Of Great Value

DEVOTION

GENESIS

OF GREAT VALUE

Gen 29:16-20

16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel." 19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

NIV

It seems Laban is an upright man, but we will see a little later he has a deception up his sleeve. Nevertheless he does not feel right that Jacob, his nephew, should work for him without some compensation. Just because they were family he should not be expected to work for free. This could be our lesson. Do we just expect all our family to participate for the benefit of the whole without compensation? Do we employ child labor under the heading “Chore”? All we have to do is goggle chore and we can print off hundreds of styles of chore charts. It would seem this is the standard for the family with children, to teach them responsibility through chores. Some parents may well compensate their children for accomplishing a number of chores. Others may not, but the point here is the worker is deserving of his wages. No one should work for nothing, even family. At least that is what seems to be the case here. But our lesson is in another truth here. We see that Jacob certainly fell head over heels for Rachel. He was captivated by her beauty, she was lovely in form. Her older sister Leah was not as beautiful as we are told she had weak eyes, or delicate eyes, soft eyes, which implies a gentle soul, but not one who would normally attract the attention of men. However upon being asked what wages he would like, he tells Laban he wants his younger daughter Rachel and he is willing to serve him for seven years to have her for his wife. Jacob has placed a great deal of value on Rachel. Seven years of labor for her hand in marriage. When we were with his father Isaac when he took Rebekah as a wife, he labored not for her hand in marriage, but sent his servant with many material goods, gold and silver jewelry for her, and many expensive gifts for her father and brother. Isaac also placed great value on taking a bride. Here Jacob does not have great wealth of his own yet to pay, but he has himself and he offers seven years of labor as his gift to Laban for Rachel. We men can take this lesson to heart. Putting great value on our bride, our wife, our life partner. We should never take her for granted, expecting her to serve just serve us, to meet our needs. We should treat her with value. We should place a great deal of value on her for who she is. Jacob loved Rachel and we are told the seven years seemed as days because of his love for her. This is how we should be toward our lovely wife. However many years of labor we must do for her, matters not as they should only seem like a few days because of our love for her. The passing of time has no meaning because we have placed great value on her and her life. Although in our society it seems at times this concept has been lost, especially with so many woman working to help further the family’s lifestyle, this should not diminish the love a man should demonstrate for his wife or the value he should place on her.

Matt 13:45-46

45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value , he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

NIV

Although this is a teaching about how we should value finding the kingdom of God, finding Jesus, it also teaches us when we find a woman whom we love, we need to place so much value upon her we are willing to labor for however long is needed for her. We are very fortunate to have a woman we put great value on.