Genesis 24:28-32

2008.Mar.10 14:57

Introducing Laban

Read Genesis 24:28-32 | Full Chapter

Laban, son of Nahor, is one of those interesting folks whose antics are recorded in several chapters of the Bible, and yet comes off as a throw-away character. That is, I don’t recall ever hearing anybody teach about Laban. He’s just Jacob’s pesky father-in-law, perceived more as an environmental factor that a real person. Which is unfortunate, because his life, like Lot, is an example for us (men, especially, I think) of how we can get out-of-tune from seeking God, and end up doing a lot of stupid.

Most of what the Bible records of Laban is in relation to his son-in-law and nephew, Jacob, second-born of his sister Rebekah. But in this episode, we see him interacting with his sister and Abraham’s servant, many years before Jacob begins working for him.

Rebekah ran straight home and told her family everything. Her brother Laban heard her tell what the servant had said, and he saw the ring and the bracelets she was wearing. So Laban ran out to Abraham's servant, who was standing by his camels at the well. Then Laban said, "The LORD has brought you safely here. Come home with me. There's no need for you to keep on standing outside. I have a room ready for you in our house, and there's also a place for your camels." Abraham's servant went home with Laban, where Laban's servants unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed. Then they brought water into the house, so Abraham's servant and his men could wash their feet.
(Genesis 24:28-32, CEV)

Rebekah, shortly after the servant gives her the ring and bracelets, heads home to inform her family of the matter. I imagine that she also goes back to get another member of the household to give the official invite, probably a male in this patriarchal society. In addition, we are in the middle of a courtship ritual, whether or not everybody realizes it. While Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, appears later in this chapter, it appears that Laban is acting as the head of household by this time, and so he would be the one, in our contemporary context, to “give away” Rebekah. Hence, him inviting the servant may make particular sense within the courtship context. Then again, this paragraph has pretty much been a series of guesses.

Anyway, back to Laban. He, as had his sister, shows great hospitality to the visitor. It’s unclear to me if he has yet guessed the servant’s purpose, but it’s evident that Laban has determined to treat Abraham’s servant very well. I do appreciate that Laban’s first response is to ensure the comfort of his guest, rather than to interview him as to his goal. At this point, I don’t see any of the attributes that I find distasteful later on in Laban, in particular his deceptiveness in dealing with Jacob. Which is something that I want to be mindful of in my own life. Just because I choose to seek, serve and obey God now (although I often fail) doesn’t guarantee that I will continue to do so later in life. Or, to put it another way, I cannot rely on my past ‘goodness’ to override any unrighteous decisions or actions in the present. I must, instead, continually and throughout my days, choose to place Yahweh above all else in my life and continue to seek more of him and his work in me.

Genesis 28:1-4

2008.Oct.03 12:15

Extending the Blessing

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So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."
(Genesis 28:1-4, NIV)

Isaac, after having been tricked, more or less, into giving the first-born blessing to the younger of his twins, now goes ahead and gives a similar blessing to Jacob, now explicitly adding that Jacob–not necessarily to the exclusion of Esau–shall inherit Yahweh’s promise to Abraham: he will have many descendents; they will possess the land of Canaan. In which the descendents of Abraham are aliens. Which is an increasingly difficult point to argue.

But Isaac takes the opportunity to give, if not a condition to the blessing, at least a clearly related instruction. “Jacob, go home,” he says, “and marry one of your cousins.” Or, more generally, do not marry a Canaanite. This particular point only comes up fifty thousand times in the Old Testament, so I won’t dwell on it here. At least, it now occurs to Isaac to state this desire, where I’m not sure it did in the case of Esau. Isaac, I am concluding, is not a great example of a father.

It’s also interesting that, in Genesis 24, Abraham made it clear to his servant that he did not want Isaac to leave Canaan at all, whereas Isaac explicitly sends Jacob off. It would have been interesting to see interaction between Laban and Isaac.

Genesis 29:9-14

2008.Nov.14 05:00

Reunion

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While Jacob was still talking with the men, his cousin Rachel came up with her father's sheep. When Jacob saw her and his uncle's sheep, he rolled the rock away and watered the sheep. He then kissed Rachel and started crying because he was so happy. He told her that he was the son of her aunt Rebekah, and she ran and told her father about him. As soon as Laban heard the news, he ran out to meet Jacob. He hugged and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him everything that had happened. Laban said, "You are my nephew, and you are like one of my own family." After Jacob had been there for a month…
(Genesis 29:9-14, CEV)

In a lot of ways, this is just a very happy moment. Jacob has made it back to his relatives. And is still alive, too. He gets to meet his uncle, Laban and cousin, Rachel, and they receive him gladly. Jacob even has an opportunity to show off his usefulness, by watering Laban’s flock.

It’s almost a little daunting when there’s just a purely happy moment in the Bible. So much of it is evidencing humanity’s failures, and while God’s grace and love follows, there’s that inherent feeling of conflict. Even here, I’m thinking about the coming difficulties between Jacob and his uncle. Indeed, this may be the last time Laban is presented in a largely positive light. Also, upcoming is the anger and jealousy between his wives.

Is conflict inevitable in the face of such happiness. Some probably is, because we are after all human, but I don’t think these major life-long conflicts are. Behind this happiness, there is too much scheming. The seeds for disagreement are not happiness nor are they “just because we’re human”. Rather, a lot of it will come from Laban’s deceptions, his intent on doing things his own way. And Jacob’s similar intent for that matter.

The problem is not them being happy, but that the happiness seems false. Or, at least, Laban in particular seems to value his outward appearance and profits more than the quality of his relationships.

Genesis 29:15-20

2008.Nov.21 14:24

Young and In Love

Read Genesis 29:15-20 | Full Chapter

Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?" Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face. Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me." So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.
(Genesis 29:15-20, NASB)

I think this is the first example in the Bible of the “in love” phenomenon. Jacob is clearly infatuated with his attractive cousin. Enough that he’s willing to work without pay for seven years in order to marry her. But, of course, there’s more than just that going on here.

In Genesis 3:17, God tells Adam, " And so, the ground will be under a curse because of what you did. As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food" (Genesis 3:17, CEV) . To Eve, He says, " You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you." (Genesis 3:16, CEV) . While you don’t see either of these curses exactly in this narrative, they do feel at least relevant. I’ll leave the difficulties experienced by Jacob’s wives for later; I do want to look a little at Jacob here.

He’s working for his uncle without pay. On the other hand, he probably receives food, lodging, etc, so it’s not like he’s getting a raw deal. Nor does he seem intent on changing this. His one concern appears to be marrying Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel, and Jacob proposes that the “price” be seven years. I’m surprised that he didn’t say, for example “one year” and negotiate up. Seven years would be a long time to wait to be married, and working for only room and board would not help. Other the other hand, he may figure that seven years will be needed for Esau to calm down regardless.

Much of the interaction between Laban and Jacob will regard Jacob’s work for his uncle. For Laban, ensuring that the skilled labor sticks around seems to be a motivating factor in all his dealings with Jacob. That’s where I see the curse of toil come in. Certainly, much good comes of all this for Jacob, but I can’t imagine that he doesn’t spend a lot of time frustrated.

Before I leave this section, I want to go back to the “in love” bit. This does strike me as a college age guy sees a woman and “falls in love with her” and is willing to do whatever for her, or at least write badly rhyming songs about it. Yes, Jacob does make a commitment, showing that his desire to marry Rachel has at least some depth, but I think it’s telling that the commitment he makes is not to her. Then, there’s almost no mention of their courtship, so I am clearly guessing.