Jacob had to flee from where he lived. Esau was angry, and he had every right to be, to where he even threatened to kill Jacob. So Rebekah convinced Isaac to send Jacob away to live with Uncle Laban.
And so, Jacob left, but on his way, God spoke to him in Genesis 28 through a dream saying:
‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’
Wait, so God confirmed Jacob’s blessing despite all that Jacob did to steal it. How is that fair? Jacob doesn’t even deserve it.
That’s true, and God recognised that. Before all the promises could be fulfilled, God knew that a few other things would need to happen. First of all, Jacob needed to be humbled. He needed to get a taste of his own medicine and know how it felt to be tricked.
So God is going to trick Jacob?
Not exactly.
Let’s firstly clarify that this wouldn’t be God tricking Jacob, but rather God teaching Jacob a lesson. Secondly, God didn’t even need to trick Jacob himself, that lesson would come about when Jacob fell in love with Rachel, one of his Uncle’s daughters.
So, Jacob and his Uncle’s daughters interesting. I’m guessing that’s the trick. That Jacob didn’t know that it was his Uncle’s daughter, and that when he fell in love, he was so shocked that he cried and became humble. Right?
Ah, Nah.
Genesis 29:16-17
6 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah had weakeyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.
A lovely figure and was beautiful. Hmm, I wonder how beautiful.
Well Jacob fully experienced “love at first sight” when it came to Rachel.
Verses 10-11.
10 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. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
Woah, that must’ve really weird. Not just him crying, but that’s a relative. I wonder how Laban felt. He must’ve been annoyed.
Ah, Nah.
12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So, she ran and told her father.
13 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.
So, he was okay with it? They were cool to get together then?
Ah, Nah.
You see, the tradition at that time required the older sister to marry before the younger. But come on, this is Jacob, so of course he didn’t care about tradition, and so he went straight for Rachel with a kiss which was far from the social norm. Not only did he kiss Rachel, he went as far as to ask Laban for Rachel instead of Leah.
The only problem, well not the only problem, was that Jacob was in no position to offer the customary bride-price for Rachel so that he could marry he immediately. Remember, Jacob had to flee his hometown immediately. Empty-handed. He had nothing to offer. Instead, Jacob had to work for seven years before Laban would give him his daughter in marriage.
20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.’
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 24 And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.
25 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?’
The tables had turned. Now Jacob was the one being tricked. It’s ironic. The deceiver went to Laban to ask “Why have you deceived me?”
You know what they say. What goes around comes around.
My Sunday Skl 