A few years ago my family subscribed to a new television streaming service, one that walks me down memory lane with beloved after-school TV shows and movies that I watched as a kid. Revisiting those stories, and sharing them anew with my daughters, has been so much fun.
Narratives shape us. Good stories can awaken our desire for eternity, reminding us of the good in the world, while lifting the veil on the darkest parts of the human experience.
I think the story of Jacob and his two wives, sisters Leah and Rachel, checks all of those boxes. It is a story brewed in brokenness and stirred with deceit, envy, and deep sadness. As a kid, I thought it was so very sweet, a little like a fairy tale: how romantic that Jacob loved Rachel enough to work for seven years to marry her!
But revisiting the story as an adult unlocks deeper truths about what I’m reading. Laban used his power to deceive Jacob into fourteen years of labor. Leah was cast aside and unwanted, while Rachel gloated over her favor with Jacob—that is, until Leah bore sons, while Rachel could not. What a desperately sad story about two broken marriages, rival sisters, and a deceptive uncle who repeatedly manipulated his kin for profits.
Jacob was deceived.
Leah was rejected and unloved.
Rachel was emptied out by envy.
Laban saw profits instead of people.
When Leah bore Jacob’s sons, she named them Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. With each son’s birth, she hoped that Jacob would love her. But by the time Judah was born, she seemed to relent and refocus her affections on her God, saying, “This time I will praise the LORD” (Genesis 29:35).
Between Leah and Rachel and their servant women Bilhah and Zilpah, Jacob had twelve sons. These twelve sons would go on to be the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, and from the tribe of Judah, Jesus would be born. This son of the unloved wife would lead to the birth of the Messiah, who would bear the weight of every broken relationship.
The sad twists of this story lead us to look forward to the cross, because it is the only lens that allows us to see the grief and sadness that come from broken relationships more clearly. And yet, the good news of Jesus doesn’t change what we feel when we are mistreated, deceived, or utterly distracted with envy.
Each of those scenarios tears at our relationships with other people, inevitably causing us to see people as less than the image-bearers God created us to be. We wound and are wounded. People become objects, wrong sources of our happiness (like Rachel was to Jacob), transactional sources of labor and economic gain (like Jacob was to Laban), or they make us the victim of our own disordered desires (like Rachel did to Leah).
But Jesus takes all of that—every objectifying, victimizing, heartbreaking, manipulative, broken interaction—and instead, offers us perfect healing and a gospel-paved way to reconciliation. As we read on, Jacob would experience total reconciliation with his brother Esau. While not every relationship experiences that kind of healing in this life, as we seek to treat other people the way Jesus treats us, we can lean on the shared gift of the gospel to be the common ground of grace. It is all we have to offer.
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90 thoughts on "Jacob Deceived"
My favorite story of Genius
Amen.
Afternoon, She’s! Genesis.. like others have mentioned these readings have challenged me. Genesis is A LOT to digest. So much hurt that happens. But it is a pivotal foundation for our Redeemers story, She’s. Let’s continue to challenge ourselves.
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I just have to say, I just love listening to your podcast and never tire of it. Still trying to catch up since I’ve only recently discovered the She Reads Truth community, but absolutely love the discussions!! Thank you!!
Same here, Lisa. Grateful we both found this wonderful community!
Welcome! Its always great to have new SRT sisters here. We are all the better for it as we study, learn and grow together
So powerful
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Amen
Like a lot of you these chapters definitely leave me scratching my head a bit and wanting to get these people straightened out a bit, “so messy” what a love triangle, BUT GOD, He is good all the time, He takes all that mess and makes a masterpiece and a way through Jesus! Amen and Amen. Let’s look to the cross!
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It’s crazy that God uses all of these broken people to be a prat of his plan. I’m thankful he does though, or he wouldn’t use me. I pray that I would put him first in my life and not go after other things to satisfy me.
Praying Mercy!!
