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Home , Leah, Love at first sight

, LEAH AND : A TRIANGLE

Genesis 29:1-14 Return to Famous Couples Index Page

Before reading the Passage.

• The last time we say Jacob he was running for his life...fleeing from the wrath and vengeance of his brother, . • At the request of Rebekah, told Jacob to leave Beersheba and flee to . He was to go to Rebekah's brother's house and take a wife from one of 's daughters.

• You will remember that Rebekah's involved her son in deceiving her own husband, Isaac. • Treachery and deceit seemed to run in the family, because Laban was one of the biggest con-men you could ever meet. • Brother and sister were cons, but Rebekah also taught her son Jacob the fine art of deception. • Most children carry with them through life the impact and impressions of character of their parents. • We are going to see that Laban's two daughters, Leah and Rachel, ended up deceiving their father also...They learned it from him. • What a legacy to leave for your children!

• On his way from Beersheba to Haran, Jacob stopped to spend the night out under the stars in a certain place. He found a stone for a pillow, went to sleep and began to dream of a ladder that reached from earth to heaven and at the top of the ladder stood the Lord God. God wanted Jacob to know that He was going to be with him. • See Genesis 28:10-13, 15-19a.

• Now Jacob had made the 500-mile trip and makes his way to Haran—to a well, most likely the very same well where Rebekah had watered the camels of 's servant and then went back with him to become Isaac's bride.

Read the Passage.

Note Genesis 29:5: “Do you know Laban?” “We know him.” There was a wealth of hidden meaning behind that response. Everybody for miles around knew Laban. Jacob was about to know him too—and it was going to cost him!

Notice 29:10: Jacob saw Rachel, but he also saw Laban's sheep.

You get the idea in 29:7-8 that Jacob was kind of showing off in front of Rachel...And he wanted to be alone with her—that's why he told the other shepherds...”Water your sheep and get out of here.”

• Jacob may have been a “homebody” but he wasn't bashful—verse 11 18 • Verse 14—He had been there a month when he told Laban he wanted to marry his youngest daughter, Rachel.

I. Love at First Sight Genesis 29:15-20

• Genesis 29:20 is one of the most beautiful sentences, not just in the Bible but in all of literature. • Notice 29:17 - Rachel was beautiful in face and figure! It was love at first sight. - Jacob voluntarily offered to work for Laban for seven years—hard labor and the wages would be used as a dowry for Rachel's hand in marriage. - Seven years hard labor—what a compliment to Rachel, but what a proof that Jacob truly loved her. - Remember: Jacob had only known Rachel for a month; and wanted to marry her. - You may have noticed in the paper last month an old black man who had been married to his wife for over 50 years. He was the son of a preacher and he told his wife-to-be on the first date that he wanted to marry her. She asked him how he could be so sure she was the right girl for him. He said, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I see what I want!” Well, Jacob saw what he wanted. • Seven years! Think of all the things that have happened to you over the past seven years...All the changes in your life...in your family...in your body...in your heart...But think also, it would give them both time to really get to know each other. • Love makes time pass quickly...Verse 20. It seemed like only a few days to Jacob!

• Don't leave this section without noticing 29:17 “Leah was tender eyed.” or “weak eyed.” That doesn't mean she couldn't see well, but it means there was no sparkle in her eye—no brilliance—no luster. • She may have had a good figure—I think she did, for we will see later that she must have been built much like Rachel...she had a good figure, but not a pretty face. • She was rather plain looking...rather homey looking. She looked as through she had been whipped by an ugly stick.

• Look at 29:21. Jacob had to go to Laban and demand his wife be given to him. Laban should have taker the initiative at the end of the seven years and given her to Jacob. • This is the first hint that Laban is a con man.

II. Love Under Great Struggle Genesis 29:21-30

• Men, put yourself in Jacob's place! How would you feel if you got married and the next day realized that you had married the wrong woman? • Did you know that same thing happens all the time—every day? Men marry the wrong women and women marry the wrong men every day. Some do it two or three times.!

• How did Laban succeed in switching the girls without Jacob knowing it? - He must have had Rachel gagged and hog-tied somewhere. - But Leah was a willing participant. All evidence points to Leah being in love with Jacob

19 from the beginning. After they were married, despite the fact that Jacob kept making it clear that he loved Rachel, Leah kept trying to win his love.

Two things helped in the deception:

1. The Veil - The custom was to wear a heavy veil and, remember, it was at night. - And, remember, I told you that she was similar in statue and figure.

2. The Vial - The word “feast” carries the idea of much drinking. Drinking was a big part of weddings in that day. - The word “bridal” comes from two words--”bride” and “ale”. - I never have understood why a bride and groom wants to get drunk on their wedding night. Next to receiving Jesus as our personal Savior, your wedding day ought to be the most sacred day of your life. Looks like the couple would at least want to know what was going on!

