Family Deception

Why do we deceive?

Deceive to prevent harm to us

Isaac deceiving Abimelech

Deceive for self-interest

Laban deceiving Jacob

Deceive out of spite

Rachel deceives Laban

What are the consequences of deceit?

Broken relationships

Jacob to his brother

Leah and Rachel

First, although it doesn’t say this in the text. Those who are reading this story know that what is occurring here is a sin.

Leviticus 18:18 “You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime.”

This is truly sad because now they are competing for their love for their husband Jacob. They will do anything to gain his attention, they compare themselves to one another for how much he loves them to how many kids they have for their self-worth, and growing to hate one another. This is all because of the deception of their father.

Leah and Rachel to their father

Loss of trust

Isaac and Abimalech

Jacob and Laban

Laban see’s Jacob leaving the country as a “Deception” even though it was just Jacob doing God’s will

Genesis 31:3 and Genesis 31:26

People deceive you

When you deceive others you may gain from it for a period...but you will also lose from it as well. When you don’t have integrity people are less likely to lose sleep over taking things from you.

Proverbs 11:3–5 “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them. Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death. The righteousness of the blameless clears his path, but the wicked person will fall because of his wickedness.”

Come to God’s house in order to give rather than to get.

We look back at the story of God and Jacob at the stairway to heaven, and we see that after this point Jacob turns from his old deceiving ways, he seeks to be honest. Jacob no longer deceives after this, he trusts that God will give Him blessing and he doesn’t need to deceive in order to receive it. He gives 14 years to Laban, he gives Laban the best sheep and takes the worst for himself, and he gives to his brother Esau in order to make amends. Yet God does bless him despite all of these things.

Genesis 31:36–42 “Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me? You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us. I’ve been with you these twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock. I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night. There I was—the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. For twenty years in your household I served you—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and he issued his verdict last night.”

Ephesians 4:25–32 “Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity. Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”