SSL 4 - Gen. 31:1-16
TWO WEEKS AGO: In Gen. 29:15-30 we covered Jacob's arrival in Haran and his 14-year ordeal after he'd been bamboozled by a bait and switch scheme into becoming an indentured servant to his uncle, Laban, to pay the bride-price for not one but both of Laban's daughters. He learned the sad but valuable lesson that those who seek to deceive shall be deceived, and he was, big time! On the positive side, Jacob developed good character traits of self-discipline, perseverance, and faithfulness during this time. As we moved into the lesson, we saw the grace of God at work in Jacob's life. For example, he experienced God's grace in the 14-year delay, because it probably saved his very life by keeping him away from the wrath of Esau, who certainly had every intention of killing him. God's grace was also manifested by the gift of Leah as his wife for several important reasons: (1) In the providence of God, despite Laban's deception, it was Leah who became the mother of Judah, who was the ancestor through whom the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would come; (2) Levi, was also a son of Leah who would be the ancestor to the priestly line in later years; and (3) Rachel, the younger sister, died first, and was buried on the way to Bethlehem, whereas, later when Leah died, she was buried with Jacob at Machpelah. Thus, she was not a misfortune but a great blessing in Jacob's life.
THIS WEEK: We skip Chap. 30, but I'll give you a very brief outline. In vv. 1-24, we get a record of Jacob's offspring: (1) Leah bears six sons and one daughter; (2) Zipah, Leah's maid, bears two sons; (3) Bilhah, Rachel's maid, bears two sons: and (4) Rachel, after being childless many years, bears one son, Joseph (12 altogether). Later in Gen. 35, Rachel bears a second son, Benjamin, and dies in childbirth. If you want the full story with all the ups and down, you'll need to read the chapter. The text doesn't specify exactly when they were born, but it had to have been over the 14-year interval between chapters 30 and 31. In vv. 25-43, right after Joseph was born, Jacob had worked-out his full debt to Laban, and ask Laban to send him back to Canaan with his wives and children. He had no other property. However, Laban asked him to stay and offered him any wages he wanted. The deal they made was kind of strange: Laban would keep all the solid color livestock while Jacob took the striped and spotted ones. Laban cheated Jacob from the start, cutting out all of the multi-colored livestock and leaving him none. In reading this, I was initially confused about how Jacob was manipu-lating the breeding process with various sticks of wood so that his share of the livestock grew at a much higher rate, but that will be clarified in today's lesson. The final verse states, "Thus the man [Jacob] increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys." This is where we come into today's lesson. Scholars estimate Jacob to be 96 at the time.
Read Gen. 31:1-2 - JACOB'S DISPUTE WITH LABAN AND HIS SONS
1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth." 2 Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.
vv. 1-2: Besides a brief mention in 30:35, we know nothing about Laban's sons. From the previous chapter, we know that Jacob had not stolen anything, but due to his own efforts, his wealth had steadily increased in proportion to Laban's. The words of Laban's sons strongly suggest that they viewed Jacob with envy and resentment because of his success. But the greater problem here seems to be Laban's "not friendly" attitude, something he saw in Laban's expression. There was never any love lost between Jacob and Laban, but Jacob's diligent work to pay off his debt had kept the peace between them, but now, since he no longer worked for Laban full-time, any incentive for kindness was gone.
Read Gen. 31:3 - THE LORD INSTRUCTS JACOB TO RETURN HOME
3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."
v.3: Earlier, in 30:25-26, Jacob had expressed the desire to return to his homeland, taking only his wives and children, but Laban had sweet-talked him out of it. Now, six years later, Jacob receives a direct revelation from God to "return to the land of your fathers." Although the situation with Laban had deteriorated and seemed to be growing worse, Jacob had been in Haran for 20 years and had put down roots. We all know how hard it is sometimes to pull-up stakes and move. But God, who had planned this all along, intervenes to give Jacob the push he needs, giving him further encouragement with the promise, "I will be with you," the same words He'd used 20-years before in Gen. 28:15.
TRUTH 1: Though it's not likely that we will encounter God by direct revelation like Jacob, God still often directs us by opening doors (or closing them). But to receive His direction, but we must be diligent to spend time both in prayer and reading His Word.
