Genesis 29:15-28 “What Goes Around…Stories Told for the Fun of It”

Last updated on: July 20, 2017 at 5:23 pm by John C Holbert

Genesis 29:15-28 “What Goes Around…Stories Told for the Fun of It” 2017-07-20T17:23:13-05:00 John C Holbert

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( Lectionary for July 30, 2017)

It is very hard to read this particular part of the Jacob saga with a straight face. It is overtly hilarious prose, designed to bring forth raucous laughter and wink/nudge common pleasure. It is the ancient equivalent of a modern comedian (or comedienne), who with a slightly raised eyebrow and a small cackle leads the audience into a somewhat nasty place where a prude chuckles in spite of self and a person more comfortable with making fun of others howls with guffaws. Everyone in this tale is the butt of very direct assault. Surely, this story, among all the Bible’s great stories, was told primarily for the sheer dark fun of it. Faces around campfires must have included helpless giggling, unrestrained chortles, and tear-streaked chins. Shame on any of you long-faced Bible readers who eschew the joy of this tale! Loosen up and have some fun! We all suspect that God has a rich sense of humor; why not join the Almighty in the mirth?

Last week, we noted how Jacob (“Grabby” in the language) even in the face of YHWH’s extraordinary free gift to him of land and progeny after the little twit had tricked his brother and dying father of birthright and blessing, still finds it in his dark heart to bargain with YHWH about his future! “If you will go with me, and if you give me clothes and food, and if you bring me back safe to my home, then you can be my God,” the tacky jerk prays. YHWH’s lack of response is hardly surprising; perhaps YHWH was stunned into silence by the sheer arrogance of the chosen one! Well, the game is hardly over as today’s story makes plain.

Grabby finally reaches the home country of Haran after a very long trek, and heads for the nearest well, the destination of all ancient travellers. On this particular well rests an enormous stone. It is so large that only several shepherds together are able to lift it off the mouth of the well. In effect, the huge stone well stopper is specifically designed to prevent any one shepherd from monopolizing the well water exclusively for his/her sheep. The weary Grabby asks the assembled shepherds who they are and if they happen to know Laban son of Nahor? How is he faring, he enquires? Well, they say, and look over there; his daughter Rachel is coming to water Laban’s flock.

As Rachel herds her sheep toward the well, Jacob wonders why no one is watering their herds, since it is full daylight, and watered sheep can then be set to pasture and have longer hours in which to graze. But the men respond that they never water any flocks until all the local herds are assembled; hence the huge stone. It is the custom in this land, they say, and customs are important to maintain community and civility among the locals. All the while, Rachel comes within Jacob’s eyesight, and, the story is careful to note, her large flock is also spied by Grabby (Gen.29:10). When he sees both Rachel, who is later described as an extraordinary beauty, and her fine herd of sheep, Grabby rushes to the well and single-handedly throws the great stone off the well mouth and proceeds to water Laban’s flock. In this way, Grabby subverts local custom, undercutting long-held practice in a society that is no doubt quite conservative in such matters. Local custom will soon play a very large role in subsequent events.

Grabby, after watering Rachel’s herd, rushes over to her and bestows a kiss on her, since she is a near kinswoman, and promises to be the bride he has travelled so far to find. When Uncle Laban hears that a nephew of his has surprisingly appeared out the desert, and has made an 800-mile trip to his farm from far-away Israel, he in turn runs to his nephew and embraces and kisses him, shouting “Surely you are my bone and my flesh” (Gen.29:18)! Yes, indeed, Giovanni_Benedetto_Castiglione_-Jacob_Leading_the_Flocks_of_Laban-_WGA4546 Laban and Jacob are as alike as two peas in a pod, as we will soon see.

