Local Customs Conquer
The younger may have been preferred to the elder but now by a cruel reversal of fortune the deceiver is deceived and local tradition puts the newcomer in his place. Tensions of an alien environment are matched by the no less threatening and problematic emergence of new tensions within the family, as 'beware of local customs' gives place to 'beware of the wider family'.
Laban and his sister, Rebekah, obviously share the same genes. They are two peas out of one pod and Laban too is not above a bit of trickery. Laban is a calculating character with his own agenda. Even an uncle cannot always be trusted.
Close living, similar communications and negotiations, even when speaking the same language and recognising ‘the other’ as someone you can do business with, are no guarantee of protection against loss or hurt. In any family the waters may ripple gently over the stones but when things get tough and the currents run deep, what is going on may not always be what you thought or expected.
Jacob literally has a rude awakening when suddenly (v 25) he wakes up to find himself back in that world where old traditions, similar to, but not necessarily the same as, those he grew up with, have never gone away. In seven years you might have expected him to notice, but apparently not. So having fled from the old, come to terms with the same God in a new place (ie an unknown secularism as against a known religion) he suddenly realises that there is still a world where the past is ever present. Much he thought dead still lives, and he is not sure he likes it.
At the same time the story demonstrates his resilience. He who could accept the first change and adapt believes he can also come to terms with the second. God is still there, and rather than rebel he must make his protests and quietly accept what is before him which (interestingly enough) not only enables him to have what he wanted in the first place (Rachel) but also the discovery that first love is still the best.
