mistress and guide."
Benjamin brings up the rear of the brothers, for his mother a true Ben-oni, that is, son of sorrow: because as he is born she dies, from the anxiety of frequent childbearing and the immensity of pain in giving birth. But what is the death of Rachel, if not the failing of the mind in contemplation? Did not Rachel die then, and all sense of human reason had failed in the Apostle, when he said: Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows. Let no one therefore think that by reasoning he can penetrate to the brightness of that divine light; let no one believe that by human ratiocination he can comprehend it. Rachel must die, so that the ecstatic Benjamin may be born."
Verse 25: Let Me Go
25. AND WHEN JOSEPH WAS BORN, JACOB SAID TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW: LET ME GO — for I have now completed the fourteen years of servitude by which I bound myself to you for Rachel and Leah, chapter 29, verses 18 and 27.
From this it is clear that Joseph was born at the end of the second seven-year period, that is, when the fourteenth year of Jacob's arrival and service in Mesopotamia was completed, namely in the house of Laban. For since he had obligated himself to Laban for 14 years of service, he could not request his freedom and release until those years were completed; since therefore here, when Joseph is born, he immediately requests his release, it follows that when Joseph was born the 14 years had already been completed; nevertheless Jacob remained yet another six years with Laban. For, as follows, he soon enters into a new agreement with Laban, so that just as he had previously served 14 years for Rachel and Leah, so henceforth he would serve him for a certain portion of the flock: and so after Joseph's birth he served Laban another six years, that is, 20 years in all, as is clear from chapter 31, verse 41.
Again, Joseph was born in the ninety-first year of his father Jacob. This is clear from the fact that when Jacob went down into Egypt and stood before Pharaoh at the age of 130, Genesis 47:9, Joseph was then 39 years old; for Joseph, when he was made ruler of Egypt by Pharaoh, was 30 years old, Genesis chapter 41, verse 46; from which time seven years of plenty immediately followed, as predicted by Joseph; and then seven years of famine, in the second year of which Jacob went down into Egypt, chapter 45, verses 6 and following. Jacob therefore went down into Egypt in the ninth year after Joseph's rise to power, when Joseph was 39 years old, and Jacob was then 130 years old. Now subtract 39 years of Joseph's life from 130 years of Jacob's life, and you will have 91 as the year of Jacob in which Joseph was born. From both of these points, now stated and proven, it manifestly follows that Jacob had obtained the blessing from Esau and had therefore fled to Mesopotamia at the age of 77 (as I said at the beginning of chapter 27), for after 14 years of arrival and service in the house of Laban, namely in his 91st year, Joseph was born to him.
Verse 27: I Have Learned by Experience
27. I HAVE LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE THAT GOD HAS BLESSED ME ON YOUR ACCOUNT — as if to say: You are fortunate, and I am fortunate because of you; you brought your good fortune with you into my house.
Note: Experience teaches that some men are fortunate, so that whatever they do turns out prosperously, and they even make the households and members of those households fortunate in turn: hence they are called "of good foot," and by the Carthaginians they are called "Namphaniones," says St. Augustine, Letter 44; others are unfortunate, so that nearly everything turns out badly for them, even if it has been most prudently preconceived and arranged. Hence in war and in choosing a general, it is especially examined whether the one to be chosen is lucky or unlucky.
Thus Alexander was lucky in war, who conquered the world in twelve years. Thus fortunate was Polycrates, tyrant of the Samians. Thus fortunate was Julius Caesar, even when he undertook the greatest enterprises with supreme recklessness, and so, trusting in this fortune of his, he overcame all dangers; hence when sailing from Macedonia to Brundisium in the most dangerous time of year, he said to the frightened helmsman: "Do not be afraid; you carry fortunate Caesar."
Likewise in this century Charles V, the Emperor, was fortunate, and for this reason terrible to the Turks, so much so that his soldiers were invincible under Charles; but later, hired by Francis, King of France, they changed their fortune along with their leader, says Paulus Jovius. Likewise fortunate was Henry IV, King of France, in obtaining and governing the kingdom, until his death. Finally, Plutarch, in his book On the Fortune of the Romans, teaches that fortune no less than virtue advanced the Romans to so great a height of empire.
