COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 89 - A SON IS BORN AND A BELOVED WIFE AND FATHER PASS AWAY

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I’m sorry if you looked for this lesson last Thursday!  I was away at The Feast of Tabernacles enjoying a joyous feast before The Lord, and I hope you were busy doing the same with your own family! 

We left Jacob back in Bethel, worshiping God at a holy altar and giving thanks for God’s deliverance and provision for his family and descendants.  After a very holy time, the people of Jacob settled down and made Bethel home for a little while.  It was like a refuge for them, a place to stay until their troubles in the land blew over and were forgotten by the other inhabitants. 

The day came when Jacob, now called Israel, felt it was safe to move on.  They walked toward the area of Ephrath (Bethlehem) slowly because Rachel was heavy with child, and it was close to time for her to deliver. 

The birth pains came in the middle of their journey and she was having great difficulty giving birth to this child.  The midwife was with her and trying to help her.  She said to Rachel “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”

It would be a son she would give her life for.  Rachael also knew she was dying.  In her last few breaths she named her son Ben-Oni. 

In Hebrew the word “Ben” means “son.”  The root of the Hebrew word for “son” implies a building being built.  When Sarah could not have children and she told Abraham to go into her maid and have a son by her she said “Perhaps I shall be BUILT UP by her.”  The implication was “to build up.” 

This use of the words brings to mind the statement made by Jesus at a much later date; “for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9), and the implication of “raise up” is the same meaning as “build up;”  which makes the use of this word from the lips of Rachel seem so much more profound.  Some scholars have noted that the Hebrew for stone (‘eben) is also related to the verb for “son” (bana) meaning “to build.” 

Jesus also said “You will be sons of the Most High (Luke 6:35) and Peter later writes “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” (1 Peter 2:5)  The word “house” is frequently used to denote someone’s family but it is also used to denote any other clearly defined group, such as a guild, a castle order, or such similar organizations of people groups, such as when one speaks of “the sons of the prophets”  or “the sons of the troops,” or “the sons of exile.”

So yes, the word “ben” means son, but it also means a group of sons and a building block.  This seems to imply the building up of a nation!

The whole name given by Rachel in labor and pain to her son was Ben-Oni which many translators have traditionally translated to mean “Son of my Sorrow.”  Today many disagree with this interpretation.  Remember that until Joseph was born Rachel was childless for a very long time.   It seems highly unlikely that she would name her second son in a way that would be continuously reminding everyone that he was the cause of his mother’s death. 

We must also remember how much Jacob loved Rachel!  He spent 14 years of his life working in order to obtain her as his wife.  It is highly unlikely that he would not honor her dying wish and name their son something completely different than what she had called him, as most of us have been traditionally taught.    

Instead of accepting the traditional interpretation here, one would think that Rachel may have sought consolation that her son made it alive.  It could be that when Rachel heard the mid-wife say; “Do not fear, for now you have another son” that she chose the last part of the name to be “‘on.”

We cannot be sure how the ancient text was pronounced.  Historically, there are two ways to pronounce ‘on;  “awen” and “on.”  These two words have completely different meanings.  “Awen” means “sorrow” and “on” means “vigor.”  To be vigorous is to have strength.  It seems possible that Jacob/Israel did not rename the child after Rachel’s death; but he simply added amplification to the name she had already given.  Rachel’s meaning “this son is my progeny” (Ben-oni) becomes “This son is my strength” which translates to Benjamin.

So it was that Jacob had to bury Rachel, the love of his life.  He buried her on the way between Bethel and Bethlehem and he sat up a pillar for her tombstone.  The scriptures say that that pillar, marking Rachel’s tomb, is there to this day. 

Israel (Jacob) moved on again and set up a tent near Migdal Eder.  He now was the father of twelve sons. 

The sons of Leah were Ruben (the firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. 

The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of  Rachel’s servant, Bilhah, were Dan and Naphtali.

The sons of Leah’s servant, Ziplah, were Gad and Asher.

The first born son of Jacob did many rebellious things to break his father’s heart.  It was while they were in Migdal Eder that Ruben committed a great sin and slept with Bilhah, his mother’s servant, Jacob’s concubine, mother of his half-brothers.  Israel (Jacob) knew of this.  It was no secret and it was very shameful to him.

After all of these sorrowful events in Israel’s life, he finally came back to Mamre and reunited with his father, Isaac.  Isaac was old and blind when Israel had first left home as Jacob, and it was not thought at that time that Isaac would live much longer.  He had somehow recovered his strength and he lived to be one hundred and eighty years old.  He lived to see his two sons united again.  It must have brought him joy in his old age. 

When Isaac died, he was buried in the tombs of Abraham and Sarah.  He had lived a long and full life.  Together, Jacob and Esau buried their father.

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 88 RETURNING TO BETHEL

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The things that happened with Dinah did not make Jacob a happy father.  

The things his sons did to defend her had only brought troubles upon Jacob’s family in the land.  

