· Well thank you once again for joining me on this verse-by-verse Bible study podcast, I’m your host Randy Duncan, and in this episode, we’ll be covering Genesis chapter 31, which sees Jacob finally leave Laban’s household, and start his journey back home. This will be the final scene in the relationship between Jacob and Laban. And I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to leave Laban behind and move on.
·
In the last episode we
covered the birth of Jacob’s sons, who will go on to become the twelve tribes
of Israel, as well as Jacob approaching Laban and telling him he was ready to
return home. And now the time has finally come. And so, with that, we begin
chapter 31, which will be a bit longer than usual, but there wasn’t a good spot
to break this into two different episodes
·
1-3 -
Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that
was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this
wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with
favor as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land
of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
·
So,
this chapter begins with Laban’s sons complaining that Jacob has taken all that
was Laban’s and had become wealthy. They see Jacob’s wealth as basically stolen
from Laban. The reality however, is that Laban was the one who agreed to the
wages he would pay Jacob. They sound like many people today who envy and resent
the success of others. Rather than ask Jacob for tips on how to better manage
flocks, or learning from him, they simply accuse him of stealing it from their
father Laban. But this was not true. It wasn’t the reality of the situation.
But people will be people, and emotion oftentimes overrides rationality.
·
There
is an old lawyer’s saying that “If you have the law on your side, argue the
law. If you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. But if you have
neither, pound the table.” Again, sounds a lot like what we see in society
today. It doesn’t matter if your position is s based in reality or not, if I
yell loud enough maybe I can get my way.
·
But
anyway, Jacob hears all this. Meanwhile, Jacob also notices that Laban’s
demeanor towards him has changed. So, between both of these, Jacob no doubt
sees trouble on the horizon.
·
And
if Jacob had any doubts about whether or not this was the time to leave, God
takes care of that for him, as He commands Jacob to return to the land of his
fathers. He also reassures Jacob by saying, “And I will be with you”. This also
hearkens back to the episode at Bethel, during Jacob’s journey to Laban’s
house, where God told Jacob “Remember, I am with you”.
·
It’s
interesting, this is the exact opposite of the command God gave to Abraham. God
told Abraham to leave his home and his family, but here, God tells Jacob to
return to his home and to the land of his fathers.
·
But
even more importantly I think, God’s command to Jacob to depart foreshadows the
Exodus, with Jacob, whose name will be changed by God to Israel, leaves a
situation of bondage to return back to his homeland, the land of Canaan.
·
Now
I’m going to read a few more verses together here than I normally do, because
there just isn’t a good break-point.
·
So,
verses 4-16 read…4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the
field where his flock was 5 and said to them, “I see that your father does not
regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with
me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all
my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my
wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. 8 If
he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted;
and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore
striped. 9 Thus God has taken away the livestock of your
father and given them to me. 10 In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my
eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped,
spotted, and mottled. 11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream,
‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ 12
And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes
and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and
mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I
am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now
arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” 14 Then
Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance
left to us in our father's house? 15
Are we not regarded by him as
foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. 16 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,
Jacob gathers his two wives and lays everything out to them. Up until this
point, and through all of the children that were born, Jacob has seemed like a
pawn used in the competition between Rachel and Leah. But at this point, he
appears to have finally taken a spiritual leadership position.
·
He
calls both wives out into the field where his flock was, and in his discussion
with them, he exposes Laban’s character. He probably called them out into the
field so that they would not be overheard by anyone else or raise any suspicion.
·
Now
this speech he gives to Rachel and Leah is an important one, because in it, in
addition to explaining all that Laban had done, Jacob also openly proclaims his
faith by giving all credit to God for his blessing.
·
When
Jacob says that Laban has changed his wage “ten times”, that word in Hebrew
literally means, “time and time again”, and so it doesn’t literally mean ten
times, it is used rhetorically to mean “repeatedly”.
·
In
his speech, Jacob says that “the God of my father has been with me”. So even though
Laban has been against him, God has been with him. It brings to mind Romans
8:31 which says “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
·
But
Jacob explains his success with the flocks, and credits the success to God.