You will ask: What is the cause of this disparity? The blind Gentiles judged the cause to be Fortune, a blind goddess, who not according to merit but by chance breathed happiness upon even the impious and unworthy, but often unhappiness upon the pious and worthy; the astrologers of nativities attributed this to each person's fate. Astrologers assign it to the stars and horoscope. The common people think these things happen by chance. For we set aside here human industry and prudence, which is often the cause of a happy outcome.
But I say that God is the cause why some are fortunate and others unfortunate. For God is the Lord of all, who distributes to each one as He wills. And so, just as He bestows upon one person talent, wealth, health, beauty, strength, and other gifts of nature, while He makes another stupid, poor, sickly, ugly, and weak: so likewise by His special providence He makes one fortunate and another unfortunate, and He bends and coordinates secondary causes to this end. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm 30:26: "In Your hands are my lots." And the Wise Man, Proverbs 16:33: "Lots are cast into the lap, but they are governed by the Lord." And Sirach 33:11: The Lord "separated them (men) and changed their ways; some of them He blessed and exalted, and some of them He sanctified and drew near to Himself, and some of them He cursed and humbled, like the clay of a potter in His hand, to mold and arrange it: all His ways are according to His disposition." Therefore, although these effects are often casual and fortuitous with respect to secondary causes, by which they were not foreseen, but happen beyond their intention and causality, as it were accidentally and by chance: nevertheless with respect to God they are not fortuitous, but foreseen, provided for, and ordered in themselves. Hence St. Augustine, book 1 of the Retractations, chapter 1, judged that the name of fortune should be rejected from a Christian's mouth, that is, according to the meaning of the Gentiles: for otherwise God, just as He is the nature that gives nature (if I may speak thus with certain philosophers), so He is the fortune that gives fortune, that is, He Himself is the author of all fortune, just as of all nature; hence from these events we gather and recognize that there is a mind presiding over all things, governing all these things — that there is providence, that there is God. For how would some be constantly fortunate in all their affairs and others unfortunate, unless God constantly breathed happiness upon those and unhappiness upon these? as Albertus Hero rightly demonstrates, book 4 On Providence, chapter 7.
The reason why God makes men so unequal in this matter is: first, to show that He is the absolute Lord of all. Second, so that in the universe there may be unequal degrees and outcomes among men: for this pertains to the variety and beauty of the universe. Third, so that men from these things may acknowledge God, and may not ask from anyone other than God. Whence God promised the Jews, if they kept the law, this happiness in earthly goods, so that the unrefined people might be led by this hope to God's law and worship; again He made the Patriarchs prosperous, so that the Gentiles, attracted by the hope of such prosperity, might acknowledge and worship the same God. Fourth, so that those who are fortunate may use their good fortune for God's glory and for the help of others; while the unfortunate may find in their misfortune the material for virtue, modesty, and patience. And for this reason God makes the greater part of humanity neither entirely fortunate nor entirely unfortunate, but fortunate in some things and unfortunate in others; and He weaves and tempers their life from happiness and unhappiness with wonderful variety. Fifth, so that the faithful, seeing that the pious are sometimes unhappy and the impious happy, may know that all earthly things are indifferent, and may learn to despise this earthly happiness and aspire to the true, heavenly, and eternal happiness, to which Christ leads us by word and example. For, as St. Augustine says in On True Religion, chapter 10: "The whole life of Christ was a discipline of morals." For Christ taught that all the goods of the world, which He despised, are to be despised; He demonstrated that all the evils which He endured are to be endured — so that neither would happiness be sought in the former, nor unhappiness feared in the latter.
Note here that although among Christians many good and pious men are naturally unhappy, all nevertheless are and will be supernaturally happy, because God through this unhappiness directs them to contempt of the world, to true wisdom, to the glory of patience and fortitude, and finally to eternal happiness. Thus "for those who love God, all things," even adversities, "work together for good;" and: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, etc. All things whatsoever he does shall prosper." And therefore in pious and supernatural matters we find that holy men, especially those who commit themselves entirely to God and continually ask to be directed by Him, in their works, beyond the merit of virtue and labor, generally have successful outcomes.
