JACOB SERIES: DECEPTION, MARRIAGE, AND FAMILY

After approximately a five-hundred-mile journey, Jacob finally arrived in Haran, where, unbeknownst to him, he came upon a well where his family brought their flock to be watered. There, he learned from those present that his uncle Laban, the son of Nahor, used this well, and while conversing with the people, Rachel, Laban’s daughter, came with their sheep.

Seeing Rachel and learning who she was prompted Jacob to roll away the stone from the well’s mouth and assist her in watering the flock. Becoming emotional, Jacob kissed Rachel, wept, and told her who he was. Rachel ran home and told her father, who then ran to meet Jacob. Laban hugged and kissed him, then brought him home, where Jacob informed him of the reason for his visit.

After staying and working for Laban for a month, Laban asked Jacob what he should pay him for his labor, and Jacob proposed and agreed to work for seven years for the beautiful, favored younger daughter, Rachel, to become his wife.

Because of the love Jacob felt for Rachel, the years passed quickly, and at the end of the seven years, Laban held a wedding feast for Jacob; however, he tricked him and gave him his eldest, tender-eyed daughter, Leah. When Jacob realized he had been tricked, he confronted Laban for beguiling him. Laban stated, “It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.” Wanting his dear Rachel as a wife, Jacob agreed to Laban’s proposal and worked for another seven years. Laban also gave each of his daughters a handmaiden: to Leah, Zilpah, and to Rachel, Bilhah.

The scripture states that when God saw that Leah was hated, he made her fruitful, while Rachel remained barren. Consecutively Leah had four sons for Jacob, and she named the sons in response to her relationship with Jacob. Their first son, she called Reuben, meaning, “Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.” The second son she named Simeon because, “the Lord hath heard I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son. The third son, Leah, named him Levi, saying, “This time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons.” After the birth of the fourth son, Judah, who meant “Now will I praise the Lord,” Leah stopped having children for a brief time.

Here is additional information and nuggets I gathered from my readings:

The country beyond the Euphrates and the dwellers of Mesopotamia were called “easterns.”

Due to strong evaporation and shifting sands, the mouths of wells were usually covered in Arabia. Additionally, everyone waited until all the flocks were gathered at the well before moving the stone. Jacob, in his desire to meet his family, did not follow the custom but rolled the stone away before all the flocks had gathered. Another custom was that the unmarried daughters tended to the family flock.

After visiting with a family for three days, if you plan to lengthen your stay, you must engage in some form of employment.

Jacob’s seven-year work proposal was considered a dowry to gain a wife.

Nuptial feast usually lasted for seven days following the consummation of a marriage.

The veil of the bride covered her whole being, thus making her identity undetectable.

In the morning, after discovering the fraudulent switch, Jacob was upset. No doubt he had forgotten how he had deceived his own father, and now his father-in-law was deceiving him. The Word remains true, what you sow you reap.

An honest person shares the truth of a matter. Jacob worked for Laban for seven years, and during that whole time, he did not hear about the supposed marriage technicality of local custom. If Laban was an honorable man, he would have disclosed the marriage custom to Jacob when Jacob made his marriage proposal.

Concurrently marrying sisters was not forbidden by God until the Mosaic law in Leviticus 18.

Since the Bible does not detail the personal dynamics or rivalry between Leah and Rachel, and this blog series is about Jacob, I do not want to spend too much time discussing the possible friction between them. However, I believe Jacob was placed in a very uncomfortable position. The Bible says Rachel was favored by her family over Leah; therefore, Leah longed for the same kind of attention. She probably thought Jacob’s feelings for her would change as she bore him sons, and with the birth of each son, she came to realize that her desire for love from Jacob would not come to fruition. No doubt in his mind, while carrying out his marital obligations, being intimate with someone he did not love and someone who partnered with her father in deception against him was a necessary chore he persevered. Little did He know his life was going to become more complicated.