Jacob’s Covenant with Laban
Genesis 31:22-551
December 10, 2006

Today’s message is from Genesis 31:22-55. The passage is fairly long, so we won’t read it all at once. I’ll read parts of it as we go along and you can follow as I read. Again, the text I’m using is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (the HCSB). If you have a different translation, just follow along in it (so keep your Bibles open to the passage). Remember, as always as we read, that it’s the word of God we’re reading, not the words of men. Although it was recorded by men, they wrote from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (1 Peter 1:21)

Also, as always, I encourage you to read your Bibles every day. The word of God cleanses and purifies your mind and your heart and conforms your thinking to the mind and heart of Christ. Read all of the Bible and keep on reading it.

[Prayer]

Let’s look at the first two verses of today’s passage. Listen while I read them:

22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him at Mount Gilead. (Genesis 31:22, 23)

Jacob has left Laban, according to God’s command to him, with his wives and children and with his flocks and herds, and is heading back to Canaan. His Uncle Laban has heard about it and gone after him and caught up to him. But before we go on to today’s passage, let me review some of the things that led up to it and some of the history. (I reviewed some of these things last week too.) This goes back to Jacob’s youth.

Jacob is the son of Isaac who is the son of Abraham, the man God chose to bless and to make a blessing and through whose descendant he would bring salvation to all nations. Abraham’s descendant and Isaac’s descendant and Jacob’s descendant is Jesus. He is the one through whom all are blessed and through whom all must be saved.

Before Abraham died, he arranged for his son Isaac to have a wife, not from the Canaanites among whom they were living, but from his own people who were living in Haran several hundred miles away. The wife Abraham got for Isaac was Rebekah. She came from Haran to Canaan and married Isaac. They had two children, Jacob and his twin brother Esau.  Esau was born first. He was the firstborn. According to the custom, Esau would inherit double the inheritance that Jacob would and would inherit the leadership of the family. That was his birthright.

However (and I don’t think I talked about this last week), Jacob (whose name means deceiver) conned his brother Esau out of the birthright. This is how it happened. I’ll read it. This is from Genesis 25:29-34:

29Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, exhausted. 30He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom.
31Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”
33Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. 34Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:29-34)

I said that Jacob conned Esau out of the birthright.  But in reality, what he did was he took advantage of Esau’s weakness—his desire for immediate gratification. (How often do we give up a great blessing in order to receive some very tiny immediate gratification? People give up heaven in order to receive some immediate earthly blessing. Don’t do it!)

Later, Jacob, in addition to getting the birthright, at Rebekah’s instigation, cheated Esau out of out of Isaac’s blessing. Jacob pretended to be Esau and received the blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau. This was a real blessing from the Lord too, not just nice sounding words. Listen to it:

27 “May God give to you—from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land—an abundance of grain and new wine. 28May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers; may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.” (Gen. 27:28, 29)

The blessing that Isaac had intended to give Esau, instead made Esau Jacob’s servant: “Be master over your brothers; may you mother’s sons bow down to you.” However, it was the Lord’s intent that Jacob receive the blessing. He used the evil deceit of Rebekah and Jacob to bring about his good and perfect will. What men intend for evil the Lord can and does use for good. It was through Jacob that the Lord intended to establish his nation of Israel. Esau was very bitter about losing the blessing and was thinking about killing Jacob. You can read all about it in Genesis chapter 27. (And I want to point out that this was the beginning of God training and disciplining Jacob.)

When Rebekah found out what Esau was planning, she arranged for Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran. She told Isaac that she didn’t want Jacob to marry a Canaanite woman and was sending him to find a wife from among their relatives. On the way to Haran, Jacob met the Lord.

Well, Jacob got to Laban’s and not only got a wife, a single wife, but wound up with four wives and 12 children—11 sons and a daughter. It turned out that, while Jacob was a deceiver, Uncle Laban was an expert at it. Jacob wound up serving Laban for 20 years—14 years for his wives Leah and Rachel and six more years to acquire flocks of his own.

Jacob had intended to leave and return to Canaan after 14 years, but Uncle Laban talked him into staying on longer. His pay would be all the specked, spotted or colored animals that were born to Laban’s flocks. And even then Laban tried to cheat Jacob. He removed all the colored animals from the flocks and put them with his sons to take care of a number of miles away.

