Genesis 29

Life isn’t easy, and what life does to us depends a great deal on what life finds in us. Jacob could have easily left his family problems behind, but he had to take along his biggest problem—himself. During the next twenty years (31:41), Jacob would experience many painful trials in Laban’s household, but in the end, he would become God’s man to accomplish God’s will.

However, don’t read these chapters as an ancient story about one man’s family. This is a contemporary story about all of us who are making important decisions on the road of life, decisions that determine character and destiny.

Jesus made it clear that not everybody is supposed to get married (Matt. 19:1–12). But with Jacob, marriage wasn’t an option; it was an obligation. The success of the covenant promises God gave to Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3; 28:1–4) depended on Jacob’s finding a wife and with her building a family that would eventually become the people of Israel, the nation that would bring the promised Redeemer into the world.

The meeting (vv. 1–13). Fortified by the gracious promises that God had given him at Bethel (27:10–22), Jacob made the long journey to Paddan Aram. The episode at the well reminds us of the experience of Abraham’s servant when he was seeking a wife for Isaac (24:10ff.), a story that Jacob had certainly heard many times. However, there’s no record that Jacob prayed as did his grandfather’s servant, but perhaps he had prayed for God’s guidance all during his long journey.

I get the impression that when Jacob saw Rachel, it was love at first sight. If so, it explains why he tried to get the shepherds to water their flocks and leave, because he wanted Rachel all to himself at their first meeting. The stone that covered the well was large and heavy (29:2), but Jacob was able to move it so he could water Rachel’s flock. When he introduced himself, she ran to tell Laban the news. In the ancient East, family ties were very strong, and visiting relatives, including those you’d never met before, would be entertained in the home of their own flesh and blood.

We see the providence of God in this meeting. Jacob could have borrowed words from Isaac’s servant: “I being in the way, the Lord led me” (24:27). Unbelievers might call this event “a fortunate coincidence,” but believers would see in it the gracious leading of the hand of God. In the life of the trusting Christian, there are no accidents, only appointments.

But we also see in this event the beginning of some positive changes in the character of Jacob. For one thing, look at his boldness as he confronted the shepherds, moved the stone, and introduced himself to Rachel. And look at his honesty as he told his story to Laban, Rachel’s father (29:18). How much family history is covered by “all these things” isn’t revealed in the text, but Jacob certainly had to explain why he was there and what plans he had for the future. Remembering the wealth his sister Rebekah received from Isaac, Laban may have hoped that Jacob would be just as generous.

The agreement (vv. 14–20). During his first month in Laban’s house, Jacob did his share of the work and was happy for every opportunity to be with Rachel. What Jacob didn’t realize was that Laban was a master schemer who would control his life for the next twenty years. In the excitement of that moment of decision, which involved accepting a job and being engaged to a beautiful woman, Jacob failed to notice that Laban made no promise that he would give Rachel to Jacob at the end of the seven years. He only agreed to give him Rachel for his wife.

Once again we see growth in Jacob’s character as he patiently served Laban for seven difficult years. Shepherding isn’t an easy vocation, and seven years is a long time, but Jacob’s love for Rachel took the burden out of the work and caused the time to pass quickly. It’s been well said that happiness consists of having someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to; and Jacob had all three.

The deception (vv. 21–30). The man who deceived his father was deceived by his father-in-law, and the man who passed himself off as the firstborn son now receives Laban’s firstborn daughter to be his wife. It’s an inescapable law of life that we eventually reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7–8). God in His grace forgives our sins when we confess them (1 John 1:9), but God in His government allows us to suffer the painful consequences of those sins. This disappointment was just the beginning of the harvest for Jacob.

Eastern women were kept fairly secluded, and there was no such thing as “dating” in that culture, but surely Jacob had gotten to know Rachel and Leah fairly well during those seven years. Why, then, was he so easily deceived? Granted, the bridal chamber was dark and the bride was veiled (Gen. 24:65), and perhaps she didn’t speak above a whisper, but in the intimacy of the marriage bed, how could Jacob not know who the woman was?

Had Jacob celebrated too much? Perhaps. Or maybe he was intoxicated by his passionate love (Prov. 5:19). Was Leah a willing partner in the subterfuge or did her unprincipled father force her to obey him? And where was Rachel during the drama? We can imagine several possible scenarios but can be sure of none of them.

Had Leah so desired, she could easily have revealed the plot, but that would have embarrassed Laban before his guests and probably led to Jacob’s being banished from the home without his beloved Rachel. Then for the rest of her life, Leah would have had to live with a disappointed sister and an angry father, who would devise some means to get even with his elder daughter. No, revealing the scheme just wasn’t worth it.

I feel that Leah was a willing accomplice, happy to get a hard-working husband like Jacob, who would inherit Isaac’s wealth and enjoy the covenant blessings of Abraham. Certainly she knew that Rachel would also be part of the bargain, but was willing to risk whatever problems might ensue. Leah may have “borrowed” some of her sister’s garments and even learned to imitate some of her personal mannerisms. If so, she was treating Jacob just the way he had treated his father when he pretended to be Esau.

But imagine the groom waking up on the first morning of his festive week and discovering that he was married to the wrong woman! Among Semitic peoples, for seven days after their marriage, the bride and groom were treated like a king and queen, but Jacob must have felt more like the court jester. Laban had made a fool of him, but there was nothing Jacob could do about it, for the father in the household was in supreme control. His unscrupulous father-in-law had married off two daughters to a potentially wealthy man and had secured another seven years’ service from his son-in-law as a bonus!

