Genesis 29:1-30

Ahab, through false accusations, had Naboth slain and the dogs licked his blood. God sent His prophet Elijah to Ahab with the message that, as the dogs had licked the blood of Naboth, they would lick the blood of Ahab. And that was literally fulfilled.

King David found this to be an unstoppable, unchangeable law which applied to his own life.

He committed the terrible sins of adultery and murder. Sure, God forgave him for his sin but, the chickens still came home to roost. He reaped what he’d sown. His own daughter was raped and his son killed.

Even Paul the apostle felt the weight of this universal law. He’d given his consent to the stoning of Stephen. Later, Paul was taken outside the city of Lystra and stoned and was left for dead.

Jacob is the classic example of this unmovable law. Jacob had lived by his own wits.

He was cocky, clever and self assured. He’d practiced deceit. He had no problem stooping to the use of shady methods to accomplish his purpose, and he was proud of his cleverness.

But, he will reap what he’s sown.

In this episode we see Jacob leave Bethel and resume his journey.

After a period of time (we don’t know how long), he arrives in Haran. and has his first contact with his bride to be.

We begin in Genesis 29:1-3,  “So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. 

And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. 

Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth.” 

We see here the importance of water in that part of the world.

It’s still a very important commodity because there’s a shortage of it in many places.

It must be conserved, cared for and protected.

The large stone would have both stopped impurities like dust and plants to blow into the well and would also stop evaporation from the sun’s heat. That’s why at a certain time during the day the stone was removed from the top of the well, and then everybody watered their sheep. Everybody got the water he needed then the stone was put back on to close the well.

Now Jacob arrives on the scene before they take the stone away from the well and he’s as cocky and self-important as ever.

Verses 4 and 5,  And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.” Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”  

They knew Laban alright, but Jacob didn’t know him yet. But, oh dear, Jacob is certainly going to get acquainted with him.

Verses 6 and 7 now,  So he said to them, “Is he well?” And they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.” Then he said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

So, here’s Jacob. He’s just arrived in the land, he knows nothing of the local customs and conditions, he’s never met these people but he’s telling them how to water their sheep and what they should do! This is very typical of the man.

Verses 8 and 9  But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.” Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

Rachel is a shepherdess who takes care of the sheep. This was woman’s work in that day.

Verse 10,  And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.   

Now, nobody is recorded as telling him to water the flock of Laban, but he did it anyway. He just assumes that his knowledge is superior to these people. He assumes command with no more authority than just the fact that he was there and he knows it all. Jacob’s not following anyone’s law but his own. He made the rules for the game as he went through life, at least that is, through the first part of his life. He has a tremendous lesson to learn, and Uncle Laban is the one that’s going to teach him.

Genesis 29:11,  Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.

Rachel must have been quite surprised when a man she’d never met before greeted her, kissed her, then cried out and wept.

ThiIt could simply be an outworking of emotion. Jacob had had a lonely trip from the moment he had left home. Also from Bethel, where the Lord spoke to him in the dream of the ladder to heaven, he had to go up by the Sea of Galilee, then up into Syria. He had to cross the desert. He probably had many experiences along the way.

When he arrived, he was very cocky and greeted the men there in a matter–of–fact way as though he’d known them all of their lives.

He asks them questions, then probably in a meddlesome, opinionated way takes the stone from the mouth of the well. I suppose when he greeted this girl who was a member of his mother’s family he welled up with emotion and wept. That is really the only way it can be explained. But, we can be sure that the next time he kissed her he didn’t weep!

Verse 12 now,  And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father. 

Notice how he calls himself her father’s brother?

The Hebrew doesn’t make a lot of the distinctions we make today about family and relatives. In that day and in that culture, if you were related, you were a brother. That’s the way it’s translated here and quite properly so, but in English, we’d say that Jacob was her father’s nephew and that he was a son of Rebekah, her father’s sister.

To verse 13  Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things. 

Jacob certainly had much to talk about.

From the personality traits he’s displayed so far it wouldn’t be surprising if he entertained them at dinner with his story of how he tricked his brother to get his birthright, and how he used trickery to get the blessing, and generally how clever he was. He probably he told them about that night at Bethel, too because the verse says, “He told Laban all these things.”

Verse 14,  And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.

