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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday January 6, 2019
JACOB
ARRIVES AT PADAN-ARAM
Genesis
29:1-14
After leaving Bethel, and being
newly inspired by GOD through “a divine dream”, Jacob now hurried along briskly
to Padan-aram. When he arrived there he saw, at some distance off, three flocks
of sheep lying in an open field near a Well that was covered with a heavy
stone. They were probably waiting to be watered, as it was the custom in the
east to gather all of the flocks together first, before the watering began.
Jacob’s Bethel experience had taken his
mind off his problems for a while, and now he had turned his focus toward
finding a wife who he could fulfill the Covenant promise of GOD through. There
are striking similarities between the way Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, met
Rebekah, while pursuing a wife for Isaac (chapter 24), and how Jacob now meets
Rachel here in this chapter. We can also clearly see the divine leadership of
GOD in both accounts.
In Old Testament scriptures, particularly
in these “Patriarchal Narratives”, Wells are often associated with the
blessings of GOD on the person who finds them. Here in verse 4 of this passage,
Jacob walks over to the shepherds who were standing near the Well and asked
them, “Where do you live?” And the men replied, “Haran”, and so the next
obvious question was, “Do you know a man named Laban?, and they replied that
they did.
As the conversation dragged on, suddenly
Rachel, the daughter of Laban, arrived at the Well with her father’s sheep.
Jacob then went over to the Well and removed the stone and began to water
Rachel’s sheep first. Afterwards, he went over to Rachel and greeted her with a
kiss, as he explained to her who he was. Rachel ran quickly to tell her father,
and he rushed out to meet his sister Rekebah’s son for the first time. Her
father, Laban, then invited Jacob to stay at his home, affording him with all
the hospitality that the people of his day had to offer (Vs.9-14a).
JACOB
MARRIES LEAH AND RACHEL AND STARTS HIS FAMILY
Genesis
29:15-35
After Jacob had been living and
working with Laban for about a month, Laban suggested to him that he didn’t
have to work for him without pay, just because they were related. He then asked
Jacob how much did he want for his services. We see throughout scriptures how
GOD orders the steps of sinful people in an effort to set them right with HIMSELF.
In verses 15-35 we’ll see just how that principle worked in the life of Jacob,
as here he is allowed to set the terms of his own route to redemption.
Now, Laban had another daughter whose name
was Leah. She was his eldest, and she had very pretty eyes. Jacob, of course,
had already fallen in love with Rachel, the younger daughter, who was pretty
all over, from head to toe. When Jacob, requested as pay, the right to marry
Rachel, it was quickly agreed to by Laban. Perhaps Laban, who adhered closely
to Hebrew customs, just like his brother-in-law Isaac did, now saw an
opportunity to get both of his daughters married off at the same time.
Hebrew custom called for the eldest
daughter in a family to be married off first, before any other daughter could
be united in matrimony. Jacob, however, was so blinded by his love for Rachel,
that he had forgotten that that was the correct procedure. Then too, he had
never really held the custom of “the eldest comes first”, in high regard, and
he had already grown accustomed to ignoring that principal, by his deceiving of
his brother Esau, at least twice that we know of.
However, now the deal was set, and Jacob
would work for Laban for seven years as payment of dowry, the price to marry
the love of his life, Rachel. Time passed quickly for Jacob, and when the
completion of his part of the deal had been realized, he excitedly ran to Laban
to collect his bride and take her home for consummation. Laban set up a wedding
feast and invited everyone in the neighborhood to attend. They all feasted and
celebrated with food and drink until the night had come. Everyone was in very
high spirits.
When darkness had come, after Jacob was
filled with wine and ready to receive his bride, Laban underhandedly places his
older daughter Leah in Jacob’s tent, and he unwittingly slept with her,
thinking that she was his darling Rachel. When Jacob awoke the next morning,
much to his surprise, the woman lying next to him was not Rachel, but Leah. Laban
had deceived him and he couldn’t imagine why! “I worked seven years for Rachel.
What do you mean by this trickery?” Jacob lamented.
Then Laban reminded Jacob of their custom
of, “The eldest comes first”, which was also observed in his father Isaac’s
house, even though he had blatantly violated that custom in matters concerning
his brother Esau, over and over again. However, in keeping with his promise,
Laban tells Jacob to wait until his bridal week was over and then he could
marry Rachel too, if he promised to work seven more years as payment of dowry
for both daughters.
Jacob, who, probably at that moment was
feeling convicted by how he himself had violated that custom concerning his
brother Esau, then agreed to Laban’s offer. Laban also gave each of his
daughters a maidservant; to Leah he appointed Zilpah, and to Rachel, he
appointed Bilhah. Jacob loved Rachel more than he loved Leah, yet he had to pay
the same price for both, and so we see in this passage, that, he stayed and
worked an additional seven years for Laban, to satisfy his debt of dowry to him
for both of his daughters.
As we close out this chapter, we see the
expansion of the promise being realized with the beginnings of the first four
of the twelve tribes of Israel coming into focus through Leah, “the unloved
daughter” (Vs.31-35). Here she gives birth to the first four of Jacob’s
children, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Judah is the line from which our
LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST would later come, and the name “Judah” means,
“Let him be praised”.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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