Jacob protested the way Laban had treated him and Rachel, but he meekly accepted his lot and went back to work for another seven years. Little by little, Jacob was learning to submit to God’s loving hand of discipline and was growing in faith and character. At the end of Leah’s marriage week, Jacob married Rachel, the woman he loved, and had another week to live like a king. But from then on, he would endure thirteen years of hardship and conflict, not only because of his in-laws, but also because of his own wives and their maids.

Laban must have congratulated himself on the success of his scheme, not realizing that the Lord was ruling and overruling in the entire event. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30). As Jacob’s son Joseph would say many years later, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50: nkjv). Christians today would quote Romans 8:28.

The Song of Solomon reminds us that the Jewish people never minimized the personal joys of marriage, but they also emphasized the responsibility of having children and building a God-fearing family. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. … Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward” (Ps. 127:1, 3 nkjv).

The Jews looked upon parenthood as a stewardship before God, and this was especially true in the case of Jacob, whose descendants would multiply “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Gen. 22:17). God would honor him by making him the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, but the fact that four different women were involved in building his family would create for Jacob one problem after another. The man who had grown up in a divided and competitive home (25:28) would himself create a divided and competitive family.

Leah’s children (29:31–35; 30:17–21). The word “hated” in verse 31 doesn’t imply active abuse on Jacob’s part; it simply means he loved Rachel more than he loved Leah and gave Rachel more attention and affection. (See Deut. 21:15–17 and our Lord’s words in Matt. 6: and Luke 14:26.) The fact that Leah bore Jacob six sons and a daughter indicates that he fulfilled his marital duties toward her, but she knew his heart belonged to her sister.

The Lord also knew this, so He blessed Leah with conception. It’s paradoxical that while Jacob was working fourteen years to pay for two wives, only one of those wives was bearing children. Jacob knew that children were a blessing from the Lord (Gen. 30:1–2), for it was God who gave Isaac to Abraham and Sarah and who also gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac and Rebekah (see Ps. 139:13–16).

Leah named her firstborn Reuben, which means “see—a son!” In the Hebrew language, the name sounds like “he [God] has seen my affliction.” Since every Jewish father wanted sons (127:4–5), Leah was certain that this baby would cause her husband to love her. However, she was wrong. Simeon means “one who hears” and suggests that Leah had been talking to God about her misery. Years later, Jacob would replace Reuben and Simeon with Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:1–6). They were replaced because Reuben was guilty of sexual sin (35:22; 49:3–4; 1 Chron. 5:1–2) and Simeon had participated in the massacre of the Shechemites (Gen. 34:24–31; 49:5–7).

Levi was the name she gave her third son, and it means “attached,” for Leah was still hoping that Jacob would love her for the sons she had borne him. It must have been painful for her to have to give herself to a husband who was only doing his duty and not sharing his affection. But the birth of her fourth son seemed to bring a new joy to her life, for she called him Judah, which comes from the Hebrew word meaning “praise.” Instead of complaining to the Lord about her unresponsive husband, she was now praising the Lord for His blessings. “This time I will praise the Lord” (29:35).

After a period of barrenness, Leah was enabled by God to bear two more sons: Issachar, which means “reward, wages” and Zebulon, which probably means “honor” (30:14–21). In those days, the fruit of the mandrake plant was called a “love apple” and was considered to be a powerful love potion. When Rachel saw Reuben’s mandrakes, she wanted them for her own use and was willing to give Leah a night with Jacob as “payment” for the plants. Perhaps Rachel thought that by eating the mandrake fruit she would become fertile.

We see in this episode another evidence of Jacob’s spiritual growth, for not only did Laban tell him what to do, but also Jacob’s own wives made agreements that he knew nothing about until he came home weary from caring for the flocks. Rachel and Leah treated Jacob like a servant and used him as a pawn in their family bargaining, and he patiently bore with it.

Bilhah’s children (vv. 1–8). That Jacob could become angry with his favorite wife shouldn’t surprise us. Even the most loving couples have their occasional disagreements, and, after all, she was blaming him for something over which he had no control. But what Rachel needed wasn’t a lecture on theology or gynecology. She needed the kind understanding of her husband and the encouragement that only his love could provide.

In offering her maid Bilhah to become a surrogate mother (see chap. 16), Rachel was exercising her rights under the law of the land and agreeing that Bilhah should became Jacob’s wife. The phrase “bear upon my knees” (30: 3) refers to the legal adoption of any children begotten by Jacob and borne by Bilhah (see 50:23).

The Lord answered Rachel’s prayers (30:6), for Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan, which comes from a Hebrew word meaning “vindication, judgment.” She called Bilhah’s second son Naphtali (“my struggle”) because of the wrestlings she had experienced over the blessings enjoyed by her more fruitful sister. With the birth of Naphtali, Bilhah ceased conceiving.

Zilpah (vv. 9–13). Leah’s temporary barrenness (compare v. 9 with vv. 14–21) motivated her to give Jacob a fourth wife, her maid Zilpah, and, like Rachel, to claim Zilpah’s children as her own. She named the first boy Gad (“luck has come”) and the second one Asher (“blessed, happy”).

Rachel (vv. 22–24). At long last, Rachel conceived and gave birth to a son whom she named Joseph. The mandrakes had nothing to do with this pregnancy; it was God who blessed her in answer to her prayers. The Hebrew word qsaf means “take away,” and yosef means “to add.” God had taken away her reproach of being childless and had added to her blessings. Her prayer “May the Lord add to me another son” (v. 24) was answered in the birth of Benjamin (“son of my right hand”), but the delivery led to her death (35:16–20). It was Joseph whom God would use to save the entire family during the time of terrible famine.