Genesis 31

Sunday Morning Bible Study

July 8, 2007

Introduction

Sometimes I just hate making decisions. I don’t always see what’s around the corner in life. Sometimes I just flat out don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going.

Billy Graham tells of at time early in his career when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Going out to mail a letter, but getting lost, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy told him, Billy thanked him and said, “If you’ll come to the Baptist church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven.” “I don’t think I’ll be there,” the boy said. “You don’t even know your way to the post office.”

It’s so hard to make the right decisions. Especially when your family is involved. Jacob has been living in the same place now for twenty years and though he’s actually been making out quite well, he’s beginning to wonder if it isn’t time for a move.

:1-21 Jacob flees Laban

:1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth."

Laban’s sons

Jacob had made a deal with Laban that only certain kinds of goats with certain markings would eventually be the ones that will be his “wages” for working for Laban. Laban’s sons have observed how Jacob’s part of the flock has multiplied and grown stronger while Laban’s part of the flock has gotten smaller and weaker.

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

countenance

Laban doesn’t seem to smile much at Jacob anymore. Things were fine as long as Laban was rich and Jacob was poor, but now that Jacob was becoming wealthy too, Laban wasn’t too happy.

:3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."

Lesson

God’s guiding through circumstances

Throughout this chapter we’re going to see hints at what God used to get Jacob to go home. Jacob has been gone long enough. It’s time to move Jacob.

One of the things God uses to guide us is the circumstances around us.

For Jacob, it will be the fact that things are starting to turn real sour around Laban.

Sometimes we can get too comfortable where we are, and God will use the difficult times to get us to finally think about making a move.

Sometimes the circumstances we encounter are the positive kind, an “open door”, an opportunity in front of us.

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

He doesn’t speak to them at their tent city. He asks them to come out into the field to discuss the situation. Perhaps he doesn’t want too many people hearing him. Before Jacob can get any further with his ideas to move, he needs to be sure his family is on board.

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

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

Jacob was a hard worker.

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

Lesson

Lessons from Laban

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

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

Last week we read about the initial agreement between Jacob and Laban. Initially Jacob was supposed to take only the speckled, spotted, and brown goats. Apparently when Laban saw how God caused the flock to produce the kinds of goats that Jacob could take, he changed the labor agreement.

We also see that it really wasn’t Jacob’s striped sticks that were affecting the goats, it was God all along taking care of Jacob.

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

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

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

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

Lesson

God’s guiding through His Word

God not only used the change in Laban to direct Jacob, but He also spoke to Jacob in what seems to be two dreams.

God reminded Jacob of their previous encounter at Bethel (Gen. 28).

God told Jacob that He had seen everything that Laban was trying to do to him.

God said it was time to go home.

For Jacob it was a dream that God used. For us it is more often God’s Word, the Bible, that God will use to direct us.

(Psa 119:105 NKJV) Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

I believe it is important for the Christian who wants to follow Jesus to be spending time every day reading their Bible.

I think it’s important to be on a regular reading plan where you’re not just flipping the Bible open and reading your favorite passages over and over again, but you are purposely going through the Bible in a systematic way.

As you read through the Scripture, God will be speaking to you in several ways.

1. You will be learning and relearning the basic principles that ought to guide our life.

You will be reminded of how important it is to love others, to walk in humility, to forgive those who hurt you, and other principles of life.

2. There will be times as you read when you sense that God is actually using the passage you’re in to speak directly to your life and your situation.

In our own lives, we’ve seen God speak through a Scripture to confirm that we’re on the right track. When we bought our house in Placentia the passage I was in was talking about going up and taking the promised land. When Calvary Anaheim was looking for a home we were reading the passage about Isaac finding a “broad place” to settle down in.

In my “job” as pastor, I get freaked out from time to time with the pressure and fearful responsibility to teach God’s Word. There are times when I want to quit and do something else for a living. Often on a Sunday morning when I’m feeling like that, God will speak.

