Redeeming Jacob's Tangled Web

  • Matt Marino
  • Jan 17, 2010
  • Series: Genesis
  • Passage: Genesis 29:1-30

 1-17-10

Redeeming Jacob’s Tangled Web

GENESIS 29:1-30

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

You may have heard the expression, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!” Well, Jacob meant “deceiver.”

 

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

DECEIVER DECEIVED

 

The Big Idea is that God redeems the time of his people: even the messy results of our most despicable sins. 

 

Notice I didn’t say that God cleans up your mess after you. There’s a big difference! The consequences of sin remain even after you are declared righteous in Christ. So God doesn’t remove that messiness in your lifetime; He redeems it. That means that, at the cost of his Son’s blood, He is weaving into the story his own glory and your good out of a wicked fabric that you sowed in. To the outside observer it will still look like a tangled web that God can’t use. 

 

DOCTRINE

 

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Jacob Traveled Energized with a Sense of Destiny

First of all, the vision from God made him alive.

Verse 1 could literally be translated from the Hebrew: “Then Jacob lifted up his feet…”

 

Second, he knew by heart the story of his father’s servant going this same route to find his mother. 

Surely when he came to the well (always important landmarks), his sense of expectation may have arisen.

 

Jacob Made a Fast Move on the Shepherdess 

His “instruction” to the shepherds (v. 7) was meant to chase them away so he could hit on Rachel.

Their response (v. 8) may have been defensive, but it revealed their custom: everyone waits till all the flocks arrive, then roll the stone.

 

His waiting to move the stone (v. 10) and watering her flocks first was meant to impress her.

 

Rachel means “ewe lamb” – so the little lamb arrived with her sheep.

This kiss was that of family-affection, nothing beyond that as yet.

 

Is this “love at first sight”? Is there such a thing? Is it legitimate?

The best we can say here is that the Bible allows it, but doesn’t build a doctrine around it—and neither should you!

 

Jacob’s love for Rachel was deep and patient.

[Gen. 48:7] “As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

[29:20]  “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.”

 

“In many ways Jacob is a poor example for Christians today, but in his marriage he is exemplary.” JAMES MONTGOMERY BOICE

 

Jacob is Quickly Embraced by Her Family

Rachel ran just as Rebekah had.

Laban ran, hugged and kissed him.

 

In the next section, if you wonder why we’re interpreting Jacob’s plight the way we are—under God’s detailed, sovereign plan—one reason was just given in the last chapter…

 

[28:15] “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

 

 

DECEIVER DECEIVED

Into the Hands of a Greater Liar

Laban’s malice of forethought (vv. 13-15)

He remembered the payday when Eliezar showed up.

What must he have thought when there was nothing but a poor run-away!

The wages were suggested by Laban: there was a custom, but his initiative shows that he had already thought through this.

It is though Laban forgot; Jacob had to remind him of the seven years (  )

 

Whenever Laban schemed, there seems to have been an element of envy toward the covenant family throughout.

[Jn. 8:44] “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

 

Leah’s “weak eyes” a reference to “no spark” or “no life” as was physically prized in near-Eastern world.

 

A fitting punishment that the younger, livelier Jacob should wind up with the older, apathetic daughter—fitting that the liar is enslaved by that same nature:

[Prov. 19:5] “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.”

 

Israel’s Bride-price is Not Sufficient for the Taskmaster

In the ancient world it was custom to pay a price for the bride to her father.

 

Jacob’s time was the completed, allotted time (7 Years)

 

True, Israel is supposed to be the bride, but this symbolizes the impossibility of ransoming oneself. 

[Ps. 49:7-9] “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.”

 

Moreover, the second “week” didn’t secure Jacob leaving, only the obtaining of Rachel. We see later on that Laban continued to lord it over Jacob, accuse him and try to prologue his servitude.

 

[Heb. 2:14-15] “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

 

“Unfair” Labor not in Vain

We do all that we do with two strikes:

Our chief motive is always defective because we are sinful.

Our intelligence gathering is always defective because we are finite.

 

We do business with a taskmaster who lures us with these defective plans and pleasures, then holds them over our heads:

“But you wanted this! You chose this! It is custom!”

Even the damage control work (vv. 28-30) that promises a way out or way back or a way on is not without disappointment:

 

[30:1-2] “When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’ Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

 

And yet, even here, dirt poor, miles from home, being used by Laban:

God was ordaining Jacob’s whole fabric in its every detail.

[Rom. 8:28] “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

 

[1 Cor. 15:58] “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

 

APPLICATION

 

To the Used and Abused – OBJ: It sounds like, if I embraced this theology of God’s total sovereignty that the practical solution to me being used by people is to just bear up and watch God work his wonders in my abuse. 

 

No. God is working wonders through this, but this is not a separate idea from being a good steward of what God has given you. 

 

[1 Cor. 7:21-23] “Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.”

 

There is a bearing up under every kind of affliction, but that doesn’t make every aspect of every affliction equal. Don’t seek oversimplified answers to such hard questions. This is something that your brothers and sisters in a small group context can help you discern. 

 

To the “Set-Back” Saint – Like Jacob, you may have received a jolt of enthusiasm a season ago, only to find yourself in a place of turning your wheels with no end in sight. 

 

“The mystery of contentment comes not in bringing anything from outside to make my condition more comfortable, but in purging out something that is within.”

JEREMIAH BURROUGHS, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

 

You may say to that, “Why this?” Seven more years after seven already meaningless years? What’s that got to do with anything? If I could just have this or that; If only this annoying person, or this dead-end job, or this little bit of debt, then I could be content in God...But we must not be our own carvers. The Lord has designed both the way and the time of our testing. 

 

If anyone could say, WHY THIS LORD? It was Jacob. His love for Rachel was profound, and for that very reason God could makes the most lasting impression upon his heart by molding him in that very area. 

 

REMEMBER, Jacob’s vow to God in the last chapter was conditional!

 

God preaches the gospel to you, not just through these seasons: but He has ordained this season (every detail) as a redemption story to break you of self-reliance and the idol of wishing for better circumstances