Jacob and Two Women

Isaac lived with his father until his mid-thirties. (Gen 25:20) As Abraham watched his son grow older, he wanted him to find a wife, one who would remind Isaac of his mother—a woman from Sarah’s own homeland, someone willing to follow her husband wherever the Lord might lead them. (Gen 24:1–9)

Abraham sent one of his servants back to Mesopotamia to find a woman from Sarah’s clan for Isaac. Through a providential encounter, Abraham’s servant met a young woman named Rebekah and told her why he had come. One of Rebekah’s maidservants ran home to tell Rebekah’s brother Laban about this man who hoped to find a wife for his master’s son.

Laban ran to meet the man and to see if he represented a wealthy family. The bracelets the servant offered and the camels kneeling at Laban’s well looked promising. (Gen 24:30) Abraham’s servant wanted Rebekah to return with him. Laban did as well. So Rebekah agreed to go. (Gen 24:50–59)

Isaac loved Rebekah. Like his mother, Rebekah was from the area of Paddan-Aram. Like Sarah, she was willing to go wherever the Lord led. And like his mother at her age, Rebekah was beautiful—and barren.

Isaac prayed that the Lord would do for his wife what he had done for his mother. He prayed God would open her womb and give them a son. (Gen 25:21)

The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebekah conceived not one boy, but two. The Lord told her, “Two nations are in your womb, and the two peoples from within you shall be divided. One shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:23) Whenever she prayed for them, the boys struggled in her belly as though their wrestling had already begun.

Esau came into the world first, red and covered in hair. His brother followed, clutching Esau’s heel, as though even from within the womb he was playing the angles, trying to figure out a way to pull ahead. They named this one Jacob, which meant “one who grabs at the heel,” another word for “deceiver” or “cheater.” (Gen 25:26)

Esau grew into a rugged outdoorsman, and his father favored him because Esau kept Isaac’s plate filled with fresh game. Jacob, on the other hand, tended to stay around the camp, and Rebekah loved him for it. (Gen 25:27)

As Isaac’s eyesight faded with age, he wanted to pass along to Esau, his firstborn, the family blessing—the blessing of Seth and Noah. The blessing God had set upon Abraham, which had been passed on to Isaac. (Gen 26:2–5)

Though Isaac intended to give Esau his blessing, Rebekah wanted it to go to Jacob. She conspired with Jacob to trick the old man into giving it to him instead. She would prepare Isaac’s favorite meal and then have Jacob bring it to him wearing furs on his arms and his brother’s clothes on his back so he would feel and smell like Esau. (Gen 27:1–29)

Their plan worked. While Esau was out hunting, Jacob brought Isaac the meal his mother had prepared. Though it took a bit of convincing, Jacob did eventually persuade his father that the man standing in front of him who felt and smelled like Esau must be Esau.

Isaac named Jacob his heir, giving him the full family blessing—the covenant promise the Lord had bestowed on his father, the promise to become a great people through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed. (Gen 27:28–29)

When Esau discovered that he had been swindled out of his birthright, rage overcame him and he swore to exact revenge on his heel-grabbing little brother. Given the chance, he would kill Jacob. Rebekah heard Esau’s eruption and told Jacob he had better make himself scarce.

Maybe he should seek asylum with her brother Laban, at least until Esau cooled off. (Gen 27:42–45) And maybe while he was there, he could do what his own father had done. Maybe he could find himself a wife. (Gen 28:1–5)

What Jacob didn’t know was that his uncle Laban was every bit the cheater he was. Knowing Jacob descended from great wealth, Laban did everything he could to relieve Jacob of as much of that wealth as possible while giving Jacob as much of his own burden as Jacob would willingly bear.

Jacob fell in love with one of Laban’s daughters— Rachel. He wanted to marry her, so he offered to work as Laban’s servant for seven years in exchange for Laban’s daughter’s hand in marriage.

Laban was happy to oblige. But when the day of the wedding came, the woman under the bridal veil taking Jacob as her husband was not Rachel, but Laban’s other daughter, Leah.

“Oh,” Laban feigned. “You meant Rachel? You know, in our culture, we don’t permit the younger daughter to marry first. Didn’t you know that? I’ll tell you what: for another seven years of servitude, you can marry Rachel too.” (Gen 29:26–27)

Though Jacob had clearly been tricked into taking both of Laban’s daughters off his hands, his love for Rachel was strong. He would do whatever it took to bring her home as his wife. So Jacob worked for Laban another seven years. (Gen 29:28–30)

But Laban wasn’t the only schemer. Jacob quietly worked to build his herds and possessions until his personal wealth rivaled that of his uncle. Jacob even managed to trick Laban out of most of his own livestock. (Gen 30:25–43)

Though their relationship was an ongoing struggle, neither Jacob nor Laban could really argue with the results. Both knew they lived to swindle the other, and within that system existed a sort of code which said that if one schemer was foolish enough to fall for another’s scheme, then that was his fault.

Still, they had to find a way to live at peace. Eventually Jacob concluded that living at peace with his uncle Laban meant living apart from him. So Jacob gathered his wives, his servants, his children, his livestock, and all their possessions and set out for the only other home he knew—the land of his father in Canaan. (Gen 31:17–18)

Only it wasn’t the land of his father anymore. It was the land of his brother, and the last Jacob had heard, Esau had sworn to kill him. (Gen 27:42)

About the Post: This post is an excerpt of chapter 6 of my 2015 release Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative, Rabbit Room Press, 2011.

About the Art: Govert Teuniszoon Flinck (1615-1660), Blessing of Jacob, oil on canvas, 117 cm x 141 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1638.

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