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.  

THE HOUSE DOCTOR NO. 9 GOING BEACHY AFTER INDEPENDENCE DAY

As I've stated many times before, my house is a lot like me; always changing and flowing with the seasons.  

When my husband and I began our life-long hobby of constantly remodeling an ever-changing home that has raised four children, celebrated God’s Holy Days with our immediate family members, hosted events for our little church, fostered an office for my husband’s business, provided me a place to fulfill my writing ambitions, given us space for our hobbies both inside and out, provided shelter for sleep over grown children and grand children and entertained friends and family over the years,  I had no idea how much “seasonal” decor I had accumulated over time.  Much of it retains sentimental value and brings back memories of certain phases of our lives together as a family. 

 I really realized this a few years ago when I started cleaning out our storage building that was filled with things I had long forgotten.  I was making the transition inside our house from the red, white and blue of the beginning of summer when we celebrated Memorial Day, Pentecost and Independence Day.  I thought perhaps it was time for our home to go “beachy.” 

I deliberately chose neutral colored furniture and white walls when we began to redecorate so that I could make any color changes and decor changes I wanted with each season. Black or beige would have worked as well, I just liked white for us.  This makes our seasonal transitions easier by lending a neutral backdrop.   It is like getting a new house each time the seasons change.  You never get tired of using what you have this way! 

As I cleaned out our bulging storage building and prepared for a huge yard sale (I had not cleaned this building out since 1998,) I collected anything that I already had in storage that reminded me of the beach.  Soon I had an assortment of items on hand. 

There was an old wooden clipper ship.

There were some assorted sized light blue and white candles (slightly used, but still good).  I found a large old wooden bowl made out of beautifully colored and aged wood. 

 I found several “beachy” looking photo frames that had never been used.  I filled them with pics of the family at the beach and scattered them all over the house.

I found an old ash tray with a light house painted on it.  I found some lanterns with blue glass.  I had an old inexpensive set of dishes I had bought for one of the kids birthday gatherings years ago that had light houses and ocean scenes painted on them. Ten place settings!  They seemed to go just perfect.  So far I had not bought one item for my beachy look!

Looking at all these items, I decided the color scheme had to be light blue, beige and white.  I decided to use some vivid teal blue, brown and red as accent colors.  With that color scheme in mind, I picked up some of the teal colored pillows I had in another room of the house and placed them on the sofa.  I also had a lovely modern painting hanging in our den downstairs.  It was one that my daughter, Erin had painted years ago.  It was the focal piece I wished to use. 

The painting totally captured the blend I wanted of “beachy-modern-traditional.”  I placed the painting over the opening of the fireplace, since there was not a need for a fireplace in the summer heat.  The painting quickly became a focal point in this summery atmosphere I was trying to create throughout the house. 

I very much desired for the entrance to say “welcome to summer; come in and relax.”  I wanted to start the beachy feeling as soon as you entered the front door of our home. 

We have two lovely watercolor paintings over an old chest in our foyer.  The two painting's colors were perfect for achieving the blue and white beachy colors that I wanted.  They were different shades of blue and black on a white back ground, but I needed something to make them appear more beachy – and I found an old blue wooden anchor out in the storage building from a box full of junk.  I was delighted!  I hung it over the two paintings we picked up one year while on vacation in the Smokey Mountains.   This gave the foyer that perky summer look I was after.

I looked over the photo frames that I had found that looked either summery or beachy.  I printed some color photos of my different years of family vacations at the beach.  I loved them all, and thought how much the kids would enjoy seeing them again when they came to visit. 

I put two photos in the kitchen, three others of my niece and nephews and my Dad in a curio in the living room.  I put one of my favorites of Tom’s Dad on the end table, and some photos of a trip we made with my parents to  Gulf Shores years ago with our twin daughters.

One photo has the twins locked up in stocks at a Put-Put Golf Course that we had a blast going to.  We all felt like pirates that day.  How cool, I now had several memories sitting inside my pleasant new surroundings, and so far, I had not spent one penny! 

I set the starfish shaped bowl on our large black coffee table, and put the other beige and blue rug under the two modern side chairs.  I loved the affect of the beachy colors. 

I grabbed a small white wicker table from another room and used it for another side table.  I had a pretty pottery bowl that Tom gave me for my birthday one year with aqua blue swirly colors and brown accents.  It looked perfect on the white wicker table.  I put the wooden clipper boat in the middle of my dining room table.  I liked the look, but it seemed lonely, and I pondered what to do about that for awhile while I moved into the kitchen. 

I cleaned my patriotic dishes out of the cabinets and boxed them up until next year, and moved the lighthouse dishes into their place.  I found some silver coasters stashed in my pantry, and I liked them to use under the plates.  I pulled out a large square black plastic tray that I salvaged long ago when I bought some catered food.   I put the wooden bowl in the center and arranged the light blue and white candles in assorted sizes in the bowl and around the bowl on the tray.  I put this down as a center piece on our kitchen table. 

