We saw a couple of days ago how Jacob (aided by his mother) deceived Isaac and cheated Esau out of a blessing. In Genesis 29 and 30, we see Jacob up against the master-cheater, his Uncle Laban. What goes around comes around…

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7.12, NIV)

Jacob’s mission, like the servant’s in Genesis 24, was to get a wife. Like the servant, he meets Rachel at a well, and agrees to work for Laban for seven years for Rachel:

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” (Genesis 29.20 – 25, ESV)

Oops. The deceiver is deceived. And deceptions and cheating between these two go on. Stay tuned.

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another…Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4.25, 28, NKJV)