1
Ge 30:1-24.
英文原文
Ge 30:1-24.
DOMESTIC JEALOUSIES.
1. Rachel envied her sister--The maternal relation confers a high degree of honor in the East, and the want of that status is felt as a stigma and deplored as a grievous calamity.
Give me children, or else I die--either be reckoned as good as dead, or pine away from vexation. The intense anxiety of Hebrew women for children arose from the hope of giving birth to the promised seed. Rachel's conduct was sinful and contrasts unfavorably with that of Rebekah (compare
Ge 25:22)
and of Hannah
(1Sa 1:11).
3
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3-9. 辟拉……悉帕——她效法撒拉待夏甲的榜样（这榜样如今仍不乏效法者），收养了使女的孩子们。利亚也照样行了。她们之间存在着尖锐而激烈的争竞，因她们是亲姐妹这层亲密关系而更甚；她们虽按多妻通例各居一室，与各自的家族同住，丈夫和父亲按次序每日轮流与她们同住，却仍不能平息她们彼此的嫉妒。恶在于制度本身，它既违反了神起初的定规，便不能带来幸福。
英文原文
3-9. Bilhah . . . Zilpah--Following the example of Sarah with regard to Hagar, an example which is not seldom imitated still, she adopted the children of her maid. Leah took the same course. A bitter and intense rivalry existed between them, all the more from their close relationship as sisters; and although they occupied separate apartments, with their families, as is the uniform custom where a plurality of wives obtains, and the husband and father spends a day with each in regular succession, that did not allay their mutual jealousies. The evil lies in the system, which being a violation of God's original ordinance, cannot yield happiness.
20
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20. 利亚说，神赐我美好的嫁妆——生了一个儿子便以欢乐来迎接，拥有几个儿子则使母亲获得与数目相称的尊荣和体面。丈夫对这拥有也赋予相似的重要性，这成为一条联合的纽带，使他不可能抛弃或冷淡对待一个为他生了众子的妻子。这就解释了利亚因自己拥有六个儿子而怀着快乐期盼的原因。
英文原文
20. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry--The birth of a son is hailed with demonstrations of joy, and the possession of several sons confers upon the mother an honor and respectability proportioned to their number. The husband attaches a similar importance to the possession, and it forms a bond of union which renders it impossible for him ever to forsake or to be cold to a wife who has borne him sons. This explains the happy anticipations Leah founded on the possession of her six sons.
21
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21. 后来她又生了一个女儿——对女儿所设的较低价值，仅从出生的简略宣告便显明出来。
英文原文
21. afterwards, she bare a daughter--The inferior value set on a daughter is displayed in the bare announcement of the birth.
25
Ge 30:25-43.
Ge 30:25-43.
雅各与拉班立约。
25. 拉结生约瑟之后——这儿子出生不久，雅各服役的期限便满了，他急于为家人建立独立的生计，大概因知道以扫不在那地，便宣告他要回迦南去的意向
(来 13:14)。
雅各在这决意中的信心值得注意，因为他除了神的应许之外别无所靠（参
Ge 28:15）。
英文原文
Ge 30:25-43.
JACOB'S COVENANT WITH LABAN.
25. when Rachel had born Joseph--Shortly after the birth of this son, Jacob's term of servitude expired, and feeling anxious to establish an independence for his family, he probably, from knowing that Esau was out of the way, announced his intention of returning to Canaan
(Heb 13:14).
In this resolution the faith of Jacob was remarkable, for as yet he had nothing to rely on but the promise of God (compare
Ge 28:15).
27
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27. 拉班说……我已经占卜——他那自私的舅父不愿分离，不是出于对雅各或他女儿们的热烈情感，而是因自己的利益将受亏损。他从长期的观察中发现，天上的福随着雅各，他的牲畜在雅各的管理之下奇妙地增加。这是一项值得注意的见证：好人是他们所住之地的祝福。属世之人常因敬虔的亲属而蒙属物质的福，虽然他们不一定都像拉班那样有智慧辨别，或有恩典承认。
英文原文
27. Laban said . . . I have learned--His selfish uncle was averse to a separation, not from warmth of affection either for Jacob or his daughters, but from the damage his own interests would sustain. He had found, from long observation, that the blessing of heaven rested on Jacob, and that his stock had wonderfully increased under Jacob's management. This was a remarkable testimony that good men are blessings to the places where they reside. Men of the world are often blessed with temporal benefits on account of their pious relatives, though they have not always, like Laban, the wisdom to discern, or the grace to acknowledge it.
