pilgrim people

"Rip-offs and Redemption" - Genesis 29-30

Most of us would probably agree that one of the worst things in life is getting ripped off, that unpleasant and frustrating experience of being cheated by someone. Rip-offs come in all shapes and sizes: by an unscrupulous mechanic, a dishonest real estate broker, an unethical employer, or an adulterous spouse. But in whatever manner they come, they always hurt to some degree. You were promised one thing, but you received something else, or perhaps nothing at all. You put your trust in someone, and that trust was violated.

Sadly, rip-offs are a normal part of life. This is why we have lawyers; they make their living by protecting us from getting ripped off, and going after those who do. (And sometimes they rip us off in the process as well!)

Rip-offs are a normal part of life because we live in a fallen world. Ever since Adam broke the Covenant of Works in the garden and sin entered in to the human heart, the world has been a place in which rip-offs are commonplace. Promises are broken. People are cheated. Lives are frustrated.

The question for us today is: what does the Gospel have to say to those who have been, or at least feel like that have been, ripped off? What hope is offered to such a person? That is what Genesis chapters 29 and 30 are dealing with. Here we have three people who feel ripped off: Jacob, who got a different wife than the one he originally bargained for; Leah, who got stuck with a husband who didn’t love her; and Rachel, who was loved by her husband but couldn’t give him the one thing her sister Leah could: children. What does the gospel have to say to such people? And what does the gospel say to us today, as we continue to make our pilgrimage through this life?

Let’s think about those questions as we notice three things about Genesis 29-30: 1) The Lord was with Jacob in times of blessing; 2) the Lord was with Jacob in times of hardship; 3) the Lord was with Jacob in the messiness of daily life.

1) The Lord was with Jacob in times of blessing

Now, keep in mind what we heard last week from chapter 28. The Lord revealed himself to Jacob one night during his 500-mile journey from Beersheba to Haran. He gave Jacob that dream in which he saw a great staircase from heaven to earth, upon which angels were ascending and descending. And at the top of the staircase stood the Lord. The Lord renewed his covenant of grace with Jacob and promised him two particular things: a land and an offspring, the very things that he promised his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham.

The Lord said to Jacob, “I will give to you.” The Lord did not tell Jacob to climb the ladder. Nor has he told us to. It is the Lord who comes down from heaven and performs the very things he promises. He did that most supremely, of course, when he became flesh and dwelt among us, accomplishing redemption on our behalf. Christ referred to himself as the ladder, because that is what he is. He is the way! He is the only Mediator between God and man. He didn’t come to show us the way; he IS the way! He is the One though whom the blessing of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has gone out to the nations, so that all the families and nations of the earth have been blessed.

But on that unforgettable night, the Lord also promised Jacob that he would be with him. He said, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Jacob was to have confidence that the Lord was with him on this long and frightening journey, and that he would remain with him throughout his life.

The narrator then describes how Jacob finally arrives to “the land of the people of the east.” Jacob talked with some local shepherds at a well, and found out that they were from the very place to which he was traveling: Haran. They also knew his uncle Laban.

And, as providence would have it, Jacob just happens to arrive at the well when his bride-to-be comes along.

Clearly, the Lord was with him. He could have been attacked and eaten by some wild animals in the desert, but he wasn’t. He could have been killed by bandits who often roamed and preyed upon traveler, but he wasn’t. He could have lost his way and ended up in the wrong place and been delayed so that he never met Rachel at all, but he didn’t. Why? Bec the Lord was with him. The Lord was watching over him and guiding his way, working all things according to the counsel of his will. That is what providence is. It is, as our Catechism puts it, “the almighty, everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth, with all creatures; and so governs them, that…all things, come not by chance, but by his Fatherly hand.”

And this is God’s promise to us as well. He hasn’t come to us in a dream or vision, but he has announced to us in the revelation of his Word that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or change.” (Jas 1.17) The good things that happen to us do not come by dumb luck or mere chance. Nor did we earn them. Ultimately, they come from the open hand of our Father who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

That is why at the end of every day it is appropriate to give God thanks for his many blessings. If prayer is the chief part of our gratitude, then we should render thanks to God for the multitude of good things we enjoy everyday.

It is interesting that we don’t read of Jacob praying and thanking God here. The narrator seems to make a deliberate comparison and contrast between this scene and that scene in chapter 24, when Abraham’s servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac. The parallels can’t be missed: both men go to the distant land of their relatives; both men arrive at a well; in both scenes, a girl, who is the cousin of the groom to be, comes to draw water from the same well; both men draw water for the other; in both scenes, the girl returns home and reports the meeting to her household; and in both scenes, the man is brought to the girl’s house.

But one of the glaring contrasts between these two scenes is that the first man prayed and thanked God for his presence and blessing, and the other man didn’t. Abraham’s servant prayed continually during the scene at the well. He was a man who recognized that God is the one who works all things according to the counsel of his will. And as soon as he realized that Rebekah was the one for Isaac, we read that “the man bowed his head and worshipped the LORD and said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master.’”

