Genesis (Written)

Genesis 31:14-30
Jacob’s Flight

Introduction: Today’s sermon is going to have more historical details and less pictures of things to come than others, but we’ll also see a few things that we can apply to our lives, especially concerning the conduct of Laban, the father of Jacob’s wives.

The Bible gives us stories and we can often take from them lessons about our own habits and conduct. What we do with our lives is ultimately on record, just as these accounts are. Someday, we’ll stand before the Judge of all mankind and be evaluated.

So let’s take today’s story, like all the others, and think on the things that happen. Also, let’s remember that what we’re reading about is the true story of God’s people, how they got started and how they interacted with others. Today, Jacob will begin his trek back to Canaan and towards his family home.

Let’s join him in the trek and learn as we go.

Text Verse: For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. ⁹ For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me. Zechariah 2:8,9

Israel is a people united to each other and to God in a singularly unique way. But Israel is more than a people, Israel is a concept of uniting and restoring God to the people of the world. Jacob has been in a form of exile and will now head home. Israel was twice in exile and twice brought home.

These people are, as Zechariah tells us, the apple of His eye. As believers in Christ Jesus, the true Israel, we become a part of the people of God. By knowing the Genesis stories, we can see God’s hand upon His people and His care for them and we can have assurance that He is also caring for us in the same way. And so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Considered as Strangers

Last week we saw Jacob explain to his wives why he intended to return to Canaan. He had been cheated by Laban, but God watched over and provided for him. Finally, the Lord told him directly that he was to return home. This then is where we start today, with the reply of his wives…

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

At times the Bible says something that needs to be taken in the context of how the words are formed. If I were to say, “John and Tom answered their boss and he said, ‘We’ll have that done by lunch'” we would know that one answered for both because “he” is singular.

This is what happened here. In the Hebrew the verb is singular even though both Rachel and Leah are mentioned. So one of the two is answering for the other, but they both agree. They obviously feel that they’ve gotten a raw deal from their dad.

When they got married, Laban gave each of them only one maidservant when he could have given them more. And to them his attitude since then has been the same. He’s given them nothing and they know nothing else is coming.

Whatever inheritance they otherwise expected will never come, and anything he has will be given to the sons when he dies. They know that they will be entirely excluded from any inheritance.

One thing to think about as we continue on is the minuteness of the details. This is just a regular pastoral family in a world full of people. There were governments stretching from Europe through Asia by this time and there were great empires to the south as well.

And yet for all the kingdoms and kings, the Bible is silent on what they were doing. God’s word and His attention for our learning is focused on this one man, his family, and his struggles in life. Despite all the wealth, pomp, and power of the world’s kingdoms, God has focused on the family of a middle-classed shepherd.

As Matthew Henry says about such an account – “The Bible teaches people the common duties of life, how to serve God, how to enjoy the blessings he bestows, and to do good in the various stations and duties of life.”

But more importantly than even that, these accounts serve two other purposes. The first is that they show us how God called, maintained, and has cared for His people. And secondly they give us pictures of what He will continue to do in the future as He unfolds His plan for the people He will call.

¹⁵ Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money.

Rachel and Leah look back on the past 20 years and reflect on the fact that their father actually sold each one of them for Jacob’s labors. This implies that because he was a hired hand, they too were like hired hands to their dad. As Jacob’s wives, they were in no greater position than he was.

Just as Jacob was a stranger, they are reckoned in the same way. And he didn’t only sell them, but he consumed all the profit he made off of them. In the Hebrew, they repeat the word “eat” – vayokhal gam akhol indicating that he had devoured what he had gotten and continued to devour it even to the present time.

There was nothing left; he had eaten it all, and he was eating away anything that was coming in as it came. Laban is perfectly pictured by Proverbs 30:15 –

The leech has two daughters—
Give and Give!

Laban had two daughters, Rachel and Leah, and he sold them for Give and Give. Laban is the man who doesn’t understand the principles of moderation and prudence. Speaking of the vanity of selfish toil, Solomon tells us this in Ecclesiastes 4 –

Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. ⁵ The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh.

¹⁶ For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.

Jacob had acquired all of his livestock and wealth from Laban’s flocks. These were his wages and what came about was agreed on in advance, even though Laban changed the terms time and time again, it always came out in favor of Jacob. God had blessed him.

But the wives looked at everything they had as their deserved inheritance. In the end, as Matthew Henry says, “God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters.”

Although I’m not one who believes in tithing, we are to give our share in life – to God, to our family, and to the government. I know a CPA who will testify that when a person cheats in one way, they will inevitably lose that same money in another.

What you don’t give to God for what He renders to you, He will remove from you in another way. When you cheat the government in taxes, you will fritter it away in another meaningless way. In the end, being charitable and fair comes with its rewards.

II. Heading for Home

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels.

Once the decision was made, the action is taken. It doesn’t matter how large his camp is, the people are tent dwellers, and they along with all the people and flocks which could have filled a valley could leave it completely empty in just a few hours.

There would be nothing left but holes in the ground where the tent posts had been. At this time, the oldest son, Reuben, is no more than about 12 and the youngest, Joseph, is probably about 6. So all the family gets put on camels and head towards Canaan.

¹⁸ And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

The word “gained” or rakhash is used twice in this verse to indicate that he took only what he had gained. Everything that went with him was acquired by him and nothing was stolen. This word is used only 5 times in the Bible and all are in Genesis.

It is always used in connection with wealth which is either taken into or out of Canaan, by Abraham, Jacob, or Esau. Well see later that he left with enough to give away more than 580 animals as a present. That, along with everything else he had would have made him a very wealthy man after just 6 years of work.

¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s.

While Jacob was preparing the flock to move, Rachel and Leah probably went back home to gather whatever things they had. This was at the time that Laban was shearing his sheep and it tells us that he hadn’t lost everything to Jacob. He still had his own flocks tended by his sons and they were a three day journey away.

While the wives were gathering their things, Rachel stole, as it says, “the household idols that were her father’s.” The word teraphim is used to describe what she took. It’s a word used other times in the Bible. But if you ever want a headache, read the commentaries on what people suppose these teraphim were.

There are as many opinions as there are commentators, and some are very insightful and ingenious. However, it is actually unknown what they were exactly. Later, in verse 30, Laban will call them elohai, or “gods” and so they were probably little figurines like buddhas that people put in their house today; good luck charms.

It is Rachel who stole them and as she is a picture of the New Testament grace, or the Church Age, it’s possible that she did this to show their ineffectiveness to do anything at all and to deliver her father from idolatry.

This thought goes back as far as a guy named Theodoret who lived in the 4th century. A Jewish scholar gives a similar reason – to deliver her father from idol worship. What Rachel will do with them later in this chapter will show us the contempt that she has for them. She certainly wasn’t expecting to benefit from them.

If Laban was a believer in the Lord, as it seems to be, his devotion to Him is divided. What Rachel is doing here is similar to what is called iconoclasm. Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of icons, idols, statues and the like within the church.

Iconoclasm has happened several times in both the Old Testament, such as during the reign of King Josiah, and within the church as well. The Protestant Reformation was one of the highlights of this. People turned away from the open idolatry of the Roman church and back to worshipping God without idols.

However, idol worship is still very strong in the Roman church even today. As an example, the Pope will often issue edicts granting indulgences for prayers to statues of Mary. The last Pope actually went to a shrine of Mary and petitioned her. Let me read  to you the account –

“Benedict XVI placed the world in Mary’s hands during his one-day visit to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples. The Pope’s leading of the Supplication of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, a prayer written by Blessed Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) was one of the high points of this 12th pastoral trip in Italy. ‘We implore you to have pity today on the nations that have gone astray, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they might repent and return to your heart,’ the text of the prayer reads. With the words of Bartolo, the Pontiff turned to Mary, saying: ‘If you will not help us because we are ungrateful and unworthy children of your protection, we will not know to whom to turn.’ In a gesture of filial love, the Pope then offered the Madonna a golden rose.” zenit.org 19 Oct 2008

This is the force of idolatry, even in the world today. The leader of over a billion Catholics supposedly placed the fate of the world in the hands of a dead person, prostrated himself to an image of her, prayed to it, and told it that if it didn’t help us, then he had no idea who to turn to.

I can tell him who to turn to. Turn to Jesus and get off your face in front of pieces of wood and stone. John, in his first letter, after speaking for five chapters about Jesus, the Word, love, light, the truth, and other noble things closes with these words –

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”  1 John 5:20-21

Never, not once, does the Bible ask us to direct our thoughts, our attention, or our eyes toward any person – living or dead – except Jesus. Praying to Mary, the saints, or any person or thing other than to God through Jesus is both inappropriate and a violation of the message of the Bible.

This is what will bring about the wrath of God on an unrepentant world. It is no less than an abomination. This is what Rachel was trying to keep her father from – the sin of idolatry.

²⁰ And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.

What is interesting is that a form of the same word, ganab, which was used to describe Rachel’s stealing of Laban’s idols, is used in this next verse to describe what Jacob has done by fleeing. She stole the idols and he stole away, or more specifically it says –

vayiknov yaakov eth lev lavan (3:22) – “Stole Jacob Laban’s heart.”

The heart in the Bible is the seat of understanding, and so this is used as a way of saying that he deceived Laban through deception. However, John Gill sees this in a different way. By stealing Laban’s heart, he says that he stole…

“that which his heart was set upon; not his gods, these Rachel stole away; nor his daughters, for whom he does not appear to have had any great affection and respect; but rather the cattle and goods Jacob took with him, which Laban’s eye and heart were upon.”

John Gill seems right in this. When Jacob left with his wealth, he also left with Laban’s heart.

²¹ So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.

The river here is the Euphrates and people argue over how he could have gotten his family, camels, flocks, and goods over the river. One dubious source said God dried up the river for him to walk over on dry ground.

But getting over the river isn’t a difficult thing to imagine. There have been rope-pulled ferries for eons and there are rope made bridges spanning rivers around the world. There would have been routes of travel that included these or other ways of crossing and the speculation isn’t difficult to think through.

If God had dried up the river, the Bible would have said as much. How they crossed is far less important than that they crossed in a customary way and headed for Mount Gilead and towards Canaan.

I recommend that you read commentaries with a grain of salt.

III. The Perpetual Fountain

²² And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.

In a previous sermon we learned that Laban’s flocks were kept three days journey apart from Jacob’s. This was so that they wouldn’t get intermingled because the color of the animal determined who it belonged to.

Because of this, it took three days for Laban to hear the news.

²³ Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead.

Here is says that Laban took his brethren with him. Because of this, it was probably six days after Jacob left. It would have taken three days to get to Laban, three more for Laban to return to Haran, and then the seven days of pursuing Jacob.

This seems likely because of the distance from Haran to Gilead where they finally meet up. Jacob, traveling with his children and flocks, would take about 13 days to that far. Laban, could do the same distance in seven days. After this time though, Laban finally comes close to him on Mount Gilead.

The meaning of the name Gilead is hard to pin down, but Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names says that it comes from two words – gulla which means “spring,” and ad which means “perpetuity.” And so it is termed Perpetual Fountain.

²⁴ But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”

The translation here makes it sound like Laban can’t say anything at all to Jacob. To speak “neither good nor bad” means you can’t say anything. That’s probably not a great translation. Instead it says, mitov ad ra – from good to evil.

This could be one of two things. Either don’t start speaking nicely to him and then start accusing him of doing wrong. Or it could mean that because God has decided that Jacob should return to Caanan then Laban shouldn’t promise anything good if he will return to Haran and he should threaten him if he doesn’t.

God has made the decision and so Laban needs to not speak from good to evil concerning the matter.

²⁵ So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.

