Jacob’s Family
Genesis 29:1-30:241
July 23, 2006


Today’s message is from Genesis chapter 29, the whole chapter, and Genesis chapter 30, verses 1 through 24. As always, it’s the word of God, breathed by God’s Holy Spirit and recorded for our benefit, in this case, by Moses. We won’t read the whole passage today—it’s long—but I will quote most of it as we go along. Remember also, as always, to read your Bibles every day. It’s through the word of God that you know God, who made you and redeemed you through the blood of his son Jesus.

[Prayer]

I called this message Jacob’s Family, but it’s really about God’s disciplining of Jacob. But before we get to the passage, let me review what happened up to this point.

In chapter 27, we had the account of Jacob’s stealing the blessing his father Isaac had intended to give to his brother Esau. Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, when she overheard Isaac talking to Esau about receiving his blessing, told Jacob to go to Isaac and pretend to be Esau and receive the blessing for himself—in fact, she commanded him to do so. (Isaac was almost blind, so he wasn’t able to recognize Jacob by sight.) Jacob stole the blessing.

When Esau found out that Jacob had stolen the blessing, he planned on killing Jacob. Rebekah sent Jacob to her brother Laban in Haran (and, incidentally, didn’t tell Isaac the full reason for sending him—she told Isaac that he needed to get a wife from among his relatives and not marry a Canaanite woman).

On the way to Haran, Jacob met the Lord. Jacob went to sleep for the night and the Lord came to Jacob in a dream.  The Lord showed him a vision of a stairway extending from the earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. (Jesus spoke about that stairway too, didn’t he? He told Nathanael that he—he, Jesus—would be that stairway—he would be the way to heaven: “You will see greater things that these. You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” –John 1:50, 51)

In the dream, the Lord told Jacob that his offspring would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, that he and his offspring would inherit the land and that all peoples on earth would be blessed through his offspring. The Lord also said to Jacob, “I will be with you and watch over you wherever you go.” These were the Lord’s promises to Jacob. (Do you think the Lord keeps his promises?) Jacob was surprised to find out the Lord was in the place where he had slept. The Lord is everywhere!

(Does all this seem a little strange—stolen blessings that are really supernatural blessings from God—dreams with visions of stairways and promises from God? The Lord does these kinds of things. These were the people through whom he has brought salvation to all who desire to have it. The Lord still does things like this—dreams and visions. Donna knows. Does it seem strange? Does it seem strange that he would raise the dead? He does and will raise the dead—some to eternal life and others to shame and everlasting contempt! –Daniel 12:2)

So Rebekah and Jacob deceived Isaac in order steal the blessing (the blessing which the Lord had intended for Jacob to have anyway, by the way) and while he was on his way to Uncle Laban’s, running away from Esau, he met the Lord and the Lord told him that he would bless him, make him a blessing and that he would be with him and watch over him wherever he went. Now let’s see what happened to Jacob whom the Lord was with wherever he went. I’m going to read verses 1 through 12 from today’s passage:

Jacob Meets Rachel
1Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country. 2He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. A large stone covered the opening of the well. 3When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep. The stone was then placed back on the well’s opening.
4Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?”
“We’re from Haran,” they answered.
5 “Do you know Laban son of Nahor?” Jacob asked them.
They answered, “We know him.”
6 “Is he well?” Jacob asked.
“Yes,” they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep.”
7Then Jacob said, “Look, it is still broad daylight. It’s not time for the animals to be gathered. Water the flock, then go out and let them graze.”
8But they replied, “We can’t, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well’s opening. Then we will water the sheep.”
9While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly. 12He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father. (Genesis 29:1-12)

There were three flocks of sheep and some men who were with them by a well. Jacob asked the men where they were from. When they said, “From Haran,” he asked if they knew Laban. They said they knew him. They also pointed out Laban’s daughter Rachel who was coming to the well with her father’s sheep. (Rachel means sheep, by the way.)

Verse 7 says that Jacob told the shepherds to water the flock and then go out and let them graze. I wonder why he said that. It seems pretty arrogant for someone who had just arrived and didn’t know any of those shepherds to tell them what to do with their sheep when they were not ready to do it—to water the sheep and then go out and let them graze. The shepherds were evidently waiting for someone else to come and roll the stone away. Maybe Jacob wanted to be alone with Rachel.

Anyway, when Rachel arrived, Jacob himself rolled the stone from the well and watered Laban’s sheep. It says that Jacob then kissed Rachel and wept loudly. People seem to have various ideas about why Jacob wept loudly. But I think Jacob’s journey had been very stressful. It was a long trip from where he had been in Canaan to Haran, several hundred miles—and he was running away from his brother who was planning on killing him—and he had met the Lord when had not expected to, and had probably only heard about such experiences—and it was scary! I think he was crying because he was relieved to find his relative Rachel—maybe even his future wife! Rachel ran and told her father.