I remember one week reading on a Sunday morning about the disciples only having a few loaves and fish, but Jesus commanded to feed the multitude (Mat. 14). They gave their few loaves and fish to Jesus and when He blessed it, 5,000 were fed.

Last week I read

(1 Chr 29:1 NKJV) …the work is great, because the temple is not for man but for the LORD God.

God wants to guide you beloved. Be in the place where He can speak to you. The best place to be is to be in His Word.

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

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

completely consumed our money – Jacob worked for fourteen years for his two wives. His work was a sort of “dowry”. One of the ideas behind a dowry was to provide for the woman in case her husband either dies or leaves her. Then she can go back home and live off her dowry. But Leah and Rachel have watched their father take the money from what Jacob has earned, and spent it all on himself.

Laban couldn’t be trusted with money.

: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."

I like the way Rachel and Leah respond. They encourage Jacob to do what God has told him to do.

Lesson

God’s guiding through counsel

Though there may be times when God asks you to do something despite what others tell you, I find it a principle that most of the time you will find some sort of confirmation from the counsel of the people around you.

The Bible says,

(Prov 11:14 NKJV) Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

(Prov 15:22 NKJV) Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

(Prov 24:6 NKJV) For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

Three times Solomon tells his son to be sure to pay attention to the counsel you are given.

Jacob got confirmation from his family. I get the idea that he wouldn’t have gone if Rachel and Leah weren’t ready to go.

Often your family will be the most important confirmation.

Ask for advice. Look for confirmation in the folks important to your life.

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

: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.

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

household idols – t@raphiym – idolatry, idols, image(s), teraphim, family idol; a kind of idol used in household shrine or worship; small figurines of female deities.

What is the significance of these?

1) They were supposed to guarantee fertility

2) They were tied to Laban's estate when he died. According to ancient records (Nuzi tablets, 15^th century BC), the one who possesses the teraphim gets the farm.

3) They might have been used for divination, to ask these “gods” for guidance. Maybe Rachel thought that if she had Laban’s “gods”, then Laban might not find them???

Note that Jacob has been raising his family in a pagan home, living with pagan idols. Rachel may have taken the “gods” just because they were her gods too.

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

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

the river – most likely the Euphrates River.

Gilead

:22-42 Laban pursues Jacob

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

Laban was with his flock, shearing the sheep, and his flock was being kept by his sons three days’ away from Jacob (30:36). It takes three days for him to get the message.

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

This is about a 300 mile journey. Laban is making good time, over 40 miles a day. Laban is probably riding camels or horses, but Jacob is moving much slower having to move at the speed of the goat flocks.

: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."

: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.

: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?

: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?

Emphasis on “might have”

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

: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.'

If Laban has spoken to Jacob for “good”, he might have dangled incentives in front of Jacob to make him return and live with him longer.

If Laban had spoken to Jacob for “bad”, the idea was to hurt Jacob.

God doesn’t want Laban to hurt Jacob. God doesn’t want Laban talking Jacob into staying. God just wants Jacob to go home.

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

Jacob first answers the question, “Why did you leave without saying goodbye?”

: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.'

Lesson

: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.

: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.

: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.

: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.

cannot rise

the manner of women – she claims to be having her period.

: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?

: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!

What’s ironic is that though Jacob has every right to be upset with Laban for all the deception over the years, somebody has actually stolen Laban’s teraphim.

We might feel justified about some of the things we get mad at people about, but sometimes we’re just as wrong about our ideas as Jacob is in thinking that Laban is lying about the teraphim.

:38 "These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.

:39 "That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

Jacob bent over backwards to do a good job for his boss.

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

: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.

: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. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."

Fear of Isaac – the God that Isaac feared.

