My elementary school-aged nephew poorly masked his glee when he dealt the Uno cards between the two of us. Since he’d left the room to prepare in private, I knew I faced a stacked deck, and I enjoyed the fun of the deception. After allowing him to celebrate his crushing victory, I insisted on a re-shuffle for round two. Now he faced a merciless, sharp-eyed Uno veteran.

Jacob, fresh off stealing his brother’s birthright by deceiving their father, fled to the lair of a master deceiver. Uncle Laban hooked Jacob with a promise to marry his daughter Rachel. On the wedding night, with Jacob three sheets to the wind, Laban switched Rachel for her sister Leah. Jacob, incredulous, exclaimed to Laban, Why have you deceived me?

Call it karma, or reaping what you sow, but Jacob the deceiver got taken to school. Laban played the game perfectly. Jacob experienced a master at work, now realizing how his brother and father must have felt.

Jacob might have known better, but love is blind, and his mother was back home. Rachel (his mother and Laban’s sister), concocted the plan to steal the birthright, and Laban fixed the marriages. Both excellent schemers.

What kind of family upbringing did Laban and Rachel experience? I wouldn’t want to play cards for money in their house.

There’s a saying I’ve heard about certain people—you can only trust them as far as you can throw them.

Seems appropriate for this family.

Genesis 29 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Adam Mills