We ended our study of the life of Jacob last week with Jacob on the run for his life. But he encountered God in a dream at Bethel, and God assured him:

I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you (Gen 28:15).

Now we find Jacob arriving in Haran, confident of God’s presence with him. The next two decades of his life are spent in this foreign land, and they are anything but easy. Jacob is tricked and cheated by his uncle. Although Jacob starts a family, there is plenty of turmoil within his family, too. Still, God does not abandon him, and only because of the faithful presence of God with Jacob does Jacob receive everything that God had promised to him. It is God’s presence with his people that guarantees that they will find success in every one of life’s events.

Christians are assured of God’s presence with us. Jesus told us, shortly before his ascension, “I am with you always.” It is a powerful reality for God to be with us. But what are the implications? In these stories from Jacob’s time in Haran, the presence of God with Jacob means that God disciplines, develops, and delivers his family.

God Disciplines His Family

First, in verses 1-30, we read about Jacob arriving in Haran, meeting his uncle Laban and his family, and his marriage to Laban’s two daughters. I suggest that in this first episode we see a picture of the fact that God’s presence with his people means that God will surely discipline them, too.

Jacob Is Emboldened

Here we find Jacob arriving at “the land of the people of the east.” The east in Genesis is an important theme, but the narrator may be wanting us to particularly notice the mood that Jacob is in. The Hebrew text of verse 1 reads, “Then Jacob lifted up his feet,” which is quite unusual; indeed, this is the only time that wording occurs in the Bible. Many commentators have understood the phrase to refer to the attitude of Jacob as he finished his journey, as if he had an extra “spring in his step.”[1] If we want to know why Jacob would be in a good mood, we only need to remember his encounter with God at Bethel in the previous verses.

This positive mood for Jacob is still true after he arrives, because in verses 2-12 we find him rather loquacious and emboldened with the shepherds he encounters at a particular well out in a field. He may have set out on this journey as a fugitive running for his life, but he seems now to be confident that things are going to go well for him. He sees three flocks of sheep lying beside the well. The narrator tells us that the custom of that place was to wait for all the shepherds to arrive with their flocks, and then the shepherds would help each other move the large stone off the well, water the sheep, and then put the store back over the well.

But Jacob does not know the custom. The shepherds explain it to him when he asks what they are waiting for, and why they aren’t watering the sheep. There is evidence in the tone of the shepherds ‘responses that they are rather suspicious of this foreigner, or at least somewhat put off by his brashness.[2] “Who does this guy think he is coming here and questioning our way of doing things?”

We, of course, know exactly who he is. This is Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, the chosen one who carries with him the blessing of God, the one to whom God has promised his presence. Why shouldn’t he be confident? If God is for him, who can be against him?

Jacob’s Life Story

But Jacob is not here to feud with these shepherds. He has come here for a specific reason. Remember that his mother had sent him away, afraid that Esau might kill him, but Isaac had sent him here with instructions to “take as your wife . . . one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother” (Gen 28:2).

So when Jacob asks the shepherds if they know Laban the son of Nahor in verse 5, he must have been quite excited to hear that Laban’s daughter, Rachel, was one of the shepherds they were waiting for at the well.

And here she comes, in verse 9. We note something significant about her character when we are told that she was a shepherdess, a job usually done by men. But the narrator keeps our primary attention on Jacob. He immediately forgoes the cultural convention and waters her flock of sheep. He moves the large store to get to the water, apparently moving the stone all by himself. One might wonder if he is already smitten by Rachel and wanting to show off for her, as young testosterone-filled men do.

But there is nothing inherently romantic about the kiss he gives her in verse 11. That is a cultural convention. Rachel rushes off to tell her family whom she has met that day at the well, and it is hard as a Christian not to see this picture reenacted later when Jesus meets a woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria and she rushes off to tell the people all about him.

On that occasion in John 4, the woman of Samaria was impressed by the man who recounted to her her own life story (John 4:29). But here we find Jacob, welcomed into the home of Laban, and recounting to Laban his life story. “Jacob told Laban all these things,” verse 13 says. I wonder if he told him everything he had ever done. I wonder how transparent Jacob was with his life story. It’s a risky thing to tell someone everything you’ve ever done. Not everyone needs to know everything. At the same time, someone needs to know everything. You and I need to have total transparency with someone if we want to be truly and deeply loved.

Poetic Justice for Jacob

Supposing Jacob was brutally honest with Laban at this moment, we can certainly question whether or not this was a wise move on Jacob’s part. Notice Laban’s comment in verse 15. “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” Gordon Wenham observes how canny Laban is here. Now that he knows why Jacob has come (to find a wife), and apparently has observed Jacob’s attraction to Rachel, Laban exploits Jacob’s desires by inviting Jacob to make him an offer.[3]

And offer he does! “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel” (v. 18). Jacob is willing to pay a handsome amount for the customary bride price. Laban doesn’t even have to counter-offer. Deal! But Laban continues to hide his excitement with his words in verse 19. He acts like a used car salesman who agrees to a deal but acts like he practically had to give the car away to the customer.

