Climbing the Ladder of Success
Well here we are already in parasha Vayetze. Time seems to be just flying by, or is that because I'm just getting older? The older you get, the faster time goes by, oh no:. Anyway, before next week arrives, I'd better tell you the readings for this parasha. They are Genesis 28:10-32:3. We begin with Jacob leaving Beer-Sheva and going to Charan. It says he came upon a "certain" place. When you see the word certain in front of a word, you know there is significance to that which it is referring to. It says in most translations, "because' the sun had set, he laid down to sleep. Remember, YHVH always does important things on either Sabbaths or a feast day. Since it says "because" the sun was setting, Jacob stopped, I believe it was approaching sunset and was going in to a Sabbath. He was lying right out in an open field, so I don't believe he was afraid of animals at sundown. It never says he sought shelter for the night was the reason why he stopped. But it does say he stopped because the sun was setting. The Scriptures do not tell us, but the commentaries tell us that he gathered twelve stones to lay his head on. Of course that would be to represent the twelve tribes that were to come. Then Jacob dreamed and saw a ladder with angels ascending and descending on it. YHVH told him three things in this dream. He told him He was the God of his father Avraham, that He would multiply his seed and that He would be with him. After that, Jacob awoke. I believe the ladder represented Yeshua reaching down from the Father to Earth. Now Jacob gets up and continues his journey. What was the first thing he spotted, a well? Wells sure do play a big part in mating in the Bible.
We saw where Eliezer met Rivkah at a well, Moses met Zipporah at a well and now I just bet Jacob will meet Rachael at a well. Maybe instead of going looking for a husband in church, women should go find a well somewhere and wait beside it:. So what do you know, it says Jacob saw Rachael at the well he stopped at:. There was a huge stone over the well, so that it took more than one man to move it aside. This was done on purpose, so that one man could not bring his flock whenever he wanted and get more than his share of the water. Also it kept children from falling in it or throwing objects in it. Notice it says there were three flocks of sheep lying by it. A great stone was upon the entrance to the well. They rolled the stone back and the sheep drank from the well. You see a picture here of Messiah being that well. The three flocks represented his three days in the grave, covered by a large rock. The rock was rolled away and now the sheep (his people) can drink of living water. But on with where we were:. They replaced the stone as Jacob approached. While he was speaking with the men, he saw Rachael approaching with her father's flock to be watered. Notice now that Jacob had super natural strength, went and rolled away the stone all by himself and watered her flock. Then he did something a bit unusual, he kissed Rachael and it says he then lifted his voice upwards and wept. That must have been some kiss:! He now tells Rachael who he is and that he is her relative.
She quickly runs and tells her father Lavan who runs to meet Jacob. Now it seems odd that Jacob is not mentioned as having a lot of wealth with him. If you remember, Eleizer had many things he brought with him to get a bride for Isaac. Certainly Isaac was not poor and I don't believe he sent Jacob out penniless either. I believe the sages were correct when they said Jacob left with much money and gifts. But Esau had ordered his son Eliphaz to follow Jacob and ambush him, taking all that he had. Thus when Jacob met Rachael, he had nothing to offer her and instead went to work for her father. Jacob stays a month with Lavan and 'Lavan asks him' what his wages should be. So it was Jacob who set the price of seven years of work for Lavan's daughter Rachael. It says the seven years went by as but a few days, so great was Jacob's love for Rachael. Wow, that sounds even more serious than Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara's love for each other:. Don't tell me you never watched Gone With the Wind, my favorite movie of all time:. But the time does go by and the time comes for Jacob to marry Rachael. We all know Lavan tricked Jacob and gave him Leah (the older) instead. Lavan even further added to the deception by giving Leah the younger handmaiden that wedding night (Zilpah) instead of her real handmaiden which was older (Bilhah). When asked why he did this to him, Lavan said, don't you know I could not give you the younger before the older? Too bad Lavan forgot to inform him of that little fact seven years earlier. But being the good guy Lavan thinks himself to be, he tells Jacob he can work another seven years and he can have Rachael. But Rachael is given to Jacob after the seven days of Leah's wedding feast are over. He did not have to wait another seven years before he took her as his wife. He just had to work off the bill let's say:. So Leah starts bearing sons like Wrigley turns out gum:. Needless to say this does not go over well with Rachael. She complains to Jacob, who tells her he has no control over whether she conceives or not. So Rachael gives Jacob her handmaid to be his wife and bear a child for her, sound familiar? It seems like all these Patriarchs and their wives just live out the previous ones life experiences.
