Genesis Sermons (written)

Genesis 32:1-8
This is God’s Camp

Introduction: In today’s story, we’re going to see a brief overview of the nation of Israel and how it was divided into two separate entities, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The wisdom of this occurrence was directed by God for the sake of protecting His people as they led to the Messiah.

Text Verse: Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad. Psalm 14:7

We’ll review the verses today where Jacob’s time of exile is ending and he is heading back to the land of promise. On his way there, his time and the events which occurred will be used as a picture of the future of his people and the world which is a threat to them.

We’ll also see the divine protection of him and his group which continues to be realized throughout their time as a people. For almost 4000 years since Jacob, they have endured and been kept. God is amazingly faithful to His promises and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Two Camps

¹ So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

Laban departed from Jacob and headed back to Padan Aram. Now that he is gone, Jacob continues his journey toward Canaan. While on his way “the angels of God met him.” The English word for angels comes from the Greek word aggelos.

It signifies a messenger. In Hebrew the word is malach which comes from the root word laakh. This carries the same concept as the Greek – to send, minister, or employ. And so throughout the Bible we find it used to identify both heavenly beings and humans.

Prophets, priests, and spirits have all been described by this word which we translate as “angels.” Therefore, it is more suited to the name of the office, rather than the nature of the being. When Jacob left Canaan 20 years earlier, the last thing recorded was his vision of the ladder and the angels ascending and descending on it.

Now as he’s reentering the land, he again has a vision of angels. The understanding that we can derive from this sighting is that they have been there all along, but he simply didn’t know it. And this is completely in line with a host of other passages in the Bible. One is found in Psalm 34 –

The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them. Psalm 34:7

The angels have been with him and kept him and we know it’s so because the Lord promised His protection at the time of the vision of the ladder way back in Genesis 28 –

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. Genesis 28:15

True to His promise, he has been with Jacob, kept him, and is now returning him to the land of promise. In this, we see the words of Psalm 91:11 perfectly fulfilled –

For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11

The Lord gave His angels charge over Jacob and they have certainly kept him in all his ways. Matthew Henry says “When God designs his people for extraordinary trials, he prepares them by extraordinary comforts.”

There is a life lesson for us in this idea of angelic protection and it is one we can hold on to. It comes from the New Testament book of Hebrews which says, when speaking of angels –

Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14

If you’ve ever heard of some miraculous deliverance from an accident or a trial, there is no reason at all to think that it didn’t come about as the result of the divine intervention of angels.

God will call us all home in His good timing, but in the interim, His angels are carefully tending to those who will, in fact, inherit salvation.

² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Jacob sees the angels, knows he is protected, and declares mahaneh elohim zeh – “this is God’s camp.” What’s rather amazing is that before he left Canaan 20 years earlier, when he woke from his sleep after his vision of the ladder he said, “Surely this is God’s house.” So here are bookends – the house and the camp.

The difference between a house and a camp is that a house is permanent and fixed, but a camp is moveable and changing. The house of God is heaven, His permanent dwelling, but the camp of God is where His presence is displayed and revealed among men. It is where His angels congregate to serve His purposes.

Joel 2:11 shows us the display of God’s presence from His camp –

The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;
For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
Who can endure it?

Now on Jacob’s return, he sees the camp of God and says, “This is God’s camp.” His pronouncements concerning the House of God and the Camp of God are these bookends on his 20 years of exile. There is Bethel at the beginning and Mahanaim at the end.

Like so many other names of places and people which come from a spoken word, Jacob names this place based on what he just said – mahaneh elohim zeh. This is God’s camp. “Our camps (plural) are Mahanaim” – and so it becomes the name of the location.

Mahanaim is mentioned 13 times in the Bible. And for the ever-so short time of two years, it became the capital of Israel at the same time that David was ruling in Hebron. We see this in 2 Samuel 2 –

But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim; ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel. (8, 9)

To help you remember this place, I want you to understand where the name is derived from. It comes from a verb, hana, which means to bend down or settle. The word is used when speaking of evening time in Judges 19:9. A camps settles as the day settles – so you can see the comparison between the two.

A derivative of the word hana which will give you a mental picture of this is the word hanit which means “spear.”  When a spear is thrown, it leaves the hand, arcs upward, and then back down, like the shape of a tent or the setting of the sun.

Jacob sees the camp of God and the tents next to his and he calls the place “two camps” or Mahanaim. There is his camp and there is God’s camp. Two camps. Again, as we’ve seen in the past, two signifies that which contrasts and yet that which confirms.

The two testaments contrast and yet they confirm. The second Person of the Trinity has two natures – God and Man. They contrast and yet confirm. The two witnesses of Revelation contrast – one a gentile and one a Hebrew – and yet they confirm.

In this case, there is a contrast between the two camps. One is physical, one is spiritual. One is earthly, one is divine. One is mortal, one is eternal. They contrast and yet they confirm – they are the two camps of God’s dealings. They are God’s tools in His plan of redemption – here you see the importance of Israel.

This will not be the only time these camps will be seen. Both in the Bible and in recorded history, they are noted. In the Bible, God’s angelic protection is seen, for example, in 2 Kings 6 –

¹³ So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.” ¹⁴ Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶ So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸ So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

Extra-biblically, in AD70 at the destruction of the temple and the exile of the people of Israel, the camp of God’s angels departed. The almost surreal account is recorded by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus –

…a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.” The Wars of the Jews, Book 6, Chapter 5:3

Israel rejected the Lord and for their disobedience, the curses of Deuteronomy 28 were, for a second time in their history, executed upon them. The camp of God was removed and the angels departed hence.

However, numerous accounts of Israel’s renewed protection have been given in the past 50 years. Here is one of them –

During the Yom Kippur War, a lone Israeli soldier in the Sinai led a captured Egyptian column back to Israeli lines. When the Egyptian officer was asked why he surrendered an entire tank column to a single Israeli soldier, the Egyptian officer replied, “One soldier? There were thousands of them. The officer said the rest of the ‘soldiers’ had melted away as they approached the Israeli lines. The Israeli soldier reported that he was alone when the Egyptian commander surrendered to him. He didn’t see the army of angelic warriors. The Egyptians did. (Angels on the Battlefield)

This account reflects the words found Psalm 68:17 –

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, Even thousands of thousands; The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place.

Once again, God’s camp is surrounding His people as they are being prepared for the return of Christ and the establishment of His millennial reign. This is great stuff and it echoes the words of today’s verses. Before we go on, let me give you a little instruction on angels.

I want to do this because people all around the world, and Christians especially it seems, far too often misuse the intent and purpose of angels. As Hebrews noted, angels are ministering spirits of God, not self-determining agents.

In the Bible, they do what they are appointed to do, not what they want to do. Therefore, praying to them or relying on them to help us make decisions is completely misguided. God gives us all manners of help.

He gives us His word to guide us, brains to think with, muscles to work with, food to keep us going, the sun to shine on the day, and angels to minister as He directs.

Our devotion, our attention, and our prayers are to be directed to God alone and never, never toward angels. And to help us understand this, we’ll see this very premise in next week’s sermon where Jacob makes his great prayer to God. Pay attention to how Jacob acts in those verses and you’ll see this.