:43-55 Jacob and Laban’s covenant

It’s at this point that Jacob and Laban decide to come to an agreement on how to officially terminate Jacob’s employment. They come up with a “covenant” or a contract. To commemorate this agreement they set up a pillar as a reminder and call it a “heap of witnesses”. They also called the place…

all that you see is mine –

covenant

Jegar Sahadutha

Galeed

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

Mizpah – Mitspah – “watchtower”

Some people have taken this verse out of context and made it a sort of “goodbye blessing” when you say goodbye to a friend. They think the idea is one of asking God to protect and watch over their friend while they’re gone.

The problem is this isn’t the intent of the verse at all. It’s not a blessing, it’s more of a warning. The idea is, “You are such a sneaky conniving thief, I pray that God keeps His eye on you while I can’t keep my eye on you…”

At this point Jacob performs a sacrifice, they all sit down for meal, and then Laban kisses his daughters and grandchildren and they part for good, never to hear from Laban again.

One last point…

These are Laban’s words.

: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. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."

Fear of Isaac – the God that Isaac feared.

Lesson

Handling a tough work place

Jacob began to realize just how much God had been taking care of him all along.

God had rebuked Laban because of: Jacob’s affliction and Jacob’s hard work

Peter wrote,

(1 Pet 2:18-23 NKJV) Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. {19} For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. {20} For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. {21} For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: {22} "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; {23} who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

If you are doing what’s right by doing your job and doing it well, and if you are being treated harshly at work, you can know that God is going to take care of you.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be a time to move on – for Jacob it came after he got his twenty year pin.

God took care of Jacob. God even took Laban aside and warned him to leave Jacob alone.

You do a good job at work and you can trust God to take care of you.

Illustration

There’s a story about a famous organist who was giving a recital in an eastern church. The instrument was not supplied air electrically; it had to be pumped by hand. A young boy was engaged to do this for the occasion. Everything was going along fine until the lad put his head around the side of the organ and whispered, “We are doing pretty good, aren’t we?” “What do you mean by ‘we’?” objected the organist. A few minutes later, in the midst of a beautiful strain, the organ suddenly stopped giving out any music. Desperately the organist tried all the stops. No use. Then again he saw the head of the boy bob around the corner, a broad smile on his face. He said, “Now do you know who I mean by ‘we’?”

Sometimes we don’t exactly give God the credit for all He does in our lives. We treat him like that little “boy” who has the insignificant job of keeping the air pressure up. Yet what could we do without the help of God’s Spirit in our lives?

You can trust God. He’s looking out for you just like He looked out for Jacob.

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision

Sometimes I just hate making decisions. I don’t always see what’s around the corner in life. Sometimes I just flat out don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going.

It’s so hard to make the right decisions. Especially when your family is involved. Jacob has been living in the same place now for twenty years and though he’s actually been making out quite well, he’s beginning to wonder if it isn’t time for a move.

:1-21 Jacob flees Laban

:1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth."

Laban’s sons – when Jacob first arrived in Haran, it seems that Laban only had two daughters and no sons (29:16). Yet over these last twenty years, he’s now got some sons.

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

countenance – paniym – face; Jacob could read Laban’s face and see that things weren’t going well.

Laban doesn’t seem to smile much at Jacob anymore. Things were fine as long as Laban was rich and Jacob was poor, but now that Jacob was becoming wealthy too, Laban wasn’t too happy.

:3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."

Lesson

God’s guiding through circumstances

Throughout this chapter we’re going to see hints at what God used to get Jacob to go home. Jacob has been gone long enough. It’s time to move Jacob.

One of the things God uses to guide us is the circumstances around us.

For Jacob, it will be the fact that things are starting to turn real sour around Laban.

Sometimes we can get too comfortable where we are, and God will use the difficult times to get us to finally think about making a move.

Sometimes the circumstances we encounter are the positive kind, an “open door”, an opportunity in front of us.

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

He doesn’t speak to them at their tent city. He asks them to come out into the field to discuss the situation. Perhaps he doesn’t want too many people hearing him. Before Jacob can get any further with his ideas to move, he needs to be sure his family is on board.

