Last week we saw how the Lord appeared to Jacob in a dream. It was an amazing dream that showed how God cares for man and has made a way for him to get to God. In the dream God also spoke to Jacob and promised to always be with him as He accomplished the Abrahamic covenant through him.
[Read Genesis 28:13-15.]
Jacob awoke from this dream a new man of faith. After Jacob spent some time worshipping God in that place he set out to complete his mission of journeying to his mother’s homeland to find a wife. And throughout this mission and consequent events we’re going to see the faithful hand of God once again upon His people.
[“Man on a mission” Uhaul story.]
Everyone in this story seems to be on a mission. And it all starts with Jacob’s journey.
I. Jacob’s first mission is accomplished by God’s providence
Jacob’s 1st mission – journey to his mother’s homeland and household 500+ miles away
[Read Genesis 29:1-6.]
Look at how the Lord has blessed Jacob. He makes it through this harsh journey, ends up in the right country, ends up in the right community, finds some people that know Laban, finds out Laban is still alive, (97 years have passed since Laban’s sister Rebekah left with Isaac), and then here comes Laban’s daughter walking right towards him! Amazing! Jacob’s head must be spinning right about now. But look at what he does next.
[Read Genesis 29:7-8.]
Jacob tries to get the men to hurry up and water their herds and get out of there so he can have some alone time with Rachel. But even though it doesn’t work, he’s still been able to accomplish his first mission and make it to his mother’s household.
[Read Genesis 29:9-14.]
What a beautiful event this was. Long lost family members getting to know each other for the first time. When Jacob kissed Rachel it was a customary greeting between family members. But what is so touching is when Jacob wept after the kiss. He was realizing how good God had been to him in helping him accomplish this mission of finding the family. Tears of relief flowed as he realized his journey was complete. Gad had watched over him just as He had said.
This journey of his is very similar to that of Abraham’s servant who went to this household to find a wife for Isaac almost a hundred years earlier. But with one, strikingly ironic difference. In the servant’s journey, Rebekah met him at the well and poured water for him. This time at the well, the man pours the water for the woman.
But Jacob’s even though Jacob’s first mission was complete, the second mission was still looming. He’d found the girl he wanted to marry, but could he get her family to agree? Remember, Abraham’s servant brought with him all kinds of valuable gifts, the wishes of the great Abraham, and the promises of God to help convince the family to let loose of Rebekah. Jacob had nothing. But as we’re going to see:
II. Jacob’s second mission is accomplished by his love for Rachel
Jacob’s 2nd mission – gain a wife from mother’s household
[Read Genesis 29:15-20.]
So beautiful! Jacob offered to be Laban’s servant for seven years just for the rights to marry Rachel. To me, that’s a long time! I know she must have been worth it, but c’mon. Seven years? That’s one long engagement!
And you know Jacob’s years of work were hard. He wasn’t set up with some cushy job in an office somewhere. He became a servant working the land and working the herds all day every day. It was a high price to pay.
But Rachel was worth it to him. Every day when he’d be out with the animals he’d see her pass by on her way to the well. He’d stop and just watch his future bride go by. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Maybe they’d talk a little about the day. Maybe they’d even talk a little about the future. She’d go on her way and he’d get back to work. But the rest of his day would be filled with thoughts of one day marrying the love of his life.
[Read Genesis 29:20.]
They say time flies by when you’re having fun. Now Jacob probably wasn’t having fun in the line of work he was in, but his love for Rachel masked everything else and the years just flew by. His love helped him accomplish his mission of gaining a wife.
Now after seven years Jacob’s mission was almost complete. Rachel was about to become his wife. But Jacob’s uncle Laban had a mission of his own. Laban’s mission was to marry off his daughters – both of them. Not just the young pretty one.
III. Laban’s mission is accomplished by deceit
[Read Genesis 29:21-30.]
Laban pulled the old switch-a-roo on Jacob. He thought he was consummating the marriage with Rachel, but in reality was consummating a marriage with Leah, (the older one whose eyes weren’t as attractive as Rachel’s).
Now how does this happen? How could you spend your wedding night with someone other than your wife? Of course in that culture the brides were veiled during the ceremonies during the entire time and it would have been dark that night. And remember, Leah went along with the deception and probably didn’t mention to Jacob, “By the way, it’s me Leah.”
What’s not mentioned in the story is where Rachel was during this time. Her father obviously kept her from spoiling the surprise while Leah was with Jacob.
But as horrified and angry as Jacob was there wasn’t too much he could say. Surely thoughts of how he and his mother deceived his father filled his mind as Laban gave his reasons for deceiving him.