What he does is right in line with the account I read from 2 Kings 6. The prophet Elisha was protected by a whole host of angels, but he prayed to the Lord, not to the angels. It is the Lord who directs the angels, not Elisha, and not the angels… and not us.

II. The Messenger’s Message

³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

The word used for Jacob’s messengers is malakhim – angels. In other words, his servants are being sent by his direction just as angels are sent by God’s direction. He had sent these guys earlier to go to his brother and notify him that he was coming.

Here in this verse, we return to a concept we saw many sermons ago when Esau was picturing fallen man. Esau’s name is linked to the word asah – “made.’ It is the word used to describe the making of man in Genesis 1. Edom is linked to the word Adam. Adam the man was made from the red soil of the earth.

And then God includes the other name of the land, Seir – which means “hairy.” If you missed the sermons on Esau, it would be good to go back and watch them. Esau was born hairy, like a garment, as if he were fully developed at birth. He pictures Adam made as an whole man.

The name of the land, Seir, meaning “hairy.” Hair in the Bible denotes awareness. It is tied directly to his Esau’s hairy body. It is the Lord who forms us in the womb and as cognizant, sentient beings.

This is all explained in detail in those sermons and we should try to remember these things as we continue on. God is including all of these names and places to show us pictures of what is going on in His plan of redemption.

The messengers, the malakhim, that Jacob is sending out picture the prophets of the people of Israel whose words were sent out to the people of the world, pictured by Esau. The people of the world now have a spiritual awareness and are being given the word of the Lord. I hope you’re seeing the comparison that’s being made.

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, “Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now.

The messengers of Jacob are commanded to speak to Esau using the term adoni, my lord. Jacob, despite having both the birthright and the blessing is deferring the honor to Esau. He additionally calls himself “your servant.” It’s the same term Isaac used to explain to Esau that he was made Jacob’s servant in chapter 27 –

Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; (37)

Jacob is subordinating himself in order to gain Esau’s favor, and hopefully temper anger he may still feel, and to restore a right relationship between them. Jacob probably already has an idea about how Esau feels because he knows where Esau is living, even though it’s not the same place as when he left twenty years earlier.

In other words, they probably have from time to time been in communication with each other, but any letters or messages may not tell Jacob the true condition of Esau’s heart and so he’s being prudent in his dealings with his estranged brother.

What this verse is picturing is as clear as it could be. If Esau is picturing fallen humanity and Jacob is picturing Jesus, then the messengers Jacob sends before his arrival picture the prophets who have proclaimed the message of Jesus’ coming.

“Your servant is coming.” Time and time again that thought is seen in the Old Testament prophets. One who would be King of Israel, the Messiah of the world, and yet a Servant to the world’s people. Isaiah 49 shows us this as clearly as crystal –

“And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
⁶ Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (5, 6)

Finally in this verse, Jacob reminds Esau that he has been gone and has lived with Laban twenty years building a flock which represents the church, but now he is coming home.

The number 20 is 1 short of 21. Twenty one is the three-fold 7. Three is divine completion. Seven is spiritual perfection. So 21 is the number of divine completion of spiritual perfection. As 20 is one less than 21 then it signifies, “divine expectancy.”

Some sermons ago it was noted that this 20-year period represents the full time of Israel’s waiting to go from their establishment as a people, through the time of the law to the kingdom age. The time of divine spiritual perfection.

Jacob has been established as a people, he has a family who will become the tribes of Israel, he has a flock which is the church, and he is heading back to the land of Canaan to continue this journey of expectancy there. And so he continues…

⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.”’”

This verse shows that he obtained great wealth in his time away. He won’t be any burden on Esau. But it’s also to keep Esau from feeling any threat. Esau would know of the large camp heading back and might think Jacob is coming to wipe him out.

To make sure this doesn’t happen, he again calls him “lord.” He’s showing that despite all he has, he is subjecting himself to Esau. He will be no threat to him. Instead he is looking to find favor in his sight. We can see this thought reflected in Ecclesiastes –

If the spirit of the ruler rises against you,
Do not leave your post;
For conciliation pacifies great offenses. Ecclesiastes 10:4

Matthew Henry notes it this way, “It is no disparagement to those that have the better cause to become petitioners for reconciliation, and to sue for peace as well as right.”

III. Esau’s Response

⁶ Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

It’s been 20 years since Jacob left. In that time, Esau has become a prominent chieftain of the people he is with. He had married daughters of the Hittites and also of Ishmael and he had consolidated power among them. This is evident by the large force he’s bringing along.

It’s debated why he’s bringing all the people with him. Some scholars look at him coming to avenge himself on Jacob, others feel he was going to defend himself from Jacob if necessary, and some are sure that he intended to honor Jacob.

Considering that he is bringing 400 people along, it’s probably the that he wanted to give Jacob a negative impression, but ultimately to honor him. Otherwise, he would have either told him he was coming on friendly terms, or he would have carried through with unfriendly ones.

No matter what Esau was thinking, Jacob will take it in a negative context as we’ll see in the next verse. Regardless of this, the number 400 is given and it is precise. God could have simply stated that Esau came with a large army of his people, but instead the number 400 is given.

Therefore, He wants us to explore why the number is used. The number 400 is the product of two other numbers – 8 and 50. Eight is the Hebrew word sh’moneh, which comes from the root shah’meyn which means to “make fat” or “cover with fat.” This gives the impression of superabundance.

When shah’meyn is used as a participle it means “one who abounds in strength.” As a noun it is “superabundant fertility” or “oil.” So that as a numeral it is the superabundant number.

Fifty is the number of jubilee or deliverance. It points to deliverance and rest following on as the result of the perfect consummation of time. And so 400 is the product of 8 and 50. It is a divinely perfect period resulting in rest.

It is the timeframe used by God to indicate the bondage of the people from Abraham until the Exodus which is recorded in both Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6. All of this might seem like over- analyzing a bunch of Edomites riding across the land on camels, but it’s not.

The number 400 here is pointing to the entire time of man’s history as a people, from their time in Eden, all the way through the kingdom age, the millennial reign which is still future to us now. As noted, it is a divinely perfect period resulting in rest.

This is how numbers work in the Bible, lesser numbers are used in a consistent manner to come to a greater result. And this is the reason for God’s inclusion of this number. Jacob is interacting with Esau just as Jesus interacts with humanity through His plan of redmption in order to bring about this divinely perfect period which will result in rest.

In the next verse we will see one way in which God accomplished that –

⁷ So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies.

Jacob has no idea what Esau’s intentions truly are. And with the coming of him with 400 people, he becomes afraid and distressed. If there were nothing to fear, he wouldn’t have done this. But it was Jacob who left 20 years earlier at the threats of Esau.

Adam Clarke explains Jacobs feelings this way, “He that has a good conscience has a brazen wall for his defense; for a guilty conscience needs no accuser; sooner or later it will tell the truth, and not only make the man turn pale who has it, but also cause him to tremble even while his guilt is known only to himself and God.”

Jacob’s conscience tells the truth of his past actions and now they lay open before the future and the meeting with Esau. And his fear and distress is now starting to show a lack of trust in the very promises of God which he had been given. His worry is the weakness of his soul as he struggles with what lies ahead.

