Jacob successfully made the journey Beersheba to Haran, and similar to what happened when Abraham’s servant went and found Rebekah, Jacob met Rachel at a well. He instantly fell in love with her and made an agreement with his Uncle Laban to marry her. However, Jacob the Deceiver was about to find that in the deception game he was but a rookie, and his uncle was a master.
While it is hard to comprehend how a father could do this to his daughters, it’s not too hard to imagine how it could happen. A large celebration, freely flowing wine, and a dark night would contribute to an inebriated Jacob taking the sister for the bride. Luther commented, “Without consent, agreements, and discussion the daughter is seized by the father and placed on the nuptial bed of Jacob . . . . If these were the customs of those people, they certainly were very bad.” However, I wonder how innocent Leah was in this.
The Bible says that Leah had weak eyes while Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Much has been said about what it means to have “weak eyes.” It seems pretty clear to me from the context that it means that Leah wasn’t very pretty. I once hear her described this way – If having weak eyes meant the same thing as our saying, “she got beat with an ugly-stick” then Leah fell out of the ugly-tree and hit every branch on the way down.
As we get to know Laban, it will not be too hard to imagine him having a conversation with Leah to cheat her sister out of her husband. In fact it is eerily similar to Laban’s sister Rebekah having a conversation with Jacob on how to cheat his brother out of his birth right.
Jacob must have been a man of strength and fortitude, and perhaps some mule headed foolishness, because when he discovered the deception he confronted Laban and agreed to work an additional seven years to gain Rachel as his bride. They were married a week after the consummation of Jacob and Leah’s marriage.
Can you imagine the bitterness there must have been in this family? Jacob was madly in love with Rachel. Leah was just thrown in for what? Dramatic effect? These sisters will argue over their husband, compete for his attention, manipulate for him, and try to control him. Jacob always favored Rachel, but Leah bore children to Jacob when Rachel could not. Even later, when Rachel finally did have children, Jacob favored those sons over the others, bringing even more conflict to the family!
What strange means God used to bring salvation into this world! Stop and think about this for a moment. Jesus was a descendant of David of the tribe of Judah . . . Leah’s son. God took a marriage that never should have happened and used it in the heritage of His Son. Without excusing anyone’s behavior in this twisted scenario, God redeemed this family.
Do you think that if God can use this situation to bring salvation to the world, that He can use our lives too? He has redeemed us in Jesus despite how messed up we may be. And he has made each of us witnesses to what He as done for us. God still uses strange means to bring salvation to the world!
Father, thank You! Help me to never doubt or give up on Your ability to redeem my life. Amen.
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