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God’s favor matters most—Genesis 29

Have you ever felt discriminated against for matters outside your control? As Jacob’s parents showed favoritism toward particular sons, so Jacob showed favoritism toward a particular wife (29:30-31). Jacob was the younger brother of two and favored the younger sister of two, but God’s reversal of the birthright in some cases shows that God himself does not show favoritism based on birth order.

In loving Rachel, Jacob followed romance more than the culture’s expectations about childbearing and thus marrying off the eldest first. Because we do not share those cultural assumptions, it is easier for us than for some of Jacob’s contemporaries to understand his love for Rachel. Moreover, God did indeed have a special plan for Rachel’s children, especially Joseph.

But through no fault of either Rachel or Leah, Jacob ended up with one more wife than he wanted. Once they were married, there was no going back; again in view of the culture, it would be more difficult for her father to marry her off to another husband now that she was no longer a virgin.

Jacob’s favoritism may thus be understandable, but it was painful to Leah, who was an innocent victim of her father’s treachery. Yet even in such a situation, God remained sovereign. He ultimately had a plan for twelve tribes of Israel, not just two, and on a personal level God also took into account Leah’s suffering. In 29:31, God blessed Leah; he looks on our affliction and is near the broken (God also defends Jacob in his affliction, 31:42).

Leah praises God for a son, saying that he looked on her affliction (29:32). (Later, in 35:18, Rachel also experienced “affliction,” tragically giving her life to bear another son.) In 29:32 Reuben’s name communicates that God saw and in 29:33 Simeon’s name communicates that God heard. Even as the less preferred wife, Leah found favor with the God who hears the cries of the broken. Leah hoped that her childbearing would earn her husband’s love (or perhaps even preference; 29:32). Subsequent narratives indicate that Jacob still continued to honor Rachel first. But whether Leah saw it or not, Leah also received favor from the God who looked on her suffering.

Even when others do not treat us fairly, we can depend on the one who sees our hardship and can vindicate us. In the end, it is his opinion of us that matters most.

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The deceiver gets deceived—Genesis 29

What Jacob did to others, Jacob now endures from others—though in the long run—sometimes the very long run—God will bless Jacob and more than make up for his suffering.

As Jacob deceived his father and stole his elder brother’s role, so now Rachel’s father deceives Jacob and gives Rachel’s role to his elder daughter (29:23), protecting the right of the literal firstborn (here, Leah) that Jacob had taken had taken from the firstborn of his family of origin (there, Esau). The custom that the firstborn is married first (29:26) fits the birthright going to the first; Jacob got Esau’s birthright for lentils but now has to work an extra seven years for Rachel. In 29:25, Jacob protests that Laban “tricked” him—using the same Hebrew root that in 27:35 Jacob’s father used to describe what Jacob had done to Esau.

Moreover, Jacob finds that even when he has Laban’s daughters, he’s not able to leave town with them. From Laban’s perspective, he will soon learn, the daughters and their offspring remain Laban’s (31:43). Jacob had left father and mother and cleaved to his wife (cf. 2:24), but Laban didn’t intend to let his son-in-law leave him. One can understand Laban’s rationale without approving of it. Abraham’s servant wanted to take Rebekah as a wife for Isaac immediately (Gen 24:54-56), and after that Laban never saw his sister Rebekah again. It thus makes some psychological sense that he does not want his daughters to leave with Jacob (Gen 29:27; 30:27); once Jacob returns to Canaan, Laban will probably never see his daughters again (cf. 31:50, 52).

More than Laban’s love for his daughters was his love of the prosperity that Jacob brought. Laban also wanted Jacob’s continued service and he bought it for seven more years by giving him Rachel (29:26). The daughters knew that their father had “sold” them in return for Jacob’s prosperous service (31:15). Yet Laban didn’t treat Jacob like a son; he kept changing his wages, trying to get as much as possible from Jacob for as little as possible (31:7, 41).

Nevertheless, God would see Jacob’s affliction and help him (31:12, 42). Indeed, in the game of deception, Jacob would come out ahead (31:20), though only because God acted on his behalf (31:24). (This does not provide an ideal model for us today, but God worked on behalf of Jacob within the setting with which he lived.) Laban’s oppression may provide an extra incentive for Jacob to return to the land that God had promised him (cf. 31:2-3). But given Laban’s determination, only God can make that happen safely.

