The KJV Holy Bible

 

Genesis Chapter Thirty

 

1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?

3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.

4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.

5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.

6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.

7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.

8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.

10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son.

11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.

13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.

15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.

16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.

18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.

20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son.

25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.

26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.

27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.

28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.

29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.

30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?

31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock.

32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.

34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.

41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

 

 

Esoteric Interpretation & Commentary

 

The Hermetic Blueprint of Genesis: The Generation of the Faculties and the Mechanics of Mentalism

"Genesis Chapter Thirty describes the rapid expansion of the Mind's Internal architecture and culminates in one of the most explicit demonstrations of the Hermetic Principle of Mentalism in the entire text. As the dual aspects of the Soul (Leah and Rachel) struggle to manifest their Energies, they employ their lower faculties (the handmaids) to generate the complete spectrum of human Psychological Archetypes. Finally, the True Spiritual Visionary (Joseph) is born. With the Inner world fundamentally established, the Evolving Mind (Jacob) uses Conscious Visualization and the Manipulation of Vital Energy to override the material matrix (Laban), securing Total Physical and Energetic Sovereignty."

 

 

Verses 1-13: The Friction of the Soul and the Generation of the Faculties - "And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister... and she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife..." 

The friction between the two sisters illustrates the difficulty of anchoring High Spiritual Energy into dense matter. Leah (the practical, earthly Soul) easily generates offspring—representing the Mind's ability to quickly develop foundational, survival-based, and practical Psychological traits. Rachel (the Pure, Contemplative, Divine Soul) struggles to manifest directly on the physical plane. Out of desperation, both sisters give their handmaids (Bilhah and Zilpah) to Jacob. Esoterically, the handmaids represent the lower, automated, and mechanical habits of the Mind. The Evolving Intellect (Jacob) is interacting with all levels of the Soul to produce what will become the Twelve Tribes. These Twelve sons represent the Twelve foundational archetypes of Human Consciousness, corresponding directly to the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac—the Complete, Localized Universe Within the Microcosm.

 

 

Verses 14-24: The Mandrakes and the Birth of the Dreamer - "And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field... And God remembered Rachel... and she conceived, and bare a son... and called his name Joseph;" 

Reuben finds mandrakes, a root long associated in Alchemical and Occult Traditions with earthly fertility, Vital Life Force (Prana), and the grounding of Astral Energies. Rachel trades her time with Jacob to Leah in exchange for these mandrakes. This is a subtle Alchemical exchange: the Higher Spiritual Soul temporarily surrenders Active Generative Power on the physical plane to absorb a specific, grounding earthly Vitality. This synthesis finally allows Rachel to Conceive. She births Joseph. Joseph represents the Highest Evolutionary leap of this generation—he is the Dreamer, the Master of the Subconscious, and the Ultimate synthesizing Force that will eventually save the Entire Mental and physical structure from famine. He is the True Alchemical Gold of Jacob's labor.

 

 

Verses 25-30: The Demand for Sovereignty - "And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country." 

The timing here is exact. The moment Joseph (the Visionary, synthesizing Consciousness) is born, Jacob (the Evolving Mind) instantly demands his freedom from Laban (the restrictive Karmic matrix of the material world). The Adept knows that once the Highest Spiritual Center has been firmly established Within, the Soul can no longer remain in servitude to the lower, mechanical laws of physical labor. It is time for the Mind to claim its Own Sovereignty and build its own house.

 

 

Verses 31-43: The Principle of Mentalism and Imprinting the Matrix - "And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them... And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs..." 

This is a Pure, Practical manual on Hermetic Mentalism and the Conscious manipulation of matter. Jacob agrees to take only the speckled and spotted flocks as his wage, letting Laban remove all the currently spotted animals. To generate his wealth, Jacob strips the bark off rods to create specific visual patterns (white strakes). He places these patterned rods directly in the watering troughs where the strongest flocks come to drink and mate.

 

The Water: Represents the Subconscious Mind, the Astral Light, and the Fluid, Unformed Vital Energy of Creation.

 

The Mating Flocks: Represents the Active Generative Power of the physical plane.

 

The Peeled Rods: Represents a Sharply Defined, Intensely Focused Mental Image or Intention held by the Adept.

 

By placing the image (the rods) into the generative waters (the Subconscious) at the exact moment of Creation (mating), the offspring physically manifest the exact pattern of the Mental Image. Jacob literally bypasses the physical genetics of the herd by imprinting his Will directly onto the Etheric blueprint of the water. The Adept uses the Higher Laws of the Mind to Master and multiply the lower forms of matter.