Jacob is on his way to his uncle Laban, firstly to escape the wrath of his
brother Esau and -to find a wife from
among his mother’s people. We know that he is the chosen seed – the line of a long line of men, chosen and predestined of God, a
people for His own glory. They are remarkable
not because of who they are in themselves, but because of the remarkable God who calls
them.
And so we come to Genesis 29.
We saw that God had made Himself known to Jacob in a most remarkable way in
28:10-22. Strengthened by that
experience, which must have provided
Jacob with remarkable levels of assurance and confidence in God’s plan and
purpose, he arrives safely in Haran. At
this stage he has nothing but the clothes on his back. And he has absolutely no
idea what the future may hold.
The 29th and 30th chapter are both
beautiful and disturbing. Beautiful, because Jacob meets Rachel, the girl of his dreams; disturbing because Jacob is going to get his
own medicine from his uncle Laban – in fact, he will
receive an overdose of deceitfulness.
The first 15 verses are filled with love and romance and a
warm reception of Jacob by Laban and his family (29:14). But reality is
beginning to set in 29:16,“Now Laban had two daughters!” The fact
is that Jacob had only eyes for one – Rachel.
Jacob loved Rachel (29:18)
so much that he was willing to serve uncle Laban for 7 years for her. After 7
years had passed, they were more than ready for each other. But the problem was
that Laban had two daughters, and Leah was weak sighted and perhaps not as
pretty. For this reason she sadly appeared to be considered as inferior marriage
material.
It is at this point that the story becomes ugly and twisted. Laban is
going to abuse this situation to put a Leah into an unsuspecting Jacob’s marriage
bed (29:23). Women in those days had very little choice in the matter of whom they would marry. This is still the case in many parts of the world today. To add
to this complexity, we read in the next verse (29:24) that “Laban gave
his female servant Zilpah to his
daughter Leah to be her servant.”
Although this seems to be an obscure, irrelevant addition to the text, it is
not. Soon we are going to learn that
Zilpah will also become one of the wives of Jacob, as domestic squabbles play themselves out against the background of Laban’s deceitful dealings with Jacob. When Jacob wakes up in the morning next to Leah he is
confronted with the reality. “What
is this that you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have
you deceived me? (29:25)
Look who is talking now! The deceiver is
being deceived.
Laban’s response
in 19:26 is off- handed; “It is not done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.” Why did he not tell Jacob of this
at the beginning? Jacob’s dream
for a happily- married – ever- after to the woman of his dreams was
shattered, and he was forced to work for Rachel for another 7 years
(29:27-30). And
so Jacob would land up in a situation where he was
eventually married to 4 women: Leah,
Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. As we shall see, this is a recipe for severe
interpersonal conflict among the 4 women.
And it goes against the creation principle of marriage, for from the
beginning God had made one man and one
woman alone to be exclusively married (Genesis
2:21-25).
But this is what sin does. Sin distorts and destroys the good
life that God has intended for the people made after His own image. Later
under the law of Moses polygamy was forbidden (Lev. 18:18). Jesus in speaking about God’s intended purpose in
marriage in Matthew 19:4-6 goes back
to Genesis 2:21-25.
In this mess,“all things
work out for good, for those who are
called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28). And in the midst
of this mess, in his own struggle against sin (Hebr. 12:4) God disciplines Jacob, the son whom he loves (see Hebr. 12:5,6). God shows His
love to Jacob in the discipline that he receives at the hand of his deceptive uncle Laban.
We are called to learn from this.
- God’s called and chosen people must never be idolised. Never say, 'what a great man Jacob is. What a giant of the faith!’. Rather, be amazed at the work of the great God behind the man. What patience God portrays in our human mess. Thank God, that in all these things there are lessons learnt as the love of God changes us every step of the way.
- Let us not presume upon the kindness and patience of our God. The deceitfulness, such as Jacob and Laban portrayed, may never be excused. Thankfully in all this the work of God is not hindered. The unfaithfulness of man does not nullify the faithfulness of God.
- Let us also understand also that it is rarely God’s way to protect His people from their own foolish sin or the sin that is propagated against them (e.g. Laban using Leah). He allows us to experience the force of our sinful actions, and He teaches us in these moments to learn to live in dependence upon His divine grace and mercy. We can learn from this in terms of our own parenting practise. As parents we want to soften the consequences of sin that our children sometimes get themselves into. If all we do is to consistently bail our children out, we are not following the pattern of God. God, because He loves us, allows us live with the consequences of our sin in order that we will be more careful with sin. This is how God deals with Jacob in this setting. He loves Jacob. But He loves Jacob more than his sin. He loves Jacob more than his desire for a healthy marriage, or his health or his well- being. God loves Jacob so much that He will teach him the lessons that he needed to learn. Jacob needed to learn that the way he dealt with his brother Esau was not ok. To teach him this leasson God will make him serve Laban for twenty years of hard labour. It will be 20 years before Esau actually will serve Jacob, in accordance with the prophecy of 25:23 that the older will serve the younger. Jacob needed to learn, in receiving Leah instead of Rachel to respect the rights of the first born. What had he done with Esau? He had not waited on God to arrange this. He conspired on his own to usurp the rights of his first born brother, and now he wakes up and he is with the wrong woman. Isn't this interesting? He usurped the rights of his first born brother ( instead of waiting upon God to bring the prophecy about) and now he will have to honour the rights of first born Leah. Again, we cannot excuse the deceitfulness of what Laban did here. But God uses this occasion to teach Jacob a lesson. Jacob also needed to learn from being deceived by Leah's father, that this was exactly what he did to his own father Isaac when he deceived him into thinking that he was Esau, thus receiving the blessing. The Lord disciplines Jacob according to his wrongdoing. And again we are reminded of Hebrews 12:4-11, that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves.
And so we see that God has allowed Jacob
to be in a situation in
which he will have Leah, an unloved wife, bearing him the first four sons and a loved wife, Rachel who can't produce children. In this situation God will be sanctifying Jacob. God is more committed to our holiness than our happiness. It is better that we limp to heaven than go to hell with all the arrogance of our human faculties intact!
God's discipline is His means of blessing! (29:31-30:24)
- God builds his kingdom in spite of sinful follies. God builds His people and His church in spite of us – in spite of a dysfunctional family.
- God still uses Jacob, despite the fact that he is such a self willed man.
- God is blessing Leah, ven though she was an unloved wife. In fact she will bear 6 of Jacob’s 12 sons. Despite her hardships she seems to have kept herself from bitterness. From the names she gives to her children she seems to have been a spiritually minded woman. Ruben means the Lord sees. The Lord has seen my affliction, she says, and heard. Simeon refers to prayer. The Lord has heard me. Levi, which sounds like the Hebrew word for attachment. She longs to be attached to her husband, and she prays that God would bring that about. Judah means praise , because she desires to praise the Lord.
- God will be blessing Rachel who at this stage is barren (29:31).
- Jacob would have to live with the consequences of his deception.
- Leah would have to wrestle with being an unloved woman, an unloved wife.
- Rachel would have to wrestle with barrenness.
And in all this, and through this, and against all odds God is building
His chosen people, his church. God is working His purposes out. He will get the glory and not any man. This is the nature of God's work in this world.
"Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your Name give glory , for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness." (Psalm 115:1)
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