Intro

Throughout the Jacob story, the word “love” is prominent. At the very beginning, we already see that Jacob’s mother loved him, but that his father loved his twin brother, Esau. When he later arrived at his mother’s family in Haran, the first person he saw was Rachel, and he immediately fell head-over-heels in love with her. In Jacob’s life, human love is present but it is distorted into favoritism.

This part of the Jacob story is about his marriage and family, and the kind of in-laws you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. This text is in two parts. In the first part (verses 21-30), Jacob gets married twice! In the second part (31-35), his first wife, Leah, bears him four sons. The first part is about deceiving, as his father-in-law Laban tricks Jacob into marrying the wrong daughter. The second part is about conceiving, as God has mercy on the unloved Leah and blesses her with children. In both parts, we see characters searching for love and coming away unsatisfied. Through all distortions of human love – the favoritism and unfulfilled longing – we’ll see that God, the Source of perfect love, is working out His plan.

Application

• The Well: at another well she shows perfect love to the unloved
• The Son: from the unloved one (Leah) would come the world’s Savior