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Traveling to a new land—Genesis 28—29

Before Isaac sends Jacob to Mesopotamia, he blesses Jacob to possess the land of his sojournings (Gen 28:4). More significantly, before Jacob can leave for Mesopotamia, God appears to Jacob and promises him the land on which he lies, and that God will bring him back to this land (28:13-15).

After God speaks to Jacob in his sleep, Jacob sets up a stone pillar and pours a libation on it (28:18-22). Setting up a stone could signify a covenant (31:45) or a memorial (35:20). God’s revelation and Jacob’s devotion frame his departure and return to the promised land. When Jacob returns, God again speaks to Jacob, and he sets up a pillar and again pours a libation over it (35:14). Although the Torah later forbade this familiar practice of setting up sacred pillars (Deut 16:22), Scripture preserves memories of earlier times and reports Jacob setting up this stone pillar as an act of devotion.

Soon after Jacob met God at a stone, he meets Rachel at a stone, and Jacob moves this one also (29:10). Different age groups have different sorts of advantages, but one that characterizes young men is their strength (cf. 1 John 2:14), which they can sometimes display as an act of devotion to someone (e.g., John 20:4; 21:7, 11; contrast 21:18). The shepherd Jacob devotes his strength to God; he also shows it off for Rachel.

Jacob first waters (yashq) Laban’s sheep (29:10) but afterwards kisses (yishaq, a different but similar-sounding word) Rachel (29:11). This would not of course be a long romantic kiss but the sort of kiss appropriate to a greeting from a distant relative, though Jacob seems already smitten. In times of transition, our hearts are most vulnerable to new things.

Rachel runs and tells her father Laban (29:12)—as earlier Jacob’s mother Rebekah (Rachel’s aunt) had run to tell her brother Laban. But this story plays out differently than Rebekah’s story, because Jacob has neither the resources nor the orders (or necessarily even the direct invitation) to return to Canaan immediately. Isaac and Rebekah undoubtedly did wish to keep the brothers apart for awhile (27:45). Jacob will soon find himself trapped in Mesopotamia in a way that makes a journey home difficult. How will God’s promise be fulfilled? The answer unfolds in the following chapters of Genesis.

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Why did Isaac send Jacob to Laban without a brideprice?—Genesis 28

Why Jacob apparently travels to Mesopotamia without a brideprice is something of a mystery; my guess is simply an educated one. One movie portrays Jacob getting robbed (by an ally of Esau); that, too, is just a guess, but at least it recognizes the problem.

The promise of land and descendants had cost Abraham many acts of faith over the years; he wanted to ensure its continuance to the next generation. To forestall the danger of Isaac settling back in Mesopotamia, Abraham sent his servant rather than Isaac there, and warned his servant not to take Isaac back there (24:2, 6-8). He also gave a huge brideprice (24:10), making the acquiescence of the bride’s family quite likely (24:30, 35). Even if the prospective bride would not come, however, the servant should not take Isaac back there (24:8); God could provide a wife for Isaac by another means.

By contrast, Rebekah and Isaac send the blessed heir Jacob to Mesopotamia, and he apparently carries no brideprice (29:18). Perhaps earlier conflicts with the Philistines had reduced Isaac’s wealth; perhaps he does not share his father’s deep passion; perhaps he simply trusts that God will take care of it, since Isaac believes the efficacy of his blessings (28:3-4); or perhaps a combination of these factors influenced the lack of substantive bride price.

Whatever the reason, though Isaac clearly does want Jacob to get a wife from Paddan-aram (26:35; 28:6-8), he does not send him with a substantive brideprice. But my best guess is that Isaac is still upset about Jacob’s deception. Jacob has the blessing, and Isaac reaffirms this (28:3-4), as Genesis gladly reports. But Genesis leaves unsaid why Jacob is not equipped with wealth. Esau will continue to build on Isaac’s present prosperity (33:9); Jacob, who cheated to get the eventual inheritance, will have to make his own way for now. By the end of Genesis, however, it will be obvious that God’s blessing pronounced by Isaac is worth far more to Jacob than anything else Isaac could have given him.