Now let me read verses 13 through 30. The HCSB gives this part of the passage the title Jacob Deceived:

Jacob Deceived
13When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.
14Laban said to him, “Yes, you are my own flesh and blood.”
After Jacob had stayed with him a month, 15Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
16Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. 17Leah had delicate eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. 18Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.” 20So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.” 22So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast. 23That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.
25When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”
26Laban answered, “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn. 27Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.”
28And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. 29And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave. 30Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. (Genesis 29:13-30)

Well this is the part where Jacob is going to start to receive some of the consequences of the fraudulent way he obtained the blessing. Verse 13 says that when Laban heard about Jacob, he ran out to meet him, hugged him and kissed him and brought him back to his house. It says that Jacob told him all that had happened.

I wonder what he told Laban. He had a lot to tell. It may be that Laban had had no contact with any of his relatives from Canaan since Rebekah had gone to marry Isaac. Now Isaac was old and ready to die. It could have been a long time. Do you suppose Jacob told Laban why he was there—at least one of the reasons, the main reason he was there—that he had deceived his father and stolen the blessing from his brother Esau and was running away? Maybe, but it doesn’t look like he told Laban the other reason, that he was there to get a wife from among his relatives in Haran.

Now, it says, Jacob stayed and worked for Laban for a month. Apparently he worked hard because Laban wanted to hire him. Maybe he was working with Rachel helping to take care of the sheep and that inspired him to work hard.

In any case, Laban said to Jacob, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Now that sounds very reasonable and fair, but consider this: 1) Laban saw how hard Jacob was working; 2) Laban saw that Jacob really liked Rachel (and maybe the other way around, too, that Rachel liked Jacob); 3) Jacob had no material possessions to offer Laban for the bride-price as the custom of the time required; and 4) Jacob was working hard and benefiting Laban, but had no commitment to stay and continue to do so. Laban said, “Tell me what your wages should be.” I’ll bet seven years of work was on the high side of what a reasonable price would be, but I think Jacob was willing to offer a lot because he loved Rachel. So Laban said, “It’s a deal (my paraphrase).”

You know, verse 20 says that Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days because of his love for her. Does that seem a little strange? Usually, if you really want something, you are impatient and it seems like the time you have to wait for it drags on forever. When I was a little kid I used to say, “How many days until Christmas?” “Forty-five.”  The next day: “How many days until Christmas?” “Forty-four.” …and so forth.

But this was different. I think it was because love was involved as opposed to lust. (And I’m not just talking about sexual lust. Lust include what I experienced waiting for Christmas when I was a little kid!) Do you love Jesus? Do you love God with all of your being—with all you heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength? The seven years seemed like only a few days to Jacob.

At the end of the seven years Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. I want to sleep with her.” So Laban prepared a feast, invited everyone and there was a wedding. In the evening, Jacob took his wife to his tent and slept with her. But in the morning, it turned out to be Leah, not Rachel! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?” Jacob the deceiver—that’s what his name means—was deceived!

If Laban had been honest, he probably would have said, “Well, I was hoping to get another seven years of work out of you.” But what he actually said was, “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn. Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.” Do you believe it wasn’t the custom? Well, who knows? In any case, Jacob agreed to work for Laban another seven years.

Now, did you notice what happened here? Rebekah told Jacob to go and deceive Isaac by pretending to be his brother Esau. Isaac’s eyes were failing so that he couldn’t identify Jacob by sight. Jacob did what Rebekah told him and obtained the blessing that Isaac had intended for Esau. Laban told Leah to go and deceive Jacob by pretending to be her sister Rachel. It was dark and Leah was probably wearing a veil so Jacob couldn’t recognize her by sight. Leah did what Laban told her. She got a husband and Laban got seven more years of work out of Jacob. Rebekah and Laban were brother and sister.

Well, poor Jacob wound up with two wives, something that, while God did not forbid it, was not good and was not God’s intention from the beginning when he created men and women. (And in the rest of the passage, we’ll find out that Jacob finally wound up with four wives.)

In the Law of Moses, God did not forbid marrying more than one wife (although he did forbid marrying two sisters, which is what Jacob did in this case.) But, just because God does not absolutely forbid something, does not mean he approves of it. In the Law of Moses, he made provisions for a man to divorce his wife, too, but Jesus told the people he was speaking to that it was because of the hardness of their hearts that God made that provision. The prophet Malachi says, “God hates divorce!” I think the New Testament makes it clear that God hates polygamy too.

Now let’s look at verses 31 through the end of the chapter and down to verse 24 in chapter 30. I’m not going to read them all, just some of them, but they tell us about Jacob’s family and the birth of his children.

Verses 30 and 31 say:

31When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. 32Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.”