The Geneva Bible says about this verse – “Though he was comforted by the angels, yet the infirmity of the flesh appears.”

And so, in order to protect at least a portion of his people Jacob divides them into two separate camps. If one camp is attacked, maybe the other will be safe. This division of Jacob into two camps pictures, or is realized in the division of the people of Israel into the northern and southern kingdoms.

This was an action directed by God in the book of 1 Kings. God, knowing the future, knew that this was the right and appropriate action to preserve His people. However, in the chapters ahead, the camps will reunite under Jacob.

And the same promise was given to Israel. The Bible foretold that there would no longer be a division between the two kingdoms. Guess what, that time is now. There is one united Israel coming to the end of its divinely perfect period.

⁸ And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.”

In the camp’s division, comes the wisdom of many battlefields. While the enemy is engaged with a portion of the force, the others can either rally to them, flank them, or escape alive. Jacob is so unsure of the outcome that he takes this course of action. (Mention MacArthur’s use of this tactic in Korea).

This battle technique is noted several times in the Bible. One great example comes from the time of King David in 2 Samuel 10 –

⁹ When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best and put them in battle array against the Syrians. ¹⁰ And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, that he might set them in battle array against the people of Ammon. ¹¹ Then he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. ¹² Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

In Jacob dividing his camp, he may actually consider that this is a part of God’s promise to keep him alive. All he can do is trust that God is in control of the situation and his actions are the correct course of what to do.

Jacob’s dividing of his camp was to avoid the possibility of annihilation. God’s division of Israel served this same purpose. When the northern kingdom was destroyed and carried away captive, the southern kingdom remained.

A remnant of all of the tribes of Israel remained in Judah after the exile of the northern kingdom, and Israel as a people has been protected by God since then, despite two exiles. There are no lost tribes of Israel as lots of people claim.

Both testaments of the Bible confirm this. God’s camp has faithfully watched over Israel throughout the ages. In just 8 verses, we’ve seen the wisdom of God reflected in Jacob’s decision to divide his camp. One action picturing another as God unfolds His word before us.

Now that Jacob has made the division, He will take the wisest course of action of all and it is where we will turn next week for four verses of instruction that can guide all of us all the days of our own troubled lives.

Before we read our closing verse, please give me a couple minutes to explain the cross of Jesus and its importance to you. All of these stories, all of these pictures in God’s word are leading to one ultimate goal – the revealing of Jesus and His work on our behalf. Let me explain that most important point to you…

Closing Verse: As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. Ezekiel 37:16, 17

Next Week: Genesis 32:9-12 (Jacob’s Prayer)

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.

Two Camps

So Jacob went on his way
And the angels of God met him as he went along
When Jacob saw them, he did say
“This is God’s camp, look at the angelic throng

And he called the name of that place Mahanaim
Because there were two camps as it would seem

Then Jacob sent messengers before him
To Esau his brother in the land of Seir
The country of Edom, a land somewhat grim
His older brother had left Canaan and moved to there

And he commanded them saying
Speak thus to my lord Esau these words I allow
Thus your servant says, as he was praying
I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now

I have oxen, donkeys, and flocks too
And male and female servants as well
And I have sent to tell my lord, yes to you
That I may find favor in your sight and my worries dispel

Then the messengers returned to Jacob saying
We came to your brother Esau alright
And he is also coming to meet where you are staying
And four hundred men are with him so sit tight

So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed
And he divided the people that were with him
And the flocks and the herds and camels at his behest
Into two companies because things looked quite grim

And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company
And attacks it, then the other company which is left
Will escape destruction and flee to safety
And of all that I have I won’t be bereft

Just as Jacob separated his company into two
God divided Israel in a similar way
And though the northern tribes were exiled in BC722
Some of all 12 tribes have endured to this day

They are a people set apart by Him for His glory
Both to usher in the Messiah and receive Him again someday
This is the marvel of Israel as told in God’s story
And so for this group of people, let us remember to pray

But we in the church are God’s people too
United to Him in a glorious way
We are sealed with His Spirit and born anew
Promised eternal life because Jesus our debt did pay

What a glorious God You are to look upon us so
What a wonderful plan You have revealed to us
In Your awesome presence we shall walk forever we know
All because of the giving of Your Son, our Lord Jesus

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 31:43-55
The Witness and the Watchtower

Introduction: In the 13th century, the Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologica, one of the greatest works ever on doctrines related to the many facets and workings of God, creation, man, divine government, and other things.

Each of these categories is subdivided into an astonishing array of wisdom and logic. One might think that the first premise he would have argued would be God – His existence, His nature, His attributes, etc. The Bible starts with creation, but from the premise that it is God who created – you’d think he’d do the same.

But he looked elsewhere to establish his arguments. Believe it or not, he started with The Nature and Domain of Sacred Doctrine. In other words, the Bible. Why would he do this? The answer is that until the nature and validity of the Bible can be determined, all the philosophy, logic, and reason in the world about God is irrelevant.

Without God’s word, there can be no true understanding of our relationship to Him. He said that “because man is directed to God, as to an end that surpasses the grasp of his reason… that the end must first be known by men who are to direct their thoughts and actions to the end. Hence it was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation.”

Aquinas went on through ten articles addressing the nature of Sacred Scripture before continuing with the rest of the Summa. God’s word is the single most important physical object on planet earth. Without it we cannot know Jesus and without Jesus we cannot be saved – and yet we ignore this book… to watch TV.

Today, we will review a passage which actually reveals God’s intent to give the world a Bible and which even gives us clues about the nature and structure of the Bible that He will give. And it will show that God is watching over His word very carefully.

Text Verse: The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. ¹² The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” Jeremiah 1:11, 12 (NIV)

God spoke His word to us through His prophets and apostles. In this word are promises, blessings, curses, and assurances. If one, yes if even one aspect of this word fails, then God has failed. The sacredness and reliability of this word is tied directly to His holiness and truthfulness and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Laban’s Loss

In the previous few sermons, we saw Jacob, by God’s direction, determine to return to the land of Canaan. He left secretly and when his uncle found out, he in turn chased after Jacob and finally caught up with him.

On the night before they met, God appeared to him and told him that he was to do nothing harmful to Jacob. That next day, Laban met with Jacob, searched his tents for household idols that were stolen from him and then Jacob defended of his actions, including his innocence concerning the idols. This is where we start today…

⁴³ And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine.

Jacob has fully defended himself against Laban and now Laban, without admitting any guilt or any wrongdoing toward Jacob, makes a great and boastful claim that everything in Jacob’s possession was derived from him.

He is acting in a way that will allow him to seem generous in not insisting on keeping it all. Instead, he will allow Jacob to have it.

^43(con’t) But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?

Laban has claimed that everything Jacob has now came from his wealth and that he is generous in allowing Jacob to keep it. His reason is that he simply couldn’t find it in his heart to deprive his departing family of their well being.

His own daughters told Jacob before they left that Laban had treated them as strangers, but suddenly he claims they are so near and dear to him.

It needs to be remembered that Laban is in the presence of his own family members who he is going to return home with and so he is trying to make himself look good in their eyes and diminish Jacob’s standing at the same time.