It was probably a huge relief that there would be no mixing of peoples because of it; but this was only because Simeon and Levi had killed every man in the area that was not a descendant to Jacob!  They had obtained justice for one man's sins by killing many innocent men.  That isn't a very godly way to go about things! 

Jacob thought the other tribes nearby would hear of this and be very disturbed and decide to ban together against his family in the land.  He knew it was probably only a matter of time.  At a loss of what to do next, Jacob got down on his knees and sought God’s help.

God answered Jacob’s prayers by telling him to return to Bethel in the land of Canaan, where God had blessed him before.  Jacob had wrestled with God in that very place just before meeting Esau and he had previously seen the ladder to heaven there with the angels ascending and descending.  

We all have a Bethel in our lives.  A place in time  where and when God prevailed over our humanness and showed us His good and godly plans for us.  If we forget this and lose our way, God usually instructs us to go back to that sacred place.  We need to revisit the place where He instructed us in righteousness and holiness and there He shows us who he has meant for us to be all along.  It often takes several trips back to Bethel for the lessons of God to sink down into our hearts and souls enough so that we can be obedient enough to let God pour out more blessings on our days.  When we find we can LIVE in that place in righteousness, it becomes a permanent home in our hearts and the sacred enters the ordinary through the everyday events of our lives.

This was probably the most holy place on earth to Jacob. The people in the area seemed to be calling Bethel "Luz" at this point.  We have discussed the mysteries and legends around the land of Luz in previous lessons.  

Jacob still called it Bethel.  He knew the place was especially holy; and he knew he needed to clean up his family in order for them to be able to enter this land and walk on this sacred ground.  

What happened to Jacob in this part of the story happens to a lot of Christians.  You sin ,(Jacob stole Esau's birthright and deceived his father); you need to move away from all that God has given you because you have held on to that sin, (Jacob had not reconciled with Easu); you leave and go to live with pagans instead of God's people.  Then while you are there you maybe come to your senses and try to make things right where you are and you can't quite get there because everyone you have surrounded yourself with is pagan. 

 Your children are born in a pagan land and they pick up pagan practices and ways from those they have grown up with.  It is very, very hard to change this unless you come clean from your sin, (Jacob faced God and Esau) and begin to teach your household Godly ways and begin to live in righteousness. 

 The very first thing that has to happen is that your household idols must be destroyed.  I wonder how many in Jacob's household wanted to hold on to them?  It would have been so much better if they had never known of them! 

We live and learn and so did Jacob.  He was determined to work through this.  Jacob had changed, and he could be just as stubborn about his change as he had been about his deceptions.  He wanted his family clean before they entered Bethel!

He gathered them together and commanded them to give him all of their foreign gods, which they did.  They also had earrings in their ears that seemed to be inappropriate and Jacob took them too and put them with the idols and he buried it all beneath the oak tree at Shechem.

That old tree had seen some history by now! 

So Jacob told everyone in his family to purify themselves and to change their clothes.  He informed them that he was taking them to Bethel, the place where he would build an altar to God and they would worship.  He also stated that at Bethel God had previously answered his prayers when he had been in distress,  and Jacob noted to everyone that God had been with him everywhere that he had been since his experiences at Bethel.  It is almost like Jacob looked at Bethel as a place of safety and refuge that was sacred and hallowed and he was expressing this to his family so they would understand where they were going. 

When Jacob gathered everyone together, all cleaned up and idol free, they set out on the journey.  The scriptures say the terror of God fell on all the towns around them and they were not harmed in any way as they traveled through the land.  Of course, I'm sure the rumors of what Simeon and Levi had done to those Shechemites helped a little too!  That still didn't mean they did the right thing.  God has a way of turning evil and using the outcome to bring some good somewhere.  It keeps the godly from totally losing hope in many hopeless situations.  It always increases shattered faith among the people.

When they arrived at Bethel (Luz) Jacob built an altar to God exactly in the spot where God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he was fleeing from his brother.  Jacob called this place El Bethel, which means “God of Bethel.”

Shortly after they arrived in Bethel Rachel’s nurse, Deborah, died.  Deborah had lived with and faithfully served Rachel all of her life; and she had selflessly left her home land and family and everything she knew to go with Rachel when she married Jacob.  This must have been a great loss to Rachel.   Even though Deborah’s title was servant, she had been like a Mother to Rachel.  Jacob buried Deborah beneath a great oak just outside of Bethel.  They named the area Allon Bakuth, which means “Oak of Weeping.”

Has God called you to be a servant too?  If so, be a servant like Deboarh, one that loves like a mother, one that is faithful in all things, one that blesses a family in a million little ways and one that will be very missed when they are called away from life's journey.  Deborah seems to have been the servant of all servants, a female example similar to Eliezer, the exemplary male servant of Abraham.   

As Jacob and all of his family worshiped God upon first entering Bethel; God appeared to Jacob again.  Jacob was reminded of all the things that God had said to him before.  God had changed his name from Jacob to Israel, and God had said “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number.  A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.  God reminded Jacob of these things he already knew as he worshiped at Bethel, then the scriptures say “God went up from him.”  

