Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction & Review

Last week in our Chronological Bible Storying series, the big picture of the Bible, Creation to Christ.

We saw the deceiver, Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, get deceived.

A few weeks ago we saw how Jacob and his mom Rebekah tricked Isaac into giving the birthright blessing to Jacob instead of Esau who was the first born.

Jacob had to flee Esau’s wrath b/c Esau planned to kill Jacob after Isaac died.

So Rebekah manipulated Isaac to send Jacob to her brother Laban’s house to find a wife.

Jacob learned a hard and painful series of lessons about deception, manipulation and how the ends don’t justify the means.

He labored for 7 years of working for his future father in-law Laban.

Laban pulled the “old bait & switch” routine by substituting his first born daughter Leah on the wedding night instead of Rachel the girl Jacob was madly in love with.

To add insult to injury, this whole charade happened in front of the entire community & to pour more salt in Jacobs wounded heart, he had commit to another 7 year hitch of involuntary servitude for his manipulating greedy father in-law, the original used camel salesman.

Our story today comes from Genesis 29:31-31:55.

To set the stage for our story today which is about Jacob’s dysfunctional family that showcase God’s work & blessings in spite of Jacob’s family mess: Genesis 29:30 says: “Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah.

And he served with Laban still another seven years.”

1. Tell the story

Setting

Jacob’s sin and deception finally caught up with him and he reaped the fruit of his own doings and sinful choices when Laban deceived him and sinned against him.

So now Jacob, wanted to be married to one woman, finds himself married to two women, two sisters who’s jealous envy of each other wreaked havoc in Jacob’s life and family.

Before we dive in to the overview of Jacob’s family, I need to remind you of God’s design for marriage as the Creator God outlined in Genesis chapter 2 when He created the institution of marriage to be between one man and one woman for one life time.

This was the way it was before the fall of mankind into sin by the great deceiver & rebel Satan.

God’s summary of marriage according to His perfect design for the family is found in Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

That “one flesh” deal in marriage is something God does in the marriage union between a husband and wife.

Two separate lives literally glued together, grafted together like one would graft a tree limb together so they grow together and are inseparable.

You can’t explain it because it’s a miracle of God.

Satan however hates the family and he will do anything and everything he possibly can, by whatever means necessary to destroy the family.

Satan does everything he can to destroy Jacob’s family because it’s through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the deliverer Jesus Christ would be born several thousand years later.

Well Jacob has 2 wives, sisters, one very pretty, one not so much.

One Jacob is head over heels in love with, the other well not so much, as a matter of fact not at all.

The Bible tells us trouble comes quickly to Jacob’s double-wide tent in Genesis 29:31 “When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.”

So Leah conceived...

What unfolds is this ironic jealousy between these two sisters with Jacob caught in the middle of family feud.

Leah has a son, her first son she named Reuben whose name means “See a son.”

For she said “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction, now therefore my husband will love me.”

You can almost see her holding that newborn up to Jacob saying “See a son!

How do you like me now?” Having children in general was considered a sign of God’s blessing, having sons to carry on the family name even more so!

Reuben - calling his very name must have sent daggers flying toward Rachels’ heart as she rubbed her barren womb pleading with the Lord to give her a son.

Infertility was a problem Jacob’s grandpa Abraham & his grandma Sarah had.

It was a problem his own father and mother Isaac and Rebekah had and now his favorite wife has it too!

Well Leah get’s pregnant again, again, and again!

In rapid fire succession the Bible tells us Leah, the unlovely and unloved wife of Jacob has 4 sons in a row!

If she rolls a five she might yell Yahtzee!

You might have guessed Leah names her sons names that keep throwing daggers toward her sister Rachel.

All in a feeble attempt to gain Jacob’s attention and move her up in the pecking order b/c Jacob was doing his duty, not showing her affection.

Simeon - “Heard” God heard I am unloved.

Levi - “Attached” - Now m husband will attach himself to me b/c I have born him 3 sons.

Judah - “Praise” - This time Leah chose not to complaining about her unresponsive husband, she was now praising the Lord for His blessings.

She was beginning to learn the Lord is to be our source of joy and contentment, not people.

Leah stopped bearing children for a little while, but we’re told that Rachel was envious of her sister Leah in Gen. 30:1 “Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!””

Oh the irony!

Leah is jealous because Rachel is the “favorite wife” and Rachel is jealous of Leah because she has a reality TV show called “My 4 sons.”

Well Jacob angrily pushes back and asked if he was in the place of God to withhold children from her womb!

Rachel was desperate and decided to take matters into her own hands, if Jacob couldn’t play God, she would.

She gave Jacob her maid Bilhah as a wife.

