2d • General discussion
Gen 29
I have read Genesis 29 several times throughout my life. It’s interesting that when studying the Word of God, you can glean something new every time you revisit a passage. The lessons we have been learning from the book of Genesis this past year are lessons I never would have expected to walk away with.
The characters in the account—which we know is not merely a story, but real people and real events—have come alive. As we studied them, we were able to either relate to them personally or recognize people like them in our own lives.
Jacob:Jacob tricked and deceived his brother Esau and eventually reaped what he had sown through his Uncle Laban. Yet despite his flaws, Jacob was blessed and chosen by God. In time, he truly repented of his deception, and God changed his name.
No matter what Laban tried to do to Jacob, you could not keep an anointed man down. God was with him.
Laban:Laban was an opportunist. He always had an expectation of gain. He constantly evaluated situations based on how they could benefit him. He recognized the blessing and value on Jacob’s life and sought to exploit it.
“How do I benefit from the blessing that is on Jacob’s life?”
Laban did everything he could to keep Jacob close—to keep him in his presence so he could continue to benefit from what was on Jacob’s life.
People will desire proximity when they recognize:• Favor• Increase• Benefit attached to a person
This is about retaining access to what is on someone’s life.
Have you ever met someone like this?
Rachel:Rachel was beautiful—extremely beautiful—and because of it, she was highly favored by people. Her beauty opened doors and gave her opportunities that average women, or women considered less attractive, did not receive.
She seemed to get everything she wanted… except children.
Until God pitied her.
Leah:Leah was beautiful too, yet she had weak eyes or what many believe may have been a lazy eye. It was so distracting that people overlooked the fact that she was beautiful and well-formed.
She was undesired. Overlooked. Discounted. Perceived as having little value.
Yet Leah was valuable.
What she brought into the marriage was incomparable. She knew how to do things Rachel did not know how to do because Rachel had been favored and handed many things easily. Leah, on the other hand, had to survive without being rescued or preferred.
She learned things through rejection and hardship that others never had to learn.
And she was blessed with children.
God:God saw each of them individually and knew what each of them truly needed. He responded to each of them accordingly.
He knew they all needed to learn lessons that would ultimately draw them closer to Him.
Sometimes God allows us to act out of character, as Jacob did, so that we may reap what we have sown and understand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of our own behavior. Only then can true repentance and transformation take place.
God did not want Leah trying to become Rachel. There were things He needed Leah to learn so she could benefit Jacob in ways he never anticipated. We may never fully know how instrumental Leah was in Jacob’s growth, maturity, and development.
When others overlooked Leah, God saw her and favored her.
Rachel also needed to learn what it felt like to be deprived of something—to understand that you cannot always have your way. Everything will not come easily simply because you are beautiful. And beauty itself is fleeting.
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Gen 29
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