So just like Hagar, Bilhah conceives. Then she conceives again. Now Leah gets jealous and not to be outdone, gives 'her handmaid' to Jacob to conceive with. So here come two more sons by Zilpah. One day Leah's son comes home from the field with some mandrakes. Mandrakes were thought to induce fertility back then. So Rachael wants to trade a night with Jacob for the mandrakes. Leah agrees with the deal and bingo, Leah conceives again! I know all the men out there are thinking, that poor Jacob:. But Rachael finally conceived and bore Joseph. So now Jacob wants to leave, but Lavan talks him into staying and working for a new wage. Now he will work in exchange for all the striped or speckled cattle and sheep. That works out great as YHVH was with Jacob in what he devised to get those speckled sheep. He laid out rods that he carved out white rings in and laid them before the flocks as they bred. Out comes speckled sheep! But Lavan got upset with Jacob and Jacob knew he did. So Jacob decides it time to head on back to Dodge (Canaan Land):. Jacob's first step was to summon his wives and explain his position to them. They quickly agreed that whatever Jacob's God had instructed him to do, they would go along with it. So Jacob and his wives and sons left without telling Lavan. But Lavan soon found out three days later and quickly set out to overtake him. Lavan was on his way to find Jacob when YHVH gave him a dream. He was instructed in that dream that he was not to say anything bad or good to Jacob.
The not speaking good, I believe, was not that he shouldn't say any kind words to Jacob. It was that he shouldn't try to sweet talk Jacob into coming back with yet another good sounding offer. The one thing Lavan was a bit miffed over was the fact his idols had been taken. Little did Jacob know that Rachael had stolen them. When told by Jacob to search the camp and he would see they were not there, Lavan did a search through all the tents. We all know that Rachael sat on them when Lavan came looking her way for the idols. When Lavan approached her, she simply said it was "her time of the month" and could not get up to greet him. So Rachael got by with it, but I believe it was to her death that she did. Jacob had made an oath to Lavan that whoever had taken the idols would not live. Little did Jacob know that he was pronouncing a curse upon the very person he loved the most. If you remember, Rachael died at an early age giving birth to Benjamin. Did that early death have anything to do with the curse Jacob swore concerning the idols, you be the judge? But just as with the other patriarchs, all ends well with Jacob. He and Lavan make a covenant together to be at peace with one another. Also, that Jacob would not take any other wives except the daughters of Lavan. They made an altar there, ate together and Lavan called the place Yegar-Sahadutha. Jacob called the place Gal-Ed. Lavan kissed his daughters and grandkids and left to go back home. Then Jacob went on his way. So we enter this parasha with Jacob and Esau as not having been born yet. We end it with them grown and married. All through the process Rivkah had been told before they were born as to their destinies in life. Jacob climbed the ladder of success in life. As for Esau, like some others in life, he'll struggle to climb to the top of the ladder, only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall! Shalom
We saw where Eliezer met Rivkah at a well, Moses met Zipporah at a well and now I just bet Jacob will meet Rachael at a well. Maybe instead of going looking for a husband in church, women should go find a well somewhere and wait beside it:. So what do you know, it says Jacob saw Rachael at the well he stopped at:. There was a huge stone over the well, so that it took more than one man to move it aside. This was done on purpose, so that one man could not bring his flock whenever he wanted and get more than his share of the water. Also it kept children from falling in it or throwing objects in it. Notice it says there were three flocks of sheep lying by it. A great stone was upon the entrance to the well. They rolled the stone back and the sheep drank from the well. You see a picture here of Messiah being that well. The three flocks represented his three days in the grave, covered by a large rock. The rock was rolled away and now the sheep (his people) can drink of living water. But on with where we were:. They replaced the stone as Jacob approached. While he was speaking with the men, he saw Rachael approaching with her father's flock to be watered. Notice now that Jacob had super natural strength, went and rolled away the stone all by himself and watered her flock. Then he did something a bit unusual, he kissed Rachael and it says he then lifted his voice upwards and wept. That must have been some kiss:! He now tells Rachael who he is and that he is her relative.
