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Genesis 31: 54: Fellowship meal.

⁵⁴ 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. NIV

This little statement, towards the end of the chapter, seems to me to foreshadow the death of Jesus on the cross, and the establishing of Communion, the Lord’s Supper, as the memorial of what He did. It reminds me of a poster I saw a long time ago. It depicted a chalice of wine and some bread. The wording on it read:

‘Jesus of Nazareth invites you to a meal to be given in His honour.’

Jesus still invites ‘’his relatives to a meal’’.

Genesis 31: 43-55: Truce

^“43 Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? ⁴⁴ Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. ⁴⁹ It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lordkeep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. ⁵⁰ 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.” ⁵¹ Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. ⁵² 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. ⁵³ 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. ⁵⁴ 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. ⁵⁵ Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.” NIV

Someone pointed out that Jacob and Laban called a truce, which is better than all out war. But it is best of all when brothers ‘’dwell together in unity!’’ (Psalm 133:1). It wasn’t that these two men were now going to pursue friendly relations. They just agreed not to harm each other, and recognised that God was watching/listening to their commitment. It is a good thing to try to live consciously before God, recognising that He is the unseen observer of our thoughts, motives, actions…of everything.

‘Though these two men were far below the Christian ideal of character, it is evident that they lived in an habitual recognition of God and the eternal sanction of his presence. The Lord was to watch between them. God was to be witness and judge. They looked back on the days of Abraham with reverential awe and loyalty, and commemorated Abraham’s God.’ F.B.Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.27.

Genesis 31:38-42: Telling it like it is.

^“38 “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. ³⁹ 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. ⁴⁰ This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.⁴¹ 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. ⁴² 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.”NIV

Maybe Jacob cast himself in the best light possible, but it is an insight into his suffering under the hand of Laban. He was put into a furnace, but God had a purpose for him being there. He was in a refining process and the Lord was changing him.

That didn’t justify Laban’s dodgy behaviour though, and there is a time for laying it on the line; for telling someone the unpalatable and (maybe) unwanted truth. May God give us courage for direct speech when it is necessary, and wisdom to know the right time and the correct way. Truth delivered badly may not receive the hearing we would wish.

When people treat you unfairly, remember that God knows and cares, and He is able to intervene. We have seen this before, and it’s good to be reminded afresh this day, because it’s a tough world out there.

Genesis 31:30-37: ‘Be careful little lips…’

^“30 Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?” ³¹ Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. ³² 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. ³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and 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. ³⁴ 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. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ 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? ³⁷ 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.” NIV

A children’s chorus, probably from my Sunday School days, comes back to me:

‘Be careful little eyes what you see…be careful little ears what you hear…be careful little hands what you do…be careful little feet where you go…’ Each line is repeated twice, then followed by the words: ‘There’s a Father up above who is looking down in love, so be careful little….etc.’

But there is another line which goes: ‘Be careful little lips what you say…’  Words are powerful. Once spoken they cannot be unspoken. They can bless, but they can also blow up in your face. When Jacob asserted his innocence he was of course expressing a clean conscience re the theft of the gods (By the way, who would find much security in a god that could be nicked?!!) However the extreme statement in (32a) might have come back to haunt him. But for Rachel duping her father, who knows what the outcome might have been? The story of discreditable behaviour goes on, but in it all God was working out His eternal purposes and looking after His own. It clearly was a matter of grace, because they weren’t earning his His goodness by exemplary conduct.

Thought: ‘God has given us one mouth that closes and two ears that don’t; this should tell us something!’

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to ‘’be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry’’ (James 1:19)

Genesis 31: 25-30: Divine protection.

^“25 Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. ²⁷ 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 timbrelsand harps? ²⁸ You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. ²⁹ 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.’ ³⁰ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?” NIV

I had a conversation with a friend recently, and we were talking about how God’s protection is real, but we are only protected from death for as long as God wants us to remain in the world. In this story, Jacob experienced the very real protection of God.

Now it has to be admitted that, although Jacob suffered much at the hands of his wily old fox of an uncle, he was not entirely innocent. He himself, as we’ve seen, could be duplicitous. It seems he tried to match Laban chess move for chess move. But when he ran away, he wasn’t thinking that his uncle would send him on his way with music and the popping of champagne corks (27)! It was more that he knew that this man had ‘’the power to harm’’ him (29). He was aware of the threat.