Wherefore it is prudent counsel that we who are about to teach, preach, hear confessions, convert souls, etc., should join ourselves to God in all things, and pray that He Himself may direct our mind, hand, feet, and all our ways and actions, and that we may say: "Look upon Your servants, O Lord, and let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct the works of our hands upon us." Thus God directed and prospered Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob here.
Verse 30: At My Entrance
30. AT MY ENTRANCE — at my presence, that is, on account of me, as the Chaldean renders it. See how great a prosperity just and holy men bring to the houses of their masters, even of the impious.
Verse 32: Go About — Separate All the Sheep
32. GO ABOUT. — Drive your sheep and goats into a circle, so that we may together inspect them all and separate the unicolored from the multicolored. Whence in Hebrew it is eebor, that is, "I will pass through," and "I will inspect with you all the flocks."
SEPARATE ALL THE SHEEP. — Note that from this passage to the end of the chapter, the Hebrew is intricate and prolix, which our translator [the Vulgate] therefore rendered clearly and briefly, as if in summary, giving the sense rather than translating word for word. Whence note secondly that not two covenants, as some would have it, but only one covenant between Jacob and Laban is recounted here through the end of the chapter; for the connection of the covenant and its outcome, and the historical sequence of the entire chapter, demand this. The covenant therefore was this: that all offspring of Laban's sheep and goats, which Jacob was contracted to pasture, that would henceforth be born, if they were of one color — that is, entirely white or entirely black — would go to Laban; but if they were born spotted and of various colors, or dark, that is, blackish, partly white and partly black, they would go to Jacob. So say St. Jerome, Lipomanus, and Pererius. And for this reason Laban handed over only the sheep and goats of one color to be pastured by Jacob, thinking that from them only similarly unicolored offspring would be born, and so all would go to himself, while to Jacob nothing or very little would come, and that only by chance and incidentally. But the remaining sheep and goats of diverse colors he took away from Jacob and separated, and reserved for himself both those animals and all their offspring, whether unicolored or multicolored.
DARK, SPOTTED, AND VARIED. — "Dark" means dusky or blackish, in which whiteness is mixed with blackness, so that it appears partly white and partly black. "Spotted," in Hebrew talu, is that which has large white or black patches. "Varied," or with speckled fleece, in Hebrew nakud, that is "dotted," is that which is marked and dotted with small white or black spots, as if with points.
BOTH AMONG THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. — Some think from the Hebrew that Laban distinguished between sheep and goats in this way: that among the sheep only the purely white would go to Laban, while the dark and varied would go to Jacob; but among the goats the varied and spotted would be Jacob's, while the dark and white would be Laban's. But the contrary is required by our translator [the Vulgate], namely that both among sheep and goats the unicolored went to Laban and the multicolored to Jacob; for the same arrangement applied to goats and sheep alike.
Verse 33: My Justice Shall Answer for Me
33. AND MY JUSTICE SHALL ANSWER FOR ME TOMORROW — as if to say: Nature favors you in the matter of livestock, so that white are born from white, black from black; but justice will be with me, answering for me, that is, rewarding me. For God, as I firmly trust, will look upon my humility and will recompense and compensate my labor with a just reward, which you by an unjust agreement are trying to divert from me — namely, by bringing it about that from your unicolored animals, multicolored ones may be born for me. So says St. Jerome.
Thus it is said in Isaiah 59:12: "Our sins have answered us" — as if to say: Our sins, when questioned as if by God the judge, confessed the truth — namely that we had committed them; and therefore they testified that we are guilty of punishment, and condemned us to it. And so that punishment was inflicted upon us, and it proclaims us to be sinners. And Hosea 5:5: "The arrogance of Israel shall answer (testify, cry out, accuse) to his face" — that is, publicly, openly, showing no reverence for its author. Hence it is clear that both the good and evil actions of men are witnesses of their holiness or wickedness, and openly give their testimony before God the judge — indeed, if they are enormous, they cry out to heaven. This is therefore the consolation of the just man, this is the consolation of the Martyr, so that with St. Lawrence he may say: "You have tested me with fire, and iniquity has not been found in me." And from this is born an incredible joy and greatness of soul, so that he despises and laughs at all suffering and torments.