I’m not sure why the version of the Bible I use, the NKJV, says “mountains” in these verses because the word is singular. Laban finally meets up with Jacob during his trek home. Jacob is on the mountain and Laban and those who came with him are there too.

²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword?

“As if,,, as if,,, as if I’ve done nothing wrong over the past 20 years.” Laban’s comments to Jacob are as if he were a marauder who had come and stolen his daughter’s away. This was, and still is, a common thing in parts of the world. And the people who do it are the lowest of all.

In 1 Samuel 30, the Amelekites, who were Israel’s great enemies, did this to David. While he and his men were out preparing for battle, the Amelekites came and stole away the families and property. David went in pursuit of them and got everything back.

This is the type of thing Laban is accusing Jacob of. He’ saying he was an outlaw and a kidnapper by what he’s done.

²⁷ Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp?

In an attempt to get the upper hand in the negotiations which are surely coming, Laban says what he would have done if things had gone differently. “Of course I would have thrown you a big party and had a rock concert for you.”

He notes that the fun would have included joy, songs, timbrel, and harp. What he says almost mirrors the kind of celebration the psalmists asks us to give to God. Let me read a portion of Psalm 81 so you can see –

Sing aloud to God our strength;
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
² Raise a song and strike the timbrel,
The pleasant harp with the lute.

One of the instruments, the harp, is mentioned throughout the Old Testament and the shape of it is actually the basis for the Hebrew name of the Sea of Galilee. The harp is a kinnor and the Sea of Galilee is known as kinneret because it is shaped is like a kinnor.

So if you don’t remember anything else from today’s sermon, maybe you’ll remember that the Sea of Galilee is named after an ancient instrument which goes back even before Noah’s Flood.

²⁸ And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing.

When Laban says “his sons and daughters” he is speaking about his grandchildren as well as Rachel and Leah. The term includes them all. Having said this, he probably hadn’t kissed his daughters since the night of their wedding.

He is simply making a show like so many of us do. Everything is nicer when it doesn’t really happen. Have you ever noticed that? We can make up any fancy dream in our head and say it is so because there’s no way to prove it wouldn’t have happened.

However, our delusions are rarely shared with the people around us and Laban’s delusions are still being disbelieved 4000 years later. He is a bag of wind and a man of pretense but no substance.

²⁹ It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’

What he says here is obviously true or he wouldn’t have pursued Jacob at all. It is in his power to harm him, but God wouldn’t allow it. What makes it all the more ironic is the way he speaks to Jacob.

In Hebrew he says yesh la’el yadi laasot immakhem ra –

(4:54) my hand serves me as my god to do you evil.

In other words, “I am my own source of power and I could have done whatever I wanted to you.” But he found out that there is another, greater Power that he had no control over. To get a picture of Laban’s attitude, we can read a similar account in Habakkuk 1 –

They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. ¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty people, whose own strength is their god.” (NIV)

LIFE APPLICATION: He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. ³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

One more thing about this verse is that when Laban speaks to Jacob, he says “the God of your father spoke to me last night.” When he does, he uses the plural word for “your.” What he is implying is that the entire house belongs to God and not just Jacob.

If he wasn’t allowed to do anything to Jacob, he wasn’t allowed to do anything to anyone in the family either. The whole family has come under the covenant care of the God of Jacob’s father. This might seem like trivia, but it’s a rare and singular way of speaking.

This is a lesson which is reflected in 1 Corinthians 7 when speaking about the children of a married couple where one is a believer and one isn’t –

If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

³⁰ And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”

Laban is saying here that he understands the reason for Jacob leaving, which is because he misses his father’s house, but there is no excuse for him stealing his personal household gods. It’s kind of funny if you think about the whole thing.

Laban’s wealth had decreased and Jacob’s had steadily increased over the past six years. Jacob’s family had grown to 4 wives, 11 sons, plus at least one daughter. After all this, Laban’s gods get stolen, which means they couldn’t even protect themselves much less him.

And after that, God speaks to him in a dream and told him not to harm Jacob. You’d think he’d be glad to have the stupid idols gone from his life, but he perversely looks for them anyway. Matthew Henry nailed it when he said, “Happy are they who have the Lord for their God. Enemies may steal our goods, but not our God.”

This is where we have to leave off for today. Each one of us can reflect on some of the things we’ve seen and how we can apply them to our lives. How are we going to deal with the little idols in our life for example.

What are we clinging to that is a substitute for trusting God. Are we reading horoscopes in the morning. Do we have a good luck crystal or a little buddha in our car or on our mantle? These things, like in Laban’s home, don’t help, they only hinder us.

And what about how we speak to others? Do we try to justify our past failures like Laban did by claiming we would have done things differently if given the chance? Laban was a failure at being a father and also being a boss, but that doesn’t mean he had to continue deluding himself.

If we’ve failed others, we can admit it and move on in a new direction, or we can cover things up with excuses and blame. And maybe one more quick thing to think on – Laban intended to do harm to Jacob, but God came to him in order to stop him. Unlike Laban, we now have God’s complete word to us.

He has completely revealed what He expects and so we don’t need dreams and visions. He’s given us the Bible to know, believe, and follow. And He’s given us people who are instructed in it and willing to instruct us – pastors, teachers, and commentators.

Whether you come to Church on the Beach or go somewhere else, make sure that you listen, learn, and apply these things to your life. Unlike Laban, your walk will be grounded and your life will be without excuse or blame. And one more thing before we finish, if you still have a void between you and God, lets get that fixed first.

Jesus is the answer and if you’ve never had a moment in your life where you have voluntarily called on Him, let me explain to you why you should and how you can…

Closing Verse: He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” ¹⁸ They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see,
And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. Isaiah 44:17, 18

Next Week: Genesis 31:31-42 (What is My Trespass and What is My Sin?)  (76th Genesis Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

Jacob’s Flight

Rachel and Leah answered and said to him
Is there still any portion or inheritance for us
Getting anything from our father’s house seems slim
We are considered as strangers, a minus and not a plus

For he has sold us and completely consumed our money
For all these riches which God has taken from our father
Are really ours and our children’s, this isn’t funny
Now what God has said to you, do it without bother

Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels
And he carried away all the livestock and possessions
Which he had gained, yes all of his mammals
Which he had gained despite Laban’s oppressions

And he set to go to Isaac, his father to see
In the land of Canaan after years twenty

Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep
And Rachel had stolen the household idols
That belong to her father, that he did keep
But this would make Laban almost homicidal

And Jacob stole away unknown to Laban the Aramean
In that he did not tell him he intended to flee
So he fled with all that he had not telling him
He arose and crossed the river quietly

And he headed toward the mountains of Gilead
Surely knowing this would make Laban really mad

And Laban was told on the third day
That Jacob had fled and gone away

Then he pursued him with the brethren he had
For seven day’s journey he went
And he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead
Yes, seven days time was spent

But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream
By night and said to him a warning
“Be careful you do not speak in a way which would seem
Either good or bad. Don’t forget this in the morning

So Laban overtook Jacob finally
Now Jacob had pitched a tent in the mountain
And Laban with his brethren pitched plainly
In the mountains of Gilead, the Perpetual Fountain

And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done
That you have stolen away unknown to me
And carried away my daughters in this run
Like captives taken with the sword so brutally

Why did you flee secretly and steal away from me
And not tell me for I might have thrown you a huge party

With joy and songs, with timbrel and harp
We could have all dressed up and looked really sharp

And you didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters
Now you have done foolishly like one of the plotters

It is in my power to do you harm
But the God of your father spoke to me last night
Saying, “Be careful that you speak without alarm
Speak neither good nor bad to Jacob, alright?

And now you have surely gone away
Because you greatly long for your father’s house
But why did you steal my gods this way
Doing this makes you seem like a louse

And so continues the story of Jacob’s life
It is one filled with trials and with strife

And it is the same for all of us
We have trials and tests that shape who we are
How much better if we know Jesus
Trust in Him, at these times is better by far

This word He has given is meant to help our way
And to keep us on a path which is straight and sure
So let’s continue to read it each and every day
And apply it to our lives to help us endure

Thank You Lord for these stories
Which guide us toward our future glories
Thank You above all for our wonderful Lord
Who is shown to us so beautifully in this precious word

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

Genesis 31:1-13
Return to the Land of Your Fathers

Introduction: Jacob left Canaan and spent 20 years in Mesopotamia. Before he left, the Lord promised to be with him and keep him wherever he went. Some sermons ago, we saw that his time out of the land of promise pictures Israel’s times of exile from their homeland.

God, who cannot lie, promised that He would return them to their land. In fact, in Leviticus chapter 26, it’s hinted that there would be not one, but two exiles of the people. Isaiah picked up on that and promised that they would be returned a second time, stating this before they had been exiled even once.

Jeremiah gives us information concerning the duration of the first exile – 70 years. Then Ezekiel gives more information to allow us to know the exact amount of time of the second exile.

The surety of God’s word is realized in the kept promises found there. And because of these promises, which all the world has seen fulfilled, time and time again, we can be all the more sure in the promises which are still future to us now.

This is why prophecy is such an important tool in the Bible and why it is such an important tool in history as well. It affirms the belief of the believer and it is a witness against the unbeliever. The world today, even among Christians, is filled with disbelief at the promises made to Israel.

For the saved Christian, their rewards and losses will be partially based on their treatment of this group of people. For the unsaved, the very condemnation they deserve will be highlighted by their rejection of His hand upon them.

Text Verse: And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. 8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Jeremiah 33:7, 8

Let us endeavor to accept God’s word and accept that regardless of whether they deserve it or not, Israel is back in their land by God’s direction and they will remain planted there because of His promises to them. And so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Jealous of Prosperity

Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.”

This is now approximately the year 2265AM. Interestingly, this chapter begins with jealousy outside Jacob’s immediate family towards him. The last chapter began with jealousy within the family and directed toward Leah –

Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”

This is no mistake and it’s showing us the contrast between the two chapters. Jealousy is actually used both times to bring about God’s purposes. The first time, to build up Israel’s family, and the second time it will precipitate them leaving for Canaan.

Laban’s sons accuse Jacob here of taking away all of their father’s wealth, but this is untrue. Laban actually still had sheep, it’s just that what Jacob has is now so much more than what Laban has.

They are green with envy and accusing him of stealing everything.

We know Laban still has flocks because the original flock was divided 6 years earlier. His sons took the abnormal colored ones and Jacob took the normal colored ones. Laban had plenty of sheep from both flocks as we’ll see later in verse 19.

If Jacob has prospered, it in no way diminishes what they should have earned during the same period. If they had simply been attentive to their flocks and diligent in their work like Jacob was, they would have increased in wealth as well.

But Jacob worked hard and was blessed, which of course brought about their envy. Jealousy is a green-eyed monster and they are jealous. The Geneva Bible says about this verse, “The covetous think that whatever they cannot take, is taken from them.”

The term Laban’s sons use for wealth is the word kavod. It is a word which indicates heaviness. Jacob has become heavy with wealth. But along with the wealth comes something else the Bible warns about – cares and anxieties. Ecclesiastes 5 says this –

“He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. ¹¹ When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes? ¹² The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.”

This is proven true around the world. When people are poor but have enough to sustain them, they are generally content with life. But as wealth increases, we worry about our things. We put locks on doors and alarms on our cars.

We worry about dust on the shelves and whether or not the pillows on the couch are properly aligned. If our neighbor buys a new TV, we buy a bigger one. We worry over the things we have to the point that we lose sleep thinking about them.

Solomon wrote those words about 3000 years ago and they ring all the more truly in the world today. As wealth for the masses has increased, worry over our stuff has led to a world full of neurotic people who rely on pills to take away their worries.

² And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before.

Not only are Laban’s sons jealous, but Laban is too. Six years earlier, it was he who had accepted the terms of the agreement which Jacob proposed. And he didn’t only accept them, he jumped at them. They were the delight of his heart when he heard them.

They were an offer too good to be true, but now that things had turned against him, he was sullen. And so the Bible says his attitude wasn’t toward Jacob as before. Jacob was industrious, crafty, and blessed by God in his work and it has paid off for him, but it has resulted in trouble between him and Laban. Ecclesiastes 4:4 perfectly describes the matter –

“Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Envy is such a powerful force that it often leads to murder. The most famous case of envy leading to murder in human history occurred in Jerusalem against a descendant of Jacob. We read about it in Matthew 27.

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. ¹⁶ And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷ Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸ For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

It was so obvious even to Pilate what was going on, that he offered the people an alternative to the decision of the leaders. Their envy had caused them to condemn an innocent man. Who would have ever imagined that their condemnation led to the only thing that could ever lead to their salvation.

The amazing work of God is never more evident than in the life of His Son, including the envy that those He walked among used against Him.

³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

This is the first time that the term Lord, or Jehovah, has been mentioned since two sermons ago. During the last sermon, which pictured the growth of the church, the term “Lord” wasn’t mentioned at all.

Now He reenters the narrative to speak to Jacob. “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.” The Lord knows the right time for all things, including the movement of His covenant people for His covenant purposes.

This passage then is certainly a picture of the return of Israel to their homeland. We can back up now to verse 1 and see that the jealousy of Laban’s sons is a picture of the jealousy of the world at the prosperity of the Jewish people.

The exact same terminology that they used is used time and time again by people of the world. We hear it all the time even now – “The Jews have taken away all that is ours and from it they have acquired all their wealth.”

The world goes from the attitude of Laban’s sons to the next attitude, that of Laban. Their countenance changes towards the Jewish people because of jealousy and they no longer turn their faces towards them. And what is the result?

Seizing what they have earned, growing hostility towards them, and eventually either exiling them or killing them. It is the theme of the book of Esther during the first dispersion and it has been seen again and again and again in the past 2000 years, culminating in the Holocaust and the Russian pogroms.  As Proverbs says –

Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent,
But who is able to stand before jealousy? Proverbs 27:4

Despite the conflict and despite the situation, the Lord’s words to Jacob are reflected twice to the people of Israel, after both the Babylonian and then the Roman exiles – “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

Before we move on, I want to ask, do they deserve being returned to the land? Do the people Israel merit what God has given them? No. I was watching an episode of House recently and one of the characters was a Jewish guy who was in the porn business.

This isn’t uncommon, nor is it uncommon that many Jews are entirely secular or who follow any of countless religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, or whatever. I know Jews that have carved idols in their homes that they think somehow bless.

I could go on, but is this deserving of God’s favor? The answer is “No.” So why has God reestablished them as a nation once again? The answer is found in Ezekiel 36 –

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. ²³ And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.”

The reason this has happened is because they bear His name; they are His people and He will be glorified through them, whether they acknowledge it now or not. In fact, He says they have profaned His name among the nations, something they continue to do to this day. But God is faithful to His unfaithful people.

The time has come. The description of the land found two chapters later in Ezekiel could only be speaking of modern times. The prophecies have never been fulfilled in the past and anyone who can’t see this is either deluded or an anti-Semite, or both. Just as Jacob was returned, so is Israel today. And time marches on…

After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. Ezekiel 38:8

II. Unfair Treatment

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock,

Make a mental note that Rachel is placed first in this verse. Even though she is the second wife, she is the beloved of Jacob and also the one who pictures grace rather than the law. Rather than going back to the camp, he called the two of them to the field. His flight is going to be in secret and so secrecy will be maintained.

Plus, by staying away from the camp, he would avoid meeting up with Laban’s family which, by this time, could actually turn bad. The Lord has directed him to move and he will do so carefully.

⁵ and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.

Here in the fields and among his flocks he notes that their father isn’t looking favorably at him any more. He is worried about what will occur between them and what has already come between them – which we’ll read about in a minute.

Despite what has happened though, he says that the God of his father has been with him. The same God who lead Abraham and Isaac isn’t limited by boundaries. Jacob might not be in the land of promise, but he is still under the covenant care.

This is no less true with Israel during their exiles. They may have been outside of the covenant graces, but not outside of the covenant care. Exile to them occurs because of disobedience, but even in exile, God has tended to them and cared for them.

⁶ And you know that with all my might I have served your father.

Jacob didn’t just serve Laban for the past six years, but for twenty full years now. The first seven years were for Rachel and that should have been the end of the matter, but then Laban deceived him and it meant another seven years of work.

If he was a crummy worker, Laban would have just given him Rachel and that would have been it. But he worked so well that Laban got seven more years of work from him. If he had slacked off during the second seven years, he never would have hired him after the agreement was up. But he did.

When he did, he said that the Lord had blessed him because of Jacob’s work. The last six years were no different, except that the blessings went to Jacob and not Laban. And once again we see the same pattern in the Jewish people among the nations.

They move in and bring prosperity to those around them. Eventually the area benefits from their work too and their efforts promote the society’s welfare. There is nothing wrong with this.

But eventually they, like any hard working citizen in America today, get penalized for their labors. What is earned through industry is envied and taken by the lazy and wicked.

⁷ Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.

Time and time again in the Bible, the term “ten times” or the number 10 is used as an idiom meaning “numerous.” It indicates a fullness of times. In the case of Laban, whenever Jacob’s flock began to grow, Laban would change the rules of his wages.

This verse here shows the gracious nature of Jacob because he could have stood on and demanded the original agreement. However, he allowed Laban to roll right over him. This is the same thing that has happened time and time again to the Jewish people as well as to conservative, hard working Christians.

In America, our wages are changed anytime the government needs more money. They simply break whatever promise they made and raise taxes or pass another fee. The ones who suffer the most are those who work the hardest and are the most diligent. Again, we can turn to Ecclesiastes 5:8 to see this truth –

If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them.

With every new level of authority over a person comes another level of oppression and perversion of justice. Jacob had only one level above him and yet he felt the injustice of it.

Laban’s attitude towards Jacob is a picture of what has happened throughout history – the mistreating of God’s hardworking people out of jealousy and an inability to demonstrate self industry.

However, when a person knows where their blessings come from, they know that whatever another does to harm them is temporary.

Jacob the deceiver of his father is deceived by his own father in law and yet God protected him in the process. His faithfulness has testified to his state before the Lord and he has prospered.

⁸ If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked.

This shows the direct providence of God over the flocks of Jacob. We have to go back to the previous chapter to see what the original terms were. There it said, “…every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”

The original agreement was that all of the abnormally colored flocks would be Jacob’s. However, it quickly became apparent that the majority of the new births were abnormally colored. So Laban changed it to only a portion of them – such as the speckled.

The next season, only speckled would be born and so Laban would say, “Ok the speckled will be mine and the spotted will be yours.” The next season, they would come out all spotted. This then shows that there was more than just genetic engineering on Jacob’s part.

What is happening here goes back to a thought in the previous sermon which I have to explain now. The flocks of Jacob are a picture of the people of the church, selected by God and who are marked in a unique way to identify them.

I said then that the external markings of the animals cannot be equated with circumcision in the flesh. Laban continuously changed the terms and so the markings must be pointing to a different type of marking – the sealing of the Holy Spirit.

This is an internal identifier and not mere circumcision, which is only an outward sign. This is important to understand, because the flocks Jacob obtained were pointing to the true people of God – both Jew and gentile – who are selected by God as His people. We’ll see this more clearly in a few verses.

No matter though, the colors always came out to Jacob’s advantage and thus it had to be by God’s providence. Laban was too blinded to see this. We as humans are likewise too blinded to see God’s blessings on His people – be it Christians or Jews. The world envies without thinking.

One point to be made is that Jacob never tells his wives about his own methods for increasing the number of odd-colored flock. But this doesn’t imply he was hiding anything. What is true and you can go look in the mirror to see it, divine help in no way excludes self help. In fact, they compliment each other.

When we sit around waiting for God’s miracles, we very well may be wasting the very miracles He is waiting to give. The blind man on the roadside who wanted Jesus to heal him didn’t just sit there and hope He would come over and do it. Instead he acted –

⁴⁶ Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” ⁵⁰ And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” ⁵² Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. Mark 10

If you want it, He may provide it “through you to you” and not “to you” alone. Don’t sit idly by and expect God to do all the work.

⁹ So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

Whether it was by personal efforts which were blessed by God, or by God’s blessing apart from his efforts, Jacob has let us know that the transfer of the wealth is ultimately by the hand of God. Laban has only himself to blame and Jacob has only God to credit.

Jacob is telling his wives this so that they understand the situation he is facing and what the result of it ultimately must be.

III. The God of Bethel

¹⁰ “And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted.

This verse and the next two are extremely complicated to understand and there are clues in the Hebrew which only confuse scholars more. It appears there are two separate visions, one in verse 10 and one in verse 11 & 12.

The first is thought to be at the beginning of his six years of labor, although some think that it came afterwards. If it was at the beginning, then it was to teach him in advance that no matter what course of action he took, God would bring about his prosperity.

If it is at the end of the six years, it was to show what God had done for him during his years of labor. Either way, the result comes out the same, but it would have made a difference to Jacob. And it makes a difference to us to know the outcome too.

In other words, we can look at this as a lesson directly related to the Bible. God has given us His word in its pages, just like Jacob had a vision. We can look at the word and know the final outcome of what will happen and be assured of it; with absolute confidence.

Or we can look at the word and see what it says God has done for us and we can see how He has accomplished everything so far, and also what we need for our future lives.

So the thought we can make here concerning the Lord’s word to Jacob is either, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Or, “I have built my church and the gates of hell could not prevail against it.”

Either way, the outcome will be the same.  How we perceive the words of the Bible is the most important decision we can make. If it is truth, then what it tells us has been is true, and what it tells us will be is therefore true. We are somewhere along the path of the words it proclaims and moving towards their fulfillment.

One thing to tell you here is that all of a sudden, a new word to describe the colors of the flock comes out in this verse, translated here as “gray-spotted.” This is the Hebrew word berudim.

This color has never been mentioned before. It comes from the word barod. The spots are white like hailstones. The other goats were white with black, but these are black with white.

They are completely new and their introduction is probably to show that no matter what Laban asked for, God introduced something new to show the truth of his blessing to Jacob. In other words, God is in complete control.

¹¹ Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’

This is either Jacob’s second dream, or the internal response to the first. Jacob has a vision where he sees what happened with the flocks. After this, be it six seconds or six years, the Angel of God speaks to him and he answers.

This “Angel of God” is the Lord who spoke to him at Bethel. Therefore it is God; it is Jesus. All are one in this picture and He will identify Himself this way in just a minute. He now confirms the dream that Jacob relayed to his wives just a verse ago.

¹² And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

And sure enough, just as Jacob’s dream showed the mating rams’ colors, the Lord confirmed his dream. The Lord knew that Laban had cheated him and would continue to cheat him, and so He directed the flocks according to His wisdom as the Creator.

Everything that’s happened has been at the Lord’s direction. It is meant as an encouragement to him so that he will commit himself to what he will next be directed to do – return home to the land where his brother is and who once intended on killing him.

God has been watching and God will continue to watch over him.

¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’”

The reassuring words echo back 20 years. Jacob was 77 when he left Canaan. He traveled through Bethel and had a vision where the Lord told him, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

And true to His promise, He has been with him, kept him, and is now directing him back to the land of his birth. The Lord reminds him of the pillar and the vow as well. In essence, He’s saying “I am fulfilling my words to you, now you will fulfill your vow to me.”