Now I don’t believe God encouraged Laban to use such dishonest methods in order to discipline Jacob for his past sins. But I do think He allowed the events to happen in this manner so Jacob would get the message loud and clear that any form of deception is wrong and has serious consequences with it. Look at the irony comparing this deception with Jacob’s.
Jacob the younger brother deceives dad to cheat the older brother out of his blessing.
Here, Leah the older sister deceives Jacob to cheat the younger sister out of her husband.
What could Jacob say? He was not the one to judge others in this area. So he took his medicine, agreed to Laban’s terms, and at the end of the week of celebrating his marriage with Leah he then married Rachel. Afterwards he humbly worked for Laban for another seven years to earn Rachel’s marriage right. He must have felt like a chump, but at least he had his love Rachel for one of his wives.
You know this polygamy thing keeps showing up in the beginnings of human history. And it never seems to turn out good. Next week we’ll look at it a little closer through the wives of Jacob and see how God never wanted it or condoned it. We see the beginnings of the consequences of having more than one wife right at the beginning of Jacob and Leah’s and Rachel’s marriage. Two’s company, but three’s a crowd.
[Read Genesis 29:31.]
Someone’s always going to get left out. All we can handle is one spouse at a time. That’s God’s plan. And when we go away from His plan someone always gets hurt. Here it’s Leah.
Leah was the ugly one, Leah was the older one, Leah was the unwanted one – and she knew it. She knew she was being passed over by Jacob for Rachel. And yes, this did go against the culture of the region. The older sister got married off first. But Jacob wasn’t attracted to her, Jacob didn’t want her, Jacob didn’t love her. Leah watched Jacob work seven long years for the right to marry Rachel. I’ll bet she wished someone loved her like that. It must have been hard for her to endure.
And then her dad has her go along with this plan to trick someone into marrying her. Could you imagine what that must have done to her self esteem? It’s like Laban was reinforcing to Leah that she was just too old and ugly for someone to actually want to marry her. That’s like when you can’t get a date for the prom so your mom goes with you. “Loser!” But Leah was a woman of faith who had a mission. Her mission is simply to be loved. And guess what:
IV. Leah’s mission is accomplished by God
[Read Genesis 29:31-35.]
What we have here is a beautiful progression of Leah’s faith over the years as she more and more realized the love of God in her life. I don’t think she ever really got the love of her husband like she wanted. But I do think she realized that she had the unconditional love of God. You can see this progression of faith surrounding the births of her children.
* And let me say this, I think that sometimes we take it for granted when we can have kids. But I believe that every time a woman gets pregnant a miracle of life has just happened. A miracle that God allowed. Just as He prevented Rachel from having kids for a while, He enabled Leah to have these kids. This wasn’t just Leah getting pregnant because she’s sleeping with Jacob. This was God’s power showing His love.
- Reuben, (“look, a son”), “because the Lord has seen my affliction, surely now my husband will love me.” But it didn’t work. Jacob didn’t love her. Jacob loved Rachel.
- Simeon, (“hearing”), “because the Lord has heard that I am unloved.” Leah knew she was unloved but also knew that the Lord had heard her cry for help. But having Simeon didn’t change Jacob’s feelings for her like she thought it might.
- Levi, (attached), “now my husband will become attached to me”. But it never happened. Three boys, several years, countless prayers, and Jacob still didn’t love her.
- Judah, (praise), “This time I will praise the Lord.” Mission accomplished. She had realized that God loved her. At least for a time she’d given up on old Jacob. Now she was content to simply praise the Lord.
She might not have understood why she could never get her husband’s affection – an affection that she deserved. (Not for bearing him children, but for being his wife! Jacob should have loved her! She couldn’t have been that ugly. And she was a godly woman. He should have treated her better and even tried to love her.) But he didn’t.
Leah simply says with the birth of her fourth child, “This time I will praise the Lord.” “Even if my own husband doesn’t love me, I know that God does!”
Many of us here might be able to relate to what Leah was going through. We feel like our spouse or our children or even our parents for one reason or another just don’t love us. That’s a hard thing to go through! And we pray and we pray and we do things and we pray to gain that person’s love, yet it never seems to come.
Yet when we see the Lord answer our prayers we can look up to heaven and say, “This time I will praise the Lord!” “God loves me!” “No one else might love me, but God personally loves me!”
[Read Psalm 68:5-6a.]
We might feel all alone, but God will come to us and reassure us that He loves us. Lean on Him when you feel alone and unloved.
Next week we’ll see more kids and more drama all because of polygamy.
