29 My Monologues with Jacob and Rachel, the First Valentine Pair in the Bible (Gen 29)

29 My Monologues with Jacob Rachel,  the First Valentine Pair of the Bible (Gen 29)

Dear Jacob and Rachel, the First Valentine Pair of the Bible,

Oh, Dear Jacob, the Enamored,

The Village Virgin must have been a knock out, right, Jacob?

No wonder, your Rachel is depicted as, "beautiful of form and face."

Or else, it wouldn't have been a love at first sight for you, right, Jacob?

Your Rachel, the Shepherdess, must have been a beauty to behold, wasn't she?

You were swept off your feet by the very first sight of her, weren't you?

Usually it is the energetic young men who tend the sheep.They take them out in the morning for grazing, they watch them, water them, and lead them back home in the evening. It was very rare in your culture for a young maiden to do the shepherding, that too single handed, right?

Your Rachel seems to be one of the very few shepherdess in the whole of the Bible, isn't she?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Besides being very captivatingly beautiful and irresistibly attractive, your Rachel must have been a very outgoing, outspoken, and a very courageous village girl who daringly donned the role of a smart shepherdess, right? As per the narratives there were other shepherds in the vicinity tending their sheep.Yet your Rachel seemed to be the one and only shepherdess among them. Despite being the only girl around, your Rachel neither felt intimidated by the presence of those males, nor was she harassed by them. It seemed to have bothered her little to be the lone female around.

As you know, shepherding being a rough and tough job requiring a strong physique which she must have had, right?

This is exactly what you saw as Rachel was guiding her father's sheep towards the well to water them and then take them back to the pen for the night.

Oh, Dear Jacob, the enamored,

Your Rachel had the beauty, the brain, as well as the brawn, didn't  she?

She sure was a refreshing sight for your travel tired eyes, right?

Your eyes must have feasted on her,right?

When her vibrant eyes met with your eager eyes, they fell in love, right?

The silent yet very penetrating optical communion between the two pairs of your eyes did pave the way for a deeper relationship, don't you think so?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

You always gave the impression of being a Mamma's boy with chubby cheeks. Unlike, your twin brother, Esau the hunter, you were never known for your muscular strength. Yet astonishingly, you had the physical strength, the mental courage, and an amorous heart which instantly led you to roll away the huge stone covering the mouth of the well. Unsolicited you helped her to water the sheep! Very thoughtful and caring you were!

This is the first recorded incident which narrates your hitherto unseen altruistic attitude, right?

Oh, boy, you really got changed, haven't you?

In the Narratives you were hardly seen doing any hard work, except hanging around your Mom, right?

By rolling away the stone from the mouth of the well,  you were like the "The Valiant Knight", weren't you?

You did impress her! Didn't you?

And Rachel didn't resist when you gave her your first kiss, right?

She was receptive and cooperative, I guess!

So your attraction was mutual, wasn't it?

Wasn't it your first ever passionate kiss you had with Rachel, the irresistibly attractive shepherdess?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Oh, boy!  

Love at first sight, it was! right?

Or, was it an instant infatuation? Whatever!

One thing is certain, it was the beginning of a relationship which would lead you both to be wedded as husband and wife and eventually becoming soul mates and parents, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

As is narrated, you wept aloud as you kissed the girl of your liking.

Was it a cry of joy for having found Rachel, your cousin?

Was it a cry of unbelievable surprise as you met with the prospective bride?

Don't you remember, your aging and doting father with severely impaired vision had packing you off on this trip to find a prospective bride for you from the family of Laban, your maternal uncle?

Finally you have reached safely the land of Laban, your uncle.

So it was a cry of happiness, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Was it also cry of gratitude to your God whom you had encountered on the very first night of your long drawn sojourn?

Remember, your God had promised you to protect you!

Partly, it must have been tears of thanksgiving as well, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Was it also, partly, a cry of a guilty heart for having cheated your twin brother and your own father?

Oh, love smitten Jacob,

You must have been on the road or rather on the run for four plus weeks or so, right? You had to cover a distance of about Seven hundred kilometers or around Four hundred miles from Beersheva in the South to Haran in the North.

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Don't you remember the circumstances which, so to say, forced to flee from the murderous, vengeful wrath of Esau, your twin brother?

Was it not the ingenious idea of your smart and shrewd mother to pack you off to a far away place of safety?

Your aging, ailing, blind father with an aching heart, was presented with the apparent reason of finding a prospective bride for you. Yet again the the good old helpless Isaac was treacherously treated by you and your Mum, right?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Through the cunning and calculated exploitation of the weakness of your twin brother, Esau, you succeeded in securing the Birthright from him,didn't you?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

In collusion with your conniving mother and through treacherous means you cheated your aging father and secured from him the Ritualistic Final Blessing meant for the eldest, didn't you?

Having pocketed both the Birthright, as well as the Final Blessing, you felt invincible and thought you had the whole wide world under your feet, didn't you?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Then came the bolt from the blue!

The wildest fury of your twin brother Esau was unleashed! Holding on to your life, you had to run away, never knowing of your return, if at all there would be one, right?