Jacob, it is clear, is head over heels for Rachel, infatuated with her and her beauty. Those seven years “seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her,” verse 20 says.

After seven years had passed, Jacob cannot hide his passions, as verse 21 makes rather explicit. Once more, Jacob’s passions are what Laban exploits, and on the marriage night he pulls off one of the most sinister schemes you will ever hear about. When the wedding feast was over, night had fallen, and Jacob is no doubt inebriated, Laban brought to Jacob his older daughter Leah to consummate the marriage. “And in the morning,” verse 25 says,” behold, it was Leah!”

Jacob is furious, but as a foreigner there is not much that he can do. Laban has got him under his thumb and now gets another seven years of service out of him in order to also have Rachel as his wife.

The lesson of this story in Jacob’s life is not about the sin of polygamy or the nature of genuine love in marriage. Rather, as Robert Alter says:

It has been clearly recognized since late antiquity that the whole story of the switched brides is a meting out of poetic justice to Jacob—the deceiver deceived, deprived by darkness of the sense of sight as his father is by blindness, relying, like his father, on the misleading sense of touch.[4]

Last week we traced God’s mysterious choice of Jacob as the explanation for why Jacob prevailed over Esau. Here we see God’s mysterious justice as he disciplines Jacob, giving him back exactly what he deserved. Jacob may be God’s chosen one, but this does not mean that Jacob can carry out his vocation any way he wants. He has been chosen for a purpose; it is through him that the whole world will be blessed, so he cannot continue being a deceiver if this purpose is going to be fulfilled. God’s discipline of Jacob here is toward that goal.

The Apostle Paul can say that we Christians are chosen in Christ, and that we, too, have been chosen for a purpose, namely, “that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph 1:3). No surprise, then, that God may well discipline us, Hebrews 12:10, and always “for our good, that we may share his holiness” (Heb 12:10).

God Develops His Family

That passage in Hebrews, by the way, is all about God’s discipline coming as a good father who disciplines his children whom he dearly loves. Here in this story, God’s discipline of Jacob comes in the same context. God disciplines, Jacob, yes, but he does so precisely because he is developing a family. And Jacob’s family is not just his family; as the chosen one, Jacob’s family is primarily God’s family, the family through whom God will bring his salvation to the world.

Beginning in verse 31 in chapter 29 and all the way to verse 24 in chapter 30, we read about the birth of 12 children to Jacob, 11 sons and 1 girl. God is developing the family of Israel. What are we to learn from this divine formation?

The Sons of Hated Leah

Well, something is not quite right here is it? I mean, usually a marriage is an occasion of great rejoicing, but Jacob’s marriage (or rather, marriages) is soured by deceit and resentment. So as we read about the birth of his children, the story isn’t as happy as we would hope and expect.

The first four children born to Jacob were born by Leah, and the narrator is much more explicit about God’s involvement here than he has been in the previous stories. “When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren” (v. 31). Verse 30 says that Jacob “loved Rachel more than Leah,” but here we find that Jacob “hated” Leah. That’s strong language. Why did Jacob hate her? No doubt because seeing her reminded him of how he had been tricked on the night he thought he was marrying her sister.

By the way, I’m not convinced Leah’s physical appearance had anything to do with how she was treated by Jacob. The story tells us in no uncertain terms that Rachel was very beautiful (Gen 29:17), but in saying that Leah had “weak eyes,” we cannot be certain that that means she was ugly. “Weak” is the Hebrew antonym for “hard,” so describing Leah’s eyes in this way might be pointing to a positive feature of her appearance. Perhaps she looked quite a bit like Rachel, which would also help explain how Laban pulled off his trickery on Jacob’s wedding night. All the text suggests is that Rachel was physically more attractive than Leah.

Despite his attitude toward Leah, Jacob initially gives her her conjugal rights and God “opened her womb.” She gives birth to four sons—Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah—and by the names she gives them and the comments she makes about them, we can see how desperate she is to have her husband’s affection.

But “then she ceased bearing” children (Gen 29:35), perhaps because Jacob stopped sleeping with her altogether. The marital relationship between them is not going in a good direction.

The Envy of Rachel

And when we get to chapter 30, and see that Rachel “envied her sister,” we see that things are not a whole lot better between Rachel and Jacob. “Give me children, or I shall die!” she exclaimed to Jacob, sounding quite a bit like Esau when he wanted the red stew that Jacob had made (Gen 25:30, 32). Verse 2 says that “Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel,” as he clapped back, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

What follows in the next 11 verses is the birth of four more sons, two each to Rachel and Leah, though through the surrogacy of their female servants Bilhah and Zilpah. Once more the names of these boys indicate the inner turmoil that both Rachel and Leah are experiencing as they struggle against each other for pride of place in this chosen family.

