Brian Somers Torah: Genesis 28:10 – 32:3
Haftarah: Hosea 11:7 – 12:14
New Testament/Brit Chadassah: John 1:10-51
At the conclusion of the previous week’s reading, Jacob had successfully deceived his father, taking the blessing that Isaac had intended to give his older twin brother, Esau. But his success came at a price. Esau was also blessed but not with the same blessing and came out of the tent in a murderous rage, fully intending to kill Jacob. Perhaps Esau thought by killing Jacob, the original blessing would revert to him. Who knows?
But to protect his life, Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob into exile to Haran. The exile turned out to last longer than the three of them probably expected: twenty years (see Genesis 31:41).
Before, Abraham sent his servant to choose a wife from his brother Nahor’s family. Nahor had eight sons (see Genesis 22:20-24). This time, both Isaac and Rebekah told Jacob to choose a wife from Rebekah’s brother Laban’s daughters. We are not told why the family of Abraham chose to continue taking wives from the line of Bethuel, eighth son of Nahor. Perhaps there is a hint in the name of Bethuel which could be translated as “dweller in God”.
By going into exile, Jacob had to leave his father and mother by their command. He obeyed them.
At some point during his journey from Beersheba to Haran, he was near the city that was Luz and chose to sleep outdoors with a stone for a pillow. Jacob then was granted the famed ladder to heaven. It is beyond the present scope to analyze this dream. For the present purpose, during the dream, YHVH made His covenant with Jacob just like he had made with his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. Because Jacob obeyed his parents, YHVH rewarded him with the covenant. No word is spoken here of chastisement for his deceit of his father. Perhaps that is because Rebekah took any punishment for the deceit on herself.
When Jacob woke up he was afraid, and later that morning, he responded with a vow of his own. Even though in his dream, YHVH had been emphatically unconditional that He would be with Jacob, Jacob still offered a conditional vow in response. In other words Jacob was afraid of YHVH, but he had not yet established the relationship with YHVH that his grandfather Abraham had. It is apparent that Jacob was at either the beginning or somewhere in the midpoint in his walk with YHVH.
As Hosea described it:
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
Hosea 12:3-5
And in his maturity he contended with God.
4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;
He wept and implored His favor.
He found Him at Bethel,
And there He spoke with us,
5 And the Lord, the God of armies,
The Lord is His name.
YHVH does not say anything about this vow, perhaps understanding that Jacob needed to experience Him directly and personally. Then in his maturity of his faith, he would be able to contend with God and wrestle with the Angel.
It should be noted that no two people experience YHVH and His Yeshua in exactly the same way. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all walked before YHVH but in very different ways. We should not expect that our walk will be the same as theirs, nor that everyone else should experience Him the same way as we did and do. He meets us where we are, and takes us forward.
When Jacob arrives in the outskirts of the city of Haran in the country of Padan Aram, he encounters some shepherds. He engaged them in easy conversation which shows us that he was a sociable man. But when he asked the shepherds why their flocks were at the well during the middle of the day because they should be grazing, he demonstrated that while he had indeed dwelt in tents, he knew shepherding. Jacob actually issued a command to the local shepherds to take them grazing! But the shepherds pushed back because of local custom to wait until all the flocks are gathered and then roll the stone off of the well to water the sheep.
However, when Jacob saw Rachel coming with her flock of sheep, Jacob disregarded local custom and rolled the stone off the well himself. Others have noted that Jacob must have been a strong and powerful man to roll off the stone by himself. He watered Rachel’s flock and then kissed Rachel!! Then he introduced himself to the undoubtedly confused beautiful shepherdess!
After Laban heard the story, he ran and extended his hospitality to Jacob as he had done so many years ago for Abraham’s servant. If I read the text correctly, Jacob worked alongside Laban and his family for a month. However, Laban wanted to know what wages Jacob wanted. Jacob proposed working for Laban for 7 years and that labor would serve as a dowry for his younger daughter Rachel.
But at the end of 7 years, Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah the older sister. Jacob had to agree to work another 7 years for Rachel. I look at Jacob as being a romantic man who wanted only one woman but got two. The conventional view of this state of affairs is that as Jacob deceived his father and took his brother Esau’s blessing, so Laban deceived Jacob and Leah took the blessing of being Jacob’s first wife from her sister. Laban justified the deceit on the basis of the local custom being that the elder sister marries first, which he conveniently forgot to communicate to Jacob at the beginning of the first 7 years.
YHVH is silent about Jacob marrying two sisters, but He saw that Leah was unloved and Rachel loved. His response was to open Leah’s womb and to close Rachel’s womb. This goes directly to Jacob’s heart attitude.
