Read Genesis 31
Jacob Flees From Laban
1 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 livestock and has given them to me.
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.’”
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.
Laban Pursues Jacob
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.”
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 timbrels and 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?”
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.
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.”
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 Lord keep 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.
Go Deeper
Today’s reading is just sad. Talk about a dysfunctional family! Jacob and Laban’s relationship is so bad that Jacob literally runs away from his father-in-law. Maybe some of you might have wanted to run away from your in-laws at times, but probably not to this level. Laban and Jacob’s relationship can be categorized by one word: deceit. Laban deceived Jacob into marrying both of his daughters. Jacob has been “less than honest” in the ways that he has gotten all of his livestock (which he did because of Laban’s trickery in the first place), and then he deceives Laban by running away. Rachel even deceives her dad by stealing his household idols and then lying about it. Deceit is not the building block for healthy familial relationships, but it is all we see in this family.
And yet, God is in it all and He uses it all and He works through it all. The marriage that Jacob was deceived into births some of the main leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel. The deceit Laban pulled in trying to trick Jacob out of the livestock was rendered useless because of God’s blessing. Even when Laban pursues Jacob with ill intent and purposes, God intervenes and protects Jacob. Over and over again, it seems as though their sin is about to ruin God’s plan, when in reality, God just works through their sin to make His plan happen.
God truly is sovereign. It might seem like this world has gotten out of hand or that our circumstances are beyond His control, but let this story remind you that that’s simply not true. God is still at work. He’s redeeming our brokenness, restoring our hurts, and making new on promises we’ve broken… all to accomplish His purposes. Our sin doesn’t mess up His plans. We can’t do that–we aren’t that powerful.
Instead, He works in and through it all to bring about His design. When tempted to count yourself out of the game because of the sins you’ve committed or the ways you’ve messed up, remember: God works all things for the good of those who love Him. All things means “all” things–good and bad. If He can bring good out of all the sin, lies, and deceit in this story, He can truly work through anything in our lives. No matter what, His plan will prevail.
Questions
What does God’s sovereignty mean to you? Is it comforting to you that you can’t mess up God’s plans?
Have you ever had an instance of sin in your life that you thought couldn’t be redeemed? How has God used it to bring about His purposes?
Jacob constantly doubts God’s ways and tries to make his own path. Yet, God never gives up on Him, and He brings good out of the bad choices Jacob’s made. Who do you need to encourage with the story of Jacob today? How can his story comfort you today?
Did You Know?
Mizpah in Hebrew translates as “watchtower” and can be loosely interpreted as “May God watch over you.” This can often be seen printed on jewelry and other items as a token of friendship. Ironically, the original meaning of verse 48 is not an agreement or promise made between friends, but rather a caution between enemies who did not trust one another.
6 thoughts on “Genesis 31”
My family, his family, so totally different. The church I was raised in and how we saw God. The church he was raised in and how they saw God. We have traditions, they have traditions, ect. But the two shall become one. Now we bring everything together and try to blend it so that we can endure and develop togther a life that is glorifing to God. As a now mother-in-law I have to step back and let my thoughts and feelings be mine. I pray pray pray for my children and their signifacant other that they will find their way together to perfect, establish, strenghten, and settle them that gives them the ability to endure, and develop Godly character that glorifies God.
I know we, have not done it all right. We have stumbled and bumbled our way through BUT GOD rich in mercy is still God and can make all things new. When we submit to God’s disiplines and let Him guide our ways, when we listen to hear and obey right away, then the difficulites can be triumphs and continue to develop us into the character that glorifies God.
God thank You for examples of how I can listen better. God thank You for showing me how You never fail. God thank You for my son-in-law, who loves my daughter with such a Godly love and leads well. Thank You that my other two children can find Godly mates to live their lives with, if that is Your plan, if not help me to be a help to them to stand with You and do Your will. God help me to listen to hear. God forgive me for any deceit, when I try to “help” You with my life. God continue to give me wisdom, knowledge and understanding as I go through these minutes of this day. God thank You for being on mission with every person I encounter today. God I do not know when my expiration date is, so thank You for me just taking a minute at a time to glorify, exault, praise, honor, magnify, and delight in the fact that You never fail in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Often times people will reference the many sad dysfunctional – crazy episodes in scripture to question what kind of God do we serve and what kind of book (Bible) are we honoring and following that would have these kind of accounts inside of it. Isn’t it supposed to be Holy?
I often need to remind myself that the Bible does not only contain the Holy directives of our compassionate good God… But it’s also a historical account of what actually happened in this broken world after the fall in Genesis 3.
It’s life-giving that even in our flawed & deceitful ways, God still pursues us. His good plan cannot be thwarted. I noticed that both Jacob and Laban referred to “the God of Abraham” but neither one seemed to personally live the precepts and ways of holy God. “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us”(v53). When would they embrace him as “my God”? Let’s be encouraged to remain in awe of God who is still at work in our broken lives to restore and repair and rebuild the fractured places all to his glory.
19 “Rachel stole her father’s household gods”
Reading these passages passages recently, I am struck by the fact that everyone is deceitful. Not just the men, but the women as well. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, et al all were dishonest at different points. Saddening, but insightful.
To be honest, it’s hard and I don’t really trust God’s sovereignty. Where was he with this holocast? Or right now with Israel and Hamas? I believe god works and has the power to do anything but it seams like he sits on the sideline more often than not in recent history. This is where im honestly at. May Jesus demonstrate his sovereign power today because I know I’m wrong. These things make me doubt his existence.
Dysfunctional family relationships are more than we would like to claim or share unless you are a participant in Re-Gen.( I highly recommend attending.) Our Sovereign God pursues us to follow Him and as Bill commented, “His directives”. We are unrighteous and deceptive and our God, my God shows mercy on us despite our human sin. Hallelujah, thank you Abba! There is hope, my story is not over.