Book of Genesis - Ch. 31, Vs. 1-55 (05/01/2016)

Okay, we're ready to go then. We are getting ready to move into a new chapter, chapter 31, but I thought it would be instructive to go back one verse into chapter 30, verse 43, and just read this, and the man, and the man he's talking about here, the man is

Jacob, and the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants and menservants and camels and asses, so he was quite wealthy by now.

Laban was perfectly happy to see the Lord blessing Jacob, just as long as he was able to divert most of the blessings to his own account.

In fact, much of the last half of chapter 30 dealt with Laban's scheme to prolong

Jacob in that situation of servitude to him, so that by Jacob's blessing, he might be blessed, and so he figured out this scheme where Jacob would get the rare animals and he would get the customary ones.

He would get the preponderance of it, but then the Lord overruled that, and so all of the offspring turned out to be striped and spotted and ring -striped and all that.

But as soon as it became apparent that the Lord had directed most of the blessing to Jacob, then a lot of things changed.

Jacob's sons began to complain, and Laban's attitude toward Jacob changed.

So here we are, verse 1. And he, Jacob, heard the words of Laban's son saying,

Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and of that which was our father's hath he got all the glory.

Now, my first question, did Jacob take anything that belonged to Laban?

No. Who was taking what that belonged to whom?

Laban was taking that which belonged to Jacob, and as long as that was the direction of the flow,

Laban was just as happy as he could be. But when God intervened, he's not so happy.

Even Laban was aware of the source of his wealth. If you remember back in verse 27 of chapter 30, and Laban said unto him,

Jacob, I pray thee if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry, for I have learned by experience that the

Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And we'll come back to this word in a second, but by experience has a different connotation than I had originally been aware.

It was divination rather than just by comparing this to a previous event. But we're going to go there again.

We did spend all last week doing that. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before.

So why the difference? Why the difference in the countenance? Jealousy?

He saw God favoring Jacob. He's about to lose his lucky charm.

His sons were adding to the problem. They were saying bad stuff to Laban, and I don't know how much of Laban's attitude was because by his son's bad report, but certainly he got a bad report from his son, his sons.

He knew this. He knew that that which he thought he was going to get, all of those white sheep were turning out to be striped, and he didn't like that.

Before Jacob had ever set foot in Pandanaram, God had said to him,

Behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all the places whither thou goest, and I will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which

I have spoken to thee of. So what did he say?

I will bring thee again to this land. That's back when he was in Bethel. That's back when he was in the land of Canaan.

God said, I will be with thee, and I will bring thee back to this land. And now it's time for Jacob to come back.

Six years earlier, Jacob had sought to leave at the end of his contract, at the end of his bargain for his two wives.

Fourteen years later, he thought, time enough, I'm going home. But that wasn't

God's timing. Had he gone home then, how would he have done it? Had he gone home then, after fourteen years, with what would he have left?

With all he had, his wives, and the children that had already been born. And that was all of them, up through Joseph.

That was all eleven of them. That's what he would have left destitute.

He would have left with nothing. Now God could have blessed him. He could have done

Laban like he did Egypt. He could have made Laban force his stuff off on Jacob and said, take this and take all the stuff with you.

But he didn't choose to do that. He chose to let Jacob earn it. And it took him six more years.

But now it's time. So now

God directs Jacob to leave. And in his confirmation of his determination for Jacob to leave, he assured him of his presence.

So it's now, six years later, it's now time to go. And Jacob, and the

Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.

In Arthur Pink's commentary, here's what he said. And I thought this was done so well,

I thought I would share it with you. What a showing forth of God's wondrous grace was this.

In all that is told us about Jacob during the twenty years he spent at Pandanaram, there was not one word which intimates that he had any dealings with God during that time.

Now I thought about that and I looked back and I didn't see anything, anywhere where it said that Jacob spoke to God or that God spoke to Jacob from the time he left

Bethel until the time he's ready to go back. Not one word is spoken about Jacob and his dealings with God.

There is no mention of any altar. There's no reference to prayer.

Nothing to distinguish him from a thorough whirling. That's highlighted and read in my word program so there's no such word as whirling.

But I thought that's a good word. I can't resist pointing this out though.

Though Jacob was elect, what we call a sheep, he was indistinguishable from a goat.

