20230917 Genesis 31:22-55 - The First Exodus

Genesis 31:22–55 ESV

22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” 25 And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? 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 say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” 31 Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now 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 female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods. 36 Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 For 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, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold 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 have changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.” 43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? 44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.” 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, 49 and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. 50 If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.” 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and 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 over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do 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 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. 55 Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

(1) The Lord Who is Present

Because he is present, He is able to prevent, he is able to protect, He is able to preserve

The Lord Prevents

God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 8: Escape from Chicanery (Genesis 31:22–55)

The statement in verse 24 (and 29) is a bit awkward to translate: ‘Watch yourself, that you not speak anything to Jacob from good to evil.’ The sense seems to refer to the whole spectrum of speech, especially threatening talk. TEV probably catches the sense—‘Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way.’ God’s threat stifles Laban’s threats,

The Lord Protects

God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 8: Escape from Chicanery (Genesis 31:22–55)

When Jacob agrees to this covenant/treaty, he swears by ‘the pachad of Isaac’ (v. 53b). The word is a very strong ‘fear’ word, often connoting dread or terror. Some may be hesitant to take this as referring to God, but in this context it makes excellent sense. Jacob’s God is ‘the Dreadful One of Isaac,’ the one who inspires and causes dread, terror, or fear. That is precisely what God does in verses 24 and 29. He is the God who intimidates Laban, who threatens him should he try to harm Jacob in any way. He so much as says: If you threaten Jacob, Laban, it’ll be the last thing you do; you harm Jacob and you’re toast. Laban has met God the Intimidator.

The Lord Preserves

God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 8: Escape from Chicanery (Genesis 31:22–55)

But sometimes God simply imposes His hard protection, His ‘Laban move,’ on behalf of His people.

I suppose we can see why He did that in Genesis 31. Here is Jacob and his relatively small clan—not necessarily sanitized or highly sanctified but all the ‘church’ there is at this point in the world. Could Laban have smashed them? Apparently so. But if Jacob and company go belly up, God’s people cease to exist in this world. So when threatened and powerless with no other help, God intervenes to protect. Even

His people will never be extinguished

God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 8: Escape from Chicanery (Genesis 31:22–55)

Even though God doesn’t usually grant such ‘hard protection’ to His people, this text is nevertheless the comfort of His suffering church, because it tells them that Yahweh will never allow them to be extinguished. It was the Waldenses, that battered and slaughtered people, who nevertheless in their 1655 confession of faith said that [we believe] ‘that this Church can not fail, nor be annihilated, but must endure forever.’

(2) The Lord Who is Powerful

Don’t miss the comparison!

Gods that can be stolen. The folly of false gods. Laban has just met the LORD in a dream. He has seen the terrible power and presence of the Lord

Jacob was afraid of Laban, BUT Laban is afraid of God!

A new nation: What is Moses saying? Can they relate? What can they learn? What can we learn?

2 Corinthians 6:16–18 ESV

16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Why did Rachel steal her father’s teraphim (household gods)? Because she could, because he valued them more than his daughters. You did this to me, I’ll do this to you...

Unclean - think of gods that can be stolen, put in a saddle, allow a woman to sit on them, and worse, to allow a woman who claims to be having her monthly cycle to put them like a sanitary napkin.

Not only does Pau seem to elude to this in 2 Cor 6 but so does Isaiah in

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

It’s not just the household gods that are impure - it’s me, it’s you. We

(3) The Lord Who is Preeminent

What is the purpose of this story? Why does the Holy Spirit through Moses give us this soap opera in the desert?

The sovereignty of God, the sinfulness of men and women

There’s perhaps something bigger in the dreams and the crude humor:

The glory of God compared to the foolishness of gods

The mockery of false gods compared to the magnificence of the true and living God

The spiritual blindness of Laban - Laban represents those who left Egypt and will make a golden calf. Laban represents us

The idol of security, the idol of popularity and praise. The idol of self esteem. We don’t want to have our feelings hurt.

Two final thoughts:

The preeminence of Jesus

The obedience of Christ: Passive and Active

The work of Christ: Satisfaction and Substitution

The power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible

The necessity of a Holy Spirit and a Holy Bible which is able to break us and strip us of everything

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This is why we read in v42, the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the FEAR of Isaac.

There are times we need the Holy Spirit to show us our foolishness

William Cowper write the hymn, There is a fountain filled with blood also wrote ‘O For a Closer Walk with God’

God’s Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25–35 Chapter 8: Escape from Chicanery (Genesis 31:22–55)

The prayer in William Cowper’s hymn (‘O For a Closer Walk with God’) should be ours:

The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’er that idol be;

Help me to tear it from thy throne,

And worship only thee.

The trouble is that we cannot usually see these idols unless the Holy Spirit unleashes some of His scathing sarcasm and exposes the helpless things. It’s a saving work when the Holy Spirit starts making fun of our idols.

The teaching of this passage can be summed up in two statements: (1) God will certainly preserve His people in this world—a word of comfort; and (2) ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols’ (1 John 5:21)—a word of correction.

The dearest idol I have known, Whate’er that idol be; Help me to tear it from thy throne, And worship only thee.

May the God who will preserve His people in this world also protect you from the idols of this world. Amen