⁴⁴ Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

The separation is final and Laban realizes that. Jacob isn’t coming back and everything is going with him. But just like six years earlier, Laban realized that God was with Jacob. In the past, he asked Jacob to stay and work for him and it has become completely evident that Jacob is blessed.

God has made him fruitful, powerful, and is his protector. If this is so, and because Laban has actually mistreated Jacob time and time again, it is a fear of Laban’s that Jacob may determine to come back and take revenge on him for his bad treatment.

Because of this he asks for a covenant between the two. The covenant will be, as he says, a witness between them. If Jacob agrees, it is implied that all past quarrels will be forgotten and anything which is misplaced between them will be overlooked.

Instead, there will be an agreement of peace and good intention which will stand as a testimony between them, especially because it will be in the presence of God and all the witnesses. This covenant is so important that God determined to record it by Moses’ hand several hundred years later as a witness forever.

II. God is Witness

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

In the verses which preceded Jacob’s departure from the land of Canaan, Jacob set up a stone as a pillar. This was on the night after he had his dream concerning the ladder and which involved a promise of Jacob’s protection.

Now in the verses which precede his return to Canaan, he sets up another pillar. This is coming after the night in which Laban had a dream from God concerning Jacob’s protection. The symbolism shouldn’t be missed – God promised protection to Jacob and it came, even in the form of a dream to rebuke Laban.

In the same way, God has promised that He will always preserve the people Israel who have descended from Jacob. This preservation of them, whether they deserved it or not, is based on His faithfulness and His ability to keep His word.

People that don’t understand this can never realize the immense wonder which has occurred in this group of people throughout the ages. He has taken care of them despite all of the people who have continued to come against them, speak ill of them, and attempt to wipe them out.

God’s hand is on them, just as His hand is upon the people of the church during this time of grace and blessing which we call the church age. Jacob’s pillar is a testament to God’s faithfulness. It also symbolizes Jacob’s willingness to agree to Laban’s proposed covenant.

⁴⁶ Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

In addition to the pillar, Jacob tells the gathered people to make a heap. The Hebrew word is gal and it would have been a circular heap which will serve two purposes. The first is a round table that they can use for dining and the second would be to remain there as an altar and a testimony to the covenant.

A meal is where the details are sorted out in life’s problems. It is where foes become friends and where agreements are made. A meal is where we have to stop from our own labors and reflect on whatever situation is at hand.

By taking the time to sit and eat a meal, they will be able to sort out the problems which have arisen from the past and resolve them for the future. A meal is still where we meet with the Lord and proclaim His death until He comes again. It is where we leave aside our past and renew our determination for the future.

⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

This is the very first time that a language other than Hebrew is used in the Bible. Laban’s name of this round heap is Jegar Sahadutha which is an Aramaic, not a Hebrew word. In all, there will be about 250 verses which contain Aramaic out of about 31000 verses in the Bible.

Most of the Aramaic will be found in Nehemiah and Daniel, but there will be scattered words and sentences elsewhere. For example, one sentence in the book of Jeremiah suddenly appears in Aramaic, but everything else in the book is Hebrew.

There will even be a few times in the New Testament where the Greek is citing Aramaic, not Hebrew words. What this verse does for us is to show that the language of the land, the same land where Abraham came from, was Aramaic.

It is the language that Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, would have spoken. Hebrew then is the language of Canaan which Abraham would have learned and adapted after moving there. Both languages are similar, but they evolved differently over the years.

Jacob calls the mound Galeed which means the same thing in Hebrew as Jegar Sahadutha in Aramaic. They both mean “Heap of Witness.” By naming the mound in their own languages, it was a way of confirming that this covenant applied not only to them, but to their posterity after them.

⁴⁸ And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed,

The great Bible scholar Adam Clarke notes the irregular division of this verse and the next one and he disagrees with it. And so for a little diversion, I’ll give you my thoughts on the Bible’s verse divisions. From time to time things will be divided in odd places.

One chapter in Acts ends on a semi-colon, and there are other irregularities in how things appear to be arranged or divided in the Bible. The first words compiled in the Bible happened about 3500 years ago when Moses walked up Mount Sinai and received the Torah, the first five books of the Bible – aka Pentateuch.

After that, about 40 people were used of God to write portions of His word. Three languages are used as well. The final book to be received came about 1600 years after the time of Moses when John penned Revelation on the island of Patmos. Other than a few books, all of them were written by Hebrew people.

The Hebrew Bible is arranged differently than the Christian arrangement of the Old Testament. And it wasn’t until around AD350 that the books of the New Testament were finally agreed on and arranged.

Two people in the 13th century took the time to divide the Bible into chapters. One was Archbishop Stephen Langton, the other was Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro. The divisions Langton made were the ones that continued to be used.

Then in 1551 Robert Stephanus divided the New Testament into individual verses and the divisions as we know them today were first published in the Geneva Bible of 1560.

Although this might seem like an unnecessary history lesson, the structure of the Bible, the arrangement of the books, the chapter divisions, and yes – even the verse divisions as we know them now, show a wisdom which transcends the 3000 years, forty human authors, other people of God, and three languages used in the compiling, structure, and publication of the modern Bible.

When we read these seemingly odd points of division, such as in the verse we’re looking at right now, and which Adam Clarke didn’t like, we should be careful to not find fault without searching for the patterns which are so beautifully revealed in what is given.

I tell you this because I believe that the divisions, even to the verse divisions, are divinely inspired by God. Patterns which are revealed through studying them shows this to be true. God’s hand and His fingerprints are very clearly evident in His word.

Remember this and use care when you search its wonders and mysteries. Anyway, Laban acknowledges that the heap they ate at is a witness between the two parties. The Bible then goes on to say, “Therefore its name is called Galeed.”

The meaning isn’t evident in English, but the heap is the word gal and “witness” is the word ed. It comes from the verb ‘ud, meaning to return or repeat. Basically, the idea is “to second a motion.” Therefore the two are combined to provide the name Galeed.

⁴⁹ also Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.

Mizpah means “watchtower” and if the name “heap of witness” is implying a covenant between the two, the name Mizpah is implying that the Lord is the One watching over the covenant.

He would be the one to stand as the judge over any transgressions of the agreement, just as we saw with the covenant between Abraham and Abimelech which occurred in their distant past.

Despite the age of these covenants, boundaries have been formed around the land and between the peoples of the surrounding lands. God continues to monitor what man has long ago forgotten. He stands at the watchtower ensuring the ancient covenants are kept. This book, the Bible, is a testament to His care about such things.

⁵⁰ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

Laban has determined to set parameters for the protection of his daughters as a part of the covenant. He is not allowing any additions to the family of Jacob in the form of wives. If you remember what Leah and Rachel picture from a previous sermon, then maybe you’re starting to see the pattern here.

If not, I’ll explain it in a few minutes. Jacob is bound to the two wives and God is a witness concerning this. In this verse he says that “no man is with us.” This doesn’t mean that they are off alone making this agreement.

Instead it’s speaking of the future when there is no one to observe what either is doing. In that time, God will still be watching. I assure you, what this is alluding to is as important as any precept contained in the Bible. God is watching it and will hold offending parties to account.

