9th Sunday After Pentecost. July 30th, 2023. Series

Genesis 29:15-28, Psalm 105:1-11, Psalm 105:45, Psalm 128:1-6, 1 Kings 3:5-12, Psalm 119:129-136, Romans 8:26-39, Matthew 13:31-33, Matthew 13:44-52

A). A LESSON IN PATIENCE.

Genesis 29:15-28.

Jacob had been on the run from his twin brother Esau. Jacob, being the younger twin, had duped his elder sibling of both his inheritance and his blessing. Esau’s understandable anger was beginning to look dangerous, so their mother Rebekah devised a plan to send Jacob to her relatives to find a wife for himself from among her relatives.

As we open today’s reading, Jacob had arrived at last in Haran, the city that his grandfather Abraham had left so many decades ago. Jacob met Rachel his cousin at the same well where Abraham’s servant had met Rebekah when he was on a mission to find a wife for Isaac. Jacob was already in love with young Rachel, and for a month now Jacob had been accepting hospitality from his mother Rebekah’s brother, Laban.

GENESIS 29:15. Laban opened a negotiation with his nephew in which we begin to see that Jacob had at last met his match. First of all, Laban announced that hereafter Jacob would be his servant, and asked Jacob what his wages should be. This was not as reasonable as it might sound, as it shifted the relationship of uncle/ nephew to employer/ employee. Also, Jacob was inexperienced in negotiations. Laban had been involved in the negotiations concerning his sister Rebekah’s marriage to Isaac, and was always going to have the upper hand.

GENESIS 29:16-17. It is at this point that the narrative tells us that Laban had two daughters. The younger, Rachel, was “beautiful and well favoured.” The elder, Leah, was not so attractive.

GENESIS 29:18. Jacob loved Rachel, and set a high price for himself to pay for her hand in marriage. Unlike Abraham’s servant, who had arrived with ten camel loads of goodies as the bride price for Rebekah, Jacob had nothing to offer but his service. Jacob was clear though: he would serve seven years for Rachel’s hand in marriage.

GENESIS 29:19. Laban made it sound as if he was doing Jacob a favour: “It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man. Abide with me.” So saying, Laban at least hinted that, if industrial relations between employer and employee should turn sour at any stage, he had the option to give her hand to another suitor.

GENESIS 29:20. “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.” This is a lovely verse. Perhaps here we see the beginning of the mellowing of Jacob, the former trickster. But he had a shock to come!

GENESIS 29:21. At the end of the seven years, Jacob took the initiative, went to Laban, and demanded “my wife.” In the Ancient Near East, a betrothal was as binding as a marriage: in the New Testament we read of Joseph going to be taxed with Mary his ‘espoused wife’ (cf. Luke 2:5). All that remained for Jacob to do – or so he thought – was to consummate the marriage.

GENESIS 29:22. We hear no reply from Laban, but he sprung into activity, gathering the men of that place for a feast.

GENESIS 29:23. Then, at last (or so Jacob thought), Laban brought Jacob’s beloved to him. It was evening, and no doubt dark in the bed-chamber, and the bride had most probably been veiled during the festivities. But it was Leah, not Rachel!

GENESIS 29:24. For a dowry, Leah received Zilpah, Laban’s maid as a handmaid. She and Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah (cf. Genesis 29:29) would also become mothers in Israel (cf. Genesis 35:25-26).

GENESIS 29:25. Imagine Jacob’s surprise when he realised that he had been duped! Jacob’s anger was firm, but controlled, as he remonstrated with Laban. He would not want to blow his chances of ever having Rachel his beloved wife!

GENESIS 29:26. Laban’s answer was lame, “It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.” That was probably the first time that Jacob had ever heard of such a thing – and why did Laban not say so before this? However, this would have alerted Jacob to the fact that elder siblings do have rights!

GENESIS 29:27. Laban was now setting the terms for further negotiation: fulfil Leah’s “week” of honeymoon - do not reject her - “and we will give you this also for the service which thou shalt serve me yet seven other years.” This was all before the writing of the law forbidding a man from marrying two sisters (cf. Leviticus 18:18).

GENESIS 29:28. “And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week; and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.” Jacob had persevered, love had prevailed. God was working behind the scenes towards the fulfilment of His promises to Abraham.