Genesis 29

There are two things that stand out in this story of a weird family situation. Laban deceived Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver. He had deceived his father to steal Esau's blessing. He took advantage of Esau to get his birthright for a bowl of stew. Interestingly enough this time he is on the receiving end of deception as he is tricked into marrying Leach when he thinks he is marrying Rachel. I am sure he was mad that someone would trick him like that. The sandal was on the other foot this time and the trickster got tricked.

This story tends to have a focus on how much he loved Rachel and how he was willing to work hard to be able to have permission to marry her. This could have been a beautiful love story- man and woman fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after. But, this story got messed up and instead of one wife Jacob has two, which was not his intention.

Some people may say the Bible is okay with polygamy because it is in the Bible- it is okay to have two wives. The truth is that it is included in the Bible not because it was God's will, but simply because it is a matter of fact. God does not approve of polygamy anywhere in Scripture. In fact, it should be seen as a warning when we read of it because it is a constant source of trouble- there is not a story that showed everything just worked out wonderfully. God was going to use Jacob to bring forth the tribes of Israel- but it was coming through a very dysfunctional and strange family situation. It is yet another proof that God does not need perfect people and perfect situations to carry out his perfect plans. That gives hope to all of us that God can use us too.