Genesis 29

¹ 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. 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.” 

Most folks enjoy a good love story. In Genesis 29-30 we have a love story Genesis style, which is to say, a love story filled with great acts of virtue, great acts of deceit, intense feeling, and staggering familial dysfunction. In other words, this is a very human love story. It is very human, but it is not merely human, for in the love story of Jacob and Rachel we see glimpses of God’s love for us.

Let us consider this love story, then, and, in so doing, consider the nature of true love itself. And in doing that, let us explore the beautiful glimpses of God’s great love for us that emerge from these verses.

True love grows best along the path of obedience.

Yes, this is a love story, though an unconventional one to say the least. Regardless, it is a love story that begins with a journey, Jacob’s journey to Haran in the east. And to say that is to say that this is a love story that begins with an act of obedience.

¹ 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.”

“Then Jacob went on his journey” is another way of saying that Jacob obeyed. We know this because:

• Jacob’s mother Rebekah instructed him to “Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran” in 27:43.
• Jacob’s father Isaac instructed him to “Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother” in 28:2.
• Jacob’s God informed him that He was with him and would keep him “wherever you go” and would “bring you back to this land” in 28:15.

Thus, through the different motivations of his parents’ commission and through the perfect sight of God’s pronouncement it became clear to Jacob that he was supposed to go east to find his wife. In light of this, “Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east” can be seen for what it was: an act of obedience.

We can also see this from a different angle: what would have happened had Jacob stayed at home and not gone on his journey? He would have been tempted to marry one of the local pagan girls, thereby violating the covenant and shaming his parents.

True love grows best along the path of obedience.

I am not offering a magical incantation or spell or rite that ensures a spouse! Not at all! But I am saying this: love that is true and good and pure will be found on the path to obedience. Yes, it is true that there are many people today who are following God as a couple whose relationship did not begin in obedience. But if they are following God as a couple today it means that somewhere along the line they decided to place their feet on the path of obedience. Furthermore, there are many broken relationships in life that result from a child of God trying to cultivate love off of the path of obedience.

In Philippians 2, Paul writes that the path of Jesus was one of obedience as well.

⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

If love grows best along the path of obedience then in Christ we see that perfect loves grows best along the path of perfect obedience. Love and obedience are also linked in John 15:

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Christ demonstrated his perfect love in His perfect obedience. Are you walking with God? Are you journeying with Him in obedience? Love grows best along the path of obedience.

Jacob found Rachel because he walked the path of obedience. In 1988 the band The Proclaimers released their hit song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”

When I’m working, yes I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who’s working hard for you
And when the money, comes in for the work I do
I’ll pass almost every penny on to you
When I come home (when I come home) well I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grow-old (when I grow-old) well I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who’s growing old with you

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

When I’m lonely, well I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who’s lonely without you
And when I’m dreaming, well I know I’m gonna dream
I’m gonna dream about the time when I’m with you

When I go out (when I go out) well I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who goes along with you
And when I come home (when I come home) yes I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who comes back home with you
I’m gonna be the man who’s coming home with you

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door[1]

Jacob could sing that song! He was willing to walk “500 miles” to find his true love. He found love because he walked the path of obedience.

Jesus, too, in a way much greater, was willing to walk the path of obedience to find His bride.

True love is a matter of character and heart.

We also see in our text that true love is a matter of character and heart. Yes, the text will say that Rachel is beautiful. But she is also presented as a person of character. Let us read of Jacob meeting her.

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.

What do we learn about Rachel here. We learn that she was a shepherdess. The IVP Bible Background Commentaryobserves that “in antiquity women would have [been shepherdesses] only when the household had no sons.” This is because “[i]t was a dangerous practice since they might be molested…”[2] Dangerous though it might have been, Rachel was a shepherdess. She is presented as a person of industry and responsibility. She is doing her work when Jacob meets her. Note that he sees her “and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.” He takes in, in other words, the whole picture of who she is: beautiful and responsible.

Some have suggested that this means Rachel would not have looked her best when Jacob met her. Shepherding was hard work and dirty work. Do not picture some romantic pastel-laden picture of a beautiful, hair-in-place, makeup-perfectly-applied middle eastern shepherdess. Picture a bedgraggled, sweaty, dirty, hard-working girl coming to water her sheep. Ephrem the Syrian imagined that Jacob saw through her haphazard appearance to the beauty within. The 4^thcentury Syriac Christian deacon wrote of this scene:

Jacob continued on and turned aside to a well where he saw Rachel the shepherd girl, who, with her bare feet, her shabby clothing and her face burned from the sun, could not be distinguished from the charred brands that come out of the fire. Jacob knew at once that he who had provided the beautiful Rebekah at the spring now provided Rachel in her shabby clothing at her well.[3]

We do not know that she looked shabby, but we can say that by the standards of the day this would not have been what the local ladies would have called “her best.” But she looked perfect to Jacob. He kisses her and weeps aloud! He was happy to end his journey and find his family, it is true, but it will be seen that Jacob appears to have fallen in love with Rachel (to use our terminology) from the moment he met her.

