No story of "real" housewives would be complete without a set of sisters and a story filled with sibling rivalry at its best. There is competition! One is beautiful, the other is simple. One is loved by their shared husband,the other is not. One is VERY fertile, the other is not! This story has so many twists and turns it could have its own break off series called "Rachel and Leah Get Married". This story is filled with wolfish behavior, self-absorption abounds on all levels. Yet, in the midst of all of it God is sovereign and He works in spite of all the drama!
Here is the story. A very handsome man named Jacob flees from home. Why? Well he was his mother's favorite child and the second born. Jacob, at his mother's prompting, tricks his father into giving him his brother's blessing. It was a deception that stole what was rightfully belonged to someone else. Jacob flees in fear of his life. After traveling a long way, he comes across a well and the woman of his dreams, Rachel! Jacob is so enamored that he agrees to work for Rachel's father seven years in order to have her hand in marriage. However, Jacob doesn't realize that he has encountered a Wolf, who knows how to manipulate and lie to get what he wants. Jacob has met his match!
Seven years later, the day Jacob has longed for arrives and he marries Rachel. They have a magical night together. In the morning, whoops, he realizes he has married Rachel's older sister Leah. Talk about irony! Jacob had deceived his blind father by putting on animal skins, so when his father touched him he concluded he was was Esau, the oldest son. Rachel's father, clothes Leah in Rachel's wedding attire and then in the darkness of the night Jacob is unable to see who he has married.
Let's step back for a minute and reflect. It is always easier to see the wolfness in others. When Jacob's mom loved him more than his brother Esau, do you think she considered the consequences of this? Did she consider how this would effect Jacob's moral development? When Jacob willingly became a part of the plot to deceive his father, did he consider what it would do to his father or his brother Esau? Or, did Jacob just want what he wanted when he wanted it. When Jacob realized Rachel's father had tricked him, did he see that he was beat at his own selfish game, or did he think that Rachel's father was a manipulative Wolf who did whatever he needed to to get what he wanted?
What is it in your life that you so easily justify, but when someone else does it you clearly see the selfishness? What is it that you see in your spouse that drive you nuts? Why? What might it reveal about your own selfishness? 1st Corinthians 13 tells us that love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Would Jacob have stolen his brother's blessings? What is it that you want that you don't have? What extent are you going to to get it? 1st Corinthians 13 also tells us love doesn't force itself on others? Where are you forcing your way?
Next week, we will see how Rachel gets her way, regardless of the cost to others or herself. We will also see how Leah sends emotional darts Rachel's way!
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