28
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28. 请定你的工价，我就给你——东方的牧人所得的工价不是钱，而是牲畜所增或所产的一定分量；但拉班当时为要保住侄儿的继续服侍，什么事都肯做，并要装出慷慨的样子，雅各深知那是勉强的。
英文原文
28. appoint me thy wages, and I will give it--The Eastern shepherds receive for their hire not money, but a certain amount of the increase or produce of the flock; but Laban would at the time have done anything to secure the continued services of his nephew, and make a show of liberality, which Jacob well knew was constrained.
31
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31. 雅各说，不要给我什么——他们立了一个新约，其要点是他仍按常例受酬，但要根据雅各所定的某些条件。
英文原文
31. Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing--A new agreement was made, the substance of which was, that he was to receive remuneration in the usual way, but on certain conditions which Jacob specified.
32
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32. 今天我要走遍你的羊群——东方的羊一般为白色，山羊为黑色，有斑点或花斑的相当少且罕见，雅各便建议将所有现存这类羊从羊群中分出来，并以下次产羔时所出现的为足。这提议看来大大有利于拉班，他便立刻同意。但雅各被指控占了舅父的便宜，虽然很难为他撇清实施了某种程度的虚伪，他不过是利用自己在牛群繁育上的高超技艺和丰富经验所结的果。但从下一章
(Ge 31:5-13)
显然可知，这事有一些神迹成分，他所用的方法也是出于神的指示。
英文原文
32. I will pass through all thy flock to-day--Eastern sheep being generally white, the goats black, and spotted or speckled ones comparatively few and rare, Jacob proposed to remove all existing ones of that description from the flock, and to be content with what might appear at the next lambing time. The proposal seemed so much in favor of Laban, that he at once agreed to it. But Jacob has been accused of taking advantage of his uncle, and though it is difficult to exculpate him from practising some degree of dissimulation, he was only availing himself of the results of his great skill and experience in the breeding of cattle. But it is evident from the next chapter
(Ge 31:5-13)
that there was something miraculous and that the means he had employed had been suggested by a divine intimation.
37
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37. 雅各拿杨树……枝子，等等——榛树有许多变种，有些比普通榛树更直立，雅各所用的大概是其中一种。剥了皮之后，花柱呈鲜红色；他还取了其他灌木的枝子，剥去树皮之后有白色条纹。他凭观察所得，知道将这些常置于怀孕之母畜眼前，便可通过想象力对未来后代产生影响。
英文原文
37. Jacob took rods, &c.--There are many varieties of the hazel, some of which are more erect than the common hazel, and it was probably one of these varieties Jacob employed. The styles are of a bright red color, when peeled; and along with them he took wands of other shrubs, which, when stripped of the bark, had white streaks. These, kept constantly before the eyes of the female at the time of gestation, his observation had taught him would have an influence, through the imagination, on the future offspring.
38
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38. 水沟——通常是一块挖空的长大石块，可供数只羊同时饮水，但有时也小到只容一只羊饮水。
英文原文
38. watering troughs--usually a long stone block hollowed out, from which several sheep could drink at once, but sometimes so small as to admit of only one drinking at a time.
Ge 30:1-24.
家中的嫉妒。
1. 拉结嫉妒她姐姐——在东方，为母的身份赋予极高的尊荣，缺乏这身份则被视为羞辱，并被视为一大灾祸而悲叹。
给我孩子，不然我就死了——要么被当作如同死人一般，要么因烦恼而憔悴。希伯来妇人之所以对孩子如此焦虑，是因盼望生下所应许的后裔。拉结的行为是有罪的，与利百加（参
Ge 25:22）
和哈拿
(1Sa 1:11)
的行为相比颇为不如。