July 25 Sermon: But a Few Days

As we look at Genesis 29:1-30, think on these questions:

1. How does the story of Jacob's pursuit of Rachel reflect the theme of sacrificial love, and how is it connected to the love of Christ for the church?

2. In what ways does Laban's deception of Jacob mirror Jacob's earlier deception of Isaac for the blessing?

3. How does the polygamous situation with Jacob, Leah, and Rachel lead to strife in the family, and what lessons can be drawn from this?

4. What significance does the setting at the well have in this story, and how does it relate to the themes of provision and abundance in God's plan?

Transcript:

Some of the most iconic stories in history are love stories. They grab our attention. They tug at our heartstrings. Now, not everyone likes love stories, or it would probably be more correct to say that not everyone likes to admit that they like love stories. Even if we aren’t a fan of the genre we are bound to be drawn in to a story that has a man and woman falling in love because it is such a huge part of the human experience. I think the love stories that appeal to us the most are the ones where there is an obstacle to the couple getting together and then the man makes a huge sacrifice to break down the barrier that is keeping them from having a relationship. We just love to see that level of commitment and sacrifice.

‌As we continue through the story of Jacob’s life we are brought into a love story. The adventurous journey that has been the life of Jacob has led us to a point where he is finally about to find a bride from the godly line so that the covenant promise that God has made to his people can continue.

‌And as we land in the first part of the 29th chapter of Genesis we will break the story down into three parts.

‌First we see that God ordains that Jacob meets Rachel. God has promised to keep Jacob safe and we see the providential hand of God guiding his journey as he finds Rachel. We will see some parallels with how his father, Isaac, met Rebekah and in this, we see that God is providing for him to do what he has promised.

‌Second, we find that Jacob loves Rachel and he is willing to serve and labor in order to have her hand in marriage. We will see how his willingness to serve and do so patiently and willingly points us to the saving work of Jesus for us.

‌Finally, we see that Jacob is deceived. Laban pulls a dirty trick on Jacob but he does not retaliate, instead he continues to serve because he loves Rachel.

‌And with our arrival in chapter 29 we have another story that has us looking at the big picture of the story and how it fits into the larger story. We will once again be looking at larger chunks of text instead of digging into little details in the text. And so we start off looking at verses one through 8.

‌Jacob is journeying to the land of his mother’s family. We have no indication that he is familiar with the land. We aren’t told that they went to grandma’s every Thanksgiving to renew the bonds with the family. Actually, we get a sense here that he is heading to a land that is foreign to him. We see that he has come to the land of the people of the east. Remember what we know about the east in Genesis. It is away from the presence of the Lord and the idea here is that he is a stranger in a foreign land but he is on a mission. He is to find a bride from among his family.

‌And we find that he comes to a well. Now, back when the servant of Abraham was sent to find a bride for Isaac the servant found Rebekah near a well also. What’s the deal with wells? Well, first, the chances of coming into contact with people around a well was pretty good. Water is a necessity and if a well is present the likelihood of people being in the area is pretty good. Secondly, God is ordaining all of this. These are not random happenstances. Wells represent plenty. They represent being fruitful and what is the purpose in Abraham’s servant finding Rebekah and Jacob finding a wife. To fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply and for God to keep his promise that the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be like the sand. And so, God ordains that the wife of Isaac and the wife of Jacob are found through a well, a symbol of provision and abundance.

‌And we get some interesting details about this well. It has a big stone on the mouth of the well. It is there to protect the well and keeping from being filled in with dirt and polluted.

‌And having arrived at this well Jacob starts a conversation. You can kind of imagine how this goes. It’s likely Jacob hasn’t seen anyone for awhile. He may have even had interactions with people who couldn’t understand him and he’s sort of wandering in a strange place hoping to find some indication that he is on the right path to finding the people that he seeks. His line of questioning is simple and probably the same way we would try to find someone. He asks the herdsmen where they are from and they let him know that they are from Haran. Now Jacob is on to something. His very broad search that started way back in Canaan is now being narrowed significantly. If nothing else he has someone who can take him to where he needs to be but we find that the news is even better than that. They know Laban and they obviously know him well because they know that Rachel, the daughter of Laban is coming with the sheep.

