MORNING MESSAGE
Reader: Ivy Lisik
Text: Genesis 30:25-31:55
Jacob should have lived in the American Wild West of the 1800’s, where lying, cheating, murdering, and the ilk were commonplace, resulting in gunfights known as “showdowns”. But Jacob didn’t live in the American Wild West. Instead, he lived in ancient Canaan, but still Jacob had “showdowns”, the first with his Uncle Laban, who was also his father-in-law (we will look at that showdown today); the third with his brother Esau who Jacob had treated so horribly that he had to flee for his life from (two months ago Bola Olabimtan, in a fine Lenten Devotional, studied that showdown; and, a second showdown, which we will look at next week, a showdown with YHWH God. Simply put, Jacob was a bad-acting character who had to learn how to live through the “school of hard knocks”. Ok, now to showdown #1, with Uncle Laban. He cheated Jacob out of a wonderful wedding night with his intended bride, Rachel, by, in the dark of the night, replacing her with her older sister Leah who was sent into Jacob’s pitch-black wedding tent. When confronted the next day by the infuriated Jacob, Laban agreed that Jacob could also marry Rachel, in exchange for Jacob working another seven years for him. Jacob agreed because he loved Rachel that much. Over the course of the next 13 years, as we have already seen, the births of eleven sons and one daughter followed, the last son being Joseph, the firstborn son for Rachel.
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.” But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” He added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.” (Genesis 30:25-28)
Laban was hesitant to lose Jacob, the one whose labours had made him rich. Laban’s knowledge of YHWH God was weak because he worshipped other gods but, after trying divination, he concluded that YHWH had told me that he needed to convince Jacob to stay working.
Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?” “What shall I give you?” Laban asked. “Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages, and my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.” “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” (Genesis 30:29-34)
So, a deal was made that Jacob would get every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. Since those colorings would normally represent a minority of the flock, Laban readily accept4ed Jacob’s terms, only to then unscrupulously removed all the speckled and spotted animals and transport them 3 days away from Jacob.
That same day he (Laban) removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs and he placed them in the care of his sons. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks. (Genesis 30:35,36)
When Laban stole away all the sheep and goats he had agreed to leave with Jacob, Jacob responded with skullduggery of his own. To understand what he did, think of selective breeding. I know of a man who has a successful koi fish breeding business. He selectively breeds the all-blue and all-gold koi fish that he loves by not letting the other coloured koi get near them. Jacob did something like that by stripping bark off of cut tree branches making striped sticks of wood which he would place inside water troughs whenever the female animals he wanted to breed his strong males with came around for a drink. The females would apparently linger longer at the water trough because they were distracted by the striped sticks and the strong males Jacob brought would procreate with them. Whenever weaker, less attractive-in-Jacob’s-eyes females would come around, Jacob would remove the striped sticks so that they wouldn’t linger long enough to mate with the males. This was selective breeding at work. The resultant children Jacob wanted, he kept. The others he didn’t want, he gave to Laban.
Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So, the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys. (Genesis 30:41-43)
Over time, Jacob’s wealth and possessions increased as his flocks grew larger from having stronger animals. But, Laban’s sons were aware that something was off and they accused Jacob of thievery.
Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. (Genesis 31:1,2)
Jacob realized that the jig was up with Laban. Showdown #1 was on its way. It was time for Jacob to act. YHWH God was there to help him.
Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” So, Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. So, God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.” (Genesis 31:3-9)
God was with Jacob. Not because Jacob was his faithful servant but because, through Jacob, God’s covenantal promises would be protected and the family line which would usher in the Messiah, God’s Son Jesus, would be preserved. At this stage of his life, Jacob was cognizant of the fact that YHWH had been protecting him and blessing him. He told his wives of a dream he had which showed that to him.
“In breeding season, I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’” (Genesis 31:10-13)
Jacob pleaded with is family to flee from Laban and go with him to
Canaan, the land God had promised to him, his family, and their descendants. For a first time ever, Rachel and Leah agreed on a thing.
Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.” (Genesis 31:14-16)
Unbeknownst to Laban, his family packed up their stuff and left their home in Mesopotamia. The pain-filled words of regret by Rachel and Leah about losing their family inheritance explain what would happen next, for it was believed in Mesopotamia that whoever had possession of the family gods was the true owner or inheritor of the family wealth.
Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. So, he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. (Genesis 31:17-21)
Rachel, it turns out, just like Jacob and Laban, knew how to deceive.
On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” (Genesis 31:22-24)
Showdown # 1 was on. But God warned Laban to not harm Jacob.
Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye.” You have done a foolish thing. (Genesis 31:25-28)
If we didn’t know better, we would all think, “Poor old grandpa Laban” But we don’t think that because we know that his grief wasn’t about losing his family. It was about feeling cheated by Jacob, being embarrassed that Jacob and his family had escaped his control, and, to top it all off, that his household gods had been stolen. Laban said,
“I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?” (Genesis 31:29,30)
Laban insisted on searching the tents; not to find and kiss his daughters and grandchildren but to find his missing household gods. He was enraged. Jacob was unimpressed by his actions.
Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods. So, Laban went into Jacob’s tent & into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So, he searched but could not find the household gods. (Gen 31:31-35)
The unsuccessful search gave Jacob the opportunity to berate Laban.
Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine and let them judge between the two of us. I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.” (Genesis 31:36-42)
Laban had assumed that Jacob feared him, but Jacob didn’t fear Laban. He feared his father Isaac, a fear that led him to respect Isaac and his God YHWH. Realizing such, Laban then suggested they make a covenant between them and so he set up an altar, a heap of stones, as a lasting witness of that covenant. Jacob and Laban were upset with each other, but they decided to establish a covenant, one made between two men who didn’t like one other. In it, they said, in essence, “I’m not going to rob or harm you anymore and because I don’t trust you once you are out of my sight, may God watch your every move.”
Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So, Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home. (Genesis 31:48-55)
To conclude, who won this showdown #1 between Jacob and Laban? Jacob did, because God was protecting and guiding him. Though at that time, YHWH God to Jacob was merely the God of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham, the continuing theme through these chapters is that God gave Jacob protection and guidance, a reality to which Jacob would eventually respond by making YHWH God his God. God’s faithfulness to Jacob is a reflection of what he does for each of us. Let us not be slow as Jacob was in fully giving our lives over to following and worshipping God. Surrender your life to God now, today, not later, not tomorrow. Don’t wait for not one of us knows what will happen to us later today, let alone tomorrow. Let’s close in prayer…
