In Pursuit of Household Gods (Genesis 31:17-55)

All right. Everybody in Genesis 31? Good.

This morning we're going to continue. If you're not a regular person who visits our church or who is a member here, then let me just give you a very quick heads up. We are a church that practices expositional preaching by going verse by verse through books of the Bible.

We have been going through the book of Genesis now for several years, which is we took some real slow portions at the beginning and we took a little bit of time off last year and did a little side quest.

But today we continue on in our study of Genesis and we are continuing our walk now through the life of Jacob. Jacob, if you'll remember, is the son of Isaac. Isaac is the son of Abraham and that makes up that threefold patriarch that we talk about in the Old Testament.

The patriarchs of Israel are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob, of course, being the son of Isaac and the brother of Esau. Jacob had fooled his father, stolen his brother's blessing, and out of fear for his brother he had run away to his uncle's house.

And when he went to his uncle's house he did so not only to get away from the threats of his brother but also to arrive in a place where he could find a wife. His future father-in-law, Laban, manipulated him into 14 years of service for two wives, one of which he did not want.

And then he ended up not only with two wives, but also with two maidservants from those wives whereby he fathered 11 boys and one girl so far. At the end of his 14 years he approached his uncle and said he wanted to leave and go back home, but instead his uncle manipulated him into working for him an additional six years.

And the last place we left off in the text two weeks ago, Jacob had invited his two wives into the field so that he could talk to them about leaving their father's house in a way that would be secret because he did not trust that his father-in-law would allow him to leave unless he left in a way that he would not know.

I want to remind you of something. If you look in chapter 31 at verse 3, this departure is commanded by God.

Look at verse 3.

It says,.

Then the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred,.

And I will be with you.

So God has commanded Jacob to leave. This is not just an impulse of his heart. He does want to go home. We know that from the last chapter. He wants to go home. But not only does he want to go home, he has divine command.

Leave this place and go back to the land of your fathers. So he takes his wives into the field. His wives, rather. He tells them that God has spoken to him, that God has commanded him to go home. And we see in verse 16 their response.

All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do. So not only does he have God's command, but he has his wife's approval.

He is ready to go. So today we are going to read about Jacob's fleeing. When he left his home, he fled from his brother. When he leaves this place, he will be fleeing from his father-in-law. But there is a difference.

When he left home, fleeing from his brother, he had nothing. In fact, we're going to see in chapter 32, he's actually going to say, I only had a staff in my hand. I didn't have anything when I came. But now, as he is fleeing back to Canaan, as he's fleeing back to the promised land, he is rich in both family and fortune.

So he is preparing to go home. But his father-in-law is going to be in hot pursuit. So we're going to read verses 17 all the way down to 55. Yep, we're going to read a lot. But it's all one story. If I stopped in the middle, it wouldn't make sense.

So if you would, turn your attention to verse 17, and we're going to read through verse 55. So Jacob arose and set his sons and wives on camels. He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods. Keep that verse in mind. Verse 19 is very important. And Jacob tricked Laban, the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee.

He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days, followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead.

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. Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pinched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched his tents in the hill country of Gilead.

And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me and did not tell me so that I may have sent you away with mirth and song, with tambourine and lyre?

And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. 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.

And now you have gone away because you long greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods? Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

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 that. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of his two female servants, but he did not find them.

And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt about the tent, but did not find them. 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.

Note that verse too, we're going to talk about that as well. So he searched, but he did not find the household gods. 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? For you have felt through all my goods. What have you found of your household goods? Set it before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between us.

These 20 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. What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself.

From my hand you acquired it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. There I was by day, the heat consumed me and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These 20 years I have been in your house.

I served you 14 years for your two daughters, 6 years for your flock, and you have changed my wages 10 times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac had not been on my side,.

Surely now you would have sent me away empty handed.

God saw my affliction in the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night. 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 my children whom they have born? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between you and me. So Jacob took the stone, set it up as a pillar, and Jacob said to his kinsmen, Gather stones, for they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

Laban called it Jigar Seaduthah, but Jacob called it Galid. Laban said, This heap is a witness between you and me today. Therefore he named it Galid and Mitzpah. For he said, The Lord watch between you and me when we are out of one another's sight.