Jacob set up a stone pillar in that place and poured out a drink offering to God.  He also poured oil on the stone and he called the place, Bethel, which means “House of God.”

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 86 AN OLD FIGHT IS ENDED AND AN OLD PLACE IS MADE NEW AGAIN

(Writing by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

William Jennings Bryan once said “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.  It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”  This was the case for two brothers about to face one another after years of unresolved anger. 

What would be the outcome of Jacob meeting Esau? 

No one knew.

 Neither brother knew how the other would react. 

Jacob was prepared for the worst case scenario.  He had divided his children among Leah and Rachel and their two female servants.  He put the female servants and their children in the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.  In other words; he put the one’s he loved the most in the most protected place. 

After everyone was in place Jacob looked up and saw Esau and his four hundred men thundering toward his caravan.  Jacob gathered all his courage and moved to the front of his family, dismounted his ride,  and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

To his utter amazement Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him.  He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.  Together, right there in the middle of the land, the two brothers embraced and wept.  Years and years of tears were released, tears long held back and burden after burden was lifted from the struggling shoulders of two brothers that needed to forgive one another.  Finally they looked up from each other.

“Who are these with you?”  Esau asked.

“They are the children God has graciously given your servant” said Jacob. 

Then the female servants approached with their children and bowed down.  Next came  Leah and her children.  Last to bow were Rachel and Joseph. 

“What is the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”  asked Esau.  “To find favor in your eyes my lord,” said Jacob.

Note that Jacob calls Esau “my lord” three times in this passage of scripture.  It was a fulfillment of Isaac’s blessing to Esau that we studied before.  The words are found in Genesis 27:40: “You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.  But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”

“I already have plenty my brother,” said Esau.  “Keep what you have for yourself.”

“No, please!” said Jacob.  “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me.  For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably.  Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.”

Because Jacob kept insisting, Esau kept the gifts.   

Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”    But Jacob told Esau that the children were young and they would be slow walkers.  He said he needed to care for the ewes and cows nursing their young.  The animals would not be able to journey another day without problems to their health.  Jacob told Esau to go on ahead and they would come slowly behind him when they had time to take care of all of their needs and the needs of the animals.  He agreed to meet Esau in Seir.  Esau offered to leave some of his men, but Jacob said that would not be necessary. 

Esau went to Seir, Jacob however went on to Sukkoth, where he pitched a tent for himself and his family and made them a temporary home.  He also made temporary shelters for his livestock.  That is why the place is called Sukkoth.  Sukkoth means “temporary shelters” and that is the name given for the festival and the Holy Days of God that comes for eight days each Fall season.  The temporary dwellings or booths used each year at Sukkot, are similar “temporary shelters.”  It is interesting to note that some of these shelters at Sukkoth were made for housing livestock; as so many people believe Jesus was actually born during the feast of  Sukkot, and he was housed in a manger in a place that provided shelter for livestock at his birth. 

Then Jacob crossed the Jordan and rode to Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city.  The blessing he had requested from God at Bethel; asking that he be allowed to return to his homeland in peace, had been accomplished.

Shechem is the narrow valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, approximately 65km north of Jerusalem.  This strategic location was between the north and south and east and west main roads.  It was here that existed the well we now called “Jacob’s Well.”  That was not the only water supply though, there was conduit that ran out of a cave that also provided water to the residents in this area. 

For a hundred pieces of silver, Jacob bought the plot of ground where he pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the Father of Shechem.  This was the second plot of land bought and paid for from money of Abraham’s descendants in the land of Canaan.  This spot was actually the same place where Abraham built the first altar to God when he first crossed into the promised land himself.  It was the same place, close to the same terebinth tree,  from  years earlier.  There Jacob set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel, which means El is the God of Israel, or Mighty is the God of Israel.

Seventeen centuries later a man named Jesus, a descendant of Jacob, would walk to this same city and go to this same well in the noontime heat.  There he would have an interesting conversation with a Samaritan woman who would lead many to believe that she had found The Messiah of Israel, the very Son of God.   

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 83 HIDING IDOLS

 (Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So one day Jacob called Leah and Rachel out to the fields and explained to them that he had received a dream from The LORD and The Angel of The LORD had told him to gather his things and go back to the place of his birth.  Jacob explained to his wives that Laban was now treating him bad, and their brothers were jealous of him.  Jacob had dealt fairly with Laban and now they were claiming that he had cheated them with Laban’s livestock.  He explained to his wives that God was with him, and everything that Laban did for harm, God had turned it for good for Jacob. 

I can never hear this part of the story without thinking of all the good-hearted people who slave away at their jobs, hoping to better themselves, putting in a

good days work for a low wage, never seeing an increase, trudging along taking the blame for everyone else’s mistakes because they are the lowest man on the scale and have no one else to blame.  All the blame for everything comes to this person who innocently gets up, goes in every day and does his job.  When things go wrong and the people at the top complain, it is this guy who does not sit in on the conversations of management that gets the blame.  One day he looks up and he has spent a lifetime working for low wages without a raise or even a "thank you" and they kick him out on the street for someone else’s sake. 