But the Lord blessed Jacob and the plain animals produced colored offspring. And even then, Laban tried to cheat Jacob. Whatever color offspring the animals produced, Laban would change the color that was supposed to be Jacob’s wages to something else. He did that ten times before Jacob finally left. Nevertheless, the Lord continued to bless Jacob. Whatever the new color was that Laban specified, that was the color that the animals produced. Jacob became very rich. Eventually, Laban and his sons began to be resentful toward Jacob and the Lord told Jacob that it was time for him to leave and go back to Canaan. (That was the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham and Isaac and that was where Jacob belonged.)

Now, one of the things you may not have noticed is that, although Jacob had cheated Esau and was known as a deceiver, during the time he was with Uncle Laban, even though he had been treated unfairly, he dealt honestly with him. He had met the Lord on his way to Haran. He said, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is!  This is none other than the house of God.  This is the gate of heaven.” (Gen. 28:16b, 17) After Jacob had met the Lord he was a different person.

Now let’s look at verses 22 through 32 in today’s passage. I’ll read them:

22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him at Mount Gilead. 24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war! 27Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres, 28but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly. 29I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30Now you have gone off because you long for your father—but why have you stolen my gods?” (Genesis 31:22-30)

Jacob left without telling Laban he was going. He had a three-day head start when Laban found out. He pursued Jacob with what probably looked like a small army compared with the people who were with Jacob.  (You might think it would have been common courtesy for Jacob to tell Laban that he was planning on leaving as we might give an employer notice. But Jacob knew that Laban and his people were beginning to regard him as an enemy and would certainly treat him as such if he announced that he was planning on leaving. However, God told Jacob to leave and at the first opportunity (when Laban was away shearing his sheep—verses 19-21 in last weeks passage), he left. Actually, it says that he fled.)

Jacob had a three day head start, but Laban did not hesitate and caught up with him after seven days. I think he might have killed Jacob and his servants and took his daughters, their children and all the livestock back. This was not something that just happened out of the blue, but Laban’s anger had been building up for a considerable time, maybe for years. No matter what Laban did, Jacob had kept on getting richer. Finally, Jacob snuck away with everything. Laban was furious.

But, again, the Lord protected Jacob. He warned Laban in a dream, “Watch yourself! Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” Laban was wise enough to listen to the warning. (And, by the way, “Don’t say anything to him either good or bad” doesn’t mean “don’t talk to him” it means “don’t harm him”.)

When Laban caught up with Jacob, he rebuked him for fleeing secretly. He said that he would have sent him away with “joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres.” Do you believe that? I sure don’t! I think Laban had murder in his heart. Laban also told Jacob that he hadn’t even given him a chance to kiss his daughters and grandchildren. (But his daughters had said that Laban hadn’t paid any attention to them, that he had regarded them as outsiders, back in verses 14 and 15.) Do you think Laban was trying to make Jacob feel guilty? I think he was! And he told Jacob that he had the power to do him great harm, but that God had told him not to say anything to Jacob either good or bad. In other words, he would have done Jacob great harm if God had not warned him. Anyway, all this was manipulation on Laban’s part. He was trying to make Jacob believe that he (Jacob) was the one that was in the wrong and that he (Laban) was innocent of any wrongdoing by comparison.

(You know, when I was reading Matthew Henry’s commentary, he said something that sounded a little strange to me about Laban’s statement that he would have sent Jacob off with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres. He called it a foolish custom of the country. I thought, “We frequently send people off with a party. Why should that be considered foolish?” But then Matthew Henry went on to compare this with the way Rebekah was sent off when she went to Canaan to marry Isaac. Rebekah was sent off with prayer!)

(When we read the Bible, especially when we read the Old Testament, we are frequently not told what is good and what is evil, but it’s usually fairly obvious. In this case, we should not follow Laban’s example or Jacob’s before he fled from his brother Esau and met the Lord at Bethel.)

In verse 30 of today’s passage, Laban asked Jacob why he had stolen his household idols: “Now you have gone off because you long for your father—but why have you stolen my gods?” Let’s look at what happened. I’m going to read verses 31 through 35:

31Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.
35She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my monthly period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols. (Genesis 31:31-35)

Jacob first answered honestly why he had not told Laban and had left secretly. He was afraid that Laban would have taken his daughters away by force. (And I personally think he would have done more than that.) Then Jacob made this statement: “If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live!” It sounds like a pretty rash statement. Jacob was starting to be angry. It’s easy to make rash statements when you’re angry. But, as Mooma likes to quote from the apostle Paul (from the NIV), “Just say ‘No’ to ungodliness.” (Titus 2:12) And I’m going to read the whole thing—Titus 2:11-14:

11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope-- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14 –NIV)

Anyway, Jacob was unaware that Rachel had stolen the household idols. I think Jacob would certainly not have allowed it had he known. I don’t know why Rachel stole the household idols. Matthew Henry tried to make excuses for her saying that maybe she was rescuing Laban from idolatry or maybe they weren’t idols at all, but something like pictures that we keep of our grandparents. But I think that the household idols were a reflection of the pagan customs that had crept in from the surrounding culture. Rachel probably didn’t think too much about it. (How many customs from the “pagan culture” around us do we follow and not think anything about it?)

