1
¶ And he heard the words of Laban’s
sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of that
which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory. 2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban,
and, behold, it was not toward him as before. 3
And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and
to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. 4
And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,
5 And said unto them, I see your
father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my
father hath been with me. 6 And ye know
that with all my power I have served your father. 7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed
my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. 8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy
wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked
shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. 9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your
father, and given them to me. 10 And it
came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes,
and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were
ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. 11
And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I
said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lift up
now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are
ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto
thee. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where
thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise,
get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. 14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto
him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15 Are we not counted of him strangers?
for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. 16 For all the riches which God hath taken from
our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said
unto thee, do.
Jacob’s cousins, Laban’s sons, are envious of Jacob’s
success. Laban himself is showing signs of being hostile to Jacob from his own
envy. Many commissioned salespersons can relate a story of a manager who
resented their success even though the salesperson was making the manager
money. It is one of those strange things about business where a boss can resent
an employee’s success even when that success puts money in his own pocket. I’ve
witnessed it myself.
God told Jacob to go home to where he was from and
that God would be with him. Jacob called Rachel and Leah together and reminded
them about how their father had changed his wages so many times and yet, God
had made Jacob successful and blessed him with wealth. He told them how God had
appeared to him and said that He had seen how Laban had treated him and told
Jacob to go back from where he came. God reminded Jacob that He was the God of
Bethel where Jacob had the dream of the ladder to heaven. Most importantly,
Jacob understood that God was responsible for the condition of the sheep and
was behind what happened.
The Bible teaches us that God often uses people and
methods to express His will which go beyond natural explanations but involve
natural means. It is an important aspect of God’s will, using human agency
while being responsible for the effort Himself. For instance, in Exodus 17
Israel is victorious if Moses’ hands are held up and they begin to lose if his
hands are lowered. So, his arms are held up by rocks to keep them up. But, we
know that it was God who gave the victory. Why not just have them win without
Moses’ even being there? Simply because the action invested authority in God’s
man and God working with human efforts that would be impotent without Him God
moves His will forward. Neither Jacob putting sticks in water troughs nor Moses
holding up his hands have any power to accomplish anything without God’s direct
will being involved. This teaches us not to wait for a miracle passively but to
pray and get busy, praying that God will work through you, if what you want to
do is His will. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wait for God’s direction,
revealing His direct and perfect will, and inspiration, giving understanding,
but it just shows that God may use your efforts, no matter how weak and
irrelevant they may seem, to accomplish His purpose.
The treatment the doctor applies to your sickness
heals you but the Bible teaches that it is God who does the healing, only often
as not, through human agency and effort. A family hurt is soothed because you
went and apologized to a family member and although God did the soothing He
used your willingness to act favorably in the matter to accomplish the calming.
Understand, though, that the doctor’s effort without God’s will or your words
of regret would have no effect without God. Don’t make the mistake of assuming
that it was all you or the doctor’s great skill alone. And although God can
heal without a doctor and can level out family difficulties without your
apology He more often than not will use them both to perform His will.
Rachel and Leah both agree that Laban, their father,
had not been exactly upright in his dealings. He had taken their money by
cheating their husband. The wealth that Jacob had gotten from Laban was theirs
and their children’s. In the end they were willing for Jacob to do whatever God
led him to do.
Proverbs
13:22 ¶ A good man leaveth an
inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up
for the just.
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