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I struggled a lot reading through the chapters today, because there are so many triggering points. I struggled with family manipulations, lying, cheating one another, for money and gains, and parent manipulation toward their grown-up children. And this is all in here. Oddly I felt comforting, because my suffering is not unique to me, but to mankind. The sin of the parents lay heavily on the family dynamic of the grown-up kids. It is heartbreaking. Why would you do that to your daughters? Why would you lie so you can get free labor for 14 years and enrich yourself at the cost of their life-long suffering in a messed up three-way relationship? Why would you turn your children against each other? I see this in a certain ongoing ministry scandal too, when a mom manipulated among her grown up children, when money is involved, and it hurts me so badly. And the mom did it successfully. Same for Laban, he did it successfully. Sometimes I questioned God, the endless questions as to why, I have no answers. We just know that the human heart is so wicked beyond measure, who can understand it? The Lord weeps with us in our suffering. After all, He gave wisdom and discernment to examine people’s intentions toward us. Always pray when things get weird for God’s rescue, for Him to reveal hidden clues of betrayals and manipulations. Who are our families? Aren’t they the ones who do the will of God? (Jesus replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:48-50). This is a hard lesson for me. My families might not be the ones sharing the same last name as I thought, or those in the same blood line. But my families are WHOEVER do the will of my Heavenly Father. I wept so much one day, as the Lord pointed out to me a family member, and He said, that person is not your family anymore. Praise and glory be to God for this truth. Thank you she’s for your prayers. The Lord has been so kind. Our new hire is a very sweet girl fresh off university, and she has been learning so fast, she is so respectful and somewhat timid, and very considerate. I am so thankful God places such a person to be my trainee. We get along well and she brings lots of joy to me. Her name is Joyce too. Our God is so sweet. My husband has been going to ADHD psychologist sessions too. So I am thankful things are turning around (though slowly)…or my patience needs to be long-suffering lol. Praying and joining in prayers for you.
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Be blessed dear sisters.
Another cringe worthy verse that shocked me about Laban, is when he said to Jacob, I learnt by divination (witchcraft) that I have been blessed because of you. He is smooching off the anointing of God on His chosen kne…and he found it by the way the Lord abhors.
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I’m sorry for what you have as part of your story. May the Lord continue to meet you, carry you and lift you up and often be reminded of His love. ✝️
Great to hear that the work situation is going well:)
Urgent prayer request:
Sisters, please join me in prayer for a dear friend with a medical emergency in the family. Thanks so much! Love you, sisters! ❤
Praying for your friend that a miracle of healing be granted by God’s grace and mercies, strength and peace for everyone involved.
Praying
Praying!!!
Praying❣️
Thank you, sisters! Prayers are much appreciated as this is being turned over to family doc for further evaluation. Thanks again for your faithful prayers! Hugs!!! ❤
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Praying for your dear friend, Cee Gee.
Thank you, too, Elizabeth! ❤
I share your thoughts on these events in Genesis! The Psalm passage, however, brought to mind -again- As the Deer by The Maranatha Singers (my favorite lines):
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship Thee.
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When we see misplaced desires and loyalties in action as we see in Genesis today, we are reminded, as Melanie mentioned, to re-direct our focus to the cross and our Savior, the ultimate victory.
Love, hugs, and prayers! ❤
*displaced*
This song has such a deep meaning for me, it just brought up many memories trials (panting season of craziness) and the still water that God brought me to. Thank you!
❤ I have been singing it off and on all day between prayers for multiple things. I am glad it brought you peace, too. I still have the album from the 70’s!
It’s hard to read all the deceit and manipulation and see the consequences, but really it mirrors our own lives. We as humans just keep the pattern going sadly.
Amen, Heather.
‘‘Tis true.
I know these are probably some more unanswerable questions, but they are questions I often have whenever I read this story.
Why did Jacob choose to work 7 years to marry Rachel? Why did he not choose 1 or 2 years since he was the one who was able to choose how long he worked for and for what he worked for.
Rachel had to have known about the wedding feast. I wonder where Rachel was when her father was giving Leah to Jacob instead of her. Was Leah willing to go along with her father’s plans or was she forced into it just as much as Jacob was?