Jesus likewise meets us when we are not looking our best. When Jesus meets us we are shabby with sin, disheveled with shame. Jesus, like Jacob, looks with love upon His bride, His people, when He meets us, though there is nothing lovely to see in us, But He loves us and takes us in.

True love inspires us to greatness.

I love this next point. In verse 10 we see Jacob pull off a physical feat of strength that anybody who has ever been in love can appreciate.

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.

This is fantastic! Jacob, so enthralled by the sight of Rachel, takes hold of the huge stone that covered the mouth of the well as a protective device and rolled it away by himself! By the way, it has been pointed out that another act of physical power happened when Jacob’s Grandaddy’s (Abraham’s) servant met Rebekah at the well when he went to find Isaac a wife. Do you remember in Genesis 24 how Abraham’s servant took 10 camels back to Abraham’s home country to find a wife? And do you remember how, when Rebekah showed up with her watering jar at the well she gave the servant something to drink then she offered to water his ten camels (24:18-19)? Rebekah pulled off the seemingly herculean feet of single-handedly watering ten camels by going up and down the steps into the well to bring them water! There is something about this family and feats of strength at wells!

How many of you can relate? Remember when you first fell in love? Remember the ways in which you tried to impress her? What was the stone you rolled away? I was not a great athlete so I had to try to impress Roni in other ways: primarily by quoting a great deal of Martin Luther and C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer (all of whom I was reading a great deal in the early 90s) and a lot of Bible verses! We all have our own ways of trying to show off at the well!

True love inspires us to greatness, no?

Of course, Christian interpreters have not been able to help themselves with this image of the stone rolled away for love to grow. Is this not the message of Easter? Whether you think this is a textual stretch or not, it is a beautiful image and we might find it to be a kind of poetic foreshadowing. Our Bridegroom rolled away a stone for His bride, the church, too! We know what it is for love to flourish before a rolled-away stone!

True love waits for God’s timing and does not insist on its own.

The love that grows along the path of obedience is also a patient love. It not only obeys God, it trusts in God’s perfect timing. It is not rash. It is not greedy. It is content to wait and serve until God’s will comes to fruition.

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.”

The phrase “Leah’s eyes were weak” is interesting. The IVP Bible Background Commentary notes that “[t]he term used is generally considered positive and speaks of fragility, vulnerability, tenderness or a delicate quality” but concludes that “Leah’s positive features paled in comparison to Rachel’s loveliness.”[4] This is curious. Perhaps we might say that Leah was not without her charms but, in the eyes of Jacob, her charm was diminished when seen next to the truly beautiful Rachel. Regardless, Jacob clearly was drawn to Rachel.

Uncle Laban brings up the issue of payment, noting that Jacob had been working for him for a month and should receive something for his labor. Jacob’s answer gets right to the point: “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

This was a more than generous offer, to say the least. Again, The IVP Bible Background Commentary notes, interestingly, that “a typical bride price is thirty or forty shekels of silver” and that, since “ten shekels of silver is a typical annual wage for a shepherd,” by serving seven years “Jacob is paying a higher price.”[5]

Notice that Jacob is not selfishly trying to cut a deal to appease his own desires. “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). He is willing to do two things to receive his wife: (1) serve and (2) wait.

True love waits for God’s timing and does not insist on its own. True love is not selfish. It is not pushy. It is obedient and it is patient. It recognizes that God is in control.

True love serves in order to win the beloved. True love is willing to give above and beyond what could reasonably be expected, for such is the nature of a love that does not count, does not keep track, is not carrying a calculator.

Jacob’s willing offer of seven years of service above and beyond the normal bride price for the time points us to our own Bridegroom who went above and beyond that which could be comprehended. Jacob served seven years. Jesus poured out His very life. Jacob waited for God’s perfect timing. Jesus came in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4).

Jesus is the greater Jacob! He says to the Father, “I will do whatever is required to gain my bride.” And the Father says, “It will be your very life.”

And Jesus gives it!

In Ephesians 5 Paul points to earthly love as a reflection of the perfect and greater love of God for His church. Consider:

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body.³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

See the self-giving, serving love of Jesus!

• Christ “gave himself up for” His church.
• Christ “sanctifies” His church.
• Christ “washes” His church.
• “Christ [nourishes and cherishes] the church.”

We, the bride of Christ, followers of Jesus, disciples of the one true God, are loved with an unfathomable immeasurable love! To come to Jesus is to be the recipient of this kind of love: forgiving, cleansing, life-altering love. It is offered to you, now, in Christ. All you need do is come.

 

[1] https://genius.com/The-proclaimers-im-gonna-be-500-miles-lyrics

[2] John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), p.61.

[3] Mark Sheridan, ed. Genesis 12-50. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Gen. Ed., Thomas C. Oden. Old Testament II (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p.194.

[4] John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, p.61.

[5] John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, p.62.