III. A Sacrifice on the Mountain

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me.

Curiously Laban notes the heap and the pillar as if he had set them up. Earlier, it said that it was Jacob who set up the pillar and it was Jacob who directed the heap to be made and yet Laban claims that they were by him. Why would this be in the Bible?

Remember who Laban pictures, remember who his daughters picture, and then maybe you’ll start to see why he is claiming the right to having placed the heap there. As always, these pictures are being given not as a one for one comparison, but they’re designed to show how things will come about in the future.

This account between Jacob and Laban really happened and so God has shown it to us for His reasons. Keep searching what you already know and it will become clear. The heaps and the pillar were erected by Laban’s consent although they were directed originally by Jacob.

⁵² This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

The heap and pillar witness to the peace between the two parties. There will be harmony between them as long as they don’t pass beyond the boundaries which have been set in order to cause harm. If they are breeched, then the account is to be judiciously and righteously settled as the violation of a covenant.

⁵³ The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary notes about this verse, that “it is observable that there was a marked difference in the religious sentiments of the two. Laban spake of the God of Abraham and Nahor, their common ancestors; but Jacob, knowing that idolatry had crept in among that branch of the family, swore by the ‘fear of his father Isaac.’ They who have one God should have one heart: they who are agreed in religion should endeavor to agree in everything else.”

In other words, Laban is still worshipping the God of their fathers. Abraham is Nahor’s brother and their father is Terah. The problem with Laban’s words is that in all of their lives, idolatry had crept in.

Joshua 24:2 says this: “And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the Riverin old times; and they served other gods.”

Laban is confused about who God is and how to serve Him. Remember, he had household idols and yet he has also referred to the Lord, Jehovah during the covenant.

And so to stave off any hint of idolatry, Jacob swears by the same God, but uses the term “the Fear of his Father Isaac.” Isaac is still alive and he walks in fear of his God. The God that he serves isn’t the God of the dead, but of the living.

This is the same sentiment that is given by Jesus in Matthew 22. When questioned about a matter concerning the resurrection, Jesus corrected His listeners by saying, “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

Jacob is doing the same thing to Laban now. God is alive and is to be feared, not placed as a God of the dead along with a household full of idols. His word is everlasting and His eyes watch over it and the covenants it contains for all time. If all of this seems trivial, I can assure you it’s not.

⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain.

The confirmation of the agreement is made by a sacrifice on the mountain and the eating of bread. Is this anything you’ve read elsewhere in the Bible? Are you reading your Bible? Are you trying to take what you know and weave it together right now? If so, I know the Lord is smiling on your efforts.

If not, then why not? Has God put these stories in here so that we can read and forget them? Or are they here to tell us about things that are irrelevant to anything except the life of Jacob and Laban?

Never stop asking the word to speak back to you. It is alive and active – sharper than any two-edged sword and it will awaken your soul if you will let it.

⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

It can be inferred from what God said to Laban on the night before he met up with Jacob that he intended to do harm to him and his family. At a minimum, he came with the intent to call down curses on Jacob which would in turn be considered a curse upon the family, but now he kisses his family and blesses them.

Just as God vowed to Abraham and to Isaac and which is passed on to Jacob, we read these words from Genesis 12 –

“I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (v 3)

God turned the curse into a blessing and so we can assume that when Laban departed and went to his place that He was blessed for the blessing he gave.

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 –

Laban pictures the man of the world, Jacob pictures the Lord. Laban came to Jacob and claimed that the daughters, family, and flock were his. Remember, Leah pictures the law and Rachel pictures grace. We’ve seen this time and again. The flock is the church, the children are the people Israel.

Laban is making a claim to them based on the fact that they all came from him. And this is true, they did. In the same way, the Law was penned by a man, Moses, even though it was given under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And what Jeremiah wrote came from Jeremiah and it bears his unique style and wording.

The same is true with the New Testament. When we read Paul, we can tell his style and yet it bears the same unique mark of God. The things Laban said came from him really did, even though they are also Jacob’s. The word of God, the church, and the people of Israel all came through man and yet they are God’s. EXPLAIN INSPIRATION AS INSTRUMENTS

Laban offers to make a covenant and it will stand as a witness. Jacob then sets up a pillar, but later Laban claims he set up the pillar. What is the pillar? It is the same symbolism as the pillar back in chapter 28. The pillar is Christ.

How could both of them have set it up as Laban claims? Christ came from God, but He also came from man. The pillar, Christ, was set up by both. He is the God/Man.

Jacob’s brethren “gathered stones” into a heap. The heap is the Bible. Jacob’s brethren picture those 40 or so men who received and wrote the Bible. The heap was formed into a circle. The structure of the Bible makes a clear pattern which forms concentric circles and it is based on the Hebrew aleph-bet.

It has a symmetry which is astonishingly beautiful and amazingly precise. It shows intention, precision, and beauty – all represented by the gal, heap, and the ed, witness – the Galeed. The use of two languages – Hebrew and Aramaic, to name the heap indicates that this witness is meant for all people, Hebrew and gentile alike.

This is the reason why, for the first time in the Bible, a non-Hebrew word is used. This witness will stand as a testament to all people for all time. It is a witness between God and man of the pact of peace made between the once antagonistic parties.

It is Galeed – the heap of witness, but also Mizpah, the watchtower. It is the place where God watches for transgressions of the covenant and it is the place where man can watch for them as well. It proves man’s obedience to God and God’s faithfulness to man.

And what may have seemed difficult to understand was the prohibition against taking any other wives besides Laban’s daughters. What is that speaking of? Again, we need to return to what they symbolize – Leah is the OT law and Rachel is NT grace.

They are the two testaments to God’s dealings with man. God has given one word which includes these two testaments. Nothing else can be added to them, such as the book of mormon, the koran, the writings of Ellen G. White, who founded Seventh Day Adventists, or any other writing.

But the prohibition isn’t just to add wives, it is also to not harm the two wives Jacob has. This is the standard. Any violation of this will be witnessed by God and acted on. And this is noted again and again in the Bible itself – never add to or take from the words of this book. As it says, “God is witness between you and me.”

When a violation of the agreement is made, God does witness. He tells us in His own word. We read this is John 5, when Jesus speaks of the Father –

“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. (v.31, 32)

This is why Laban was able to claim that he placed the heap and the pillar between them. Jesus came through man as did the Bible. They are both the work of God, but human agents were involved in the process of both. The Bible is a physical, tangible word. Not a spiritual concept without form.

Jesus is a physical, tangible man. It says in John, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The word of God, the Bible, and the Word of God, Jesus, are how man sees, understands, and knows God. Laban said “I will not pass beyond this heap to you.” The symbolism is that the Bible is the point which we will not exceed to come to God. In other words, it is our point of knowing Him and nothing else. The Bible tells us of Jesus and Jesus reveals God.

Then he said, “and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.” Jesus and the Bible are the standard by which we will be judged. Nothing is added to them by God and they are all-sufficient for His dealings with us.

The peace is found in these two. They are where restoration and harmony between God and man are realized. Next Laban invokes the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father to be the judge. When Jacob swears though, he does it by “the Fear of Isaac.”