Jacob has relations with Bilhah and she conceives and gives birth to a son Rachel claims as her own.

Sounds familiar with what Sarah did with Hagar her servant girl and Abraham when she grew impatient waiting on God.

We all know how well that turned out!

Dan she called him, claiming God judged or vindicated her with a son.

She found success in her schemes so she does it again:

Jacob & Bilhah have another son Rachel named Naphtali - his name means wrestling as Rachel literally says she’s wrestled with her sister and she won.

Leah is watching her sister’s plots, schemes and manipulation and she thinks, well two can play that game.

So she props up Zilpah for Jacob to have children with.

Gad is what Leah named Zilpah’s son - “A troop comes” - basically throwing it in her sister’s face as if to say “I have an army of sons.”

Zilpah & Jacob conceive again, Asher - “Happy” and Leah proclaims their neighbors will call her blessed.

In case you’re confused by the forked family tree of Jacob; we’ve no got 4 wives, 7 sons, 4 brothers and 3 half brothers!

What a mess.

Not only does Jacob have Laban bossing him around, now his wives Rachel and Leah are making back door deals with Jacob being the pawn caught between their schemes.

It seems Leah’s young son Reuben had been playing in the field and he brought home some fruit called a mandrake which people considered to be like a love apple - it was pure superstition, but it was worth a try so Rachel cut a deal with Leah, she could have the night with Jacob if Leah gave her the love apples.

Leah wasted no time when Jacob got off work and promptly informed him she had a date night planned at the cost she paid Rachel for some mandrakes.

Yep, Leah is pregnant with a 5th son she bore Jacob - “Issachar” wages - “God has given me my wages b/c I gave my maid to my husband.”

Hey wages, come here and take out the trash!

Every time his name was called I’ll bet Rachel’s ears burned red hot that she sold Jacob for a night to Leah over some phony love apples.

Leah conceives again with Jacob and she has son #6 - Zebulun.

“Dwelling” - Now my husband will dwell with me b/c I have born him 6 sons!

Leah and Jacob have one more child together, Dinah

So by now Jacob has 4 women on his mind, 6 brothers, 4 half brothers 10 sons and one daughter all from Jacob and yet Rachel still hasn’t had a child that is truly her own.

Who could blame Jacob if he habitually stayed late at work for his creepy father in-law Laban than go home to that mess!

After all this time, the Lord in His grace and mercy gives Rachel a son, she named him Joseph whose name means “He will add” for Rachel said the Lord will add to me another son.”

How sad.

Rather than be joyful with the son she does have, Rachel isn’t content and wants another son.

We’ll see next time we’ll see how that wish of Rachel’s for another son will cost her dearly.

Problem/Curve ball

All this time as Jacob’s family is busting at the seams of his tent compound, all this time he’s been working for his father in-law Laban.

Remember he had to work 7 more years to pay Laban for the privilege of marrying Rachel.

Jacob was hoping to get out of Laban jail for time served, so he asked his father in law to send him away since he had fulfilled his agreement and he wanted to go to his own place in his own country.

Laban the wheeler-dealer isn’t going to let his favorite son in-law who was so gullible once get away that easily.

Why would you let a cash cow like Jacob get away from you?

So he has a deal for Jacob, another one he can’t refuse.

He even admitted his reasoning to Jacob in Gen. 30:27 “And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.””

Laban had no interest in a relationship with Jacob’s God, he just wanted the blessings from Jacob’s God.

Jacob has been around Laban now for 14 long grueling years and he knows how his father in-law operates.

So Jacob has a plan when Laban says “What will your wages be, what shall I give you?”

Jacob informed Laban that he didn’t want him to give him anything.

He just asked for Laban to let him keep what would have been viewed as the inferior sheep, goats and live stock that were speckled, spotted or brown.

They would be easy to spot among the herds and Laban would be able to tell if they were there and if he found them among Jacob’s herd, he could consider them stolen!

Laban readily agreed!

I can see Laban the sheister walking towards his corral going “what a sucker!”

He quickly removed all his spotted, specked or brown sheep and goats and handed them to his sons to take 3 days away from Jacob! I’m sure he kept a few of the deformed ones for Jacob to choose from while he started doing the math in his head about how he was going to make a killing on this deal too!

Everyone in that day would know that eastern sheep were mostly solid white and rarely brown and that eastern goats were predominately black and rarely speckled or spotted.

Yet Jacob was literally willing to start over and trust in God to take care of him as He had promised!

By now, Jacob had become a seasoned herdsman and after 14 years of experience he would have had many an occasion to experiment with selective breeding and seen the results of it.

He might not have been able to express it in scientific terms but he saw how brown sheep or speckled & spotted goats were born.