He was living there with him, he was acting like them, he was doing all the things the goats did. He was a whirling, a thorough whirling just like Laban and just like Rachel and Leah and everybody else, he was a whirling.

Pink adds, it needs to be remembered that altar speaks not only to sacrifice but to communion too.

The altar pointed forward to Christ and it is only in him that God and the redeemed sinner meet and commune together.

Jacob then had no altar in Pandanaram because he was out of communion with Jehovah.

But if Jacob had forgotten the Lord, Jehovah had not forgotten him.

And now that Jacob begins to be in real need, the Lord spoke the suited word.

Yet mark the other side. That was Pink's comment.

Well, what is the other side that he is talking about? Jacob's side.

Jacob's reaction to God's word. What did Jacob do when

God gave him this word? Did he do like his grandfather and wait 40 years and then go?

He went almost immediately. He immediately begins to prepare his family for the move. He begins preparing his wife for the departure.

First, he calls them out into the field where they can talk. And he compares the rejection signal by Laban to the acceptance by God.

Here is what he said. And Jacob sent and called Rachel. That is the first thing he did. He sent and called his wife.

He sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field and to his flock.

And he said unto them, I see your father's countenance that it is not toward me as before, but the

God of my father hath been with me. I did not think of this until just now because I am not in a position where I have to prepare other people for my actions.

But when a person in a family, even when he is called to do something for God's purpose, needs to inform his partner, his wife or his husband or her husband, of the fact that it is a

God called event that they are going into and to prepare them for it because they are not privy to the same things that you are.

Too many people, they say, okay, God called me to do something and I am going to do it.

And they just go ahead and start doing it and they don't tell their wife or their husband what they are doing or why they are doing it.

They don't prepare them for it. And I think that is an important thing is to prepare your spouse for what you do. Jacob's next step was to tell his wife why he needed to leave.

So what did he say? And you know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me and changed my wages ten times.

But God suffered him not to hurt me. And if he said thus, the speckles shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bear speckled.

And if he said the ring -striped shall be thy hire, they all bear ring -striped.

Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me.

Now he had gone through this elaborate scheme, this elaborate set of activities where he thought to alter the offspring of the cattle.

Remember that? He took the rods and he cut them and he striped them. But he knew, he knew really why they all came out to be ring -striped or speckled or whatever they were.

Because God took them away from your father and gave them to me.

Not because of anything Jacob had done, but what the Lord had done. And it came to pass, he's still talking to his wives, it came to pass that at the time the cattle conceived,

I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream and behold the rams which slept upon the cattle were ring -striped and speckled and grizzled.

Now what were the rams like in the original herd? And not only solid, the sheep were all solid white.

In the dream what color were they? Speckled and ring -striped and grizzled?

And so that's the dream. So what does he make of this dream? Well, the Lord tells him what to make of it.

The angel of God spake unto me in a dream saying, Jacob, and I said, here am

I. And he said, lift up thine eyes and see all the rams which leaped upon the cattle are ring -striped and speckled and grizzled for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

So why did he see in the dream the speckled rams?

Because he was letting him know that I am putting into the herd the speckled, the ring -striped, the grizzled.

Now understand this, the angel of the Lord or the angel of God can and often does mean a messenger of God.

Here, however, this is no mere messenger. Who is he? Yes, and it tells us in verse 13.

This is something no angel ever said. Not even

Satan was bold enough to say this. He was bold enough to say

I am equal to this guy, but not even Satan claimed to be the

God of Bethel. Angels, when they are approached to be worshipped, do what?

They say, no, don't worship me. It's Jesus that you worship.

I am just his messenger. This one says, I am the

God of Bethel. I am the one that spoke to you at the head of the ladder.

I am the one that you swore the oath to. I am the God of Bethel where thou anointest the pillar and where thou vowest a vow unto me.

Now arise and get thee out of this land and return unto the land of Achandrite.

Okay, now can you imagine this? Can you imagine Rachel and Leah sitting there together hearing this and thinking of what they are going to say?

This came as a total shock to me. They have been apprised of the fact that they are going to leave and that their leaving has been directed by God and in a rare act both

Leah and Rachel agree to the move. You wouldn't have thought that would happen.

You would have thought that if Rachel said go, Leah would have said stay or vice versa.

But neither one happened. In fact, they were aware of this as well.

Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

Are we not counted of him as strangers? For he hath sold us.

