Genesis 29:19














I. THE TRUE LIFE is that which starts from the place of fellowship with God and commits the future to him. We can always find a pillar of blessed memorial and consecration. The Bethel.

1. Providential care.

2. Religious privilege.

3. Special communications of the Spirit.

God with us as a fact. Our pilgrimage a Bethel all through.

II. THE TRUE TESTIMONY that which erects a stone of witness, a Bethel, where others can find God.

1. Personal. The pillow of rest the pillar of praise.

2. Practical. The testimony which speaks of the journey and the traveler.

III. THE TRUE COVENANT.

1. Coming out of fellowship.

2. Pledging the future at the house of God, and in sight of Divine revelation.

3. Blessed exchange of gifts, confirmation of love. Jehovah keeping and guiding and feeding; his servant serving him and giving him a tenth of all he received. The patriarch's vow was the result of a distinct advance in his religious life. The hope of blessing became the covenant of engagement, service, worship, sacrifice. The highest form of religious life is that which rests on a solemn vow of grateful dedication at Bethel. The end before us is "our Father's house in peace." - R.

Jacob served seven years for Rachel.
I. ITS EVIDENCE.

1. He is obliged to accept a position of servitude.

2. He is obliged to prostitute the most sacred affections by consenting to a mercenary bargain.

II. ITS CONSOLATION (ver. 20). Love lightens and cheers every task of labour and endurance. A week of years was like a week of days to him. Coleridge says, "No man could be a bad man who loved as Jacob loved Rachel."

III. ITS LESSONS FOR HIS POSTERITY. Israel was destined to rise to eminence and power amongst the family of nations. But it was necessary for that people to be reminded of the lowly estate of their forefather. When the Israelite presented his basket of first fruits before the Lord, he was instructed to confess, "A Syrian ready to perish was my father" (Deuteronomy 26:5). The nation was thus taught that all its greatness and prosperity were not due to natural endowments and industry, but to the electing love of God. The strength of His grace was made perfect in weakness.

(T. H. Leale.)

1. His agreement with Laban.(1) The degraded position in which women were regarded among the ancients.(2) Laban's dishonesty in the non-fulfilment of his agreement.

2. In this servitude of Jacob, we find the principle of inevitable retribution. He had deceived his father, and here in his turn he was overreached. Leah deceived her husband, and in consequence lost his affection. Here both deceivers were justly punished. O my beloved brethren, be sure, be sure, be sure, your sin will find you out.

3. We have here, lastly, the principle of compensation; Leah lost her husband's affections, but she was blessed in her family (ver. 31). Here we have punishment tempered with mercy. This is what the Cross has done for us; it prevents penalty from being simply penalty; it leaves us not alone to punishment, but mingles all with blessing and forgiveness. Through it life has its bright as well as its dark side.

(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

I. THE FOUR CONDITIONS OF A TRUE HOME.

1. There must be a supreme affection (ver. 18). No two should marry unless each feels that life without the other would be incomplete.

2. Marriage must be "only in the Lord" (see Deuteronomy 7:3; 1 Corinthians 7:39;

2. Corinthians 1 Corinthians 6:14,15). A mixed marriage is a prolific source of misery. The ungodly partner despises the Christian for marrying in the teeth of principle. The Christian is disappointed because the apparent influence gained before marriage is dissipated soon after the knot is irrevocably tied.

3. A true home should be based on the good will of parents and friends (Genesis 28:1-5).

4. There should be some prospect of suitable livelihood.

II. THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF SUPREME AFFECTION (ver. 20). Love's labour is always light.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

1. No sin against our bodies, or against the trust which man should repose in man or God, goes altogether unpunished.

2. Changes in life are steps in our education by God.

3. God deals with all parts of human dispositions.

4. Yield yourselves unto God.

5. Expect difficulties in your way to do right.

(D. G. Watt, M. A.)

I. THE ERRORS OF THE YEARS OF SERVITUDE.

II. ITS TRIALS.

III. ITS BLESSINGS.

(T. S. Dickson.)

1. Honest, gracious souls dare not be idle when they do but visit friends. Jacob.

2. Laborious men in God's fear will want no hirers; Laban looks after such a servant.

3. Labans are first motioners for Jacobs; the covetous masters for honest servants.

4. The most unrighteous men may grant principles of equity which they never mean to practice. So Laban.

5. The faithful servant and labourer is worthy of his due reward. A brother servant that is faithful is worthy of any wages reasonably to be expected (ver. 15).

(G. Hughes, B. D.)

