From January 14, One Year Bible

Genesis 31:14~16

“Rachel and Leah responded, 'That's fine with us! We won't inherit any of our father's wealth anyway. He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us. All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you'.”

This is Friday's reading. I thought and thought about this reading and finally settled on this story. Here is a little bit of background. Jacob, of course had traveled to find a wife and worked for seven years for Rachel. Her father, Laban tricked Jacob and gave him Leah, his older daughter but then offered to give him Rachel, the one Jacob really loved and wanted, for seven more years of work. Many things that occurred in the next years tell us that this family was more than a little dysfunctional...at least by our 2011 understanding of God's desires for His children. Many years have passed and Jacob has many children by Rachel, Leah and at least two slave women. Over these years, Laban, Rachel and Leah's father had conspired to take advantage of his son-in-law over and over. We find Jacob now with a desire to return to his homeland...remember, God had promised him that he would inherit the land and have many offspring. He approaches Rachel and Leah with this idea. And that brings us to this scripture passage in Genesis 31.

As I read their response to Jacob, I was reminded of some things we occasionally hear from time to time: “To take this item from my employer is OK. After all, I work hard and he doesn't pay me what I'm worth.” Another one I have heard goes something like this: “I'm going to leave work now...you punch me out when you leave and tomorrow, you can leave early and I'll punch you out. After all, we we work hard and the boss will never know.” Shoplifters sometimes use the excuse, “These prices are way to high! To take one item from this store will never be missed. They can make it up on the sale of another item, and besides, I spend a lot of money here every week.”

Right is right and wrong is wrong! If we cheat to “get even”, we are just as wrong as the one who “did us wrong” in the first place. We must examine our motives and lay them alongside what God desires for us. We say it like this: “W-W-J-D ~ What Would Jesus Do?”