Who did he sell them to? Jacob. And what did he get for them?

Seven years of service, but more than that, the increase in his wealth.

And what did he do with this increase in wealth? He spent it or he kept it or he separated.

There is nothing left for them. Not for Leah and her seven years that Jacob worked for her, she gets nothing.

Rachel gets nothing. For all our riches which God has taken from our father,

I'm sorry I skipped the important line. Are we not counted for him as strangers?

For he hath sold us and hath quite devoured our money. So there is nothing left for them.

For all of our riches which God has taken from our father, that is ours and our children's.

And now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. We know that everything that you have done in these twenty years, all that belongs to us and our children is what you have accumulated in the last six.

So whatever God says unto thee, do. So they agree. If God says go, then let's go.

And they went on. And so then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels.

And he carried away all his cattle and all of his goods which he had gotten. The cattle of his getting which he had gotten in Pandanarum, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

All right, so here's what's happened. Jacob is going to go on a three day journey to shear his sheep.

Now I thought it was kind of interesting that in the beginning when they separated

Jacob's inheritance, or Jacob's flock from Laban's flock, that they separated in about three days.

And at first I said, well maybe he's going back to check on his herd. But I believe

Jacob would have been with Laban's herd because Jacob's sons were taking care of the herds that were

Laban's sons were taking care of the herds that were

Jacob's. Jacob was taking care of Laban's herd. So apparently this is a different three day journey episode.

But in any case, we're told that Laban goes on a three day journey to shear his sheep.

Rachel steals her father's gods and Jacob sneaks away.

Was it necessary that Jacob sneak away? Okay, probably in one sense.

Probably in the sense of he hadn't snuck away, what would have happened? He would have talked him into staying or he would have forced him to stay.

You're right. But in another sense, he didn't need to sneak away. Why? God was with him.

God directed him and God would put him in the best of the positions. Well we do and sometimes when we help it doesn't matter.

And sometimes when we help it does harm. But I don't know that any time that we help it helps.

So Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images.

Now if you look that word image up in the Hebrew, it's literally terathim.

Scholars tell us that the word terathim can be traced to a Syrian root which means to inquire.

To inquire. The name was probably a corruption of the word cherubim or an angel, an angel like figure.

And this terathim may very well have been related to the act of being engaged in when he recognized that the source of his blessing was because of his proximity to Joseph.

If you remember back in verse 19 of, well no, when he went back, when he and Joseph had their first discussion, he had said that it is by experience or by divination that I know that my wealth is due to blessings that were aimed towards you.

Okay, so Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the

Syrian in that he told him not that he fled. So he fled with all he had and he rose up, passed over the river and set his face toward the

Mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled and he was probably told that he had taken the gods with him.

He didn't say that. And he took his brethren with him and he pursued after him for seven days journey.

It took him quite a while to catch up with him. And they overtook him in the

Mount Gilead and God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said unto him, take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

Okay, so that's Laban's final instruction. Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the Mount and Laban with his brethren pitched on the

Mount Gilead. And Laban said unto Jacob, what hast thou done that thou hast stolen away unawares to me and carried away my daughters as captives taken by the sword?

Now that seems to be something that is bad to me. Does it violate

God's instruction to Laban? I thought that and I have changed my mind.

But that was my first thought too. The very first thing that Laban does when he sees

Jacob is he says something bad. And he was instructed to say nothing good or bad.

He's instructed not to say anything at all, isn't he? Or is he? That's what it seems like.

But if you interpret that passage this way, do not entice

Jacob. I'm sorry, do nothing to bring

Jacob and his entourage back. When you see Jacob, don't do anything to bring him back.

Don't try to entice him. That would be the good. If you will come back,

I'll double your wages and let you work for another three years and give you twice as many sheep. Don't say anything good to him to bring him back.

And don't try to force him to come back. I think that's what it's talking about in the previous, say nothing good or say nothing bad.

Do nothing, say nothing to Jacob to entice him to come back or to force him to come back.

Don't say, if you don't come back, my 500 men are going to cut your head off and take your cattle and your sheep and the daughters and take them back.

Don't do anything bad. And don't say to him, if you will come back, I'll give you half my inheritance.

Don't do anything good nor bad to keep them from going because he has been instructed by me to go.