If you oppress my daughters, if you take wives beside my daughters, although no one is with us, God is witness between you and me. Then Laban said to Jacob, See this heap and this pillar, which I have set between you and me.

This heap is a witness, the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me to do harm. The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.

So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac, 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. Early in the morning Laban arose, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them.

And then Laban departed and returned home. Father, this is a lot. I pray that you'll keep our minds attentive, keep us focused, help us to understand what your word has for us. And Lord, today as we see this man who was so hotly in pursuit of his own idols, Lord, help us to understand how easy it is for us to pursue our idols, rather than pursuing you.

In Christ's name. Amen. I always wonder what it's like the first time somebody comes here. We read a whole chapter at the beginning of the service. I read almost a whole chapter for my sermon. If you're nervous, don't run away.

It's a lot of Scripture, but the Scripture is God's word. And spending time reading Scripture is one of the most important things that we can do. And it's the only part of my sermon that's infallible, is when the word of God is read.

So giving time to reading of the Scripture is valuable. And I've been thinking about this text for two weeks. As you know, I was out sick last week. I'm very thankful for Brother Mike preaching. And so I had two weeks to ruminate on this text and think about it and what all it's saying.

And I got to thinking about how this text sort of comes across almost like a chase scene. And we know that one of the most common scenes in television and movies are chase scenes. Entire films are dedicated to epic chases.

One of my favorite films, and I hope this isn't offending anyone, one of my favorite films is the movie Tombstone. And in the movie Tombstone, it tells sort of a fictional account of the real life of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and the events that happened in their life.

And toward the end of the film, after Wyatt Earp's brother is killed and his other brother goes away on a train, Wyatt packs up his posse and they go after the cowboys. And in about a ten minute section of the film, it's the most exciting part of the film, as they search after these ne 'er-do-wells and they go after them and bring them to justice.

A chase is exciting. Movies, television, films, plays, many times involve some form of a chase. Well, this whole portion of this text is a chase. And it's going to end, not with bloodshed, but rather it is going to end with a face-to-face showdown between Jacob and his father-in-law, who for the last 20 years has manipulated him, has bullied him, has tricked him, and has treated him, not like a son, but like a slave.

And Laban's intent, do not wonder,.

Laban has malicious, blood-lusting intent. But God stops him. God tells him, you will not say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. You will not harm my servant. In verse 17, it begins the flight. And we have an outline.

The outline is several parts. The flight, the pursuit, the overtaking, the investigation, the unloading, the covenant, and the separation are the parts of today's lesson. If you would like, you can email me and I'll just send you a copy of the notes, rather than trying to write everything down.

It's always easier just to email me and I'll send you the outline. But in chapter 17, it says this, or excuse me, verse 17, it says, Jacob arose, he set his sons and his wives on camels, verse 18, and he drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

Now understand, this is a journey of hundreds of miles. In fact, it says he first sets out to go to the hill country of Gilead, which from where he was would have been about 300 miles. And if that puts a picture in your mind, maybe you have a hard time thinking what's 300 miles, it's about 350 miles from here to Miami.

So if you can have it in your mind how long it's going to take, he's traveling now with 12 children. He's got 11 sons, one daughter. He's got four, as it were, wives. He's got two actual wives and two of their handmaidens that he has taken as wives and had children with.

He has got a stock of his own sheeps and cattle and camels, and all of these are now on a trek of 350 miles. And he does it under the hidden time of the time of the shearing of the sheep. The time of the shearing of the sheep would have been a time where the men would go away into the fields and would shear the sheep.

This was an event that happened that was usually accompanied by camping and accompanied by some form of activities, sort of like a festival of the shearing. You know, they'd go out and they would have a good time and they would feast and they would have this time.

And so he's doing this while the men are away. He's going to take his family and go on the run. And so he takes his family, they go on the run, and it takes three days before his father-in-law finds out that he has left.

Now, we're told in the previous chapter that his father-in-law had taken the animals three days' journey away so that Jacob could not have any for himself. Remember that part of the story last time was that he had gone three days away with the speckled, the spotted, and the striped animals.

And so it's probably those animals that he's actually there working on. He's there shearing. And so Jacob is gone and one of his servants goes that three days' journey and he says, OK, Jacob has left.

He has taken his animals. He's taken his wives. He's taken his children. And so Laban gets in hot pursuit. But in the midst of this, verse 19 says something very important. I pointed this out while we were reading.