Telling them that God has taken away the livestock from Laban, and given them
to Jacob.
·
God
then reminds Jacob that he is the God of Bethel, which is simply God reminding
Jacob about the encounter at Bethel, and of his promise to Jacob that he would
be with him, and would protect him and ensure his safe return to his homeland.
Remember, this encounter was 20 years earlier, when Jacob was still on his way
to Laban’s home after fleeing from Esau.
·
And
God now commands Jacob to “arise, go out from this land and return to the land
of your kindred”. Again, sounds almost identical to what God called Abraham to
do, only in reverse.
·
So
how do Rachel and Leah respond to Jacob’s speech? They agree. They say “Is
there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? 15 Are
we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed
devoured our money.” That Hebrew phrase literally means “to consume money”, and
so they feel like Laban’s cheating of Jacob over the last several years is
equivalent to cheating them, which it is.
·
What
they are saying here is that their father Laban has sold them, used up what was
paid for them. They see themselves sort of reduced to livestock, sold off for a
profit, rather than their father marrying them off. Furthermore, they say Laban
is regarding them as foreigners, as outsiders, which means they would have been
deprived of protection and with no legal recourse. They understand that their
future, and that of their children, depends on the wealth they have now, but
they are afraid Laban will steal that too. IOW, they feel treated as foreigners
rather than as members of the household, and exploited in the same way Jacob
has been exploited by Laban.
·
And so,
they end by telling Jacob “Now then, whatever God has said to you, do”. Many of
us could use that same advice. Whatever God tell us to do, we should do.
·
And so,
they acknowledge God’s blessing, and support the journey back to Jacob’s
homeland. And with that, Jacob prepares to flee from Laban’s home, and return
to his own home
·
Verses
17-21 - 17 So Jacob arose and set his sons and his
wives on camels. 18 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. 19 Laban
had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods. 20 And
Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. 21 He
fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face
toward the hill country of Gilead.
·
So,
Jacob doesn’t lose any time. He gets up in the morning, gathers his family and
all his possessions, and sets out for his homeland. But since he has a large
caravan travelling with him, this trip back home will be much slower than his
trip to Laban’s while travelling alone.
·
It
says that Laban had gone to sheer his sheep. This would have been an ideal time
for Jacob to leave, because the sheering of sheep required a large number of
men working at a great distance from home for an extended period of time. IOW,
Laban and his men are preoccupied and far away.
·
These
verses also tell us that while Laban was away, Rachel went in and stole his
household gods. These household gods were believed to provide household
protection and blessings, and some scholars think there is a connection between
access to the family gods and heirship. So, Rachel may have stolen them for
that reason. And even though she believes in the God of Jacob, she may also at
this point still believed in the power of the pagan idols she grew up with.
There are also reasons to think that Rachel may have stolen them so that Laban
couldn’t use them in divination, maybe in an effort to prevent Laban from
detecting their escape. Or, she may simply have stolen them out of spite. This
may be her way of getting back at her father who stole her away from Jacob,
stole her property and money. So, she now steals his most prized possessions.
·
And so,
events for Jacob have now come full circle. Just as Jacob fled his home to the
safety of Laban’s, now he flees Laban’s for the safety of his homeland.
·
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.”
·
So,
when Laban hears of Jacob’s flight, he sets out right away in hot
pursuit. Laban gathered up his kinsman, and pursued Jacob. This likely
would have been his whole clan, which would have been larger than Jacob’s, and
would have given Laban military superiority.
·
As he
is catching up with Jacob, God appears to Laban in a dream, and warns him not
to say anything to Jacob, good or bad. This was not the first time God has
appeared to someone in a dream and warned them about harming one of his people.
Remember Abraham and Sarah, Abimelech took Sarah, and God explained the
situation to him in a dream. God told Abimelech “Genesis
20:3, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken,
for she is a man's wife.
