If God were not with Jacob? (Gen 31)

If God was not with him

Gen 30:25-31:55

Key Verse  31:42 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."

1.       Jacob and Laban wanted to build their fortune. [25-43]

Rachel who was barren long time even came to have a child Joseph. This means that Rachel as well as Leah became qualified to be his wife for good not only to Laban but also to his families back home.. At the same time, this marked the end of 14 years of Jacob’s work for Laban.

During the last seven years there was much struggle in the family. But as we learned through the last message, in family matters Jacob came to realize that God was totally in control in his sovereign will and his grace.

Now his attention was shifted from building a family to building his own fortune. So he expressed his desire to go back home. So he said this

25-26 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26 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."

Jacob meant that I have paid all to Laban. So Leah and Rachel and all their children are his. He want to go back home. But Laban answered this

27 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." 

His experience with Jacob was very positive.  He came to know fully that Jacob was a hard worker, diligent and very conscientious. Also undoubtedly God was with Jacob and blessed him so much. This means that as long as Jacob is with him, he would be getting rich and rich. So in eagerness to keep him, He made a great offer:

28 He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

This is a great offer. But strangely Jacob was not willing to accept this offer.

V29-30 He is saying that so far, God blessed you Laban through me and you came to have abundance. He ended this way:  V30b But now, when may I do something for my own household?"

Now Jacob wants to work for himself so that he may increase his fortune as well.  Behind this is his will to work for himself independent of Laban, so that by God’s blessing Jacob wanted to build his fortune as well. So Jacob wanted to control the terms of his work for his uncle Laban. The terms of the contract are very important.

Again Laban offered 31 "What shall I give you?" he asked.  But Jacob declined to receive any fixed amount of wage. So he said "Don't give me anything".  Seeing Laban’s strong desire to keep him, Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them. What is the one thing Jacob wanted to do?

V32-33Let 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. 33 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."

The condition was that Jacob was to keep all sheep or goats that are spotted or speckled. The rest, i.e all white or black will be Laban’s sheep.  In general, most of sheep or goats are one color, i.e. while or black. Only very small number of these animals is spotted or streaked. This offer was reasonable and made Laban happy because

1.       There is no ambiguity which one is whose. If it is white or black, then it is Laban’s

2.       Majority of sheep or goats are one color. So, Laban’s earning under Jacob will exceed far above Jacob’s. At the same time, Jacob’s sheep will be very small in number.

The terms of contract are good when they are very clear and  each parties could project what would be their gains and they would be happy with that projected gain.  But one thing is not clear. Why did Jacob offer such odd and most likely even reducing his gain? It is obviously a losing gain since only very small number of sheep comes out as spotted or streaked. But Jacob had confidence in his idea. He might have learned a special breeding skill and was confident that spotted or streaked will be greater number than simple white or black. Was it his smartness? Where did this confidence come from? It could be from what he learned from the experience on 14 years of herding; but was it?

Laban was very smart. On that day he removed all of male sheep or goats that have spotted or speckled from the herd of Jacob and sent them to his sons away for three days.  In his mind there was no way Jacob breed spotted or streaked sheep since he removed all.

But Jacob did something unusual; he peeled off fresh cut branches of poplar and almond tree and made white stripe on them. Then he placed this while strong sheep were in heat for mating. What was the outcome?

It says this way:  43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

It is said that Jacob was exceedingly prosperous. In order to figure out how he became rich, let’s look at Gen 32:13-15.

Genesis 32:13-15 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

Jacob was about to meet his brother, he set apart some portion of his flock as a gift to his brother. The total number of animals that Jacob sent to his brother Esau was, 500 sheep and goats; 15 camels, 40+10 cows and bulls ; 30 donkeys.  If we assume that this is one fifth of all of his possessions, then his riche could be like this: 2500 Sheep and goats 2500, 200 cows and bulls, 150 camels and 150 donkeys. It totals more than 3000 animals, amounting to more than a million dollar in the current value. There is no question about the wealth.  But how did Laban and his sons think about such riches of Jacob?

31:1-2. 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.

When one thinks that someone has stolen his, the next thing he would do is to take back by force, it is very dangerous.  In addition the change of Laban’s attitude toward him meant there would be nothing to protect him from their threat. ! This was not a good sign at all. But this news was coincided with God’s word.

