The Price of Love: Genesis 29:15-20
Love is always worth it. Given that yesterday was Valentine’s Day, I feel like I just barely missed the boat with today’s opening line. It’s still a good message. Love is always worth pursuing. Love can be a great challenge, but the reward is always greater than the cost.
Jacob stays with Laban, and after a while Laban makes it clear to Jacob that he needs to work to earn his keep. Laban is taking a direct, yet still polite, way of telling Jacob the time for freeloading is up.
We shouldn’t automatically think Jacob was trying to get a free ride, though. Jacob left Canaan in a hurry. He didn’t take much with him. He couldn’t afford to live in Haran without Laban’s help. At the same time, Laban would be required to show hospitality to his nephew. Therefore, Jacob was caught in the hospitality loop. He would need to patiently wait out his uncle’s generosity before he could make any progress winning Rachel for his wife.
When Laban tells Jacob he needs to work if he wants to stay, he’s giving Jacob opportunity, no kicking out a freeloader. Jacob has an incredible inheritance waiting for him back in Canaan, but he didn’t have accessible wealth in Haran to give to Laban for Rachel. Therefore, Jacob offers to work for seven years. Seven years of free labor would be a good deal, and Laban knew it. His daughters wouldn’t be staying with him permanently anyways, so it made sense to take on a shepherd with good reason to care about the flocks.
A courtship of seven years is a significant time. Jacob loved Rachel, and the Bible indicates the time felt like a few days because of his love. There can be little doubt that Jacob and Rachel grew closer as time passed, although social customs would have allowed them to grow only so close.
From the ancient mindset, this story contains an elaborate expression of love for Rachel to observe. Jacob traded seven years of difficult manual labor for access to her for the rest of his life. He was willing to wait for seven years just to have the opportunity to marry her. Jacob displays incredible devotion to her from the very beginning of their relationship; Rachel should have little difficulty recognizing it.
Jacob’s witness teaches that true love is worth the cost. Love takes effort. Love takes patience. Love takes devotion. Genuine love is worth waiting for and worth working for.
Jacob’s witness is also a practical demonstration of God’s love. In Abraham, God began the redemption process. That process would take generations to bring about because there was work that needed to be done before the time was right. Like Jacob working for Rachel, God’s work of salvation took effort, patience, and devotion. Like Rachel, God’s Messiah was worth waiting for. Love is always worth it.
