WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday January 3, 2016
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GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL EVEN DURING THE WORST SITUATIONS
(GOD uses divine retribution to bring us back into HIS Will)
(Genesis 29:1-30)
It was customary in Old
Testament times for the groom to present the father of the bride with a gift of
money, or something of monetary value for his daughter’s hand in marriage. However,
this was not considered as “buying and selling women”, but rather, it served as
acknowledgement that the groom was extracting something of value from the
father’s household. This in no way, of course, compensated for the life of the
daughter, but rather, it served as a symbol that the groom placed a high value
on his future bride.
In
Genesis 29, Moses writes of how Jacob came to marry, both Leah, and Rachel, the
daughters of his uncle, Laban, at Padan-Aram. This all occurs after Jacob fled
his father Isaac’s house, after he and his mother, Rebekah, had joined forces
in order that they might cheat his brother, Esau, out of his inheritance as the
eldest male sibling.
When
Jacob arrived in Padan-Aram he saw three flocks of sheep in the distance lying
in an open field beside a well, waiting to be watered. There was a heavy stone covering
the mouth of the well. It was a custom to wait until all the flocks arrived
before the stone was removed by the shepherds. After watering all of the sheep,
the stone would be placed back over the well to protect the water, perhaps,
from wild animals and debris.
When
Jacob saw the shepherds, he went over to them and asked them, where did they
live? They told Jacob that they lived in Haran, and so he asked them if they
knew his uncle Laban, and they replied that they did. As the men talked, a shepherd
girl named Rachel, arrived at the well with her father’s flock. She was the daughter
of Laban, whom Jacob was looking for, and because she was his cousin and her
father his uncle, he went over to the well and removed the stone, and watered
her flock. Afterwards, Jacob kissed Rachel and tears fell from his eyes as he
explained to her who he was. Rachel then ran home to tell her father and he rushed
out to meet and greet his nephew, and invited him to stay at his home.
In
verses 15-30, after Jacob had been residing and working with Laban for about a
month, Laban suggested that it was not right for Jacob to labor for him for
free. And so he asked Jacob how much he wanted in return for his labor. Jacob,
who by now, was in love with Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter, offered to work
for him for 7 years, if he would give him permission to marry her, after that
time. Laban agreed, and so Jacob spent the next 7 years working for him to acquire
the right to marry Rachel. The stage was now set by the LORD for Jacob to
receive his divine retribution for his trickery against his brother Esau, and
his father Isaac (Genesis 27:1-39).
And
so, as justice would have it, at the end of the seven-year period, Laban
tricked Jacob, on a dark and festive night, into marrying and sleeping with his
older daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel. It was a trick reminiscent of the time
when Jacob had tricked his father Isaac into giving him his older brother, Esau’s,
inheritance, and now Jacob knew first hand, just how his brother felt when he
was cheated by him, and how his father felt when he took advantage of his near-blindness
in his old age. In Laban, Jacob had finally met his match.
History
now records that Jacob spent the next twenty years in drudgery, affliction, and
deception from his uncle Laban, his mother Rebekah’s brother. The LORD would
use these coming experiences to shape and mold his character into what it ought
to be, as the chosen father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Here we see a crystal
clear example of the biblical principle that states, “As a man reaps, so shall
he sew”.
GOD often orders the affairs of men to set things right, and with Jacob,
this deception by Laban seems altogether fitting, because it is the LORD WHO is,
here in this passage, administering the vengeance that HE says, belongs to HIM.
These tribulations were designed by GOD to bring Jacob’s own craftiness right
into the forefront of his own mind, and allow him to spiritually see the error
of his own ways.
Spiritually,
Jacob was able to see this for what it was, “divine retribution”. He accepted
it, and was able to move on to greater heights. At times, GOD must teach us the
hard way, that, we must be sensitive to the needs and rights of others. And while
this certainly wasn’t an easy lesson for Jacob, it was indeed, a necessary one.
GOD wants to show us that, HIS way is always the best way, and HE will
often show us HIS control, during our worst situations. It is during hard times
and struggles that we are readily willing, and seek to give GOD control of our
lives. And certainly, a life submitted to GOD can never be seen as being “out
of control”.
Fortunately,
Jacob had already given his life over to GOD that day in Bethel (Genesis 28:16-22),
and that was the only thing that allowed him to be able to handle the twenty
years of struggle that he would now face in the house of Laban. We should never
become so preoccupied with the struggles of our own self-imposed circumstances , that we forget that the LORD of the Faith
we say we hold, is always near us, and in control of all aspects of our lives.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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