July 24, 2006

• Hey, Remember the book of Genesis????? Bet you thought I had forgotten. Wrong.

  
  

  We have just seen one sneaky guy, Jacob, the heel snatcher, grab away a blessing from his brother Esau. Esau has vowed to kill Jacob once their father dies. Jacob is told to leave the country and go to visit Laban until Esau cools down. Little does Rebekah know that this will be the last time she sees her son, for she will die before Jacob returns 20 years later.

  
  

  Jacob then has a remarkable dream about angels ascending and descending from heaven, builds an altar, and realized that “God was in this place” and Jacob didn’t know it. So often in our walks with God He is where we are and we do not recognize Him. God gives Jacob a fantastic promise, a gift free of charge, and instead of keeping his mouth shut and saying thank you God, for such an awesome blessing, Jacob has to promise to give God 1/10th of what he gains, and a stone will be a pillar of God’s house. So often God wants to give us of his abundance, and we feel compelled to promise to do things that often we do not keep our promises. What God really wants more than anything else is relationship and love from us. We feel that we have to somehow “earn” God’s blessing. Truthfully, all that we have is His to begin with.

  
  

  Nope, this is not the current soap opera on TV, it comes straight from the pages of Genesis. Now, after this cliffhanger (One thing to keep in mind is that the Old Testament that the Israelites knew did not have chapter and verses, they were written on long scrolls). We are now up to Genesis 29

  
  

  I want to know what it is about wells. Too bad there wasn’t a well when I grew up, a lot of meetings and important events take place at wells in the Bible, I suppose because water is so vital to life – water to drink, and the water of the Word for spiritual nourishment.

  
  

  We are soon going to see a remarkable transformation of this mama’s boy from weak and not a hunter to a man of mighty strength. What brings about this transformation - a girl, and Jacob will flex his muscles.

  
  

  Jacob comes to the land of the people of the east and sees a well with three flocks of sheep lying by it, and a large stone on the well’s mouth. (Knowing that Jesus is in all parts of the Bible, I think of three days and three nights in a tomb with a large stone).

  
  

  When the flocks were gathered, the stone was rolled from the well, the sheep watered, and then the stone was rolled back to it’s place.

  
  

  Jacob greets the people and finds out that they are from Haran. Not only were they from Haran, but they know Laban, Rebekah’s brother. Then they point out that his daughter, Rachel is coming with the sheep. Jacob tries to get the men to water their sheep and moo-ve on for the cattle are coming. And I suspect Jacob was hoping that he would then have some time alone with Rachel, the shepherdess.

  
  

  Here we get one of those great reversals. Remember that Rebekah watered the camels for the servant, and here Jacob is going to water Rachel’s sheep.

  
  

  This is an incredible scene – use your imaginations. Remember this is the “weakling” of the family, not the hunter. What a few hormones will do!Verses 10-11 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went 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 lifted up his voice and wept.

  
  

  Reminds me of a swashbuckler sort of a movie. I could just see Jacob acting with a flourish, showing off, and ending with a kiss for a flourish.

  
  

  He then relates to Rachel that he is her relative, and she runs to tell her father, Laban. Remember Laban? Well Jacob stays with Laban for a month as a guest, and then we are going to see Laban outsmart Jacob – Jacob will find someone who is as shrewd as him.

  
  

  Laban offers wages to Jacob for serving him. Laban has two daughters. The eldest was Leah, and the youngest was Rachael. Leah had an eye problem, her eyes were delicate and Rachael was beautiful to look at.

  
  

  Jacob loves Rachael and offers to serve seven years to be allowed to marry Rachel. Laban replies, in verse 19 “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”  (I wonder why it would seem better to Laban, could he have remembered the servant from the rich ruler Abram?)

  
  

  Rachael must be very beautiful because he worked for seven years and it seemed to be just a few days to him. Haven’t we all experienced that, when we really want something and are focused, time seems to fly by.

  
  

  Jacob goes to Laban and says he has fulfilled his part of the bargain, and now he wants Rachael.

  
  

  Poor Jacob. Laban makes a feast for the wedding, and in the dark, instead of Rachel, Laban gives Leah to Jacob. Jacob goes into her, and in the morning, low and behold Jacob finds out that it was not Rachael, but Leah. What a switcheroo.

  
  

  I wonder what the look on his face was like. Frankly, I am sorry for Leah, can you imagine how she must have felt. Laban certainly didn’t care for her, he just wanted to best Jacob and glean more riches from the blessing of God that follows Jacob.

  
  

  But, poor Leah, imagine being the wife of a man that you know doesn’t love you. When confronted about the switcheroo, Laban responds in verse 26 It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”

  
  

  One thought is that he served a week for Rachael – Daniel talks about a week (seven years), the earth was created in a week. And here we have Jacob getting two girls for two weeks – 14 years. That is a long, long time.

  
  

  Again, I want to remind you that the Bible tells the whole truth. Just because a practice is mentioned in the Bible doesn’t mean that God approves. Yes, Jacob will have two wives and two maids, but that was not God’s original intent for marriage – which is one wife plus one husband making one family.

  
  

  Beth Moore in her study The Patriarchs makes a point I had overlooked on page 134 “We will discover that in Laban, Jacob meets his match. Yes, Jacob had an encounter with God in Genesis 28, but God makes very sure that Jacob also reaps some of what he has sown. Otherwise, what will motivate a permanent change in Jacob’s character? Our wise God will often appoint circumstances and consequences to change what a fresh encounter with Him does not.”

  
  

  I have to tell you, God has certainly manipulated circumstances in my life, and I have faced some uncomfortable circumstances. I now pray that I learn very quickly the lessons God wants me to learn, so that I don’t have to repeat the lessons, or face uncomfortable circumstances.

  
  

  Laban is treating Jacob more like a servant than family, and Jacob will more and more act like a servant for Laban. But over time, this relationship will not be so compatible.

  
  

  Even in Jacob’s time, as it is in our day and age, physical beauty seems to be a premium. Unfortunately physical beauty does not guarantee a beautiful soul or spirit. We need to look far beyond the outward appearances to find the one that God has selected for us.

  
  

  Beth Moore points out another fact on page 136 “When the confetti was gone and the chalice was dry, the deceiver had been deceived. Jacob reaped what he had sown. The Beginning of Wisdom offers profound food for thought: “the story offers a powerfully ironic comment on the love of visible beauty, and shows as well the unreliability of trusting alone to sight. For where is visible beauty in the dark? Jacob with stars in his eyes, is shown here to be blinded, not necessarily by lust or drink but by the love of the beautiful itself. He does not know one wife from the other except superficially.”

  
  

  Beth points out that we can have stars in our eyes over many things, not just beauty. Paul prayed in Philippians 1:9 that their love would abound more and more in knowledge and discernment. Oh how we need discernment for our lives in all circumstances. While a marriage can be forced, the heart cannot be forced.

  
  

  I want to leave Jacob’s offspring for another time as there are powerful lessons in their names.

  
  

  Hoping you have a blessed day.

  
  

  Heather

  • 10:03 am
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