Genesis 29-31

One of the reasons why Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob back east to their relatives was to make sure that he would marry well, someone who would help him accomplish the great tasks God was calling him to. They did not want Jacob to marry one of the women of the land, like Esav had, but rather someone from their relatives, who were of Semitic heritage.

Let's start with chapter 29. Jacob travel back east, and arrives at Haran, and meets Rachel, who was shepherding her father's flock of sheep, by the well. With what must have been great personal strength, Jacob rolled away the stone that covered the well, and watered her sheep. He kissed her and cried for joy, and was welcomed by her father Laban.

Jacob was willing to work for Laban, and when Laban asked him what he wanted for payment, Jacob wanted to marry his beautiful daughter Rachel, whom he loved, and offered to work seven years for her. Rachel's older sister Leah may have been pretty too. She had eyes that were "rah-kot" - which can mean weak, but also "tender" in the sense of lovely.

Laban agreed to Jacob's proposal, and Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her - one of the most beautiful phrases expressing love and affection, using only six Hebrew words.

Love is patient. Young man, if you love a young woman, be patient to marry her, until the time is right. If you love her, you will be willing to work for her, and wait for her.

When it was time for them to marry, Laban deceived Jacob. He made a big feast, and invited all the men of the place, and in the evening, instead of bringing Rachel to Jacob, he brought Leah instead! She may have been veiled, and it must have been dark, because even though they engaged in the act of marriage, it wasn't until the morning that Jacob discovered that he was with Leah!

Jacob was upset, and confronted his uncle and new father-in-law, and demanded to know why he had deceived him in such an important matter. Laban replied that the reason he deceived him and gave him Leah was that it was customary to marry the older daughter first. But, he also offered to give Rachel to Jacob, if only he would work for him for another seven years.

Jacob agreed, and Jacob and Leah remained together for a week of wedding celebrations, and after that he married Rachel, whom he loved more than Leah.

Lessons to be learned: Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. You cannot get around this unalterable principle. Jacob had deceived his father, and was in turn deceived by his father-in-law. Jacob sowed deception, and reaped deception.

What are you sowing? Righteousness? Honesty? Integrity? Truth? Salvation? Faithfulness? Good works? Sacrifice? Or are you sowing deception, laziness, wrong behaviors, lukewarmness toward God?

What Laban did sowed the seeds of strife into Jacob's new family. It created insecurity, competition and rivalry between two wives who were sisters. It did not create peace and harmony. In the beginning, it was God's will for one man to marry one woman - not a wife and a mistress, not two or more wives, and especially not two sisters. It can be difficult enough to have a good marriage with one man and one woman - there are enough complications and challenges!

A woman wants to feel loved by her husband. She needs to feel loved, safe, secure. But when there are two wives competing for the same man's love, it is much more difficult for each one to feel safe and secure. Men, your wives need to feel loved. Love your wives. Ask her, "Honey, what do I need to do to make you feel that you are loved?" Wives, when they ask you that, you need to tell them. And, it helps to be specific. Tell them exactly what it is that you want from them, but be reasonable in your requests! Don't ask your husband, "honey, I want you to spend every free moment of the rest of your life talking to me!"

Rivalry for Jacob's love between Leah and Rachel dominate the next several years, and the competition is played out in the sphere of childbearing. Each sister thinks that if she can provide the most sons for Jacob, she will be loved and her place will be secure. They each have their own children, and they also give their maidservants to Jacob, so that the children of their maidservants will also be considered theirs as well. Twelve sons are born to these four women, and they form the beginnings of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and the Lord compensated for that, and enabled Leah to have children first. Rachel was barren, and unable to have children. Her womb was closed. The Lord did enable her to have children, but her children came toward the end of this time.

From Leah:

• Reuben: "See - a Son" or "a Son of Seeing" because God had seen her troubles, and given her a son.
• Shimon: "Hear" or "Hearken" because God had heard that she was unloved and given her a son.
• Levi: "Attached" because with three sons her husband would be attached to her.
• Yehudah: "Praise" because she praised the Lord for blessing her with a fourth son.
• Issachar: "There is a Reward" because God rewarded her for the somewhat unpleasant task of giving her maid to her husband. "The name also alludes to Leah's paying for Jacob's "services" with mandrake, a member of the beladonna or potato family. It was considered to be an aphrodisiac and fertility food - see 30:16 (R. Aryeh Kaplan).
• Zubulun: "Dwelling Place" or "Habitation" because she felt that her husband would finally dwell with her.

From Bilhah (Rachel's maid):

• Dan: "Judge," "Justice" or "Vindication" because God defended Rachel by giving her a son through Bilhah.
• Naphtali: "Struggles or Wrestlings" because of the great struggles between Rachel and Leah, in which Rachel now felt the victor.

• Gad: "Fortunate," or "Success" because she was blessed with another son.
• Asher: "Happy" because she was happy due to another son.

From Rachel:

• Yosef: "May He Add (another son)" because God gathered away her disgrace, and her hope was to have another son.
• Benjamin: "Son of the Right" because the right is a place of honor, his father wanted to honor him, his last and youngest son.

That brings us to chapter 30, verse 25, to the end of the chapter. Jacob wanted to return to his home in Canaan, but Laban wanted him to remain. Laban had learned, using divination, that the Lord had prospered Laban because of his relationship with Jacob, the Lord's chosen one. So, they negotiated a deal, whereby the speckled and spotted and black sheep, and the speckled and spotted goats would be Jacob's. Laban agrees, and Jacob takes his sheep and goats, and separates them from Laban's.

