The rival wives

The chapter is a baby war between two sisters, fought through their maidservants and bargained over with mandrakes, until twelve children, the future tribes of Israel, are born out of envy and longing and competition. Then Jacob out-schemes Laban over the breeding of the flocks and leaves rich. It is worth seeing how unsentimental the text is about its own founding family. The tribes of Israel are born into a bitter, scheming, loveless rivalry, and the book lets that stand without a word of tidying.