He did this to confirm that the God Laban was speaking of is the same God, the only God, and the Living God who is to be feared. Even if man misunderstands God, God is God. When we misunderstand Him, it doesn’t change who He is.

We discovered in this chapter that all of this has occurred in Gilead. Gilead means the Perpetual Fountain. The fountain is noted in the psalms, Jeremiah, and elsewhere as God. He is the Source and the giver of life. In Psalm 36 it says –

For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light. (9)

God’s throne is the Perpetual Fountain symbolized by where the men are meeting, Gilead. And there on the mountain it says that “Jacob offered a sacrifice and called his brethren to eat bread.” This is the first time this type of sacrifice is noted in the Bible. It is called zebakh. What occurs here is reflected in the 50th Psalm –

“Gather My saints together to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” (V.5)

The sacrifice symbolizes Christ’s cross which restores us to God. The bread is His body, it is the Lord’s supper which we take to commune together with God. Finally, after the meal it says that in the morning Laban arose, kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them and departed, returning home.

Laban, instead of cursing as he intended to when he came to Jacob, blessed the family. As the promise says, those who bless you, I will bless. Laban, a fallen man, a troubled man, a confused man, blessed and did not curse, and he returned to his place.

Man’s dwelling is in the earth and while we walk on this round ball, we too have a choice. Will we accept the terms of the covenant, accept the sacrifice, and eat of the meal? Will we live in harmony with the Lord in the presence of His witnessed heap, His word, and His pillar which is His son?

The choice is ours to make. It seems that Laban chose wisely and I hope you will as well. This is the last time that Laban is referred to directly in the Bible. He will be mentioned only two more times, both in Genesis 46 and only in reference to the children of Israel born to Bilhah and Zilpah, not as an individual.

To me, he is one of the most curious people we’ve come across so far. I couldn’t get my thoughts about him straight until this last chapter where he is mentioned. In the end, he is a picture of all of us – a fallen son of Adam who needs to get his thoughts about God straight and to get his conduct towards the Lord corrected.

He and his role in these past many sermons have been an enigma to me and he has cost me more sleepless time and more searching than anyone I have yet encountered. And I finally know the reason. He is the person searching the world for that which won’t satisfy and who so desperately needs an encounter with the true God.

There on the hill known as the Perpetual Fountain, it appears that Laban made peace with God and accepted both the witness and the watchtower – the word and the Son. If you’ve never had a personal encounter with the Son, let me explain the importance of it to you.

Closing Verse: The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. ⁷ You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever. Psalm 12:6, 7

Next Week: Genesis 32:1-8 (This is God’s Camp) (78th 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.

The Witness and the Watchtower

And Laban answered and to Jacob he said,
These daughters are my daughters
These children are my children, this he pled
And this flock is my flock you tended by the waters

All that you see is mine
But what can I do this day to these
My daughters or to their children so fine
Whom they have borne, tell me please

Now therefore come let us make a covenant, you and I
And let it be a witness between us, yes let us try

So Jacob took a stone and as a pillar he set it up
Then Jacob said “Gather stones” to each brother
And they took stones and made a heap where they could sup
And they ate there on the heap with one another

Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed
Laban said “This heap is a witness between you and me indeed.”

Therefore its name was called Galeed
Also Mizpah because he said to Jacob his brother
May the Lord watch between us, take heed
When we are absent from one another

If you afflict my daughters I decree
Or if you take other wives besides my daughters too
Although no man is with us, see
God is witness between me and you

Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, you see
And here is this pillar with it also
Which I have placed between you and me
This heap is a witness and this pillar is a witness, you know

That I will not pass beyond this heap to you, not even with my arm
And you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar for harm

The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor too
And the God of their father judge between me and you

And Jacob swore by the Fear of Isaac His father
Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain
And called his brethren to eat bread with one another
And they ate bread and stayed all night at the Perpetual Fountain

And early in the morning Laban arose to go
And kissed his sons and daughters goodbye
And blessed them, then Laban departed, you know
And returned to his place maybe with a tear in his eye

The symbolism we see in this short story
Tells us of God, His word, His Son, His glory

And that we are to hold fast to the word
Not adding to it nor harming it in any way
Because it is our witness from the Lord
And so we should search it’s mysteries each and every day

Christ is the pillar and the center of our faith
He is the One whom the Bible does proclaim
And God in His word about Jesus it does saith
And so let us forever and ever exalt His glorious name

Oh beautiful and majestic awesome Lord
Thank You for Your wondrous, precious word

Let us cherish it and never depart from what it does say
Until the time when You return for us some glorious day

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genesis 31:31-42
What is My Trespass and What is My Sin?

 Introduction: Surprisingly, the order in which the children of Israel were born and the mothers to whom they were born provide patterns which give us clues about the future of these people. In the same way, today’s account reaffirms the same pattern.

Unbeknownst to Jacob, Rachel stole the household idols of her father and carried them along with her. A search is made for these idols and the order of the search, along with a few other hidden details, shows us once again – and quite clearly, that Israel would have two exiles during their history.

At some point after the ending of the second exile, which occurred in some of our lifetimes, they will go from the law to grace. They will give up their idols and will turn to the Lord and His perpetual fountain of grace. All of this is symbolized in this beautiful story today which occurs on Mount Gilead.

We have full assurance that Israel will call on the Lord as a people and Christ will return to them, just as the ancient prophets saw, and just as Jesus Himself spoke. And to help us see this clearly, he has included details of this in a search for household idols.

Text Verse: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? ¹⁰ I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9, 10

Laban went after Jacob as he fled to his home in Canaan. The night before he met up with Jacob, the Lord searched him out and in his dream he told him to speak to Jacob nothing from good to bad.

This wasn’t an isolated instance in human history, but it is the way God deals with all men. He searches our hearts, tests our minds, and rewards us according to our actions. In order to be pleasing to God, we need to know what pleases Him. The way we do this is through understanding His word. And so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Laban’s Search

Last week we saw Jacob get his family together and head for the land of Canaan. After he left, Laban heard that he was gone and pursued after him. This is where we start up today, with verse 31…

³¹ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’

His answer attends to the matter of his wives first, rather than any theft Laban suffered. What Jacob notes here isn’t at all far-fetched. The world of islam today would still do this. If someone were to marry a muslim, the family would certainly do one of three things.

One would be to insist that the non-muslim convert. The second would be to steal back the family member by force. And the third would be to execute them for marrying out of the faith. Any or all of these are normal among them, and this stems from the mindset of the people of this very area.

Jacob had worked for and paid off his debt to Laban. Also he took nothing from him when he left. Rachel took his household gods which he knew nothing about. He had every right to leave and his flight was actually the prudent thing to do considering the circumstances of the past 20 years.

³² With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

After addressing what he felt was the main concern, he brings up the second matter in a way which would absolutely confirm his innocence. If the idols are found in his camp, Laban would have the right to execute whoever stole them.

He makes this agreement openly, as it says, “in the presence of our brethren.” This would be in the presence of everyone – those with him and those with Laban. They would be impartial witnesses. If the idols weren’t found, Laban would have absolutely no recourse because Jacob’s innocence would be seen.