Read Gen 31:4-13 - JACOB SECRETLY PLANS TO LEAVE FOR CANAAN
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5 and said to them, "I see your father's attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7 Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he spoke thus, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, 'The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth striped. 9 Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me. 10 And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' 12 He said, 'Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"
vv. 4-5: "So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5 and said to them, "I see your father's attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me." - Notice in v. 4 that Rachel is named first because she is the favored wife. Here, Jacob called both wives out into a field, presumably so they wouldn't be noticed or overheard by Laban's people. Apparently Jacob had not previously discussed his plan of returning to Canaan with his wives. He tells them of Laban's growing antagonism toward him but states that he's been divinely guided and protected by the "God (Heb. Elohim) of my father" all through these trials.
vv. 6-7: "You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7 Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me" - Both Rachel and Leah were fully aware of how hard Jacob had worked and the difficulties he had endured trying work under their father. The word "cheated" in Heb. can also mean to deceive or tease, like being toyed with. When he says, "changed my wages ten times," it's a figure of speech for many, many times. Although we aren't told exactly how Laban changed his wages, it's obvious from the context that Jacob was supposed to get all the multi-colored animals, but after they began to produce more offspring than the other herds (as alluded to in Chap. 30), Laban began to take certain groups of them, too. The statement "God did not allow him to hurt me" recognized the fact that God blessed Jacob's remaining livestock and gave him even more offspring regardless of their color pattern. With this, Jacob is gaining a theological understanding of the vision God gave him years before in 28:10-22.
vv. 7-8: "If he spoke thus, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, 'The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth striped. 9 Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me." - In these two verses, Jacob illustrates in detail the manner in which Laban tried to manipulate their wage arrangement to his favor, but every time he changed it, God changed the breeding habits of the livestock to benefit Jacob. We see her that God's grace is still working to shape Jacob's future.
v. 9: "Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me" - Notice that Jacob gives all the credit to God. The verb "taken away" in Heb. is the same word used to express the idea of rescuing animals from the clutches of a predator. So, as Laban took away Jacob's rightful wages, God now rescues the flock and gives them to Jacob.
v. 10: "And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled" - Jacob describes a vision concerning the animals that would belong to him. This confirms that it's not Jacob's manipulation of certain breeding methods but God's grace that caused his portion of the flock to prosper.
vv. 11-12: "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' 12 He said, 'Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you." - The "angel of God" in this context is a representation of God's deity and some scholars say it was the preincarnate Christ. The phrases, "Jacob," and his reply. "I am here," refers back to the instruction God gave him in v. 3 relative to the command to return to "the land of your fathers...." In v. 12, in what appears to be a second vision, the angel pictures the mechanism used by God to benefit Jacob in the breeding process and reiterates His all-seeing protection of Jacob against Laban's evil schemes.
v. 13: "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth'" - The title "God of Bethel" refers to God's vision to Jacob recorded in Gen. 28:10-22 and connects it with command given in v. 3 to return to Canaan. God is reminding Jacob that He is the same faithful God who promised to be with him 20 years before and now, it's time for him to leave this place and return home. The last phrase, contain-ing three imperative commands, makes God's will crystal clear: arise, leave, and return. We can't be sure, but this may have been Jacob's first disclosure to Rachel and Leah of his previous encounters with God and the more recent visions describing God's intervention to protect him from their father's deceptions and His command to leave Haran and return to Canaan. To summarize, Jacob's explanation of these events to his wives consists of four parts: (1) The change in Laban's attitude towards him; (2) Laban's numerous attempts to cheat him despite Jacob's faithful and diligent service; (3) How Jacob's prosperity in spite of Laban's schemes resulted from God's intervention to protect him rather than any dishonestly on his part; and (4) that God has been watching over him these past 20 years and now commands him to leave this place and return to the land of his fathers.
TRUTH 2: As Jacob finally came to realize in this lesson, only after looking back can we see how God is working in our lives. We may not see the results on a day-by-day basis, but we can look back at our lives and see how God's hands were behind all the varied actions and circumstances.
Read Gen. 31:14-15 - LEAH AND RACHEL DECLARE THEY ARE FULLY ONBOARD WITH HIM!
14 Rachel and Leah said to him, "Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house? 15 Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. 16 Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you." vv. 14-15: "Rachel and Leah said to him, 'Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house? 15 Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price'" - In v. 14, both wives pose a rhetorical question to which the obvious answer is NO-that Laban had spent all of it on himself. The "inheritance" they refer to is a share of the wealth in the form of a customary dowry, normally paid to the husband as a rebate on a portion of the bride price, or to the daughter if the husband had predeceased her. The term "reckoned as foreigners" meant that Laban treated his daughters as strangers rather than blood-relations of his family. In short, a fatherly bond between Laban and his daughter is non-existent, and they feel no loyalty to him.
v. 16: "Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you" - The support of his wives a critical point for Jacob. What he planned to do was an enormous undertaking, moving his wives, children, servants, livestock, etc. hundreds of miles away. Had they not supported him, he might have wavered. Also important is the fact that they acknowledge God's plan and support Jacob's obedience to it.
TRUTH 3: Husbands who love their wives will communicate their purposes and intentions to them. Where there is transparent communication there will be a mutual confidence.
Comment: Jacob's subsequent departure, as reported in Gen. 31:17-55 (which we skip) is devious- sneaking away like a thief in the night-and demonstrates that despite his spiritual growth in other areas, he still falls short of being a man of integrity and courage. Jacob didn't take anything that wasn't his (although Rachel did take the family idols-that's another story), but a man of honor-especially one having God's assurance of protection-would have confronted Laban directly.
