But let's go back to their beginnings. Jacob had grown up in a home splintered by parental favoritism. His father loved his outdoors-man older brother more, but Jacob's mom favoured him, spoiling him, perhaps even babying him a bit. When Jacob and his brother grew older, a full out family feud between the two sons broke out (it probably had something to do with Jacob deceiving their father into leaving the portion of his will to Jacob instead of his brother). Jacob's mom grew worried and sent him to stay with relatives out of town.
These relatives were the family of Jacob's uncle. And among these relatives lived Rachel. Rachel grew up with an older sister, Leah, but Rachel got the looks in the family. Leah was the plain Jane, while Rachel more than made up for her sister's deficiencies. Her family was well-off, perhaps due to her rather shifty businessman of a father. And the day Jacob showed up and fell in love with Rachel, everything began falling into place.
But maybe you know the rest. This love story is found in Genesis 29. And its pure innocence was soon tarnished by sin and deceit. Rachel's father, Laban, clever as he was crafty, saw Jacob's love for his second-born daughter (key fact here) and when Jacob asked to marry her, Laban agreed. But for the bride price (a cultural payment made by the groom to his father-in-law to show his love for and commitment to the bride), Laban roped Jacob into working for him for seven years first.
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. (Genesis 29:20)
Then came the wedding. After the feast, Jacob went into his bride. Fast forward to the next morning, the bride's veil was lifted, and surprise! Here was not his beloved Rachel, but her older sister, Leah - the firstborn. When Jacob stormed to Laban to ask him why Leah was given to him, Laban was all like,
"It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
So now Rachel and Jacob are Rachel, Leah, and Jacob. And soon when the children start coming, Bilhah and Zilpah (Leah and Rachel's slave girls) are given to Jacob to make more babies. So we've now got one guy, four women, and lots of kids. Furthermore, when Rachel begins struggling with infertility and Leah's womb gets opened instead, Leah sells mandrakes (a plant thought to bring fertility) to Rachel for a night to sleep with Jacob!
This is the most warped love story ever. What was once so beautiful fast spiraled out of control. Sin destroyed this love story.
And sin continues to destroy love stories today. Our culture is a sap for these stories, none of which are about true love - sexual purity, fidelity, faithfulness, and commitment in a marriage between a man and a woman - but instead about a false love. Their stories are just as warped as Jacob and Rachel's. Their stories are about emotions and feelings and men who want to marry each other and boyfriends and girlfriends who live together and teen pregnancy and divorce. They don't realize that outside of God's plan for marriage, there is no such thing as true love. What they have are the shattered remains of the Fall. Sin soaks their relationships.
God created sexuality to be a good thing within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. It is an expression of true love. Last week in Bible Study we studied Proverbs 5-7, warnings against sexual immorality and calls to stay pure and faithful within marriage. The pure young man and his bride who follow the wisdom of Proverbs have the real love story. Jacob and Rachel (and Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah) said no to God's good design and let sin bring corruption and pain. That story definitely had no happy ending.
Standing up for the biblical, beautiful vision of marriage and sexual purity is a scary thing these days. It's awkward and weird and sometimes just plain painful. But true love is too important not to defend.
Image Credit: http://www.creationswap.com/artwork/9/3/22/9952/9322_9952_5.jpg