阅读经文 

雅各逃往哈兰名义上的是为了找一个妻子，（参创 28:2）而他没过多久就找到了爱情。

这里描述的雅各的一夫多妻和其他一些婚姻习俗对今天许多人来说都很陌生，但在雅各的时代却很平常。这些被收录在《圣经》里并不意味着神赞同它们，而仅仅意味着神能透过当时的文化现实救赎人心。

在雅各的新婚之夜，曾经骗人的他被人欺骗了。第二天早上他才发现嫁给他的是利亚，而不是拉结。拉班耍了一个卑鄙的把戏，这不仅会伤害雅各，也会伤害他的女儿们。但雅各的偏爱也带来了不良后果，为日后家庭中长期的怨恨和苦毒埋下了种子。

人很容易看到他人的过错。雅各很快就指出拉班的错。但雅各似乎忽略了一个事实，就在不久前，他对自己的亲生父亲和哥哥犯了同样的罪。

我们要为自己的恶行负责，我们可能比想像中更像雅各。别人得罪我们时，我们会被激怒。但对于自己的错误，我们很快就会为之辩护。感恩的是，神不断地在雅各身上工作——祂也会不断在我们心里工作。

Jacob's stated purpose in fleeing to Harran was to find a wife (Genesis 28:2), and it did not take him long to fall in love. Jacob's polygamy and some other marriage customs described here may be foreign to many of us today, but they were not unusual in Jacob's day. The fact that they are included in the Bible does not mean God approves of them; it simply means that God can work to redeem people's hearts even through existing cultural realities.

On the night of his wedding, Jacob the deceiver is himself deceived. In the morning he finds that he is married to Leah instead of Rachel. Laban has played a nasty trick, and it will hurt his daughters as well as Jacob. But Jacob's favoritism will also take a toll, setting the stage for resentment and bitterness that will plague his family for a long time.

It is easy to see the wrong in others. Jacob is quick to name Laban's fault. But Jacob seems to miss the fact that only a short time earlier, he had committed a similar sin against his own father and brother.

We are responsible for the sinful ways we act, and we are more like Jacob than we might like to think. We get irritated when others sin against us, but we are quick to justify our own wrongdoing. Thankfully, God kept working on Jacob—and he keeps working on our hearts too.