Being Treated and treating

DEVOTION

GENESIS

BEING TREATED, AND TREATING

Gen 30:29-36

29 Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?" 31 "What shall I give you?" he asked. "Don't give me anything," Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen." 34 "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." 35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.

NIV

There seems to be a little confusion as to what is happening here. But first we should note that Jacob has been in the service of Laban now for fourteen years and has a rather large family of his own which he is not really acting in the patriarchal manner customary of such a large clan. He has two wives, twelve children, eleven sons and one daughter plus all the maidservants and other servants within his clan. Yet as such he has no wealth, no provision for caring for his own family. He and his are solely dependent on Laban. Jacob decides it is time he make his own way in life, leaving Laban and heading back to his own land. Having nothing of his own, he makes sure Laban knows that his great wealth is a result of his efforts. This may have been an effort to make Laban feel as though he owes Jacob and it certainly appears Laban does feel he should pay him something. The bargain they strike at first seems as though Laban was trying to cheat Jacob from his due, but that may or may not be the case. What we are seeing here is after Jacob says that all the specked, spotted, dark-colored sheep and goats will be his wages, Laban removes them all from his flocks and puts them under the care of his sons, leaving Jacob to care for all the plain white sheep and goats. Then he puts three days journey between the two flocks. Why after Jacob asks that all the speckled, spotted and dark-colored would be his wages, did Laban remove them and give them into the care of his sons? Now all the flock that Jacob had was just plain white. It is as if Laban said, alright here is my flock and you can have all the speckled, spotted and dark colored ones, except there was none in the entire flock he put in the care of Jacob. What we are seeing is that when the bargain was struck it did not include that which was already the property of Laban. Yet it still appears Laban did not act in all honestly. It does seem by the dialog between them, Jacob's wages were all the speckled, spotted and dark-colored sheep and goats that now existed in the flocks. Laban has acted deceitfully before with giving Leah to Jacob before Rachel instead of honoring the agreement. Nevertheless Jacob does not response with anger, or challenge this act of Laban, taking what should have been his wages and leaving him with a pure white flock to gather his wages from.  We will see the results next, as Jacob uses his wisdom, given by God, having the blessings of God on his life turns this flock of white into a large amount of wealth for himself. What we learn here is that although the world might not treat us as fairly as we think it should, we having the blessings of God on our lives will always be cared for. God will always see that we are provided for. There will always be people who try keep to us from something. Yet, God gives us wisdom as to how we should respond, not in anger, or with vengeance, but simply go about doing want we need to do. Jacob could have responded, “Hey wait and minute, you are taking all my wages, all that we agreed upon for yourself, leaving me nothing but a white flock” But he did not, he just went on his way doing what he needed to do and God gave him the ability to turn this to his advantage. We may feel at times that we have been either taken advantage of, or cheated in some way, but we need to remember that God will take care of us. We cannot expect everyone always be honest and act with integrity toward us, but at the same time we should always act in that manner toward them. All that Jacob ever did for Laban was to make him a wealthy man, always acting on Laban’s behalf, least as far as the business aspect of their relationship which we are seeing here. We need to always be honest and act with integrity in our business and working relationships within the world. We should not be concerned about how they treat us, but we should be concerned how we treat them.

He will

DEVOTION

GENESIS

HE WILL

Gen 30:22-28

22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." 24 She named him Joseph, and said, "May the LORD add to me another son." 25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26 Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you." 27 But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you." 28 He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

