Genesis 30:25 to Genesis 32:20
Posted by Allen Chapel AME Church at 7/26/2007 12:37 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
Here's where we left off last week:
25 When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know very well the service I have given you.’ 27But Laban said to him, ‘If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you; 28name your wages, and I will give them.’ 29Jacob said to him, ‘You yourself know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me. 30For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly; and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?’ 31He said, ‘What shall I give you?’ Jacob said, ‘You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it:He just wants to be let go. He doesn't want anything in the exchange. And meanwhile, somehow, the Lord has spoken to Laban or Laban is putting on some kind of ruse. At any rate, he has noticed that since Jacob has been with him, his holdings have increased considerably. Of course, it doesn't take divination for Laban to see this and to tell that Jacob is skilled in management, in animal husbandry. Divination wasn't even necessary for him to see that ... and he wants to keep Jacob around. But Jacob wants to be a blessing to his own household, too. He has quite a family by now.
You have a sense of how everything Jacob will touch will be increased.
32let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.Let's stop right there. Why should he have any expectation that Laban would go for such a thing? Because there are a lot less of them.
33So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.’ 34Laban said, ‘Good! Let it be as you have said.’ 35But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons; 36and he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock.What has Laban done? He's set up the breeding so that nothing will come to Jacob.
37 Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. 38He set the rods that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering-places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39the flocks bred in front of the rods, and so the flocks produced young that were striped, speckled, and spotted. 40Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and the completely black animals in the flock of Laban; and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob laid the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the rods, 42but for the feebler of the flock he did not lay them there; so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43Thus the man grew exceedingly rich, and had large flocks, and male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.When Jacob was in that place and had his head on a rock and he had a dream, what did God say to him? "I am with you, and I will bring you back to this land." He didn't say how long it would be, but he made this promise, and now we have the fulfillment of it.
Genesis 31
Jacob Flees with Family and Flocks
31Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, ‘Jacob has taken all that was our father’s; he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.’ 2And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as favourably as he did before. 3Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you.’
4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was, 5and said to them, ‘I see that your father does not regard me as favourably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength; 7yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me. 8If he said, “The speckled shall be your wages”, then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said, “The striped shall be your wages”, then all the flock bore striped. 9Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father, and given them to me.We're being reminded again of that place.
10 During the mating of the flock I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats that leaped upon the flock were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, “Jacob,” and I said, “Here I am!” 12And he said, “Look up and see that all the goats that leap on the flock are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel,* where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.
Now leave this land at once and return to the land of your birth.” ’ 14Then Rachel and Leah answered him, ‘Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?In other words, "Before we leave, what else does our father have that he's supposed to give to us before we go off? We must have some inheritance."
15Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us.Remember that Jacob asked for Rachel when he first saw her, and Laban said that he could have her if he worked for him, only to deceive him. Then the deal is restruck that Rachel will be his wife if he will serve Laban for another seven years. In exchange for labor, he gets Laban's two daughters. So what has the daddy done? He has sold them. Both these young women have this impression of their father, who sold them, and who has withheld their inheritance, spending it. "He used our inheritance for his own sake." As Bill Cosby would say, these girls are warm!
16All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.’What does that mean? These people are Jewish, which means they are monotheistic. But the institution of the law has not been laid yet: "I am the Lord, thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." At this point in the Bible, Moses isn't even born yet--in fact, there are many generations to come yet. The Jews have not gone into slavery yet, they haven't gone into Egypt yet. So this is well before the 10 Commandments. When it says that Laban has these household gods, it's referring to these little figures that people had as a kind of talisman. In certain homes, you have to touch something and bless yourself with it. And in certain kinds of Christian homes, there are artifacts on the walls: crosses, crucifixes. Catholics particularly. There are certain kinds of rituals that are performed to maintain the safety and security of the home. So Rachel has stolen her father's household gods.17 So Jacob arose, and set his children and his wives on camels; 18and he drove away all his livestock, all the property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
20And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.It's more than a double-cross. It's a double-double-cross. Daughter double-crosses the daddy; son-in-law double-crosses the father-in-law.
21So he fled with all that he had; starting out he crossed the Euphrates, and set his face towards the hill country of Gilead.Indeed, if God can come to Jacob in a dream, he can come to Laban. And if he can come to Jacob and to Laban, he can come to all of us, any of us.
22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his kinsfolk with him and pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad.’
25 Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsfolk camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26Laban said to Jacob, ‘What have you done? You have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword.Uh oh! What did the Lord tell Laban? "Say not a word"! And who does Laban sound like now? Jacob the morning after his marriage to Leah, who he'd thought was Rachel. "Carried away my daughters"? Didn't they have a marriage feast? And didn't they have confirmation of it by the man going into the woman? Weren't there children born? What's he talking about? Aren't they Jacob's to take? His "household"?
27Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre. 28And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? What you have done is foolish. 29It is in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, “Take heed that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”He's doing a lot of speaking for someone who's not supposed to say a word!