She quickly runs and tells her father Lavan who runs to meet Jacob. Now it seems odd that Jacob is not mentioned as having a lot of wealth with him. If you remember, Eleizer had many things he brought with him to get a bride for Isaac. Certainly Isaac was not poor and I don't believe he sent Jacob out penniless either. I believe the sages were correct when they said Jacob left with much money and gifts. But Esau had ordered his son Eliphaz to follow Jacob and ambush him, taking all that he had. Thus when Jacob met Rachael, he had nothing to offer her and instead went to work for her father. Jacob stays a month with Lavan and 'Lavan asks him' what his wages should be. So it was Jacob who set the price of seven years of work for Lavan's daughter Rachael. It says the seven years went by as but a few days, so great was Jacob's love for Rachael. Wow, that sounds even more serious than Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara's love for each other:. Don't tell me you never watched Gone With the Wind, my favorite movie of all time:. But the time does go by and the time comes for Jacob to marry Rachael. We all know Lavan tricked Jacob and gave him Leah (the older) instead. Lavan even further added to the deception by giving Leah the younger handmaiden that wedding night (Zilpah) instead of her real handmaiden which was older (Bilhah). When asked why he did this to him, Lavan said, don't you know I could not give you the younger before the older? Too bad Lavan forgot to inform him of that little fact seven years earlier. But being the good guy Lavan thinks himself to be, he tells Jacob he can work another seven years and he can have Rachael. But Rachael is given to Jacob after the seven days of Leah's wedding feast are over. He did not have to wait another seven years before he took her as his wife. He just had to work off the bill let's say:. So Leah starts bearing sons like Wrigley turns out gum:. Needless to say this does not go over well with Rachael. She complains to Jacob, who tells her he has no control over whether she conceives or not. So Rachael gives Jacob her handmaid to be his wife and bear a child for her, sound familiar? It seems like all these Patriarchs and their wives just live out the previous ones life experiences.
So just like Hagar, Bilhah conceives. Then she conceives again. Now Leah gets jealous and not to be outdone, gives 'her handmaid' to Jacob to conceive with. So here come two more sons by Zilpah. One day Leah's son comes home from the field with some mandrakes. Mandrakes were thought to induce fertility back then. So Rachael wants to trade a night with Jacob for the mandrakes. Leah agrees with the deal and bingo, Leah conceives again! I know all the men out there are thinking, that poor Jacob:. But Rachael finally conceived and bore Joseph. So now Jacob wants to leave, but Lavan talks him into staying and working for a new wage. Now he will work in exchange for all the striped or speckled cattle and sheep. That works out great as YHVH was with Jacob in what he devised to get those speckled sheep. He laid out rods that he carved out white rings in and laid them before the flocks as they bred. Out comes speckled sheep! But Lavan got upset with Jacob and Jacob knew he did. So Jacob decides it time to head on back to Dodge (Canaan Land):. Jacob's first step was to summon his wives and explain his position to them. They quickly agreed that whatever Jacob's God had instructed him to do, they would go along with it. So Jacob and his wives and sons left without telling Lavan. But Lavan soon found out three days later and quickly set out to overtake him. Lavan was on his way to find Jacob when YHVH gave him a dream. He was instructed in that dream that he was not to say anything bad or good to Jacob.
The not speaking good, I believe, was not that he shouldn't say any kind words to Jacob. It was that he shouldn't try to sweet talk Jacob into coming back with yet another good sounding offer. The one thing Lavan was a bit miffed over was the fact his idols had been taken. Little did Jacob know that Rachael had stolen them. When told by Jacob to search the camp and he would see they were not there, Lavan did a search through all the tents. We all know that Rachael sat on them when Lavan came looking her way for the idols. When Lavan approached her, she simply said it was "her time of the month" and could not get up to greet him. So Rachael got by with it, but I believe it was to her death that she did. Jacob had made an oath to Lavan that whoever had taken the idols would not live. Little did Jacob know that he was pronouncing a curse upon the very person he loved the most. If you remember, Rachael died at an early age giving birth to Benjamin. Did that early death have anything to do with the curse Jacob swore concerning the idols, you be the judge? But just as with the other patriarchs, all ends well with Jacob. He and Lavan make a covenant together to be at peace with one another. Also, that Jacob would not take any other wives except the daughters of Lavan. They made an altar there, ate together and Lavan called the place Yegar-Sahadutha. Jacob called the place Gal-Ed. Lavan kissed his daughters and grandkids and left to go back home. Then Jacob went on his way. So we enter this parasha with Jacob and Esau as not having been born yet. We end it with them grown and married. All through the process Rivkah had been told before they were born as to their destinies in life. Jacob climbed the ladder of success in life. As for Esau, like some others in life, he'll struggle to climb to the top of the ladder, only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall! Shalom