NIV

We have arrived at the time when God remembers Rachel. Did he forget about her? It is strange how our language uses words we think of differently then what is meant. God recognized her, he gave her attention, and he was attentive to her prayers and opened her womb. We have to know he was the one who had kept it closed all these years. Was he teaching her, or Jacob a lesson by keeping Rachel from having any sons? If he was, then either they learned it and he now was ready to allow her sons, or no lesson was intended and she was just being kept from having sons for the right time. We know Rachel had been praying all along as when she offered Jacob her maidservant and she bore Jacob a son, Rachel says she knows God has vindicated her and listened to her plea. It is not as if Rachel hasn’t been in contact with God that he would forget about her, but this is now the timing of God for her to bear Joseph whom we know has some very special purpose of God to fulfill. What we are seeing is the divine providence, the divine sovereignty of God at work. As fractured this family of Jacob is, as much as there are hard feelings, jealousy, competition among his two sister wives, God continues to bless them, to accomplish he purpose, his plan for them and their descendants. We can learn a lot from this, as we have been learning. God does not depend on our perfection to accomplish his purpose for our lives. Although we are weak, he is strong. We attempt to live an upright live, doing the right things. We go to church, we pray, we try to do good deeds, we witness when we can, we make efforts to serve him in some way. We also try for the most part to keep from doing those things we should not do. That list seems larger than the things we should be doing. But in all reality none of that matters when it comes to God accomplishing his plan for our lives. Sure we should not continue to willfully sin, just so his grace may abound. But at the same time all the good deeds we do may not have any significance to his accomplishing his plan for our lives. Jacob surely did everything right as far as keeping his word to Laban, and working for all those years without a wage, except for having Rachel as his wife of course. He served Laban and worked well as being over his flocks and herds. Laban became a very wealthy man because of the labor of Jacob. But he was not finished with his plan for Jacob and he was about to move on to the next step as we will soon see, making Jacob very wealthy indeed. However the point in all this is God is at work, not them, not us. We cannot make of ourselves that which God desires for us to be. We cannot be the doers of righteousness that is God’s work. We cannot accomplish his plan for us. That is only his work. God needed Joseph to be the youngest of the eleven. We will see how much favoritism Jacob shows Joseph and jealously again within the other brothers which ultimately ends up Joseph right where God wants him, for his purpose. Again and again we see God accomplishing his purpose in spite of the attitude or behavior of people, or using that attitude or behavior to his purpose. What we can be sure of is God will always fulfill his plans. We need to simply be aware of his working in our lives. He will finish what he has started.

Phil 1:3-6

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

NIV

No matter how much we do or don’t do, God will finish what he has started in our lives

Whose way

DEVOTION

GENESIS

WHOSE WAY

Gen 30:9-21

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" So she named him Gad.   12 Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.   14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." 15 But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." 16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night. 17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.   19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.   21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

NIV

Again, because of this competition between these two sisters, with Rachel being barren and Leah no longer bearing anymore sons, Leah resorts to the same tactics Rachel used and gives Jacob her maidservant to sleep with him in order to have more sons. This of course does result in two more sons for Jacob, which now totals eight. Then we get to this situation with Rachel and Leah bargaining over mandrakes for the right to sleep with Jacob. Is this man nothing more than a pawn in this chess game between these two sisters? Is their only worth as women in having sons for their husband? Yet we are told God listened to Leah and she conceived. We are also told Leah considered that God had rewarded her. How can these sisters be at such odds with each other and yet have this relationship with God that he listens and answers their prayers? But he is answering their prayers because he had promised Jacob he would give him descendants more than the grains of sand, and that all the world would be blessed from his seed. Is all this, these four women, all part of the providence of God? Is God using them in spite of their misbehavior and attitudes toward each other? When it all comes down to his promise, his covenant with Jacob, Gods will, his plan, is going to be accomplished. He is the Sovereign Lord God. Can we say then, that even in the times we have wrong attitudes and even wrong behaviors God will still use us to accomplish his plan? It is not as if Rachel and Leah were unaware of God for their prayed and he answered them. So then we, being aware of God, even professing we believe, we are saved and we pray, yet we still engage in bad attitudes and even behaviors, but God still answers our prayers when we pray according to his will. His relationship with them, and with us is not dependent upon their or our perfection. True, these women did not have Christ as their righteousness as we do. Nevertheless God still was demonstrating that his plan, his purpose will be accomplished, even using those who are not perfect. When we think that God turns a deaf ear to the prayer of a sinner, it does not mean to those who have sin. He hears our prayers even in the midst of our disobedience because we are in Christ. That seems so weird to think we can be in Christ yet still be in disobedience to God. But this is what these two sisters were in a sense, being in disobedience, completing for their husbands love and respect, fighting among themselves over him, but still having God answer their prayers. When we fail God, when we take on that old self, and think and act in a manner we should not, God still wants us to always come to him in prayer, so he can instruct us, guide us, correct us and have us move on within his plan for our lives. Just because we fail him, he does not fail us. Just because we might forsake him momentarily, he never forsakes us. But we should learn from these women. We should see how they misbehave and determine as far as it depends on us, to keep from those kinds of attitudes and behaviors which are not appropriate. It seems these women simply lived in a way they wanted to live, but expected God to give them want they wanted. We cannot afford that kind of thinking. We should always be aware of how God wants us to live, forsaking our ways for his. 

Jealously

DEVOTION

GENESIS

JEALOUSLY

Gen 30:1-8

30:1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" 2 Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?" 3 Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family." 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6 Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan.   7 Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." So she named him Naphtali.  