We often see Jacob’s favoritism of Rachel over Leah, but he always wanted Rachel from the beginning. He didn’t choose to marry both and then picked his favorite. In being tricked, he was raped (right? Being forced to be intimate with someone). Granted that’s not how he viewed it that night, but most likely is how he felt come morning when he realized that what should have been the best night of his life with the love of his life wasn’t with who he thought he was spending it with.
This is a passage I’ve often struggled with.
I understand the compassion God had for Leah as she wasn’t loved like Rachel was. I can definitely see this as being another Hagar moment. God being El Roi, the God who sees Leah and all that she went through as a wife who was unseen. As I mentioned when reading the story of Hagar, I love seeing the different stories in Scripture about God being El Roi.
On the flip side, Jacob didn’t want that marriage with Leah in the first place. To Jacob, and Rachel especially, it could have seemed like God was favoring Leah over Rachel.
Yes, God’s ultimate plan of sending Christ came through the lineage of Leah. And not just through Leah, but through the one son that She completely dedicated to God. As her first three were named for “now my husband will love me”. But Judah was named because of her praise for the Lord.
But why? Why did there have to be this much deceit from his soon to be father-in-law, and all the sister rivalry? Why couldn’t God lay it upon Jacob’s heart to fall in love with Leah in the first place?
I can see Leah drawing closer to God through all of this. But it makes me wonder what Rachel’s heart towards God was like? Was Leah’s heart always more open to God? I know later Rachel stole her father’s household gods. Had she always favored those over God?
We are given a glimpse of Rachel’s heart posture toward God as she went to Jacob asking him for children instead of asking God. Jacob points her in the right direction, telling her that God is the one who was withholding offspring from her. Unlike his father, there isn’t a record of Jacob praying for Rachel to have children. Verse 22 says that “God remembered Rachel.” Which again goes to show God’s compassion. Once again though, instead of Rachel turning to God in this situation, Rachel took matters into her own hands much like Sari did and figured that if she couldn’t conceive, then Jacob might as well have children with her maid. It is in 30:6 that we finally see Rachel giving God glory.
Along these same lines, Leah gave God glory when she had her first four sons. Rachel gave God glory when her servant had two sons. When Leah’s servant had two sons, we don’t see Leah giving God glory, but moreso glory to herself. Then she gave Him glory again for her other two sons. Rachel also gives glory to God for Joseph. But then it is after this (not read today) that she steals her father’s idols.
I have these same questions and struggles with these passages. Even though we can see how God was working and we know where it leads there is just SO much unknown that I want to know. ❤️
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So. Many. Questions. I get it.
It’s so timely that we have this as our devotional today because the sermon from yesterday was on how to heal broken relationships! The first point was to ask God for wisdom and the second point was pray for the other person, the third point was go talk to the person. Don’t go to everyone else. The scripture was Matthew 5:23-25.
I thank God for these lessons in the Bible! It helps us learn from others mistakes!
Praying for you, A WALTON, and all affected by the storms.
Praying for all!
Our pastor is walking us through Matthew as well. We were in chapter 6 yesterday- the model prayer.
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I love that these people in Genesis are a mess. Because looking from my mother’s pov, she probably thought what a mess my kid’s lives are- broken marriages, affairs, lies, deceit, jealousy. And I remember telling people we were a pretty normal family making for happy, conflict-free holidays. Now, moving the scope further out, I see how much was really there! Especially in MY life! Living for myself, with no Godly direction turned out a royal mess. I look back and regret so much. The populate phrase of no regrets–No, I regret lots, lots of hurt to people beyond myself. BUT God—We see/read the stories and they help us reflect on the love of God, that He is there through our messes, loving us, calling us to Him. And then of course, Jesus is the plan of the ultimate redemption and restoration!! It just blows me away, how every study of The Book is living and breathing, telling us what we need to know! To KNOW our Lord God, and Savior Jesus!! All to the Cross! Thank you Jesus for saving us! For Transformation! For continued Sanctification!! For new Mercies every morning!! For filling my cup! For He is good, and Worthy of every Praise!! Hallelujah!!
Prayers for all! Praying for Mercy and Mari V! Praying for Christy’s interview today! Praying for A Walton (good to see you!)! Praying for your family Adrienne.
