Genesis 28 - 29

In Chapter 27 we saw that Isaac’s desire to bless Esau, rather than the younger, Jacob, was a clear violation of the revelation given to Rebekah in chapter 25, where it says, “the older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob).” Rebecca hatches a plot to get her favorite son, Jacob, to receive the blessing, rather than Esau, Isaac’s favorite son. When Jacob questions her about this plan, she says that she will take the blame (which she doesn’t do). There was deception here, but the birthright was not stolen nor was the blessing that went along with it. It was God’s will that the birthright goes to Jacob, not Esau. And, Esau had earlier sold it to Jacob for a meal. So, there was no theft involved, only deception. Esau, though, was not happy. In Chapter 27:14, it says, “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill by brother Jacob.”

So, Rebecca sent Jacob, her favorite son, to her brother Laban until Esau cools off. Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel. These are the women that Jacob will marry. Are you confused yet? If not, this will do it: Laban was Abraham's great-nephew, Isaac's cousin and brother-in-law, and Jacob's uncle and father-in-law. There, all cleared up, right?

Laban did not live in the Promised Land. He lived in the city of Haran in Mesopotamia and was the one who welcomed Eliezer when he came to find a bride for Isaac. If you were looking for a bride, you went to Brides R US in Haran.

After the deception of Isaac, the giving of the blessing to Jacob, can you imagine the screaming, door slamming, glassware smashing, finger pointing scene that may have taken place when Rebekah’s conspiracy was exposed? As depressing as this is, I will tell you now that relationships between the brothers, Jacob who got the blessing and Esau who threatened to kill him, did heal, but you will have to wait until chapter 33 to see this. This gives all of us with strained relationships in our families some hope. Now we move onto the next chapter.

Chapter 28:10- Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. One source says that the straight-line distance between these towns is over 500 miles.  Moving along at a walking pace, 4 mph, for about 10 hours a day, we’re talking about a minimum of 13 days of traveling. With no radio, smartphone, books, etc. you have a lot of time to think about things while on such a trip. To think about things like, “Why did I listen to Mom?” “What lies ahead for me?” “What does my future hold for me?” He probably dealt with a jumble of emotions. Will he ever see Mom again? What a bone headed thing to do! What a failure. Self-esteem rating: in the basement.

Verse 11, stopping for the night it says, “Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.” Really? He didn’t think about using a couple of blankets for a pillow? Did he feel guilty for his role in the conspiracy and wanted to punish himself in some way? What would Sigmund Freud say about this? Is he stupid? Not quite. The Hebrew literally means that the stone was “at his head,” not “under his head.” We see the same expression in 1 Sam 26 it says that Saul had a spear “at his head,” not under his head. Why would he put a stone by his head? Perhaps for security, like some might have a baseball bat or a firearm nearby. He could use the stone to scare away animals or bandits.

Verse 12, He had a dream in which he saw a ladder (stairway) resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and He said: “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 . . . all the people on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. . . I will watch over you and will bring you back to this land.”

In some translations it reads a ladder, rather than a stairway. The Hebrew word is more accurately translated, staircase. A staircase to heaven. Seems like a long hike to me. Maybe by now they have escalators. They’ll need a lot of rest stops along the way for me, and, oxygen tanks, and snack bars. Will there be others on the staircase? I hope I’m not in line with a bunch of over tired kids whining, “Are we there yet?”

Notice what God told Jacob. Did you notice that it doesn’t say, “I was the God of Abraham, but now he’s dead.” It says, “I am the God of Abraham,” present tense. This suggest that there is life after death. He is still the God of Abraham. The passage also refers to Jacob’s descendants, which reassures Jacob that he will be successful in finding a wife and that he will have children.

This is a message of reassurance, that God will fulfill the promise made earlier to Abraham and Isaac. Do you think he needed a message of reassurance at this time, having to leave his family and everything that was familiar to him? In verse 15 it says, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.” Just in case he may have thought that something that he did had invalidated the promise given to Abraham, Isaac and now repeated to Jacob, God reassures him.

In verse 20, it says, “If God will be with me and will watch over me. .” The word translated “if” can be better rendered, “since”, which makes more sense in the context. He goes on to say, “then the Lord will be my God.” What does this sound like to you? Like Paul’s Road to Damascus experience, might this be a Road to Haran” experience for Jacob? Is this similar to a young person who is part of a church going family who, at some point in time, accepts Christianity for himself? Jacob now knows experientially who God is and he will be committed to Him. God was described as the God of Abraham and Isaac, now He is the God of Jacob, also. Jacob then promises to give (voluntary donation) a tenth of “all that you give me.” Now this is not the tithe that is mandatory for Israel under the Mosaic Covenant. The mandatory tithe was for the Israelites to compensate the Levites for their work in the tabernacle/temple. Here there is no Levitical Priesthood or temple. This voluntary donation was more in line with the voluntary giving of a tenth to Melchizedek by Abraham.

In chapter 29 Jacob went on his way, literally the Hebrew says, “Jacob lifted up his feet.” There was now a spring in his step and, I imagine, a smile on his face, off he goes to Laban’s House. He gets to Haran, stops at a well and waits for someone to come by for water so he can ask about Laban. Just then, Rachel comes along with sheep to get water from the well (sound familiar)? Jacob moves the stone from the top of the well and Laban’s sheep get watered. Verse 11, “then Jacob kissed Rachel.  Rachel pulled back and slapped him across his face saying, “How dare you.” Not really. I just made that last part up. He told her who he was, why he was there, etc. Laban comes out to meet him and they all head back to the house (tent) for a celebration.

