Genesis 29

God is a God of grace and mercy. He forgives us and continues to write his story in us. And repeatedly in Scripture, we learn that we reap what we sow.  In today’s passage, we clearly see God’s grace and the consequences of sin.

Jacob was a fugitive, running for his life when God appeared to him in a dream. God promised to be with Jacob, to bless him, and through him bless all the families of the earth. That meeting with God took place in Bethel, only fifty miles into his journey. Jacob had another 450 miles of travel before he made it to the “land of the people of the east.” Notice the phrase “went on his journey” in Genesis 29:1. The phrase literally means, “he picked up his feet.” After his conversation with God, he had a spring in his step. He changed from a fugitive to a man on a mission!

When Jacob arrived in Haran, he saw a well in a field covered by a large flat stone. The rock was too heavy for one man to maneuver, so shepherds would wait until others gathered in order to move the stone and access the water. As shepherds arrived at the well, Jacob learned they were from Haran, and they knew Laban, Jacob’s uncle. In fact, they told him that Laban’s daughter Rachel was coming with a flock of sheep. While it wasn’t normal for a woman to tend sheep, for some reason, Rachel got the assignment from her father.

Genesis 29:10-12
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. 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.

For Jacob, it was love at first sight. It was traditional in the Near East to give a man a kiss on both cheeks as a sign of greeting, but this is the only account in the Bible of a man kissing a woman who is not his wife or mother. I like Rachel’s response. She “ran and told her father” …not about the kiss, but about the arrival of a relative. Remember, back in Genesis 24, Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to Haran to find a wife for Isaac. Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was Laban’s sister. Now, God has orchestrated the return of Jacob, Rebekah’s son, to his uncle. Laban was overjoyed to see his nephew saying, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” Laban acknowledges that they are close relatives.

Jacob stayed with Laban for a month and worked for him. Laban told Jacob that it wasn’t right for him to work for no pay, so he asked Jacob, “Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

Genesis 29:16-20
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.

What does it mean that Leah had “weak eyes.” In the Near Eastern culture, dark eyes, full of life, bright, clear, and expressive, were considered the principal part of female beauty. It seems that Leah’s eyes were not dark, clear, or full of life. Rachel, on the other hand, was the whole package.  She was “beautiful in form and appearance.” It is interesting to note that the wives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were beautiful (Gen. 12:11, 24:15-16, 29:17). Jacob had left home with nothing. He had no money to pay the dowry, so he proposed a seven-year work plan. Jacob was so head-over-heels in love that those years seemed like days. After seven years, Jacob was beside himself with excitement. Listen to the urgency in his words.

Genesis 29:21-25
Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” 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?”

Laban brought Leah to Jacob, covered from head to foot and with a veil on her face as she entered the darkened tent.  And there likely had been wine served during the wedding feast. Everything was great…until the sun came up. Can you even imagine Jacob’s surprise? I love the way Moses captures this. “And in the morning, behold, it was Leah!” I am sure this story would have been told around the area, no doubt, with a touch of humor! One commentator says it this way:

That Laban secretly gave the unloved Leah to the man in love was, to be sure … a masterpiece of shameless treachery…. It was certainly a move by which he won for himself far and wide the coarsest laughter.[1]

Jacob, the deceiver, was deceived. He had pretended to be his older brother Esau and deceived his father. Now, the older sister, Leah, pretended to be her younger sister, Rachel, and deceived Jacob. This is one of many examples in Scripture that illustrates “whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Jacob’s own acts of deceitfulness must have been brought to his attention through this experience. Jacob could not miss the point God was making.

Laban, a man who matched Jacob in the skills of deception, justified his trickery by citing the customs of the land (Gen. 29:26). He told Jacob to complete the bridal week with Leah, and then he would give him Rachel as his wife. Of course, the deal included another seven years of service. Perhaps Jacob simply accepted the fact that the deception he experienced was divine retribution from God, or perhaps he saw no other option. With his two wives, one loved more than the other, Jacob served Laban another seven years.

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Read Genesis 29. Be sure to see that this was not just Laban’s deception. God was working behind the scenes to help Jacob come to grips with his own deceitful heart. God is writing his story in us, and sometimes, the chapters include hard lessons.

Talking to God
Ask God to help you be as concerned about obedience before sin as you are about forgiveness after sin. Ask God to help you absorb the solemn truth that there are consequences to your sin.

Have Questions?
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[1] Von Rad quoted in Allen Ross, Creation and Blessing (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 502.