Sister Rivalry: Genesis Chapter 29 Bible Study

Introduction 

Welcome readers to the Daily Manna! 

Today we will be reading Genesis Chapter 29 the story of Jacob. In this chapter Jacob continues on his journey and meets his future wife Rachel and Uncle Laban. He immediately falls in love with Rachel and offers to serve his uncle for 7 years. He is then deceived by his uncle into marrying Leah. He eventually marries Rachel, the one he loved. However this will set the stage for a rivalry between the sisters. 

Please read this chapter in your Bible before continuing on with this blog post. These posts are meant to be a study companion and not a substitute for reading God's word. 

A Summary of Genesis Chapter 29

Verses 1-14 Jacob continues his journey and comes to the land of the Eastern people which would be northern Syria. Here he comes upon Rachel as she's with the sheep. He is immediately smitten with her. From here he meets his uncle Laban where he's welcomed with open arms. 

Verses 15 - 30 After about a month of staying with his uncle, Jacob is asked to work for his uncle. When Laban asks what his wages should be Jacob says he wants to marry Rachel. After the 7 years have passed Laban deceives Jacob by giving his daughter Leah instead. For this Jacob serves him another 7 years for Rachel's hand as well. We see that his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. 

Verses 31- 35 The Lord sees that Leah was not loved so He enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remains childless. We can see a rivalry between the sisters starting as Leah is able to produce four male children and hopes that her husband will love her. 

Key Themes and Meanings 

Consequences of deception 

Chapter 29 starts at the end of Jacob's Journey to northern Syria, where his mother's brother lives. Here I would like to point out that we learned at the end of chapter 27 that he is mainly here to escape his brother's wrath from being deceived and stealing the birth right of Esau. Rebecca his mother continued to manipulate even after Jacob received the blessing by convincing her husband Issac to allow Jacob to take a wife from her native home, this was mainly to spare Jacobs life. 

Here in this chapter we start to see that Jacob has met his match with another deceiver, his uncle Laban. 

Genesis 29:18, 20, 23, 25 NIV

[18] Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

[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.

[23] But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 

[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?”

As we will see their relationship will continue to escalate and they will fight with each other through manipulation and deceiving. 

Love and Rivalry 

Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel at first sight. It was her he had wanted to marry from the beginning. As we see above he was deceived by his uncle into marrying Leah instead. After another 7 years of work he finally married Rachel. 

We see a bit of a rivalry between the sisters: 

Genesis 29:30-31 NIV

[30] Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. [31] When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 

We can see the pain of both the sisters. One wanting what the other had. Leah wanted her husband's love and Rachel wanted to bear children. We see that Leah is able to bear Jacob many sons, however she still remains overlooked by her husband in favor of her sister. 

God's timing and purposes 

It's very interesting that as soon as Jacob finishes his journey he sees a well which ends up being the well where Rachel meets him almost immediately. This happens at the perfect time, which we know was in God's control. 

Genesis 29:1-2, 5-6 NIV

[1] Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. [2] There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 

[5] He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?” “Yes, we know him,” they answered. [6] Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”

We also see God's perfect timing and purpose and verse 30 and 31. He saw that Leah was not loved and he allowed her to conceive. This was a mercy to Leah knowing that her husband wouldn't love her as much as her sister. Bearing 4 sons was a blessing. He closed Rachel's womb so that it might be opened at the perfect time, which we will see later on. 

Reflections for Today 

Have you ever been given a taste of your own medicine, such as when Jacob the deceiver was deceived by his uncle? 

Are there Rivalries in your own life that could be harming your relationship with others and with Jesus? 

Can you think of a time when you patiently waited and worked for what you wanted? 

Conclusion 

Chapter 29 shows us that even when we may not know what's happening right now that there is a plan through everything. That through God's perfect timing things will work together for the good of those who love him. Manipulations and Rivalry will happen, because we live in a fallen nature, but God uses everything for a greater purpose.

Prayer

Dear Lord, Please help me where I might carry a rivalry in my heart towards another person that might be hindering my relationship with you and those I love. Help me to understand that everything you put me through is shaping me to be who you created me to be.