At this time, Jacob has no idea that it was Rachel who took them and his words “do not let him live” will probably be regretted later when Rachel dies giving birth. He may actually feel this was God’s divine judgment on his words which he speaks here. As Matthew Henry says about this –

“How just soever we think ourselves to be, it is best to forbear imprecations, lest they fall heavier than we imagine.”

Along with the gods, Jacob adds in an all-encompassing note, “…identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” This allows Laban, right in the front of everyone, to make a claim to anything in the camp that belongs to him.

By doing this, Jacob is proving that everything which goes along with him has been attested to as his. There will be no later ability to make a claim on anything he has. Believe it or not, a few years back, someone in Egypt tried to sue Israel for the goods they plundered at the time of the Exodus.

The Bible records in Exodus 12 that Israel plundered the Egyptians as they left. And so in 2003 Nabil Hilmy, dean of the faculty of law at Egypt’s Zagazig University, announced his plan in the Egyptian government weekly, Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, to sue Israel.

The suit quickly disappeared though. Suing Israel based on an account in the Bible would therefore verify the Bible. Once they did this, then they would have to admit Israel’s right to the land and everything else about Israel, including being God’s chosen people.

That is the last thing in the world that the muslims want. Kind of funny, but this is the thought process of those who have hated and continue to hate Israel. God, however, has and continues to look after them, even against those in the church who attempt to diminish Israel’s role in the world.

³³ And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

It’s a bit hard to follow this verse unless you look at it as not necessarily being in sequence. And this is important. It seems to say Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, then the tent of the two maids, then back into Leah’s tent and then into Rachel’s.

It doesn’t seem to make any sense at all and people have proposed various reasons for why the order is so hard to understand. In reality it could be that he simply went into each tent, finishing with Leah’s and then went into Rachel’s, or something like that.

However it actually happened, the order the Bible gives is important because of who the people picture. The Lord is telling us this for a reason. Jacob is the leader of Israel, Leah pictures the law, and Rachel pictures the grace of God.

The search reflects the status of the people of Israel since their inception. The first search in Jacob’s tent reflects Israel before the coming of the law. The second is noted as Leah, living under the law. Then it mentions, surprisingly, the tent of the two maids, but the word is singular – one tent, two maidservants.

This then would reflect the two times of servitude of the Jewish people after the law – the first was in Babylon for 70 years and the second is the Roman dispersion of the people in AD70. Then it says that Laban left the tent of Leah (which was actually noted before the maids) and went into Rachel’s tent.

In other words, the two dispersions of Israel were under the law. Only after those dispersions will they, as a people, come into the covenant, or tent, of grace. To understand this completely, one has to understand the re-gathering of Israel in modern times as is laid out in Ezekiel 36 and 37 and also in other books like Zechariah.

This same order is seen in the birth of Jacob’s 12 sons. Sons were born to Jacob by Leah, then the two maid servants, then by Leah again, and only after that by Rachel. As surely as sugar is sweet, we’re given these patterns to show us Israel’s history – the law, two dispersions, and then coming into grace’s everlasting covenant.

³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them.

Rachel obviously heard Jacob’s words about putting to death whoever had the idols and so she packed them away in a camel’s saddle and sat down on them. Using a bit of cunning, she’s devised a plan to keep him from finding them.

As he pokes around in her tent, she gives him news to help him decide where to look and where not to look…

³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the household idols.

A lot of commentators will insert a passage from Leviticus 15 here. Let me read you what that says –

“¹⁹ ‘If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean. ²¹ Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²² And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²³ If anything is on her bed or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening.”

It’s not uncommon for people to cite these verses and then equate them with what Rachel has done – “Because the law says she’s unclean, Laban wouldn’t touch her or anything she is touching.” This isn’t correct. The law is the law and this predates the law.

Laban may not want to touch her because she’s on her period, but it’s not because the law demanded it. What’s being pictured here is Israel’s final rejection of idolatry. If you go to Israel today, or into many Jewish homes around the world, you’ll see all kinds of idols.

You might see a buddha or feng shui or some hindu god made of brass or wood. Whatever… they will have it, but Rachel has rejected the idols by sitting on them. Laban would never have imagined they would be under her and receive such treatment.

But Israel of the future, like her, will defile their images someday. Isaiah 30:22 tells us it is so –

You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them, “Get away!” Isaiah 30:22

The word Isaiah uses for “unclean thing” is da’ah, a menstrual cloth. As surely as Rachel sat on Laban’s idols, Israel will someday defile and cast away their idols too. In the same chapter in verse 26, Isaiah tells us what it will be like for Israel on that day.

Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people And heals the stroke of their wound.

The time is coming, and may it be soon.

II. Jacob’s Innocence

³⁶ Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?

If the gods were found, Laban would have had the upper hand, completely and entirely. He could have then claimed that some of the flock was stolen or made any other charge he wanted, whether valid or not, it wouldn’t have mattered.

But now Jacob assumes the upper hand and exercises it to rebuke Laban. Jacob is now found without guilt. The accuser can no longer accuse and he is vindicated before his brothers. Jacob’s words to Laban are so perfectly reflected by a prophesy of the future in Zechariah that it really is astonishing –

“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. ² “It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. (13:1, 2)

Here they are, right here in this story, on Mount Gilead, translated as the Perpetual Fountain, and Israel is cleared of the guilt of the idols it has been accused of, just as Israel of the future will be too.

³⁷ Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both!

Jacob’s statement implies that there is nothing of Laban’s in his camp. When he says, “Set it here before my brethren and your brethren that they made judge between us” he is stating it in a way which means that Laban has found diddly.

His actions in pursuing him and accusing him are baseless. From this springboard of innocence, he will now explain, in front of everyone, the mistreatment he has received. This will double Laban’s guilt before them all and will thus doubly vindicate him.

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.

Twenty years. This makes Jacob 97. During this time, he worked 7 years for Leah, 7 for Rachel, and then 6 for whatever possessions he now has. During all of that time, he shows his attentiveness to the flocks because it says the sheep and the goats have born young.

This means that they were well tended to. He also says that he didn’t eat the rams of the flock. The female are rarely eaten because they are the ones to bear more and thus increase wealth, but the rams are taken from time to time for meals.

However, Jacob never did this. He never dipped into what belonged to Laban, although he wouldn’t have been wrong from time to time if he asked Laban for an animal. But instead, he ate lesser foods, maybe lintels, or something which was more difficult to obtain through hunting, like a deer.

He’s been faithful to Laban, worked hard for him, and increased him for twenty long years. But this brings us to an important concept in the Bible – the significance of the number 20. It is a meaning which is consistently found in the Bible –

Twenty is 1 short of 21. Twenty-one is the three-fold 7. Three is divine completion. Seven is spiritual perfection. So 21 would be divine completion of spiritual perfection. Because 20 is one less than 21 then it signifies, “divine expectancy.”

And there are many illustrations to support it:

*Isaac waited 20 years to have a son while Rebekah was barren

*These 20 years, Jacob worked and waited to return to Canaan

*Israel waited 20 years for a deliverer from Jabin’s oppression

*Israel waited 20 years for deliverance by Samson

*The Ark of the Covenant waited 20 years at Kirjath-jearim while the people lamented after the Lord

*Solomon waited 20 years for the building of the two houses

*There was 20 years between Jerusalem’s capture and destruction; and for those 20 years Jeremiah prophesied concerning it.