Now for one of my digressions. Have you noticed how important it was for people to eat together? When a covenant was made, they had a big dinner together. There was the fellowship offering at the tabernacle/temple where the family who brought the sacrifice ate along with the priests. When the early church came together, they shared a meal. When the prodigal son returned, what did the father do? That’s right, they had a celebration dinner. Jesus said to his disciples, “come and have breakfast” in John 21:12. When Peter was reinstated, they ate together. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says that if someone accepts me, I will come in and eat with them and then there is the wedding supper of the lamb in Revelation 19:9. There is an intimacy involved in eating with others. Eating together brings people together (unless they start to talk about politics). Do you think that there might be fewer conflicts among those church congregations that have potluck dinners together? Eating together brings people into a closer relationship. This is one reason why the Jews had to abide by dietary laws, it was a means of reducing contact with other people who might corrupt their religious practices. Now that the church is in place and we are told to go into all the world, these dietary laws are obsolete. The Jews were to stay away from others and eat by themselves. Christians are to go and eat with non-Christians, and let your light shine.

After staying with Laban for a month, Laban suggested that if he is going to work for him, he should get some compensation (v 14). What type of compensation does Jacob suggest? How about the second born daughter, Rachel, the one he met at the well? By the way, Rachel had an older sister, her name was Leah. She didn’t go to the well. Why not? Maybe it was the job of the younger sister. Or, maybe she always got lost when she went to the well because she is described as having “weak eyes”, sort of the Mr. MaGoo of the day. For you younger readers who never heard of Mr. MaGoo, he was a cartoon character who was an elderly, wealthy, extremely near-sighted man. Imagine Laban saying, “Rachel, where’s your sister Leah? She went to the well to water the sheep Papa. She probably got lost again. You’d better o out and find her. Maybe we should tie a bell around her neck so we can find here.”

Jacob agrees to work for seven years for the hand of Rachel. You see, he didn’t have any bride price, he came empty handed. So, for compensation he would work for seven years for her hand. The seven years passed quickly for Jacob and then there was the seven-day wedding feast. And you thought your daughter’s wedding was expensive?

The morning after the wedding. Surprise! Guess who Jacob slept with? Yes, Leah, the older girl, the one with “weak eyes.” Ironic, isn’t it? This sounds a lot like Jacob’s own deception of Isaac. Isaac was blind and deceived by Jacob, now Jacob was “blind” by the darkness of night and was deceived by Laban, with the full cooperation of Leah. Where was Rachel all this time? On what was to be her wedding night, didn’t she wonder, “Where’s my husband?” How could this deception have happened? Well, the bride wore a veil until the wedding night, and by then it was dark. The drinking of wine might have also contributed to the deception. So that this type of deception doesn’t take place again, when the Jewish bride is ready to come under the chuppah (canopy), she has to sit and wait for her bridegroom to come. He lifts and replaces the veil her father gave her and gives her a new one. This changing of the veils symbolizes the transfer of authority from the father to the husband and also assures everyone that he isn’t marrying the wrong woman. You may have seen a traditional Jewish wedding under the canopy in the movie, Fiddler on the Roof. Now, everybody, let’s sing, Sunrise, Sunset.  No? OK, let’s have Eddie Fisher sing it for us.

Jacob enters into an agreement with Laban to work another seven years to acquire Rachel as his wife. Why would he enter into another contract with this crook? Wouldn’t you just grab Rachel and leave? Maybe, both men thought they could outsmart the other. Or, maybe he didn’t have any money for his return trip to the Promised Land. A week later he marries Rachel and has to work off his debt by staying on with Laban for seven years. Just think where Jacob was a few months ago. He was living at home with Mom and Dad. Now he is in a foreign land, married with two wives and an uncle he works for but doesn’t trust. Who would have guessed.

Verse 31 says that Leah was not loved. Other translations say that “Leah was hated.” That sound awfully harsh to us today. But what is meant is Rachel was Jacob’s choice, not Leah. Leah was hated only in the sense of not being chosen. When Jesus said that we have to hate our parents to love Him, it just means if push comes to shove, we have to choose Jesus over our parents. As a consolation of sorts, it was Leah who was fertile and able to give Jacob children, whereas Rachel was not. Does this sound like Sarah and Hagar? Can you see where this might be going? Can you sense some tension in the Jacob household? Hmm?

Leah’s and Jacob’s firstborn was Reuben. To celebrate, they named a sandwich after him. Maybe not. With the birth of their son Leah had hoped that Jacob’s affection for her would grow, but it didn’t. Then she had another son, named Simeon. Then another, this one was named Levi. And another, Judah. Still, his affection for her didn’t grow. Levi and Judah, the founders, if you will, of two key institutions for Israel, the priesthood and the royal line. Both priesthood and royalty came from an unplanned and unwanted marriage. But this was of little comfort to Leah.

When Rebekah sent Jacob off to protect him from Esau, she thought that the trip would be “for a few days.” Why he would travel so far for just a few days, might mean that “a few days” was for a short period of time. These few short days has turned into 14 years. Do you know of someone else who went off to a foreign country for what was to be a few short days and ended up being gone for much longer? Hmm?