Context No. 3577 of 4322 · Genesis

Genesis 29:13-18: in context

13When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. 14Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month. 15Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?” 16Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. 18Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”

Jacob arrives at his uncle Laban's house and is warmly welcomed, and soon he loses his heart to Rachel, the younger daughter. When Laban asks what wages he wants for his labor, Jacob makes an offer that reveals the depth of his love: I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.

Seven years of labor for the woman he loved, and, as the next verse tells, they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. There is something beautiful in this: a love willing to labor long and patiently for what it treasures, counting the cost small because the beloved is worth it. Jacob's willingness to serve seven years, and to feel them light under the weight of love, is a small picture of how love transforms labor. What we truly love, we serve gladly, and count no cost too high. It even faintly foreshadows a far greater love, the God who labors and waits for his people because he treasures them beyond all price.

Is there a love in my life so real that its labor feels light, and do I glimpse in it something of God's own patient, costly love for his people?

Sources

Genesis 29:18: "Jacob loved Rachel. He said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."
Genesis 29:20: "Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her."
Song of Solomon 8:7: "Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it."