Praying for your friend Kelly! (How is it going with your living situation?) Praying for Lynn and Jack. Praying for our singles younger Sisters and your journey. Praying for those we are missing.
❤ joining in those prayers.
Thank you.
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Thank you Rhonda for thinking of us and the prayers of you and our dear shes.
Thank you so much.
Thanks Rhonda.
She is accessing as many resources as she can. She has started to looknoutside the county for housing where there are no waiting lists. She is looking into a training school to pick up certification for medical coding so she could work from home and not pay for day care.
It is definitely a strain on our comfort zone after 31 years of it being just the 2 of us.
Your words remind me the phrase, “He makes our mess into a message.”
The Lord has/is using you to point others to Him, Rhonda ❤️
As I read this chapter, I found it interesting that the broken human condition seems to be that we never seem to learn from our mistakes. Rachel was trying to help God out in building her a family just like Sarai did. And Jacob, the deceiver, reaped what he sowed… more deception.
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Thank GOD for the salvation of Jesus, who heals all of our brokenness and brings us a future and a hope beyond this human condition!
Yes, echoing that indeed!!
The common ground of grace IS all we have to offer. How humbling, empowering, and motivating that is.
Amen, Erin.
Grace…to give..to receive.
Because of what He has done.
Such deception, brokeness and heartache in these chapters of Genesis. And, with the Deuternomy reading it becomes more obvious that addressing the favoritism of multiple wives is neccessary and therfore common practice. Yuck. And, yet not unlike all of Genesis thus far, the ultimate plan of a Savior, the Message of the Gospel is deeply woven into every part of scripture in what is the most unassuming, unlikely ways. It just reminds us over and over and over that the Lord is in every beautuful, mixed up, tragic detail and His Word always points us to Jesus. Praise be to our mighty God who always makes a way.
I also wanted to add, the podcast is just always so helpful with great insights and further teaching :)
I am reminded from Gen 29:35 that praise leads to breakthrough! Leah praised the Lord for her son, giving God the glory and honor for the blessing of Judah instead of seeking an approval from her husband that would never come. How very appropriate that Jesus would ultimately come from the tribe of Judah! Let us praise before our breakthrough and be grateful to God alone for all of our blessings and for His goodness. I love the line in the devotion “The son of the unloved wife would lead to the birth of the messiah, who would bear the weight of all broken relationships.”
Amen ❤️
Agreed, Ashley! I love how you worded that.
That’s the line that stood out to me, too. ❤
Great insight!
Praise leads to breakthrough ❤️❤️❤️
I’ve read this account over and over… why am I just this time noticing that Jesus’ lineage comes from Leah? The tribe of Judah was what I had noticed from before… not that Leah bore Judah. Duh!
I’m jumping off Searching’s post this morning. Reading these stories back to back really grieves me, but as Melanie Rainer says, “the sad twists of this story lead us to look forward to the cross.”
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How powerful is it that even the manipulation and deception in these stories do not thwart God’s plan. God uses them to illuminate His mercy and grace for His people.
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This quote was shared in church yesterday, and I thought it sums up all of these stories pretty well… “The great temptation in any divine assignment is always to supplement the promises of the spirit by the power of the flesh.”
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That looks like compromising the laws of God (breaking the laws of God to try to accomplish the purposes) or losing the peace of God (you start to worry and carry the weight of the assignment). It’s important to remember God is the one who takes initiative. He starts the process and invites us into His plan – into what He is already doing. He is not only the initiator but also the supplier of everything we need. Praise God!
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I have my third interview out of four at noon today. Thank you for all the prayers during this process; they are so much appreciated. So grateful for all of you. Happy Monday! ❤️
Have prayed for you Christy :)
Thank you so much Wendy ❤️
Christy, I stopped and prayed for you just now and will be praying before your interview. May God give you peace and assurance! ❤
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“The great temptation in any divine assignment is always to supplement the promises of the spirit by the power of the flesh.” Wow! Thank you for sharing that quote! Pow!
