Genesis 31:33-55

I’m going to try to finish off this chapter today - a tall order! Laban has caught up with Jacob and has accused him of kidnapping his daughters and grandchildren and of stealing his house hold “gods.” Jacob manages to keep it together as he invites Laban to search the premises (not knowing that Rachel has the “gods” stashed in her tent).

So Laban tears everything apart looking for the “gods,” but finds nothing. Finally he comes to Rachel’s tent. Rachel, her father’s daughter, hides the “gods” by sitting on them. Then she excuses herself from getting up, saying she’s on her period! Isn’t the Bible hysterical sometimes? We all know that men don’t want to talk about or deal with a woman’s period, so Rachel guesses correctly that her father will back off - and he does! As Beth Moore points out, this is surely not the first time a woman has used her period as an excuse for something to gain an advantage, eh? My father, who had four daughters, used to say he was a lone man sinking in a sea of Kotex! Poor man! Between that and leg shavings, he was pretty disgusted with us! :)

Now that Laban has had a fruitless search, Jacob explodes and unloads twenty years of suppress anger on him:

Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.


“I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.” (Gen 31:36-42)

The Bible doesn’t make a judgment on this outburst, but it seems they should have had this discussion before now, doesn’t it? Laban, who doesn’t get it at all, and who is certain Jacob has pulled a fast one, disputes Jacob’s version:

Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.” (vs.43-44)

So, not having his idols, Laban decides they should set up a makeshift heap of rocks to be a “witness” between them. In these verses we find the often-quoted and misapplied Mizpah, which means watchtower:

Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” (vs. 48-50)

Don’t you find it interesting that Laban calls on God as a witness here? People who don’t truly believe, love to throw His name around when it suits. . . but we do that, too, sometimes, don’t we? You can see that the Mizpah was not originally intended to be a blessing, but a warning. Jon Courson paraphrases verse 49 this way: “You scoundrel. I don’t trust you as far as I can spit. But even though I can’t keep my eye on you, God will be watching you!”

So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.
Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home. (vs. 53-55)

No kisses for Jacob! And a twenty-year chapter in Jacob’s life is finally over. What had Jacob, the deceiver, learned from all of this? Surely the LORD was developing patience in Jacob, and proving HIS faithfulness to Him. Difficult people in our lives have a way of showing us so much about the LORD and about ourselves! If we’ve truly been receivers of God’s grace, we can learn to extend it to these people. But I love that there came a time to part! Sometimes that is God’s solution, as it was here. God is just beginning with Jacob. He is on his way home and about to reunite with his other difficult person, his brother, Esau, who had vowed to kill him 20 years earlier. Before he meets up with Esau, though, Jacob is going to have a life-changing encounter with his God!

I’m off to a conference in Chicago, so it may be a week before I’m back to our study! If you did not join us at the beginning of Genesis, take this time to go through the archives and start at the beginning! Thank you to all of you who have written to say you are praying for us. We already had one answer: Molly and Kevin were able to postpone their vacation for another week, which should allow her to be in a better place to enjoy it! God is amazing! I’m feeling the peace that passes all understanding!  Now, pray I'll be a strong witness for Christ in the midst of a very liberal, unbelieving crowd at the convention!

 

Genesis 31:22-32

Jacob and his family have fled - but after three days Laban hears they are missing (he didn’t notice?) - and, with the rest of the clan, he pursues Jacob! However, while he’s on his way, he has a dream in which God speaks to him:

Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” (Gen 31:24)

Apparently there are better renderings of what God said to Laban, according to both Beth Moore, in The Patriarchs, and Jon Courson, in his commentary. Beth says it would be more correct to translate the Hebrew as either “Refrain from threatening Jacob with any harm,” or “Take care not to contradict Jacob.” Jon Courson suggests the following paraphrase: “Don’t greet Jacob warmly only to later turn on him as is your usual custom.”

When Laban finally catches up with Jacob, he and his crew (all of Jacob’s in-laws) camp alongside Jacob’s group. Think of all that would be going through Jacob’s mind - and certainly Rachel’s. After all, she has pilfered her father’s household “gods!” Laban says a LOT to Jacob, for someone who had just been told by God to stifle it:

Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing. I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?” (vs. 26-30)

“You deceived me. . .” Are you KIDDING me? This is one very black pot confronting this kettle!!! Why is it that we so often fail to see in ourselves the things we criticize others for??? The LORD has so graciously held up the mirror to me lately (as in this week) when I’ve been in the middle of complaining about someone else’s behavior! Thank you, LORD, that you don’t let your children get away with that!!!

“. . .you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war.” We saw in verses 14-16 that Rachel and Leah couldn’t get away from their father quickly enough!

“Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing. . .” REALLY??? How did he say this stuff with a straight face? Then he gets a little ugly: “You have done a foolish thing. I have the power to harm you. . .” That’s a fairly direct threat! But he then remembers what the LORD said to him, and shifts to the accusation: “But why did you steal my gods?” Now, why doesn’t he see the irony in that question? Can real “gods” be stolen??? What good are these “gods” then? How can they protect Laban and his family, if they can’t even protect themselves from thieves? :) I’m thinking this has to be one of the most comical scenes in the Old Testament (right up there with Balaam and his talking donkey in Numbers 22).

Now, you’ll notice that Jacob doesn’t try to answer all of these ridiculous charges (nor does he sink to sarcasm the way I would and just did). He merely states why they went off without a goodbye: “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.” (vs. 31) Not knowing that his beloved Rachel had taken the “gods,” he tells Laban to go ahead and search: “But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” (vs. 32)

We’ll see next time that Rachel knows how to play the deception game well! She learned from the master, her father!

 

Genesis 31:1-21

God is so faithful! He worked out the situation at work in a way that totally brought Him glory, so I’m so very thankful to be heading into summer vacation without the conflict hanging over our heads!

Today’s verses describe Jacob’s getaway from Laban. After getting the “go ahead” from God, Jacob does a remarkable thing for his culture: he has a family meeting with Rachel and Leah to explain his plan. Relationships with in-laws can be so very tricky (am I seeing you nodding your heads??), so he very respectfully and reasonably shares why it is time to go:

So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength,  yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me. (Gen 31:4-9)

Then he reveals how God spoke to him in a dream to give him the plan to bless him with the speckled flocks:

“In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted.  The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’  And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.  I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’” (vs.10-13)

Isn’t it encouraging to know that God sees the injustices we suffer? All those years Jacob had worked tirelessly for Laban. He patiently waited for the right moment, for God’s direction - and God gave it to him!

Jacob is asking his wives to leave their homeland and their family. You would think this would be a painful decision, but note how quickly they agree!

Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.” (vs.14-16)

Apparently there was no love lost between the girls and their father! They felt no loyalty whatsoever to the man who had used them and their husband! Laban is reaping what he’s sown! So they split - but not before Rachel steals Laban’s household gods - probably believing they provided some protection.

Do you see how Rachel easily mixes pagan superstition with faith in God? And don’t we see this all of the time? Whether reading the daily horoscope, or kissing a religious icon, or burying a statue of a saint upside down in our yards, or wearing a “lucky” t-shirt, we, too frequently exhibit a schizophrenic faith to the world. Not good! Where do people see our trust placed? God is so clear in his Word that these things are an abomination before Him - we should have a healthy fear of mixing superstition with our faith!! It is God, not the St. Christopher medal, who gives us safe travel. [When I was in junior high school, a St. Christopher medal was given to a girl by a boy when you were going steady - the longest I ever kept one before breaking up was for two weeks - and we were too embarrassed to speak with each other during the entire two weeks! Apparently, not such a lucky medal...]

So, with Laban’s household gods hidden in the baggage, the family of Jacob sneaks out of town:

Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead. (vs.20-21)

I’m not sure how you sneak out of town with four wives, a boatload of children, many servants, and a huge flock of sheep, camels, etc. :) We’ll look at Laban’s reaction tomorrow!

 

Genesis 31:1-3

Today’s lesson hits me right where I am today! I’m asking God to teach me, so I can teach you, because I’m hoping my lens is not too colored by my own personal experiences.

Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. (Gen 31:1-2)

I’m finding the troubles of this extended family to be so real it hurts! Notice that Jacob did not hear himself what Laban’s sons were saying - he got it third hand. Probably from some “well-intentioned friend” who just wanted to let Jacob know what was being said about him. In all likelihood this is exactly what they had said. They had exaggerated the scheme of Jacob’s with the spotted and speckled flocks to say that Jacob had taken EVERYTHING. Further, Laban had become noticeably cool toward Jacob. This is what comes from an atmosphere of deception and mistrust. It just seems so clear to me here that this is all-out spiritual warfare!

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)

Things had always been strained between Jacob and Laban, because both had been in a power struggle due to their patterns of deception. It’s possible that either one of them could have made amends somehow earlier. Certainly Jacob had held to his bargain and worked hard for Laban for all of those years, but we have no reason to believe that he ever tried to work out his relationship with his father-in-law. I believe they were at the point of no return - there was no way this relationship was ever going to be anything but destructive. And God promises that He will never give us more than we can bear, but will, indeed, provide a way out for us when things are too much. (I Cor 10:13) And He does just that for Jacob here:

Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” (vs. 3)

Oh, my gosh! Jacob must have been ecstatic to hear these words from God! God was not condoning Jacob’s behavior here - but He was extending the grace that Jacob so needed. Jacob had done nothing to deserve God’s favor; he was a miserable little sinner like the rest of us! But God had a plan for Jacob and his descendants - a plan of grace from beginning to end. And that is where I’m standing today: a miserable little sinner who needs God’s grace so desperately! I have seen God provide ways out for me before, and I see one now. I am so very thankful that HE is the one who is faithful!!!

More tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day of school. That’s one of the ways of escape! :)