This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 29-30.

    Every time I read this story, I am reminded of the complications which arrive from straying from the monogamous marriage model laid out in the Garden of Eden. Despite the love the three apparently had for each other(Leah and Rachel, as sisters, Jacob for Rachel, as indicated, Jacob for Leah, as the mother of his sons), there was still jealousy and conflict. There is plotting and manipulation and even Jacob gets treated like an object (when Rachel and Leah negotiate between them whose bed he will spend the night in).

    Another thing we learn from this story is that the ancestors of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, were deceivers and cheaters. They kept the letter of their agreement, but not necessarily the spirit. This is not the first time that Laban attempted to cheat Jacob (after all, that is how Jacob ended up married to both Leah and Rachel), but it does show that that was not just a one off. This story, and yesterday’s, suggests that Laban did not value women. Otherwise, why would he be willing to cheat his son-in-law, who was married to both of his daughters, and was his nephew, in favor of his sons? (I will visit this idea again when we get to Jacob leaving Laban). This stands in contrast to the way in which Abraham and Isaac treated their wives and later how Jacob’s sons reacted to the mistreatment of their sister.
    I do not want to move on from this passage without noting that Jacob cheated his father-in-law right back. It seems probably that Jacob would have done something like this even if Laban had treated him fairly.