V3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."  

Jacob felt this to be an emergency. Immediately he called out his two wives to the field and had emergency meeting and he addressed the situation to his wives.

Vv6-9 if we summarize this:

1.            I worked hard with all my strength. Yet your father cheated me by changing wages 10 times.

2.            God took away your fathers flock and gave them to me.

If we simplify what he was saying, I did not cheat your father. I did not steal your father’s sheep. Your father Laban did so badly that God took away his blessing and gave it to me. God did everything for me. Rightfully all that I have is mine!  Is it just my claim? No, not at all! God visited him in a dream and confirmed this.

vv10-13.

Through this dream, few things we can discern.

1.                   This dream was sometime before this meeting with his wives since he said, ‘once I had a dream.’  This could long before even may be years before this event.

2.                   God introduced himself as the God of Bethel; this was the place where he made a vow to God that he would accept God as his God if God would protect him and bless him with riches. So by this appearance God fulfilled these two and told him to go back; to go back at once.

3.                   In this way God clearly indicated that Laban did bad things to Jacob.

4.                   It was God who blessed Jacob so that he may have many spotted or streaked sheep. This confirms what Jacob said about his asset; all of his sheep and cattle. 

Truly these were convincing proof to his wives that God did all these things.  It was not Jacob and his greed or cheating that he made such a fortune. Also God pointed out the wrongs of his father.

As they heard Jacob, they concluded in this way:

V16. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you."

In this way the entire family was in one mind and accepted that it was God who gave them blessing. Laban did bad things to Jacob and his family. Jacob made decision to get away right then. So he ran away at that moment. He took all of his possession and families. He did not tell anything to Laban. Actually he was escaping or running away from Laban.

Here again; the main focus contention is clear in their conclusion:

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."

It was the wealth that they all were concerned about. In order to protect his wealth, Jacob decided to run away, without telling his father in law Laban. He did it stealthy. The entire family was together to protect and to preserve their wealth.  By running away secretly Jacob clearly declaring to Laban that all the wealth was his and his family. He would not share any of his wealth with his father in law.

What would be like the band of his family carrying more than 3000 animals? It might be stretching over more than half miles.

It took three day for this news to get to Laban. What did Laban do as soon as he heard this news? What went through his mind? But in Laban and his sons’ perspective,  what Jacob had was all theirs and Jacob was running away like a thief after stealing someone else’s property.   So hurriedly he put together his forces and ran after Jacob.  It took seven day to catch up with him. It was just the boarder of the land of promise of God; Gilead that he could catch up with Jacob.

Laban was so excited to catch up with Jacob. Finally he thought that he could take back some of his sheep and cattle. 

What does this tell us about the riches of the world? For Jacob and his family, all the possession that he had was from his own labor and hardship. On the other hand, for Laban and his sons thought that Jacob stole Laban’s sheep with such a deceptive technique.  They did not honor God and His sovereign will on Jacob. At the same time, they would not accept that the riches are from God or for Jacob. This is the kind of struggle that we see in this world. Everyone has his own justification to make riches of the world as his, to assert such ownership, one will use force and even fight to death to take control of such riches. In such situation like this what would be the best option? Why? Who can be arbiter of this dispute? Based on what?

While Laban’s mind was high in the hope to capture some of his riches back from Jacob, something happened at that night. God appeared to him and said this:

V24 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."

God told him not to do anything to Jacob. It was a shock to him because he knew by divination and by observing Jacob’s life that God  of Abraham was with Jacob and that God was the source of so many blessing that came upon Jacob and then to him as well. But it was the first time that God appeared to him personally. God gave him a very serious message.  And he could not do anything against Jacob. This means that he could not get back such wealth.  In this disappointment and dismay, the morning dawned on him.

The next day they met together.  V26-29

Laban complained against Jacob.

1.       You ran away from me. Why? I would have said good bye to my daughter s and grandchildren. You did a foolish thing.  He did not mention anything about Jacob taking away his riches. In this way, the main issue of large mass of sheep and cattle was totally dropped from the argument.  This was the reason why Laban chase after Jacob so long journey over 300 miles. But he could not say anything about this!

