So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Genesis 29:20
Okay, so I know this may seem border-line sappy, but today we read over this scripture in OT and I loved it. It is so crazy to me that Jacob would work for seven whole years so that he could marry this girl. I mean obviously he thought she was beautiful, but is that it? Seven years of his life spent toiling away so that he could marry this beautiful girl?! At first I couldn't get over how crazy that sounded. I mean seriously, how many modern guys would WAIT seven years for a girl...much less spend the entire time EARNING the right to be her husband?! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is one of the most awesome things I've read in regards to love and sacrifice (from a purely romantic standpoint)... Obviously Christ was the ultimate picture of love and sacrifice, but that's a whole 'nother post. I'm normally not a sucker for the hallmark movie/happy ending story, but the bible doesn't make it overly sappy and romantic. It's so plain and so simple..."and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her". Ah. Love it.
3 comments:
The craziest thing is that after he was tricked and got Leah, he worked seven more years to get Rachel. So he waited 14 years to get the girl he wanted.
Even though I think Jacob is one of the most shady and even, at times, despicable characters in the biblical narrative, you can't say he wasn't tenacious. He may have been a manipulative and arrogant liar, but there is a reason God said, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau I hated." Jacob is one of the few people God mentions by name as having loved them, despite his deficient character. God seldom uses people because of their piety.
Andrew: actually my OT prof. told us today that Jacob only worked seven years total. He got Leah at the completion of the seven, then a week later he got Rachel. So he never had to work fourteen years, he just didn't get the right sister first. (My prof said it was a misinturpurtation for people to think Jacob had to work an additional seven years...whether you believe that or not is up to you).
I agree with everything you said about Jacob's character, but I was merely going off his actions in this one instance. Everyone has their up's and down's, and I think that his working seven years for Rachel said nothing of his relationship with God...it merely shows his devotion to her.
Good call.
I wasn't arguing with you, I was just going off on my own little tangent. I always identified with Jacob, and I've got lots of things to say about him.
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