Jacob, on the other hand, does nothing of the sort. He greets his cousin Rachel with a kiss and then, overcome with emotion, he weeps aloud. He was successful on his long and dangerous journey. He found himself in the right place at the right time. But, unlike Abraham’s servant, there is no mention of praise or thanks toward God for his good gifts. Jacob is still a man with a lot to learn about his place in God’s covenant of grace. He has yet to learn a life of petition and praise.

Nevertheless, the Lord was with him, just as he had promised to be. He was with him in times of blessing (even when Jacob didn’t render thanks), and…

2) the Lord was with Jacob in times of hardship

Jacob had no idea what he was about to experience. Sitting in Laban’s house, he was like a fly in a spider’s web: vulnerable, and about to be devoured! Laban is Jacob’s match: he is sly, shrewd, and always scheming to work a situation to his own advantage, regardless of the expense to others around him. And he is quickly sizing up Jacob and his circumstances.

He notices that Jacob hasn’t arrived with a camel train loaded with gifts and servants, as did his grandfather’s servant many years earlier. Jacob’s all alone and empty-handed. Laban perceives that he is probably on the run from something, and in a defenseless position. So what can he get out of this guy? He doesn’t have gold to offer, like Abraham’s servant did. He is physically strong, however. He moved that massive stone from the well single-handedly, when he was showing off his muscles in front of Rachel! He’d make a great servant! So Laban says to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

It was normal in the ancient Near East for family members to work for nothing. But smooth-talking Laban reduces the blood relationship with his nephew to that of an economic arrangement, of lord and indentured servant. He makes Jacob a hired laborer under contract, instead of helping his nephew get a start on building his own home.

Jacob of course wants Rachel. She is the one who caught his eye. Verse 17 describes her being “beautiful in form and appearance.” Leah, on the other hand, had “eyes [that] were weak,” which was a polite way of saying that she wasn’t the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. So Jacob says that he’ll serve Laban for seven years in exchange for Rachel.

But notice Laban’s crafty response. He is purposely ambiguous: “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” He deliberately answers in such a way that he does not explicitly agree to Jacob’s offer, yet still leads him to believe that he has. He is as wise as a serpent, and he speaks with a forked tongue.

And Jacob was about to feel the affects of his venom. Verse 20 tells us that “Jacob served 7 years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days bec of the love he had for her.” Seven years, filled with devotion and commitment to the woman he loves, waiting for the day when he can finally have her as his wife. Finally, the time is completed, and Laban throws a huge wedding feast as was the custom in the ancient Near East. In our culture, we typically have a wedding ceremony, then a reception, and that’s it. The whole thing usually lasts half a day at the most. But in the ancient Near East, a wedding celebration often lasted a week; a whole week of eating, drinking, dancing and festivities.

But on that first night of festivities, when the marriage was to be consummated, Laban switches daughters. And under the obscurity of darkness, a wedding veil, and probably the affects of a little too much wine, Jacob doesn’t notice Laban’s trick. But by the morning, it was too late. The marriage had been consummated with Leah.

We can’t help notice the sheer irony in this whole scene. The deceiver becomes the deceived. Jacob is the same guy who tricked his blind dad by pretending to be his brother in order to receive his brother’s blessing. Now, he is the one being tricked. He is tricked by a woman pretending to be her sister in order to receive her sister’s blessing.

It’s amazing to see the way in which the Lord worked these circumstances out. He had a lot to teach Jacob, his beloved and chosen heir of the covenant. The Lord had a lot of refining to do in Jacob’s life, and this was one of his chosen ways. The Lord was still with Jacob. He never left him. He promised Jacob that he wouldn’t leave. But that did not mean that he wouldn’t discipline him as a loving Father. Quite the contrary.

Of course, Jacob couldn’t see any of that at the time. All he knew at the time was that he was cheated and ripped off, and he was hopping mad about it! He wanted justice. He wanted wrongs made right. He could not see any good in any of this. As far as he was concerned, there was no lesson to be learned here, other than the lesson of not to trust his snake-of-an-uncle Laban anymore! 

And that is usually how we feel when we’ve been cheated and ripped off by someone. Where’s the good in this? Why did the Lord work things out this way? It would have been so much easier and better if he had just worked things out another way. And sometimes, during times of hardship, we try to play God ourselves, acting as if we are the Lord’s counselor, as if we know what is best for ourselves. And we forget his promises, and forget that we can trust him.

And sometimes, like Jacob, we are blind to our own guilt. Jacob says to Laban in v.25: “What is this you have done to me? …Why have you deceived me?”

Of course, the same question could have been asked of Jacob, couldn’t it? “What is this that you have done to your father Isaac and your brother Esau? Why did you deceive them?”

The Lord was disciplining Jacob through these hard circumstances. It wasn’t pleasant. In fact, it was very painful. But the Lord was using this hardship to transform Jacob’s character, to humble him and bring forth fruit in his life at a later time.

