Keith Battle - The Real Housewives of Jacob

Remain standing. I’m giving this message today: The Real Housewives of Jacob. I can’t give it a city; I can’t call it of Dubai, Atlanta, Potomac, or Beverly Hills. I can’t give it Shechem or Damascus because they move too much. So I got to call this The Real Housewives of Jacob. Even though he has four housewives, I want to focus on Leah and Rachel and what we can learn from their lives and apply to our lives, regardless of our gender. Are y’all with me? The Real Housewives of Jacob. You may be seated. Zion, this right here is a mess, and there’s so much to this story. I’m going to leave more on the table than I will have time to give you, but what I share with you I pray will be pertinent to your spiritual journey. I think it’s best to start like this. I told you in a recent message that Jacob was a man on the run, and the reason why Jacob was on the run was because of how dirty he did his brother. What Jacob did to Esau was so messed up that Esau said, «I’m going to kill you.» You know you’re in bad shape when one of your siblings says, «No, I’m going to kill you. I’m just going to kill you.» So his mother, Jacob’s mother, whose name was Rebecca, who was in on the plot against her own son Esau, Jacob’s brother, told Jacob, «I want you to go live with my brother Laban and work for him. While you’re living with him and working for him, you can get out of dodge.» I think we used to call that «getting out of dodge.» So he goes to Laban’s house and starts working for Laban. While he’s working for Laban, he finds out that Laban is a representation of a problem in their family. Their family was full of slickeration, trickeration, and deceit. It was on another level. They went back and forth being dishonorable; they could say anything to each other, and it didn’t mean anything. They could shake hands on something and do the exact opposite, just out of control. Now, while he’s working for Laban, he falls in love with his cousin Rachel. He goes to Laban, his uncle, and says, «I want to marry your daughter Rachel.» Now, it’s kind of weird to go ask your uncle if you can marry your cousin, but that’s the kind of people we’re dealing with right here. But then her father, Laban, says to him, «You can have her as a wife, but you got to work for me for seven years.» So as wild as it is to want to marry your cousin, how gangster is it that someone is going to make you work seven years to marry their child? That ain’t even precedent! Nevertheless, Jacob works for seven years. He’s so in love with Rachel that the seven years fly by; it’s like it’s nothing. At the end of the seven years, he comes back to Laban and says, «I’ve worked these seven years; it’s time to pay up.» So Laban says, «Bet! It’s on; let’s do it.» He throws the wedding, invites his whole neighborhood to the celebration, and it goes on until nighttime. That night, when it is time for Jacob to consummate his marriage with Rachel, Laban escorts Leah to his tent. It is dark, and Jacob cannot tell that it is not Rachel. Laban tricks him by giving him his older daughter, and he consummates; he has an intimate relationship with Leah and doesn’t know it’s not Rachel until the next morning when he wakes up and realizes he’s been betrayed. By the way, a lot of us wake up to something—never mind. That ain’t—that’s not right. You don’t have to do that, Pastor, because I came to church with him too. Now, I’m just saying. Jacob was so mad he went to Laban and said, «Why’d you trick me like that?» Laban said, «Man, you know I can’t marry my young daughter off until I marry her older one off. You know that.» Wish he was lying—that ain’t a policy! He said, «Man, chill, bro! You’re going to have Rachel too. Just wait until the end of the week. I’m going to give you Rachel too, but you have to work another seven years.» So now Jacob has two wives: one of them he wanted; the other one he was stuck with and was forced on him. And that’s where we enter this story. Now, let’s first talk about Rachel; let’s talk about Leah. Leah is a woman who is married to someone who doesn’t want her. She never had a wedding ceremony of her own; she was never courted by a man; she was never proposed to. She never had this person go to her father and say, «May I have your daughter’s hand in marriage?» She never got to sit down with a wedding planner and plan a wedding, picking her colors, choosing her bridesmaids, and having her girlfriends hang out with her. I don’t know why they have so many events before the event. She never had a photo shoot with a hashtag saying, «Leaning them on the way.» She didn’t get any of that. She didn’t get to pick the venue for the reception or the menu for the food. She didn’t get to write down a guest list. She didn’t get to wear and be fitted for a gown. She didn’t get to be escorted down the aisle by her father, walking towards a man who wanted her to be his.