In the light of the fact that Rachel could not become pregnant she gave her maid Bilhah as a further wife to Jacob, so as to give him children on her behalf. Bilhah gave Jacob 2 sons called Dan and Naphtali. When Leah was no longer getting pregnant she too gave her maid Zilpah as yet another wife for Jacob and she gave him 2 sons too on behalf of Leah called Gad and Asher. However then Leah returned to having children and she gave 2 further sons to Jacob called Issachar and Zebulun. plus a daughter called Dinah. (This reminds me of a lovely young woman called Dinah Prata Conserva who used to be a member of the ACEV Patos church and who died very young) Then finally Rachel had a child and called him Joseph. Following this Jacob tried to leave Laban taking his family and possessions with him, but Laban insisted on doing a further deal with Jacob because he realized the blessing of God was on Jacob's work which was advantageous to him. So Jacob proposed that he would care for Laban's flocks as long as all the dark spotted lambs would be his (as opposed to the normally white sheep) and all the kids with white marking would be his (among the normally dark goats). This Laban readily agreed to as Jacob was opting for the far rarer possibility. Jacob sought to implement the old wives' tale of prenatal conditioning by visual impressions, but the truth is that it was God who gave Jacob amazing blessing as he grew exceedingly prosperous coming to own large flocks, servants, camels and donkeys.
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