Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

Story: Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

Passage: Genesis 29:1-30

Characters: Jacob, Rachel, Laban, Leah

Summary: Jacob comes to Haran and finds a well with shepherds around it. Rachel leads her sheep to the well. Jacob rolls the stone away from the well and waters her sheep. He then kisses her and weeps. She tells Laban what had happened and Laban comes and asks Jacob what his wages should be. Jacob agrees to work sevewn years for Rachel. When the seven years are up, Laban gives him Leah. After he wakes up and complains, Laban makes him work another seven years for Rachel.

Notes: We are about to begin reading about one of the biggest cases of sibling rivalry this world has ever seen! But for now, we have Jacob arriving at a well. Around this well are a bunch of sheep and shepherds. Jacob did not know where he was so he asked them and he found out he was in Haran. He had made it! Now this well had a large stone covering it and the shepherds would not move this stone until all of the sheep were there. Apparently it was difficult to move and they didn’t want to move it more than they had to. Rachel was a shepherdess. She led her sheep to the well and when Jacob saw her, he went crazy. Boys today will go to great lengths to impress girls with their strength. Jacob was no different! As soon as he saw Rachel he went and moved the stone himself. His immediate reaction to seeing her was to move a giant stone by himself which normally took several men to move. This cracks me up! Jacob knew she was one of Lot’s daughters and he was apparently very attracted to her! He watered her flock and then kissed her and started weeping. I want to imagine this scene from a couple different perspectives. First of all, Rachel must have been confused. She went to the well like normal and there was a strange man there who started showing off his strength, then kissed her, then started weeping. This was not an ordinary event! Now from the other shepherds’ perspective, this would have been equally if not even more odd! Now from Jacob’s perspective, this makes more sense. This was a very spiritual moment for him. God promised to grant him a successful trip and now he had been led to the correct land, to a well where one of Laban’s daughters was coming, and she was very beautiful. This event showed Jacob that God was really with him! It is no wonder he wept. I also find it funny that both with Rachel and Rebekah, watering a stranger’s animals was involved. Anyway, Laban acknowledged that Jacob was family. Remember, Jacob would have been Laban’s nephew. Laban let Jacob set his wages. Jacob only wanted one thing, Rachel. However, he would need a dowry and he did not bring anything with him, except for some oil apparently. So he offered to work seven years for Rachel. Laban’s response was very indifferent. He thought it would be better to give her to Jacob than another guy so he agreed. Seven years of work was honestly better than a typical dowry. A dowry was designed to go to the bride in case of an emergency. While Jacob provided no actual wealth, Laban was blessed because of Jacob, but as we will see later, instead of giving it to Rachel, he kept it for himself. The passage says that the seven years felt like only a few days because of his love for Rachel. Awwww. Isn’t that sweet! In reality though, this shows us Jacob’s character. In that culture, he would not be able to see Rachel as much as he would have liked. To be willing to work seven years for her, and to do it so easily shows us how willing he was to wait and be patient for his future wife. This shows how his character truly was transformed during his journey from an impulsive deceitful young man to a patient wise man whom God would use to further His redemptive story. When Jacob’s seven years were up though, he was done waiting and he did not beat around the bush. He demanded his wife. So Laban set up the marriage feast. However, when night came, Laban switched Leah and Rachel. Jacob did notice this switch until morning. Needless to say, Jacob was surprised and upset. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Genesis 29:25, “And in the morning, behold, it was Leah!” How might this have happened you ask? Well in that culture, the custom was to veil the bride until she was alone with her new husband. In this case it would have been dark at that point and I’m sure that there was some alcohol involved as well. Obviously Rachel would not have been terribly willing to go along with this plan, but the father had the ultimate authority so she would have had no choice but to give in to her father’s demands. Jacob felt wronged. He had been deceived. The man who had impersonated his own brother to get the blessing had now been tricked by a woman impersonating her sister to marry him. Laban gave a lame excuse, but Jacob could do nothing about it. Jacob who was known for his deceit was now the object of deceit. This would trigger a battle between two deceitful men. Jacob worked another seven years to marry Rachel, but Laban at least let them get married as soon as the honeymoon was over for Leah. I imagine there was some tension for those seven years between the two men though. The Bible clearly states that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Poor Leah married Jacob and then watched him complain about not marrying her younger sister, and then he married Rachel and worked seven years for someone else. She was now married to a man who did not care for her. The passage says that she had weak eyes. This could mean that her eyesight was bad, or that she had delicate, or blue, eyes. Blue eyes were considered weaker than strong brown eyes and this would have made her less attractive. Either way, Rachel was more beautiful than Leah. Once again beauty plays a role in a biblical marriage. And it will play a role in some conflict as we will soon see.

Questions: How could Jacob not know who he was marrying? What made him so attracted to Rachel from the very beginning? How big was the stone he rolled away from the well? Was Laban aware of Jacob’s deceitful nature? What did Leah think of this deal? What did Rachel think of this deal? Had Leah been attracted to Jacob over that first seven years he had worked?

Lessons: True love is worth waiting for. If you truly love someone you will be willing to do anything, even working seven years for that person. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, love our neighbors, love God, basically love everyone. This total devotion and selflessness should be evident in any relationship in your life. Another lesson to pull from this is yet another lesson against favoritism. Though we have not yet seen the consequences, the favoritism Jacob shows to Rachel will create quite a bit of conflict in the next passage.