Genesis 29:1-30                      The Fox Out-Foxed

8/7/16              D. Marion Clark

Introduction

When I moved to Lake Oconee and learned that I was living in the land of Br’er Rabbit, I decided I should read Uncle Remus. It doesn’t take long to size up the primary character of Br’er Rabbit. He is crafty with a chip on his shoulder. After a while, I even began to develop sympathy for Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear who wanted to eat Br’er Rabbit. And when I got to the story of the tar baby, I had some satisfaction in seeing Br’er Rabbit get out-foxed even though only for a little while.

If there is one trait of Jacob that stands out, it is his craftiness. He used it to obtain his brother’s birthright, and then later, in cooperation with his mother, to steal his brother’s blessing from their father. Our chapter presents another crafty fellow who will out-fox Jacob.

Text

Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. 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.

So Jacob makes it safely to Haran. Recall that his mother Rebekah arranges for him to be sent away on the excuse to find a wife among the family relatives but in reality to protect him from the wrath of his brother Esau whom he has cheated twice. He comes to a well and engages in conversation with shepherds who have gathered for the purpose of watering their sheep. He immediately seeks information about finding Laban, his mother’s brother and now the head of the family. They make him aware of Rachel, who is on her way with her flock. Suddenly, he becomes interested in the shepherds’ work, enough to tell them what they ought to be doing, which is to leave. That would conveniently leave him alone with Rachel.

They remain, but the action moves forward as if they were not there. Jacob becomes a he-man and rolls the stone away. He waters Rachel’s flock. And just like in a Hollywood movie, kisses the girl.

What is happening? Jacob has sized up his opportunity and is making the most of it to make a good impression. From the moment before he was coming out of his mother’s womb and he grabbed hold of his brother’s heel, Jacob has been one who acted to get ahead. Even when the Lord God renews the promise made to Abraham and Isaac and now for him, Jacob cannot resist responding in terms of what works best for himself. It is clear to him that he must act according to his own wits.

Contrast Jacob with another man at a well – the servant of Abraham. He had been sent by Abraham for the express purpose of finding a wife for Isaac. He too stops at a well and devises a plan for choosing the prospective bride by her doing what Jacob did for Rachel. Rebekah – Jacob’s mother – was that woman. The servant also proved to be clever but with a noticeable difference to Jacob, viz., prayer. He prays humbly to God for success, and when God answers his prayer, he gives God the glory. There is no reference to Jacob doing the same, even though on his journey he had been visited by God.

Let’s continue with the story.

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.

Life is good for Jacob. His uncle expresses the love and devotion of a family member – “you are my bone and my flesh.” He brings his nephew into his home, and Jacob apparently serves as a productive member taking care of Laban’s flocks. Laban wants to pay him. Jacob sees opportunity to get a beautiful wife whom he loves so much that working seven years seems but a few days. How lucky he is to have such an uncle soon-to-be father-in-law. No doubt Jacob sees himself as both clever and hard working for what he is earning.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” ²² So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. ²³ But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. ²⁴ (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) ²⁵ And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” ²⁶ Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” ²⁸ Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ²⁹ (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ³⁰ So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

The fox gets out-foxed. Laban unloads a daughter that no one will marry, while getting another seven years of labor from his now son-in-law. Before going on, let me say a word about what should be regarded as an insensitive remark – unloads a daughter. In that culture, though daughters might be loved, their value lay in the bridal price the father would get from the groom. Alas, Leah evidently did not possess the attribute of physical beauty, at least for that culture, and suitors were not lining up. Men of that culture were quite similar to men of today’s culture, prizing outward beauty over inner beauty.

Jacob wanted the beautiful Rachel. He got instead plain Leah, and he is mad. He, Jacob, has been deceived! How could anyone do such a thing, especially his uncle, his very “bone and flesh”?

It is a satisfying moment for those who appreciate poetic justice. “Jacob, now you know what it feels like to be deceived. Now you know how your father feels and your brother feels.” Actually, we don’t know if such a thought occurred to Jacob. If so, we are not told. More will need to happen before we see real change in the man whose very name means “he cheats.”

Lessons

What then do we have to learn from our passage? Get a good look at the woman you just married?  Check the references of your prospective father-in-law? There is at least one moral to the story: depend upon God not yourself.