·
Here,
God tells Laban “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Which literally, means “speaking from good until bad”. This is a figure of
speech called a merism. A merism is a rhetorical device used to describe
something by contrasting its opposites. For example, if you want tell someone
you have looked everywhere for something you have lost, you might say that you
have looked near and far, or you looked high and low. You are expressing the
totality of something through the combination of opposites.
·
And
so here, when God says be careful not to say anything to Jacob, neither good
nor bad, God is warning Laban not to say or do anything to Jacob that will
cause him harm. IOW, leave Jacob alone!
·
V
25 - 32 continue…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.
·
So
here we are, in this climactic scene involving Jacob and Laban. Laban and his
men catch up to Jacob and his family. And Laban starts right away by asking
Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my
daughters like captives of the sword? Wow, the irony here of Laban’s
words “What have you done, that you have tricked me” These are the very words
that Jacob spoke to Laban the morning after his wedding night, when Laban had
tricked him!
·
Laban
then accuses Jacob of stealing his daughters and his gods. Laban is so deluded
that he doesn’t even recognize his daughters as Jacob’s wives. And again, the
irony, as Laban accuses Jacob of stealing Rachel and Leah away like captives in
war, while it has actually been Laban who has treated Jacob like a war captive.
Again, his words ring empty when he complains that he did not get to send them
away with songs and music and a festival, because everyone knew how Laban
treated them at the last happy festival, the supposed marriage of Jacob and
Rachel. Laban’s speech and his accusations here are pure hypocrisy, and Jacob’
and his wives know it
·
And
after telling Jacob that he has done a foolish thing, an obvious attempt to
make Jacob look bad in the eyes of his family, Laban then accuses Jacob of
perhaps the most serious charge- stealing his gods.
·
Jacob
responds by telling Laban, “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.” But Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them.
·
So
rather than just assuring Laban that he did not steal his gods, he makes this
bold and audacious statement. Can you imagine how Rachel must have felt when
she heard Jacob say this? Jacob invites Laban to search for the gods, and if he
finds them, whoever has stolen them will be put to death. Now Jacob obviously
was unaware that Rachel had stolen them. If they were found, Jacob of course
would lose his reputation and would have appeared guilty. But even worse,
Rachel would have perhaps lost her life.
·
Verses
33-35 continue….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 searched 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.
·
So,
Laban wastes no time in going into search for his stolen gods. He searches the
tents, but doesn’t find them. No huge surprise there, that is about the norm
for how men typically look for things! I mean, most of us men can’t look in the
refrigerator and find the ketchup bottle!
·
But
Rachel had placed the stolen gods in a saddle, and then she sat on them. And
when Laban enters Rachel’s tent and begins looking, she says “Let not my lord
be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” IOW,
Rachel tells Laban that she is not going to get up because she is having her
period.
·
It is
Rachel’s condition that prevents Laban from searching the cushion. In this
condition, he cannot approach her, and he can’t possibly imagine that she would
actually sit on his gods in her condition and defile them like that. That would
have been unthinkable to Laban.
·
This
is sort of Rachel’s last bit of retaliation for her father’s treatment. Here,
the younger daughter deceives her father, just as she was deceived by him. And
it also demonstrates that Rachel must not have thought too highly or too much
of Laban’s gods. What she did basically relegated Laban’s idols to the equivalent
of sanitary napkins. Her intentional defilement of his gods demonstrates that
she rejected them and viewed them as worthless. There is a huge difference
between Laban’s idols and Jacob’s God.
·
Verses
36-42 continue…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 searched 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.”
·
So,
it sounds like 20 years of frustration and suppressed anger have finally boiled
over within Jacob, and he basically goes off on Laban. Ironically, although
Jacob’s complaints about Laban were legitimate, he finally goes off, but he
goes off over the one complaint from Laban that was actually valid, that
somebody had stolen his idols!
·
But
Jacob asks, “What is my crime? What is my sin? Show me what you found, and
bring it out for all to see, so that they can judge between us!! In doing so,
Jacob turns the tables, and he goes from being the accused, to now being the
accuser.
·
He
reminds Laban of how over the past 20 years he has done right by Laban in his
handling of his flocks, and even absorbed the losses himself, going way beyond
his actual obligations to Laban.
