Dr Paul Allen

Genesis 29 relates the story of Jacob’s love for Rachel. And yet, on his wedding night, the deceiver was himself deceived. Though he had worked for Laban seven years in order to marry his youngest daughter, Jacob woke up the next morning lying next to Leah, Rachael’s older sister.  And so in verse 25 of Genesis 29, Jacob says to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”  Laban then responds, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”  What we have here in this scene is a kind of echo of earlier events. Just as Isaac had been deceived by Jacob at the advice of his mother, Jacob has now been deceived by Leah and her father Laban. After he had deceived his father, Jacob was blessed in the place of his brother and became the inheritor of the fertile land of Canaa...

“Rachel and Leah answered … ‘All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do’ ” (Gen. 31:14–16). We saw yesterday that Jacob was a better man after his years spent with Laban, and today’s passage shows us just how much he has grown. The patriarch has learned from God’s discipline (Deut. 8:5), made evident in the speech he gives in Genesis 31:4–13. Notice how Jacob credits the Lord with his success. In three parallel statements he describes what Laban did and then affirms how God turned his father-in-law’s efforts to harm him into a blessing. Laban’s attitude toward his son-in-law has soured, but the Lord remains with Jacob (v. 5). God preserved Jacob from harm even as Laban deceived him (vv. 6–7). Laban tried to withhold wages from Jacob, but the Creator gave Laban’s wealth to his servant (vv. 8–9). After years relying on his own wits, Jacob is beginning to recognize that everything he has com...