Genesis 30:2

Genesis 30:2

1 Now when Rachel saw that ^ashe bore Jacob no children, Rachel ^benvied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, ^cor else I die!”

2 And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, ^a“Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

3 So she said, “Here is ^amy maid Bilhah; go in to her, ^band she will bear a child on my knees, ^cthat I also may have children by her.”

4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid ^aas wife, and Jacob went in to her.

Commentaries:

John Wesley's Notes

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And Jacob's anger was kindled - He was angry, not at the person, but at the sin: he expressed himself so as to shew his displeasure. It was a grave and pious reply which Jacob gave to Rachel, Am I in God's stead? - Can I give thee that which God denies thee? He acknowledges the hand of God in the affliction: He hath withheld the fruit of the womb. Whatever we want, it is God that with - holds it, as 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 key of the clouds, of the heart, of the grave, and of the womb, are four keys which God has in his hand, and which (the Rabbins say) he intrusts neither with angel nor seraphin. He also acknowledges his own inability to alter what God appointed, Am I in God's stead? What, dost thou make a God of me? 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. It is therefore our sin and folly to place that confidence in any creature, which is to be placed in God only.

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