Hear the spirit of our Martyr Ogilvie, who in this year 1615 in Scotland was the first to undergo death for the orthodox faith. When for eight full days the executioners had forced him to keep constantly awake by continually pricking him with styluses, needles, and pins, and threatened him with leg-crushing boots and the most bitter punishments, the athlete of Christ answered: "Excellent executioners, I count you all as nothing in this cause; carry on according to your heretical malice — I do not care about you; I have asked no one, I will never ask, I have always despised you. I can and will gladly suffer more for this cause than you together with all others can inflict. Stop threatening me with such things; force them upon deranged women. These things inflame me, they do not dismay me: I laugh at them no differently than at the cackling of so many geese." He said it and did it; indeed he pressed them and demanded from them the fulfillment of their threat — namely, that they inflict the torments they had threatened. To those who marveled he said: "I glory in the cause, and I triumph in such punishment; we can do all things in Him who strengthens us."
TOMORROW — in future time. WHEN THE AGREED TIME SHALL HAVE COME — when, according to your agreement and arrangement, at the end of the year the offspring are to be divided, so that the multicolored go to me, and the unicolored to you.
THEY SHALL CONVICT ME OF THEFT — if, that is, you find unicolored offspring or any others besides multicolored in my flock, my own flock, contrary to the covenant entered into with you. As if to say: I will faithfully hand over to you the unicolored ones; I will keep for myself the multicolored; I will secretly steal or hide nothing from the unicolored ones.
Verse 35: And He Separated
35. AND HE SEPARATED. — Some think from the words that immediately follow that this was a different, second covenant between Laban and Jacob: for when he had seen that the first covenant had turned out favorably for Jacob and that all the offspring had been born multicolored, they think he therefore now changed the covenant and wanted the opposite — namely, that the multicolored would go to himself, and the unicolored to Jacob. But this is not plausible, for the context of the narrative itself indicates that here only the execution of the first covenant is being recounted.
BUT HE HANDED OVER THE ENTIRE UNICOLORED FLOCK INTO THE HANDS OF HIS SONS. — Abulensis, Lyranus, Lipomanus, and Cajetan think that our text here is corrupted, and must be emended by adding the negation "not" — as if Laban had handed over to his sons not the unicolored, that is the multicolored, to be pastured, and the unicolored to Jacob, so that from them equally unicolored offspring, which were to go not to Jacob but to himself, would be born; for this is what the Hebrew seems to signify. But the Hebrew is tangled and can be translated in opposite ways, and so with our translator [the Vulgate] you may rightly render it thus: "everything in which there was whiteness, and everything black among the lambs (that is, all unicolored lambs) he handed over into the hands of his sons."
Secondly, Pererius excuses our translator, saying that there is a hysterology here — as if to say: Laban handed over the unicolored ones to his sons, not now, but after the birth of the sheep, which is narrated at the end of the chapter. But this too seems strained and forced.
I say therefore that Laban handed over the unicolored sheep to be pastured by his sons, whom Jacob was assisting and overseeing. For in the preceding verse he had entrusted his entire flock to Jacob, to whom he added his own sons as shepherds and guardians according to custom, lest Jacob by deceit against the covenant secretly steal away the unicolored sheep. Thus in the following chapter, verse 43, the same Laban calls Jacob's household his own. Laban therefore handed over to Jacob, along with his other sons, the unicolored sheep and goats, hoping that unicolored offspring would likewise be born from them for himself. But the multicolored sheep he separated and reserved for himself with his servants to pasture, lest Jacob, by pasturing them, should claim for himself by the terms of the covenant all the multicolored offspring that, as it appeared, would be born from them.
OF BLACK FLEECE. — The Hebrew chum here signifies "black," for it is opposed to laban, that is, "white." But in verse 32, chum signifies "dark" or "blackish," because it is joined with "spotted" and "variegated."
Verse 36: A Distance of Three Days' Journey
36. A DISTANCE OF THREE DAYS' JOURNEY — lest his own multicolored sheep could be mingled, whether by sight or by mating, with the unicolored ones which Jacob was pasturing, and so multicolored offspring would be produced, which would go not to himself but to Jacob. So says Lipomanus.
