Genesis 31.25-31-Jacob's Fear of Laban
Sunday July 23, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 31:25-31-Jacob’s Fear of Laban
Lesson # 183
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 31:1.
Last Sunday we noted Genesis 31:1-2 where Jacob hears of Laban’s sons’ antagonism towards him and also sees a change of attitude by Laban towards him.
Also, on Sunday we noted Genesis 31:3 where the Lord commands Jacob to return home and promises him protection.
On Tuesday we studied Genesis 31:4-16 where Jacob informs his wives that the Lord has commanded him to leave Laban and his wives agree to leave with him.
On Wednesday evening we noted Genesis 31:17-21 where Jacob departs from Paddan Aram and heads towards Canaan.
Thursday we studied Genesis 31:22-24, where God protects Jacob by warning Laban in a dream to not stop Jacob from returning home to Canaan.
This morning we will note Genesis 31:25-31 in which we see that Jacob leaves Laban secretly out of fear that Laban would take his wives and children from him and which fear was due to a lack of faith in the Lord to honor His promise to protect him from Laban.
Genesis 31:1, “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.’”
Genesis 31:2, “Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.”
Genesis 31:3, “Then the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’”
Genesis 31:4-5, “So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 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.’”
Genesis 31:6, “You know that I have served your father with all my strength.”
Genesis 31:7, “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.”
Genesis 31:8, “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.’”
Genesis 31:9, “Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me.”
Genesis 31:10, “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.”
Genesis 31:11, “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’”
Genesis 31:12, “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.’”
Genesis 31:13, “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.”
Genesis 31:14, “Rachel and Leah said to him, ‘Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house?’”
Genesis 31:15, “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price.”
Genesis 31:16, “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.”
Genesis 31:17-18, “Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; 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.”
Genesis 31:19, “When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father's.”
Genesis 31:20, “And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.”
Genesis 31:21, “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.”
Genesis 31:22-23, “When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 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.”
Genesis 31:24, “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.’”
Genesis 31:25, “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.”
Genesis 31:26, “Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?’”
Genesis 31:27-28, “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; and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.”
Genesis 31:29, “It is in my power to do you (plural form of pronominal suffix meaning, “every one of 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.’”
Genesis 31:30, “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house; but why did you steal my gods?”
Genesis 31:31, “Then Jacob replied to Laban, ‘Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.’”
This statement reveals that Jacob’s sin was not that he left Laban secretly but that he left secretly out fear of Laban, and which fear was a sin because it was due to a lack of faith in God’s promise to him that he would protect him (See Genesis 28:15) and would be with him (See Genesis 28:15 31:3).
If Laban attempted to take back his daughters and his grandchildren, Jacob would have fought.
Undoubtedly, the Lord also would have fought for him as well and given him the victory over Laban and his men since Jacob’s boys were the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Therefore, we see that Jacob answers Laban’s first two accusations by revealing that he left secretly out of fear of Laban, and which fear was due to a lack of faith in the Lord’s promise to protect him.
In Genesis 31:26, the word “deceiving” is the same expression used in Genesis 31:20, which literally means “to steal the heart” since it is composed of the verb ganav (bn^G*) (gaw-nav), “to steal,” and the noun lev (bl@), “heart,” which refers to the mentality of the soul.
Jacob stole the heart of Laban in the sense that he left secretly and unobserved by Laban so that Laban had no knowledge of and was totally unaware that Jacob had left.
The fact that Jacob left secretly was “not” a sin since in Scripture we see that David kept his whereabouts secret from Saul in order to protect himself (1 Samuel 19:2).
The Lord Jesus Christ went in secret to the Temple in order to avoid a confrontation with the Pharisees, which could lead to His premature arrest before the time that the Father had ordained for Him (See John 7:1-10).
However, although it was not a sin that Jacob left secretly, it was a sin that he left secretly out of fear of Laban.
In response to Laban’s question as to why Jacob left secretly, Jacob replies in Genesis 31:31, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.”
Therefore, Jacob’s sin in this matter was a lack of faith in the Lord to protect him from Laban.
Jacob should have left openly, trusting that the Lord would protect from him Laban as He said He would in Genesis 28:15 in the phrase “I will keep you.”
Jacob’s sin of fear due to a lack of faith repeats the sin of his grandfather Abraham who out of fear of Pharaoh of Egypt and Abimelech said that Sarah was his sister and not his wife (See Genesis 12:9-20; 20:1-18).
Jacob’s sin of fear due to a lack of faith repeats this sin of his father of Isaac who out of fear of the Philistines told them that Rebekah was his sister and not his wife (See Genesis 26:7-11).
Unlike, his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, Jacob’s fear was not for his own life but that his loved ones would be taken away from him by force.
Therefore, Jacob had not done Laban any wrong by leaving Laban secretly but he had done God wrong by leaving secretly out of fear for Laban since this fear was due to a lack of faith in God’s ability to protect him from Laban.
Fear is a result of unbelief and unbelief is failure to trust that God will protect and provide for us.
The fact that Jacob left secretly out of fear of Laban taking his loved ones from him by force is quite interesting because the Lord had just finished commanding Jacob to return to Canaan and reassured him that He would be with him (See Genesis 31:3).
So we see quite clearly that Jacob is not resting in the promises of the Lord and is therefore, not operating in faith but rather unbelief.
Biblical faith is trusting in the promises of God regardless of the circumstances or consequences and resting in them.
True Biblical faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
The principle of faith operates quite simply: (1) God speaks and we hear His Word. (2) We trust His Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or what the consequences may be.
The circumstances may be impossible, and the consequences frightening and unknown but we obey God’s Word just the same and believe Him to do what is right and what is best.
Jacob is looking at Laban and thus entering into fear rather than concentrating on the Lord’s promise to protect him.
Principle: Unbelief is the failure to take into account and acknowledge the character and nature of God, His presence and His Word.
Unbelief operates in the sphere of the old Adamic sin nature and contradicts faith and leaves God out.
Unbelief blinded Jacob as to the presence of the Lord in his life, which he saw firsthand, causing him to see only the difficulties in leaving Laban.
Jacob’s unbelief had produced cowardice to the extent that he left secretly like a fugitive.
The apostle Paul taught the Philippian believers to pray to the Father rather than entering into fear.
Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Prayers for protection from God fill the Bible.
Psalm 140:1-3, “Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars. They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.”
The Bible teaches that fear, worry and anxiety are a sin because it calls into question the perfect immutable character and integrity of God or in other words, His love for the believer (See Matthew 6:19-34).
The apostle Peter instructed believers to cast all anxiety upon the Lord in prayer.
1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
Trusting in God to keep His promises will protect the believer’s soul from stress, fear, worry and anxiety.
Jacob’s fear of Laban was a total lack of faith or in other words, a total lack of trust and confidence in God’s ability to protect him.
Psalm 56:11, “In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”