Gênesis 30
John Chrysostom · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Gênesis 30:2
Why, Jacob says, do you ignore the Lord of nature and fix the blame on me? He it is who has deprived you of the fruit of the womb. Why not make your request to him, who can open nature's workplace and quicken the womb to childbirth? So understand that God is the one who has deprived you of the fruit of the womb and granted your sister such fertility. So don't look to me for what I am powerless to provide and over which I have no lordship. I mean, if it lay in my power, I would certainly give you pride of place ahead of your sister by securing greater respect for you. But since, no matter to what degree I am kindly disposed to you, I can do nothing to solve your problem, address your request to him who inflicted the sterility and has the power to remedy it. See the good man's common sense in that, though provoked to anger by her words, he replied to her with great wisdom, instructing her precisely in everything and making the responsibility clear to her, lest by ignoring the Lord she might seek from another what God alone was able to provide. — HOMILIES ON GENESIS 56.19
Gênesis 30:26
Nothing is really more efficacious than meekness and nothing more powerful than it. See at any rate how, by a disarming use of meekness, Jacob also brought Laban to reply to him with great deference. "Laban replied to him," the text goes on, remember, "If I have found favor in your sight, and the omens do not deceive me, God has blessed me in your coming. Name your wage to me, and I will pay." "I am not unaware," he is saying, that in the wake of your coming I enjoyed favor from God more richly. So, since I recognize the kindness done me in your coming, "name any wage you care to mention, and I will readily pay it."Consider what a great thing meekness is, and don't pass idly by these words. Instead, keep in mind that the good man had made no mention of this nor looked for any payment for his trouble. [He] had said only this: "Let me have my wives and children, for whom I was in your service, so that I may depart." And yet the other man, out of respect for the good man's great meekness, replied, "Tell me what wage you want to be paid by me, and I will cheerfully pay it." After all, were not "Jacob's wives and children in his company"? So why did he say, "Let me have my wives and children"? Jacob was giving him due respect and displaying in every circumstance his typical behavior, and wishing as well to take his leave without hindrance. Notice, at any rate, from these words how he won Laban over to the extent of promising to pay a wage and to leave the decision to him. — HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.2-3
Gênesis 30:30
"I call you to witness my labors," he is saying. "I mean, you know how I did my best with good grace and how, after taking charge of your poor creatures, I made them grow into a vast herd through my attention and vigilance." Then, to show his godly attitude, he added, "The Lord, you see, has blessed you in my coming. So isn't it high time for me to build a house of my own?" You yourself know that after my arrival grace from on high increased your prosperity. So now, since I too have made every effort on my part with good grace in discharge of my service and the grace of God has become manifest, it is only fair that I too should build a house for myself." Now, what is the meaning of "build a house for myself"? It means, to live now in freedom and to pay attention to a house of one's own. — HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.4
Gênesis 30:40
The good man did this, not of his own devising but with grace from on high inspiring his mind. You see, it was not done according to human reasoning but was quite unusual and beyond natural logic. — HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.7