Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Jacob continued on to Haran. He’d had a great blessing and promise spoken over him by God, but he hadn’t received it. He believed the words were real, but he was looking for them to arrive instead of walking in trust that he already had it – the same place many of us are in today. His doubts were running the show. That’s the spirit in which he came to a well – perhaps his goal was trying to recreate how his mother was discovered by Abraham’s servant.

When he got there, there were shepherds, three flocks of sheep, and a well covered by a big stone. He talked to them and found out that not only was his uncle Laban was alive and well, but the girl leading flock number four in their direction was Laban’s daughter – Jacob’s cousin. Now Jacob was 77 years old here. Rachel was younger. We’re never told her age, but she claims to be on her period twenty years from this time (when Jacob is 97). Sarai had entered menopause by her 90s – as most women do – so there must have been some kind of significant age gap between them. But who we choose to love is rarely determined by age when everyone involved are adults and it certainly isn’t an impediment here.

Jacob, showing his current nature hasn’t changed, immediately starts telling the shepherds they’re not doing it right. He thinks they should be letting the sheep graze – information he must have picked up from Isaac because we know Jacob was more of an indoorsy type. The shepherds were insistent they all needed to be there for the stone and so they’d waitm Seeing Rachel, however, Jacob went and rolled the stone away himself and then HE watered her flock. He confirmed their relation, she ran to tell her father, and Jacob was invited to stay. He stayed for a month and then things went south.

The Word says what we reap we sow (Galatians 6:7-9). Sooner or later, our harvest sprouts. Well, Jacob had not lived an upstanding life. He’d cheated, lied, taken advantage of someone’s desire, been contentious with his brother, and not honoured his father. Here he was in the place where his mother was raised – the one who had been so good at deception and manipulation seemingly at the drop of a hat. Jacob was about to get a lesson in harvest because of two sisters and their father.

Laban liked Jacob’s work. He offered to pay him for it. Jacob suggested working in lieu of a bride price. He’d work seven years for the hand of Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter. Laban agreed and for seven years our inside loving man worked in all kinds of weather at all kinds of times of day and night. But he didn’t mind. He was in love. After seven years, Jacob (who had done nothing impure with Rachel) came for his bride. Laban put on a big party for the whole community. Great time had by all. Jacob and his bride went to bed. Consummated the marriage. And when Jacob woke up in the morning, he learned where his mother had learned deception.

Laban had two daughters. Rachel was in all ways beautiful and desirable. Leah, the eldest, had ‘tender’ eyes. Some teach they were weak. Some teach it is a euphemism for her being cow-like or less than attractive. Rabbinic tradition says her eyes were red from crying since she’d grown up being told she’d marry into Abraham’s family. Isaac had two boys and the eldest was less than pleasant. As the eldest daughter, she’d be paired with him and was always crying in despair at her poor lot. Others have taught that she wasn’t unattractive, but that her eyes were her best feature so she wasn’t in-all-ways beautiful like her sister. In any case, she wasn’t the one Jacob loved and desired – although there is a LOT of evidence Leah had fallen for him.

Laban had switched the girls – easy with a veil. And the eldest took the place of the youngest in deception just like Jacob took the place of his elder brother. There is nothing that tells us what the sisters felt about it. There’s a lot of evidence they were mere commodities to Laban. He had no issue treating them like property. Jacob was ticked. Laban claimed it was custom not to give the younger when the older wasn’t married – I guess it slipped his mind the last seven years. BUT if Jacob would work ANOTHER seven, then after Leah’s bridal week (standard time of festivity) Jacob could also marry Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel and said yes. This set up ALL the issues between the sisters and ALL the strife in Jacob’s home life. Deception causes NOTHING but heartache.