Jacob’s time of exile is ending and Israel’s time of exile has ended. God, who is ever-faithful, attends to His people, His family, and His flock.

This is the end of today’s verses and it asks us to think on the things we may have vowed when we were in dire straits. We ask the Lord for help and make promises in the process. When He helps, we need to remember our promises.

Did we promise to give up sex, drugs, gambling, or booze? Then keep the vow. Did we promise to go to church every week for the rest of our lives? It may be painful, but keep the vow. The Bible asks us to pay our vows, whatever they are and we are reminded of that here.

Maybe you’ve never encountered the saving grace of the Lord before. You can do that without a vow. He simply wants you and He wants to be Your Lord. Let me take a moment and tell you how this can happen…

Closing Verse: For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’” Jeremiah 30:3

Next Week: Genesis 31:14-30 (Jacob’s Flight) (75th Genesis Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

Return to the Land of Your Fathers

Now Jacob heard the words of Labans’ sons, saying
Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s
And from what was our father’s, his bills he is paying
He has acquired all this wealth, and us it bothers

And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, it was truly sore
And indeed it was not favorable toward him as before

Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to your fathers’ land
And to your family, and I will be with you – at your right hand

So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah at once
To the field and to his flock to tell the score
And said to them, “I see your father’s countenance
That it is not favorable toward me as before

But the God of my father has been with me
And you know that with all my might I have served him faithfully

Yet your father has acted deceivingly
And changed my wages ten times
But God did not allow him to hurt me
Let me tell you about his crimes

If he said, “The speckled shall your wages be
Then all the flocks bore speckled as he could clearly see

And if he said, “The streaked shall be your wages
Then all the flocks bore streaked, causing him rages

So God has taken away the livestock of your father
And given them to me, to me and not another

And it happened at the time when the flocks conceived
That I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream that I gotted
And the rams which leaped upon the flocks I perceived
Were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted

Then the Angel of God in a dream spoke to me
Saying “Jacob” and I said “Here I am.”
And He said, “Lift your eyes now and see
Direct your eyes toward each ram

All the rams which leap on the flocks you pass through
Are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted
For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you
And the ill treatment that he has plotted

I am the God of Bethel where you anointed
The pillar and where you made a vow to me
Now arise, get out of this land as I have appointed
And return to the land of your family

This is Jacob’s life’s story
The genesis of the people Israel
The people through whom would come the Glory
And it is a marvelous story to tell

Through this family will come our majestic King
The Savior of the world and our glorious Lord
It is to our beloved Jesus we sing
He, God incarnate, the Eternal Word

Thank You O God for this beautiful story
Of the coming of Christ and His majestic glory

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 30:37-43
Peeled Rods in the Watering Trough

 Introduction: Last week we saw the separation of the specially marked flocks from the other solid colored animals of Laban. We saw then, that it was a picture of the Jewish people, who bore the outward mark of circumcision, but who had not been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

They are still a specially marked group of people, but they are not a part of what God will do for a portion of time in human history. This then is the dispensation of grace, the church age, which will be pictured. Remember, the church started with Jewish people.

They are those who had both the external and the internal mark; circumcision of the body and the heart. The others with the external mark only were separated by a three day journey. This was explained as the time from the dispersion of Israel to it’s reestablishment; a period of 2000 years.

A three day journey implies that you start on one day, travel the next, and arrive on the third. During this 2000 year period, God is building a special flock of people, known as the church. He has taken His flock from the people of the world, represented by Laban’s flocks.

However, they are specially raised up by Him and have been tended and cared for by Him as He has strengthened His church. In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the Chief Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd – all implying One who tends to His flocks.

This is the imagery we’re given in Jacob’s tending to his own flocks. At times, Jesus removes those who fail to meet His standards, returning them to the other flock so that they don’t spoil the sheep of His fold.

Remember, during this time, the original specially marked flock is separated and kept by Laban’s sons. They remain a flock and God will someday return them to His fold, but for now, His eyes and His attention are on this called out and tenderly cared for group.

This is the Lord’s beloved church for whom He gave His life and which even now He is building up. Someday they will be taken with Him to His eternal promised land. This marvelous working of His is pictured in the seven verses from Genesis we’ll look at today.

Text Verse: As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
¹⁷ Therefore “Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:16-18

Jacob walked among His flock and tended to them. He kept them separated, the strong from the weak. He was a shepherd and a caretaker of them. The book of Revelation says Jesus does the same thing for us right now during the church age.

It says there that He walks among the lampstands, representing His churches, and removes any which fail to meet His standards. There is nothing unfair or arbitrary about how God deals with His people. He keeps the good ones and rejects the bad.

It is His church and He is building it to be the best it can be, just as Jacob built the best flock possible for himself. Let’s work to be the best of the best of His flock. And… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

Before we get into today’s verses, we should to go back and read the agreement made between Jacob and Laban in the previous verses. This will show us why Jacob is going to do the things he is about to do in today’s verses –

So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: ³² Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. ³³ So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.” ³⁴ And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” ³⁵ So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶ Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

I. A Special Flock

³⁷ Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods.

The set of verses today is curious. There is a lot of speculation as to the ability of Jacob’s efforts to actually produce the results the story claims. There is also the claim that if what he does actually works, then he is being deceitful in what he is doing.

Whether he was being deceitful or not, what he did was ultimately sanctioned by God as we’ll see in the next chapter. God purposed to bless him and indeed he will be blessed. This account is occurring 14 years after his arrival in Mesopotamia, just after he had his vision of the ladder which reached to heaven.

The term for “green poplar” is livneh lach. Livneh is the white poplar and lach implies that it is fresh. “Green” then means the state of the poplar, not it’s type or color. He’s using fresh poplar because if it wasn’t fresh, the bark wouldn’t peel off.

The next tree is translated as almond. It comes from the word luz. Some believe it’s a filbert tree. Nobody is completely sure which it is and people argue over it. The third tree is called the chestnut, but it is probably as other translations state – the plane tree.

The word is armon which means stripped bare, as in a naked person. The plane tree gets its name because the outer bark peels off by itself and leaves the tree bare and smooth in places. This happens year by year. Jacob takes these fresh branches and cuts strips in them to show contrasting colors.

Some people think he may have even made a spiral line on the branches so that they would be partly colored and partly white, thus resembling the mottled colors of the animals he wanted to breed. One commentator says the Hebrew indicates that he didn’t cut stripes or spirals, but instead patches.

This would have the same visual effect as the spirals and show mottled colors. What is being pictured here is most interesting. What we need to do is look at the actual roots of the words used to describe the trees. The first is the poplar tree.

The Hebrew word is livneh, but it is derived directly from the word Laban. This word means white or brick – a brick turning white when it’s fired is the idea one gets. Laban is a picture of the people of the world.

The next tree, which is translated here as “almond” is the word “luz.” This word actually means crooked or twisted. It comes from the verb which means to “turn aside” in a negative way, such as turning aside from wisdom. A couple examples from Proverbs shows us this –

For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord,
But His secret counsel is with the upright. Proverbs 3:32

My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹ Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart; Proverbs 4:21

The third tree is the chestnut, which I said comes from armon; to be naked, but it’s root is the word aram, which is to be crafty or prudent. The word is used this way in Proverbs 15:5 –

A fool despises his father’s instruction,
But he who receives correction is prudent.

Finally, as an interesting tidbit, the word “white” in this verse when he exposed the white in the rods is also lavan. It is the same as the name Laban, his father in law, but it’s being used as an adjective. The idea is that the branches are being stripped bare, as if naked to effect their purposes.

So why are these types of branches mentioned and what is their significance. I have to tell you, I didn’t plan this and I was completely surprised when the same pattern kept coming up time and again. And as a confirmation of it, the same book in the New Testament kept coming up too. It is far more than coincidence.

The flock that is being built is a picture of the church being built by Jesus – we saw that last week. The branches are all picturing, believe it or not, the writings of Paul who is the apostle to the gentiles. This is, after researching these words and then looking to the New Testament for a fulfillment, completely sure.

The first verse which marks out a parallel is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 about himself –

It is doubtlessnot profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. ³ And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— ⁴ how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

This picture of Jacob’s work here occurred 14 years after his vision of heaven and Paul’s letter to the Corinthians follows this same pattern – 14 years. The Bible is very specific about this.

The first of the branches, the poplar, is translated from a word which indicates fired clay. Paul uses the terminology of fired clay or earthen vessels to indicate believers, including himself, when they are filled with the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 4 –

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (jars of clay), that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

The second of the branches is the almond, translated from a word whose verb indicates being crooked. Paul, before his conversion was included in Peter’s word of Acts chapter 2 –

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” Acts 2:40

However, after his conversion, Paul uses the same terminology to describe the people he had left and whom he now warned against –

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. ” Philippians 2:14-16

The third of the branches is the chestnut, translated from a word whose root indicates being crafty or prudent. Paul explains how he wooed the Corinthians to himself and the gospel message –

But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit. 2 Corinthians 12:16

Not only does he say he was “crafty” but he says he took them by deceit, making a pun on the name of Jacob which means deceiver! Paul’s message – his epistles, are what is being pictured in these rods which are building up Jacob’s flock. It is his letters which establish church doctrine because he is the apostle to the gentiles.

God is tying this account of Jacob’s rods directly to Paul, the author of the doctrine for the church. These branches, despite their surface appearance, had to be stripped, they had to be made bare, as if naked in order to have their intended effect. Again to confirm this is speaking of Paul and the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul says this concerning his work –

²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— ²⁸ besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? 2 Corinthians 11:22-29

Paul was beaten with rods, the same word used, rhabdos, to describe the branches used by Jacob in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and in the Greek New Testament. He was also left in cold and nakedness. It was as if he were stripped bare for the sake of the flock.

So here we have a picture of Paul’s testimony being used by Jesus, pictured by Jacob using rods, to bring out a special flock from the world, pictured by Laban’s flocks. This is exactly what we see.

Even Jacob’s words coming up in the next chapter parallel Paul’s trials that we just read. Listen to how Jacob describes his time of working for the flock and see how it resembles what Paul said –

³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹ That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. (Jacob’s concern for the flock; Paul’s concern for the flock)

³⁸ And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink.

After peeling the rods, he placed them in the gutters or watering troughs. There water would be channeled out of a spring into gutter-shaped troughs or carried from a well and dumped into long hollowed out stone blocks so that several could drink at once.

The colors of the branches would vary from white to red depending on the type. The general idea is that when the flocks were in heat, whatever impression was on their mind would be transferred to the body of the fetus when she bred.

A couple of options come to mind. Either that’s nuts and what he was doing had no bearing on the color of the offspring, but rather, God intervened and blessed him with the various colored offspring apart from what he did.

Or second, this method somehow began to affect the genetic make-up of the babies. Or third and more probably, the mottling of the animals is found in a recessive gene. This recessive gene makes it possible for goats to have spots which can be transmitted even though they don’t appear to our eyes, but the genes are still there.

So what is happening is that even though we don’t know which goats have this gene, the goats do and when prompted to mate in front of the cut branches, their inclination is to mate with the goats that have this gene. This seems like a plausible answer and it also fits with the mating habits found elsewhere in nature.

Animals make their selections because God has endowed them with their own wisdom, just as butterflies will travel thousands of miles to a place they have never been simply because they have been endowed with that particular wisdom to do so.

To understand the spiritual side of this verse, we see that the flocks are coming to the water where the rods are. This pictures the people of the world coming to spirituality – maybe picking up their Bible to read. These are the flocks who see the rods in the water.

The water is the word and the rods are Paul’s letters to the church which tell the gentile world about Jesus. Those who receive the message will be converted and become a part of Jesus’ flock.