I think that's what it means, but that's just my thought. And that makes it a little bit easier to read the rest of it because the first dozen times

I read this, I kept saying, Laban apparently has no fear of God because God said don't do this and that's the first thing he did.

But if you think of it in terms of don't try to entice him to come back by doing good things and don't try to entice him to come back by doing bad things or force him to come back by doing bad things, then it reads a little bit easier for me.

And that doesn't necessarily mean it's right. Laban continues, oh, did

Jacob take his wives as captives by force? No, he asked them and they agreed to come.

In fact, they had their own reasons for coming. They said, if we stay here, we'll have nothing. But if we go with you, we'll have a portion in this great herd and set of properties that you have.

They went willingly. So what he accused him of was not true.

Laban continues, wherefore didst thou flee away secretly and steal away from me and didst not tell me that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with the tabra and the harp?

And hast thou not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Thou hast done foolishly in doing so.

Now what did he say he wanted to do? The reason he didn't want Jacob to leave? He wanted to wish his children well.

He wanted to kiss his daughters and his sons and his daughters and that Jacob had denied him the privilege of doing that.

Is that really what he wanted to do? What did he want to do? Sell him another bill of goods.

Why didn't he? God has said don't try to sell him a bill of goods.

Don't try to talk him into something good. Maybe he wanted to take his soldiers and take the daughters and the herd away from him.

Why did he not do that? Same reason. But the next verse reveals his heart.

It is in my power to do you hurt. So why didn't he do him hurt?

Because God told him not to. And then he confesses why he didn't do it.

It is in my power to do you hurt. But the God of your father spake to me yesterday night saying take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

So now he comes to his accusation. And now though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longest after thy father's house,

I understand why you want to go. And it's okay for you to go. Yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?

That's the accusation. Jacob answers the first question first.

And John, this goes back to your point. Wherefore did thou flee in secrecy?

And Jacob answers and said because I was afraid. For I said per adventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.

So why did I go? Because I thought you would try to take my daughters from me and my herd and my flock and all my possessions.

And then he goes on to the second question. What was the second question?

Why hast thou stolen my gods? And here's Jacob's answer.

With whomsoever thou findest the gods, let him not live. Before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me and take it to thee.

For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. So Jacob doesn't know that his favorite wife has the gods with her.

So Laban goes on his search. And Laban went into Jacob's tent and found what?

Nothing because nothing was there. And he went into Leah's tent and found nothing because nothing was there.

And he went into the two maidservant's tents and found nothing. Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered

Rachel's tent. Now what was in Rachel's tent? No, the gods weren't there.

Now Rachel had taken the images and put them in the camel's furniture.

That's the saddles and things. The camel's furniture and set upon them. And Laban searched all the tent and found them not.

And that was because she was sitting on them. And she said unto her father, let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up from before thee for the custom of women is upon me.

And he searched but found not the image. He didn't ask her to get up and let him search the camel saddles where he would have found them if he had looked there.

So he comes back empty handed. And now it's Jacob's time to vent.

Jacob kind of reveals his heart too. Laban's heart was certainly far from pure.

And Jacob has some things on his mind as well. Jacob was wroth and chode with Laban.

And Jacob answered and said unto Laban, what is my trespass? What is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued me?

Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of thine household? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren that they may judge betwixt us both.

Well what did Laban have to set there? Nothing. So he comes through. He searches everything.

And his claim is we came for what reason? What reason did he really come for?

He really came to take the daughters and the children and the stuff and take it all back and leave

Jacob probably dead on the desert. That's what he really came for. But he claimed to come for his stolen gods.

And he searched everything and has no stolen gods to put on the table before him.

But now for Jacob's real complaint. So first Jacob is complaining about the fact that Laban came after him.

That's not really what he was worried about. He's not really worried about the gods because he had no awareness of the gods.

His real complaint is this. This twenty years have I been with thee.

He said this speech before. The ewes and thy she -goats have not cast their young, and the rams of the flock have

I not eaten. That which was torn of beast I brought not unto thee, but I bear the loss of it.

Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in the day of the drought, thus

I was, and in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night.

My sleep departed from me, from mine eyes. Thus I have been twenty years in thy house.

I served fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

That was his complaint. That was his real complaint about Laban. That Laban was a scoundrel and a cheat.

That he had fulfilled his obligation, which in fact he did. Joseph fulfilled his end of the bargain.