‌So Jacob has something to say about how they are tending the flocks. They aren’t doing things correctly it would seem. It’s still high day and not time to get the sheep together. They are supposed to be out in the pasture but the reason they aren’t is that they need to water the sheep and then let them out so they gather the sheep, water them, and then let them graze.

‌Clearly, God has brought Jacob to this place for he has found those who know Laban and we have word that a daughter is coming and so we will see that while this isn’t a love story that would play out well on the big screen we are going to find that Jacob is going to find his love at the well because Rachel is on her way.

‌And she arrives and Jacob must have thought she was something because he decides to display quite the feat of strength. You’ve probably either seen this before or maybe some of you guys have done it yourself. Jacob sees the girl he likes and decides to show just how strong and awesome he is. And before we get to the result of all of this we need to stop and think about the difference between the first time we saw someone seeking a bride at the well and this event. What did Abraham’s servant do at the well? He prayed. What did Jacob do at the well? He showed off. Once again, what do we see? Jacob is trying to once again do things by his power and thankfully for him, it seems to work. Jacob waters the flocks and meets Rachel. Well, he more than meets her, he kisses her. It is important that we understand here that this is not meant to be seen as a passionate kiss and Jacob is not forcing himself upon Rachel. This isn’t that kind of a kiss. This was a customary greeting at the time that family members gave to each other. And we see that it was well received because Rachel hears who Jacob is and goes to tell Laban what has happened. Remember we know Jacob is seeking Laban but Laban doesn’t know Jacob is seeking him out. Rebekah didn’t send an email letting them know that Jacob was on the way. Jacob is unaware of what he will find and Laban isn’t prepared for him but he is glad that he has arrived.

‌He hears his sister’s son is there and he embraces him and kisses him and brings him into the house. Remember hospitality is a big thing in the ancient near east and so is family. He is overjoyed to have Jacob with them. Notice what he say surely you are my bone and my flesh. They are family and they immediately have a deep connection. So much so that Jacob stays with him a month. Jacob is not just some stranger on the road. He is kin and so we are told that Laban was hospitable to him by the length of time that he takes him in for and in the meantime we find that the story gets really interesting.

‌‌Laban heard about the great strength of Jacob and so he wants to put him to work but doesn’t want him to be an unpaid servant. He wants to do right by him because they are family and when he asks how much he should be paid Jacob doesn’t go for an hourly wage or even a salary package with benefits. He has something more important in mind. He aspires to fulfill the purpose of his trip. He wants a bride but we find that there is an opportunity for some serious drama to develop.

‌As we read, Laban has two daughters and we read that the older daughter had weak eyes. Now, this doesn’t mean that she had poor vision, even though she may have needed a strong prescription, that isn’t what this means. In the ancient near east women would accentuate the eyes. They were an important part of the perception of beauty. We wouldn’t say someone unattractive had weak eyes today but we still are drawn to someone’s eyes in relationship to their attractiveness. What we have here with Leah is the idea that she wasn’t beautiful like Rachel. No matter what you did you couldn’t dress up her eyes to have that spark of attractiveness in them. Rachel though, she really caught the attention of Jacob and so he said that he would work seven years to have her as his wife. He didn’t trade livestock for her. He didn’t bring gold to offer for him. Instead, he offers his life as a servant to make her his bride. And look at the level of love that he has for her. He worked seven years but it seemed as though it was only a few days because of his love for her.

‌Now, there we have the love story we like, right? There might be some you here when you heard that line that desperately wanted to go “awwwwww.....that’s so sweet”. Seven years of servanthood to be with the woman he loves and he finds joy in being a servant to win her hand.

‌We can’t miss how this prefigures the Lord Jesus. He came from heaven to earth to be a servant and suffered and died for his bride, the church. And even though he suffered we are told that he found joy in it. Remember back to what we saw in the book of Hebrews a few months back.

‌‌Just as Jacob served for his bride for seven years and found it to be like only a few days, Jesus suffered and for the joy set before him endured the cross that he might purchase a bride for himself. What an amazing truth and what an amazing picture of sacrificial love Jacob has to point us to what would come from his offspring one day to redeem the people of God.

