Deception
Read Genesis 29:1-30.
How does this happen? How do you plan to marry one woman and end up marrying the wrong one—and not discovering it until the next morning? There are a lot of theories out there as to exactly how Laban got away with marrying off Leah instead of Rachel the first time, but they all boil down to this one truth: Laban was just as deceptive and as tricky as Jacob was and is. This tale of these two men (and two women) is really a study in who can out-trick the other. (And it doesn't stop at the wedding altar.)
Had Jacob's reputation preceded him? Had Laban heard about his tricky nephew? Were Leah and Rachel in on the deception? We don't know any of that, though any or all of it is possible. But it reminds me of something that one of Jacob's descendants said: "All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37).
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, is talking about making promises (some translations say "oaths"). Throughout history there have always been elaborate ways to make sure a person keeps their promise, their word (though I wonder if the complicated legalities in our culture might beat all of them for all time). Jesus says that if we would just live by our word, treat our "yes" and "no" as binding promises, none of that would be necessary. Deception would be a thing of the past.
Of course, this can only happen when we see the other person as valuable as ourselves. That's the struggle between Jacob and Laban. They're trying to "one-up" each other to prove their superiority, when the reality is, they don't have to. They are both children of God, valuable in God's sight. We don't have to either. We're wasting our time trying to out-do one another. Let your yes be yes—do what you promised to do. Be who you were made to be. Reject deception. And let God sort everything else out.
Had Jacob lived that way, he might have ended up with the right wife the first time. And then a lot of the drama to come never would have happened.
How does this happen? How do you plan to marry one woman and end up marrying the wrong one—and not discovering it until the next morning? There are a lot of theories out there as to exactly how Laban got away with marrying off Leah instead of Rachel the first time, but they all boil down to this one truth: Laban was just as deceptive and as tricky as Jacob was and is. This tale of these two men (and two women) is really a study in who can out-trick the other. (And it doesn't stop at the wedding altar.)
Had Jacob's reputation preceded him? Had Laban heard about his tricky nephew? Were Leah and Rachel in on the deception? We don't know any of that, though any or all of it is possible. But it reminds me of something that one of Jacob's descendants said: "All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37).
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, is talking about making promises (some translations say "oaths"). Throughout history there have always been elaborate ways to make sure a person keeps their promise, their word (though I wonder if the complicated legalities in our culture might beat all of them for all time). Jesus says that if we would just live by our word, treat our "yes" and "no" as binding promises, none of that would be necessary. Deception would be a thing of the past.
Of course, this can only happen when we see the other person as valuable as ourselves. That's the struggle between Jacob and Laban. They're trying to "one-up" each other to prove their superiority, when the reality is, they don't have to. They are both children of God, valuable in God's sight. We don't have to either. We're wasting our time trying to out-do one another. Let your yes be yes—do what you promised to do. Be who you were made to be. Reject deception. And let God sort everything else out.
Had Jacob lived that way, he might have ended up with the right wife the first time. And then a lot of the drama to come never would have happened.
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