Leah was the first one to have children. And, you notice, it wasn’t by chance. It was because the Lord saw that Leah was unloved. I don’t really think anything happens by chance. We like to calculate odds and estimate probabilities, and I think it’s proper to do so in many circumstances, but, in the end, the Lord is sovereign over all things. The way the Lord worked things out, Rachel didn’t have any children until all of the rest of Jacob’s children were born—ten sons and a daughter.

Leah’s firstborn son was Reuben. After Rueben, she had three more sons, Simeon, Levi and Judah. The descendants of Levi were the priests of the nation of Israel. (You know the Lord changed Jacob’s name to Israel, don’t you? That’s why the nation of Israel is called the nation of Israel. Jacob’s sons are the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. Our Lord Jesus Christ is descended, according to the flesh, from Judah, Leah’s fourth son.)

Now let’s look at chapter 30, verses 1 through 4. Listen while I read them:

1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.
2Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld children from you?”
3Then she said, “Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.” 4So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. (Genesis 30:1-4)

Now Rachel is doing the same thing Sarah did when she gave Hagar to Abraham to be a second wife so that she could have children through her. Only now Jacob has three wives instead of two! Bilhah had two sons which Rachel named Dan and Naphtali. So Jacob now had a total of six sons.

Now let’s look at verse 9. Verse 9 says, “When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.” Now Jacob has four wives. (Most people refer to the two slave women as concubines, but it’s the same word as wife.) Zilpah had two children which Leah named Gad and Asher. Now Jacob had eight sons.

Now let’s look at verses 14 through 16. Listen while I read them:

14Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?”
“Well,” Rachel said, “you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night. (Genesis 30:14-16)

According to what I have read, mandrakes were thought to bring about fertility. Rachel traded Jacob—the use of Jacob—for the mandrakes that Leah’s son Reuben found growing in the field, apparently hoping to have children. I wonder how Jacob felt about being traded for mandrakes. It doesn’t sound like he had much to say about it. Anyway, Leah had two more sons, Issachar and Zebulun, bringing the total number of sons that Jacob had up to ten. Leah also bore Jacob a daughter, Dinah.

Now let’s look at verses 22 through 24. Here’s what they say:

22Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb. 23She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24She named him Joseph: “May the Lord add another son to me.” (Genesis 30:22-24)

Finally the Lord gave Rachel a son, Joseph. (That’s a good name, isn’t it? And we’ll see that he turned out to be a great man.) None of the other women had any more sons. Rachel would have one more son, Benjamin. She would die in childbirth.

You know, it was because of Jacob’s lack of love for Leah that the Lord withheld children from Rachel. Rachel suffered because of Jacob’s attitude toward Leah. Our families can suffer for our wrongdoing, too.

Now I want to make some more comments about this passage. When I was reading J. Vernon McGee’s commentary about this, he quoted Galatians 6:7-8. Here’s what it says:

7Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, 8because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. (Galatians 6:7, 8)

J. Vernon McGee pointed out that if you sow corn, you reap corn, if you sow wheat, you reap wheat, if you sow cotton, you reap cotton, but if you sow tares, you reap tares. (Tares are weeds, for you non-King James people. If you sow weeds, you reap weeds.)

J. Vernon McGee gave some examples. Pharaoh had all the male babies of the Israelites killed. The Lord killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians in the tenth plague. King David committed adultery and murder. God forgave him for that when he confessed that he had sinned. But still there were consequences. There was trouble during the rest of his reign. The Lord told him that there would be. His son Absalom, whom he loved, led a rebellion against him and wound up being killed. Even the Apostle Paul, who was there giving approval to the stoning of Stephen and later voted to put Christians to death, wound up being stoned and dragged out of the city and left for dead because he was preaching the gospel.

But I want to point out something. In the case of Jacob (and also in the case of David and of Paul), what happened to them was the Lord’s discipline. The Lord had told Jacob in the dream that he would be with him and watch over him wherever he went. This was part of the Lord’s watching over Jacob. It was part of his purifying and refining Jacob. And there was more to come for Jacob as we will see. Listen to what Jacob said about his life when he was 130 years old. This is a quote from Genesis 47, verses 8 and 9:

8Then Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?”
9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not surpassed the years of my fathers during their pilgrimages.” (Genesis 47:8, 9)

Jacob had a hard life. He needed a lot of refining. (Most of us do.) But in the end, Jacob was a holy man of God. He was a prophet and was able to confer God’s blessing on his sons and grandchildren.

Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says about the Lord’s discipline:

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:1-11 –NIV)

God loved Jacob and prepared him for eternal life (eternal life that he had already given him, by the way) and for blessings beyond comprehension. He is preparing us for eternal life and glory also. Jesus suffered and gave his life for Jacob and he gave his life for us also. If you haven’t accepted God’s gift, don’t delay any longer. “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” (Dan. 12:2, 3 –NIV) Be wise and accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen!

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.