Genesis · chapter 29 of 50
Updated on
Genesis 29 tells how Jacob reaches Haran, meets Rachel at a well and works seven years to marry her. Laban deceives him and gives him Leah, his older daughter; Jacob agrees to work another seven years for Rachel. The Lord sees that Leah is unloved and gives her four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
Genesis 28 left Jacob with God's promise at Bethel. Genesis 29 shows him arriving at the house of his uncle Laban, where he will spend the next twenty years. The deceiver of chapter 27 is now deceived, and the chapter also shows how the Lord cares for Leah, the wife nobody wanted, and how Levi and Judah will come from her.
Jacob arrives in the land of the people of the east and sees a well with three flocks of sheep lying beside it, covered by a large stone. The shepherds tell him they are from Haran and know Laban, son of Nahor. While they talk, Rachel, Laban's daughter, comes with her father's sheep. Jacob rolls away the stone, waters the flock, kisses Rachel and weeps aloud. He tells her he is a relative of her father. She runs to tell him, and Laban hurries out to welcome Jacob and brings him home.
After a month, Laban asks what wages he wants. Jacob loves Rachel, the younger daughter, and offers to work seven years for her. The seven years seem like a few days because of his love for her. When they are over, Laban holds a feast, but at night he gives Leah, the older daughter. In the morning Jacob discovers the deception and complains. Laban answers that it is not the custom to give the younger before the older, and offers Rachel after the wedding week in return for another seven years of work. Jacob agrees.
The Lord sees that Leah is unloved and gives her children, while Rachel is barren. Leah bears Reuben and thinks her husband will now love her; then Simeon, then Levi; and finally Judah, whose name recalls her praise to the Lord. Then she stops bearing for a time.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jacob serves seven years for Rachel, and they seem like a few days because of his love for her. It pictures how love makes labor light, and shows that Jacob, the schemer, also knows how to give himself.
In the morning Jacob discovers the bride is Leah and complains that Laban has deceived him. The deceiver is deceived, with the same tools of night and disguise. The story does not say so in words, but the reader hears the echo of chapter 27.
The Lord sees that Leah is unloved and gives her children. God is not indifferent to those who are not loved; he draws near to the rejected person and gives her dignity and a future.
Leah bears Judah and says she will now praise the Lord. He is the fourth son, and from him will come the royal tribe of David and, according to the New Testament, Jesus. The Lord works out his plan through the least-loved wife.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: At a well near Haran, as she came with her father's sheep. — Genesis 29:9-10
Answer: He rolled the stone from the well, watered the flock, kissed her and wept. — Genesis 29:10-11
Answer: Seven years, which seemed like a few days because of his love for her. — Genesis 29:18-20
Answer: Leah, his older daughter, instead of Rachel. — Genesis 29:23-25
Answer: That it was not the custom to give the younger before the older. — Genesis 29:26
Answer: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. — Genesis 29:32-35
Genesis 29 shows that we reap what we sow: the man who deceived his father is deceived by his uncle. This does not always happen so clearly, but Scripture reminds us that actions have consequences. In a small group it helps to examine humbly how we have treated others before complaining about how we are treated.
The chapter also comforts those who feel unloved, like Leah. The Lord sees her and gives her sons who will be central to the story of salvation. Ask who in your church or family nobody notices, and how you can reflect God's gaze toward that person.
Genesis 29 ends with Leah praising the Lord at Judah's birth, while Rachel remains childless. In Genesis 30 the rivalry between the sisters will grow, and eight more sons will be born to Jacob's four wives, including Joseph.
The text says Laban gathered the people and held a feast, and at night he brought Leah to Jacob. In the darkness, and with the custom of a veiled bride, Jacob did not realize until morning. The text gives no further details.
Polygamy existed in that culture, but Genesis presents it with its painful consequences: jealousy, rivalry and suffering. God's original design of one man and one woman appears in Genesis 2, and this family illustrates what happens when people depart from it.
From the tribe of Judah came King David and, according to the New Testament, Jesus. In Genesis 49:10 Jacob will announce that the scepter will not depart from Judah.