And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my country.
Joseph's birth marks a turning point in Jacob's long stay with Laban: as soon as Rachel bears a son, Jacob asks to go home. Why should one child's arrival change a man's whole outlook — and why, having asked, does he not leave?
Jacob has to ask, because in Haran he is a servant in another man's house. The son born to him changes how that life feels.
As soon as Jacob receives Joseph, the child of promise, the son of his beloved Rachel, he speaks of leaving Padan, the place of his exile and bondage. See Gen. 30:25-26. Simple as this seems, it has character in it. The condition of an alien and servant did not suit him once he had the seed that showed him the power of God on his behalf. He may have felt, almost by instinct, that it was now right for him to assert his freedom and to think of his home and his inheritance.
Jacob asks to go to his own home and country — older translations read "my own place." Those words point to the land of God's promise, not to Haran. One writer draws a rule from this that reaches far beyond Jacob.
In verse 25, we find that the birth of Joseph helped to lift Jacob himself to a higher level. As a result, his mind turned to the land that was his according to God's purpose, and he wanted to go back there. We may take it as a rule, true in every age, that the divine purpose becomes all-important to the believer who enters into communion with God. Jacob realized afresh that there was a country he could call "my own place."
The verse dates Jacob's move to the day Rachel bore Joseph. The name she gave the boy tells its own story.
Rachel shows the way of faith on the same occasion. She calls her son "Joseph," that is, "adding." She was sure that the Lord, who had now begun His mercies towards her, would go on with them and complete them. In the same spirit, faith in our hearts and on our lips says today, "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?" From His gifts Rachel drew more than a plea to ask Him for still more. In bolder, happier faith she drew the conclusion that she could trust Him for still more.
This is a real change of heart, but one writer is careful not to overstate it. Jacob's schooling was far from over.
The needed discipline was not ended: Jacob had yet to learn more of himself under the good dealings of God. His life still bore a sadly mixed crop. But from here we see his heart turn toward the land. He had long been an exile from it, through his mother's schemes and his own.
This was not a passing mood. Jacob's words fit the pattern of his whole time in Haran.
As soon as the purpose or hand of the Lord gives him his dismissal, he leaves. He leaves even though Laban's contract and God's blessing were making it profitable for him to stay. He leaves even though he might well judge that Esau's hatred waited for him if he dared to return. But so it was. With loss behind him and danger before him, he leaves. Indeed, such had been his purpose all along, from beginning to end.
Jacob asks, but he does not go. Laban does not want to lose him, and the delay costs Jacob dearly.
It is fitting that when Joseph is born, Jacob's thoughts turn toward his proper home in Canaan (v. 25). When the person of Christ dawns on the believer's vision, he begins to realize that he should be in God's place for him. However, when Jacob tells Laban that he means to leave, Laban does not want to lose the service of his son-in-law... If Jacob had insisted on leaving then, he and Laban would have parted on better terms than they did later.
- Gift. A son from God changed how Jacob saw Haran. Life as an alien and a servant no longer suited him once he held the proof of God's power for him.
- Longing. Nearness to God turns the heart toward God's purpose. Jacob realized afresh that he had a country of his own.
- Faith. Rachel named her son "adding." She took one mercy as the promise of more, and made God's gifts a reason to trust Him for still more.
- Delay. Jacob asked but did not insist. Laban's unwillingness kept him there, and the parting later was far worse.
- Home. Jacob always meant to return. He left with loss behind him and danger ahead: home mattered more than profit or safety.
Give [me] my wives for whom I have served thee, and my children; that I may go away, for thou knowest my service which I have served thee.
Joseph has just been born. With that birth, Jacob turns to Laban, the father-in-law who has used him, cheated him and grown rich on his work. He asks to be let go, with the wives and children he has already paid for in labour. His words raise three questions. What is his? What has his service earned? And where does he belong?
Jacob had spent long years in Syria. He grew rich there, and Laban cheated him there. Commentators tie his sudden ask to the son Rachel had just borne.
He is the victim of deception. He finds that others besides himself can drive hard bargains. Yet despite all this, a clear faith holds the man to the promises of God. Even his prosperity does not make him lose sight of them. And when Joseph is born — a picture of Christ in a marked and distinct way, as we shall soon see — a longing takes hold of Jacob. He wants to be back in the land of promise, where God will give the blessings of His covenant, and where God Himself had promised to give him his inheritance.
Jacob is asking to be let go. One writer reads it as the moment Jacob stopped accepting life as a servant.
As soon as Joseph is given to him — the child of promise, the son of his beloved Rachel — Jacob speaks of leaving Padan, the place of his exile and slavery. Simple as this looks, there is character in it. Life as a foreigner and a servant no longer suited him, once he had the son who showed him God's power working for him. He may have felt, almost by instinct, that it was now right for him to claim his freedom, and to turn his thoughts to his home and his inheritance.
Jacob was far from Canaan, yet he calls it his own place. God's purpose is why he can say that. One writer draws a wider rule from it.
The birth of Joseph helped to lift Jacob to a higher level. As a result, his mind turned to the land that was his by God's purpose, and he wanted to go back there. We may take it as a given, true in every age, that when a believer comes into communion with God, God's purpose becomes the most important thing to him. Jacob realized afresh that there was a country he could call "my own place."
Jacob asks for his family as wages he has earned. The prophet Hosea sums up those years the same way, and one writer sees God's hand in them.
As the prophet Hosea puts it, Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. He became an exile from the land of promise, cheated in a foreign land by his own relatives. That was the sad repayment for his own crooked ways. He had schemed to get what the Lord had already given him, and what the Lord would have secured for him in His own holy way of faithfulness and truth.
Jacob can point Laban to what Laban himself knows. One writer looks at how Jacob behaved through those years.
He silently accepts the wrongs of a master who treated him badly. He serves with patience, and suffers without complaint… While he was in the house of the Syrian, Jacob knew that he was under the mighty hand of God for correction, and he behaved that way. He did not defend himself when people blamed him. He did not fight for his rights when he was wronged and treated unjustly.
Jacob asked, but he did not press it. Laban did not want to lose him, and Jacob agreed to stay.
Fittingly, when Joseph is born, Jacob's thoughts turn toward his proper home in Canaan. When the person of Christ dawns on a believer's sight, he begins to realize that he should be in the place God has for him. But when Jacob tells Laban that he means to leave, Laban does not want to lose his son-in-law's service… If Jacob had insisted on leaving then, he and Laban would have parted on better terms than they did later. But Jacob agreed to stay on terms that he himself suggested.
- Gift — Joseph's birth is the hinge. A fresh sign of God's power for him wakes Jacob's longing for the land of promise.
- Longing — communion with God makes God's purpose matter most. Only then could Jacob call a far-off country "my own place."
- Claim — life as a foreigner and servant no longer fitted a man who held the promised son, so he asked for his freedom.
- Cost — the wives and children were wages. Hosea sums up those years as serving and keeping sheep for a wife. They repaid Jacob's own crooked ways.
- Delay — he asked but did not insist, so he stayed with Laban. A clean break then would have ended better than what came later.