Genesis
30:25 ¶ And it came to pass, when Rachel
had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto
mine own place, and to my country. 26
Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let
me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. 27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I
have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that
the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. 28
And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. 29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have
served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. 30
For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now
increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and
now when shall I provide for mine own house also? 31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And
Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for
me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: 32
I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the
speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the
spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. 33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in
time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is
not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall
be counted stolen with me. 34 And Laban
said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. 35 And he removed that day the he goats that
were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and
spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the
sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 And he set three days’ journey betwixt
himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
30:37
¶ And Jacob took him rods of green
poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them,
and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had pilled
before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came
to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and
brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the
faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of
Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s
cattle. 41 And it came to pass,
whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before
the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
42 But when the cattle were feeble, he
put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had
much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.
Jacob
wants to take his family and leave Laban, returning to his own country. Laban
acknowledges that Jacob has been a wise steward of Laban’s flocks and has made
Laban prosperous. He says, tell me what you want and I’ll pay you. Jacob
reinforces that under his direction and by his work God has blessed Laban
through Jacob which is what Laban admitted. Now, it is time for Jacob to acquire
wealth of his own.
It
is interesting to note in history how the Jew, living in the countries of the
Gentiles, has made Gentiles rich and prosperous by their skills at handling
money and commerce. It is also interesting how, like Laban, the Gentiles have,
more often than not, resented the Jews, rather than thanked them, as we shall
soon see of Laban.
We
don’t learn until the next chapter that God has arranged for this method of
Jacob acquiring wealth and it is not some arcane and ancient form of
sheepherding. It is pointless to try to explain the events regarding the sheep
without believing in God’s miraculous involvement in Jacob’s life.
Genesis
chapter 31
Genesis
31:1 ¶ 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 at a small
single-lot mobile/modular home dealership in the late 1980s.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment