Tuesday, April 25th – Genesis 29: 12,
13
Jacob’s meeting with Rachel led quickly to
his meeting Rachel’s father, Laban, in whom the supplanting son of Isaac would
find that he had met his scheming match.
Our God is the master craftsman, who sinlessly uses sinful, imperfect
tools to perfect his saints. The things
Jacob would suffer at the scheming hands of Laban would serve to purge him of
his own scheming ways, making him to be fair and even gracious and generous in
his dealings with others (Gen. 32: 13-20; 33: 8-11).
Wednesday, April 26th - Genesis 29: 12,
13
Rachel met Jacob with excited
anticipation, while Laban received him with warm and enthusiastic
affection. Jacob could not have hoped
for a more propitious reception. If the
Bible were a book of romantic stories, this one would end on this happy note,
leaving us to imagine that Jacob and Rachel soon married and lived happily thereafter. However, since the Word of God details
reality, we shall soon see how costly and painful to Jacob the kisses of Laban
will prove to be. Fair beginnings do not
always indicate clear and easy sailing ahead.
Thursday, April 27th - Genesis 29: 14,
15
Laban observes and exclaims over the
natural affinity and relation between himself and Jacob. The resemblance between the two men went far
deeper than that of skin and bone. For
as Jacob had proven himself to be an astute bargainer and deceiver, so, too,
Laban would show himself to be a master of those exploitative arts. Jacob would not be further schooled in those
arts by Laban’s masterful application of them to him, but would, rather,
surfeit over them and renounce their practice for the rest of his life. Such purging was the sanctifying purpose the
Lord had for the relationship between these two similar men.
Friday, April 28th - Genesis 29: 14, 15
Jacob stayed with Laban for a month, but
his time was spent not in freeloading indulgence, but rather in diligent
work. As Jacob began his time in
Saturday, April 29th - Genesis 29: 15
Here is the first manifestation of Laban’s shrewd selfishness. He who lavished such a demonstrably warm welcome upon his nephew did not hesitate to let him labor for him for an entire month, instead of his treating Jacob as a truly welcomed and honored guest in his house. Laban seemed content to allow his nephew to work as an unpaid slave. After a month, Laban still valued Jacob’s labor above any respect for the dictates of gracious hospitality and so sought to promote the young man from the status of a slave to that of a hired hand. Here Jacob gets a taste of what it is like when a family member regards personal profit above the bonds of family relationships, as Jacob had done when he valued the birthright above his brother. By such tastes, administered to us by our God, we are taught not to be grasping—even after right things—but to be gracious and loving in our dealings with others.
Sunday, April 30th - Genesis 29: 15-18
When Laban brings up the matter of wages, Jacob is quick and decisive in declaring that, instead of money, he had his eye on something vastly more precious. Laban had two daughters, but Jacob had eyes only for one of them. Therefore, he unhesitatingly declares that he would serve Laban for the considerable duration of seven years if Laban would give Rachel to him as his wife. In this way, the erstwhile self-regarding son of Isaac shows his great love for the bride for whom he was willing to perform long and costly labor in order to have her. Our Lord expands our hearts in order to fill them with the love that He Himself has for His bride, the Church.
Monday, May 1st - Genesis 29: 16-18
Laban has two daughters, but Jacob loved only one of them. Laban would show, in due course, that he had plans to profit from both of his daughters through trickery that he would impose upon Jacob. However, the Lord was going to superintend sinlessly over Laban’s sinful schemes, making sure that Jacob would be richly blessed with wives and children above what he asked or thought to ask of Laban. When the hand of the Lord is for us, He makes even the devices of the wicked serve for our blessing.
Tuesday, May 2nd - Genesis 29: 18, 19
Jacob sets the terms by which he would continue to work for Laban, and Laban readily agrees to these terms. Yet Laban either at this point has, or soon hereafter develops, a plan whereby he would give away both of his daughters and extract from Jacob more years of labor than he here agreed to give. As the hand of the Lord was sinlessly superintending these matters, we should take note how He repays us in our own currency. Jacob had deceived his father, and now Jacob is deceived by his father-in-law. That which we sow, we shall in due course reap. Let us, then, determine not to sow in the flesh, but rather to the Spirit (Gal. 6:7,8).
Wednesday, May 3rd - Genesis 29: 18, 19
Jacob commits himself to costly service in order to have the bride he loved. Seven years’ labor would be a considerable commitment for any person to undertake. However, when we bear in mind that Jacob was not a young man when he made this commitment, the cost appears to be even greater for him. Some time prior to this event, Scripture informed us that Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, was 40 years old (Gen. 26:34). Appreciable time had lapsed between that notice and this point in Jacob’s life. Matthew Henry reckons in his Commentary on Genesis that Jacob was 77 years old when he bound himself to this seven-year course of labor. A man is much better off spending his time waiting and working to have the wife of God’s choosing than he would be speeding to have a wife who is not of the Lord’s provision.
Thursday, May 4th - Genesis 29: 20
The great price Jacob committed to pay for his having Rachel was not painful to him, but was transformed into pleasure due to the great love that he had for her. As the hymn rightly declares: Love will make obedience sweet. If our love for Christ were not so cold, we would find growing delight in His service—even when that service becomes sacrificial—and we would be increasingly freed from resentment and feelings of drudgery.
Friday, May 5th - Genesis 29: 20
Jacob was willing to pay a great price to have Rachel as his wife. He was soon to discover that he would have to pay a greater price to have her (and to have her sister in addition to her). That which Laban sinfully foisted upon and extorted from Jacob, the Lord gives sinlessly as pure reward issuing from His abundant grace. Our Lord will see to it that the schemes of those who would wickedly take advantage of us will ultimately serve for our rich blessing.
Saturday, May 6th - Genesis 29: 21, 22
Jacob has completed his duty of seven years of serving Laban. Therefore, he asks for Rachel to be given to him in marriage, according to his agreement with Laban. In response, Laban made a feast, as though he intended to fulfill his part of the agreement. However, this feast would prove to be but a component in Laban’s plan to deceive Jacob and defraud him of his true bride. For all of the injury this would cause Jacob, it would not be damaging to his soul. We are hurt far less when we are sinned against than we are when we ourselves sin. Jacob’s days of deceptive dealings are behind him, and though he is sinfully deceived by Laban, the God of truth, grace, and love would see to it that even this would work for Jacob’s good.
Sunday, May 7th - Genesis 29: 23-25
Here is the account of how the erstwhile deceiver was himself deceived. Laban’s deception contains multiple sins and aggravations of sin. He makes his own daughter to be a party to his deceit, just as Rebekah had done with her son, Jacob. His substitution of Leah for Rachel gave the lie to his words of agreement with Jacob, given seven years previously. His sinful deceit virtually prostituted his older daughter while it deprived his younger daughter of the bridegroom to whom she had been pledged. Finally, his deceit deprived Jacob, his own nephew, of his duly promised bride. Sin, in all of its forms, contains manifold offenses against man, but especially against the Lord. What gain could possibly justify the incurring of such compound guilt?
Monday, May 8th - Genesis 29: 25-30
When Jacob demanded an accounting from Laban for his deception, the old deceiver claimed a custom and added a complication to the broken agreement. The custom he claimed was that an older daughter must be given in marriage before a younger could be given. Of course, Laban had never mentioned this custom to Jacob before, nor does he give any indication that the custom could be disregarded, for such considerations would not have suited his deceptive and exploitative purposes. The complication Laban adds is the giving of Rachel to Jacob in return for seven more years of service. This is a hard bargain that serves to draw Jacob not only into extended servitude, but also into polygamy. Yet, Jacob pays the price and grows, not in bitterness, but in grace. Our Lord uses graceless tools to work grace into the character of His people.