It says,.

Because Laban had gone to shear his sheep and Rachel stole her father's household gods. Now what in the world are we talking about? Well, the Hebrew word here is teraphim. And it's referring to what would have been small figures that had been shaped, carved, or molded into the form of deities, false deities.

This word actually comes up several times in the Old Testament. Sometimes these deities were very large. But obviously these were not very large because what we find out is later, Rachel is able to hide them in her saddle.

So we know how large a saddle is. We can at least get into our mind how large these teraphim would have been. They were small enough to hide in the saddle. Now, it's interesting when you begin to think of this question.

And maybe this is a question you had. I know at least one of you had it because I got an email about it.

Why?

Why did she steal these household gods? And what's interesting in the text is we are not given a reason. The text doesn't tell us why she did it. The text only tells us that she did it. And therefore, as it is always the case with Christian commentators, everybody has an opinion.

Every commentator has their own opinion as to why Rachel stole the household gods.

I'll give you a few.

The first thought was that perhaps these household gods were used by Laban in his acts of divination. You'll remember it said in a previous text that he learned by divination certain things. Which means that he was into forms of sorcery, where he was into forms of doing demonic, what we would call demonic or pagan activities.

And so perhaps she thought, Dad will have these and through divination he will find us. So I'm going to take them from him so he won't have his tools of searching us out. And maybe that's the reason. Maybe she took them out of fear.

I'll take his tools. It's sort of like if you think of a person who consults a crystal ball. If you wanted to protect yourself from them, maybe you take away their crystal ball because you think that's the source of their power.

Well, some people think that's the reason why she stole them. Other people say this. That the possessor of the household gods also possessed the rights and privileges to all of the property and prosperity of the family.

And you'll remember what Rachel did say earlier when Jacob went and talked to her. Rachel said, my father has taken away everything we own. He has squandered everything that we own. And we have been treated like slaves and not as daughters.

So it could be that she took the household gods.

Almost like stealing the deed to your parents' home.

She's going to possess what's his.

Could be.

It could also be that these particular teraphim, these particular household gods, had intrinsic value. It could be that they were formed out of gold or silver or some other precious metal. Perhaps they had embedded within them jewels that had value all their own.

And perhaps Rachel was stealing them for that reason. All we know is this. She took his household gods and it tells us something about him. Laban was a man who had a mixed allegiance. What is a mixed allegiance?

Laban was not a faithful servant of God. Laban was a man who knew God existed, but he also had other gods that he served and that he used for his own businesses or for his own benefit, rather. So Laban has these household gods.

Rachel steals them. Obviously, before Laban begins his pursuit, he goes home to get ready to pursue and he notices his household gods are missing and now he's angry because he thinks Jacob has stolen his household gods.

So now he's in hot pursuit and he takes off after his son-in-law. In verse 22, we see the pursuit.

It says,.

When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days. By the way, seven plus three is ten, so it's been about ten days now. He followed close after him into the country of Gilead and God came to Laban.

Verse 24, 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. Now that is a Hebrew idiom that we have already seen before. We saw the same Hebrew idiom come up in chapter 24, verse 50.

You'll remember when Rachel... I'm sorry. Rebecca, the father... Let me try this again. Rebecca is the mother of Jacob. And when the servant came to get her for Isaac, Laban didn't want to let her go.

But he said, I can't say anything to you, good or bad, because obviously God is in this.

Remember that.

That phrase, that Hebrew phrase, not saying anything good or bad, is basically this. I have to submit to the will of God. I can't say anything good or bad because God has spoken. And if I say anything good, it doesn't make a difference.

If I say anything bad, it's not going to change anything. God has spoken. So I can't say anything good or bad. So here Jacob is. Laban comes to him. And God visits Laban. And he says, do not say anything good or bad.

Now I want you to imagine for a moment, if you will, Jacob with his family. It's been 10 days. They have been traveling 300 miles. They're tired. They are dirty. They are on the move. They have now set up camp in the hill country of Gilead.

They can probably see a good distance in every direction. They probably set themselves in a position where they can look out and see among them. And here they see in hot pursuit the father that they were trying to get away from.