Jacobs’ Achilles heel was his strength – the ability to outsmart the other guy. It is his Achilles heel because, as Jacob woefully learned, sometimes the other guy does the outsmarting. Then what? As far as Jacob was concerned, he would need to do a better job outsmarting Laban, as we will see later.

Is it wrong to strategize how to obtain one’s goal? No. A wise person thinks through his or her objectives and will plan accordingly how to obtain them. The football coach who thinks that all that matters for victory is that his players be good, moral persons will be in big trouble come game day. Likewise, the business owner that thinks only of being honest but gives no thought to marketing will likely close doors after a brief run. Competition requires wise and clever planning.

To get a better understanding of the matter, let’s turn again to Abraham’s servant who was given a goal to achieve and who thought out how to obtain that goal. He too was clever in coming up with a plan. But we have already noted the difference between his approach and that of Jacob’s. The servant’s plans were committed to the Lord, and he attributed their success to the Lord. Jacob seems to rely on his own wits.

Ironically, both men speak of the Lord giving success. The servant prays to God, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham” (Genesis 24:12). Jacob has the audacity to deceive his father Isaac by lying about how he, as Esau, brought his supposed game so quickly: “Because the Lord your God granted me success” (Genesis 27:20).

It is this insistence that I must take my destiny into my own hands that is dangerous. It is dangerous in that I am likely to make mistakes that will get me into trouble. Its greatest danger is spiritual. “I’ve got this.” “I will figure out what to do.” Such words may sound like those of a confident person, but as long as the words exclude the Lord, they will lead that confident person off the path of following their Lord.

Our plans must always be committed to the Lord. Our confidence for success must rest in the Lord. Our plans must always have as the ultimate goal the glory of the Lord. What glorifies God? What serves his purposes?

Life becomes much simpler when we get our priorities straight. When we no longer have to “make our way” through this world but rather “follow the way of the Lord” through this world, what seemed to be complex problems quite often become to solve. For example, if I approach my career as an opportunity to honor the Lord through honesty, love of neighbor and colleague, quality workmanship – such an approach makes for fairly simple decisions. I do not have to outsmart others to get ahead; I have to determine what honors God. And what honors God is usually straightforward, given that the Lord has much to say on the subject in his Word.

Creativity, strategic thinking, competitive spirit – all of these things have their place and can very much honor the Lord when done well and within the parameters of God’s law of love for God and neighbor. But we don’t have to cheat and deceive, as both Jacob and Laban thought was needed to make it in the real world. Focus on what is right before the Lord. The success of any venture belongs to him to fulfill.

Especially when the venture is part of God’s bigger plan. This is what we have to keep in mind as we continue through these stories of the patriarchs. God made the same promise to Jacob that he had to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham and father Isaac. That promise is the blessing of redemption to be fulfilled by God’s own Son Jesus Christ. It is a blessing to be poured out upon Abraham’s children, both Jew and Gentile. And so all of the incidents in the patriarchs’ lives play a role in carrying out God’s purpose.

God purposed that Abraham would be called. He purposed that the promise would be passed through Abraham’s son Isaac alone. He determined that Jacob would be the son-instrument for the promise to continue to the next generation. At no point did God say that the promise would be fulfilled if Abraham could figure out Sarah’s barren problem or if Rebekah could hoodwink her husband Isaac or if Jacob could be crafty enough to get his way.

If God adds an “if” to any promise, it is always the simple command of obedience. Think of the matter another way. God’s promise of the blessing to Abraham was fulfilled. It was fulfilled through the providential hand of God and through the faithful work of God the Son. It was never in danger of not being carried out. What then was the role of the patriarchs and everyone else through whom that promise was passed down? What is the role of us who now who have profited from this blessing? We Presbyterians know the answer. It is “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” We glorify God through obedience; we glorify God by our joy in obeying. God’s ends will be achieved. They do not depend upon our cleverness or our strength. They rest upon the wisdom of God, the work of God the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit. We also are given good work to do. But we do that work, not because God’s purposes will fail if we do not, but because the work itself is his privileged gift to us. “I delight to do your will,” says David in Psalm 40:8.

For those who rest in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, such is our delight. For those who know that we have inherited the promise of eternal blessing, an inheritance “that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us],” (1 Peter 1:4) such is our delight. We don’t need to cheat for it; we don’t need to outwit anyone for it. All that is for us to do is to obey our God and take delight in him and his promise.