Rachel hid the idols from her father, Laban. (And again, what can you learn about “saying “No” to ungodliness.) Now, just two more comments about this: Later, Jacob buried all the stuff, jewelry and so forth, that had anything to do with pagan worship. He presumably buried the idols, too. Also, with regard to Jacob’s rash statement that anyone found with the idols would not live, sometime later Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin, Jacob’s twelfth son and the twelfth patriarch of the nation of Israel. I wonder if Jacob remembered what he had said.

Now let’s look at verses 36 through 42. This is where Jacob rebukes Laban because of his accusations. Let’s read the verses:

36Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me? 37You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us. 38I’ve been with you these 20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock. 39I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night. 40There I was—the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41For 20 years I have worked in your household—14 years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages 10 times! 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night.” (Genesis 31:36-42)

Jacob is first upset that Laban is accusing him of stealing the household idols. He doesn’t know and apparently has a hard time believing that his wife or anyone in his household would do such a thing, but Rachel did do it. Then he goes on to lay out just how he has served Laban for 20 years—that he dealt with him honestly in every way and that if there was any loss, he bore it himself. (How many of us, working in a retail store would take responsibility for and replace merchandise stolen by a shoplifter. We wouldn’t be expected to.) Jacob tells Laban that, on the contrary, it is he (Laban) that has been dishonest by changing his wages 10 times. Finally, Jacob points out that God, the God who called his grandfather, Abraham, the God whom his father Isaac feared and the God who was also with him to protect him, had already made his judgment. He gave it to Laban in a dream the night before. “Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob either good or bad.”

Now let’s look at verses 43 through 47. I’ll read them:

43Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne? 44Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.”
45So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker. 46Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound. 47Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. (Genesis 31:43-47)

Laban knew he had lost. He knew that he would have to let Jacob depart with his family and with all his possessions. But he still felt that he had to insist that everything, his daughters, his grandchildren and the flocks were really his. It’s pride. We have to resist it. I was going to say that Laban obviously feared the Lord (because he knew that he had to obey “Don’t say anything to Jacob either good or bad”). But, in reality, he was not afraid to say that God’s judgment was wrong. (Do we ever declare or complain that God’s judgments are wrong?)

Laban knew that, because God was with Jacob, Jacob was more powerful than he was. He wanted to make a covenant with Jacob—a peace treaty. (Do you remember that, although Abimelech rebuked Abraham for saying that Sarah was his sister rather than his wife, later, he wanted to make a treaty with Abraham because he had seen that God was with Abraham?) Jacob and Laban set up a marker and made a pile of stones and ate by it.

Now let’s look at the rest of the passage. I’ll read it:

48Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between me and you today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed, 49and also Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. 50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.” 51Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me. 52This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm. 53The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor—the gods of their father—will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home. (Genesis 31:48-55)

The treaty was ratified. Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac and offered a sacrifice. Then he invited Laban’s family (his relatives) to eat a meal with them. They ate together and spent the night together. (As it turned out, it was Jacob who gave the party for Laban.) Then Laban kissed his daughters and grandchildren. He blessed them and he went home.

Well, I mentioned that God was training and disciplining Jacob. He disciplines those he loves. I’ve said that before and will say it again, the Lord willing. Let me quote from Hebrews 12 5-7:

5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? (Hebrews 12:5-7 –NIV)

The writer of Hebrews (really, the Holy Spirit) also says that when we are disciplined by the Lord, it will produce in us a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it! (Heb. 12:11)

We are God’s sons because Jesus, God’s one-and-only son, died for us, to save us from our sins. God loves us and disciplines us so that we will have a harvest of righteousness and peace (and remember, “for those who have been trained by it!” You have to accept God’s training to have the harvest of righteousness and peace!). Really, he is teaching us to trust him in every situation. (And, as we will see, the Lord is not done with Jacob yet, either.)

So, more next week. In the mean time, let’s pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
[Prayer]
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1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.