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Jacob
was still right in the midst of Canaan. God reiterates
the land promise to and through Jacob. Furthermore,
the Lord reiterates all the blessings about which
He had covenanted with Abraham: Jacob would have
many descendants, God would be with him, God would
bring him back to this promised land, and in Jacob’s
descendants all the families of the earth would
be blessed. Some dream, eh? Jacob wakes up and
is awestruck, realizing that God was in that place,
and so he pours oil over that stone and consecrates
it, renaming the place Beit-El - Bethel - the
House of God. He swears an oath to be faithful
to God if indeed God proves faithful to him in
keeping him safe and returning him home. He also
promises to give to God a tenth of all that comes
his way. He didn’t know it at the time, but a
lot was going to come his way. Jacob would eventually
acquire great wealth. Now there’s never an issue
about God keeping His promises. Usually it’s we
human beings that don’t always make good what
we promise.
Chapter
29 tells us of Jacob’s coming to Haran, and meeting
and becoming immediately infatuated with Rachel.
He is brought into Laban’s home and begins to
live and work among his Aramean relatives. When
Laban asks what kind of wages Jacob expects, Jacob
replies that he would like to have Rachel as his
wife. Laban agrees to a seven-year contract, after
which Rachel would be given to him as a wife.
We’re told that to Jacob those years flew by,
so great was his anticipation of being wed to
Rachel. But a scheme was brewing. On that wedding
night, all veiled and in the darkness of his tent,
was not Rachel, but Leah, Laban’s older daughter.
Jacob woke up only to find he had been tricked!
Then again, Jacob was no stranger to trickery.
It’s just that this time he was on the receiving
end. Furious, he confronts Laban, who offers to
give him Rachel as a wife also, at the end of
one week’s time, if Jacob will serve him another
seven years. Jacob agrees, and one week later,
he was the husband of two wives.
Chapters
29 and 30 narrate the vying for Jacob’s affections
by Leah and Rachel, and the sons that Leah bears
him. Rachel’s womb seems barren and she grows
angry and resentful. Think about this: two wives,
one of whom is resentful at not being able to
have children, another wife you never bargained
for, and you have a house full of strife. But
in all of this competing for favor and position,
sons are born to Jacob. The first are born to
Leah, Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehudah. With the
birth of each of her first three sons, Leah hopes,
in vain, that Jacob will come to love and appreciate
her. It doesn’t happen. But with the birth of
her fourth son, she says, “This time I will praise
the Lord,” and names him, accordingly, Yehudah
– “I will praise (the Lord)”. Perhaps she has
learned to find contentment in the Lord. Perhaps
she feels that the birth of a fourth son will
secure her position in the family, and her preeminence
over Rachel, who was still childless.
Eventually
both Leah and Rachel also give Jacob their maids
as concubines, and even more children are born.
Twelve sons in all - destined to be the progenitors
of the tribes of Israel.
In the
course of time Jacob’s presence brings great
prosperity to Laban. Remember, God had promised
to be with Jacob. He was with him and the result
was Laban’s flocks increasing. At one point,
Jacob seeks to return home, and Laban urges him
to stay, asking what it would take to keep him
on. Jacob asks to be allowed to go through the
flock and keep all the speckled and spotted and
black sheep and goats. In ancient Syria, the sheep
were predominantly white and the goats black.
Through ingenuity in animal husbandry, Jacob causes
more and more spotted and speckled and black sheep
to be born. Jacob’s flock grows while Laban’s
shrinks. Laban becomes angry and Jacob once again
finds himself in danger. God appears to him and
instructs him to arise and leave immediately,
and he takes his wives and children and flocks,
and leaves without saying anything to Laban.
In the
last half of chapter 31 Laban takes men with him
and pursues Jacob. But before he catches up with
him, God appears to him in a dream and warns him
to be careful how he speaks to Jacob. Do you remember
what God had said to Abraham? I will bless
those who bless you and the one who curses you
I will curse. It was gracious of God to warn
Laban to watch his words. When he does catch up
to Jacob he questions him about the deception,
and also asks about the household idols that seemed
to have disappeared with them. Jacob knows nothing
of this, but we find out that Rachel had taken
them with her and hidden them in her tent. Jacob
invites Laban to search the camp, and eventually
reproves him when the idols are not found, and
for the years of trickery and manipulation. They
part ways, but not before making a covenant with
each other. They set up a pillar and it came to
be known as Mizpah. To this day friends will wear
necklaces, each bearing half of a coin or an ornament
and call it a Mizpah. But this agreement between
Jacob and Laban was borne of distrust, not friendship.
After kissing his daughters goodbye, Laban returns
home, and Jacob and company will continue on their
long, long trek back to Eretz Canaan, the Promised
Land.
Concerning
Jacob’s dream in Bethel those many years earlier,
a ladder, a bridge of some sort, set up between
Earth and Heaven, do you know that Yeshua attributed
that to Himself? He said to one of His disciples,
Nathanael, “I tell you the truth, you shall see
the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending
and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51).
In that sense I believe Jacob was given a foretaste,
a faint glimmer of the promised Messiah who was
to come. Yeshua’s words to Nathanael are an affirmation
that He Himself is the Messiah – the One who bridges
the infinite gap separating sinful human beings
from an infinitely holy and just God. That’s good
news for those who desire to be reconciled to
God. But unlike Jacob and Laban striking bargains,
the terms for our redemption are not up for negotiation.
We come to God on His terms, and His terms are
Yeshua the Messiah.
There
is another lesson in our parasha: what you sow
you will reap! If you sow deception and trickery,
as Jacob did, it will come back to you. We should
learn from Jacob’s troubles to be people
of honesty and integrity. Messiah would have us
be no less.
Shalom,
Rabbi Glenn
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