What a family, huh? What a moral example they are to everyone around them, right? Jacob is angry at the wife he loves, the two wives he has are jealous of each other, and just wait until we see how the children treat each other when they grow up! Jacob arrived in Haran with a spring in his step, assured that God was with him, and now this? Dallas Willard writes, “Great power requires great character if it is to be a blessing and not a curse, and that character is something we only grow toward.”[5] God is forming his family, not just in size but, more importantly, in character.

In Exchange for Love

A strange story is recounted in verses 14-18. The oldest son, Reuben, “went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah.” Rachel asks Leah to give her “some of your son’s mandrakes.” The mandrake plant, also mentioned in Song of Songs 7:13, was considered an aphrodisiac and an aid for conception.[6] The Hebrew word for mandrake is nearly identical to the word for lovemaking in the Song of Songs.

Rachel and Leah agree to a trade. They give to each other what the other wants. Leah gives Rachel some of the mandrakes in exchange for her conjugal rights that evening. The exchange shows the desperation of both women, one for Jacob’s love, the other for Jacob’s children. Leah conceives and has more children: two more sons, Issachar and Zebulon, as well as a daughter named Dinah who will play a role in the story later on.

And what about Rachel? It is noteworthy that when she finally gave up the power she held over Leah she was able to conceive.[7] Verse 22 says, “Then God remembered Rachel.” We saw those words, God remembered, at the turning point in the story of Noah and the Flood (Gen 8:1). The same is true here.[8] As soon as Rachel had given birth to her son, Joseph, Jacob announces his resolve to return back home (v. 25), but it all started with an act, however small, of selfless giving.

“This is a story of the triumph of God’s power over human sinfulness,” says one commentator.[9] No doubt we are meant to see the divine hand at work here, forming the chosen family in spite of the dysfunctional state they are in. But it seems as if Sin itself is attracted to the chosen family, and perhaps this is a point that we need to take note of as well, a point that will come to a head in the story of redemption.

Of course there is a responsibility for the chosen family to be shaped and formed into a moral example for the rest of the nations. At the same time, the brokenness and strife that we see here, just like, sadly, we at times see within the church of Jesus today, does not mean that God himself has failed in his mission to save the world through his chosen people. It just might be that God is forming his family even as he proves in them that there is a power strong than Sin which afflicts God’s people to this very day. It is the power of self-giving love, of giving up power rather than taking it up.

God Delivers His Family

We come then to this last story about the time Jacob spent with Laban in Haran. Even as God disciplines and develops his family, there is no question that God is also going to deliver his family, and that when he does deliver them, he will not leave them impoverished.

You Must Not Leave

I wonder if this story was first told to Israel while they were enslaved in Egypt. In verse 25, Jacob demands that Laban send him away, but Laban does not want Jacob to leave since his presence there has been to his own advantage. Laban sounds like Pharaoh who would not let Israel leave Egypt.

What follows also reminds us of what happened to Israel in Egypt. Jacob stays with Laban another six years, and Laban does everything he can to keep Jacob from prospering while he is there. As Laban removed the striped and spotted and speckled among the sheep and the goats, so Pharaoh removed the straw required for the people to make bricks.

Divine Justice

And yet, we read in Exodus 1:12 that the more the Egyptians oppressed Israel, the more Israel prospered. That makes no sense without the reality of divine justice at work. The same is true with what Jacob does in verses 37-42. “The procedure he followed involved a folk custom,” yet God “tolerated Jacob’s imaginative devices and transcended them.”[10]

We might say that God vindicated Jacob in this last story of his time with Laban. Jacob does nothing improper here; he had told Laban that his “honesty” would “answer for [him] later” back in verse 33. That word honesty is the Hebrew word for righteousness; this is the only time in the ESV the word is translated honesty. It is Jacob’s status as God’s chosen one that explains why he prevailed over Laban’s schemes here.

“God is not frustrated by the cheat,” Gordon Wenham comments. God will see to it “that justice will finally be seen to be done, and that his promises to his people, here personified in Jacob, of land, protection, and blessing to the nations will, despite all opposition, eventually triumph.”[11]

Yes, God will deliver his people from all opposition, both within and without. Because when God is with you, all wrongs will ultimately and finally be made right.

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[1] See Tremper Longman III (Genesis, The Story of God Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016], 369), though he is skeptical that this is the author's intent with the unusual idiom.

[2] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, Word Biblical Commentary 2 (Dallas: Word Books, 1994), 230.

[3] Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 234–35.

[4] Robert Alter, Genesis: Translation and Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997), 155.

[5] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998), 368.

[6] Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 246.

[7] Bruce K. Waltke and Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 416.

[8] Noted by Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 248.

[9] Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 250.

[10] Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, The New American Commentary, vol 1B, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 501-02.

[11] Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 260.