Whenever I’ve read the stories of Jacob and Esau, or Jacob and
Laban, I always considered Jacob to be the hero of the story and I always
thought that Esau and Laban were giving him the short end of the stick. When I
read Genesis 25-33 for Tuesday though, I realized that Jacob is a lot craftier than
I ever gave him credit for, and perhaps Laban and Esau are wronged just as much
as Jacob is, not to mention poor Leah and the maidservants.
Jacob steals both the birthright and blessing from his brother,
uses trickery to obtain most of the best of Laban’s flock, and runs off with
Laban’s daughters (granted they were already married to Jacob). Yet, God still
blesses him above all other men. Out of Jacob is born the Nation of Israel, God’s
Chosen People. God is not impressed with Jacob’s craftiness, but with Jacob’s faith
and loyalty to Him. God does not reward all of Jacob’s behavior though. In
fact, when Jacob show favoritism to Rachel, God makes her womb barren and
rewards Leah, giving Leah 6 sons and a daughter before Rachel is even able to
conceive.
Hero or not, I still believe that Jacob does right more than
anyone else in the chapters we read. If he hadn’t, God would not have chosen
him to be the father of such a great nation. Until next time!
Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit
~Meghan
PS. I commented on Malory’s blog post “Why I Love Dr.
Mashburn”
PPS. Thanks to Dr. Schuler, I have read way too much British Literature lately and therefore feel the need to spell some words as the Brits do! Ex. My title!
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