Finally, four weeks passed and about four hundred miles bypassed, there you are at the well, with a pretty girl present right before your roving eyes!

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Don't you think you are a go-getter?

You wanted the Birthright, didn't you?

The go-getter in you got it, didn't he?

You wanted the Final Blessing, didn't you?

The go-getter in you got it, didn't he?

You wanted to have Rachel, didn't you?

The go-getter in you got her too, didn't he?

Oh, Jacob, the enamored,

Remember, the day you left your home, the place where you had been spending all your life, ever since you were born?

Remember, the first sunset and the subsequent night without your mother and her supportive and even her overbearing presence?

Remember, the loneliness and the abandonment you felt during the four weeks of long and arduous desert days of your journey?

Remember, the first night in the magnificent desolation of the desert? As you slept came the Lord,

the Great Go-getter?

Oh,  Jacob, the enamored,

Your God, the Great Go-getter got you

for good! Didn't He?

Wasn't it your first ever God Experience, right?

The God Experience sets you in top gear on your Pilgrimage of  personal growth, didn't it?

To begin with, He replaced the feminine presence of your mighty mother with an equally tough and tenuous feminine presence of your Rachel, right?

Then, the Great Go-getter let Laban, your uncle do the role of a  tough trainer. He agrees for seven years of hard labour in return for the hand of Rachel whom you loved so passionately.

Seven years seems to be one of  the longest dating and courtship, right, Jacob?

But for you, seven years, "seemed like only few days," because of your "love for her", right?

Oh, boy, seven long years of dating, waiting and courtship!

You both must have worked together, tended the sheep together,

took them out together,

and brought them back together, right?

You both must have sat several times by the very well side where you had met for the first time,right?

You must shared your dreams together.

You must have

Gone for Walks together,

Eate together,

Laughed together,

Had friendly fights together, right?

In hindsight, don't you think the seven years of courtship and dating and waiting were in many ways

the best of times in your life?

    

At the end of seven years, long awaited day came, your wedding with Rachel.

Totally shocking, you were administered a very similar bitter dose of the very same pill of deception you administered to your brother and father, don't you remember, Jacob?

Leah, instead of Rachel in the bridal bed!

The deceiver gets deceived!

Yet your undying love for your Rachel didn't get diminished!

Though you had children with Leah, your heart was always with your much loved Rachel, right?

Oh, the brave and beautiful Rachel,

Though the cultural constraints of your time had placed limitations on you as a lover, you did love your Jacob very deeply, didn't you?

Surely, the Leah fiasco must have been very painful indeed!

Had felt it coming?

Yet you were able to adjust with realities of life, right?

Sure, it was a tension filled married life.

You felt neglected by Jacob especially when you couldn't bear children, right?

You might have felt being punished by God.

You felt threatened by Leah, your sister, didn't you?

You were very possessive of Jacob.

You had fights with him as well as with you sister.

The birth of Joseph, your first born must have been the best moment in your married life as you longed to be a mother, right?

Then came your second son.

It was a welcome and a goodbye!

As you ushered in Benjamin, your  second son, you said goodbye!

Leaving your Jacob heartbroken!

And your sons orphaned!

Your Jacob kept your memory alive and found solace by transferring his love for you to your sons Joseph and Benjamin!

Oh, dear Jacob and Rachel,

Though you were together only for twenty one years or so you have had very healthy and high voltage courtship and dating lasting for seven long years, right?

You must have had tens of thousands of memories of these seven years and must have enjoyed reminiscing them over and over,right?

Oh, dear Jacob and Rachel,

I join you both to thank the Lord, our God for the gift of the romantic love which He had instilled and ignited in you!

May all the young lovers all over the world find happiness and fulfilment in their relationships.

May their lives and relationships bring glory to Him and gladness to them!

May all the couples have a

Happy  Valentine Day!

May they cherish their love for one another!

May their relationship flourish!

Oh, God of love and relationships,

I thank you for the gift of the feminine love I have experienced all through my life.

I am immensely grateful to you for the maternal love I enjoyed however brief it might had been.

As with Rachel and Benjamin, it was a Hello and a Goodbye for my mother and myself!

I am grateful for the love I have been experiencing from my sister, from my female cousins, classmates, friends and colleagues!

Lord, I thank you for the female adulations, friendships, infatuation, romances of my younger growing  years and for the more mature friendships and for the healthy soulmate relationships later in my life as a priest and pastor.

Lord I thank you for gifting me with various degrees of healthy female friendships and for their enduring love without which I wouldn't be what I am today.

Bless them, Lord!

May they be

happy,

healthy, and

be blessed

here and hereafter!

Amen

JoAchen

Saturday, 14th February, 2015

joachenmonologues@gmail.com

Facebook:
My Monologues
Blog :
www.my-monologoues.blogspot.in

PS
Dear Reader,
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. They are a part of my, 'Prodigal Priest's' journaling on my Pilgrimage to the Home of our Heavenly Father. You are welcome to share them.
Dear Reader, I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours.

I plan on uploading a Reflection each on 7th, 14th, 21st, and on the 28th of every month. If you do not want get these Reflections via email, please send a note and your email id will be deleted from the mailing list.

Thank you!

My  Lord and My God!