NIV

Clearly jealously motivates bad behavior. We see Rachel being jealous of Leah because she has given Jacob four sons and she has not even given him one. We can just hear her screaming at Jacob about this matter. “Give me children, or I’ll die!” This demanding he do something about what he has no control over angers him and he makes a very profound statement. “Am I in the place of God, who kept you from having children?” There are situations in life we just do not have any control over, period. It would seem that is not good enough for some of us. We want control over our own lives, we want to make the decisions about what happens. Rachel surely wanted what she wanted and she wanted it now or else she would simply die. This lack of control of her situation brought her to the point of jealously, which lead to anger and then despondency and even depression, wishing death upon herself. But Jacob reminds her, it is not in either of their control for God has the situation in hand. It is God who has control, not him nor her. That is just not good enough for her, so she gives him her maidservant to be a wife to him, so he can give her a son. What a man. He just finished telling her God was in control of the situation, but, “Oh you want be to be intimate with another woman, your maidservant, well ok then, we will take control of the situation” Did he just forget about the fact God was in control? Well maybe out of love for Rachel and understanding her state of mind, he just consented to take Bilhah as a wife. She did bear him a son, so Rachel was now happy, content, vindicated. But wait Jacob kept up this behavior with Bilhah and she bore him a second son. But Rachel did not get upset with this but rather considered herself the winner in this struggle with Leah about having sons for Jacob. There is so much here we can learn. First that jealously motivates bad behavior. We need to guard against such thinking, as it takes God out of the equation of life. Just as Jacob stated, are we in the position of God? When we find ourselves in a position of having less then another, is it because of the human condition or is it because of God? Yes, there are people who achieve greatness, and produce an abundance of fame and fortune. There are people who live in near poverty and there are those who live somewhere in between. If we look just with human eyes we could either get proud or jealous. But we must always see with the eyes of God. Each person no matter their situation in life, are his creation and are in need of a personal relationship with him. God has us exactly where we are supposed to be. He leads us, guides us in our daily walk through life, and brings us to where he can use us for his purpose. Just as with Rachel, when we take the situation into our own hands, it may not be the best for us. We will see that Leah reacts poorly to what Rachel has done. Although ultimately Jacob has the twelve sons he does, the twelve tribes of Israel, it seems it is because of another dysfunctional family having a feud over sons. We need to see God at work and submit to his authority in our lives. We cannot afford to allow the blessings of others to influence our thoughts and thus our behaviors. None of us are in the position of God. Maybe some of those who have more than us have it due to the blessings of God, or because they have taken their lives into their own hands. Either way, we have to know God has our life in his hands and he knows the best for us. If we counsel with him, we can be assured we are in the best place we could be. Our lives are not ours, they are his. Rachel should have known that, and instead of giving Bilhah to Jacob, she should have asked God to open her womb, and if he did not then she should have accepted the will of God for her life. But she was not willing to do that, she moved ahead of God. It is not a matter of resigning to our situation in life, it is a matter of praising God in all situations in life. Things may have turned out the same as far as Jacob having twelve sons, but had Rachel praised God for her sister giving those four sons to Jacob, their lives would have been far better as a family. Praise is always better than jealously. 

Favoritism

DEVOTION

GENESIS

FAVORITISM

Gen 29:31-35

31 When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now." 33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.   34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.   35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

NIV

Ruben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, the first four sons of Jacob brought to him by Leah, the wife we are told he did not love. But we had been told that he loved Rachel more before, yet here the Lord sees that Leah is not loved. How does this man Jacob keep taking her to his bed if he does not love her? Is having sons more important than showing love to the woman he engages in this intimate act with? Surely we can see, according to God, this act of procreation is not considered as the definition of love. Although we are seeing that because God caused Rachel to be barren and Leah to be fertile giving Jacob sons, God felt this would bring him into a more loving relationship with Leah. Perhaps Jacob would have thought the promise of God regarding his having so many descendants was going to be due to Leah and not Rachel. This might have given him thoughts that he made the wrong choice in wanting Rachel rather than Leah. He could have been thinking that Leah was the intended mate God had for him. However, we know the rest of the story and how more sons will arrive through those two maidservants before Rachel delivers her two sons. So what can we learn here? If God were endeavoring to teach Jacob a lesson it would be to love Leah as much as he loves Rachel, to not show favoritism. Of course today we do not have multiply spouses and thus we cannot be in danger of showing favoritism to one over another. But we certainly can when it comes to children as we have seen Isaac and Rebekah do with Jacob and Esau. We can also show favoritism to many types of people. We know the teaching of the Lord through James about showing the finely dressed visitor to the best seat while the poorly dressed is told to sit on the floor.  

