In Genesis chapter 29, Jacob goes to find a wife among his family, but things don’t go as he expects. Jacob, the manipulator, is cheated by Laban and gets a taste of his own medicine. God uses Laban to show Jacob what it feels like to be deceived.
Jacob is the chosen line, but he has much to learn. So God now has him in the school of faith, and Jacob will be forever changed at the end of the process.
The details of this story can be hard to follow, so I will list them in bullet points to show the story's movement, helping us to follow what is happening and to see the main points of the chapter.
The rest of this story is told in the next chapter, but what can we glean so far?
Again, we are watching Jacob in the school of faith. The trickster and manipulator is now being tricked and manipulated by Laban, just as he had manipulated his brother, Esau, and his father, Isaac. God is teaching him the pain that can come from trying to gain an advantage by manipulating people to get your way.
Notice how Jacob finds a wife. He sees Rachel and decides he wants her. Compare this to how his father, Isaac, received his wife, Rebekah. Isaac’s wife Rebekah was acquired through faith and prayer, as Abraham’s servant went to seek a wife for him, he first asked God to show him which girl God had chosen for Isaac.
Ge 24:12 Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'-- let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
The servant of Abraham prayed to see who God had chosen as Isaac's wife.
But here in this chapter, Jacob simply liked what he saw. He didn’t inquire of the Lord about the choice of a wife.
Ge 29:17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
Jacob’s choice was Rachel, but God’s choice for the movement of the “Seed of the woman” and the promise of the Messiah was Leah.
The last verse of this chapter tells us that Leah has a son and calls him Judah.
Ge 29:35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
Judah is the son of Jacob and Leah, and he will be the son through whom the promise flows – he will carry the “Seed”.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the “lion of the tribe of Judah”. It is through Jacob and Leah that the tribe of Judah will come. The tribe of Judah will produce King David, and through David’s line will come Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Jacob is a man who still has much to learn about faith. He is still Jacob, the trickster and manipulator, but God will teach him in the coming days to humble himself and trust God for all he needs.
God is doing two things in chapter 29: He is setting the stage for Jacob to be shaped into a new man with a new name, and He is fulfilling the promise He made to Abraham that a multitude of people would come through him and his family line.
God was bringing forth a people into the world through both Leah and Rachel and their maids (more on this in the next chapter). These sons will be the tribes of Israel.
Again, Judah and the tribe that comes from him are especially important. Jesus will be of the Tribe of Judah.
As I have mentioned before, it is amazing to see that all the characters in this story are deeply flawed and make many poor choices, yet God accomplishes His will through them.
The Bible is encouraging in so many ways as it tells us the story of God’s love and His masterful plan to redeem mankind through the blood of Jesus, but isn’t it beautiful that God left in the story all the sin, weakness, and failures of the people He worked through? By doing this, He shows us His ability to work through people who are broken and confused.
This teaches us that, even in our failures and flaws, God can still use us.
Jacob is the chosen line, but he has much to learn. So God now has him in the school of faith, and Jacob will be forever changed at the end of the process.
The details of this story can be hard to follow, so I will list them in bullet points to show the story's movement, helping us to follow what is happening and to see the main points of the chapter.
- Jacob goes to find a wife among his people at his relative Laban’s house in Haran.
- Jacob wants Laban’s daughter Rachel to be his wife and promises to work for Laban for 7 years to earn the right to marry her.
- After 7 years, Laban tricks Jacob and gives him his oldest daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel. (Just as Jacob had pretended to be Esau, so here Leah pretends to be Rachel. This could be called “poetic justice”. What Jacob had done to others is now done to him)
- Jacob wants Rachel so much to be his wife that he promises to work for another 7 years to earn the right to marry her.
- In this chapter, Jacob and Leah will have 4 sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
- God chooses to close Rachel’s womb, and in this chapter, she has no children.
The rest of this story is told in the next chapter, but what can we glean so far?
Again, we are watching Jacob in the school of faith. The trickster and manipulator is now being tricked and manipulated by Laban, just as he had manipulated his brother, Esau, and his father, Isaac. God is teaching him the pain that can come from trying to gain an advantage by manipulating people to get your way.
Notice how Jacob finds a wife. He sees Rachel and decides he wants her. Compare this to how his father, Isaac, received his wife, Rebekah. Isaac’s wife Rebekah was acquired through faith and prayer, as Abraham’s servant went to seek a wife for him, he first asked God to show him which girl God had chosen for Isaac.
Ge 24:12 Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'-- let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
The servant of Abraham prayed to see who God had chosen as Isaac's wife.
But here in this chapter, Jacob simply liked what he saw. He didn’t inquire of the Lord about the choice of a wife.
Ge 29:17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
Jacob’s choice was Rachel, but God’s choice for the movement of the “Seed of the woman” and the promise of the Messiah was Leah.
The last verse of this chapter tells us that Leah has a son and calls him Judah.
Ge 29:35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
Judah is the son of Jacob and Leah, and he will be the son through whom the promise flows – he will carry the “Seed”.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the “lion of the tribe of Judah”. It is through Jacob and Leah that the tribe of Judah will come. The tribe of Judah will produce King David, and through David’s line will come Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Jacob is a man who still has much to learn about faith. He is still Jacob, the trickster and manipulator, but God will teach him in the coming days to humble himself and trust God for all he needs.
God is doing two things in chapter 29: He is setting the stage for Jacob to be shaped into a new man with a new name, and He is fulfilling the promise He made to Abraham that a multitude of people would come through him and his family line.
God was bringing forth a people into the world through both Leah and Rachel and their maids (more on this in the next chapter). These sons will be the tribes of Israel.
Again, Judah and the tribe that comes from him are especially important. Jesus will be of the Tribe of Judah.
As I have mentioned before, it is amazing to see that all the characters in this story are deeply flawed and make many poor choices, yet God accomplishes His will through them.
The Bible is encouraging in so many ways as it tells us the story of God’s love and His masterful plan to redeem mankind through the blood of Jesus, but isn’t it beautiful that God left in the story all the sin, weakness, and failures of the people He worked through? By doing this, He shows us His ability to work through people who are broken and confused.
This teaches us that, even in our failures and flaws, God can still use us.
Rich Laskowski
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