As Jacob possessed no property, and could not, therefore, buy his wife, he paid for her by seven years of service. But was this indeed so degrading as it has, by almost general consent, been denounced to be? It is alleged that, as the wife is, in the East, regarded only as a kind of slave, first subordinate to the father, and then to the husband, she was, like the slave, acquired by purchase, and for almost exactly the same price. Such certainly was and is the case among many uncivilized tribes. But does the purchase not admit of another construction? Among some nations, the marriage-price is distinctly regarded as a compensation due to the parents for the trouble and expense incurred by the education of the daughter. From this view there is but one step to the notion that the parents deserve the gratitude of the man to whom they give their child; and the Hebrews, who assigned to the women a position eminently high and honourable, who regarded the wife as an integral part of the husband, and as the indispensable condition of his happiness, and among whom it was a proverbial adage, that "an excellent wife is far more precious than riches" — the Hebrews bought their wives as a treasure and the most valuable possession. It may be seriously asked whether such a purchase was, in principle, not more dignified than the custom according to which the wife buys, as it were, a husband by her dowry, and in consequence of which the daughters of poor parents are in a very precarious position, while, in the East, daughters are at least no burden on their fathers. In practice, that custom is certainly liable to considerable abuses; heartless or avaricious parents, without consulting the inclination of their daughters, may sell them to those who bid the highest price; but scarcely any principle, however lofty, is safe against abuse; besides, it was a law among most tribes, that the daughter's consent must first be obtained; and it was a custom among some, that the money received by the parents should be applied for the benefit of the bride or the young couple. But suppose even that the manner of courting and acquiring the wife was not in every respect noble and delicate among the Hebrews, it certainly did not affect the relative position of husband and wife; the one was no master, the other no slave; the usual customs could, therefore, safely be retained, as long as they did not endanger the beautiful principles which guaranteed the dignity of the other sex.

(M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

It is related that a rich saddler, whose daughter was afterwards married to Dunk, the celebrated Earl of Halifax, ordered in his will that she should lose the whole of her fortune if she did not marry a saddler. The young Earl of Halifax, in order to win the bride, served an apprenticeship of seven years to a saddler, and afterwards bound himself to the rich saddler's daughter for life.

People
Bilhah, Haran, Jacob, Laban, Leah, Levi, Nahor, Rachel, Rebekah, Reuben, Simeon, Zilpah
Places
Paddan-aram
Topics
Abide, Better, Dwell, It's, Laban, Stay
Outline
1. Jacob comes to the well of Haran.
9. He becomes acquainted with Rachel.
13. Laban entertains him.
18. Jacob covenants for Rachel.
23. He is deceived by Laban with Leah.
28. He marries also Rachel, and serves for her seven years more.
32. Leah bears Reuben;
33. Simeon;
34. Levi;
35. and Judah.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Genesis 29:16-25

     5920   pretence

Genesis 29:16-27

     5674   daughters

Genesis 29:16-28

     5679   dowry

Genesis 29:16-30

     5095   Jacob, life

Genesis 29:18-22

     5710   marriage, customs

Genesis 29:18-30

     5659   bride

Library
The Blessing of Jacob Upon Judah. (Gen. Xlix. 8-10. )
Ver. 8. "Judah, thou, thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; before thee shall bow down the sons of thy father. Ver. 9. A lion's whelp is Judah; from the prey, my son, thou goest up; he stoopeth down, he coucheth as a lion, and as a full-grown lion, who shall rouse him up? Ver. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto Him the people shall adhere." Thus does dying Jacob, in announcing
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Dispensation of the Divine Favours Reconciled with the Goodness of God.
O God, whose thunder shakes the sky, Whose eye this atom globe surveys, To thee, my only rock, I fly; Thy mercy in thy justice praise. Then why, my soul, dost thou complain? Why drooping seek the dark recess? Shake off the melancholy chain, For God created all to bless.--CHATTERTON. In the preceding part, we considered the doctrine of predestination, under the name of necessity, in its relation to the origin of evil. We there endeavoured to show that it denies the responsibility of man, and
Albert Taylor Bledsoe—A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory

Jesus Works his First Miracle at Cana in Galilee.
^D John II. 1-11. ^d 1 And the third day [From the calling of Philip (John i. 43). The days enumerated in John's first two chapters constitute a week, and may perhaps be intended as a contrast to the last week of Christ's ministry ( John xii. 1). It took two days to journey from the Jordan to Cana] there was a marriage [In Palestine the marriage ceremony usually began at twilight. The feast after the marriage was at the home of the bridegroom, and was sometimes prolonged for several days (Gen. xxix.
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor.
To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. Gregory to Theoctista, &c. With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Question of the Contemplative Life
I. Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? S. Thomas, On the Beatific Vision, I., xii. 7 ad 3m II. Do the Moral Virtues pertain to the Contemplative Life? S. Augustine, Of the City of God, xix. 19 III. Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? S. Augustine, Of the Perfection of Human Righteousness, viii. 18 " Ep., cxxx. ad probam IV. Does the Contemplative Life consist solely in the Contemplation of God, or in the Consideration
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Departure from Ireland. Death and Burial at Clairvaux.
[Sidenote: 1148, May (?)] 67. (30). Being asked once, in what place, if a choice were given him, he would prefer to spend his last day--for on this subject the brothers used to ask one another what place each would select for himself--he hesitated, and made no reply. But when they insisted, he said, "If I take my departure hence[821] I shall do so nowhere more gladly than whence I may rise together with our Apostle"[822]--he referred to St. Patrick; "but if it behoves me to make a pilgrimage, and
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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