Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "All in the Family"

Text: Genesis 29:15-28

Then Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Lāban, and decided to take matters into his own hands. He walked over to the well, rolled the large stone away, and gave water to her flock. Then he kissed Rachel, and wept aloud. And then Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, that he was Rebekah’s son; and Rachel ran away and told her father.

When Lāban heard this news, he ran to meet Jacob, embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Then, in the way of travelers, Jacob told Lāban all about his life and his trip. And Lāban responded by proclaiming, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And Jacob remained with Lāban for a month.

This brings us, at long last, to this morning’s lectionary passage, labeled simply "Jacob marries Leah and Rachel" in the RSV Bibles in the pew racks. But this lectionary passage is merely a small segment of a much larger story: the birth of Jacob’s children and the establishment of the ancestors of the tribes of Israel. So, sit back and put yourself into the sandals of the folks who, generation after generation, heard this story of their origins and their God.

This morning’s lectionary passage begins with Lāban asking Jacob, his sister’s son, what should his wages be for working there with Lāban’s household. At this point, the narrator provides us, the audience, with some essential information – namely, that Lāban had two daughters, the elder one called Leah and the younger called Rachel. The narrator adds that Leah’s eyes were – depending on the translation into English – either "weak" or "tender" or "lovely." What matters is the contrast of Leah with Rachel, who is described as "graceful and beautiful."

Jacob loved Rachel, so he offered to serve Lāban for seven years to obtain her in marriage. Lāban agreed, especially since this was a very high bride price for Jacob to offer. Moreover, it meant that Lāban also would have his daughter Rachel in the household for another seven years, and would profit from her labor during that period. Time passed, and the seven years seemed to Jacob "but a few days because of the love he had" for Rachel. Eventually, Jacob’s bride service was completed, and he said to Lāban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her.”

So Lāban held a feast to celebrate the occasion. But Lāban decided to deceive Jacob. That night, after food and drink had been consumed, he placed in the marriage tent his older daughter Leah, clothed and veiled from head to toe. Jacob went in to the darkened tent to consummate the marriage. And then the narrator tells us, "When morning came, it was Leah!"

Jacob, the great deceiver, had been deceived! He went running to complain to Lāban, saying “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" Lāban calmly replied, “This is not done in our country – giving the younger before the firstborn.” This retort should have stung Jacob to the core – reminding him that he had deceived his own father to steal the blessing of his older brother, Esau. And you can just imagine the listeners to this tale, generation after generation, feeling that some small bit of justice had been done by Jacob being treated this way by Lāban. Even the ancients would have understood the saying, "What goes around, comes around."

But Lāban was not finished with Jacob. Immediately, he offered Jacob a deal that he couldn’t refuse. He said, “Complete the week of this one, and we will give the other also in return for serving me another seven years." We can translate this into more contemporary language by saying, "Observe the seven-days of marriage rituals with Leah, then you can have Rachel for the same seven years’ of service that you offered for her in the first place."

Jacob made no reply, but the narrator informs us that "Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Lāban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.” This is where the lectionary passage ends, but hear the rest of the story: “So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Lāban for another seven years.”

Well, this is quite a story. Jacob the great deceiver gets his come-uppance. In being tricked by Lāban, he learns first-hand that he and his mother Rebekah weren’t the only members of the family who were tricksters of the first order. Don’t forget that Lāban would have been well aware of Jacob’s own skills at deception, since, in the verses (13 and 14) just before the start of the lectionary passage, Jacob had told Lāban everything, and Lāban had responded, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Looking back, this ordinary phrase for recognizing a family member takes on new meaning. Not only does Lāban recognize a fellow kinsman, he acknowledges a fellow trickster.

The Lord has a peculiar role in this marriage story. As you will remember, in the earlier exchange of women within this family, Abraham’s servant had been sent to Hāran to find a daughter for the son, Isaac. In that affair, the participants understood that God was at the center of the action. In that earlier generation, Bethuel and Lāban had said to Abraham’s servant, "The thing comes from the Lord . . . Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken" (Gen 24:50-51).

In contrast, the Lord seems to be absent from the present affair. Nowhere in the negotiations between Lāban and Jacob does anyone offer thanks to the Lord or seek a blessing for the arrangement’s success. In fact, the Lord does not appear in person until after the lectionary passage has ended. Finally, in verse 31, “the Lord saw that Leah was unloved.” The Lord chose to open her womb, but Rachel remained barren. From that moment on, the Lord is ever-present, being deemed responsible for each of the children born to Leah, and eventually to Rachel and to the two maids, Bilhah and Zilpah.

Another difference between the Rebekah story and the Leah-Rachel story is visible in the women’s roles. In the earlier encounter, the men called Rebekah and said to her "Will you go with this man?", and she replied, "I will go." In the present affair, neither Leah nor Rachel is given any voice. Not a single word of dialogue belongs to them, from the beginning of chapter 29 until the marriages have been consummated (29:32).

