DIGGING DEEP NO. 1021 – February 6, 2024 DISCIPLINES AND DECISIONS (PART 1) Gen.29: 1 – 30.

Life is not easy, and what life does to us depends a great deal on what life finds in us. Jacob could have easily left his family problems behind, but he had to take along his biggest problem; himself. During his next twenty years (Gen.31: 41) Jacob would experience many painful trials in Laban’s household, but in the end, he would become God’s man to accomplish God’s will. This is a story about all of us who are making important decisions on the road of life; decisions that determine character and destiny. Jesus made it clear that not everybody is supposed to get married Matt.19: 1- 12. But with Jacob, marriage wasn’t an option; it was an obligation. The success of the covenant promises God gave to Abraham Gen.12: 1- 3; Gen.24: 1- 4 depended on Jacob’s finding a wife and with her building a family that would eventually become the people of Israel, the nation that would bring the promised Redeemer into the world.                                                                

The episode at the well reminds us of the experience of Abraham’s servant when he was seeking a wife for Isaac.

We can see the providence of God in this meeting between Jacob and Rachel. Unbelievers might call this event “a fortunate coincidence”, but believers would see in it the gracious leading of the hand of God. In the life of the trusting Christian, there are no accidents, only appointments.

The agreement – Gen.29: 14- 20 During his first month in Laban’s house, Jacob did his share of the work and was happy for every opportunity to be with Rachel. What Jacob didn’t realize was that Laban was a master schemer who would control his life for the next twenty years. In the excitement of that moment of decision which involved accepting a job and being engaged to a beautiful woman, Jacob failed to notice that Laban made no promise that he would give Rachel to Jacob at the end of the seven years. He only agreed to give him Rachel for his wife.

We can see growth in Jacob’s character as he patiently served Laban for seven difficult years. Jacob’s love for Rachel took the burden out of the work and caused the time to pass quickly. It’s been well said that “Happiness consists of having someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to”. Jacob had all three.

The deception – Gen.29: 21- 30 The man who deceived his father was deceived by his father-in-law; the man who passed himself off as the firstborn son now received Laban’s firstborn daughter to be his wife. We reap what we sow Gal.6: 7- 8. God in His grace forgives our sins when we confess them 1Jh.1: 9, but God in His government allows us to suffer the painful consequences of those sins.

Eastern women were kept fairly secluded and there was no such thing as dating in that culture, but surely Jacob had gotten to know Rachel and Leah fairly well during those seven years. Why then was he so easily deceived? In the intimacy of the marriage bed, how could Jacob not know who the woman was? Had Jacob been intoxicated and celebrated too much? Was Leah a willing partner in the ploy and perhaps she didn’t speak above a whisper? Leah may have borrowed some of her sister’s garments and even learned to imitate some of her mannerisms. If so, she had treated Jacob just the way he had treated his father when he pretended to be Esau.

For the first seven days the bride and groom were treated like a king and queen, but imagine the groom waking up on the first morning of his festive week and discovering that he was married to the wrong woman! Jacob would have felt like a court jester. Laban had made a fool of him. Laban had successfully married off two daughters to a potentially wealthy man and had secured another seven years’ service from his son-in-law as a bonus.

Little by little, Jacob was learning to submit to God’s loving hand of discipline and was growing in faith and character. n

Gen.29: 26- 28 At the end of Leah’s marriage week, Jacob married Rachel, the woman he loved, and had another week to live like a king. But from then on, he would endure thirteen years of hardship and conflict.

In Conclusion – Laban must have congratulated himself on the success of his scheme, not realizing that the Lord was ruling and overruling in the entire event Prov.21: 30. As Jacob’s son Joseph would say many years later, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” Gen.50: 20. The Christians of today will say “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” Rom.8: 28.