Verse 37: Jacob Taking Green Poplar Rods
37. JACOB THEREFORE TAKING GREEN POPLAR RODS — Note the industry and stratagem of Jacob, which he, having been taught by angels in dreams, as is gathered from the following chapter, verse 11, opposed to Laban's violence and human cunning.
You will say: Jacob by this device, as if by fraud, vitiated the contract entered into with Laban; and so he deceitfully and unjustly acquired Laban's property. For the contract — that unicolored offspring would go to Laban and multicolored to Jacob — was understood, according to the common intention of the contracting parties, to apply to those that would be born naturally and by chance, not through artifice and fraud.
I respond: It is true that this contract would commonly be so understood, and rightly so, and that it was so understood by Jacob and Laban. Jacob therefore used this stratagem under a different title — namely, first, the title of compensation. For he was being violently oppressed by Laban, a greedy and unjust man, and could not extract the just reward for his labors in any other way than by this device. For Laban had above all done Jacob a grave injury by substituting the unattractive Leah, whom Jacob found displeasing, for the Rachel who had been promised to him, and by compelling Jacob to serve him for seven additional years for her. Then, unjustly, after the covenant with Jacob concerning the flocks had been made, he separated (verse 35) the unicolored sheep from the multicolored, handing over to Jacob only the unicolored, from which naturally all unicolored offspring would be born for himself and no multicolored ones for Jacob. Therefore, since Jacob had no judge to whom he could appeal, he of necessity declared his own right and reclaimed what was his by this device, so that by this art he might obtain the wages owed to him.
Secondly, Jacob did this at God's instruction (through an angel), as I have said; therefore God gave him these livestock of Laban's that were to be born by this device — just as God, by commanding the Hebrews to despoil Egypt, by that very fact gave them the goods of the Egyptians (Exodus 12).
You will ask whether this device and stratagem was natural, or whether it achieved its effect through the supernatural cooperation of God. I respond that it was natural; for in mating the power of the imagination is usually at its greatest, because the soul then exerts all its force, to such a degree that some white mothers, from the image and imagination of an Ethiopian, have given birth to an Ethiopian. Hear Pliny, Book 7, chapter 12: "The reckoning of resemblances," he says, "resides in the mind, in which many chance factors are believed to have influence — sight, hearing, memory, and images absorbed at the very moment of conception. Even a thought of either parent suddenly passing through the mind is believed to shape a likeness or to produce a mixture; and therefore there are more differences among humans than among other animals, because the swiftness of thoughts, the quickness of the mind, and the variety of talent imprint manifold marks — whereas in other animals the minds are fixed and alike in all individuals, each within its own kind."
Galen, in the book he wrote On Theriac to Piso, relates that a certain woman, by gazing upon a most beautiful painting, conceived a beautiful child from an ugly husband — "by sight, I believe, transmitting the image to nature." St. Jerome here in his Hebrew Traditions says: "Quintilian, in that controversy in which a woman was accused because she had given birth to an Ethiopian, argues in her defense that this is the nature of conception which we have described. And it is found written in the books of Hippocrates that there was a certain woman who was to be punished on suspicion of adultery because she had given birth to a most beautiful infant, unlike either parent or family — had not the said physician resolved the question by advising them to inquire whether perhaps such a painting had been in that woman's bedchamber. When it was found, the woman was freed from punishment and suspicion."
St. Augustine likewise reports this in his Question 93 on this passage, and also in Book 18 of the City of God, chapter 5, he writes that a demon did something similar in forming the Apis bull, which the Egyptians worshipped; for the new one had to be similar to the previous one that had died and marked with white spots. Isidore too, in Book 12 of his Etymologies, chapter 1, near the end, says: "The same thing is said to happen in herds of mares — that they place noble stallions in the sight of the mares at the time of conception, so that they may conceive and produce offspring similar to them. For even breeders of doves place the most beautiful doves in the same places where the others frequent, so that, their sight being captivated, they may generate similar offspring. Hence it is that some people forbid pregnant women from looking upon the most ugly animal faces, such as baboons and apes, lest, encountering their sight, they cause similar offspring to be born. For the soul in the act of sexual union transmits intrinsic forms within, and saturated with their impressions, draws their likenesses into its own character."