From the reasons given by Leah for naming her first three sons, she was hurting a great deal from not being loved by her husband.
When Reuben the firstborn was born, she hoped “now my husband would love me.” She named her second son Shimon because “YHVH has heard that I am unloved.” Levi was named so because she wistfully said that “my husband will become attached to me.” By the time Judah was born, she named him thus because “I will praise YHVH.” It seems that by the time of Judah’s birth, Jacob’s attitude towards her had improved. Then she stopped bearing.
While Leah was in a place of pain because of Jacob’s apparent resentment, Rachel was frustrated with her closed womb and complained to her husband. Jacob was angered. Did either of them at this time realize how Jacob’s attitude to Leah was the real reason why Rachel was not conceiving? I am inclined not to think so, and it also makes me wonder how many of the problems we have in our marriages come as a result of the husband’s attitude to his wife or wives. Husbands, we really need to check ourselves! Wives, sometimes you are right and it is the husband’s fault. But not always.
Because of her jealousy over her sister’s fecundity, Rachel started a competition for child bearing. Since she herself at that time could not conceive, she gave Jacob her maid Bilhah to adopt children that Bilhah conceived by her husband. The names and reasons that Rachel gave to Bilhah’s two sons are revealing. Bilhah’s first son was named Dan because “God has vindicated me.” Bilhah’s second son by Jacob was named Naphtali because “she struggled with her sister and won.”
Leah in turn gave her maid Zilpah to her husband. From Zilpah, Leah gets two sons. The first is named Gad, because Leah felt fortunate to have him. The other son is named Asher because Leah is happy. Leah was moving into a happier place.
Then Leah herself again became able to conceive. Her next son was named Issachar because YHVH gave her the baby because she gave her maid to her husband. After Issachar, Zebulon was born and he was named with the hope because YHVH has given her a “good gift and now my husband will dwell with me.” Dinah was Leah’s last child and the only daughter born to Jacob.
Finally, Rachel was able to conceive and give birth to Joseph, and her request was that YHVH would give her another son. I believe that Rachel was finally able to conceive because Jacob by now had learned to love Leah and YHVH responded to Jacob’s heart change by opening Rachel’s womb.
Where Leah was hurting because she was not loved by her husband, Rachel was hurting because she wasn’t conceiving children by her husband. If only Jacob could have loved Leah like he loved Rachel from the start, so much pain could have been avoided! But good did come out of this pain because twelve sons were given to Jacob. These sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.
When Jacob was preparing to leave for home, he had the following discussion with Laban.
25 When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know very well the service I have given you.” 27 But Laban said to him, “If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you; 28 name your wages, and I will give it.” 29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me. 30 For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly; and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31 He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it:
Genesis 30:25-31
Jacob specifically asked for his wives and children and permission to depart. He refused to take anything from Laban, and chose rather to agree with Laban on what sheep he would take. He then applied his knowledge of animal husbandry and increased his herds legitimately.
Laban and his sons increasingly viewed Jacob’s success with disfavor. It became bad enough that Jacob called a private meeting with both sisters in the field and discussed it with them. Bilhah and Zilpah were not included. Jacob told his wives about the dream YHVH had given him. Both wives said they would follow Jacob back to his own home and country.
So one day when Laban and his sons were away from home, Jacob formed a caravan and left without informing Laban. We learn that omission or silence can be considered deceit. At this time, Rachel stole her father’s teraphim without Jacob’s knowledge.
Laban went after them, but received a dream in which YHVH warned him to be careful what he said to Jacob. When he caught up with Jacob, he accused Jacob of taking away his daughters and grandchildren, as well as his teraphim. Jacob responded by accusing Laban of changing his wages ten times and also declaring that if the teraphim were found, the thief would die. Rachel was sitting on the teraphim and perhaps deceived her father by saying she was in her menstrual period and asked to remain seated. Unfortunately, her theft and lies led to her death because of Jacob’s judgment.
The covenant between Jacob and Laban was based on Laban agreeing that Jacob would take his wives and children home, and that Jacob would not take any more wives, and that neither would attack the other. An amicable beginning had soured to hard feelings between the two men. Jacob did not get wives from Padan Aram for his sons.
What do we learn from this portion that we can apply to our daily lives as Hebrew Israelite men? First, deal honestly and forthrightly to all men. Deceit, unless commanded by YHVH, does not pay and only causes hurt and pain in the long run. Second, if a man has more than one wife, love all of the wives and treat them fairly. Maybe each wife won’t be loved the same way, which is fine, because each wife is a different woman and has her own unique needs, interests, and wants.