Q. Why have the Commandments if lying and cheating are allowed to achieve goals that are selfish in nature to begin with, especially toward one’s own family, as Jacob did to his father and brother? To me, this justification tells others, if they are sure they are righteous in their own mind, no holds are barred to obtain their objectives.
Personally I do not find that the story of Jacob shows that lying and cheating are allowed. One important principle of biblical interpretation is that “narrative is not necessarily normative.” If a biblical author tells a story without specifically saying “that was wrong,” that does not mean that the actions are right. Readers of the Bible are supposed to consider all that happens in a story in order to draw conclusions about whether what the people did was right or wrong.
One thing that we see over and over again in the the biblical narratives is people reaping what they have sown, that is, being treated in the way they have treated others. Sometimes this is positive. Ruth asks Boaz why he is helping her, a foreigner, and he replies, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband.” At other times this is negative. One example I came across recently was how King Asa of Judah turned against the Lord and started worshiping foreign gods. When the prophet Hanani challenged him about this, Asa put Hanani in prison, and specifically in the stocks, that is, with restraints around his feet. The biblical author then relates how “Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet” that became so severe he died from it. The author does not say specifically, “It was wrong for Asa to put Hanani in prison with his feet in the stocks, and he got exactly what he deserved for doing that.” Readers are supposed to connect the dots.
The case of Jacob is similar. He passed himself off as his brother Esau to get his father’s blessing. But after that, he had to flee for his life, and he went to a distant country to stay with his relative Laban. Jacob fell in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel, and he agreed to work for Laban for seven years as the “bride price” for her. (In this culture, the family of the man paid a bride price to the family of the woman to compensate them for the loss of her labor. Jacob had no money, so he paid the price in labor.) But on the night of the wedding, Laban passed off Leah, his other daughter, as Rachel, and Jacob had to work for him for another seven years to get Rachel. Readers see that the cheater was cheated. They are meant to conclude that what Jacob did to Esau was no better than what Laban did to Jacob.
After Jacob had worked for Laban for those fourteen years, Laban asked him to stay on and work for him in exchange for some of the sheep and goats that would be born in his flocks. That way Jacob could start building some flocks of his own and finally get established. They agreed that sheep and goats that were born with certain markings would belong to Jacob. We read about how Jacob contrived to get the healthiest sheep and goats to bear young with those markings. It seems that once again he is cheating a family member. However, we find out later that Laban, for his part, kept changing the deal (Jacob was a foreigner and so Laban had all the power in the relationship) so that sheep and goats with different markings would belong to Jacob. Once again, the cheater is cheated.
Jacob ultimately tells Leah and Rachel that the only reason he came away with any flocks is that God helped him: “You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young.” Jacob similarly tells Laban, “I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands.”
So when Jacob is blessed in the end, it’s not because he succeeded in cheating Laban. It seems that Laban was keeping one step ahead of him the whole time. Instead, God blessed Jacob because of his own sovereign purposes, to which Jacob alludes when he mentions Abraham and Isaac, whom God chose and to whom he made covenant promises.
When we read the biblical stories on their own terms, we recognize how they are conveying their moral teaching. Your question provides an excellent warning that we should not go by what appears to be happening on the surface of these stories. Instead, we should appreciate the dynamic that operates on a deeper level.
