What does Genesis 30:17 Mean?

Context Summary

The details of this paragraph are given with great minuteness, because they concern the twelve sons of Jacob, the forefathers of Israel. After all, history is made in the nursery, and we are very much what our mothers have made us in the formative years. An old Spanish proverb says, "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy." Leah's influence on her boys, as judged by their subsequent life, was anything but healthy; yet with Jacob being the man he was, there was poor chance for them to realize the highest ideals. Rachel's anguish of heart led her to earnest prayer. Compare Genesis 30:1; Genesis 30:22. Wait on God, oh, anguished ones: ye shall surely have reason to praise him. Was it not worth waiting for, to bear a Joseph, whose branches were to run over the wall in blessing? There are more compensations in life than we think for. If Rachel had her husband's love, Leah had a large family of boys. In the saddest lives there are glints of sunshine. [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 30

¹  Rachel, in grief for her barrenness, gives Bilhah her maid unto Jacob
⁵  Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali
⁹  Leah gives Zilpah her maid, who bears Gad and Asher
¹⁴  Reuben finds mandrakes,
¹⁵  with which Leah buys her husband's company of Rachel
¹⁷  Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah
²²  Rachel bears Joseph
²⁵  Jacob desires to depart
²⁷  Laban detains him on a new agreement
³⁷  Jacob's policy, whereby he becomes rich