READ: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+29&version=ESV LISTEN: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.29 Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel 29 Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. 2 As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, 3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. 4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” 5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.” 6 He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!” 7 He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.” 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.” 9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father. 13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, 14 and Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month. 15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. 18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. 21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” 22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. 23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. 24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) 25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” 28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) 30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. Jacob's Children 31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” 33 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. 34 Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. 35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing. I've been hinting at this coming for a bit, but Jacob goes to Laben's house looking for more than just refuge from his brother Esau, he goes there to find a wife as his parents do not want him to take a wife from among the Canaanite women.
The beginning of the story mostly focuses around the well that the shepherds and shepherdesses of Haran used to water their flocks. It seems that they would all come together around the same time because there was a large stone covering the mouth of the well in order to keep things from accidentally falling into or intentionally being thrown into the well. For some reason, Rachel came in the middle of the day (the wrong time to come to the well). This may have been some indication of how Laben and his family were viewed by the others in the area. I'm not necessarily saying that Rachel is disreputable like the woman we see coming to the well in the middle of the day in John 4, but it is obvious at this time as well as that time that it was the time to come when you didn't want other people to be around (or other people didn't want you to be around). There seems to be some evidence for this line of thinking as no one seems willing to help her move the stone from the mouth of the well so that she can water her sheep. They tell her that she is going to have to wait for all the other shepherds to gather their flocks together so that they only have to move the large stone away from the mouth of the well once and then can put it back over the mouth of the well when they are finished. Jacob in a feat of strength, probably to impress both Rachel and the other shepherds, single-handedly moves the large rock that normally all the shepherds would move together and he watered her flocks. Then in a strange scene he bursts into tears and kissed her (this may have just been a traditional greeting, though the weeping probably was not) and told her how he was a close relative. He probably had in mind the story of how Eleazar had been given success and possibly even at this very well had the first woman that he laid eyes on be a relative of Abraham and the future wife of his master Isaac. Rebekah--Jacob's mother. Surely Jacob imagines this to be providential and not just love at first sight but a sign of divine appointment that this is the woman that was meant for him. But was she? Laben, Jacob's uncle, hears the news of Jacob's arrival and runs to meet him. and Laben says to him, "Surely you are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." (Seemingly a reference to Genesis 2:23). Laben lets Jacob stay with him for a month before it appears that Jacob is overstaying his welcome and is becoming a a bit of a freeloader. Laben plays it off as if he's doing something generous for Jacob by giving him a job so that he can have some wages, but it seems this is more about Laben making sure that he gets something out of this arrangement and that Jacob would have to work, and work hard, to be allowed to continue to stay there. While Jacob could have named any price that he wanted, he said that he would work seven years in order to marry his daughter Rachel. Remember it was customary at this time for a man to present a dowry to the father of the the bride to show that he could be trusted to take care of her. Jacob had run for his life and not taken any of his possessions with him. He did not come with gifts and camels in tow like Eleazar did, and perhaps that is why Laben treated Eleazar differently than he treated Jacob. Jacob would have to prove that he was a hard worker to show that he was going to be to provide for Laben's daughter and the seven year's worth of work showed the value that he put on her--imagine all the wages beyond what he would be paying for room and board going towards her dowry and you get some idea of how much Jacob thinks she is worth. However, Jacob meets someone that is his equal in trickery. After the seven years are up, probably to the very day, Jacob approaches Laben and demands his "wages" of the hand of Rachel in marriage--though he's not specific and says "Give me my wife." Since the brides were heavily veiled until after the wedding and the wedding happened in the evening and it was too dark to see each others' faces when they consummated the marriage, Jacob did not realize until the next morning that it was the older sister Leah that had been given to him, and not Rachel as he agreed upon. Laben played this off as something that had to be done because it culturally unacceptable for the younger daughter to be married before the older--it would insinuate that something was wrong or defective with the older and no one would want to marry her and Laben would have to take care of her for as long as he lived and then she would be single and not provided for the rest of her life. He said he was only looking out for Leah. While this may be partially true, it seems more believable that Laben was looking out for himself and was trying to get rid of his daughter that he knew was less beautiful ("had weak eyes" is an idiom meaning that she wasn't pretty to look at). Haven't we just seen Jacob participate in a similar kind of trickery, and didn't it work out that God had orchestrated it to accomplish His purposes? Could it be that God really intended Jacob to marry Leah all along? Jacob refused to see it this way though. He saw that he had been cheated out of something that he deserved, and Laben saw this as an opportunity to get another seven years of free labor out of his nephew. He told him that he would have to work another seven years if he wanted to marry Rachel and then he could have both Leah and Rachel. We will see that Laben is not the best role model in several ways, but here's one obvious way--even though he would quote from Genesis 2:23 when he saw Jacob, he had no understanding of the true meaning of the marriage relationship that God had created there in the Garden of Eden, and saw his daughters as something to be used as pawns in his schemes and games he was playing and did not understand the concept of a one man, one woman covenant marriage. We'll also see how Laben allowed his daughters to get caught up in idolatry (specifically they believe in some of the pagan rituals surrounding fertility gods and goddesses), and having two wives is going to bring trouble for Jacob for most of his days as his children and their mothers would be in constant conflict with each other because of the partiality and favoritism that he had shown from the very beginning based of of looks--but lets be honest, he learned this from his mother and father and knew nothing different. The fact that Leah bore Jacob children and that Rachel was barren should have been a sign to Jacob that God's blessing was on Leah and not Rachel. We'll see that it is from Leah, not Rachel that Messiah would come forth. It was always God's plan for Jacob to marry Leah. Yes, God would use Rachel's son Joseph to prepare the way for his people to live in Egypt for over 400 years until the time came for God's wrath to be poured out on the Canaanites, and we will see Joseph as a great Old Testament type of Christ, but it is through Judah, the son of Leah that Jesus would be born (even though much of the rest of Genesis will focus on Joseph). I think Jacob will figure this out later in his life as when Rachel dies she will be buried near the town of Bethlehem in her own tomb (see Genesis 35), but ti would be Leah that would be buried with Jacob (later named Israel) in the tomb of the Patriarchs alongside Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah. God knew what He was doing and Jacob's insistence that he get his way only made things worse for himself. Keep this in mind as we read through the rest of Genesis and see the animosity and bitterness that springs from this decision and the partiality that Jacob continues to show by favoring Rachel's sons Joseph and Benjamin.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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