·
Jacob
also summarizes the 14 years he worked for his wives, and how he endured great
hardship along the way, and during that time, Laban has cheated him time and
time again. And he ends his berating of Laban by saying that if God had not
been with him, Laban would have sent him and his family away empty-handed.
·
V 43-
50 - 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.”
·
Laban
has now been publicly exposed by Jacob, and even still, he responds with an
emotional last attempt to save face by sort of telling Jacob, “All that you
have is mine, and if it were not for me, you would still be a nobody, you would
still have nothing. Besides, how could you think I would harm my own
daughters?” So, Laban is completely dismissing the contracts he made with
Jacob. But more importantly, he is dismissing God’s hand in all of this,
because the truth is that God is the one that has given everything to Jacob.
·
To
Laban, Jacob is nothing more than an indentured servant, and he viewed Jacob’s
children and grandchildren as his rightful possessions. But he also understands
that his options here are limited.
·
And so,
Laban then shifts gears and says “Come now, let us make a treaty together”. By
proposing this, he concedes and admits that he has lost the lawsuit. In fact,
Jacob has no need of a treaty with Laban, God has vindicated Jacob, and so
Jacob has nothing to fear. On the other hand, Laban has been plundered, he is
now the inferior, and now feels threatened by Jacob, which is why he initiates
a non-aggression treaty.
·
In
legal terms, this treaty acknowledges that Jacob is now a separate, independent
social entity of equal status. And this comes through in the description here,
by the fact that there were two stone markers, two meals, two place-names, two
languages, and so forth
·
Even
in his remarks regarding the treaty, Laban doesn’t recognize the irony of his
words, when he tells Jacob, “And if you oppress my daughters” ...When all the
while, the truth is that it has been Laban himself who has oppressed his
daughters
·
And so,
closing out the last five verses of this chapter - verses 51-55 read - -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.
·
So,
the purpose of the stone pillars that were erected were to serve two purposes.
First, they served as a witness to the peace treaty. But secondly, they also
served as boundary markers. They stand as a witness to the agreed upon land
between Israel and Aram. And we see later on in 1 & 2 Kings that this area
was an area of dispute
·
Laban
also says “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us.” So,
Laban has two deities in mind here. Jacob’s God and his god. It is important
here to notice that Jacob ignores Laban’s exact formula, and he swore only by
the “Fear of his father Isaac”, meaning, he is swearing only to his God, not
also to the god of Laban.
·
Erecting
a stone monument and offering a sacrifice were two important aspects in the
treaty-making process. So, Jacob does this. And just as God enabled Abraham and
Isaac to establish themselves as a distinct nation, equal to the Philistines,
he also now enables Jacob to do the same with the Arameans.
·
As we
look back at this chapter, and this entire episode of Jacob fleeing Esau, all
he endured at the hands of Laban, and now that he is set to return home, I
think there are a couple of important things to consider.
·
First,
is the incredible foreshadowing we see in this episode. And what I mean is how
the foreshadowing of these chapters with Jacob point to Israel’s bondage to
Egypt, and then the subsequent Exodus. Both of them flee from bondage, they
leave in response to God’s command to go back to the land of Canaan, they spoil
their enemy of wealth and of their Gods, they are both pursued and overtaken by
superior forces, and they are both delivered by divine intervention.
·
And I
think the other thing to think about here is that whether when he was leaving
his home, on the run from Esau, or now that he will be returning home now that
he has been redeemed, Jacob has never travelled alone. And as you go through
life, neither do you. When things are going great, or when you are in a season
of hardship and difficulties, whether you’re standing on the mountaintop, or
walking through the valley, God is there. You see, Jacob has been redeemed, he
is coming home. And that same promise is available to you
·
Isa
-41- 10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for
I am your God;
·
I
will strengthen you, I will help you, For I, the Lord your God, hold your right
hand;
·
it is
I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” your Redeemer
is the Holy One of Israel.
·
Col
1:13-14 - He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and
transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.