‌But as we read the story of this love isn’t clean and easy is it. Some underhanded things take place that test the patience and love of Jacob.

‌After all the faithful servanthood that Jacob performs he asks Laban to have the wedding feast for he and Rachel. Laban is a tricky guy. He goes through all the steps. He plans the feast and he gets the people there and in the midst of the veiling of the bride and the evening and likely the libations involved with such a festivity he sneaks Leah and her weak eyes into the tent with Jacob.

‌In the morning, Jacob is surprised but there is nothing he can do about this deception. The marriage has been consummated. They are husband and wife. Can you imagine the anger and the rage that must have been boiling in Jacob. It isn’t really expressed in the text but the realities of human emotion have to be close to spilling over here but at the same time, you have to think back on what Jacob has done and kind of laugh at what has happened.

‌Remember how Jacob deceived his blind father Isaac to receive the blessing? Now the deceiver has been deceived. He was blinded by the night and the veil and the festivities and what was rightly to be his has been taken away from him. You have to wonder if Esau heard about this and was delighted to hear at how Jacob had been repaid for his deception.

‌Regardless of how funny Esau might have found this to be, it is terrible deception and Jacob confronts Laban. There is no excuse for this level of deception and taking advantage of Jacob but Laban has an excuse. He justifies his deception by blaming their customs.

‌‌Now, I think we can probably all imagine Jacob’s feelings in this and I would guess he let Laban know those feelings. This is information that would have been useful to Jacob seven years prior before he started working for the hand of Rachel. In fact, it is information that might have useful to Jacob yesterday. So, new father-in-law and brother of my mother, why didn’t you spend the last seven years finding a husband for Leah. Sure, she’s weak in the eyes, but you could have worked something out for a beloved family member who is going to labor for you for seven years.

‌But regardless of the excellent arguments that could be made on Jacob’s behalf, it doesn’t change the fact that the marriage cannot be undone and so Laban takes advantage of the situation he has created. He tells Jacob to complete the week of the wedding celebration with Leah and then he will let him marry Rachel the next week.

‌And Jacob loved Rachel and so he agreed to the terms. The week was completed and then another wedding celebration took place. The wedding guests must have loved that. Two weeks of partying but this whole event leads to strife in the family of Jacob. We are going to find that the polygamy that we see here is going to create serious problems. God will work through the issues of human sin, as he always does, and accomplish his purposes but the sin and deception that we see here makes it messy.

‌But as the passage concludes we see that the love that Jacob had for Rachel was great. He served for 14 years total to have her hand in marriage. Many times I said that we struggle with what to do with Jacob in the stories we find him in. He’s a scoundrel and not very sympathetic but here I think we finally get a bit of a soft spot for Jacob. He’s the hero in the love story who does everything to get the girl. Through all the deception and scandal and sin he desires a bride and he does what it takes to obtain it.

‌And that is what I want us to consider as we think about how to apply this passage.

‌As I mentioned previously this passage points us to the love that Christ has for his bride, the church. There are times in our lives where we wonder if anyone loves us. There are even times where we may doubt the love of God for us. But as this passage points us to Jesus we see the servanthood of our savior on display. Jesus loves you and as I always say this is not empty words or an ethereal concept of some being having good feelings for you out there somewhere beyond the clouds. As Christians when we say Jesus loves you we are saying something that has a substantial potency to it. Just as Jacob desired his bride and served 14 years for her so Christ also served to acquire his bride. He served by leaving the glory of heaven to take on our flesh and to live a life of suffering. He served us in his death where he bore the wrath of God for our sin. He served us by rising from the dead and guaranteeing eternal life for us and he is still serving us as he is interceding for us at this moment at the right hand of the Father. Christ served to acquire his bride and has not stopped serving us. In any and every circumstance of our life we know for sure that the love of God for us is real and it is something that he passionately pursued.

‌And so may the love of God for the church, his bride, cause us to love one another and to live in peace that we might bring glory to God and share his real and passionate love for his people with a lost and dying world that so desperately needs to know that love.