Rachel could not be satisfied with the love of her husband, Jacob, alone. She had to show up her sister, Leah. Rachel was very jealous of Leah’s children, so she entered into a game of competition in which there would be no winners, only bitter players. She gave her maid servant to sleep with Jacob to conceive a child for her. Leah decided two could play that game, and she also gave her maid servant to Jacob. Leah had more children herself, and eventually Rachel also bore two sons to Jacob.
The jealousy that existed in that bizarre household must have been unbearable at times. We will later see that the jealousy between the two sisters was also passed down to their children. The plot begins to thicken once again because people decided to play God, instead of allowing God to be fully in control. The happiness we seek through our own means often becomes bittersweet.
Jacob felt like he has served Laban long enough. It was time for him to set out on his own with his family. He asked Laban for the speckled and spotted sheep and goats and the dark lambs as his wages. Laban agreed to this, but then he once again deceived Jacob by hiding those animals with his sons in fields that were three days away from Jacob. Remember Jacob is just as crafty, and he in turn played a trick on Laban. He devised a method by which the stronger females mated and gave birth to speckled and spotted young ones, increasing Jacob’s wealth. God provided for Jacob, in spite of his bickering wives, and Laban’s conniving ways. Jacob always found God to be faithful even when life threw him curve balls. When there seems to be no one that we can turn to or trust, it is comforting to know that God is just a prayer away.
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