Each daughter was given away with a maidservant to care for her. It never says Jacob disliked Leah, but that he LOVED Rachel. Leah wanted the love of Jacob and all her life revolved around getting it. Every child she had convinced her THIS time he’d love her and live with her (Jacob lived most often in Rachel’s tent and there is some evidence Rachel controlled the reins when it came to where Jacob spent his nights). My heart HURTS for Leah every time I read her story. Rachel, on the other hand, wanted children. She wanted the status they would bring – removing the stain of barrenness she had, which made her the third generation of barren women in this family). Neither sister seemed to care for the children as much as for what they brought. This may factor into the family relations in a few decades as those kids grew up.

Jacob works for seven years for Rachel, gets cheated and does it over, and then stays on (well get to that soon) for another six. We have a twenty year span here and two wives… But…

Leah, the unloved wife, had a son but it didn’t change Jacob’s heart. She had another, no change. She had another, no change even though she’d given THREE sons. She gave birth to another, and this time concerned herself with the Lord and not Jacob’s love. Rachel didn’t like this. She was zero for four. She demanded a child from Jacob who understandably told her she was nuts. God gave kids, not him. He could do his duty, but God controlled the womb. So Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid Bilhah. Bilhah’s kids would count as Rachel’s kids. Maybe to get her to shut up, Jacob gave in – remember Rachel he LOVED so he wasn’t tempted to stray by nature. Bilah gave a son, Rachel named it. She gave a second, and Rachel named him too – citing victory over her sister. Leah was 4 to Rachel’s adoptive 2. I don’t know how she was keeping score, but victory was all in her head (then again, so was the contest).

Leah couldn’t have this, could she? Since Leah didn’t seem to be getting pregnant anymore, she dragged out HER handmaid for Jacob and demanded more kids. Nothing is said about what the two slaves felt about all this. They didn’t even get to keep the kids. But Jacob (for whatever reason) agreed and Zilpah bore Jacob two sons. So now we have a total of eight kids: (in order) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Alls well that ends well. Except Reuben found some mandrakes and gave them to his mother. Rachel spotted them and wanted some. Leah got spicy. Told sister that Rachel already stole Leah’s husband. Now she wanted to steal her son’s mandrakes?

You know, God designed males and females to work in one mixed pair (Matthew 19:5-6). One woman. One man. Period. That was HIS thought. On top of that, He didn’t want a man to marry two sisters (at least while they were both alive). He didn’t forbid cousins to marry, but when He gave the Law He forbade two sisters (Leviticus 18:18). It was probably because this is how two siblings act in these situations, heightening tension and doubling down on strife. This whole section shows people using marriage and procreation in the most fleshly way. All about their desires and social standings. Nothing but strife and human wheeling and dealing. How did Jacob feel? Was he for the first time in his life happy to be out in the fields more than home in the tents? He respected his wives, was indifferent to his concubines (though he treated them properly and gave security), and through it all Rachel was STILL the one he LOVED. Must have reminded him of home and the struggles with Esau though. And maybe stories from Grandpa Abraham?

So there we are with the mandrakes. Rachel pulls out her access card. She tells Leah that she’ll let Jacob spend the night with Leah if Leah gives some mandrakes. Leah is all over this and is waiting for Jacob when he comes home. ‘I bought you for the night’ she declares, and takes him home. She conceived and had another son (Issachar). Then she had another (Zebulun). She was thrilled.

“God has endowed me with a good gift. This time my husband will acknowledge me, because I bore him six sons” (Genesis 30:20)

She was SURE Jacob would now come and live with her because she had given him SIX sons (League score was Leah 6, Zilpah & Bilhah 2 each, Rachel zip). But Jacob did not move in. Sometime after, she also had a daughter she named Dinah. Then – finally – Rachel had a son and named him Joseph. She also declared God would give her another son.  All that happened within the twenty years that Jacob worked for Laban.

