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When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?" Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one."
- Genesis 29:25-26 NIV
Jacob was used to getting his own way. He was used to doing whatever it took to get it. Before he was even born, when his mother was told she was carrying twins, God said the older son would serve the younger. In those days, in that part of the world, age meant rank and rank meant everything, so this was a weird prophecy. But it came true. Jacob's name in Hebrew even means "deceiver." Jacob once cheated his older brother Esau out of the majority of his inheritance by bribing him with a bowl of soup. He once dressed in Esau's clothes and wrapped himself in animal skins in order to trick his old, blind father into giving him the blessing that belonged to his older brother. Jacob seemed to be winning, but by that time Esau was murderously angry and fed up with his brother's tricks. Jacob had to run for his life.
Jacob ran to Haran, where his mother had family. He ended up living with his uncle Laban and working for him. And he fell in love with Laban's younger daughter, Rachel. Laban agreed to let Jacob marry his daughter, but for a price: Jacob had to work for Laban for seven years without pay. At the end of the seven years, Jacob would have his bride. Jacob agreed and put in his seven years of labor. The Bible says the time passed quickly for Jacob because he loved Rachel so much.
Then, at the end of seven years, there was a wedding and a big party. Wedding parties in those days lasted for days and went late into the night. As Jacob was finally ready to spend his first night with his new bride, Laban brought to him a woman beautifully dressed, probably wearing a veil. Little did Jacob know that his bride was not Rachel! Laban pulled the old switcheroo on Jacob. In the morning, Jacob realized that he had married Rachel's older sister Leah! Of course he was surprised and angry, and he confronted Laban. Laban had his answer ready: "It is not our customhere to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one." What could Jacob say? Laban offered to let Jacob marry Rachel for another seven years' work, and Jacob agreed, but their relationship was forever strained.
After a lifetime of tricking people by breaking the rules, Jacob became easy prey for a man who tricked him by simply sticking to the rules. You can just imagine the look of innocence and mock surprise on Laban's face when he said those words to his disappointed nephew: "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one." Jacob knew it to be true. It wasn't the custom among his people to bless the younger before the older either.
The irony is that it was Jacob's trickery, his tendency to go around the rules that made him susceptible to Laban's trickery. It never occurred to Jacob to wonder why his uncle seemed willing to give him the younger daughter in marriage. Jacob was used to working things so that the younger had an unfair advantage over the older. So why shouldn't his bride marry before her older sister? He played right into the hands of his craftier uncle. Perhaps Jacob had gotten an inflated view of his own cleverness. Perhaps he thought he was helping God fulfill his own prophecies. In any case, the cheater got cheated. The trickster got tricked.
You probably know people who get their way by deceiving and breaking all the rules. They tell their parents they're one place when they're really someplace else. They find a way to cheat, then their grades are just as good as the people who actually studied. They use their friends. But people who live that way are more vulnerable than they know. Of course, there's always the possibility that they could get caught by their parents or their teachers or the police. But the real danger is if they don't get caught.
When you get away with enough deceit, you begin to believe that the rules that apply to everybody else don't apply to you. When you place yourself outside the limitations of the rules, you also place yourself outside their protection. Following the rules may seem less exciting than living on the edge, but consider what happened to Jacob: out of the habit of living by his society's standards, he never asked the obvious question: why, Uncle Laban, would you let me marry little sister Rachel while big sister Leah is still single? There's always somebody a little smarter, a littlemore experienced. And even if there isn't, there's always God watching what you do.
There is a "first things first" spiritual application to this story that shows that God has a certain order we must do things in, too, as C. H. Spurgeon points out:
"Many men desire the beautiful and well-favored Rachel of joy and peace in believing, but they must first be wedded to the tender-eyed Leah of repentance. Every one falls in love with happiness, and many would cheerfully serve twice seven years to enjoy it, but according to the rule of the Lord's kingdom, the Leah of real holiness must be beloved of our soul before the Rachel of true happiness can be attained."
Just like Jacob did not need to have cheated his brother and father to obtain God's promise, when he is tricked by Laban, hope is not lost. Gerard Van Groningen states:
"The account of Jacob's flight to and experiences with his relatives in Padan Aram demonstrates God's grace and providence. Jacob received assurance that he would inherit the promises given to Abraham, his grandfather, and Isaac, his father, concerning the seed, the land, and the Lord's abiding presence.... The Lord prospered Jacob while he served Laban and protected him when he fled back to Canaan, the Promised Land."Take a Closer Look© 2007 by GRQ, Inc.
Excerpted from Take a Closer Look for Teens: Uncommon and Unexpected Insights That Are Real, Relevant and Ready to Change Your Life by Jonathan Rogers
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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