Thank you dear Cee Gee!❤️❤️
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Hope to hear a good report of your interview today
Thank you both! It went really well, and we had such a wonderful conversation. Hopefully, I’ll have another update soon ❤️
Amen
Sisters, it’s been a while since I have read thru Genesis from beginning to end as we are doing. The farther we go, the more I think I may not make it through the whole book. It’s hard to handle chapter after chapter of all things wrong – lies, deceit, cheating and more.
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Yet, I will stick with it as there is something somewhere in every chapter that’s me, before I came to know Jesus as Savior, and sadly there are things that are me after I became a Christian. Like looking in the mirror on a bad day, I don’t always like what I see. Lord, help me to stay close to You, to seek Your guidance and wisdom – before I speak and before I act.
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Today’s Scriptures again teach us that God’s perfect plan cannot be stopped, that God can use even our bad decisions to further His will. I am awed and humbled at His greatness.
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Of course the song that comes to mind this morning, or rather, that jumped straight out from the Scriptures, is from Psalm 63, Thy Loving Kindness is Better (than life)
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MARIA B *** HAPPY BIRTHDAY *** ❤️
SOPHIE M – praying for your daughter’s follow up appointment on Wednesday
KRISTIN GRIMES ❤️
ADRIENNE- praying for your father in law and the family as his condition is evaluated and difficult decisions are made for his care and safety
WENDY ❤️❤️ your Saturday post – thank you.
CEE GEE – perseverance in your Saturday post, so good! ❤️❤️
MANDI – praying for Veronica, thank you for update
DW – thankful the flight went well and you are snuggling with your grand baby ❤️
TINA – thank you for the Abbi update – such great news ❤️ And especially thank you for your prayers for me as they are much needed, sister ✝️❤️
Same…
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And thank you.
Yes, same. It’s so messy. Not the kind of “story” we like. And yet, yes, agreed, humbled by His greatness❤️
Agreeing with all you wrote, SEARCHING! I am not familiar with that song so I will look it up. ❤
Thank you Searching ❤️
This account lwaysfrustrates me. The snarky Kelly thinks, Well Jacob, your “undying” love for Rachel did not seem to motivate to fidelity to her alone and stop you from continuing to have intercourse with other women.
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Of the patriarchs, Isaac and Rebecca seem to be the only couple to follow the marriage pattern God ordained.
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TINA – thanks for the update on Abbi.
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SOPHIE M – praying your daughter’s appointment goes well and receives a good report.
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MARI V – prayers for “G” to fully recover.
KELLY ❤️ I thought the same thing … so much wrong with all that went on.
IKR? Jacobs love for Rachel… fidelity? Ummm… no!
Yes, I sometimes think “well, you reap what you sow”…did Jacob forget how deceptive he had been with his father and brother Esau??
Beautiful! The fact that her sons were and are a large part of the nation of Israel shows God’s faithfulness to us no matter how those around us feel towards us. God can use us and our offspring to build a legacy.
Amen ♡ I pray you all have a beautiful & blessed Monday.
As our devotion points out, this story surely does display some of the worst of the human condition. It seems the ravages of favoritism and deception continue to be hard lessons to learn by Abraham’s family…and often ours.
Extra grateful for Jesus’ offer of “perfect healing and a gospel-paved (sacrifice made on the cross and death defeated!) way to reconciliation” with God and each other!
Happy Monday, Ladies!
Catching up on my reading today as we had a terrible storm early Friday morning that hit all of Ireland. So many trees down, power lines, and damage to homes (we just had shingles off). We were without power until last night. I kept reading Genesis, so I wasn’t that far behind. We had a candlelight church service yesterday. It was kinda nice. Was able to experience the love of Christ from those whose power was returned earlier by going over and getting a delicious home cooked meal.
Very sorry to hear about the bad storms, A. Walton. Glad you are safe, with minimal damage. Praying for quick restoration from the damage!
Thankful your damage was minimal, A, and praying for the area’s recovery as it gets underway. ❤️
Praying for restoration after the storm.❤️
A WALTON, you were on my mind last week! I am so glad your family was safe in the storm. We had a similar experience when Hurricane Helene went through our area last fall. Thankful you were blessed with a hot meal! Great to see you here!❤
So glad you are well A Walton from the terrible storms Ireland faced. I love your country and visit it often! Prayers for you and your family!