Therefore, while these sheep of Jacob were drinking and at the same time the males were mounting the females, the direct image of the peeled and multicolored rods lying in the water, mixed with the reflected image — or shadow — of the mounting males in the water, produced as it were a single variegated image for the females, as if they saw their males beautifully variegated with green and white spots. Hence, by the force of their imagination, they imprinted the same colors upon the offspring they were then conceiving. The males did the same — namely, they imprinted a similar force and multicolored form upon their seed, from the similar combined image of the rods with the shadow of the females, by sight and imagination. So say St. Jerome, Augustine (Question 93), Abulensis, and most excellently Francis Valles in his Sacred Philosophy, chapter 11.
One might secondly suspect that poplar, almond, and plane-tree rods, if placed in water, have some inherent power to produce darkness and dark spots; for such a power in many waters is attributed by Aristotle (History of Animals, Book 3, chapter 12), Ovid (last book of the Metamorphoses), Solinus, and others.
Finally, the holiness and prayers of Jacob greatly aided this matter; for the angels, favoring Jacob, most powerfully directed the imagination of the sheep and stimulated it toward this multicolored imagination of the rods, as is gathered from the following chapter, verse 12. God also, wishing to bless and enrich Jacob, through this imagination, by His special concurrence, powerfully and abundantly imprinted diverse colors on the offspring at the very moment of their conception. Whence St. Cyril, Chrysostom, and Theodoret believe that these things came to Jacob not so much naturally as by the gift and providence of God, and Jacob himself confesses this in the following chapter, verses 7, 8, and 9.
You will say: Why were no green offspring produced and born from the green rods? I respond: because in no quadruped is there such a proportion and temperament of humors as is necessary for greenness. Therefore, in place of green color, a blackish or dark color was produced in the offspring, says Tostatus, to which the shadow and darkness of the waters contributed not a little — waters which shaded and darkened the greenness, so that they appeared not green but dusky and blackish.
Tropologically, these variegated rods are the Sacred Scriptures and the various examples of the various Saints, which, while we contemplate them, we produce and bring forth offspring similar to them in virtues and heroic works. So say St. Ambrose (On Jacob, Book 2, chapters 4 and 6) and Gregory (Moralia, Book 21, chapter 1).
IN PART — For part of the rod, clothed with its bark, appeared green, while the part that was peeled and bared appeared white.
Verse 39: In the Very Heat of Mating
39. THAT IN THE VERY HEAT — because by heat the imagination is most greatly excited, flourishes, and operates. Hence natural philosophers teach that the brain requires: first, dryness, for the sake of intelligence — for "a dry soul is the wisest"; second, moisture, for the sake of memory — for moisture easily receives an impressed image, whence young people, because their brains are moist, easily learn anything and commit it to memory; third, heat, for the sake of imagination — whence we experience in our studies that when the head and body are warm, the conceptions of the imagination flourish and flow; but when the head is cold, they are blunted, become sluggish, and are dulled. On the contrary, prudence and sincere judgment consist in coolness, as Aristotle teaches (Section 14, Problem 8), and for this reason the elderly excel in prudence and judgment.
Verse 41: In the First Season
41. IN THE FIRST SEASON. — Just as in Lombardy, so also in Mesopotamia and Syria, sheep give birth twice a year; or at least some conceived in spring, others in autumn. The first season therefore is spring; the later one is autumn. Jacob therefore in spring, when both the air and the animals are vigorous, placed the multicolored rods, so that multicolored offspring would be born for him, and these, being spring-born, were better, more abundant, and stronger. But in autumn he did not place them; and so then unicolored ones, and those weaker, were born for Laban. For he conceded this portion to Laban — partly lest Laban suspect fraud and detect the device, and partly out of his own fairness and kindness. Valles conjectures that both these mating seasons, the early and the late, fell on the same day. But far better and more truly, St. Jerome and other Latin writers, as well as the Hebrews, divide and distribute them between spring and autumn.