A month passes. Laban begins the potential working relationship with Grabby by announcing, “Just because you are my relative, should you serve me for nothing? Name your wages” (Gen.29:15)! Since Grabby has been with the family for a month, it will hardly have escaped Laban’s attention that Grabby has a thing for his daughter Rachel. Yet, the complication is that Laban has two daughters; his eldest is Leah, though the knowledge of custom in the manner of the eldest is kept from Jacob for reasons that soon will be critical. The descriptions of the two girls are problematic. The one word used to describe Leah (whose name means “cow” in Hebrew) is sometimes translated as “weak,” (though NRSV guesses “lovely,” while admitting that the Hebrew is uncertain) in contrast to Rachel (“ewe” in Hebrew) who is given a very fulsome portrait; she is “graceful and lovely.” Thus, the two women are then contrasted in terms of their physical charms, explaining why Jacob loved one but not the other. However, it must be said that the Hebrew word used to describe Leah more commonly means “tender” or “soft.” See Deut.28:54, 56 and Is.47:1 for examples. Perhaps the differences between the two have more to do with demeanor; Leah may have been tender in spirit while Rachel, while more outwardly beautiful, did not match her sister in kindness and sensitivity.

In any case, the more important difference is their respective ages; Leah is first-born. But Grabby is mad for Rachel. So, Laban sets the “wage” for securing Rachel as seven years of service. The time appears excessive, but the years seemed to Grabby as but a few days, since he loved Rache Foster_Bible_Pictures_0044-2_Jacob_Talks_with_Laban l so deeply (Gen. 29:18-20).

At last, the wedding feast is announced, and Grabby can finally wed the woman he loves. Ancient wedding banquets tended to be long and elaborate affairs, lasting several days. On the final evening, of course, the bride is led, veiled, to the anxiously waiting groom who has been primed with drink, lusty talk from his friends, and desperate to share the delights of the woman for himself. The veiled woman goes into Grabby’s tent, and the two consummate the marriage as age-old custom has determined.

But in the morning, as the sun falls on the couple, naked in the marriage bed, it is not Rachel with whom Grabby has spent the night, but Leah! One can picture Laban’s buddies, standing and smirking outside the tent, anxiously anticipating the dawn, eager to howl with laughter at the glorious trick that has been played on the great trickster, Jacob. The tale is told with relish! “In the morning, look! Leah! And Jacob said to Laban (no doubt standing right in line with the tent flap), ‘What in Sheol have you done to me? Did I not for Rachel serve you? Why have you tricked me” (Gen.29:25)? Is it not rich that the great trickster Grabby asks a question just like that?

Well, replies a calm and deeply satisfied Laban, “This is not done in our country—giving the younger before the first born” (Gen.29:26). Oh, dear; did I forget to tell you the custom in this marriage thing? So sorry, old boy! Well, you may certainly marry the other woman, too, but only after a suitable and additional number of years of service. How about, oh, another seven years? And so it was. The deceiver has been deceived; the trickster has been tricked. What goes around, as the saying goes, comes around. He does get Rachel as wife after a week, but seven years of work remain before he is able to leave Laban’s onerous service. And, as a final difficulty, we are told that “Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah” (Gen.29:30). No reason for this favoritism is given, and my speculation above is no more than that, speculation.

The tricks and lies that erupted in the household of Isaac and Rebekah now infest the households of Laban and Jacob. And just what are we to make of all that in our modern preaching context? The usual out is to say that YHWH is forever using the oddest folks to fulfill the divine will; so it is still with us today. I like that, and have used it any number of times in my own preaching and teaching. However, I am not fully convinced that that notion lay behind the telling of this tale, however compatible it may be with our modern ideas of theology and personality. I am convinced that the story was remembered and told like this precisely because it was a juicy tale that simply could not be forgotten or told in any other way. Jacob, who becomes Israel, was a rascal, and they found such a delight in picturing him just like that. He was Pecos Bill and Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp and Judge Roy Bean all rolled into one, and we cannot forget them because their stories are just too much fun. Make some theology of them if you must, but never forget to tell them with all the gusto you can muster while you do.

(Images from Wikimedia Commons)

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