Summaries:
Jacob falls in love with Rachel, but accidentally marries her sister Leah first, but then works towards marrying Rachel, too. Because Leah was not loved, she bore children (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah), but Rachel did not (29). Since the women are now barren, Jacob has two children with Rachel's maidservant, and then two with Leah's maidservant. Then Leah had three more children, and then Rachel bore a son named Joseph. Jacob outwits (uncle) Laban into giving him the stronger animals (30). Jacob flees, and Laban catches up, but God told Laban not to harm Jacob, so they make a pact not to harm each other (31). Jacob is returning to his homeland, so he hopes to make peace with Esau. Jacob wrestles with an angel all night, and is told he shall be called Israel "because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed" (32:29).
Reflections:
This feels like a soap opera. Or Melrose Place. But no, this is the Word of God. This is God's plan of salvation. It makes me think that, while the specific actions may not have been what God would have wanted for his people, I guess he uses the free actions of man and blesses his people anyway. For though one generation might be bad, it seemed like from every 7-14 generations came someone else who brought the people back to God. Now, where's Moses and the Law when you need him?
Quotes:
Genesis 32:11 - "I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant." (Jacob, to God)
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I really like Jacob, and just how in love he is with Rachel. I mean, the guy waits 14 year - FOURTEEN YEARS - to marry her. And not just waits, but works! For young couples who find that their lives are such that maybe they can't marry as soon as they like, this is good food for thought.
ReplyDeleteI agree that he certainly worked hard for the woman he loved. If I'm not mistaken, he worked for 7 years, but then was given Leah instead of Rachel (and of course, since they had no electricity, it was too dark to tell the difference, so he slept with her anyway), so he grudgingly agreed to work ANOTHER 7 YEARS for the woman he REALLY loved. Yeah, that's intense.
ReplyDeleteIf I have a daughter, and a man asks me for my daughter's hand in marriage, I certainly won't change daughters on him, but I will ask him to work for me for 7 years first. If he gets the reference, he's in!
I love the summary that Jacob "accidentally marries her sister Leah first." So true, and yet so ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteMy thought is that, without electricity, the light at night makes it very difficult to know who you are laying with. Also, Leah must not have said a word the whole time. Otherwise, Jacob would have been able to figure out it was her. Unless he didn't get to see either of them for the entire 7 years that he was working towards marrying Rachel...
ReplyDeletePerhaps they looked alike, or sounded alike. (It can happen with a couple of sisters...) Perhaps Jacob knew Rachel fairly well, but didn't know Leah (and thus hadn't picked up on those little things that cue you in to differences between siblings). And then there's the real possibility that he'd had a bit to drink. Still, a big of an odd story...
ReplyDeleteI once heard an interesting rabbinic interpretation: apparently there are no units attached to the numbers in the story, so some rabbis speculate that he worked seven (years) for Leah and then, after the switch-er-oo, worked seven (days) for Rachel. I'm no Hebrew scholar, but I thought I'd throw that out there. Still, I kinda like the 14 years thing... That's real love.