Chapter
29 of Genesis, begins with Jacob making his way to Haran, the land of
his mother and of Abraham. He comes to a well where the shepherds
water their sheep. There he sees Rachel, the daughter of Laban
approaching “with
her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess“.
Jake does the manly thing and “he
rolls the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his
uncle’s sheep“.
It appears to be love at first sight because, “Then
Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He told her…he was
the son of Rebekah, so she ran to tell her father“.
Laban invites Jacob to stay, and after a month Laban says, “You
are a relative of mine, should you work for free? What should your
wages be?“.
We are then told Laban has two daughters, the older was Leah. “Leah
had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful. Jacob
was in love with Rachel and said I will work for seven years in
return for your younger daughter Rachel“.
Laban agrees and we are told, “So
Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a
few days to him because of his love for her“.
It is likely that Jacob, being the son of a wealthy man never did
physical labor before. It appears he did his work with excellence
because he was motivated by love. Colossians 3:23 exalts us,
“Whatever
you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord and not to men“.
God is preparing sneaky Jake to be the man He can use.
When
the seven years is completed, Jake says to Laban, “Give
me my wife, my time is completed and I want to lie with her“.
In that culture they would not have been allowed to be alone
together, after seven years Jake was ready to marry Rachel. One of
the reason in our culture men are not willing to get married is they
are not motivated by purity. Women have been deceived by the sexual
revolution into believing marriage is old fashioned, but statistics
on out of wedlock births and single parent families is dramatically
and tragically on the rise. Why wait? Because God commands it, and
men respond to it. After seven long years Jacob is ready to be with
Rachel, but sneaky Jake is about to get a taste of his own medicine.
Laban has a great feast, “But
when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob
and Jacob lay with her…When morning came there was Leah! So Jacob
Said, “What is this you have done to me?“.
Laban give a lame excuse that in this country we do not marry the
younger daughter first, and Laban proposes Jacob work another seven
years for Rachel. So Jacob has two wives “and
he loved Rachel more than Leah and he worked for Laban another seven
years“.
Galatians 6:7 reminds us of a biblical principal we would often like
to forget, “Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he
will also reap“.
Jake the snake is out-conned by Laban.
“When
the Lord herd that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel
was barren“.
What an amazing verse, God loves those that are unloved, we all have
those times in our lives, what a great God we serve. Leah bears four
sons to Jacob, Rueben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. Judah translates to
“Praise
the Lord“,
it seems that Leah finally has stopped naming children after the pain
in her heart and can now Praise God. Jesus comes from the tribe of
Judah, so the neglected sister is the one chosen by God. Ephesians
chapter 5 describes how to “walk
in love”
as a follower of Christ. and verse 20 tells us, “Giving
thanks always and in all things to God the Father in the name of
Jesus Christ“.
When we have an attitude of thanks, we can change our focus from
inside toward the needs around us. Praise God!