 Some people, like Jacob in this story, just don’t get any breaks.  However, these are the people on whom God looks down and sees in their suffering.  The things other’s do to them do not matter.  God always repays what the locust eats.  He has a record of right and wrong, and he knows who did what.  He helps those who live righteously and can’t help themselves.  He brings them more than they need and they receive joy in the end.  Jacob had a situation just like this typical one of the common man after years of working for Laban and being true to the love of his life.  All of Jacob's good intentions had been used by others at this point and God was watching.  God always watches.  He watches and He waits until the time is right to restore the broken.  Don’t think for a minute that Jacob was the only unhappy person either!

Rachel and Leah were also very unhappy with the way Laban had treated them.  They had no desire to stay with their father or to share their family with him any longer.  They learned long ago that they were merely profit to him and nothing more.  They agreed with Jacob to pack their bags and move away. 

So, they packed up the kids and the camels and the livestock and Jacob and his wives headed back to the land of Canaan to live with Isaac. 

Jacob knew if he told Laban his plans he would try to trick him into staying again.  He wasn’t going to fall into that trap!  He concealed his plans from Laban and decided to leave in the night while it was dark.  Fortunately, Laban and his sons were very busy sheering their sheep, about three days away from the flocks of Jacob.

What Jacob, and everyone else, didn’t realize was that Rachel went in to her father’s house before they left and took his household gods with them.

 

When it was good and dark Jacob headed down the road with his family and flocks.  All his possessions were happily headed for Canaan.  It was three days before Laban and his sons discovered Jacob was gone.  Jacob and his family caravan crossed the Euphrates River and headed toward the hill country of Gilead.  It was there, seven days later, that Laban and his sons caught up with them. 

Before they reached Gilead, Laban had a dream from God.  In the dream he was told:  “be careful what you do to Jacob, whether it be good or bad.”

This must have troubled Laban and he paused not knowing what to do next.  He pitched his tents next to Jacobs. He confronted Jacob as a hurt man.

“Why have you run off like a thief in the night without consulting me?  Why did you not let me say goodbye to my daughters and my grandchildren?  I would have thrown you a party, a great celebration, but instead you left without notice!” 

Laban’s words were dripping with honey as he said them.  He told Jacob that he had been very angry with him but God had appeared to him in a dream last night and told him that Jacob left because he was homesick.  “But why,” said Laban “Did you leave with my household gods?”

This question took Jacob by surprise.  He had no idea that Rachel had stolen the gods.  He answered Laban that he was afraid he would take his daughters from him by force and so he left without warning, but he declared that no one had taken his household gods.  He told Laban if he found anyone in his camp had them; that person would die with everyone looking on.  He welcomed Laban to look around and see if they had anything that belonged to him and if they did, for Laban to take it back. 

 Laban went from tent to tent looking for his gods.  He did not find them.  He looked in Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and Rachel’s tent. 

Rachel had hidden the gods in a camel cushion and she was sitting on top of it.  She explained to her father that she was not being disrespectful in not getting down to greet him, but she was in “the time of the way with women,” and she continued to sit upon the cushion that held the pagan gods. 

Laban didn’t have a clue.

 Neither did Jacob!

What on earth was going on inside the mind of Rachel?

After Laban had ransacked the camp and turned everything upside down without finding any evidence, Jacob lit into him.   He had been holding back for a long time and just about everything that Jacob could think of to say to Laban about his bad feelings came out! 

“Did you find anything?  

You have destroyed our camp and wrecked our homes, but we are innocent!

Let our family’s judge between us!”  

Jacob launched into naming all the many ways that Laban had abused him over the years and how he would have sent him off penniless had God not come to him in a dream.  Jacob explained that God had prospered him in spite of Laban’s selfish abuse. 

Laban would not own his abuse.  He still claimed the daughters and the children and the flocks, but he said there was nothing he could do because of the children that had been born to his daughters, probably indicating that he did not want his grandchildren to perceive him as a mean old man, and he asked Jacob if they could make a covenant between them.

At that point Jacob set up a pillar. He called his wives and children together and asked them to pile up stones in that spot.  They heaped them up around the pillar and ate a meal there together.  Laban called the place Yegar sahadutha (which means Witness Monument in Aramaic.)  Jacob called the place Galeed (which means Witness Monument in Hebrew.)

Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.”  (That is why it is called Galeed – witness Monument.)

It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.  If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.  This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won’t cross the line to hurt you and you won’t cross the line to hurt me.  The God of Abraham and The god of Nahor (the god of their ancestors) will keep things straight between us.”

Jacob promised and swore by the fear of God on his father Isaac, and Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the mountain and worshiped, calling all his family to come to the meal. 

They all slept on the mountain that night and the next morning Laban kissed his daughters and grandchildren, gave them a blessing and left for home.  

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 80 TWO WIVES AND TWELVE KIDS - PART 1

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

(PART ONE)

Well there they were, Jacob and Leah and Rachel; starting a marriage together.