This 20 year period is a period of waiting and it represents the full time of Israel’s waiting to go from their establishment as a people, through the time of the law to the kingdom age. The time of divine spiritual perfection; the kingdom age which is coming soon.

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.

Again, Jacob makes his plea before the assembly. There were predators in the open fields and from time to time one would kill one of the flock. Although it wasn’t any fault of Jacob’s, he bore the loss. Later, under the law, and speaking of exactly such an occurrence it will say this in Exodus 22 –

“If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn.” (13)

The fact that this is in the law as a protection for the people indicates that this is what is right and honest. Jacob and Laban were before the time of the law, but the general principle of honesty would dictate that Jacob shouldn’t have to pay for such a loss, but he did.

And more, any animal that was stolen – by day or by night, Laban required from Jacob. Based on Laban’s dishonesty as presented by Jacob, it is an indication that Laban could have stolen from the flock and then demanded a replacement as well, thus stealing from Jacob twice.

Jacob airs all of this in the presence of the people to show that he has been both mistreated and unfairly acted against even until the present moment.

III. Jacob’s Protector

⁴⁰ There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.

In this particular area of the world, the days can be extremely hot and the nights very cold. As the day heats up over the open expanses, the area aches from the lack of moisture. If it weren’t for wells, it would be intolerable for both man and animal.

At night it gets so cold that any humidity in the air settles to ground level and turns into frost. This is the normal weather and it would be multiplied in one direction or another as the seasons changed, but it would never be comfortable.

It also seems to imply that Laban didn’t provide any suitable camping material for Jacob. Instead, he fended for himself. Finally, because of the cold, because of the frost, because of the wild animals, and because of thieves – all of these things kept him awake. Sleep literally evaded him most of the time for 20 years.

⁴¹ Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

In this unappealing state of employment, he continued on for 20 full years under three promises – twice for wives and then for set wages. However, seven of those years were for a wife he didn’t want. Only during the last six was it for wages. And even then, Laban constantly cheated him by changing the agreed terms.

He has shown, in front of everyone witnessing their discussion, that the wives and the flocks are his and he was deserving of far more based on the work provided. None of this can be contested because it is spoken in the presence of the witnesses.

And the fact that Laban wronged him is now in the open for all to see as well. Laban has dealt deceitfully with Jacob and Jacob’s words testify to it.

⁴² Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed.

What may seem perplexing is how Jacob describes God. He says, “the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac.” He is speaking of the same God, but using three terms. It’s not actually confusing though when you think it through.

By saying he is “the God of my father”, he is being humble and saying that he is watched over by the same God, but deferring the title to his father. Secondly, Abraham was already dead but Isaac is alive. Therefore, God is the God of Abraham in his eternal state.

However, because Isaac is still alive, God to him is the God he fears. He walks before Him with dread. He knows that he can lay waste a valley such as Sodom and Gomorrah. He can destroy the earth by flood and He can bring the stars from the sky and crash them on the earth. He is the One who controls the womb of the woman and the breath of all living things.

Isaac knows these things and he fears His God. This is why Jacob describes Him this way. And we should note that nothing has changed with the coming of the law, nor with the coming of Jesus. Under the law, Solomon said these words to sum up his life of learning at the end of Ecclesiastes –

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. ¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.” 12:13, 14

And Paul tells us the same basic thing in Ephesians 2, even after the coming of Christ –

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (12, 13)

Despite being our kind and gentle Savior, Jesus is our Lord. He is to be respected and feared. It is He who will bless our rights and judge our wrongs. And when we speak of Him, it should be with reverence mixed with awe, fear, and trembling.

^{42 (con’t)} God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”

Jacob now brings in more facts about the glory of God. He is the God who sees all things, including the affliction of His people and He is the God who is sovereign over all things, including the dreams they have in their sleep.

Jacob is implying that God even knows where we sleep and what we think in our minds. He is aware of, and watching over, all these things. And so we should bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

God came to Laban and rebuked him. He searched him out and determined that he needed correction of both his intents and his attitudes. How would God correct you if He came to you in your sleep tonight? As we finish up today, the question for you may still be unsettled.

Have you made a commitment to this wonderful God who sees into our hearts, our minds, and our dreams? This same God who watches over His people and defends them against injustice and oppression – Have you met Him? Have you made peace with Him? Give me a couple more minutes to tell you how you can have a personal relationship with Him.

Closing Verse: ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Romans 8:31-33

Next Week: Genesis 31:43-55 (The Witness and the Watchtower) (77th 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.

What is My Trespass and What is My Sin

Then Jacob said to Laban, in his discourse
“Because I was afraid, for I said
Perhaps you would take your daughters by force
And if so, in a fight I might end up dead

If you find your gods with whomever, men or women
Do not let them live, so you shall do
In the presence of our brethren
Identify what I have of yours and take it with you

For Jacob did not know
That Rachel had stolen them, yes it’s so

And Laban went into Jacob’s tent
And into Leah’s tent he went too
And into the maid’s tent he went
But he did not find them and so he withdrew

Then he went out of Leah’s tent
And entering into Rachel’s tent he went

Now Rachel, the household idols she had taken
And put them in the camel’s saddle to hide
Her contempt for them cannot be mistaken
She sat on them; their power she denied

And Laban searched all about the tent
But did not find them, And to her father she said
“Let it not displease my lord by this event
I cannot rise before you from this bed

For the manner of women is with me, so pay no mind
And he searched but his household idols he did not find

Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban
And Jacob answered and said to him plainly
What is my trespass? What is my sin?
That you have so hotly pursued me

Although you have searched all my stuff
What part of your household things have you found?
Set it here before our brethren, don’t be gruff
So they may judge between us, let them gather around

These twenty years I have been with you
Your ewes and your female goats have not
Miscarried their young, And it’s true
I haven’t eaten your rams, but I could’ve eaten a lot

That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you
I bore the loss of it; it’s something I had to do

You required it from my hand
Whether stolen by day or stolen by night
I was in the day consumed by drought in the land
And by night the frost was a terrible plight

And my sleep departed from my eyes
And none of this to you was a great surprise

Thus I have been in your house twenty years
I served for your two daughters fourteen
And six years for your flock through trials and jeers
And you changed my wages ten times between

Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham
And the Fear of Isaac, had been with me
Surely now you would have sent me away with an empty-hand
God has seen my affliction and had pity

He has seen the labor of my hands alright
And so he came to you and rebuked you last night.”

God carefully looks after those He has called
And He defends them in their time of need
When those around afflict us, He is appalled
And returns upon them justice with speed

He is the covenant keeping holy and awesome Lord
Who watched over Jacob so long ago
And we too can know Him through His great word
And upon us His great riches He will bestow

Through Jesus we are brought near to our God
And through His shed blood reconciliation is made
By His hand someday on golden streets we will trod
And from Him will come still waters and blissful shade

Thank You O God for our Lord Jesus
Who has so tenderly reached out to us

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

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…