And isn’t this exactly what the writer to the Hebrews tells us about the Father’s discipline? Hebrews 12 tells us, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? …For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

This doesn’t mean that Laban was justified in what he did – not at all! But it does mean that God will often use the sinful acts of sinful men to discipline us as his beloved children. Remember, the Lord loves Jacob. He had given Jacob promises; he renewed his cov’t of grace with him; he chose to set his unconditional love upon him. He did not leave Jacob!

And he will not leave you, because you too are an heir of his covenant. His promises are FOR YOU. You might be in the middle of something very difficult at this time in your life, but that doesn’t mean that your Father has left you. Like a farmer who plows up the earth in order to bring a bountiful harvest, he often plows up or hearts through trying circumstances in order to bear fruit to his glory. It may not make any sense right now, or even in the years to come, but somehow in someway he is working it for your good and to his glory.

3) the Lord was with Jacob in the messiness of daily life

Chapter 30 should show men very plainly why you they do not want more than one wife! This is a mess! It is difficult enough when two sinners become one in the covenant of marriage. But it’s another matter altogether when you have three, actually five sinners trying to be one! This was not God’s design and it’s easy to see why: there is rivalry, jealousy, competition, resentment, stress and heartache. Leah feels unloved by her husband, and Rachel feels less than fulfilled because she can’t give her husband what her older sister can: children.

And yet, isn’t it just like the Lord to take a seemingly hopeless situation like this and show himself faithful to his promises? In way that defies human logic, God works out his sovereign purposes through what seems to the human eye to be the “wrong” wife. He brings from Leah the sons Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, who would be the father of the priesthood, and Judah, from whom the Messiah would come. He then brings from Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, Dan and Naphtali. And then from Zilpah, Leah’s servant, Gad and Asher. Then again from Leah, he brought Issachar and Zebulun. And finally, from Rachel, he brought Joseph, and eventually would bring Benjamin.

These twelve men became the twelve tribes of Israel. Even in the midst of this messy life, in a way that Jacob could never have possibly known at the time, the Lord was with him and working all things according to his glorious plan of redemption. As Jacob would learn time and time again, the Lord was remaining faithful to his promises. He could be trusted.

And THAT is what the gospel has to say those who fell ripped off in life! It announces the glorious message that, because of the Person and Work of Christ, God is FOR YOU. And if God is for us, as Paul said to the Romans, “who can be against us?”

Maybe you feel ripped off today, cheated by someone, or just cheated by life. Maybe you resent the way in which the Lord has orchestrated your circumstances. Well, the question should never be: “What have I done to deserve this?” That’s the wrong question! The only thing we rightly deserve is the wrath and judgment of God. Instead, the question should be: “What have I done to deserve God’s favor and blessing? Why would the Lord save a wretch like me? Bleed for me? Die for me?”

We have been given fuller assurance than Jacob. Jacob could always go back to what the Lord had promised him; he always go back to that dream of the ladder and say, “Yes, the Lord is for me. I can trust him. He is faithful to keep his promises to me, just as he was faithful to my father Isaac and his father Abe before him. He will give me land and offspring just as he promised, and be God to me. And he has not required me to climb the ladder!”

But the Lord has made his promise even more clear to you and me. Christ has come! In the fullness of time the true offspring of Abraham has came into human history and earned redemption for you. He labored for his bride. He did not labor for seven years under an oppressive uncle, but for 33 and a half years under the weight of the law, keeping it and fulfilling its demands for you. And he not only labored in his life for you, but he labored in his death, under the indescribable weight of God’s wrath, being punished for your sins. And unlike Jacob, he did not labor for a bride who was “beautiful in form and appearance,” but for a bride who was ugly and foul because of her sin. He labored for a bride who was ungodly and despised him. Nevertheless, he labored for her so that she would be clothed in HIS perfect righteousness and made beautiful in God’s sight. THAT is what our faithful husband has done for us!

And because of him, we are heirs of God’s covenant of grace. Because of our faithful husband – who had no deceit in his mouth, who never ripped off anyone, who never had a single sin that he could be charged with – because of him, we have received promises. We too shall never be forsaken by our Father in heaven. And we shall be brought to the glory of the age to come in the Promised Land of the new heaven and new earth.

And not only that, but Paul says, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” The Lord will take care of us in the meantime! That is his promise. That doesn’t mean that he will work every detail of our life in the way that we as finite, fallen and foolish people think is best. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be times when we, like Jacob or Leah or Rachel say with pain and frustration in our heart, “I don’t get it! Why is it like this?”

But it means that we can rest with the assurance that the Lord is FOR US because of the Person and Work of Christ. And he comes to us today and announces his promise to us again in our ears, even puts it before our eyes and in our mouths as we come to his Table.

Loved ones, let us lift our up hearts in grateful devotion and praise for all that God has given us! Amen.