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This week’s parasha is Vayetze, meaning “and he went forth”. Jacob flees from Be’ersheva to escape the wrath of his brother Esau, and makes the 500+ mile journey back to Haran, the place from which Abraham had departed many years earlier. There Jacob will stay with his maternal uncle, Laban. It’s temporary, of course; Jacob will return to Canaan, the land promised to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob. Meanwhile, however, Jacob had unfinished business with God and with family. You know the saying: wherever you go, there you are.
As is the pattern in Genesis, a crisis brings about a God-intended separation. In the previous generation, Ishmael was sent away, as God confirmed the covenant through Isaac. Now the conflict between Jacob and Esau will serve God’s purposes, as we follow the ever-narrowing focus on the family line that will eventually lead us to Messiah.
Soon after leaving Beersheva, probably twilight of the third day, Jacob stopped for the night in the town of Luz (about 60 miles north of Beersheva). God appeared to him in a dream. Jacob saw a ladder or stairway, spanning the gap between Earth and Heaven. Angels were going up and down on it. Adonai stood above it, and said,“ I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham… the land on which you are lying, I am giving to you and your descendants”. Jacob was still in the midst of Canaan, so we are to understand that God was reaffirming the land promise to him. Adonai likewise reiterated all the Abrahamic blessings to Jacob. God further promised to watch over him, to bring him back to the land, and that in his descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Jacob awoke, awestruck in the realization that God was there; so he consecrated and renamed the place Beit-El – the House of God. He swore an oath to be faithful to God if indeed God would keep him safe and return him home. He also promised to give God a tenth of all that came his way. Jacob didn’t know it at the time, but a lot was going to come his way! He would eventually become wealthy. But he still had a lot to learn about God. God doesn’t break His promises – the problem is usually our own lack of faith. Jacob had resorted more than once to trickery. But as they say, “what goes around comes around.”
Jacob arrived in Haran, saw Rachel and was smitten. He agreed to work seven years for his uncle Laban in exchange for gaining Rachel as a wife. Seven years! But he’s in love, so the time flew by. But on that wedding night, heavily veiled and in the darkness of his tent, was not Rachel, but Leah, Laban’s older daughter. Jacob woke up the next morning to find he’d just gotten a taste of his own medicine! Furious, he confronted Laban, who offered to give him Rachel as a wife also, at the end of one week’s time, if Jacob would agree to serve him another seven years. He agreed, and one week later, Jacob was the husband of two wives.
Chapters 29 and 30 narrate the fierce competition for Jacob’s affections by Leah and Rachel, and the sons born to him through his wives and their maids who became his concubines. Within this parasha, Jacob fathers eleven sons and a daughter, but only one of them, Joseph, was born to Rachel directly. Years later she will die giving birth to Benjamin. These twelve become the forebears of the tribes of Israel. In all this time, however, Leah remained unloved by her husband.
During those years Jacob’s presence brought great prosperity to Laban. God kept his promise to be with Jacob. Laban’s flocks flourished. At one point, Jacob sought to return home, but Laban urged him to stay, asking what it would take to keep him on. Jacob asked to be allowed to go through the flock and keep all the speckled, spotted, and black sheep, and the spotted and speckled goats. In ancient Syria, where this is taking place, sheep were predominantly white and goats black. Through God’s blessing, and a little ingenuity in animal husbandry, Jacob caused more and more spotted, speckled and black sheep to be born. His flocks grew while Laban’s diminished. Laban became angry and Jacob once again faced a crisis. God appeared to him and instructed him to leave immediately. Jacob took his wives, children, and flocks, and left without a word to Laban.
Laban caught up with Jacob, but not before God appeared to him in a dream and warned him to be careful how he spoke to Jacob. Remember, God had said to Abraham I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse. God graciously warned Laban to watch his words. When he caught up with Jacob he questioned him about the deception, and asked about some household idols that “coincidentally” disappeared. Jacob knows nothing of this, but we’re told that Rachel had taken them and hidden them in her tent. Laban never finds them, and he and Jacob part ways after making a covenant. This agreement between them was not borne of friendship, but distrust. After kissing his daughters goodbye, Laban returned home, and Jacob’s family resumed their long schlep back to the Promised Land of Canaan.
Some things to take from parasha Vayetze: The dream Jacob had in Bethel – that stairway bridging Earth and Heaven; that was Messiah! Yeshua said to His disciples, “I tell you the truth, you shall see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). Jacob was privileged to see just a tiny glimmer of the Messiah who was to come. Yeshua declared that He Himself is the One who bridges that infinite gap between fallen humanity and an infinitely holy and just God. That’s great news for all who hope to be reconciled to God.
Another lesson concerns husbands. It’s awful to see the struggle Leah went through, yearning for a little love and affirmation from her husband. So let me echo the words of Rabbi Paul: Husbands, love your wives! They will either blossom like an exquisite flower or wither away; and it’s all on you.
Finally, you reap what you sow! If you practice deception and trickery, don’t be surprised when it comes back to bite you. Trust that God will do what He promises, and doesn’t need our ‘help’. Don’t force things; and certainly don’t employ trickery or coercion. Adonai expects us to be people of integrity.