The Girl Nobody Wanted (9)

In Youth Group on Wednesday nights we have been looking through the book of Book of Genesis. Several weeks ago, Jeremey Kamberger, our intern from the camp through the Ministry Bridge, taught on Genesis 29, the story of Jacob marrying Leah and Rachel.

Well, ever since we went through that story, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. You know when a song gets stuck in your head, the best way to get it out is to listen to it. Well, when a passage gets stuck in my head, the best way for me to get it out is to teach on it.

So Jeremy, thanks for getting this passage stuck in my head. It’s been a great encouragement to me, and I’m excited to share it with you.

You know, it’s interesting the way we idolize marriage in the church, while the culture is degrading it and forsaking it. The church has the opposite approach. We tend to idolize it.

We tend to think of marriage as the ultimate goal for a person. Get married and have kids, then you can be happy, then your life can be fulfilled. Now, we may never actually come out and say that, but ask any single adult in the room, and trust me, they feel that pressure.

They feel the pressure either from outside of them in the church, or from their parents, or from inside—they have a longing to be married.

Why is that? Because marriage is awesome! Because God created marriage as a gift to His children.

“But the problem, as it is with all of God’s gifts, is when we take the gift of God and make it the god we look to for identity, security, satisfaction, and ultimate joy.”

Because the church believes in the traditional values taught from Scripture, we often fall into the same traps as the people in Scripture.

In Genesis 29 we see a picture of this trap. We see a man, Jacob, striving and working to marry a beautiful woman. He thinks that this woman will satisfy his desires, and then we see Leah hoping that one day her husband will actually love her, because if her husband would actually love her or even notice her, then she could be happy.

So let’s open our Bibles and turn to Genesis 29:1: “Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.”

Now let’s stop here, because we must ask the question: Why is Jacob on this journey?

Well, in the previous chapters we read of Jacob’s deception that backfired and forced him to leave his family and home.

You see, God came to Jacob’s grandpa, Abraham, one day and made him a promise. He told Abraham that through his line God would bless the world, that God would make Abraham’s name great, and through his family the whole world would be blessed.

It was an incredible promise. The only problem, of course, was that Abraham was an old man with no kids.

But God was faithful, and when Abraham was 100 years old, his wife Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The hope, of course, was that this was the son that would bring blessing to the world.

But instead Isaac was just as sinful and screwed up as his father Abraham. But nonetheless, God came to Isaac and gave him that same promise: through his line the whole world would be blessed.

After many years of waiting, Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was finally pregnant—and pregnant with twins: Esau and Jacob.

Esau was born first, then Jacob, which meant that Esau would be the child of promise. He would be the one to carry on the family line, and it would be through his line that the world would be blessed.

But there was a problem. As God normally does, He overthrew the social order and came to Rebekah and told her that the older would serve the younger, that Jacob was to be the son of promise.

As you can imagine, this did not go over well with Esau or Issac the Father, who loved Esau more, and Isaac actually refused to pass the blessing or the birthright to Jacob.

So, as foolish men typically do, Jacob took matters into his own hands. He manipulated Esau into giving him the birthright, and he deceived his blind and dying father, Isaac, to give him the blessing.

Jacob got what he wanted, and he got what he had been promised.

But Esau was outraged and promised to kill Jacob for what he had done. So Jacob is forced to be on the run.

You see, when we try to help God by taking matters into our own hands, it always blows up in our face, doesn’t it? And Jacob was no different. Jacob deceived his blind father and was forced to leave everyone he loved and cared for behind. He was forced to leave his homeland. He was all alone.

That’s where we find him in verse 2. Let’s continue reading.

Genesis 29:2–12 “2 As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large, 3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. 4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” 5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.” 6 He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!” 7 He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.” 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.” 9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.”

This is a classic part of the story. Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun, and this story proves that to be true.

Jacob comes across this well with a stone covering the opening. Standing around this well are shepherds with their flocks waiting. They’re waiting for all of the other shepherds and flocks to gather around the well so together all of the shepherds can move the stone.

But then a pretty girl shows up, and what do all guys do when they see a pretty girl? They have this insatiable desire to impress the girl. In thousands of years of history, dudes are still dudes, and Jacob is no different.

So, like a scene from a movie, he sees Rachel, and it’s love at first sight, and a surge of adrenaline overtakes him, and by himself he moves the stone away, and then he grabs Rachel and kisses her.

But then we see that he weeps aloud, which is to say that he has the big dramatic moment of crying.

That seems a little different. But we can come back to that in a second.

Lets continue with the story in verse 13

Genesis 29:13–20 (ESV)

13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, 14 and Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month. 

15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. 18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

Laban has two daughters, Leah the oldest and Rachel the youngest.

The text says Leah had weak eyes. Translators have no idea what to do with that word weak. Some even translate it as kind. But the story is obviously comparing the two sisters. Rachel is beautiful in form and appearance, but Leah has weak eyes. The text is essentially saying Leah is nothing special to look at, especially compared to her younger sister Rachel.

You think this is the first time Leah had been described that way in her life? No, I doubt it. All her life she knew that Rachel, the younger sister, was the pretty one. All her life she had to hear how pretty her younger sister was.

But not Leah. She had weak eyes. She was the girl nobody wanted, the girl nobody noticed.

It was the same with Jacob. He barely even noticed her. It was Rachel that he loved. It was Rachel that he wanted.

So he makes a deal with Laban. He will work seven years in order for the right to marry Rachel.

And it says in verse 20, “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.”

Jacob was so in love with Rachel the seven years felt like a few days. They were nothing to him.

HERE

After the seven years are up Jacob comes to Laban in verse 12

Genesis 29:21 “21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.””

I’ll try to be be careful here but it’s important to understand this from the text. The narrator of this story is describing a man utterly driven by and overwhelmed with emotional and sexual longing for one woman.

Remember Jacob was driven from his family and home. He came to Laban with nothing. But then he saw this beautiful woman coming from a distance and in that moment his heart was hers.

He loved her with an all consuming passion. This woman was going to be the one to make everything. He loved her so much that 7 years of hard labor felt like a few days. SO he goes to Laban and says give her to me. My time has come.

Now I can finally be happy. I can finally be satisfied.

Apply this to our life. The world thinks sex will satisfy the church thinks marriage will satisfy