Jacob confronted Laban, "What have you done to me? Didn't I work all this time for the hand of Rachel? Why did you cheat me?"
26-27 "We don't do it that way in our country," said Laban. "We don't marry off the younger daughter before the older. Enjoy your week of honeymoon, and then we'll give you the other one also. But it will cost you another seven years of work." (The Message)
The Bible is filled with interpersonal conflict. Sometimes it revolves around miscommunication but most of the time it is based upon the self interest of one person trying to get the better of another. It is something that we will see over and over again as we work our way through the Bible stories. It is something that we are all to familiar with in our own lives as well. One of the struggles is how do we treat others as if they have our best interests in mind while at the same time knowing that everyone is capable of taking advantage of us and hurting us? Because of this reality we can choose to guard ourselves and not trust anyone or we can continually set ourselves up for the pain of being hurt.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- After reading this chapter how do you think each of the primary characters felt about the others?
- If you had been Jacob what would you have done?
- Jesus says that we should be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. If Jacob would have done this how might this story have been different?
- What conflict in your life might you need to look at in a different way so that you might be healthy and able to treat others in a Christ like way?
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