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

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

Jacob was a hard worker.

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

Lesson

Lessons from Laban

Jacob has had a difficult time in Laban’s house. Yet Jacob didn’t leave at the first sign of trouble. He’s stuck it out for twenty years.

During that time, God has been using Laban to refine Jacob. Jacob hasn’t enjoyed the lessons, but he’s been learning.

He’s learned how bad it is to deceive others.

He’s learned how bad it feels to be deceived.

Laban has been one of the grinding wheels that God has used in Jacob’s life, grinding and shaping the trickster into being a better man.

Are you learning lessons from the difficult things in your life?

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

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

Last week we read about the initial agreement between Jacob and Laban. Initially Jacob was supposed to take only the speckled, spotted, and brown goats. Apparently when Laban saw how God caused the flock to produce the kinds of goats that Jacob could take, he changed the labor agreement.

We also see that it really wasn’t Jacob’s striped sticks that were affecting the goats, it was God all along taking care of Jacob.

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

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

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

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

Lesson

God’s guiding through His Word

God not only used the change in Laban to direct Jacob, but He also spoke to Jacob in what seems to be two dreams.

God reminded Jacob of their previous encounter at Bethel (Gen. 28).

God told Jacob that He had seen everything that Laban was trying to do to him.

God said it was time to go home.

For Jacob it was a dream that God used. For us it is more often God’s Word, the Bible, that God will use to direct us.

(Psa 119:105 NKJV) Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

I believe it is important for the Christian who wants to follow Jesus to be spending time every day reading their Bible.

I think it’s important to be on a regular reading plan where you’re not just flipping the Bible open and reading your favorite passages over and over again, but you are purposely going through the Bible in a systematic way.

As you read through the Scripture, God will be speaking to you in several ways.

1. You will be learning and relearning the basic principles that ought to guide our life.

2. There will be times as you read when you sense that God is actually using the passage you’re in to speak directly to your life and your situation.

God wants to guide you beloved. Be in the place where He can speak to you. The best place to be is to be in His Word.

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

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

Laban couldn’t be trusted with money.

A great test of a person’s faithfulness is to see how they handle money.

: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."

I like the way Rachel and Leah respond. They encourage Jacob to do what God has told him to do.

Lesson

God’s guiding through counsel

Though there may be times when God asks you to do something despite what others tell you, I find it a principle that most of the time you will find some sort of confirmation from the counsel of the people around you.

The Bible says,

(Prov 11:14 NKJV) Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

(Prov 15:22 NKJV) Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

(Prov 24:6 NKJV) For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

Three times Solomon tells his son to be sure to pay attention to the counsel you are given.

Jacob got confirmation from his family. I get the idea that he wouldn’t have gone if Rachel and Leah weren’t ready to go.

For Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, we learn that it’s not only important to get advice from others, but to be sure you pay attention to the right advice.

Ask for advice. Look for confirmation in the folks important to your life.

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

: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.

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

household idols – t@raphiym – idolatry, idols, image(s), teraphim, family idol; a kind of idol used in household shrine or worship; small figurines of female deities.

What is the significance of these?

1) They were supposed to guarantee fertility

2) They were tied to Laban's estate when he died. According to ancient records (Nuzi tablets, 15th century BC), the one who possesses the teraphim gets the farm.

3) They might have been used for divination, to ask these “gods” for guidance. Maybe Rachel thought that if she had Laban’s “gods”, then Laban might not find them???

Note that Jacob has been raising his family in a pagan home, living with pagan idols. Rachel may have taken the “gods” just because they were her gods too.

Laban’s sons

countenance

2) They were tied to Laban's estate when he died. According to ancient records (Nuzi tablets, 15^th century BC), the one who possesses the teraphim gets the farm.

Gilead

cannot rise

Jacob bent over backwards to do a good job for his boss.

covenant

Jegar Sahadutha