The more I looked at this, the more I thought the bowl needed to be filled with seashells.  I finally had to make a purchase, and my budget was extremely limited this month.  I decided to browse around The Christmas Tree store anyway.  It was my lucky day, I found large bags of sea shells for $1.00 each.  I bought three. 

Also in the same section I found bags of white starfish.  I purchased one bag for $4.99.  When I was checking out I saw some lovely shopping bags.   One bag had a lighthouse painted on it in beautiful colors.  Perfect colors for my room scheme.  It cost me one dollar.  I was so excited to leave that store having only spent $9.00, and having everything I needed to finish my look. 

When I arrived home I dumped the sea shells into the bowl holding the candles.  I loved it! 

 I moved an old blue  flower arrangement onto my glass sideboard in the kitchen.  It had blue and purple flowers.  It needed to look more “summery” so I found several long stemmed blue, green and white daises from another arrangement and added them. 

They looked great – just the effect I had hoped for.  I used some white wooden frames I had out for July 4^th , and placed two of the lighthouse dishes cups inside them. 

I put two photos of my son and daughter at the beach in beachy photo frames on that sideboard too.  It all blended very well.  I caught myself wanting to cook some shrimp and flounder in that kitchen! 

When I got everything arranged on the sideboard I placed two of the starfish I had purchased in the front of the arrangement.  Perfect!

I put the other starfish in my dining room on each side of the clipper ship.  They were the finishing touch that I needed.  The ship no longer looked lonely.  I would pull out some wicker/grass place mats when we ate in the dining room. 

I was so happy with how all of this turned out and excited that it hardly cost me a cent!  I might not have made it to the beach this summer, but I brought the beach to my home instead.  It certainly helped to perk up my attitude, and I could sit in the air conditioned beach while the thermostat climbed up to 102 several times that week.  

I will enjoy this beachy look all through the end of July and August.  Then when September comes around it will all began changing to fall.  

Of course this will all serve to help us to get into the right frame of mind for the first annual family beach trip we have planned for late September/early October.  By then, we will be completely ready to become professional beach bums!  

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 78 JACOB MAKES PLANS TO MARRY RACHEL

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So we hear that Laban welcomes Jacob as a house guest and calls him his own flesh and blood.  One can’t read this after all the symbolism that just took place in this story by the well, without thinking of how Jesus came down to earth and took on flesh and blood, so that he could be like us, yet live without sin.  Laban was saying to Jacob “You are like me!  I will show you favor because you are like my own family!”

So Jacob stayed awhile.  After he had been there for a month Laban said to him “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing?  Tell me what your wages should be.”   

Laban had two daughters.  The oldest was named Leah and the youngest was Rachel whom Jacob had met at the well.  The scriptures describe Leah as one with weak eyes.  This isn’t as harsh as it sounds.  The Hebrew word for weak is rakkot and it’s plural form is rak.  It means soft and tender.  Instead of meaning she was unattractive; it means she probably cried a lot.  Her eyes were most likely red and swollen from constant crying.  Jewish legend has it that since Jacob was the younger son of Rebekah and he wanted to marry Rachel, that Rebekah’s older son should marry Leah.  Perhaps this was yet another “to his own gain” plan that Laban was cooking up behind the scenes.  Maybe Leah overheard him discussing this plan with someone else and she became afraid of whatever arrangement Laban might make for her eventually with Rebekah’s older son.  The bible does not mention this at all, it is just the way that the Rabbi’s have used to describe the odd definition of Leah’s eyes.  

So the sages say Leah did not want to marry Esau; hence she cried all the time that Jacob knew her and he noticed her “weak” eyes.  

We are told that Rachel’s eyes sparkled and lit up a room whenever she entered it.  This indicates to me that Leah probably had a serious and introverted personality and Rachel had an outgoing extroverted personality.  Jacob’s mother had been such an extrovert and Jacob would have probably preferred the type of personality that Rachel had.  Once again, it is all speculation.  All the scriptures actually tell us is that Leah had weak eyes and Rachel was beautiful to look at. 

So, with all of Laban’s schemes going on in the background, Jacob naively stayed awhile.  After he had been there for a month Laban said to him “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing?  Tell me what your wages should be.”   

Jacob was in love with Rachel and he said to Laban:  “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” 

So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 77 THE ART OF LIVING NEXT TO A DEEP WELL

 (Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Looking back on the story of Jacob meeting Rachel at the well, we can see so much symbolism in the second glance.   In the simple country setting of the field we began to see so much of the things that represent a vivid picture of God's plan for the future and how He will be carrying out the promises of the covenant with Abraham.