 

Does that sound a bit weird to you?  It should!  This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.  God does give us free will, but sometimes our own free will can lead us into paths that are not so perfect.  God allows this.  He lets our hearts decide how to love.  Even when the odds are stacked against us and we are tricked into certain circumstances, still our hearts have choices.  Our choices prove out our lives.   

It was obvious that Jacob loved Rachel and not Leah.  Something tells me this home wasn’t the most peaceful home on earth!  No matter how Jacob turned one of his wives was going to have her feelings hurt.

In a way, this was Jacob’s fault.  He had been tricked into the marriage for sure; but he could have accepted what he knew of God as true after he found out he had been deceived.  It would have been a sad, hard decision, but he could have made the choice to live with Leah only and not be in a relationship with two sisters.  He knew this type of arrangement was never God’s plan.  Jacob KNEW God wanted every man to have only one wife; despite the cultural customs.   The patriarchs all carried God and His ways in their hearts, even before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses and made official to the rest of the world.  Jacob KNEW this type of relationship would have normally displeased God, yet he was in a strange situation.   Was there any right and true answer for doing the right thing?

He also KNEW he had promised himself to Rachel, and that was what he finally based his reactions on; that mixed with the fact that he wanted what he wanted and would have what he would have.  Jacob had always been this way.  That part of him had not changed even in all of the years of trials and test and troubles while working for Laban. 

Even though he had been tricked into marrying Leah, Jacob could have accepted it as “done” and followed what he knew to be God’s will for a man to have only one wife.  He could have chosen to not marry Rachel.  If that had happened, nothing about Jacob’s marriage would have been wrong; but that wasn’t what happened, and instead of seeing God’s power and might when His will is perfectly carried out in ALL situations; we get a glimpse of how graceful and merciful God can be to those He loves when this doesn’t happen and humans act in a human way.  God did not leave Jacob in all of this.  God still loved and blessed Jacob. God kept His promises to Jacob.   As a matter of fact,  God was right there for all three of them, Jacob, Leah and Rachel.

After such a great deception on his wedding night with Leah, and knowing and understanding that she willingly participated without telling him a word of the truth; Jacob didn’t much care how Leah felt about anything.  The Hebrew translations say Jacob “hated” her.  The word is used so strongly that it brings violence and abuse to mind.  Do you see this pattern that led to hate?  Jacob deceived Esau.  Esau hated Jacob.  Leah deceived Jacob.  Jacob hated Leah.   Laban deceived everyone and everyone detested Laban.  It seems that deception and lies lead to hate. 

What goes around comes around. 

When the wedding week of Jacob and Leah was over everyone was thinking “poor Rachel.” 

Now that both marriages had happened and Jacob loved Rachel more; the table turns and one begins to think, poor Leah! 

What man in her life had ever loved her?  Leah had been used by her father and brother for gain and forced into a marriage that would forever make her hated in her sister’s eyes as well as her husband’s eyes.  There was no chance of Jacob loving her under these circumstances.  She would spend the rest of her life just being tolerated, hated and ignored.  What wife wants that in her marriage?

Nobody was ecstatically happy here! 

Poor Leah though had to endure lasting hardship.  Her hopes of things getting better in life were probably non-existent at this point. 

When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless.  

What strange words!  Can you imagine what Leah must have felt like to not be loved by her own new husband?  He had not chosen her.  He did not love her.  Her own father had made her deceive him.  How could a girl's father be so callous, so cold, and unloving?  Leah's father and brother had dreamed up the whole scheme, thinking only of themselves, never giving her feelings a second thought.  Now she must spend the rest of her life married to a man who didn't want her, who only had eyes for her sister.

I wonder how many Leah's are out there still?  How many women are feeling unloved by a father, husband, brother or son?  These countless women who live out their lives feeling unloved, unwanted and unnoticed; like someone whose existence does not matter at all.  How many women have to deal with the pain and the shame of unrealized expectations in life and keep going as if everything was okay?

But then God looks down into the broken hearts of such women, just as He looked down and saw Leah living out a hopeless life.  God will teach these women their worth.  He will show them who they are, who He created them to be.  Ladies, if you are having trouble with your man, the best help you will ever receive will come from God.  He knows the answers, just ask Him!  Never doubt this.  Just ask Leah!  She will tell you how many years can be wasted if you let them be so.

One of the greatest tests of love is to wait.  Jacob loved Rachel so much that he was willing to wait for her for seven years.  It wound up being seven years and one week and seven more years of work for him to have her.  Even after the great deception took place; he was willing to work seven more years for her!  Jacob’s love was willing to wait for Rachel.