Then Jacob did a couple of things to increase his flocks: he practiced selective breeding. He constructed a system using wooden rods that better enabled the sheep and goats to mate while they were drinking water. Then he encouraged the striped, speckled and spotted sheep to mate, because they were more likely to produce other speckled and spotted sheep, which would belong to Jacob. Jacob also encouraged the stronger animals to mate, and they produced a new generation of healthier and stronger animals, which became Jacob's. So, over time, Jacob wound up with large flocks of strong and healthy speckled and spotted and black sheep, and the speckled and spotted goats. Meanwhile, Laban's flocks did not increase much, if at all.

Laban and his sons were not happy with the results. They felt that Jacob had somehow stolen what was rightfully theirs, and they were no longer friendly toward Jacob. How sad it is when there is tension and ill-will in a family over the distribution of the family's assets.

Then the Lord was with Jacob, and spoke to Jacob, and told him to return home and that Adonai would be with him - protecting him, watching over him, and making sure that Jacob got safely to the goal. How comforting to know that Yeshua is Immanuel - God with us, and when God is with us, we are safe. When God is with us, we are secure. When God is with us, we can have peace. When God is with us, we have a sure hope.

Jacob called Rachel and Leah, and told them that it was time for them to leave their home and head west, for a couple of reasons. First, God had been with him, and told him to return to Canaan. Second, in spite of Laban changing their business agreements ten times, and trying to cheat Jacob, the Lord over-ruled and intervened on Jacob's behalf, thwarting Laban's efforts. Rachel and Leah agree, and reason that the wealth that God had taken away from their father Laban, and given to Jacob, was rightfully theirs anyway, since they were Laban's heirs.

So, they took all their many possessions and left. Rachel also took the family's teraphim - little idols in human form that were used in the home. They may have been worshiped, or used to obtain messages from the gods. So, not only did Laban practice divination, but he also was an idolater. Why did Rachel take them? Let's hope that Rachel did not see them as her gods. Instead, it's possible that possessing them may have guaranteed her share of Laban's estate.

Of course, Laban found out, and gathered his relatives, and pursued Jacob for seven days, until they reached what would become Gilead in the northeastern part of Israel - quite a distance away from Haran. The Lord again intervened, and protected Jacob. He appeared to Laban in a dream, and warned him to be very careful what he said to Jacob - not to speak to Jacob good or bad - not make threats or demands.

When they met, Laban accused Jacob of deceiving him by leaving unannounced and stealing his gods. Jacob defended his actions by telling Laban that he fled without telling him because he was concerned that Laban wouldn't allow his daughters to leave with Jacob, and that if anyone had stolen Laban's gods, he would be killed - I guess god stealing must have been a pretty serious crime!

Laban searched the tents, but found nothing, because they were in Rachel's tent, in a saddle on which she was seated. When he searched Rachel's tent, she asked her father permission to remain seated, claiming the manner of women was upon her - that it was her time of menstruation. So, Laban found nothing. Then Jacob became angry, feeling falsely accused by his father-in-law, who added this final transgression to all the ill-treatment he had given Jacob over twenty years. He had cheated time, and Laban responds by saying that everything that Jacob has - his wives, children and flocks, all really belong to him!

The conflict is resolved with a covenant, a kind of non-aggression pact, which is described in verses 44-55.

Jacob took a stone and set it up into a pillar.

Jacob and his relatives also gathered stones and made the stones into a pile, which Jacob called Gal-ed - "Heap of Witness or Witness Mound." Laban also called it Mizpah - "Watchtower" - for he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other." In other words, may the Lord keep His eye on you, and prevent you crossing this point, and from sneaking up on me, and doing me harm, while I'm not looking.

Then Laban asked the God of their mutual relatives - the God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, and the God of their fathers to ensure this agreement.

Jacob too made an oath, but only wanted to invoke the God of Isaac, and so he swore by the Pachad Yitzchak - the Fear, or Dread or Awe (meaning God) of Isaac - the One whom Isaac feared. This is a title for God that tells us something very important about who He is.

He is supremely deserving of our respect, our reverence. We should be afraid to displease Him, and dread incurring His wrath. We should always respect Him, and respect those things closely connected to Him - His people, His land, His City, His House, His Son, His Spirit, His Word. We should never speak ill of Him. We should never ignore His desires. We should never defy His will. We should never disobey His commands. We should never worship or serve or pray to any other god. We should fear God more than man. We should fear God more than death. As the prophet Isaiah said to his generation: "It is the Lord of Hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread."

Finally, Jacob offered a sacrifice, and ate a covenant meal with his relatives. The next day, Laban offered parting gestures, kissing his children, and blessing them, praying that good things would happen to them.

It's been twenty years since Jacob left Canaan fleeing from his brother Esav, and seeking a good wife. Has the God who spoke to Jacob at Bethel been with him, and blessed him, and brought him back safely to his land, as He promised He would? Absolutely! Jacob went out alone, with few resources. He comes back with wives and twelve sons, and with significant wealth. I a similar way, you can be sure that the same Faithful God will fulfill His promises to you. Jacob's challenges are not yet over. He has a major one coming right up - his brother Esav.