And he has now caught up with them. You can only imagine that there would have been a sense of fear. What we're going to find out in the next chapter is this sense of fear is not going to leave because as soon as this situation with Laban is over, he's going to get in almost the exact situation with Esau.

Because as he gets close to Esau, Esau takes 400 men and comes towards him and doesn't tell him why he's coming. And so he splits his camp into two camps because he's afraid, thinking, well if they kill one at least we'll have somebody who'll survive.

So this whole trip is a trip of fear. He's afraid of his father-in-law killing him. He's afraid of his brother killing him. He looks out and he sees them coming. In verse 25 it says this,. And Laban overtook Jacob.

So he was there. He overtook him, meaning he caught up to him. And they pitched their tents right next to their camp. And look at verse 26. Verse 26 bothers me because in verse 26 Laban approaches Jacob and he says,.

What have you done?

I only say that this verse bothers me in this sense. That's the same thing Jacob said when he woke up next to Leah.

You remember he woke up next to Leah.

And that wasn't the one that he had worked seven years for. In some way he'd been fooled into thinking that that was Rachel. He wakes up and he's, you know, you've got to imagine the ah! When he sees that it's not her.

And he runs out of the tent.

And he looks his father-in-law in the eye.

And he says, What have you done?

Now, many years later, he's running away from his father-in-law. His father-in-law catches up to him. And I'm telling you, I believe in my heart Laban would have killed him. At least would have hurt him to get back his property and his grandchildren and his daughters.

But Laban goes up to him. He knows God is holding his tongue. He knows he can't say or do anything. And so he just gets in his face.

And he says, What have you done?

I got to tell you something. Laban right away shows that he's not really obeying God.

Because God said,.

Don't say anything good or bad. But notice what he says. What have you done?

You have tricked me.

You've driven away my daughters like a captive to the sword.

Did he do that?

No, he didn't drive them away like captive to the sword.

They didn't like him either.

Nobody likes this guy. His daughters didn't like him.

His son-in-law didn't like him. So they're on the run.

He's not driving them with a sword. But Laban, and let me tell you, this is the way worldly people are. And sometimes, church folks, you want to make yourself the victim. Laban makes himself the victim.

Wants to make himself the person who's been injured. He wants to make himself the one that everybody is sympathetic towards.

Notice what he says. Why did you flee secretly and trick me? You didn't tell me.

So that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs and tambourine and lyre. Now, Jacob don't believe that for a second. But Laban is showing off for his people.

Look at what this guy did to me. If he would have just stayed, I would have given him a song. I would have given him a dance. I would have given him food. I would have made him feel great. Lyre, lyre, pants on fire.

This guy is a liar. And he's saying,.

Well, I would have done all this for you. No, you wouldn't have. Because six years prior, when Jacob came to you and says, God,.

Mike, or rather,.

I want to go back to the land of my God and my people,. You tricked him into working another six years.

And during that year,.

You changed his wages 10 times.

You are not being honest.

Laban, he goes on to get. Why don't you let me kiss my grandchildren? And notice, verse 29, it's 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 good or bad.

So it was.

It was in my power to do you harm. But God won't let me. Verse 30, most important. And now you've gone away because you strongly you long greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?

By the way, the word here is different. The word earlier when it says household gods is the Hebrew word teraphim, and it refers to small ornamental gods that were used, as I mentioned earlier, sort of like the golden calf.

But in this word that he uses, he uses the word Elohim. And you know what the word Elohim means in Hebrew. It refers to God, the true God. But it's also a plural word that can mean gods in plural. It can refer to false gods.

And in this sense,.

The point I'm making is he doesn't call them his teraphim, his household gods. He calls them his gods. Why did you take my gods? Verse 31, Jacob answered and said, Because I was afraid I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

By the way, I had every right to be afraid. You're a scoundrel. Verse 32, anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. By the way, this is one of the great unspoken oopses of the Bible. We don't talk about it much, but you understand there are times when you shouldn't make hasty vows.

This is one of those times. Because if it were not for the craftiness of Rachel, and by the way, she shares the same craftiness that her father and her husband share. Because by the way, Jacob's pretty crafty in his own right.

But if it were not for the craftiness of Rachel, she would have been forfeited her life as a result of stealing those gods. And Jacob knew that. Jacob knew that stealing was a capital offense. Most specifically, what you stole could incur the threat of death.