 Now it was Leah’s turn for waiting.  Some believe that she had been in love with Jacob all along and that was why she had been willing to go along with the trickery of Laban.  It wasn’t a good workable plan though.  Tricking someone into marriage is never a good idea!  The consequences of deception are usually painful and distressing.  In spite of the horrible start of their marriage and the awful way that Jacob treated her, Leah probably still thought she was in love with Jacob.  She never said one word about leaving.  She wanted the marriage still.  She was willing to wait.  She thought eventually her love for him would shine through and capture his heart.  So a lot of Leah’s life was simply spent in waiting for her husband to change his mind and love her

As she was waiting patiently, God looked down and saw Leah’s broken heart.  He saw her lack of revenge in these circumstances.  He noticed her shame for her own actions and her shame for the rejection she was feeling both from her husband and her sister.    He saw that she had not reacted in a jealous way toward Rachel.  He saw how she sat patiently waiting as night after night Jacob courted Rachel and loved Rachel more and more. 

God knew the love of a child would bring comfort to Leah.  God began to bless her with sons from Jacob.   

 In these real life circumstances Rachel’s true character that had been veiled and hidden from Jacob’s eyes because of her great beauty became more prominent, apparent and open.  The ugly green-eyed monster called jealousy reared it’s head from the deep of Rachel’s heart.   She was so jealous of Leah bearing Jacob children that she said to him “Give me children, or else I die!” 

This one fact just shows us how much alike Jacob and Rachel really were.  They BOTH were self centered.  They BOTH would rather have their own way and if that could not happen they would chose to die rather than to live without their own way.  They both were stubborn and relentless when they wanted something. 

When Jacob saw that Rachel was becoming selfish, discontented, envious and demanding, he lost his temper and became angry with her.  Self-serving people are often quick to overlook the trait in their own hearts and point it out in others.  Jacob said to Rachel;  “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

Let’s not leave this part of the story without discussing what happens when a person becomes discontent.  Discontentment is one of those sins that just sneaks up on you in the process of life.  You hardly ever notice it.  Discontentment doesn’t knock on the door and make an announcement of its presence or give you fair warning that it is about to approach and turn your joy to sorrow.  It enters quietly without warning and slinks in uninvited.  It causes chaos, confusion and disaster. 

Never, ever let discontentment open the door to your marriage or your personal relationships.  It is a sin that has the ability to destroy everything if left alone to function and grow.  Heed the word of God and find contentment with the circumstances in which He has placed you. 

Discontentment brings curses and trouble.  Contentment brings blessings and joy.  Try to stay on the joy side whenever possible!  Learn like the Apostle Paul to be content in whatever circumstances you find yourself living.  Oh that Rachel had heeded these words!

Rachel in her sin of discontent gave her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob in order that she and Jacob might have sons by her.  

Here we go again. 

 The miracle of conception always and only lies exclusively within the power of God.  Men should never tamper with this. 

Remember how Abraham and Sarah had to learn this the hard way?  

Well guess what.......................history always seems to repeat itself. 

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 79 FOURTEEN YEARS AND TWO BRIDES

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

In the next season of Jacob’s life, he comes to some very hard circumstances.  Sometimes our hard circumstances are not our own fault.  Often they are set into motion by the actions of others and we are simply caught in the middle.  It is our reaction that makes all the difference.  This is exactly what happened to Jacob.   His  own actions  had caused him to flee to his mother’s relatives in the first place, but; it was the actions of Laban that caused him to stay so long.

There are people who come along in history who seem to have been put there simply to cause chaos, confusion and trouble.  Laban was one of those people who by way of his family had been strategically placed in a position of power that he had not acquired from his own efforts.  He had earned nothing.  Everything was simply given to him.  As a child, being the only son, he was probably a spoiled brat!   He came into this comfortable place without logic or reason because he was simply born in the right place at the right time.  This was the man who was allowed to control the destiny of Leah and Rachel; his two beautiful and gifted sisters.   

Laban simply had all the family connections.  He was Rachel and Leah’s brother. He was the son of Bethuel, who was born of Nahor, who was Abraham’s oldest brother.   He was  Abraham’s great nephew, Isaac’s cousin and brother-in-law and Jacob’s cousin.  Jacob had to deal with Laban and it was Laban who caused all the troubles to happen.

Laban was a very busy and industrious man as he lived out his days in the land we now know as modern day Iraq/Syria/Turkey between the two rivers called the Tigress and Euphrates. Laban was ALWAYS plotting.  He was ALWAYS scheming.  He looked for every opportunity.  He was constantly asking himself; ” how can I get something from nothing?”  With Laban, money and possessions were the key to everything.  He could never get enough.  

 Not only was Laban materialistic and greedy; he was also evil and pagan.   Some of the pagan practices of Laban had to do with the culture that he grew up in.  This place where Laban lived was his inherited home.  He had inherited it from Abraham's family of origin.  Abraham had stepped out in faith and journeyed from Ur, then the whole family had come to the place Laban now called home.  God had brought Abraham to this area for awhile but God had commanded Abraham to move on.  Many of Abraham’s relatives had been traveling with him until he arrived in this particular part of the earth where they then decided to quit traveling with Abraham and stayed in the area.