Laban’s now convinced that Jacob really is his nephew, and he says, “For sure you’re my relative, so come in and make yourself at home.”

Now a month goes by, and notice what happens. Jacob’s not working. He’s a nephew from a far country, and he’s come over to visit his uncle. He probably felt entitled to free room and board for as long as he liked.

During that time he’s eying off this girl, Rachel and probably she’s casting her eyes in his direction as well.

Now, we can imagine that it was during a meal or a family chit-chat when the next incident took place.

Verse 15,  Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?”

Old Uncle Laban’s clever. Who had said anything about going to work? Jacob certainly hadn’t. So Uncle Laban is very tactful and says that he doesn’t want Jacob to work for him for nothing. He says that he’ll pay Jacob.

You just don’t live with Laban a month for free. He’s going to extract some sort of an arrangement to pay your board.

Laban’s had a month to get the measure of Jacob, so to speak, and now he knows exactly how he’s going to deal with his nephew.

To Verse 16 now,  Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 

Here we are introduced to another daughter, Leah. Uncle Laban’s been watching this boy, and he’s noted that his nephew has become very much interested in his daughter Rachel, the younger of the two. The next verse, verse 17 tells us why, Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. 

Rachel was a very beautiful girl but Leah was, quote, “tender eyed”,  which is a way of saying that she was not beautiful. She was sort of an ugly duckling or at best a plain sort of a girl.

So Laban has these two daughters, and it’s obvious that Jacob’s in love with Rachel.

Now to verse 18 and we are of course in Genesis chapter 29,  Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” 

We find here that Jacob’s quite besotted with Rachel, so when Uncle Laban suggested he go to work, he had something in mind himself. He knew that the boy was in love with the girl; so he probably wasn’t in the least bit surprised at Jacob’s answer when he asked what his wages should be. Jacob was willing to work for seven years for Rachel. We can imagine Laban’s inner satisfaction at the proposal and he’s probably already planning how to exploit it to the max.

Verse 19,  And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”

Laban accepts that bargain.

Now this next verse, verse 20, tells us one of the most delightful things that’s said about Jacob.

Quite frankly, in the early years of Jacob’s life, the only appearance of anything beautiful or fine or noble is his love for Rachel.

We read, So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. 

You can just see Jacob working and old Uncle Laban’s got him working hard.

He worked out in the cold, out in the rain, in all sorts of weather, but his thoughts are always for Rachel who would’ve been there to meet him after a hard day. That’s what made it all worthwhile. He was desperately in love with her.

Now to verses 21 and 22,  Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” 

And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.

Now we see the next phase of Laban’s plan unfold.

Verses 23 to 26,  Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. 

And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. 

So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?” 

And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.

At the marriage ceremony in those days, the woman was heavily veiled, so that she couldn’t be seen.

Poor Jacob didn’t see the girl he was getting until the next morning. Lo and behold, he wakes up and it wasn’t Rachel he’s just spent the night with, it was Leah!

At that moment he saw that he’d been tricked. We wonder if, at that moment, he recalled something of his own father when he, Jacob, had pretended to be the elder. He deceived his father, and that was the reason he had to leave home. You see, God just does not approve of that type of conduct. The chickens are now coming home to roost.

Jacob pretended to be the elder when he was the younger. Now he thinks he’s getting the younger and he gets the elder. The tables are turned now, and it’s become an awful thing for Jacob, in fact, it’s a criminal act that Laban has done, but notice how Uncle Laban passes it off. He’s an expert at this type of thing and certainly far more experienced at deceit than Jacob.

He tells Jacob that there was a little matter in the contract, a clause in the fine print so to speak, that he’d forgotten to mention to Jacob. It was a custom in their country that the elder daughter must marry first, and the younger daughter couldn’t marry until the elder daughter was married.

But Uncle Laban is willing to be very generous in his dealings; so he has an offer to make to Jacob. Can’t you just see the smug grin on his face?

To verse 27 and 28,  Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years. Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also.

This week, you see, is another seven years. Uncle Laban’s really getting his money’s worth, is he not? And poor Jacob is really going to school. But, he’s taking two wives which he shouldn’t do and he’ll be in trouble before it’s all over, but we’ll have to wait till next time to see it all unfold.

 

Until then my friends may The Lord bless you richly and keep you in His care.