MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Genesis 29 and 30
Reader: Ipe Mavunkal
Frank Sinatra, way back in 1955, had a hit song, “Love and marriage”, of which the lyrics in the first verse were, “Love and marriage, love and marriage. They go together like a horse and carriage. This I tell you, brother – you can’t have one without the other.” However, we will read today that Jacob, the third of Israel’s patriarchs, did have a “love and marriage” that fit together so well that it was like a “horse and carriage”, but Jacob also was tricked into a “love and marriage” that didn’t fit together like a “horse and carriage”. Jacob’s grandfather Abraham had married Sarah from among his relatives back in Mesopotamia. Then, Jacob’s father Isaac had married Rebekah, again a clan member who had been living back in the homeland of Mesopotamia. In that love story, we met Rebekah’s brother Laban who will also figure prominently in the events of today’s passage. Jacob’s parents, Rebekah and Isaac, then told Jacob to go to Mesopotamia, to seek out Uncle Laban, and marry a girl from his family, their family.
Project map of Jacob’s journeys…
That trip might seem straightforward at first glance if it weren’t for the fact that Jacob had fled for his life in going to Mesopotamia, as well as having gone there to gain a wife. What happened was that Jacob had deceived his older brother Esau into giving him the birthright of the firstborn son and then cheated Esau out of the blessing that his father Isaac had every intention of giving to Esau. Rebekah, having overheard Esau planning to kill Jacob because of Jacob’s cheating and deception of him, quickly told Jacob to flee for his life back to Mesopotamia, and while there, get himself a wife. Along the way, at a place he then named Beth-El, Bethel, or “House of God”, Jacob had a dream of a ladder going from earth to heaven, with God standing at the top of the ladder and proclaiming to Jacob that he was now the one to whom God’s covenantal promises would flow. Mother Rebekah earlier had also learned that while praying to God. Jacob’s trust in God deepened.
Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?” “We’re from Harran,” they replied. He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?” “Yes, we know him,” they answered. Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.” “Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” “We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.” While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So, she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” (Genesis 29:1-14)
So far, so good. But Jacob’s life was about to be changed forever…
After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So, Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.” (Genesis 29:15-21)
In that culture, sexual relations meant being married. So, the wedding day was thus planned, but by Rachel’s dad, Jacob’s uncle, Laban.
So, Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant. When morning came, there was Leah! So, Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” (Genesis 29:22-25)
When Laban substituted his oldest daughter Leah, for Rachel, it was as if Laban “out-Jacobed” Jacob, the one who had deceived both his father Isaac and his brother Esau. We have all seen Muslim ladies fully covered from head to toe so we can imagine the scene: Leah, completely covered, including a large veil covering her face.
Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.” And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. (Genesis 29:26-30)
Jacob’s love for Rachel was profound, but the thing everyone focuses on in this story is the plight of poor Leah as we all feel so sorry for her. There is no indication that she loved Jacob or wanted to be married to him. It was social and cultural custom for the eldest daughter to be married first. Without going into detail, I can tell you from family experience that such a custom brings trouble. Leah was described as having “weak eyes”, implying that she was homely. If having weak eyes means that someone is not attractive, then I have been homely since age 11, the age at which my “weak eyes” needed glasses! By God’s standards, though, beauty is more than skin-deep. Physical characteristics do not determine the beauty of a person to God. We can be “beautiful” on the inside, as Peter put it when speaking about women but, in a teaching that could be applied to everyone, we, in our inner selves, should strive to have an “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3,4)
When I coached ice hockey and a lousy penalty call or a fluky goal went against our team, I would calm down the players on our team by telling them, “Don’t worry about it. Things will even out.” And, sure enough, a lousy penalty call against the other team or a fluky goal by our own team would later happen in that same game, evening things out. Later in her life, things did even out for Leah. Her fourth son Judah would become the individual her husband Jacob would identify as being the one through whom the Messiah would emerge, the so-called “Lion of Judah”. It wouldn’t be through Rachel’s line that the Messiah would come, but Leah’s. As well, it wouldn’t be Rachel who would be buried in the place of importance beside Jacob in the family tomb, in “The Tomb of the Patriarchs” in Hebron, but Leah. Plus, we will see clearly that it was Leah whom God had favour on, loved and protected. Ok, now onto a passage famous for its pettiness, jealousy, and wrongs.
