OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis 29:15-30 is a story of reversals, of how the trickster Jacob is tricked by Laban, while Psalm 105 is a song of praise that celebrates God's deeds as evidence of the fulfilled promises that are made in the covenant with Jacob's children.

Genesis 29:15-30 - "Whom Is God Watching?"
Setting.  The third reading from the Jacob cycle locates Jacob in Haran with Rebekah's kinsman Laban. God, however, is absent in this story. There are neither divine speeches as in the first story in  Genesis 25:19-34, nor any divine promises of salvation through a dream theophany as in  Genesis 28:10-22. Instead,  Genesis 29:15-30 is a story that looks closely at the action of the two central characters, Jacob and Laban, and the consequences of their actions. The absence of God raises a cen…