The Web of Deceit
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English Service 1 February 2015 144Views 0 0Comments Rev. Ross Fraser
1 February 2015 Sunday Morning Service
OT Genesis 29 : 1 – 30
NT Matthew 19 : 1 – 11
29:1 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples.
29:2 There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large.
29:3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
29:4 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We're from Haran," they replied.
29:5 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?" "Yes, we know him," they answered.
29:6 Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."
29:7 "Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture."
29:8 "We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep."
29:9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
29:10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep.
29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
29:12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
29:13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things.
29:14 Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,
29:15 Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."
29:16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
29:17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.
29:18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
29:19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me."
29:20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
29:21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
29:22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.
29:23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.
29:24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
29:25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"
29:26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
29:27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
29:28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29:29 Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.
29:30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
19:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.
19:2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
19:3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
19:4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'
19:5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?
19:6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
19:7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
19:8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
19:9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
19:10 The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."
19:11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.