2.       He revealed that God told him not to say anything to Jacob.—he was clearly under pressure from God’s warning.  So simply he could not say anything about the riches—why did he take all and ran away? He knew clearly what God said was in reference to the wealth that Jacob was taking home. That’s what his main goal of this pursuit.

3.       He complained that Jacob took away his gods.

His mind was filled with a great sense of loss. Only thing that he could charge against Jacob was his gods. So he pressed hard on this matter. 

What was Jacob’s answer?  V31-32.

He said that he ran away because he feared that Laban would take away his wives by force. But he offered Laban to search for his gods. SO Laban searched thoroughly but he could not find his gods because of the ruse of Rachel.  So Laban could not get anything from Jacob’s camp, not even his gods. He became totally deflated and flat. In such situation, Jacob made a final rebuttal: In this rebuttal Jacob revealed actual history of his work under Laban.

Read vv38-42

He was a very diligent and hard worker. He never took advantage of Laban and fulfilled his entire obligation to his boss Laban as his herder.  But Laban was bad and changed the terms of wages ten times in attempts to extort from Jacob.

He concludes in this way.

V42  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."

 Simply, if God was not with Jacob, then Laban would have taken away all that he had and left him nothing. It was God who blessed Jacob; it was not Laban’s at all!  But did he accept this?

V43 He still thinks that all that Jacob had was his. But under God’s injunction he could not do anything to Jacob. What does this tell us?

Laban’s eyes were gazing on the large stretch of animals, abundance of riches. But he could not do anything about it. His mind is filled with a great sense of loss.  It was almost certain that Laban would take all of Jacob’s possessions back if God did not tell him not to do anything to Jacob.

This makes an end of their bitter struggle. They made a treaty and departed.

What can we learn? What is God telling us through this struggle between God’s chosen man Jacob and a man who has little understanding of God of Abraham?

1.                   It was all about riches of this world; both Jacob and Laban struggled to get the riches.

2.                   Laban the boss had upper hand and Jacob could not overcome his force. He had clear intention to take Jacob’s possession even by force.  or his came from God through Jacob

3.                   Jacob worked hard with intense labor under supervision of his uncle Laban his boss. He made all out efforts to fend off Laban’s trickery or cunning scheme and efforts to protect his wealth that God given.  selfish man. Very business oriented man, very shrewd and cunning.  

4.                   It was God who blessed Jacob and that blessing flowed to Laban. Laban did not honor God and failed to recognize that God is blessing Jacob, not him. In greed he only saw the material riches.  But God protected Jacob and blessed him to have such a wealth

This is the setting of the life in this world, particularly in the matter of riches of this world. The world has keen interest in riches. They will take whatever means to build riches or to take riches from God’s children. The believers are not exception. They will surely face constant conflict with bosses of the world.  For the people of the world, the terms of the contract are important, labor is important, and smartness is important. For us believers, what is the most important thing?

One thing we must understand is this. The entire life of Jacob must be understood in God’s promise. In this will of God, God exerted his power and will in Jacob’s life. Laban failed to see God’s sovereignty, and his sovereign will on Jacob’s life.  He saw only in terms of the world view, the best of it is fairness in his own perspective. We must not be drawn into his way of thinking. Like Jacob, gaining riches of this world must be seen and understood within God’s promise for us.

What is God telling us through this history? What can we learn from this? How do we think about the riches of this world? We need food, housing and money. All these are essentials of life.

God chose us to bless. God is our Lord and has his promise for each of us.  In this promise God will be with us. We must accept and recognize that no matter how hard we work, ultimately it is God who gives the riches. Not my luck, not my good boss, not my wisdom and knowledge or smartness. We need to work hard, we have to be smart and we have to deal with boss of such kind; in addition to all these, we have to know that God is the ultimate giver of riches as well; we have to depend on him.

When we put our trust in this God, we have peace and comfort in all our dealing with the people of the world! There are many ‘Laban-like slave drivers’, cheaters, shrewd and cunning schemes with all kinds of tactic. But do not worry! God is with you. 

Why did God protect and bless Jacob?? He did because of God’s commitment in promise and not because he was good or diligent; not his smartness was not sufficient;

I like to quote two passages that might help us:

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Matt 6: 31-33 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Read v 42

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."