 These relatives of Abraham had chosen to live in a land that knew nothing of The One True God.  Laban, living in this same pagan place, had spent years and years of his life surrounded by idolatry.  He showed an outward appearance of worshiping Jacob’s God from time to time, but it was not true.  He also worshiped other gods.  He thought nothing of it.  This practice of idolatry in the land had been a detestable thing to Abraham, however; and even if it meant departing from his family of origin, Abraham and Sarah had chosen to move on.  They had left their relatives and moved to the next place that God commanded them to live. 

Laban is known in Midrashic literature as Laban HaRamai.  It means “Laban the Deceiver.”   He truly lived up to his name!  Though Jacob himself had previously been guilty of the evil sin of deception, this time it was Laban, not Jacob, who was to blame.  

As we follow the scriptures through the formation of The Great Family  we will discuss later in more detail a story concerning a wall that was erected by Laban and Jacob at another time when they were agreeing to a truce.   I only vaguely bring this up now because it is interesting to note that according to the Midrash; Balaam the Aramite prophet in this later story  was summoned by the Moabite King Balak to curse the Children of Israel on the eve of their entry into the Holy Land.  This person we hear called Balaam the Aramite prophet is the very same Laban living under a different identity.  It is simply another time of deception for Laban.  Of course this all happened years and years later than our story today, and it remains another story of its own.  However, our bibles, in telling of Balaam and Balak and the Children of Israel do not point this out, perhaps to keep the story simple and easy to follow.  I wish to point it out here simply so you can better see the continuous pattern of deception in the life of Laban, even after Jacob. 

It is also explained that the wall (or pillar) against which Balaam’s ass crushed the prophet’s leg in this later story (Numbers 22:25) is the very pillar erected by Laban and Jacob on Mount Gilead.   According to this story written in the Midrash; Laban/Balaam was more than 400 years old when he was finally killed in Israel’s war with Midian.  It would seem from reading these much later facts that Laban never repented from his deceptive ways and never changed in the eyes of God.

The whole point in giving you those pieces of history so early is to clarify just how very deceptive Laban was.  This man carried deception to an art form.  He was the expert!  Jacob had met his match in the area of deception when he came to know Laban. 

Reading between the lines we can easily determine that Laban was evil.  He worshiped idols and had a house full of them.  He had inherited them from Abraham’s father who was an idol worshiper that had actually sold idols for a living before converting to worship The One True God he learned about from his son Abraham.  That was not the case with Laban.  Laban had not converted at all.

So we see this pagan idol worshiper who is greedy and evil inviting Jacob to come into his home and calling him flesh and blood.  He quickly realizes that Jacob has fallen for Rachel.  Jacob is so distracted and carried away with his love for Rachel that he isn’t paying attention to much of anything else.  He fails to see the horrible character of Laban and he falls for every trap that Laban lays in his path.

Many Christians today are very much like Jacob in this story.  If we are distracted and not watching carefully with discernment for those things the devil plants in the minds of evil people; we too will fall into a trap that is hard to escape.  This “trap” is a place that is full of illusions.    God does not want us basing our lives around falsehood and illusion.  We must pray for discernment!

Laban, the king of deceptions;  is a perfect picture and shadow of the false religion and idolatry Jesus describes to his followers in the Olivet discourse of Matthew 24:4. 

Jesus warns:  “Watch out that no one deceives you.”  It seems that when end-times are near the Bride of Christ, His true church, will go through the same types of times that the original Children of God have been through; only in slightly different ways.  The main difference will be that they went through these things in ancient days and cultures.  God followers in the modern world will see these things come to pass in modern ways and in the ways of modern cultures. The old is just a shadow of the new.  God gave us patterns to observe and meditate upon.  The answers are the same, whether you are living in the ancient world or living in today’s modern world.  God’s answers are timeless and they never change. 

 If you are not watching and waiting for the return of Christ, you will miss some of these very obvious messages that God gave us in the lives of his ancient people.  That is why it is so important that we see Laban for who he really was.  Through Laban God is showing us what deception is.  Most deceptions happen right before our very eyes, but we do not notice.  That was what happened to Jacob on his wedding night.  That is what is going on inside some of our churches today. 

With the ancient shadows of the stories of Laban and Jacob, we can see a picture of the deception that will cover the earth in the last days.

 Christians wake up!  Be alert!  Do not be deceived!  Do NOT give your devotion to the wrong bride!!!!!

The seven years were up and Jacob went to Laban to claim Rachel as his wife. 

Laban “forgot” to tell Jacob something very important.  It seemed that it was not customary to marry off a younger daughter before the older daughter was married.  How could Laban have forgotten to mention this at the beginning of their agreement?  Why had it taken him seven years to bring this up?