Tuesday, May 9th - Genesis 29: 28-30
Jacob
fulfilled his part of the hard bargain struck by Laban. Though Leah had been deceptively foisted upon
Jacob, he devoted himself to her for the week after their marriage. When that week was ended, Jacob finally got
his beloved Rachel as his wife. With
these two sisters, Jacob also received their maids, so that there were four
women in his household. This combination
was far from ideal, especially as Jacob loved Rachel above Leah. Yet our perfect God does not require perfect
circumstances in order to work His perfect and gracious will for His people. From this unlikely family would descend the
12 sons and tribes of all
Wednesday, May 10th - Genesis 29: 30-32
Jacob apparently loved Leah, but he loved Rachel more. The impossibility of a man loving two wives equally is but one of the factors that makes polygamy sinfully wrong. Yet, the Lord shows compassion to His people, even in their sinful plights. Therefore, we find Him regarding compassionately the unloved Leah, and blessing her with the conception and birth of a son. Our merciful Lord knows how best to bless those whom the imperfect love of man would leave in a painfully unblessed state.
Thursday, May 11th - Genesis 29: 31, 32
We have seen Jacob growing in grace. We have seen him growing in his matrimonial prospects. Now we see the beginning of the growing of his family. The Lord is determined to bless His servant and to make him fruitful in every way. How rich we all are who belong to God through Christ, seeing that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).
Friday, May 12th - Genesis 29: 31, 32
The Lord loves the wife despised by His chosen man. The loving heart and providing hand of the Lord balance the crosses and comforts of His providence so that His people are kept from both pride and despair. Leah apparently bore her despised condition with Jacob in silence, for when she names her son, she chooses a name that from Hebrew translates: See, a son, implying that though God heard no cry from her, yet He beheld with loving regard the affliction that her loveless marriage brought upon her. Poor Leah hoped that her son, Reuben, the gift of the Lord’s love, would incite Jacob to love her, but it was not to be. Human love requires human merit, but the love of God is lavished upon us freely and mercifully.
Saturday, May 13th - Genesis 29: 33, 34
Leah bore Jacob a second son, naming him Simeon, which is related to the Hebrew verb, to hear. She recognized that the Lord not only had seen her affliction, but also that He perceived the cause of it being in her husband’s lack of love for her. With her third son, whose name, Levi, comes from a Hebrew verb meaning to join, Leah still hoped that her son would serve to draw Jacob closer to her in love. But still, Jacob showed preference for Rachel and neglect for Leah. Even with the blessing of God abundantly upon her, the unloved Leah could not draw to herself Jacob’s love.
Sunday, May 14th - Genesis 29: 35
Leah
hoped in vain that her bearing Jacob three sons would win his love for her. However, when she bore a fourth son, she
named him
Monday, May 15th - Genesis 30: 1, 2
For the first half of this thirtieth chapter of Genesis we have an account of the sinful jealousy that prevailed between Leah and Rachel and the fruit that came of it. Sin increases at every turn of this sordid competition between these sisters. Yet, in the holy providence of God, grace abounds in the enlargement of Jacob’s family. All blame is due to Jacob and his wives respecting the matter; all glory is due to God for His persistent love for these unlovely, jostling family members.
Tuesday, May 16th - Genesis 30: 1, 2
These verses record Rachel’s envy and Jacob’s anger. Rachel demands of her husband what she should have humbly asked from God. She wants children—not just one child. She wants children with an inordinate fixation, declaring that she would die without them. Sadly, she would die giving birth to the second of her sons (Gen. 35:16-19). In response to such impossible demands, Jacob’s love for Rachel turns to hot anger. She who demanded of her husband what God withheld, succeeded not in getting a son, but only in drying up the sympathy and alienating the love of her husband. Such proud demands will ever beget only opposition from the Lord and ignite resentment in men.
Wednesday, May 17th - Genesis 30: 3-6
Rachel could not have her way with Jacob or with the Lord. Instead of humbling herself and crying to the Lord and waiting patiently for Him to make His perfect provision in her life, she determines to take matters into her own hands. She who was not heeding her heavenly Master, orders her maid, Bilhah, to act in her stead as a third wife to Jacob. Here we have echoes of the faithless conspiracy of Abraham and Sarah endeavoring to produce a son through Hagar. Sadly, the grandson, Jacob, faithlessly follows the bad and bitter example of his grandfather. We do well, while honoring our earthly fathers, not to follow their sinful examples.