Eventually, after the end of the lectionary passage, Leah, the elder sister, finds her voice, declaring , "because the Lord has looked on my affliction; surely now my husband will love me." She names her first-born son Reuben – whose name translates as "See, a son" but also sounds like Hebrew words meaning "for he has seen my misery" (29:32). When a second son is born, Leah proclaims, "Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also." That second son was called Simeon, which means "One who hears" (29:33) A third son – called Levi, a name similar to a Hebrew word meaning "attached" – was born, and Leah said, "Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons" (29:34). And then a fourth son was born, and Leah announced, "This time I will praise the Lord;" therefore she named him Judah – which sounds like the Hebrew word for "praise" (29:35). At that point, Leah ceased bearing children.

During these several years, Rachel envied her sister, finally complaining to Jacob, saying, "Give me children, or I shall die!" (30:1). And Jacob angrily replied, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" This is the first time since he had arrived among the people of the east that Jacob mentioned the name of God. Now, he unashamedly puts on God the responsibility for Rachel being without children.

Rachel decides to do as Sarah had done earlier with Abraham – to send her maid into her husband, so that she might have children through her. When that son was born, Rachel declared, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son," whom she named Dan, which means "He judged" (30:6). Rachel’s maid had another son, and this time Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrested with my sister, and have prevailed," so she named him Naphtali, which means "my struggle" ((30:8).

Not to be outdone, Leah took her maid to Jacob and she bore him a son. and Leah said, "Good fortune!" and so named the boy Gad, which means "fortune" (30:11). And then the maid Zilpah had a second son, and Leah proclaimed "Happy am I! for the women will call me happy," and she named the child Asher, which means "happy" (30:13).

The baby derby continued when Leah’s first-born son, Reuben, found in the field some mandrake plants (considered an aphrodisiac in ancient times), and Leah swapped them to Rachel in exchange for a night with Jacob. According to the story, God heeded Leah, who bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, "God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband; so she named him Issachar," which sounds like the Hebrew for "reward" (30:18). Then Leah had another son, and announced, "God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons" (30:20). And she named him Zebulun, which probably means "honor." The narrator then adds, almost as a footnote, that Leah then bore Jacob a daughter called Dinah – about whom Leah says nothing!

Finally, God remembered Rachel, and God heeded her and opened her womb. Maybe the mandrakes she acquired from Leah did some good after all! Rachel conceived and bore a son, and said "God has taken away my reproach," so she called him Joseph which means "He adds" (30:24).

If you have been keeping track, you have counted eleven sons – the first four from Leah; then two from Rachel’s maid, Bilhah; then two from Leah’s maid, Zilpah; then two more from Leah; and one from Rachel. The other child was the girl Dinah, but she didn’t count. The twelfth and last son would be named Benjamin, but he wouldn’t be born until much later on Jacob’s journeys with his family, and Rachel died in his birth (35:18).

These, then, were the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel, all but one born during the period in Hāran. This shows that the Lord was able to make much of the deceptions of Lāban and Jacob. Recall the words of Paul, in this morning’s Epistle reading, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

Try to hear the story of Jacob, Lāban, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah in the way that generations and generations of Hebrews listened to it. This was a great moment in their history, filled with characters who sought to deceive and manipulate one another, but who ultimately fulfilled their roles in God’s plan to establish the tribes of Israel. This story began with the voices of the men in the place of honor, but as it continues, the women came to the forefront. Leah and Rachel emerge with strong voices and see themselves as acting to fulfill the Lord’s purposes. Meanwhile, Jacob becomes little more than an agent of procreation, and Lāban disappears temporarily from the narrative.

By the end of the story, with eleven sons and a daughter in the family, Jacob understands that he has completed the mission that his father Isaac had given to him (cf. 28:2-3). From his arrival as a solitary traveler seeking out the family of his mother’s brother, he has survived fourteen years of bride service, and has spent an additional six years working among the flocks, during which time he was blessed with children and became wealthy with sheep and slaves.

Eventually, even Leah and Rachel understood that their loyalty no longer should be to their father Lāban, but to their husband Jacob. To demonstrate where was their loyalty, Rachel stole her father’s household gods, as Jacob and all his family fled toward the west. Lāban and his family pursued them, but did not find the household gods. After Jacob proclaimed that God was on his side (31:42), Lāban faced the reality of the situation and offered to make a covenant with Jacob. To establish the covenant, Jacob once again set up a stone pillar, and his kinsmen added stones around it in a heap. After making a joint sacrifice and sharing in the eating of bread, Lāban rose early on the following morning and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he departed and returned home (31:55).

Thus ends the story of Jacob’s journey to the east. It is a complex story, full of tricksters and characters whose motives were less than inspired. Yet, the Lord was there to remind them – and to remind their descendants and to remind us – that they were "all in the family" – not just Lāban’s family, not just Jacob’s family, but God’s family. Thanks be to God. Amen.