Living Object Lesson



Genesis 28:15-30
15Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”
16Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.
18Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.”
20So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”
22So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.
23But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.
24(Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)
25And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”
26Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
27Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”
28Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29(Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)
30So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

It would appear that Jacob the deceiver has landed on his feet. While he is living in exile from his family and home he has come into the company of people who appear to accept him with open arms. There’s a beautiful woman to love and work for and life is good. He strikes a deal with his Uncle Laban to marry this most beautiful woman and everything seems to be flowing in a positive direction. Then, the deceiver is deceived himself. Laban slips his older daughter into the wedding dress and marries her off to Jacob instead. (One can only assume that he was majorly drunk, or stupid, or I don’t know. How do you sleep with the wrong woman????) Jacob traded the younger for the older when dealing with his own brother, and now Laban trades the older for the younger with is daughters. The irony cannot be missed. Jacob accepts his situation and agrees to another seven years labor for the woman he actually wants to marry. What looks like a difficult situation to me is how these two women are going to live under the same roof married to the same man. Jacob is very open about the fact that he loves Rachel more than Leah and that can only lead in to a bad place. I’ve always felt sorry for Leah. She didn’t deserve the treatment she received from both her father and her husband.

Sir Walter Scott said in his poem, Marmion, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” (1808). While he wasn’t referencing the story of Jacob, he could have been. Jacob finally knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this kind of pain. But, to Jacob’s credit, he takes it in and forges on with the path before him.

All of us can be guilty of deception. Manipulating a situation so that it turns out the way we want it too is a classic human experience. What we are actually doing is playing into another game from the master, Satan. He is the father of all lies and when we walk in that neighborhood, we are doing his work. Jesus Himself tells us in John 8:44,

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” 

Clearly, God is not the author of Jacob plan, or Laban's. But He does use these men to work His plan. God allowing Laban to deceive Jacob serves as a great object lesson for what can happen when you use your own deceptive plans to get your way rather than waiting on God to work it out. Hopefully for Jacob, this will be a lesson learned.

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