Geneais 9/9/2017

GENESIS

September 9, 2017

By: Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)

 

Genesis 31:1-16 tells us that Laban’s sons got on their high horse claiming that Jacob “has taken away all that was our father’s, and of that which was our father’s he has gotten all this wealth.” (vs 1) Basically calling Jacob a cheat at best and thief at worst. (Obviously his stick thing that we talked about last week was really blessed.) So Jacob, noticing the all-round change in attitude, was getting nervous. And the Lord saw this too, “And the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I shall be with you.’” (vs 3) 

 

Now what we have to remember is that he left in the first place because he had just stolen his brother’s birthright and thought he was fleeing for his life. So going home was a bit nerve racking also.  But with the Lord’s reassurance, he “sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, ⁵and said to them, ‘I see that your father’s countenance is not toward me as before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶And you know that I have served your father with all my power. ⁷And your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me…¹¹And the angel of God spoke to me in a dream, “Jacob!” And I said, “Here I am.” ¹²And he said, “Lift up your eyes and see, all the rams which leap upon the flock are ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen all the Laban does to you. ¹³I AM the God of Beit-El, where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now rise! Get out from this land! Return to the land of your kindred!”’ ¹⁴And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ‘Is there still any portion of inheritance for us in our father’s house?  ¹⁵Are we not counted as strangers? For he has sold us and has quite devoured our money. ¹⁶For all riches which God has taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatever God has said to you, do.’” (vss 5-16)

 

So Laban’s greed came back to bite him in that even his daughters did not feel any loyalty toward him, only resentment. This is why the Lord instructs us not to covet what others have. “Neither will you desire your neighbor’s wife, nor will you covet your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Deuteronomy 5:18 ONM, 5:21 elsewhere) Neighbor of course, meaning anyone else – including your daughters! And this, of course, goes hand-in-hand with Deuteronomy 5:17 (in the ONM, 5:19 everywhere else), which states, “Neither will you steal:” because when you spend too much time coveting that which you do not and figure can never have, the next step is to fantasize having it, which can lead to fantasizing on how to get it which can turn into trying to get it – by hook or by crook. 

 

Jacob (James) tells us this too: “But each is tempted by his own evil desire, being lured away and being enticed. ¹⁵Then when desire conceives it brings forth sin, and when sin is fully formed it brings forth death.” (1:14-15) Laban’s greed turned into the sin of the defamation of Jacob’s character toward his (Laban’s) sons (and who knows who else) which then grew into the death of his family via the rejection of his daughters. Say nothing to his own future reputation. 

 

So Jacob, being the considerate, God-fearing man that he was, consults his wives and as all three agree, they take off and obey the Lord without further ado. “Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives upon camels. ¹⁸And he carried away all his cattle and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle in his possession, which he had gotten in Padan-Aram, in order to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹And Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s. ²⁰And Jacob stole away unaware to Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he fled.”  

(Genesis 31:17-20)

 

So three days went by before Laban knew that Jacob and family left. That tells you something right there, doesn’t it? You would think, that living on the same property (even though we don’t know how big it was) and everyone being “family” that they would have at least bumped into each other on a daily basis, but obviously not. And as Rachel took Laban’s idols, he wasn’t all that devout either, not even missing them for at least 3 days. And about that: I have read in commentaries that everyone figures she did that to break him of heathen worship, not that she wanted to keep them for herself. 

 

So Jacob left on the Lord’s promise that He would be with him. Therefore, when Laban came after him in hot pursuit, we read this: “And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob fled. ²³So he took his brothers with him and pursued after him seven days’ journey, and they overtook him on Mount Gilead. ²⁴And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Take heed that you do not speak either good or bad to Jacob.’” (Genesis 31:22-24)

 

Now personally, I would have taken that as Go back home, shut up and forget about Jacob. But nooooo, not Laban! He stays, confronts him, then tells him what the Lord said WITH a hypothetical threat (see verse 29), albeit empty. Now in my humble opinion, that constitutes speaking bad, but then, what do I know?

 

So Laban goes through this whole scenario about wanting to have a going away party for him, kiss everyone good-bye, blah, blah, blah. The schmoozing hadn’t even fallen to the ground when he started with the threats started, ending with the [legitimate] question of why he stole Laban’s gods? Jacob was a bit taken aback by that as we can tell by his response, “With whomever you find your gods, let him not live! Discern for yourself in the presence of our brothers what is yours with me, and take what is yours.” (Genesis 31:32)

 

So Laban searched every tent and found nothing. (Rachel hid them under a saddlebag, sat on it and told her father that it was “that time of the month” so she couldn’t get up and he wouldn’t get close to her.) So after everyone calmed down, they made a pact:

 

Basically they built a tower of rocks and set it up as border between them as well as a visual reminder of their promise to each other that the Lord had initiated: “And Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between me and you this day.’ Therefore the name of it was called Galeed. ⁴⁹And Mizpah for he said, ‘The LORD watch between me and you, even when we are absent from one another.’” (Genesis 31:48-49) Galeed is Aramaic for The heap is a witnessand Mizpah is Hebrew for Watchtower. Laban continues with his tongue-in-cheek good intentions vow/threat: “‘If you will afflict my daughters, or if you will take other wives besides my daughters, no man is with us: see, God is witness between me and you.’ ⁵¹And Laban said to Jacob, ‘Behold this heap and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and you. ⁵²This heap is a witness and this pillar is a witness that I shall not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap to me for harm.  ⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father.’ And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called Laban’s brothers to eat bread, and they ate bread and tarried all night on the mountain.” (Genesis 31:50-54)

 

The Nahor that Laban mentioned was Abram’s brother (see Genesis 11:26) from whom he descended. But Abram’s and Nahor’s father was Terah, an idol worshipper in King Nimrod’s court. Whether he turned to the Lord or not, we do not know. We can only assume that he was appealing to Jacob’s loyalty of family by mentioning their common ancestors. 

 

We can only hope too, that Laban came to know Who the real Lord is later in his life. I’m sure that was part of God’s plan when Jacob went to him. After all, the only ones who can honestly tell someone about the One True God is someone who knows and [therefore] trusts Him, right? And Jacob did.

 

Our last mention of Laban is in the first 3 verses of chapter 32, “And early in the morning Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. And Laban departed and returned to his place. ²And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ³And when Jacob saw them, he said, ‘This is God’s camp.’ And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.” And that camp was in what was called Gilead, east of the Jordan River and turned into where the borderline was to be drawn between the territories of the Tribe of Gad and the Tribe of Manasseh, when the Hebrews came back and settled into their Promised Land.   

 

Do you know someone who was born into a Godly home, but strayed? Why don’t you join their family in prayer that the Holy Spirit would draw them back? The seeds were obviously planted, so for anyone we know who fits that description, we can stand on Proverb 22:6 “Train up a child in the Way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

 

We don’t know how old, old is. What we DO know is that it is a promise of God and is therefore – guaranteed!! Just use the acronym that was popular not too long ago: PUSH – Pray Until Something Happens!

 

 

SHALOM!