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?” –Genesis 29:21-25
Genesis 29 introduces several new and important people into the life of the patriarch Jacob. Having fled from the wrath of his brother, Jacob arrived in the east and encountered Rachel, the daughter of his uncle, and was eventually brought to the home of Laban. Perhaps with ulterior motives, his uncle then asked him to remain with them and to work for whatever wages that he himself would choose. Jacob’s response was to ask for Rachel to be his wife in exchange for seven years of work.
The story-line at this point takes a dramatic turn and we are given insight into the lives of both Rachel and her older sister, Leah. Rachel is described as beautiful in terms of her form and appearance while Leah is described as having weak (soft) eyes. Their names may also show a contrast between the two, with Rachel meaning “ewe” and Leah perhaps meaning “cow.” The point is clearly that the beauty of Rachel contrasts with Leah’s appearance and, therefore, makes her the object of Jacob’s desire. When the seven years of work were completed, Jacob demanded his wife from Laban, who then deceived Jacob by giving Leah to him instead of Rachel. Though it seemed as if he had simultaneously avoided the consequences of his own deceptions and lost what he had intended to gain through them, as the text unfolds we see that the opposite has occurred. God’s blessings and promises will be given to him, but they will be accompanied by the consequences of his own sin as well as the sins of others.
God had promised to bless Jacob with children and Gen. 29:31-30:24 provide the specific details for how this was accomplished. When God saw that Leah was the wife that Jacob did not love or desire, he blessed her with children. She would go on to give birth to four of Jacob’s sons while her sister Rachel looked upon these blessings from the Lord with jealousy. In her envy, she gave her servant to Jacob for a wife so that she might have children by her. This servant had two sons for Jacob which then provoked Leah to do likewise, offering her servant to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s servant also bore two sons for Jacob before Leah herself again bore children for Jacob, this time two boys and a girl. It was at this time that God again “remembered” Rachel and blessed her with a son whom she named Joseph.
The familial strife and division that Jacob experienced was allowed by God for His own specific purposes. Jacob, the deceiver, was himself deceived by Laban. Jacob, the one who brought strife into his family, would experience almost continual strife within his own family. In the midst of all of this, however, God’s plans and purposes were being accomplished. It is He alone who can discipline His sinful people while not abandoning them to the full and permanent consequences of their own folly.
Join us this Sunday as we come together to remember that the Lord’s testimonies are our heritage (Ps. 119:112). We are His people and we gather together in His name to worship His Son!
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Thomas