They will receive the mark which distinguishes them from the rest of the flock; the Holy Spirit, given by God. Just so you know, this isn’t meant that the rest of the Bible isn’t just as important, but it is made clear in the Bible that Paul’s writings are intended for the church during this dispensation.

This is all being pictured by Jacob, while outside of the Promised Land, building up his flocks from the gentile world. Paul is the apostle to the gentiles, and he was specifically chosen by Jesus for this dispensation. We find that recorded in Acts 9 –

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

The fact is that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for doctrine and reproof, but not all Scripture is applicable in the same way at the same time. James and Peter wrote not to the gentiles in the church, but to the Jewish people of the church.

This doesn’t mean those letters aren’t meant for us too, but that they hold a different application than Paul’s. This is what we’re learning from this short and seemingly obscure passage about rods in water.

If the church misses the significance of Paul’s writings, their doctrine becomes convoluted. As long as we keep our theological boxes straight, the plan that God is accomplishing makes much more sense and our relationship with Him is properly aligned.

³⁹ So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

 

Whatever was actually going on in the minds of the goats, they in fact did have streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring instead of the predominately solid colored ones which would then belong to Laban.

One thing is for sure, this actually happened because God’s word records it and it is ultimately because God directed it, even if human means were employed in the process.

This then is a picture of the continuation and growth of the church. The rods are in the water. They are Paul’s words to the church and the water is the word. The flocks are bringing forth young who are marked with the special designation of the church. They are a separate people with a separate purpose in God’s unfolding plan.

II. Come Out and Be Separate

When I chose the text verse for the sermon today, I didn’t realize until later that it was actually from 2 Corinthians, just as were many of the verses used to describe Paul’s effect on the church mentioned above. A portion of the text verse,

“Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” ¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

This is the idea that also came to my mind concerning this particular set of verses, even though I didn’t remember that the quote came from 2 Corinthians until after I had put it here. We are called to be separate from the world and to not be mingled with it. This is the picture we’ll see now.

⁴⁰ Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

There is real wisdom in what Jacob is doing. After the first season, he has begun to get his own streaked animals. He puts them in front of the solid colored ones so that when those feed, the streaked ones would always be in their sight.

Now he could rely less on the branches and more on the actual animals, but he used both techniques in order to continuously have the animals preferring to mate with his. When they are eating and when they are drinking it’s on their mind.

In the same way, we should be meditating on God’s word at all times, even when we’re eating and drinking or laying lazily in the fields. Eventually, he had enough to make his own flock which he separated from Laban’s.

By doing this, they wouldn’t be inclined to mate with solid colored animals and possibly increase Laban’s flocks accidentally. He is keeping his flock uniform and separate while still influencing the other flocks.

The spiritual picture here is that the rest of the world is to look to us – the flock of Jesus, just as Laban’s flocks were set off to look at the specially marked flocks of Jacob, not the other way around.

We are to be the standard by which the world sets its aspirations. The church is to be the ideal and the goal. Jesus has set us apart for a reason. Because of this, for us to get intermingled with the world can only cause us to become like them, not the opposite.

This is why I’m personally so opposed these new seeker-friendly churches. In the end, it only diminishes the distinction of who we are to be. When we lower our standards of separation, the flock suffers. This is exactly what we’re seeing in today’s verses.

⁴¹ And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

Now Jacob adds in a third tactic to increase his wealth. The sheep give birth twice a year – in the spring and in the fall. But there is also a divide in those born in the first part of the birth cycle, closer to the winter, and those later as the spring has progressed.

Those born earlier would be the stronger and heartier of the flock. Those born later in the season would be the weaker ones. The stronger, healthier ones, got his attention and the others were left in Laban’s flock. This again takes us directly to… yes, the book of 2 Corinthians. Paul writes this to us concerning our relationships –

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (6:14, 15)

The stronger of the flocks are set apart by Jacob. Likewise, Jesus wants us set apart as well. Jacob didn’t allow his flocks to intermingle with the flocks of Laban and Jesus sets the same prohibition before us through Paul’s hand.

I can’t stress enough the amazing symmetry between this short passage today about Jacob’s flocks and Paul’s letter of 2 Corinthians. As I was researching this, I was completely amazed at what lay before me. This truly is an amazing passage which I never understood until I prayed about and prepared for this sermon.

Because of this separation, Laban’s flock continued to spiral downward, while Jacob’s got stronger and continued to breed multi-colored offspring. This is seen in the next verse.

⁴² But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.

The flocks have all come from the same place, one original flock of Laban’s sheep. However, they have become separate and distinct flocks over time and the weaker ones are kept separate from the stronger. The weaker ones are kept in Laban’s flocks and the stronger ones belong to Jacob.

Looking at this from a spiritual perspective, Paul writes in both 2 Corinthians 12 and 13 about the contrast between what is weak and what is strong. I want to read you both so that you can clearly see the symbolism of what Jacob did as it is fulfilled in the church –

^“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12

“³…since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. ⁴ For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. ⁵ Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. ⁶ But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. ⁷ Now Ipray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. ⁸ For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. ⁹ For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.” (13)

Our strength and the expansion of the church is wholly dependent on the strength of Christ. Jacob separated what was weak from what was strong and the strong grew and flourished. Likewise, it is only through an understanding of our weakness that the strength of God through Christ is revealed.

Paul asks us to examine ourselves to see if we truly are in the faith. If so, then we are of Jesus’ flock and we’ll be separated and flourish because of the strength He provides. If not, then we will be, as Paul states, disqualified. Think of the picture these flocks are making.

⁴³ Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Through attentive care by the shepherd, his flock has grown so big that he has been able to sell or trade parts of it for all kinds of other wealth – female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

These are the signs of wealth of the time, just as a large company with lots of employees and expensive cars would be today. In the same way, Jesus has become exceedingly prosperous, having begotten many sheep for His flock.

As this is the last verse of today’s passage, I thought to tie it in with a New Testament verse. One came to mind immediately and I went to find it, knowing the verse, but not where it was. When I got it, I was just as astonished at it as I was throughout the entire sermon.

This is the verse and yes, it comes from the same book of 2 Corinthians. Tell me it doesn’t perfectly mirror the verse I just read about Jacob –

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

Jacob left Canaan and became poor, not accepting anything as wages except His brides and the fruit of his flock. Jesus gave up His glorious heavenly home to come and dwell among us. He procured His bride. Through the fulfillment of the law He established a church without spot or wrinkle.

By His work, administered through Paul to us, He obtains the fruit of His flock – a called out group of gentiles. Though He was rich with heaven’s glories, He became poor. Now with Him we might also become rich and a part of His eternal plan.

So why is this story important. Why Paul’s letters? Explain.

In case you’ve never made a commitment to the Lord, please give me just a couple minutes to explain to you how you can be a part of what God is doing through Jesus.

Closing Verse: Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Next Week: Genesis 31:1-13 (Return to the Land of Your Fathers) (74th Genesis Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

Jacob’s Flock/Jesus’ Church

Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar
And of the almond and the chestnut trees
Peeled white strips in them from bottom to toplar
And exposed the white which was in the rods of these

And the rods which he had peeled link by link
He set before the flocks in gutters to deceive
In the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink
So that when they came they should conceive

So the flocks conceived before the rods, and yes they begotted
And the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted

Then Jacob separated the lambs by their stock
And made the flocks face toward the streaked
And also all the brown of Laban’s flock
But he put his own flocks alone as their genes he tweaked

He did not put them with Laban’s flock
He kept them apart, maintaining the purity of his stock

And it came to pass in this plan so wise
Whenever the stronger livestock conceived
That Jacob placed the rods before the eyes
Of the livestock in the gutters. Who would have believed?

That they might conceive among the rods
And that his flock would increase against all odds

But when the flocks were feeble then no longer
Would he put them in the gutters
So the feebler were Laban’s and Jacob had the stronger
The story is before us and wisdom it utters

Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous
And had large flocks and female and male servants too
And camels and donkeys, it’s not preposterous
It really happened because God blessed his work, it’s true

And as we see, this story pictures the church
Those who are the flock of the Lord Jesus
Throughout the world His Spirit does search
And by His grace He does transform us

Through the writings of Paul, His apostle to the gentile
A flock is being readied, day by day and mile by mile

The message is bringing about that wondrous change in us
And molding us into a people special to our Lord Jesus

And so while He transforms us let us remember to give Him praise
And to live our lives in holiness and honor Him all our days

Great, glorious, and splendid God above
Thank You for Your indescribable Gift of love

He is our precious Lord whom You gave to us
And so let us ever proclaim the glorious name of Jesus

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

Genesis 30:25-36
To Build a Flock

 Introduction: In fourteen years, Jacob had gone from a man with no wife to a man with four wives and 12 children. But the wages of his work went to pay for the wives. He had nothing left over to provide for his family.

In today’s story, it’s not yet time for him to return home, or God would have made sure that is what would have happened. But if he is going to stay, he will need to build up his flocks in order to care for his family. Because he is staying God must intend for Jacob’s life to continue to be used as a picture of something else.

Time and time again, God is directing these things and using what happens to show us larger pictures of wondrous things that He will do later. In the book of Acts, at the establishment of the church, things started out small. There were a few followers who stood out from the rest and were separated by God to begin the work.

It looked as if the odds were against it, but in Jacob’s story today we will see hidden pictures of how what seemed improbable was actually the genesis for something great, just as it was at the founding of the church.

Text Verse: And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”2 Corinthians 6:16

There are two overall groups of people mentioned in the Bible, Jew and gentile, but there is only one true group of God’s people, those who live by faith in God and His word. They come from both Jew and gentile and they are being built into a flock by the Great Shepherd. We will see this pictured in today’s passage and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. A New Agreement

²⁵ And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country.

It is now the end of the fourteen years of labor for which Jacob was indebted to serve for his family. To understand the timing, we have to go forward to the next chapter and see Jacob’s words to Laban –

Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock… (31:41)

At the time of this verse then, Jacob is 91 years old and it is the year 2259AM. This means that in just seven years, Jacob has had at least 12 children born to him, 11 sons and a daughter. Because he worked the first seven years before getting married to his first wife, all of this family has come in the second 7-year period.

Joseph is the last son to be born out of the land of Israel and the full term for the bride price, 14 years of labor, is complete. Jacob wants to return home and start his life in the land of promise. He has every right to leave without permission, but as a courtesy he goes to Laban and asks for his leave.

²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”

Again for the second time, Jacob is being gracious to Laban. Instead of saying that he is taking his wives for which he worked, plus his children who are his alone, he makes the petition as if everything belonged to Laban and that his service should be sufficient to get them release.

In fact, it was the terms agreed on that he had met and so permission isn’t needed at all. Instead, the debt is paid and he could simply pick up and leave. It may be that Jacob is actually looking to stay and work, but doing it in a way that will make it look like it is Laban’s idea.

²⁷ And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.”

In this verse, we have what is known as an aposiopesis. He says, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes…” What he is actually saying is, “Then stay.” An aposiopesis is a figure of speech which is deliberately left unfinished.

By doing this, the ending is supplied by the imagination and it gives the impression of either unwillingness or inability to continue. A common example that we use all the time is, “Stop it, or else…” Or else what?

Laban’s response is like, “Ok, ummm… If it’s not too much trouble then…” And then he explains himself, “ for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” The NIV and other versions translate it differently, “I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

The word Laban uses is nikhashti. It means either to observe closely or to practice divination. It’s the same word that Joseph will use when he tells his brothers that the cup they stole is the one that he used for divination when he is the vice reagent of Egypt.

It’s hard to tell if Laban is claiming that he actually used divination or that he merely observed Jacob’s hard work and understood what an asset he was. This second option is probably correct because he says that the Lord, Jehovah had blessed him because of Jacob.

