Genesis 31
Notes
Transcript
Background
Last week we saw Jacob’s wives Rachel and Leah contending with each other for bearing children. They even gave Jacob their maids so that they might bear children on their behalf. We also saw Jacob interact with Laban, committing to work so that he might obtain his own flock. Jacob became prosperous and wealthy.
1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.”
2 Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field,
5 and said to them, “I see your father’s attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me.
6 “You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
7 “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.
8 “If he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped.
9 “Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
10 “And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled.
11 “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
12 “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
13 ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ”
Jacob had previously agreed to stay with Laban for 14 years to labor for his wives, Leah and Rachel. When it was time for him to leave, Laban asked him to stay further on.
Laban prospered because of Jacob tending his flock.
His motivation was, and always has been, greed.
Recall that when Jacob and Laban agreed upon the terms that would keep Jacob working for him, he sent away all that would belong to Jacob to his sons.
33 “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”
34 Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.”
35 So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.
36 And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
In spite of Laban’s treachery, God blessed Jacob at Laban’s expense.
We now see that Laban and his sons are no longer friendly with Jacob because of this.
God once again speaks to Jacob, telling him it’s time to go home.
He also promises that He will be with Jacob.
Jacob calls a meeting a meeting with his wives out amongst the flock, away from the tents and listening ears.
He details his years of service and the dishonest treatment he’s received.
Note what he says he was told by an angel of God:
11 “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
12 “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
God’s blessing of Jacob is giving justice for his mistreatment.
God sees our circumstances and knows our sufferings.
God sees our circumstances and knows our sufferings.
God used this as an opportunity to give blessing to Jacob, in a similar way that he blessed his father and grandfather in the lands in which they were sojourning.
God is also showing His faithfulness to fulfill what He first promised to Jacob.
15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
This is showing the fulfillment of the vow that Jacob made as well.
21 and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.
Jacob takes the opportunity to retell this promise to his wives as a motivation to leave their father’s house.
14 Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?
15 “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price.
16 “Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”
17 Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels;
18 and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
Notice the answer that Jacob’s wives give him: their allegiance lies with Jacob, not because of their loyalty to him, but because of wealth.
They also didn’t appreciate the way their father treated them.
It should be noted, Rachel never received a wedding feast for her marriage, nor were any bridal gifts ever mentioned.
So Jacob gathered all he had and prepared to depart.
19 When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.
20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,
23 then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
Up to this point, there was nothing unethical about what was being discussed. But in typical fashion, Jacob and his wives embark on their journey with deception and trickery.
They spring their plan when Laban is occupied with his flock.
Rachel steals her father’s household idols, which would have been figurines that were used for worship practices. This again shows the paganism of the family.
While Rachel was stealing idols, Jacob “stole the heart” (deceived) of Laban by leaving without disclosing it to his host.
Hospitality was a big deal back then, and this would have been a no-no even if there were no other issues.
Jacob has a habit of running from his problems as a result of his deceptions.
Jacob fled with a vast amount of wealth, which would have been a major undertaking.
He had to ford a river with all of his flocks and herds.
This now begins a series of rather tense moments in the storyline. Laban assembled his kinsmen, similarly to Abraham in pursuit of rescuing Lot:
14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
In spite of Jacob’s massive wealth and flocks, it still took Laban a week to catch up.
24 God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27 “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre;
28 and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.
29 “It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’
30 “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?”
In a similar manner to how God protected Abraham, He gave Laban a dream, much like Abimelech, in order to protect and preserve the chosen lineage.
Laban caught up with Jacob and confronted him.
This interaction is quite interesting, as Laban is rather dramatic in his dealings with Jacob.
He acts as though Jacob was a marauding bandit stealing away his daughters, when they clearly believed that their best interests lied with their husband.
He also acts as though he would’ve freely sent Jacob off if he had said something, which was the direct opposite reaction he had last time.
He uses the word “steal” twice here to describe what Jacob did, when in fact all that Jacob had was earned by him as wages.
His chiding and accusation of foolishness was disrespectful. He even threatens him unnecessarily.
He then recognized that Jacob wanted to return home, but then posed a curious question to Jacob: why steal the idols?
31 Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.
32 “The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our kinsmen point out what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them.
35 She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household idols.
Jacob honestly answers the first question, but addresses the second with zeal and ignorance. If he had known his favored wife Rachel had taken them, he never would’ve risked her life.
This shows that Rachel, like Rebekah, was hiding things from her husband.
She also lacked the faith in God that Jacob had, otherwise she would have no need for the idols.
Laban searched thoroughly for his belongings but found nothing.
Rachel’s ruse was quite devious, as women in those days did not during their time of the month other than recline and bleed.
We know from the Law later on that touching a woman during this time would be considered unclean.
36 Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?
37 “Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.
38 “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.
39 “That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 “Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41 “These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.
42 “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night.”
When Jacob saw that Laban’s accusation turned up empty, his anger overtook him. Time and time again Laban had been dishonest, conniving and false with him, and this last accusation, that Jacob knew wasn’t true (when it actually was), turned up empty, he let him have it.
He called out his false accusation in front of their kinsmen, as witnesses to his poor treatment.
We see here now that Jacob had served an additional 6 years after working for his wives, for a total of 20 years.
This would make Jacob about 96 years old at this time.
He detailed the care and perseverance with which he worked, as well as the difficult working conditions he endured because of Laban’s greed.
He alluded to the dream that Laban had by declaring that God was judging between them on Jacob’s behalf.
He also alluded to the “fear of Isaac,” which in the context refers to God.
43 Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?
44 “So now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46 Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47 Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed,
49 and Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.
50 “If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
51 Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me.
52 “This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53 “The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.
55 Early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
Laban’s final response seems ridiculous to us given all that has taken place, and he sounds like a spoiled child.
Claiming that all Jacob possessed was his, when Jacob just finished declaring how hard he had worked to earn what he had.
Laban’s disrespect is the last gasp of his greed and jealousy, because ultimately he has come up empty-handed, and cannot justify any further action.
All he can do now is attempt to save face by entering into a covenant with Jacob, which for the first time treats him as an equal.
Jacob wastes no time is setting up his memorial stone, setting it as a pillar just as he had done at Bethel.
Both Laban and Jacob called this place the equivalent of “witness heap” in their tongues, Aramaic and Hebrew.
“Galeed” and “Gilead” may in fact be the same name, according to Hebrew spelling.
It was also named Mizpah, which can be translated “watchtower.” His newfound concern for his daughters required God’s watching over Jacob.
The irony in Laban’s implication is that Jacob had never wronged him in the narrative, but rather vice versa was true.
Though it may seem that Laban is familiar with Jacob’s God, he is in fact only acquainted through Jacob’s grandfather.
2 Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
A covenant is cut and they all eat together, in an eerie parallel to Rebekah’s retrieval.
54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.”
55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the girl stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.”
This interaction serves as a reminder and perhaps shows the irony of Laban’s relationship with Jacob.
Jacob’s suffering at the hands of Laban was at an end. All along the way, God was with him and blessed him and brought him through the trials better off than he began.
He arrived alone and empty-handed, and left with wives, children, and much wealth.
God uses hardship to bring about blessing.
God uses hardship to bring about blessing.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
God sees our circumstances and knows our sufferings.
God uses hardship to bring about blessing.
Next week, we will continue with the story of Jacob.