Jacob was in a half-drunken stupor and their marriage was consummated. But the next morning Jacob was shocked into soberness when he realized he was lying beside the wrong woman! • Why didn't Jacob knock Laban down with his shepherd's rod, grab up Rachel, put her on a camel and flee? • Because he felt he was being punished for his own deception—of his own father and brother. • Sometimes sin is not only punished, it is punished in kind. - Jacob deceived his father; he was in turn deceived by a father—his father-in-law. - Jacob's deception of his father involved the elder son; the eldest daughter was involved in Jacob being deceived. - Jacob worked together with one parent and deceive another; Leah also worked together with one of her parents to deceive Jacob.

If Leah had been the woman she should have been, she would have informed Jacob as soon as the two of them were together alone in the tent. But she obviously enjoyed the experience. • She also treated her sister with immoral disdain. She may have been jealous of Rachel's and Jacob's great love for Rachel. • For the younger sister, Rachel, to get a man before the older sister would have been hard to take.

I said a moment ago that every day folks marry the wrong person. A study shows that before the first year is ended in marriage, almost 50% think they may have married the wrong person. Why? 1. Many Marriages have the Wrong Beginning—for they are based on deception. - The only reason Jacob married Leah was because he had been trapped by a carefully devised scheme by her and her father. - The marriage began with dishonesty and deception. - Many marriages are based on a shaky foundation.

2. Some have a Distorted View of Marriage. - We tend to idealize marriage. Many believe the wedding ceremony is a gateway to uninterrupted bliss where we will live happily ever after. Then when our marriages fail to 20 meet our ideal, when conflict begins, we conclude that we must have married the wrong person. We think that if we had married the right person, we wouldn't be having these problems.

3. Some have a Distorted Perspective. - Grass is greener on the other side. It seems like other marriages are happier than ours. - Another's marriage may not really be better, but the perspective from which we view it is. The irony is that many times the couples we envy look at our marriage with the same kind of envy.

4. Some have a Distorted Evaluation of Themselves. - Sometimes we just think we deserve better that the person we're married to. - One husband told his wife, “There are better fish in the sea.” She said, “Yes, and there's a better bait, too!” - None of us are as wonderful as we think we are.

Notice Genesis 29:26-30 • Laban's defense for tricking Jacob was, “Well, it is the custom of our people that the older daughter marry first. You should have known that, Jacob.” • But decency, integrity and morality all have a higher priority than custom. • Laban had a moral obligation to inform Jacob about the custom when Jacob made the agreement to work seven years for Rachel to be his wife. • Rather than apologize to Jacob, annul the marriage to Leah and give Rachel to Jacob to wife according to the original agreement, he made Jacob work seven more years for Rachel. • Notice 29:30 “He loved Rachel more than Leah.” He had some for Leah.

• Jacob didn't have to wait 14 years to marry Rachel...only a week, and worked seven years for her—29:27.

Notice Genesis 29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He came to her aid and opened her womb, and caused Rachel's womb to be barren. • Leah had six sons; but Rachel had none. • When her first son was born, Leah called him “”, which means, “now that I have given him a son, he will love me” (29:32). • When she had her second son, she gave him a name that indicated that she “thought this would cause Jacob to love me.” • The third son was born—See 29:34 • * Note 30:1-2 • Was it better to have love but no children or to be unloved and have a house full of boys?

• Every time Leah had a son she would give him a name that emphasized Rachel's barrenness...And Rachel got sick of it--”Give me children or I die!” • There was competition between the two sisters...and bitterness. • Every time Rachel heard one of Leah's babies cry in the next tent, it cut her to the heart with envy and grief. • * I wonder if the strain between the two sister-wives reminded Jacob of his struggle with Esau. 21 Finally, God did open Rachel's womb—twice. She bore and then —but she died giving birth to Benjamin. The woman who cried, “Give me children or I die,” died giving a child to Jacob.

Leah had six sons and one daughter. Two of her sons were (the priestly tribe) and (from which King came and later, the Lord Jesus.) All of Leah's sons got together and, in another act of deception, sold Joseph into slavery and told Jacob he was dead. Deception continued to flourish!

III. Love at Deep Sorrow Genesis 35:16-20

• When Rachel died, Leah welcomes both Joseph and Benjamin as her very own.

What happened to Leah? Did Jacob ever learn to love her like he did Rachel? • Probably not. But it does appear that she slowly began to fill the vacuum created by Rachel's untimely death. 1. She raised Joseph and Benjamin as her very own—And Jacob wouldn't forget that

• The story ends with a curious twist—Genesis 49:29-33. Jacob asked to be buried with Leah; not Rachel. Rachel had been buried in Bethlehem; he in .

Two lessons: 1. Bad beginnings in marriage can be overcome. - Some of you would have to admit if you were honest that your marriage started off on a weak foundation. - Maybe the person you married was really your second choice. - Maybe you are your mates second choice. - Maybe your parents seriously objected. - Maybe there was an unwanted pregnancy. - Maybe you were tricked into thinking you had to get married.

2. Love can be created. - You can fall in love after you're married • - How can that happen? It begins with the right attitude and then lots of hard work!

Amos 3:3: “How can two work together except they be agreed?”

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