Here I bring another word of caution for modern-day Christians.  Watch out for extreme Zionist, beware of deceptions.  God loves Israel and will always bless Israel.  Jerusalem is a mirror image of a heavenly place, but there are enemies who wish to deceive us in the same way that the Pharisees deceived the ancient people.  Jesus spoke loudly against such people.  Some of our modern leaders are false and deceptive like Laban.  Never follow them blindly.  The rebuilding of the next physical temple is only a trick to deceive you.  The new temple that Jesus Christ has built is your physical body.  God lives inside you and you carry Him wherever you go and whatever you do.  God has sent His Holy Spirit into the world and He can no longer be contained in a building designed and built by men.  It didn’t work the first two times, and it will not work the third time.  If you have become one of these modern-day Pharisees, please look inside your white-washed sepulchers and cleanse your souls.   I love Hebraic things and the ancestors of Abraham more than anyone. What a blessing Israel has been to those of us who follow Christ and know God through Him.   Just be sure when you listen to them and follow them that they are listening to God and not to Satan. The deceivers are out there and they are many.  Jesus told us “even the elect may be deceived.” 

There is salvation and restoration for Israel, but it will come in the form of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  He is the way, the truth and the light.  He is the ONLY door to heaven.  The next Holy Temple is a heavenly one that comes down from heaven to Jerusalem.  There will be seven years of tribulation on this earth; then Christ will return for his bride!  

Decide right now to be a TRUE over-comer.  Do not fall for falsehoods that will be rampant in these times.  Stay focused on the REAL Bride, not the false one.  Beware of false leaders and false prophets that say “go here” and “go there.”  Know that they are experts at illusion.  Keep your eyes planted firmly on the face of Jesus, your faithful Bridegroom.  It is by His blood that you will be able to overcome the world.

Laban decided to trick the trickster (Jacob) and have him marry Leah instead of Rachel.  He convinced Rachel’s father to go along with this because of the custom.  Many a man has fallen into the trap of tradition.  Just because something is customary and people have traditionally done it for years and years; that does not mean it is right!  

For many profitable reasons of their own, Laban and Rachel's father did not tell Jacob about this custom!

Laban prepared a huge feast and invited everyone to come.  Jacob thought he was marrying Rachel.  It was customary in those days for wedding celebrations to last a whole week.  A special place was prepared for the bride and the groom to spend their honeymoon in the midst of the celebration. 

The haunting question that comes to mind in this part of the story is the question that seems to remain hidden from our eyes and it is not spelled out or explained in the words of the scriptures.  Where was Rachel during this time?  Did she not cry out to Jacob?  What did she know and what did she NOT know?  Did she let this deception go on?  Did she play along with it?  Was she also deceived in some way so that she could not speak out? What was going on with her?  Did she grasp the fact that she was being manipulated?  

Does the church grasp the same fact?  Are we too blind to see?  God forbid that we let ourselves be married to the wrong bride groom!  Sometimes everything looks right, but is all wrong.  Satan loves to hide in the pews of our churches.   Church is the easiest place of all for Satan to do his work. He loves to spin his fascinating stories and steal us away with false tales.  He knows we are lazy and that we sit back and relax while we are fed junk food instead of meat.   Please do not let this happen to you!  After the wedding night, when the next morning dawns and the light appears; it will be too late!

That evening, after dark, Laban brought Leah to Jacob and made a big production of the fact that he was also giving Leah, Zilpah as her servant and attendant as a wedding gift.   Here again we have to ask, how did this go on without Jacob realizing who Leah was?  He just kept walking blindly toward the wrong lover!   It was dark and Leah was heavily veiled.  It was also customary to give the groom strong drink before the marriage was consummated.  There is a picture in The Revelation of John where a description of The Whore of Babylon is given.  She is drunk with the power and deceptions of the world.  She has indulged in a horrible cup that the church is warned away from.  We must not fall into a drunken stupor and not respond with the ways of God when the world would have the opposite.    

Morning came and there was Leah! 

Jacob was outraged to find this out. 

He had served seven years for Rachel! 

Jacob, the great deceiver had been deceived. 

Jacob asked Laban; “What is this you have done to me?  I served you for Rachel, didn’t I?  Why have you deceived me?  Of course Laban gave him the prepared logic and told him that it was not their custom to let the younger daughter get married before the older.  He advised Jacob to finish the bridal week with this older daughter and he would give him the younger daughter later, in return for seven more years of work. 

Jacob had his heart set on Rachel.  He agreed to work for another seven years!  True love will do anything for the one who is the object of their love.  Is Jesus the object of your love?  Would you do anything for Him?  We are coming to a place where every Christian may have to make this decision.  Are you willing to continue on the right path in your journey to your groom?  

After Jacob’s wedding week with Leah, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob as a wife.  He also gave Rachel a servant named Bilhah for an attendant. 

So both sisters were then married to Jacob.  There will come a place and time in history when many of God’s ancient chosen people and many gentile Christians will together become the bride of Christ.  We will all be one family just as Jacob, Leah and Rachel were. 

Jacob’s love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah.  This part of the story is a whole story unto itself.  The revelation of this fact will unfold more and more as we move through the life of Jacob.  What will happen to poor Leah?  What will happen to the cheated Rachel? 

In the meantime, Jacob found himself working for that evil, scheming Laban for seven more years.  Everyone in the family was subjected to his greed and thirst for power and wealth.