That is really strange for a guy such a scoundrel as Jacob to honestly fulfill his entire end of the bargain.

He wasn't used to fulfilling his end of the bargain and having the other party cheat. Then he says, in my words, moreover,

I know why you didn't take my stuff, and I know why you didn't take my wives, and I know why you didn't take my children.

Not because it was in your heart to spare the loss to thy daughters, but except God, the

God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou wouldst have sent me away now empty.

God hath seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday night.

So why did Laban spare all of the stuff to Jacob?

Give it all to Jacob? Not because of any goodness on his part, but because the fear of God and the fear of Isaac was with him.

He was afraid of Isaac, and he was afraid of God. Now, it is hard to be a whirling and to be criticized and have all of your faults laid out in front of everybody.

So Laban has to save face. So what does this do?

My daughters, my children, my possessions, my possessions, that's how he refers to everything in this upcoming part.

My daughters, my children, my possessions. But for the sake of my daughters and my children,

I will cede my possessions to you. And the question to bear in mind is, is that the real reason that he's doing this?

So let's go ahead. Laban answered and said unto Jacob, these daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle.

All that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day? Unto my daughters or unto my children which they have born.

So I'm not going to take away all of this stuff from my children and my daughters.

Is that the reason he's doing this? He's doing this because God told him to and because he's afraid of God.

Now therefore, come thou and let us make a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

So they're going to do a covenant. They're going to create a pile of stones as a witness. And Jacob took a stone and set it for a pillar.

And Jacob said unto his brethren, gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap.

And they did eat thereupon the heap. And Laban called it a word that I am not even going to attempt to pronounce.

No, I'm not even going to attempt it. I was going to, but I can't. You can read it.

But Jacob called it Gilead. And Laban said, this heap is a witness between me and thee this day.

Therefore, the name of it was called Gilead, witness. And Mishpah, for he said, the

Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent from one another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters or take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us.

See, God is a witness between me and thee. So what Laban is saying is, when we are apart, when

I'm not here to oversee you and make sure you don't harm my daughters or take another wife or afflict my daughters, and I'm not with you to see it, understand that God is there.

Okay, that's fair enough. And then

Laban goes on to say, and Laban said to Jacob, behold this heap. Behold this pillar which

I have cast between me and thee. This heap be a witness, and this pillar be a witness.

I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me for harm.

Alright, so what is this? This is a boundary, right? This is a boundary pile. This is a boundary between Laban's world and Jacob's world.

Laban is promising not to go into Jacob's world to do him harm, and he is asking for Jacob not to come into his world and do him harm.

The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their fathers, judged betwixt us, and Jacob sware by the fear of his father

Isaac. So they both agreed that they would not go across the border to do anyone harm.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mount, and he called his brethren to eat bread, and they did eat bread, and they tarried all night in the mountain.

So they had a little feast to commemorate the agreement. They ate, and they slept, and early the next morning

Laban rose up and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them, and Laban departed and returned unto his place, never to be heard of again.

That's his last appearance in the story.

Anybody got anything to add? Trouble does keep following Jacob, and why is that?

He earns it. What can he say about us?

Does trouble keep following us? Let me ask the question of myself, and then

I'll answer it. Does trouble keep following me? And the answer to that is yes.

Maybe not the kind of trouble that Jacob had, but trouble. And why is that? Because I earn it.

What keeps trouble from me? When the Lord in his infinite mercy decides to keep it from me.

Because I earn it? No. Grace.

Just grace. Oh, okay.

You're probably right. I probably totally misread that. I was thinking

Laban didn't want to confront

Jacob, partially because he was afraid of Isaac. But you're saying that the thing that was present here was not

Laban's fear of Isaac, but Isaac's trembling when he recognized that he was trying to fork the will of God.

That is a much better clip on that.

I don't think so. And what verse was that? Because I want to put it, but verse 42,

I want to put a little note there. No, I'm just going to highlight it, and that will remind me what it is.

I can do that quicker. All right. Anything else?

In case I live another hundred years and do this again, I will have that in my new notes.

If not, I'll have it in my notes anyhow. Thank you.

Well, it's a little bit early, but John, would you dismiss us with a prayer?

Father, thank you for this time to do it, to teach us things, to reveal good things to us.

Be with us in the name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Well, you guys will be happy to know that the

Thurston's are here, and Brandon is here. He probably just slowed them up.