All the world players are gathered around the well.  

The field represents the world. 

The first thing that Jacob sees are three shepherds with three flocks that are waiting to be watered.  He wonders why they are wasting so much grazing time just resting beside the well instead of watering the flocks and moving on to greener pastures. 

The sun is high in the sky, it must be at least noon, and the shepherds sit together discussing anything and everything among themselves at this well that remains covered.

 

Flocks usually represent religious people groups and their shepherds are usually their leaders.  They could also represent nations with their leaders.  I have come to consider the possibility of these three flocks representing the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin that governed them.  These were all people who were waiting on a King Messiah, someone who would come along and rescue them and provide for their flocks and make their lives easy and untouchable.

    

These shepherds were waiting on the owner of the well to come and open the well so that their sheep could drink of the water.  They were too greedy and too lazy to put forth the money and the effort to dig their own well.  They felt they were entitled simply because they were born in the land.  They went through the polite motions and courteous manners with their waiting, but behind that false front they felt they had all the power and were just using the owner of the well because he cooperated so easily with what they needed.  The Scribes and Pharisees were much the same.  They never dug their own wells (or used their own original thoughts) but used the messages received from the scriptures to expound their own man made-laws and get their own way in every situation (in the name of God).  They used this in a greedy way that called attention to their own superiority and importance.  These men had not dug the well or tended to the well, but because they were native to the land, they considered themselves important enough to use the well.  In other words, they prayed off of the true labor of Rachel’s family and elevated themselves to be more important in a false way.

 

There is the well that represents The Kingdom of God.  The well provides for the people sending nourishment out to the dry parched land and making it flourish with crops and livestock.  The people of the land want for nothing and are blessed because of the well being there.

 

The water of the well so vividly represents God’s Holy Spirit.   The well is filled with spring fed water that is pure and clean and it brings life to all the people in the land.   The prophet Isaiah spoke of such waters when he proclaimed:  “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)  It was the water that saved them, without it they would die.  Rachel too represents the Holy Spirit, in that the people could not draw without her presence being their first.

The well was protected by a large stone.  It was a stone large enough to be used as a cornerstone for a building.  Usually it took three men to remove this heavy stone.  The stone being so heavy and so hard to move was why it was used for protection.  With this stone on top of the well only those who are designated to have the water can actually receive the water.  Those who belong to Christ receive The Holy Spirit.  God would never give His power to an evil leader who did not know God’s ways.  Anyone who sincerely desires to come into the Kingdom of God may come, just as all the people of the land were offered to draw from the water of Rachel’s well; but, you must have permission first from the One who owns the well.  You must know Him and have spoken with Him and He must have granted you the right to drink and water your flocks at the well.

 

So it was that the men who were too lazy to dig their own wells stood talking and discussing until the generous Rachel came with her flock and had her men to remove the stone and open the provision of the well. 

These other flocks and Rachel did have one thing in common.  They all claimed to know the God of Abraham and they all wanted to draw water for their flocks from the wells that the family of Abraham had provided and preserved.

What are all three of these flocks waiting for?  

For the stone to be rolled away!

 

When Jesus rose from the grave in resurrection after his crucifixion the stone had to be rolled away!  At that point the people were ready to receive the nourishment and salvation that they had been waiting for.  It was the first step to drinking the waters of everlasting life.  They no longer had to wait, the stone had been rolled away, God’s people had been served first, and they were able to receive the refreshing and life giving power of the water of God’s Holy Spirit, just as the nourishment from this well provided life and sustained the three flocks of sheep waiting with their shepherds to drink after Rachel’s sheep had been filled.

SOME of these sheep were changed when they drank the pure clean water from the well.  SOME of the leaders changed too.  The water seemed to make one think different thoughts and it drew them closer to finding The One True God of Heaven and Earth, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The false messiahs did not compare to The Good Shepherd.  The true sheep heard His voice and followed Him.

 

Notice that it usually took three strong men to move the stone, but when Rachel came to the well Jacob found enough strength to move the stone all by himself.  Jacob here represents the resurrected power of Jesus Christ and any man filled with this same power from God’s Holy Spirit.  The impossible becomes possible.  Men are strengthened beyond reason and logic when God’s Spirit and Power is working in their lives.  Jacob had just been blessed of God.  His strength at this time was unbelievably strong from the energy of how his spirit had been strengthened and encouraged by God.  The same thing happened to Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane just before He went to the cross.  God gave him strength to bear the unbearable.   

  

This also points to the fact that the One who came to save us, Jesus Christ, came directly from the bloodline of Jacob’s ancestors.  Jacob’s people provided the carefully planned DNA that made it possible for man and God to be connected again.  It was a great moment in history when Jacob rolled away that stone for the woman that he loved!  We see a brilliant representation of Christ coming for His Bride and providing nourishment from a well in which she will never thirst again.