Thursday, May 18th - Genesis 30: 3-6
Jacob heeded the faithless counsel of his wife. From Adam, through Abraham, to Jacob, and beyond these patriarchs, godly men have always shown a propensity to heed their wives’ sinful suggestions, rather than to submit themselves in trusting obedience to the Lord. Let us take heed. If such great saints can rely on the frail arm of their own flesh, we, too, can easily fall into the same temptation.
Friday, May 19th - Genesis 30: 3-6
Though Rachel did not pray to God or heed His Word throughout all of this sordid business, still she assumes that the production of a son through her maid indicated divine blessing. Boldly, therefore, does she name her son Dan, meaning judge, for she reckoned that the Lord had judged her to be worthy of a son. The reality was that she was quite faithless and therefore unworthy in this matter. Yet, the Lord, being rich in mercy, sinlessly used the sin of Jacob and Rachel to add to Jacob’s growing number of sons.
Saturday, May 20th - Genesis 30: 7, 8
With her second son through Bilhah, Rachel declares, by the name she gave to the boy, that she was a wrestler. However, she at best was but a vicarious wrestler, for it was Bilhah who endured the pain of carrying and delivering these sons. Also, Rachel was not like Jacob would become, namely, one who wrestled with God. She was instead one who wrestled with her sister, participating against her in an unholy and unloving competition. How unworthily this chosen family is acting, and yet how kind, gracious, and generous is the Lord to bless them in spite of themselves.
Sunday, May 21st - Genesis 30: 9-13
The faithless action of Rachel prompts Leah to imitate her younger sister’s practice of surrogate motherhood. Through her maid, Zilpah, Leah reckons that she had produced two more sons for Jacob. Whereas with her previous sons, Leah acknowledged the blessing of the Lord, with these two through her maid she refers to fortune (Gad) and happiness (Asher). Holiness and the help of the Lord are not considerations for these wives of Jacob who are locked in a carnal competition against each other. It should be increasingly clear to us that the blessing of the Lord came to this family through divine grace and not through the worthy, faithful living of the family members.
Monday, May 22nd - Genesis 30: 14-16
Years have passed and the sons of Leah and Rachel are growing up. In this passage we see the sisters still motivated by sinful competition, rather than loving cooperation. We also see how great sins can hang on small matters. When Reuben brought his mother some fruit, Rachel desired some. Her desire was refused by Leah, but Rachel had such inordinate longing for the mandrakes that she virtually hires out her husband for a night with Leah in return for the fruit. Selfish impulses and faithless desires are driving Jacob and his wives, so that they use each other as pawns for their personal passions, rather than cherishing each other in holy love.
Tuesday, May 23rd - Genesis 30: 17-20
In return for her fruit given to Rachel, Leah bore living fruit to Jacob. In spite of all of the faithless conniving between Rachel, Leah, and Jacob, the Lord did not withhold His blessing from Leah, but heard her prayer and granted her a son. It is suggested by some scholars that Rachel thought the mandrakes would have had medicinal qualities that would enhance her ability to bear children. If so, then she continues to demonstrate her leaning on the arm of flesh, while her sister, Leah, at least was crying out to God in prayer, asking for His enabling power to grant her the conception of a son.
Wednesday, May 24th - Genesis 30: 18-20:
Leah named her fifth son
Issachar, meaning wages. She states that this son represented God
repaying her for her denying herself so that Jacob could continue to produce
sons through her maid, Zilpah. It is
more likely that the Lord graciously gave Leah this son as a gift of His free
grace, and not as payment for her pursuit of the unholy competition in
child-bearing with her sister. Leah
named her sixth son, Zebulun, expressing her acknowledgment of this son as a
gift from God granted to her as an added incentive for Jacob to dwell lovingly
with her. The vanity of this hope may be
observed when we note that Leah, who with her first four sons used the covenant
name of the Lord (Gen. 29: 31-35), now uses the designation for divine power
when she refers to God. When we view the
love and gifts of the Lord as mere means to help us attain some other end—in
Leah’s case, the love of her husband—then it should not surprise us when we
lose sight of the Lord’s covenant mercy, and remain conscious only of His
power.