Genesis 29:1-30:24

What we will find in Genesis 29 is that, even in the middle of our mess, God is still moving his mission forward.

Outline

First, A new direction but the same providence (29:1-19)
- God provides a new foundation (29:1-8)
- God provides a new family (29:9-12)
- God provides a new future (29:13-19)
Second, A new deception but the same pattern (29:20-30)
- We see a new deception set by the same pattern (29:20-25a)
- We see a new deception “solved” by the same pattern (29:25b-30)
Third, new descendants but the same promise (29:31-30:24)
- God opens Leah’s womb before he opens her heart to the promise (29:31-35)
- Desperation closes Rachel’s heart and opens the womb of two servants (30:1-13)
- Leah closes her heart again before God opens Rachel’s womb (30:14-24)

This passage shows the head of the covenant people of God find a bride at a well. This points forward to Jesus, the son of Jacob, with the woman at the well in John 4. Jacob offers living water to the animals that will sustain them for a moment, but Jesus tells the woman he offers living water to the spiritually thirsty that will last for eternity. Jacob came to the well after encountering the presence of God, but Jesus comes to the well to demonstrate that he is the presence of God.
From unlovable Leah comes Levi whose line would become the priests of Israel. From undesirable Leah comes Judah whose line would become the kings of Israel that will ultimately bring about the promised messiah, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Leah is a new kind of Eve, though she will never see it.
The significance of Jesus coming from unlovable Leah is not just based on the fact that he comes from someone like her but also that he comes for people like her. In a spiritual sense all of us outside of Christ are as undesirable as Leah. When God came to earth in Jesus Christ, he was the son of Leah. He became the man nobody wanted. He was born in a manger. He had no beauty that we should desire him. He came to his own and his own received him not. And at the end, nobody wanted him. Everybody abandoned him. Who Jesus comes from reflects how Jesus came for us, he comes for the unlovable.

In both the story of Jacob at the well and Jesus at the well is that God meets us in our mess. Jacob is a mess, a deceiver who ends up with multiple wives. The samaritan woman is a mess, a deceiver who ends up with multiple husbands. Whatever high, low; joy, sorrow; hangup or hardship; God meets us at the well of our hearts and walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death.
In marriage, we can be tempted to treat a spouse like an adversary to defeat rather than an ally to defend. This passage and our community is full of messy marriages because Satan hates marriage because it is a reminder of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that God sent his son to rescue a bride for himself.
For those struggling with infertility, this passage shows us that we should trust God in those seasons of longing because he has the power to open and close the womb. It also shows the danger that can come with desperation—it breeds jealousy toward others and strife toward one another.