One truth which can be found here is that worldly men, like Laban, are often the recipients of blessings because of the hard working people around them. One thing they often lack though, but which Laban figured out, is actually discerning where the blessings came from and admitting it.

In other words, the people of America have been abundantly blessed by the presence of Christians and Jews who are generally honest, hard working, and the ones who keep society working properly. But as the years have gone by, the non-Christians and non-Jews have increasingly forgotten this.

The same is true with Israel. It was a wasteland and a garbage heap until the Jews moved back and reclaimed the land, restoring it to usefulness. However, now that this has been done, those who live there want nothing more than to have them out.

After the rapture, the world will be left to turn into a state of chaos and hopelessness. And for each area of land that the Jews return to the Palestinians, that land will cease to be productive and beneficial to those who receive it.

When this happens, they will only direct their greedy eyes to take the rest of Israel as well. If nothing else, Laban has seen the source of his blessing in the hard work of Jacob and has noted it to him.

²⁸ Then he said, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.”

Laban certainly knows the value of Jacob and he also knows the piety of him. When he says, “Name your wages and I will give it” he knows in advance that it will be less than Jacob is worth. He believes he will come out on top by making this offer.

II. My Righteousness Will Answer For Me

²⁹ So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me.

In response to Laban’s offer, Jacob stands first on his integrity. He will use it as the benchmark of his offer and request from Laban. He’s asking Laban to reflect on the state of his wealth from the time he arrived until now which is a result of his work.

“This is the standard of my work for your daughters and this is what you can expect when I work for something of less value.” He is basically saying that the amount he could set as his wages could be huge and it wouldn’t harm Laban at all. He is resetting the tone to show he has the upper hand and he continues to show it…

³⁰ For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you since my coming.

Jacob’s words stand as testimony of the truth they convey. If what he said wasn’t true, he couldn’t make the claim. If I were to say to the church here, “You know how hard I worked at the sermons on the book of Exodus” the words would testify against me.

We aren’t in Exodus yet. It would be crazy to say something to that was blatantly false to someone who knew better. If I said, “You know how many months it’s taken to get to Genesis chapter 30” then my words actually testify to the truth of the matter. You have been here week after week to validate the statement.

Jacob uses two terms which verify his part in Laban’s amassed wealth. The first is yiprots. It means broken forth. The flocks of Laban have increased so much that it is as if they’ve broken out like a dam of water being released.

He then says, “since my coming.” This is the word l’ragli and it means “at my foot.” “Since my foot came to your door, you have prospered, even to the point of breaking forth.” If this wasn’t true, he’d be refuted as a liar. He won’t be.

When Jacob met Rachel at the well 14 years before, she tended a single flock. This was probably all the flocks he possessed and being a young girl, it probably wasn’t a very big flock. It calls to mind the words of Jesus when speaking to the people of Israel who were faithful believers in Luke 12 –

³² “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jacob is using his words prior to making his offer to show that it will be both fair and trustworthy. It is a claim of future results based on the truth of past performance.

^{30 (con’t)} And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?”

Ok Laban, you’ve allowed me to set the wages and I have shown you my value. What I set will be exactly appropriate to the state I am in. I have four wives (oh my… four wives!) and 12 children to take care of. When I give my price, it will have that in mind…

³¹ So he said, “What shall I give you?”

Laban has heard Jacob’s appeal and his answer here proves everything Jacob just said. There was no note of denial. What Jacob stated was true and accurate. Laban’s wealth had increased because of Jacob. He restates his offer, “What shall I give you?”

^{31 (con’t)} And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything.

Jacob’s answer is definite. He doesn’t want anything new or anything from Laban. Instead what he will propose will be something that is exceptional rather than expected. It will be hoped for as well as hard-worked for. It will be uncertain and yet it will be unconditional.

^{31 (con’t)} If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks:

Although there is nothing you can give me, there is something you can do for me that will keep me around. Albert Barnes notes that there is an elegance in the original Hebrew – asubah ereh sonekha eshmor – “I will return, I will feed, I will keep thy flock.”

Jacob had already made up his mind to leave and the permission he had asked for was his notice of resignation. To him and thus to Laban, it was already done and so from that point on you can see how the conversation has been a reinstatement, not a renewal.

³² Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages.

Jacob makes what would otherwise be an incredible offer. He is proposing that all of the sheep that are speckled or spotted of the flock, and all of the brown among the lambs, and all of the spotted and speckled of the goats be taken out.

These were the unusual, not the norm; they are the rare occurrences. The usual colors would be white among the sheep, and the goats black or dark brown. Moreover, by taking out the unusual ones, the ones left would be more likely to breed and have offspring which resembled them.

So the norm would be to have more normal colors, not more unusual colors. Anything that was hereafter born, from this point on that was out of the norm, would be his. Because the rare ones are taken out now, there would be none at all in the flock.

It seems to be an odd proposal and of little benefit to Jacob, but he knew what he was doing, either understanding it because God told him, or something that he knew from caring for flocks in the past, that it would be the right course and it would succeed.

Only if something abnormally colored was born in the future would it belong to Jacob. Everything else would be considered as Laban’s. It is a deal which seems beyond imagination and Laban will be overjoyed at the prospect…

³³ So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”

By taking out the abnormally colored animals now, anything which was born abnormally colored in the future would testify to his righteousness; it has been acquired by the hand of Providence. Whatever God gives which is out of the normal will belong to him.

If nothing has the special mark, then God withheld the blessing from Jacob, and if all of them are born with it, then God had blessed him. And every one of them which is born normal would be, as he terms it “considered stolen.” In other words, Laban could walk up at any moment and say, I am taking this; it is mine.”

To ensure that it was a deal beyond reproach, Jacob uses a phrase which means that the terms would be immediate. He says “in time to come” using the Hebrew b’yom – tomorrow. Any animal that is normally colored, starting tomorrow, is to be claimed as Laban’s.

The deal weighs so heavily in favor of Laban that he responds immediately and with the joy Jacob knew would come…

III. Come Out From Among Them And Be Separate

³⁴ And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!”

The deal is the most unbelievable stroke of luck that Laban ever heard. So much so that he exclaims “Oh that it were according to your word!” He can’t believe Jacob will live by what he has said.

To him, it was getting Jacob for next to nothing. All of the odd colors are being taken out and so none are left. All the normal colors are his and will be tended by Jacob for nothing. And when mating season comes, they will all breed with other pure colors.

None, or very few of the offspring should come out odd colored and so every new one will belong to him too. They will all be tended by Jacob for nothing. He is being handed a bar of gold on a golden platter and he gets to keep the platter too.

³⁵ So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

It is Laban who removes the goats and gives them to his sons, not Jacob. Jacob’s oldest son is Reuben and he’s only 7. In other words, Jacob has deferred the separation to Laban. Not only was he fair in his offer, but he is making sure that Laban alone is in charge of the selection of the offer.

This is basically the mother’s wisdom who allows one child to cut the cake in two and then the other child chooses which piece he wants. By doing this, the cutter will use a magnifying glass to make sure the cut is perfect. Laban couldn’t cheat himself and so Jacob’s flock will be perfectly fair.

After separating the odd colored ones, Laban gives them to his own sons to tend and keep. There are now several shepherd’s of Laban’s flocks, but God previously promised to bless the work and the increase of Jacob.

Therefore, the offspring of Jacob’s flocks which God chooses and which involve Jacob’s efforts, will become Jacob’s.

³⁶ Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

After taking out the flocks which would otherwise benefit Jacob, Laban then puts a 3-day journey between them and Jacob’s flocks. By putting such a distance between the two of them, there would be no chance of them meeting up and mixing.

If they did, then the offspring of Jacob’s flocks would more likely bear odd-colored ones. Laban made sure this won’t happen. There is a separation between them and so Jacob is now at the providence of God and his own resourcefulness to build up his house.

Now that we’ve looked at the surface of the story, the historical and cultural aspects of what happened, we need to ask ourselves, “Why is this story here? What is it that God wants us to see?” The answer is Jesus and His work. Here is the Light –

This is, to me, a hard analysis to give. I have a great love for the Jewish people and Israel and an understanding of their importance in the future. However, there is something that I cannot deny. If they were obedient to God, they would not have been exiled nor would they have been separated from Him as a people.

This is the blessing and the curse of the people of Israel. What today’s story is telling us is a picture of this and a picture of the growth of the church during their exile. Jacob wanted to go back home, but it isn’t time for that yet. His time of exile isn’t complete.

It’s evident though that the people of the world, pictured by Laban, has been blessed by them. The presence of the people of God brings a blessing and so he asks them to stay. Jacob has been in charge of Laban’s flocks and they have grown.

In order to stay, he sets his terms. All of the curiously marked animals will be his pay. All of the others will belong to Laban. In the world of the Bible, there are two distinctions – Jew and gentile. The Jews have a special mark or distinction which separates them from the others – circumcision.

Jacob however doesn’t ask for them. In fact, he asks for them to be taken out of the flocks he tends. They cannot be a part of what he is proposing and so they are separated by a distance of 3 days. However, their offspring who bear the mark will be his wages.

The physical mark isn’t the only thing that makes them Jacob’s or all with the mark would be his. Rather it is the ones which come by God’s providence that are his. In this then, we see the true people of God who bear His mark – the Holy Spirit.

Remember who originally showed up with Laban’s flocks at the well when Jacob arrived, it was Rachel. She pictures God’s grace, not the law.

Those who belonged to God before Jacob arrived were there by grace, just as those Jews who believed before Jesus’ arrival stood by God’s grace through faith, not by observance of the law. Leah who pictures the law didn’t tend the flock due to her weak eyes, just as the New Testament explains in the weakness of the law.

The true mark belongs to Jew or gentile and it is what allows one to become a part of the flock of God. The others who came before are separated from the flock. These are those Jews who have the external mark of circumcision, but who rejected Jesus.

Remember, Jacob was going to leave. His staying is under a new contract. His work for his wives was done. Likewise, Jesus’ work was done, and so a new contract, not a continuation of the old, came about – a New Covenant.

This will be proven true when we see that Laban will later change Jacob’s wages. By doing so, it will prove that the outward mark is not what makes one a part of God’s elect. As denominations add in some type of work for salvation or some precept from the law, pictured by Laban changing the wages, it doesn’t change the promise or the providence of God.

God is looking at our hearts and our spiritual condition, not external works. Like the Jews who rejected Jesus, those who have the external mark, but not the true mark are separated. They are left to the world. This is exactly what Paul speaks about in Romans 2 –

²⁶ Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷ And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? ⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹ but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

After saying this, towards the end of Romans 3 he says this –

²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. ²⁹ Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ³⁰ since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

All of this is being pictured by the separation of these animals. The specially marked flocks come about by God’s grace, the others which are marked, but only outwardly have been removed from the grace of the true flock. This is seen in Romans 9 –

²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? ²⁵ As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” ²⁶ “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

This short story today actually takes an understanding of the entire New Testament, not just Romans to fully grasp. God is building a church of specially marked people – those marked with the Holy Spirit. They are the spiritual descendants of the people God, the people Israel.

A three day journey was placed between the two though to keep them separate while the flock of Jacob was being built? This is a separation of those who have the mark but are not God’s and those who will have the mark and who are.

What is that three day journey. Why did God include that? The answer is found in Hosea chapter 6 and Luke chapter 2. But before we read that, we need to see Paul’s words in Romans 11 –

²⁵ For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; ²⁷ For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

There is a time when the people of Israel will again be brought into the fold. We are now there in history. Let’s go to Hosea 6 –

Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. ² After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. ³ Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. Hosea 6:1-3

The Bible says a day to the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Hosea is saying that the people who were removed from favor for disobedience will return to the Lord and that it would be after two days and on the third day. Guess what, that is now – symbolized by the separation of the flocks.

