Read with Me
Genesis 23:14b-20 (HCSB)
After Jacob had stayed with him a month, Laban said to him, “Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah had ordinary eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.” So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
Listen with Me
By the end of his first thirty days with his uncle, Laban, Jacob had proved his worth. It was apparent that he knew shepherding, so Laban approached him with the offer of actual pay for his work. He didn’t want to lose him to one of the neighboring shepherds who heard about his knowledge and skill.
When he asked Jacob what wages he would demand, Laban was a little startled by his answer: he would work seven years in exchange for Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel, as his wife. Even though Jacob was in his seventies and Rachel still a teen, all the family were long-lived. Laban himself was more than a century old at that time but was still in his prime.
To Laban, the match seemed like a good idea from two standpoints. First, it would ensure that Jacob stuck around, since he himself was the one who had suggested the term of seven years. And second, Rachel would be marrying into a wealthy family. So, Laban agreed to the match and the terms of Jacob’s employment.
As he wrote, Moses foreshadowed the approaching problem by introducing Rachel’s older sister, Leah, at this point. While there are many different ways that the description of Leah’s eyes has been translated, the intention was to draw a sharp contrast between the two sisters. Leah was rather plain looking, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Jacob was so head over heels in love with Rachel that he was willing to devote the next seven years of his life as her bride price. But even though seven years was a long time, his visions of a future with her, and the ability to spend substantial time with her in the interim, made the time fly by.
Pray with Me
Father, sometimes we get a goal in our hearts and hold onto it so strongly that we blind ourselves to any problems that appear off in the distance. And that is the trap that Jacob was preparing himself to fall into here. His love for Rachel was so overwhelming that he failed to see Laban for who he was, and the older sister, Leah, barely registered in his mind. But even though Jacob was blind, You were not. You were working in the midst of the circumstances to orchestrate Your plans for Jacob’s life and future. Thank You, Lord, that You are never blindsided, so we can trust You fully in all things. Amen.