How did we get twenty years? The first seven were for Rachel. The second seven were also for Rachel. Then Jacob asked Laban to release him so he could go back home. Laban did NOT want that. He had been blessed with Jacob. He wanted more. Jacob refused money and chose the offspring of the animals. Why? God had given him a dream about it (Genesis 31:10-13). Scripture isn’t written in order (few ancient writings were) so it makes sense he had the dream before making the deal. The deal was this: plain animals were Laban’s. Spotted, striped, or speckled were to be Jacob’s. Laban agreed, flocks were split (the plain animals being the majority) and three day’s journey was put between the two groups. Jacob continued to serve. And you’ll notice, he is leaving his ‘wages’ up to God. He’s starting to change and put his trust in the Lord.

Now, we know how important imagination is to receiving what God gives us. If we can’t see it, we can’t take it. This is one of the major purposes of prophecy. To incite vision. We’re told again and again to keep our vision on the things of God. So whether what Jacob did was to bolster HIS trust or the ANIMAL’S trust, I don’t know. But he took rods of wood, exposed the white inside, and put these striped and speckled rods near the watering troughs. When the animals came to drink and mate, the rods were there before their eyes and Jacob’s eyes – where he could remember the promise from the dream. He put the rods out whenever the strong animals mated and not when weaker stock were around. Jacob got more animals than Laban and stronger ones too. The tide turned over the next six years. Laban’s sons were resentful and jealous. Laban wasn’t as jovial. Things were tense – so tense that twice Jacob mentions that God prevented Laban from hurting Jacob (although Laban kept changing the conditions of Jacob’s wages). God sent Jacob a dream and said Go Home.

Jacob called his two wives to the field and asked their opinion. Not a should I do this opinion, but an I’m GOING to do this so what do you think? They were both fine with it. I always feel Leah led the charge here. They felt 1) their father hadn’t cared about them, 2) spent their bride price and given them nothing, 3) treated them like strangers, and 4) had done nothing for their kids. Legally, they said, all that Jacob had obtained was their inheritance and that of their children. They said let’s go. And they did. They waited until Laban was away sheering sheep (3 days journey, remember?) and took off. Tents, herds, possessions, servants, wives, and kids.

Laban heard of it and brought a bunch of men and pursued. Motivation? Probably revenge or to take it back or prevent the leaving. Had to be bad because the night before they caught up he was warned by God in a dream to not speak to Jacob good or bad – basically, don’t mess with Jacob (now 97 years old). Laban shows up and tries to take the high ground, but can’t. Even claims he would have sent them away with joy (but had denied him leaving six years ago). And then he makes a charge: his family idols are gone. We know Laban doesn’t worship Yahweh, at least not alone, but Jacob’s family was supposed to. Turns out Rachel took them.

Family idols were either shrunken heads covered in gold or masks that were hung on the wall. They were either worshipped outright or consulted for divination (they are supposed to have spoken). That’s one interpretation. Another is this: they were heirlooms passed down from father to son. Whoever had possession could demand the firstborn rights upon the father’s death. So if Jacob had them he could come back when Laban died and take the majority share from Laban’s sons.

Jacob knew nothing about it and said whoever had them would be killed (unwise oath). Laban searched everywhere, even his daughter’s tents (he didn’t trust them). Rachel hid them in a saddle and then sat on it and claimed she was having her period and couldn’t stand up (a lie). This shows the age difference between her and Jacob. Laban can’t find them, Jacob lets out some of what he’s bottled up for twenty years about his treatment by Laban, and in the end the two men agree to split in peace. They make a pile of rocks as a witness.

They make a covenant to not pass the pile to do harm to the other. Laban also restricts Jacob from taking wives apart from his daughters – which is a weird condition in that day and age, but Jacob agreed easily (probably worn from the strife and not wanting more of it). They ate in fellowship, spent the night, and Laban took formal leave the next morning. Jacob was going home.

Summary

Key Players: Jacob, Laban, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, Bilhah

Key Themes: Blessing, Deceit, Harvest, Love

Key Verse(s): Genesis 29:12-12, 16-18, 23-28, 32, 34; 30:3, 9, 19, 22-24, 31-33, 43; 31:1-3, 14-16, 31-32, 48-53