They are back in the land after “two days” or two thousand years. It is the dawning of the third day. The story in Luke of Jesus when He was 12 tells us this. Listen and see –

⁴¹ His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. ⁴³ When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His motherdid not know it; ⁴⁴ but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. ⁴⁶ Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. ⁴⁸ So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” ⁴⁹ And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

Jesus never left the true Jerusalem. His people, His family did. They will return to Him, not the other way around and it will be on the third day. When they return to Him, He will appear to them. Israel will be brought back into the graces of God and they will find Him in the temple where He will reign for a thousand years.

A final point about Israel, although the flocks picture the people of God, there are still Jacob’s children who are living with him. They picture Israel in the family of God and the focus on them as the people will be seen in future sermons once again.

This is the continuing story of the work of Jesus through various groups of people at various times in history. These stories are given to show us small snippets of the broader panorama of God’s work in the world.

I hope you’ll take time to read the entire books of Romans and compare it to the story we looked at today and that we’ll complete next week. There you will see wonderful patterns which are so intricately woven into God’s word.

If you want to be a part of this great unfolding story as well, it can be yours. You can come to be one of God’s chosen flock and it is by a mere act of faith in Him and what He has done. Let me tell you how this can happen…

Closing Verse: “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” ¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”2 Corinthians 6:17, 18

Next Week: Genesis 30:37-43 (Peeled Rods in the Watering Trough) (73rd Genesis sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

To Build a Flock

It came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, you see
That Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away
That I may go to my own place and to my country
It is time for me to go, yes this very day

Give me my wives and my children too
For whom I have served you, and let me go
For you know my service, my work for you
Which I have accomplished, yes you know

And Laban said to him, “Please stay
If I have found favor in your eyes spare me this ache
For I have learned by experience until this day
That the Lord has blessed me for your sake

And now when shall I also provide for my own house?
So he said, “What shall I give you? Not another spouse?

And Jacob said, “Nothing to me shall you give
If you will do this thing for me
I will again feed and keep your flocks as they live
Let me pass through all your flock today, as you watch closely

We will remove from there all the speckled
And the spotted sheep, this we will do
And all the brown ones among the lambs
And the spotted and speckled among the goats too

These shall be my wages
So my righteousness will answer for me
In time to come and in the Bible’s pages
The subject of my wages will be plain to see

Every one that is not speckled or spotted
Among the goats, and brown among the lambs
Will be considered stolen, yes ill-gotted
If it is with me, under the care of my hands

And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!
I simply cannot believe the thing that I’ve just heard

He removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted
All the female goats that were this way he took also
Every one that had some white in it from the flock he gotted
And all the brown ones among the lambs, they all had to go

And he gave them into the hand of his sons
Then he put between himself and Jacob three days journey
And Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks, the remaining ones
It was a fairly rendered deal, as you can plainly see

This story shows us of God’s true elect
Those who are separated and sealed with the Spirit
It was by God’s grace that He did select
And by faith in Him we receive this gift, by Christ’s merit

And so we cannot boast in our state before God
But only be thankful, and in uprightness should we trod

We to our God alone shall give all our praise
And on streets of gold we shall honor Him for eternal days

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Genesis 30:14-24
God Has Taken Away My Reproach

Introduction: The word “reproach” can be used in a few ways. It can be something active, such as when someone reproaches another person or God. The king of Assyria sent messengers to reproach the name of the Living God and God turned around and destroyed 185,000 of them in a single night. Lesson there…don’t reproach God!

The word can also mean that someone feels blameworthy about something or ashamed because they have done something wrong or because they are somehow deficient. I know that the Japanese people feel reproach over having entered into and then lost the second world war.

They carry the reproach of what happened, of the allegiance they put in a person they thought was a god, of the unconditional surrender and the subsequent occupation. Many still feel the reproach as they have to rely on the US as their defender. They are a nation with a complex, but they’re not alone.

Rachel felt her own reproach. She was barren and felt the shame of her barrenness. It was a stigma which she longed to end. This is true with other women of the Bible as they perceived in themselves a lack of carrying out the command of God to multiply the race.

To some degree, many of us feel our own reproach. Maybe we have a physical or mental deficiency – real or perceived – that we feel ashamed of. I know a lady who is in her 40s that lives in a culture where being married is of paramount importance and yet she’s never been married. She feels the reproach of this.

I know others who have never been married as well as some who have served time in prison, who have failed their spouse, who have failed their children, who have lost their job, their home, their wealth. All of them have indicated they feel reproach.

In fact, I’d guess that the larger part of all of us have something we feel ashamed about. The good news is that where we are deficient or where we fail, God can shine through all the more brightly in our lives, if we will only allow Him to. In Him there is a release from the values of the world.

In Him there is no wealthy or poor, there is no intellectually smart or incredibly stupid. To Him we are all His handiwork and each one of us serves a good purpose in His plans. To the unmarried – there’s a much better hope than a husband. Isaiah says to the widow, “Your Maker is your husband.”

How much better is that than a man who will let you down, give you grief, and eventually wear out and die from years of life. The Lord is from ever-lasting to ever-lasting. He is a Father to the orphan, a Husband to the widow, the Caretaker of the downtrodden, and the Comforter of the sick and feeble.

He is the covenant keeping Lord who has His eyes upon His people at all times.

Text Verse: “But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend. ⁹ You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: ¹⁰ Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:8-10

Israel has borne their own reproach – both actively as the Lord has chastised them, and passively in the acknowledgement of their sins. The latter is far less than it should be, but one thing I know, when a Jewish person comes to the Lord, there is little else that is as incredible to see.

They understand the reproach they bore in an entirely new context and yet they can identify with His workings in their lives in a completely new way. It is a fantastic thing to see. The story of Jacob having children isn’t yet through and today we will continue to see the formation of a people who will be set apart by God.

Understanding the past, how it came about and how it relates to the present, will also give us a better understanding of the future when Christ returns to dwell among His people once again.

Today’s story includes more children and the taking away of the reproach of one of the four mothers of the children of Israel, Jacob’s beloved Rachel. May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Mandrakes for Mom

¹⁴ Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah.

Reuben is a little boy at this time, maybe around five or six years old. It says that “in the days of the wheat harvest” he went out. This is the May time frame and is around the time of the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost recorded in both Testaments of the Bible.

The wheat harvest is a picture of the gathering of the people in the church age. Pentecost is the time of the giving of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2. While he is out in the fields, Reuben found some mandrakes and brought them to his mom.

A nice little boy with a special treat for his beloved. There is an enormous amount of speculation as to what mandrakes are. Some people claim to definitively identify them as this or that while others deny those claims.

The word here is only used in two other sections of the Bible. Once in the Song of Solomon and once under a different context in the book of Jeremiah. In the Song of Solomon, it says that the mandrakes give off a pleasant fragrance.

In May the fields are full of flowers and so this could fit one of a plethora of plants. Whatever a mandrake is, from the context of the passage, it’s clear that they were thought to promote fertility.

There are several plants in the mid-east which are used in this way, so that doesn’t help all too much, but one good candidate is the alraun or in its Latin form Mandragora vernalis.

These are common and are about the size of a nutmeg and they have a strong but pleasant smell. Apparently, the people of the area are known to still use these to promote child-bearing to this day.

If you ever want to get off on a completely useless tangent, you can read commentaries by people who claim the mandrakes were used by Jesus in order to make Lazarus appear dead and so He faked bringing him back to life. And, because it worked so well He…. did it to Himself too.

This is the kind of stupidity I recommend you don’t bother with. Whatever mandrakes are, they were well known enough as edible fruit for a little boy to pick some and take them to mom. He was doing what beautiful little children do around the world by bringing her home a special present.

^{14 (con’t)} Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

Rachel knew the supposed purpose of the mandrakes and asked Leah for some. The exchange they’re going to have tells us that either mandrakes are very rare, or that the season for mandrakes wasn’t a good one. If not, then what comes about between the two probably wouldn’t have happened.

¹⁵ But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”

In Genesis 29:35, after having had her fourth son, it says that Leah stopped bearing. What may have happened is that Jacob simply stopped going in to her. Both Rachel and Leah gave their maidservants to Jacob and they both had two children each.

What is possible is that Jacob is now spending most of his nights with Rachel simply out of love and maybe because she wanted him to keep trying to give her children. This seems to be what’s happened because Leah says that Rachel took away her husband. He isn’t spending any time at all with her now.

The nightly argument cold have been, “Well Leah has four children and I still don’t have any.” So when Rachel asks for some of the mandrakes, Leah knows that she’s going to eat them in hopes of getting pregnant and that means that Jacob is going to still be spending all his nights with her. Leah will be left out in the cold.

Like I said, if mandrakes were in abundance, Rachel would have just gone out and gotten her own, but the fact that she’s asking for them from Leah shows how rare they probably are.

Another thing to think about is that when Leah says, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” She isn’t comparing the value of her husband to mandrakes. She’s saying that the mandrakes are all she has left since she doesn’t even have him anymore.

A gift from Reuben has all the more meaning when she’s not receiving the affection of her own husband. If she gives the mandrakes away, then she has nothing to comfort her unhappiness. Leah has forgotten the Lord who had so abundantly blessed her in the past and she is discontent with life as it is.

^{15 (con’t)} And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

Once Rachel sees how unhappy Leah is about her own situation, she comes up with a plan to make them both happy. Leah gets a night with Jacob without any interference and Rachel gets some mandrakes that she thinks will help her get pregnant. And Jacob… Jacob is on the receiving end of the deal.

¹⁶ When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night.

The Bible says that the worker is worthy of his wages. Jacob got hired for a job and he is going to earn his pay I guess.

With the bargain settled, Leah lets Jacob know what is what. There will be no argument from Rachel about the situation. More to the point, because mandrakes are involved, Jacob would understand the reason for the exchange and why Rachel would allow this.

A night off from trying to have children would be worth it if she had mandrakes to help with her conception. Whether Jacob believed any of this is irrelevant. It would keep harmony in the house and was probably even amusing to him.

He had enough decisions to make with wives and children and work. There would be no reason to interfere in this and all the reason to go along with it for the sake of peace and harmony. Jacob is a man with a duty and he is going to get it done.

II. Two More Sons and a Daughter for Leah

¹⁷ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

Once again, God shows that He is transcendent over His creation. Leah gave away her mandrakes which are supposed to help women get pregnant and yet she ends by having another child. Again, as we’ve seen before, God is in control of the details.

Children are a grace which He directs and apart from Him they don’t come. And so now, after a time away from bearing, Leah has a fifth son and bears Jacob’s ninth child. Leah obviously prayed for this to happen because it says that God “listened to Leah.”

The cry of the afflicted is tender music to God’s ear. He is patient and will wait as we ignore Him. He has all the time in the world to let us leave Him out of the picture, but when we call on Him, He is there – right then – working on a response. (Relate to America)

The answer may not come as quickly as we’d wish, but no prayer from His people goes unheard. The nice thing about fulfilled prayers is that when they come, we can turn around and see that it was at the perfect moment.

Any earlier and maybe we wouldn’t have been really ready. And any later and the purpose of the prayer might have passed away.
His timing is always perfect and each time we think the delay was unwarranted, we can see that in fact it made us more ready to handle the blessing when it did arrive.

Don’t let delays in your prayers get you frustrated. Instead, keep talking to the Lord and waiting on His perfect will to be realized. In the end, we will all understand the wisdom which surrounds us and is working towards the fulfillment of a perfect plan.

¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

As continues to happen, the child is named by the circumstances surrounding the birth. Issachar means “He is wages.” Leah openly speaks about the situation – natan elohim sekhari – “God has given me my wages.”

