It’s not often you get to see a Bible story play out in real life. But one just did!
I just read a story about a wedding in Saudi Arabia that was arranged by the bride and groom’s parents. They had never laid eyes on each other until after the ceremony.
When the bride lifted her veil, the groom said:
You are not the one I had imagined. I am sorry, but I divorce you.
Pretty crazy, right?!?
There’s a story in the Bible that is just like this. It’s the story of Jacob wanting to marry Rachel but being surprised when he was stuck with Leah.
So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.” So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast. That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave. When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”
The difference here is that Jacob does the honorable thing to his wife and does not divorce her, even though he was tricked into marrying her. The Saudi husband had no such notions of honor and said, “I’m outta here!”
There is something to be said about people who stick to our word and follow through with our obligations. Our world is more and more becoming a “throw-away” world where we discard the things that displease us no matter what the consequences. Our focus is more on what makes us happy rather than doing the right thing.
I hope you never get tricked into marrying the wrong person. Chances are you’ll never find yourself in this specific situation.
Still – wherever you find yourself – don’t give in to the throw-away culture. Be a person of honor. Do what you say you’re going to do.
Do the right thing, even if it’s not the thing you wanted to do.
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Chris Linzey 
Reblogged this on LIGHTOFCOUNTRY.
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Oh, no doubt. So take Rachel and then scram — with her, without Leah!
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I do not believe a person who is tricked into marrying the wrong person has an obligation to stay in that arrangement. I understand the culture Jacob was in. But it seems that much of the problems in our world (and in Jacob’s life in particular) flowed from deceit and the dysfunction that flows from it. Jake should have said to Laban, “You’re a dirty rotten scoundrel and a liar! I will have nothing to do with you or this other daughter of yours! I am outta here!”
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But the heart wants what the heart wants, and his wanted Rachel – so he stayed 😀
I think it’s possible their culture’s honor/shame codes would have also played into his behavior.
Narratively speaking, Laban’s behavior sets the stage for Jacob’s own trickery and intelligence. And had Jacob not been a trickster himself, he never would have been set up financially to return home with herds and flocks and servants.
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