I mean, think about this throughout the Bible, throughout the Old Testament. Stealing was a capital offense when there were certain things involved. Think about Achan. Achan stole the spoils of war, and he died, right?

And even in the Old West, you guys,.

I don't know why I'm thinking Old West like tombstone. But like in the Old West, if you were cattle rustlers, they were hung, right? Because there are times where theft was considered a capital crime.

And in the ancient world, if you stole someone else's gods,.

That was a capital crime.

Jacob, knowing that, says, if you find these gods, that person will die. Because he doesn't know that Rachel is the perpetrator. Verse 33, so Laban went into the tent, into Leah's tent, into the tent of the...

Into Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, the female tents, the female servants. And he went out into Rachel's tent. Verse 34, now Rachel had taken the household gods, put them in the camel saddle and sat on them.

Laban felt all around the tent. The Hebrew word here literally means he was frisking or touching everything. But he did not find them. Verse 35, the clever girl says 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 he did not find the household gods. This whole family is a family of tricksters. And as I said, Rachel knows her father well enough that he will not ask her to stand if he knows that it is the time of her cycle.

So she hides the false gods in the one place that he dare not inspect. What's interesting is I think Bruce Waltke in his commentary on this text really nails something here because he says this. He says that this tells us something about what Rachel really thought of those gods.

So one thing we asked earlier, why did Rachel steal the gods? One thing we can feel very certain of, Rachel didn't steal them to worship them. Because if she felt like these gods had divine authority or divine power, she wouldn't have been using them as a cushion for her behind.

Bruce Waltke says this. He says the contrast between Jacob's God and Laban's idols is laughable. Rachel does not hold them in high esteem. Instead, it implies an attitude of willful defilement and contemptuous rejection of the idea that Laban's cult objects had any religious worth because the gods were basically made equivalent to sanitary napkins.

So one thing we know, she didn't steal them to worship them. For whatever reason she took them, it wasn't because they were her gods. Now Jacob believes his people are innocent. They've done the search.

They've frisked the people. They've looked everywhere except for in the one spot they were. And so we come to the unloading. We come to the unloading. Verse 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 for you have felt through all my goods. What have you found of all your household goods? See it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between us.

And then he lets it out. He lets it go. He's angry.

These 20 years I've been with you.

And he goes on to say, all your animals I took care of. The ones that got hurt, I fixed them. The ones that were killed, I took the debt on myself. I didn't make you didn't lose anything while I was with you.

And I love verse 42. If the God of my. I want you to think of how he said this again, a sanctified imagination, if you can. Think of a man who has been mistreated for 20 years. He's facing off with his father in law who has been a bully and a tyrant.

And he looks him in the face and he says these words. If the God of my father. The God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side, surely you would have sent me away empty handed. God saw my affliction.

He saw the labor of my hands.

And he rebuked you.

Solid words, harsh, solid words. What's interesting about that phrase? God has seen my affliction. That's the exact same phrase that's used in Exodus 3 and Deuteronomy 26 when God saw the affliction of the Israelites in Egypt.

And God brought them out. So this is a picture of God taking his people out of bondage. So Laban knows he can't win. Finally, he takes a shot at Jacob, but then asked for a covenant.

What a jerk. Excuse me. But it really is.

Because he asked for a covenant after this shot.

Listen to this shot.

Verse 43. Then Laban answered and said to Jacob,.

Listen to this.

The daughters are my daughters. The children are my children and the flocks are my flocks. And all that you see is mine.

By the way, that's not true. That's not true.

Jacob worked. A slave's wage.

For both daughters.

And for those flocks. But Laban has to get in his one last dig. And then he asked for a covenant.

Verse 44.

Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I,.

And it will be a witness.

Between you and me. And I want to mention something about this covenant because it's interesting. This is actually referred to by a lot of people, and it is referred in the text as the mitzvah covenant.

And there are people who still recite this today. In fact, they normally recite this in the King James vernacular.

Here it is.

The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent from one another. Maybe you've heard that before. The mitzvah covenant. May the Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent from one another.

I did a little investigating. I looked on the Internet and I said I wonder if the mitzvah covenant has ever been used in jewelry. Oh, yes. You look up Etsy or any of these other websites where they sell handmade jewelry and there's little lockets that you can get where one side, may the Lord watch between me and thee and on the other side, when we are apart.