Abraham had lived in Haran with his father (after
they left Ur) until Terah died. Isaac had married Rebekah after she had journeyed
from Haran to come to him. In this chapter we discover that Jacob lived in
Haran while he worked for his uncle and married his uncle's daughters.
The story of Jacob meeting Rachel is somewhat
reminiscent of the servant of Abraham meeting Rebekah in the same area several
decades before this. The timing of the
meeting, who was there, the emotions of the meeting, the well, the watering of
animals, the romantic theme... it's all very familiar.
Basically, God orchestrated things so that when
Jacob got to Haran he immediately found his mother's family and fell in love
with Rachel. Jacob was welcomed into Laban's home and evidently worked for him
for free for a brief time, after which he worked for 14 more years for Laban's
daughters' hands in marriage. Of course, that wasn't Jacob's original intent.
He intended to marry only Rachel after 7 years of service, but his
father-in-law tricked him. Laban snuck Leah in instead of Rachel.
Well, as God seems to have a habit of doing, He
leveled the playing field a little. He must have felt bad for Leah because she
wasn't loved by her own husband, so he blessed her with four boys: Reuben,
Simeon, Levi and Judah. This is no small matter. The priestly and royal tribes
of Israel were mothered by this unloved and unappealing "older
sister" - poetic justice; spiritual metaphor? I'm reminded that the
greatest king and priest of all time had family ties to both tribes and was
described as unappealing and unloved (Isaiah 53:2-3). There are no accidents in Holy Writ.
One thing that enamors me repeatedly is the
constant reminders (in the Bible) of God's sovereign and merciful condescension
to mankind. We know absolutely what God would pick if the picking were left
totally up to Him (Mark 10:6-8). But,
He has stooped to include our ridiculous jaunts into self-indulgence as
ingredients in His master plan (think of Judah's whoremongering incest, or who
Solomon's mother was). Anyway, at this
juncture in the story we have been introduced to the four women who will be the mothers of the 12 tribes of
Israel. Their names: Leah, Zilpah, Rachel and Bilhah.
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