Unlike the birth of her first four children, Leah only mentions the God of creation – elohim and not the God of the Covenant, Jehovah. But in the name of the child, Issachar – He is wages, she is saying that the child is the reward from the Creator God because she gave her maid to her husband.

It’s funny that instead of tying the giving of the mandrakes to Rachel, which is the reason she got to sleep with Jacob, she ties it to the giving of her maid in order for Jacob to have two sons through her as well. She has an insight for us here to remember.

What Jacob has done by having four wives is not unbiblical. I heard a preacher speaking about this exact passage about a month ago and he felt that what Jacob did was wrong. This is at a time before the giving of the law. But even under the law, and in the New Testament as well, there is no prohibition about this.

In fact, the law makes provisions for multiple wives. And based on Leah’s comment about being rewarded for what she did, it is both illogical and nearsighted to come to the conclusion that Jacob was in the wrong. The Bible makes no such charge.

¹⁹ Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.

Apparently, the mandrakes didn’t work for Rachel because another year later, she still hasn’t had any children, but Leah bears a sixth time and now Jacob has 10 sons.

²⁰ And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.

With the bearing of her final son, Leah exclaims, zebadani elohim oti zebed tov, “God has endowed me with a good endowment.” And so she calls him Zebulun which means Glorious Dwelling Place. Because of six sons, she is certain that Jacob will now love her and live with her.

She is the mother of six boys which in the context of the times and of the Bible was a great blessing. Psalm 127 says it this way –

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Psalm127:3-5

Jacob’s quiver was growing all the time and the majority of his strength was through Leah.

²¹ Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

We saw in a previous sermon that Jacob will have other daughters that aren’t even recorded. The Bible isn’t attempting to diminish women in the Bible as feminists try to claim, but there are reasons why the males are highlighted.

The reckoning of a person’s family is through the male, not the female. The male is the leader of the family and in the workings of God, the patriarchal family is the one which is properly aligned with His intentions. Societies which cast off this guideline invariably devolve into chaos, strife, and destruction.

God provides structure and order for us because He loves us and knows what is best. The matriarchal societies of the world are poorer, less educated, filled with far more crime, and are a sad example of disobeying what God has intended.

The move away from the traditional, biblical family in America has led to higher crime rates, lowering of expectations in education and in the workforce, and increased immorality.

The female’s role is different than for that of the male. The male is highlighted in order to show what God ordained and intended for us, not to in any way diminish women or their value as people.

Although the majority of the important roles in the Bible are men, there are a large number of women who fill them as well. And even more are the many women who are seen behind the scenes, working their lives in harmony with God’s intent and bringing glory to Him and stability or validity to the biblical narrative.

Of the daughters of Jacob, only Dinah is mentioned. And this is because she is relevant to the Bible’s record. She is mentioned only 8 times, but 6 of them are in connection with an event found in chapter 34 which eventually cost Simeon and Levi, Jacob’s 2nd and 3rd sons, the blessing of being the bearer of the Messiah.

This honor instead was passed down to the fourth son, Judah. As I said, by introducing her and by highlighting her, we can see God’s hand at work as the line leads from Adam to Noah to Abraham and eventually through Judah and David and finally to Jesus.

For this and another important reason, Dinah is mentioned when her other sisters aren’t. Dinah means “vindicated” and it seems that Leah named her in response to the name Rachel gave to her son born through her maidservant – Dan.

The struggle between the women for the affections of their husband has been contentious. It has gone back and forth through the workings of God, both in Creation and in the keeping of the covenant made to Abraham and which is carried through Jacob.

III. Rachel’s Joy

² Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

What is probably after somewhere around 13 years of marraige the Bible says that elohim, the God of creation, remembered Rachel and that elohim listened to her and opened her womb.

Rachel had trusted in having children through a maidservant and then later in trying her hand at looking to the creation for children by eating mandrakes.

Eventually though, she found that neither of these satisfied and the second option certainly didn’t work. Mandrakes might be yummy, but they don’t bring about babies. So she finally did what she should have done many years earlier – she prayed.

She prayed just as Isaac and Rebekah did and as Leah appears to have done too. God responded to their prayers and He responded to hers also after about 13 years of being barren. Once again, prayer isn’t a tool to get God to do stuff for us.

It is a way for us to communicate our heart and our desires to Him and then to wait on His response. The response may be “yes,” it may be “no,” or it may be that we just have to keep waiting. The waiting may be the response all by itself.

God may be molding us and refining us through the wait. At the end of the waiting, we might find that the very thing we had been praying for isn’t necessary because the wait changed us in a way which took away our need.

In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah tell us this –

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. (3:22-26)

These words were written at the most difficult time in Israel’s history up to that point. The people were suffering through the affliction brought about because of their disobedience. There was hunger, there was disease, and there was death all around.

If ever there was a man who should be able to claim his way out of the trials, you’d think it would  be Jeremiah. But instead, he waited patiently on the Lord. He offered prayers and he waited. Rachel offered prayers and she waited; her prayers were finally answered.

²³ And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”

As the Geneva Bible says about this verse – “Because fruitfulness came as God’s blessing, who said Increase and multiply, barrenness was counted as a curse.” They are right. Going back to the very beginning of man’s time on earth, bearing children was considered a blessing.

To the women of the Bible, the reciprocal must have then seemed to be true – “If I am not a blessing then I bear reproach.” Finally, after these many long years, God took this reproach away from her and gave her a son as a blessing.

²⁴ So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.”

There is a duality in the name of Joseph which not only looks backward, but also forward. The word for “has taken” used by Rachel in the previous verse is asaph. The word for “add” which she now exclaims in this verse is yosef. Both point to his name.

In taking away the reproach, Rachel now looks for the Lord to give her another son and so she names this one Yosef. He shall add, increase, repeat, or double. The name he receives is literally fulfilled in two ways. First, he will have a brother, Benjamin.

But Joseph himself will also have two children – Ephraim and Manasseh. In taking away her reproach, God has showered Rachel with His grace and now, for the first time in the biblical narrative, she invokes the covenant name of the Lord, Jehovah.

She acknowledges that He is the one who will accomplish these things. She has left the world of fighting, derision, superstition, and envy, and she has truly entered into the covenant care of the Lord who directs all things for the fulfillment of His plans and purposes.

Now that we’ve looked at the surface of the story, the historical and cultural aspects of what happened, we need to ask ourselves, “Why is this story here? What is it that God wants us to see? The answer is, as always – Jesus.” Here is the Light –

Reuben, a son born to Leah who pictures the law, gives mandrakes to his mom. His name means, See a son. He now pictures fallen man attempting to regain spiritual life by works. The mandrakes are something we use to try to receive eternal life – false religion.

The mandrakes pass from Leah to Rachel and yet Leah has the child, not Rachel. Leah names him Issachar, “He is wages.” This is a picture of the hope of new life; the renewal of spiritual life to man lost at the fall. This is Jesus, fulfilling the law on our behalf.

Reuben gave the mandrakes to Leah, but Rachel, a picture of those outside of the law ask for them – they are searching for God in the wrong way. But, Leah bears the child, a child born under the law. This is Jesus born under the law as Paul writes in Galatians 4 –

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Leah names him, “He is wages.” The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus is the wages we need to move from death to life. After paying our debt, comes Zebulun the next to be born, again to Leah.

His name means “Glorious Dwelling Place.” It is the place that Jesus went to present His blood after the crucifixion and the paying of the wages – the debt. Hebrews 9 tells us this – “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;” (v 24)

And once He appeared to His Father in the glorious dwelling place, we see the final part of this picture from Leah. It records, “Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.” The final child of Leah, who pictures the law, is the final point to show us the fulfillment of the law – Dinah means “vindicated.”

Paul tells us the fulfillment in 1 Timothy 3:16 – ” Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

He was “vindicated” by the Spirit – the proof is the resurrection. Jesus Christ prevailed over the law, He is our wages (Issachar) unto eternal life, He entered the glorious dwelling place (Zebulun) with His own blood, and He was vindicated (Dinah) by the Spirit.

All of this is pictured in the birth of these three by Leah, the law. But this leaves the last birth to be considered. Rachel’s first child, Joseph. Why were children born to Leah, but not Rachel. What was it that kept her from bearing?

The answer is found in who she represents – people dependent on the grace of God. The law brought forth her Son to redeem those under the law. Only then could we too be children of God. Notice that the mandrakes did absolutely nothing for her, just as false religion does nothing.

Only when she called on the Creator was she able to bear. And indeed she did, Joseph. In one fell swoop God took away our reproach (asaph) and He added us to His fold (yosef). This is why she used both terms when she gave the reason for the child’s name.

The Increaser, the Repeater, the Doubler – Jesus! He has brought forth sons from those under the law and those apart from the law; from Jew and gentile; from male and female. In Him is the embodiment of the law and in Him is the Grace of God.

If you remember way back at the beginning, this story occurred in the May timeframe, at the time of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given at that time and that is the time of the birth of the church – the grace of God poured out upon the sons of men – and the wheat harvest pictures that spiritual harvest.

This is why these children are mentioned, this is why they are mentioned in this order, and this is why God has given us this story. Once again, as it always is, it is all about Jesus. God is telling us, time and time again about His work in the stream of time and humanity, to restore us to Him.

This is where we end today, with the joy of a child for Rachel after many long years of waiting. For you, it may be the end of a time of waiting too. You may have been fighting the call in your own life – the call to come to Jesus. He is there and He truly wants you to share in the blessings which can only come through Him. Give me just a couple more minutes to explain to you how this can happen…

Closing Verse: “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. 5 For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. Isaiah 54:4, 5

Next Week: Genesis 30:25-36 (To Build a Flock) (72nd Genesis Sermon)

The Lord has you exactly where He wants you and He has a good plan and purpose for you. Call on Him and let Him do marvelous things for you and through you.

Then God Remembered Rachel

Now Reuben went in the days of the harvest of wheat
And found mandrakes in the field
And brought them to his mother Leah, he was so sweet
Maybe with a special kiss the gift was sealed

Then Rachel said to Leah, for goodness’ sakes
Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes

But she said to her, Is it a small matter to you
That you have taken my husband away
Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too
Would you do this to me in my sorrow today?

And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight
For your son’s mandrakes I’ll make this deal, alright?

When Jacob came out of the field, ready for bed
It was in the evening time
Leah went out to meet him and said
You must come in to me. Yes tonight you are mine

For I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes
And he lay with Leah that night, yes for goodness sakes

And God listened to Leah and she conceived
And she bore to Jacob a fifth son
Leah said “God has given me my wages as I believed
I gave my maid to my husband not to be outdone

So she called his name Issachar
These kind of wages aren’t kept in a jar

Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son
“God has endowed me with a good endowment. I am number one

Now my husband will dwell with me
Because I have born him six sons, you see

So she called him Zebulun, this she did proclaim
Afterward she bore a daughter and Dinah was her name

Then God remembered Rach…el
And God listened to her and opened her womb
And she conceived and bore a son, how swell
And said “God has taken away my reproach none too soon

So she called his name Joseph and said
The Lord shall add to me another son in the days ahead

Jacob’s family is almost complete as the story does unfold
And through these pages we see the genesis of Israel
Every word is given and every word is told
To teach us of the things that to us God does tell

Through this group of people will come the Savior
And to them He will return again someday
To Him we should direct our daily behavior
And to Him may we be pleased to say

O, Great and awesome Lord
Majestic in all Your ways
Thank You for Your precious word
May we search its pages all our days

And in You alone may we delight
Until at last You take us home
Some glorious day or maybe some night
We know for us someday you will come

Until then we shall walk in Your light for all our days
And to You alone we shall utter all our resounding praise

Hallelujah and Amen…