When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So, she named him Simeon. Again, she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So, he was named Levi. She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So, she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children. (Genesis 29:31-35)
Poor Leah! All she wanted was for her husband to love her, as the names she gave to her first three sons indicated. However, by son #4, Judah, she decided that if Jacob wouldn’t love her, she would rest in God’s love, instead. Hers is a very sad story, but at least Leah gained faith, strength, and purpose as she went through multiple births. A wonderful sermon by Tim Keller entitled, “The Girl Nobody Wanted”, shows that, like Leah, essentially everybody longs for love. This is a deep human drive, but one in which everyone, if they are looking to a human being to meet that deepest longing for love, will end up being disillusioned in. What are we to do with that kind of longing for love? Do as Leah did – turn to God for it. “This time I will praise the Lord.”
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So, she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me, and I too can build a family through her.” So, she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, and she became pregnant and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan. Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So, she named him Naphtali. (30:1-8)
Rachel’s physical characteristics had been earlier described as “having a lovely figure” and “being beautiful” but these just-read verses suggest that her beauty was only skin-deep. Earlier in this sermon series, in Genesis 2 with Adam and Eve, we saw that marriage is to be between one man and one woman. Polygamy was never in God’s plan, nor was the using of maidservants as baby-making machines. Poor Bilhah! Her children were never considered to be hers!
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So, she named him Gad. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So, she named him Asher. (30:9-13)
What was “good for the goose, was good for the gander” seemed to be Leah’s thinking, as she observed Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah bearing children for Rachel. So, Leah pressed her maidservant Zilpah into action, with a similar result. Now, if you are thinking that God had no compassion for Bilhah or Zilpah, please remember that when Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had become jealous of her maidservant Hagar after she had borne a son for Abraham, and drove them both away, God went to Hagar and helped her. She rightly so named God, El-Roi, “the God who sees me” and she also named her son, Ishmael, “God hears”. Just as God saw Hagar and heard her pleas for help, in the same way, God surely cared for both Bilhah and Zilpah, the ones who bore children for their mistresses. God knows! He sees! He hears!
During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” So, when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So, he slept with her that night. God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So, she named him Issachar. Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So, she named him Zebulun. Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. (Genesis 30:9-21)
Mandrakes were believed to be a stimulant to help with fertility and conception in barren women. That was a world of superstition and fear! As I mentioned last week, Christ’s resurrection has done away with such bad theology, praise God! But, in her time, Rachel saw mandrakes as a method helping her get pregnant and thus bear a child for Jacob! But it was Leah who ended up having children, not Rachel! Leah had two boys more and then a girl while Rachel had none. But,
Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.” (Genesis 30:22-24)
Nothing that Rachel nor Jacob had done had given her children. When Rachel did conceive, it was only by God’s doing. God is the one who gives life! Rachel’s son would be the 11th for Jacob, the famous Joseph. But his birth wasn’t enough for Rachel. She wanted another son for, in her mind, she was still in a competition with Leah. A second son to Rachel, the twelfth to Jacob, would later be born but in tragedy, happening after they all had left Mesopotamia and stopped at Bethel, the place where Jacob had encountered God in his dream of a ladder.
Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin. So, Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb. (Gen. 35:16-20)
So, what can we take from these events?
First, when we make a mess of life, God is still with us. His plans are not altered by our sins or our brokenness. Today we have read through a sad story in which all the characters involved were heart-broken in some way: Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah. It was sad but also sordid, tawdry, immoral, gross, messy family dynamics.
Second, God created Israel out of those twelve sons. Out of family messes, God can work!
Third, God chose Jacob and his family line to be the one that would fulfill the covenantal promises earlier given to Abraham and Isaac. Think about it: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Judah (Leah’s son) were the ones through whom the Messiah would come. As Jacob on his deathbed prophesied, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” The Messiah would be known as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah”.
Twelve wonderful sons, the nation of Israel, and Jesus the Messiah all came from this very messed-up family. As we read through the Bible, that is a consistent theme – God works through messed-up individuals and family lines. Thus, in the middle of any brokenness you are currently experiencing, or have experienced, in the middle of any difficult circumstances or trials – whatever they may be – God is working out His plan in you! To God be the glory! Amen!
