I Am The Blog

Genesis 29 — Switcheroo!

Genesis seems to be filled with switcheroos and deceit. Here, Jacob wants to marry his cousin Rachel (a little further on the family tree than one’s half-sister), but Rachel’s dad tricks Jacob into sleeping with Leah, her older sister, first.

Jacob agreed to slave away for 7 years to have Rachel’s hand in marriage, but after those 7 years of work his uncle Laban sends Leah to sleep with Jacob. "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one," according to Laban (Genesis 29:26). Why didn’t he tell Jacob this before the 7 years of labor? If Jacob loved Rachel so much, how could he not notice the difference?! Didn’t they say anything to each other before getting down to business?!?

Maybe he figured that Jacob would be willing to be a slave for ANOTHER 7 years so that he could also marry Rachel. If so, he figured right. So Jacob marries Rachel after agreeing to another 7 years of servitude, and he loves her more than his first wife, Leah.

Unfortunately for the couple, Rachel is apparently barren. Leah keeps popping out kids, though, because God saw how unloved she was. But even after 3 kids, Jacob still doesn’t love her. Finally, she has a 4th kid with him and names him Judah to honor God (according to NIV it may mean "Praise") and decides she’s through with kids.

So let’s see, we have yet another case of sex switcheroo, another case of polygamy, another case of marrying within one’s family (Laban even says to Jacob in verse 14, "You are my own flesh and blood"), two more cases of servitude (Jacob to Laban, and the servant Bilhah to Rachel), and another woman that God has either made barren or refuses to help have children.

Now, after being surprised at some of the messed up stuff that was put in Genesis, I’m almost more surprised at how similar a number of the stories in Genesis are to each other. Maybe they call it the "Old" Testament because it’s the same old story over and over again?? In any case, I don’t see much morality in all of this. The only thing someone might see as moral in here if you think religion is good, is that Leah names her 4th child in praise of God, putting God above her husband. But that’s reaching, because surely God if he really has to be praised, could have thought of a less convoluted way to get Leah to praise him than the deceit of her father, the labor and lovelessness of her husband, and the sterilty of her sister. Why would a loving God do all that??

PS Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.