Nevertheless, God’s hand was heavily upon Laban to hold him back, and we can take comfort from this knowledge (29b).

Genesis 31:22-24: God in control.

^“22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ 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.” NIV

We fear people partly because we do not fear God more. In the story of Jacob’s return home, we have seen, and we now see again, God’s Hand firmly on circumstances to make this possible. It was a journey the Lord wanted Jacob to make, and He ensured that the man could make it. I want to say again, God is REAL. He is there, even though we can’t see Him. Like the wind, or like electricity, He is invisible, but we can see something of what He does. He can speak to surprising people in surprising ways. He can restrain individuals if He chooses to do so. Perhaps we believe over much in bad men, and not enough in the good God.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, when you have made the path clear to me, may I not fail to take it.

Genesis 31:14-21: Mixture.

^“14 Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? ¹⁵ Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.” ¹⁷ Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸ 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.¹⁹ When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ²⁰ Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. ²¹ So he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.” NIV

Jacob himself was a bit of a mixture. He heard from God and he obeyed, but he was still, to some extent, living by his wits – or trying to. It was also good that Rachel and Leah supported their husband in doing the will of God (16). But Rachel too was a bit of a mixture (19). She probably thought the idols she stole would afford them some protection on the journey. She had obviously not given up all the pagan beliefs of her family background.

Like dead lives on an autumnal tree, it may take time for some things to ‘drop off’. However, once we become aware that something is wrong, we should not compromise with it.

‘The secret departure was very undignified and unworthy of the heir of the promises. The command to return was of God, and what he commands he becomes responsible for. Besides, had not the Almighty promised to keep him in all places? See 28:15. When we are on God’s plan, we may reckon on him absolutely.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.26.

PRAYER: Lord show myself to myself, that I may turn to you from every form of idolatry.

Genesis 31:10-13: God knows and cares.

¹⁰ “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. ¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² 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. ¹³ 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.’” NIV

Are there people in your world who are treating you badly? It may be that, as in Jacob’s case, you haven’t always acted well either. Or maybe you are entirely innocent. Whatever, we must learn to trust God, and entrust these people to Him; indeed, to entrust ourselves to Him. Seek to be like Jesus, by His grace:

‘’When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly’’ (1 Peter 2:23).

People never abuse you behind God’s back. He sees what they do. May He help us to live like He is real – because He is!

PRAYER: Lord, please forgive me for the times I take matters into my own hands and fail to look to you. If there is a time when I should defend myself, help me to discern the moment; but help me to always remember that vengeance is yours, not mine, and ‘’leave room’’ for your wrath.

Genesis 31:1-9: The frowns of providence.

“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.”² And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. ⁵ 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. ⁶ You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, ⁷ yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me.⁸ 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. ⁹ So God has taken away your father’s livestockand has given them to me.” NIV

Tom Hale, in the ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.176, admits that the verses we looked at last Friday (30:37-43) are confusing: ‘Jacob resorted to a superstitious belief that if animals mated in front of striped branches, their offspring would be striped or mixed in colour. True enough, when Jacob mated Laban’s single-coloured animals in this way, mixed coloured offspring resulted. (This is genetically possible, though unlikely) Furthermore, he had the stronger animals mate near the striped branches, but not the weaker animals…Did Jacob’s striped branches have any effect? No; God produced the effect by using the recessive genes already present in the animals. God, using natural means, caused Jacob’s flocks to grow and Laban’s to decline. Jacob himself later admitted that the credit belonged to God (Genesis 31:9). This entire episode was a fulfillment of God’s promise to Jacob back at Bethel that He would be with him wherever he went (Genesis 28:15).’  It was now God’s time for Jacob to return home (3). The Lord not only spoke to him about this, but also worked in his circumstances to give him a big nudge in the right direction (2, 5). He experienced something of the frowns of providence. It wasn’t a happy thing for Jacob to endure, but it emphasised that time was up. Here is something we can all identify with: someone (or certain people) have been friendly towards us; then (sometimes inexplicably) the ‘weather’ changes. The sunshine goes behind dark cloud. We can feel the temperature drop, and we know we have to take appropriate action: reach for a macintosh or an umbrella. In jacob’s case we can understand the change, but we can’t always pinpoint reasons why friends have cooled off. It can be exceedingly hurtful.

But remember this: although people maybe mercurial, God is always with us and He remains the same.  Rejoice in the Lord.