Deception Games

The story of Jacob and his father-in-law Laban is one of the lesser-known stories in the Bible. This story, which is found in the book of Genesis talks mainly about deception between the two men who, by the way, are relatives. When Jacob tried to run away from Esau after having stolen his blessing, he was advised by his mother Rebekah to go to his uncle Laban. He was welcomed really well but it wasn’t before long that Jacob and Laban tried to get the best of each other. Jacob wanted to marry Laban’s daughter Rachel so he agreed to work for Laban for seven years.

After the time agreed upon Laban gave him Leah instead, arguing that it is not their practice to give the younger daughter until the eldest one has married. Laban finally agreed to give Rachel to Jacob but in exchange for another seven years of work. Aside from this, Laban changed Jacob’s wage ten times during all the years of his service. Jacob finally got the upper hand by effectively managing Laban’s flocks so that he became far wealthier than his father-in-law, no matter how Laban changed his wages.

Looking into the story, we find the awful truth that even people who are related by blood can be deceitful towards each other. Honesty is not something that is automatically extended by virtue of familiarity. If it is not difficult to be dishonest towards our family, how easy is it then to trick those we are not related to? Sadly, it’s a normal thing to do for some people. We hear stories of men like Bernie Madoff who scammed thousands of people without even thinking of the impact that this would have in their lives. History provides a lot of examples of people and corporations who have done the same thing. A classic example would be the Enron scandal wherein the executives of the energy company committed fraudulent acts that eventually resulted in its bankruptcy. It also ended with its investors losing up to $11 billion and made hundreds of people jobless and fearing for their future. We despair that “justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14).

The book of Deuteronomy gives us an insight into how God feels about people mentioned above: “For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly” (Deuteronomy 25:16, TNIV). God’s plan for his people is not realized when we deceive each other. He is not pleased when we try to get the best of each other. “The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him” (Proverbs 20:23). The Old Testament story of Jacob and his father-in-law should be a lesson to us of what could happen when we do this. We form distrust among ourselves and the people close to us.

The Lord, however, is a merciful God. He forgives us for our deceitful ways. He is also a righteous God. He saw how Laban tried to deceive Jacob and rebuked Laban for this. So is the reward of people who continue to be righteous for him. We should not despair that someone has been dishonest to us. Keep your eyes towards living for God and let justice be served in His hands. When we feel that deceitfulness is something that we are guilty of, let us remember that it is never too late to change our ways. God is waiting for us to turn back to Him. The gains that we may have from dealing with others dishonestly will never surpass the greatness of God’s love and saving grace.