Rachel became jealous of her sister. Throughout the Bible you will find rivalries and friction between brothers and sisters, and parents and children. She demanded that Jacob give her children. This was an entirely unreasonable demand for her to make as it was not his fault she didn't have children. However, humans, when under stress, do make unreasonable demands of other people. We need to watch ourselves that we do not follow this road. Jacob's answer contained the clue to the solution, it is God that we need to go to.
Rachel then proposed a solution similar to the one that Sarah suggested to Abraham, though Rachel seems happier with the result than was Sarah (Genesis 16)! Leah, not to be outdone, then gave her servant girl to Jacob. Clearly social mores were different in those days!
Another dispute arises between Rachel and Leah, this time over mandrakes. Mandrakes were thought to have aphrodisiac properties, and to enhance fertility. Hence the argument over who should have them. Jacob seems to have become a sex object by this stage, a reversal of the more commonly associated roles between men and women! Finally, Leah has several more sons, then Rachel finally has a son, Joseph. The whole point of this is to show why Joseph was the favourite son.
Jacob decides he has been with Laban long enough and wants to return to his land. This results in a typical scheme between Laban and Jacob over wages. The outcome was that Jacob became exceedingly wealthy.
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