James 2:1-4

2:1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

NIV

It is clear Jacob showed favoritism toward Rachel and God was showing him the errors of his ways, but the question is whether he learned it or not. We know we should not for we have been directly told not to, yet do we? Are we more likely to make friends or treat people more friendlily if they are nice, or good looking, or have a lot of money, then we would to those who are not nice, not good looking and appear to have little money? Do we judge people by their looks, their manner of dress, their demeanor? Why do we do such things? Should we not value all peoples as the same, as God does? Do we allow ourselves to treat people differently because of what they look like? It appears this was the motive of Jacob in the first place, being attracted to Rachel because of her beauty. Of course this is a nature thing when it comes to the selection of a spouse, we should find them attractive, it is the way God has designed us. But when it comes to our relationship with the rest of mankind, we should treat all equal, as Christ does. God makes no distinction between types of sin, all have sinned and fallen short of his glory. All can be forgiven of sin through Jesus Christ. All, no matter how rich, poor, tall, short, skinny, fat, handsome or ugly. It matters not what the color of skin or the language of the tongue, or the country of origin. God sees all mankind as his creation and he sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for sin for all, showing no favoritism. This is how we need to see all peoples we come in contact with. No favoritism. 

Payback

DEVOTION

GENESIS

PAYBACK

Gen 29:21-30

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her." 22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant. 25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?" 26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work." 28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. 30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

NIV

How could he not know who he was lying with? Laban certainly deceived Jacob regarding giving him Rachel for this seven years of service. But is this sort of a payback for his deception of his father? He pretended to be Esau and here Leah may well have pretended to be Rachel. Yet if they were so different, why wouldn’t Jacob know as he engaged in the most intimate of physical acts? How dark is dark that he could not even see her at all and notice who she was? Was it customary for the woman to cover their faces? According to the scholar this was the custom, the new wife having a veil on her wedding night. Nevertheless Jacob does discover the truth in the light of morning and he is not happy about this one bit. Although he must have felt very happy with himself during the night, he now feels deceived. Did he think about how he had deceived his father? How it made his father feel once the truth was known? It does seem interesting that he gets some of the same treatment he gave others. It does appear to lend to a teaching of do onto others as you would have then do unto you. Laban is not a totally bad person and explains his situation and he just could not give him Rachel with first giving him Leah. However Rachel comes with another seven years of labor, which Jacob willingly agrees. So now he willingly spends a whole week of nights lying with Leah, fulfilling the custom of that time. It is interesting after he receives Rachel as his wife, we are told he loved her more the Leah. We already knew he loved her, but we did not know he loved Leah at all. Yet we are told he loved Rachel more the Leah, so he must have also found love in his heart for Leah after spending this time with her. It may not have been her intense beauty as we are told Rachel was the beautiful sister. However Leah may not have been the ugly sister, just not as beautiful as Rachel. Yet she could well have been the most charming of ladies, gentle and caring, sweetly giving in her demeanor. Jacob could not help but to love her, yet just not as much as Rachel, his first love, and the young lady who caught his eye. What do we learn from all this? Love is more than physical. Although in our youth it seems we are attracted at first to the physical charms of a potential mate, love has to be far deeper than that if it is going to sustain throughout life. We are going to see that all the women, Leah, her handmaiden, Rachel and her handmaiden all have sons for Jacob, twelve in all. Surely a custom that was acceptable in those days, but have long been put aside. We have but one mate and they are to be our love all the days of our lives. But we return to this predominate truth of how Jacob was treated as he treated his father, with deception. Was it the justice of God? Not so, as Jacob had committed himself to God and God had promised him, had made a covenant with him, that he would bless him, and give him descendants he could not number. No, this was not God getting even, but perhaps teaching him a lesson, instructing him in the right ways. God does show us our faults, but not to punish, but to instruct, to correct, to guide us into paths of righteousness. Certainly God did not withhold Rachel from him and in fact Jacob enjoyed the company of four women who all ultimately gave him sons. God blessed him abundantly, but still showed him how he had been and how he should be. God blesses us, he loves us and because of his great love he shows us our faults and shows us the right path. He instructs us, he corrects us, he disciplines us so that we may be the person he has planned us to be. Yet looking ahead, far ahead we see Jacob loves one of his sons a great deal more than all the others because he was Rachel’s son. We still see another dysfunctional family because of the behavior of the father. How long does it take for a person to learn how God would have them be? There was not a great deal of brotherly love in this future family. But God still works in their lives. We may not learn all our lessons from God overnight either, but he still keeps working in our lives, he never gives up on us. But let us at least try to learn our lesson from our past mistakes and move forward with God. Will we ever be the perfect person he desires? Does he expect perfection? Not really, that is why we have Christ, to be our perfection, our righteousness. Nevertheless we should not openly continue to disregard the Lord's instructions or corrections. It seems Jacob may never learn completely nor will we, but God is always wanting to be our guide, our God, loving and blessing us because he is our God. 

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.