   

For these sheep to drink from the well the shepherds had to wait on Rachel.  She is so symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit.  Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the gift that God would send, a comforter that would remain with them as he tended to business in heaven.   This was so similar to Jacob being told to go to his father’s family and find a wife.  In the moment that Jacob’s eyes met Rachel’s eyes a million things of the Kingdom of God came together and were set in motion.

Jacob found Rachel at the well.  Many years later we see Jesus Christ talking to a Samaritan woman at a well.  This Samaritan woman is so symbolic of those in God’s church that come to Jesus in their sin and shame to drink the water from which they will never thirst again.  Christ seeks the face of His Bride beside a deep well.  He finds them at the well and pours out His Spirit to them.  They are changed, washed clean, invigorated and filled up.  They are ready to go, just as this Samaritan woman did, to tell the good news of the Gospel to everyone that they meet.

 

My friends, beware of the fact that God is in the small things, even the things of a typical a country field.  

He is in the everyday things, such as shepherds tending their flocks on a lonely hillside.   

He is protecting, arriving and saving in every moment of every day of every person’s life.  

Open your eyes to what God is saying and doing.  He is telling you the story above all stories with the best and happiest ending.  

Listen for His voice.  

Look for His coming.  

See the lessons of the tasks of everyday life that God speaks into.  

Find the places where God and men collide and abide there.  

These are the special pastures in which you must feed.  You will find water from whence you will never thirst again and your soul will rest and be forever satisfied.  

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 76 JACOB ENCOUNTERS A WOMAN BY A WELL IN A FIELD

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

After an amazing time of worship at Bethel, Jacob continues his journey toward the house of Rebekah’s brother.   He was still in hiding from Esau, and he was still in pursuit of a suitable wife.

Eventually Jacob comes to the land of The Eastern People.  This does not mean the people of the east in general, but is referring to  the eastern limits of the migrations of Abraham’s family.  It is most likely the area close to the Euphrates River in northern Syria and Southeastern Turkey, which was near the location of Haran during the time of Jacob’s life.

While traveling down the open country road Jacob sights a well where three flocks of sheep are grazing, and waiting to be watered.  Their shepherds were with them and they stood talking to each other around the well.

Wells in this dry land were very valuable and often hard to maintain.  Anyone raising livestock needed access to well water.  This was dry desert land and the winds often blew the shifting sands inside open wells which stopped them up and ruined their use.  Also the sun shining down so hot often evaporated small supplies of uncovered water.    It was good to keep a well covered, and this one was protected. 

 Jacob noticed that the top of the well was covered with a very large heavy stone.  The stone was large enough that it usually took three people to move it away and replace it over the covering of the well again after the flocks were watered.  The size of the stone and the requirement for so many to move it probably kept people who were unwanted from having easy access to the well, and it also kept people passing by from using up the water supply without asking permission.  Animals could not fall inside and get trapped in the well either.  There were many reasons for this protective covering.

    

All of the shepherds were standing around with their flocks, just waiting.  Jacob wondered why they would be wasting this good grazing time while the sun was still high in the sky.  Why didn’t they just remove the stone and water their flocks?  He was soon to discover the reason.

He greeted the men and asked them where they were from.  They told him they were from Haran.  So Jacob asked them if they knew Laban, Nahor’s grandson.  They replied that they did.

“Is he well?” Jacob asked.

“Yes, he is well, as a matter of fact here comes his daughter Rachel now with his sheep.”

They all had been waiting on Rachel to arrive.  This told Jacob that the well probably belonged to Laban and he was allowing them to use the water after his own livestock were watered.

 

The beautiful daughter of Laban was a shepherdess.  This was not an unusual occupation for a young lady in these parts.  The sheep were always tended either by the bondservant or the youngest child in the family.  Rachel was Laban’s youngest daughter.   The other shepherds had been waiting on her to bring Laban’s sheep so that they could drink first and then they all would be invited to share the bounty of Laban’s well.

When Jacob saw Rachel he quickly rushed to her side, pulled the huge stone that usually took three people to move off the opening of the well all by himself, and proceeded to water her sheep. 

Rachel must have been greatly surprised and impressed with his actions.  Jacob became overwhelmed with joy on finding out that God had led him straight to Laban’s household.  He was so happy to have found Rachel here!

When Jacob first gazed into Rachel’s eyes, he fell instantly in love. 

He explained to Rachel that he was a relative, and she quickly ran to tell her brother Laban who rushed out to meet Jacob and welcome him into the family household.  Laban exclaimed over and over that he was glad to see someone of his own flesh and blood, and he invited Jacob to stay at his home for as long as he liked.