30Even though you had to go because you longed greatly for your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?’ 31Jacob answered Laban, ‘Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsfolk, point out what I have that is yours, and take it.’ Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.Don't we very often end up cursing ourselves because we don't have sufficient sight to speak appropriately? We can't see everything, we don't know everything, and therefore we ought not to claim or make promises we cannot keep. Our mouths will get us into trouble. The only kind of vows we ought to be making are the ones we make to God.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered Rachel’s. 34Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt all about in the tent, but did not find them. 35And she said to her father, ‘Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.’This custom was ancient! When women were in such a state, men were to stay away from them, not to touch them. This custom cuts one way, against women, to say that they are defiled and whoever touches a woman in this condition will be infected by her defilement. But, on the other hand, it's a method well-known to people who are oppressed to use the instrument of their oppression as a way to empower themselves. That has often been done. We have done it in our own history as black people over and over again. How often were slaves in the household privy to information which white folk used in front of them because white folk thought they were so no-count that they wouldn't understand. And black folk would play along with that thing and absorb whatever information they could use for their own purposes. And I don't care what anybody says: House negros ran just like field negros when they had an opportunity.
There's a black man who's a journalist named Terry, who wrote about the Vietnam war, and he had made a name for himself as a journalist because he had gotten information that no other journalist could get. It was about the Pentagon papers, or something like that. He got it because there was an important conference at a hotel with all these senators and congress members. He wanted to get into the room so he could hear what they were saying so he could get it into his report. He went down to the kitchen, put on a servant's jacket, got a waiter's gear, and went up to the room. Do you know the servicemen who were guarding the door let him in? They didn't blink. And if he got information, what the heck would he do with it anyway? He took advantage of the fact that they always see black people in a certain way, and he used it to secure the story. He took advantage of discrimination.
The impression of women can cut both ways. Most usually it cuts against women, but in this case, Rachel uses it to her advantage.
36 Then Jacob became angry, and upbraided Laban. Jacob said to Laban, ‘What is my offence? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37Although you have felt about through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsfolk and your kinsfolk, so that they may decide between us two.Because the search has been in vain and concluded to his advantage, it's made him more brazen. Instead of defending himself, he turns the tables and becomes, rather than the defendent, he's the prosecutor. He's reducing Laban to his own position. Laban was chasing after him to bring him to the right, but now Jacob is saying, "Which of us is in the right?"
38These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. 39That which was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself; of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40It was like this with me: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you for fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear* of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked you last night.’Now Jacob's an interpreter of dreams? In other words, he's reminding him of what the Lord said to him. Would you be foolish enough to hurt Jacob after the Lord has spoken to you? Do you think Laban believes the Lord has spoken to him? It appears so ... "The God of your father came to me ..." Just wait and see what Laban is going to say next. (When there's this much talk, do you think the hurt will happen?)
43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, ‘The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about their children whom they have borne? 44Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be a witness between you and me.’ 45So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. 46And Jacob said to his kinsfolk, ‘Gather stones,’ and they took stones, and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap. 47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. 48Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between you and me today.’ Therefore he called it Galeed, 49and the pillar Mizpah, for he said, ‘The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other."Behind my back, you'll do anything. Behind your back, I'll do anything--except that the Lord watches between us."
50If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, though no one else is with us, remember that God is witness between you and me.’ 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘See this heap and see the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.What do you think is the intention of that? In other words, "Don't cross this line, or it's on." So this is the place, the border, the line they won't cross.
53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor’—the God of their father—‘judge between us.’ So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, 54and Jacob offered a sacrifice on the height and called his kinsfolk to eat bread; and they ate bread and tarried all night in the hill country.55
Early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he departed and returned home.
Laban is protecting his bloodline. And in time, the history of Israel will turn on the children of those who have been born of Jacob. But we're not going to put too fine a point on this, because if you believe your ethnicity is privileged, it can lead to some of the more horrible features of contemporary life: "Let's keep the bloodline pure." That's why it's bothersome even to hear of "pure African blood." Even if we went to certain regions of Africa, the purity of blood means nothing. The notion of ethnic purities leads to an abominable end; it leads to genocide.
But what we know about Esau is that he married four women who weren't Hebrew, so they were a mix between himself and these other folks. And Jacob was purposely sent by his mother to Laban, who was her brother. He took wives of his daughters and had children by them. So there is a certain integrity of the bloodline.
Now this is the part that's approaching something utterly miraculous.Genesis 32
32Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him; 2and when Jacob saw them he said, ‘This is God’s camp!’ So he called that place Mahanaim.
3 Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4instructing them, ‘Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have lived with Laban as an alien, and stayed until now; 5and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favour in your sight.” ’He hopes this might appease Esau: "He'll think twice about murdering me now that he knows I'm wealthy."
6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, ‘We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.’ 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, 8thinking, ‘If Esau comes to one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.’He's just got to see what his brother will do, even to the point of sacrificing half of his party. It's like a man who gets real upset, and every time he turns around, he gets kicked in the face, and finally he just decides to give up. A friend says to him, where are you going to go? You have to go home sometime. We're going to hear another form of this story, told by Jesus much later: the prodigal son. That boy made such a mess of things, he eventually goes to his father to ask, please, just let me join your slaves. When he goes home, the daddy throws him a feast. You would have thought he was a conquering hero. No, Jesus isn't born at the time the Genesis story is recorded, but he probably knew of it. So Jacob is returning rich ...
How many times will Esau encounter such gifts before he gets to Jacob? At least three. And each will say, "These are yours." And each time, they will say Jacob is behind, so he'll think Jacob is next. He can get mad over and over again, and be appeased again and again. Have you ever been so angry, and the person you were mad with did you a kindness? You recognized the kindness, and you liked it, and you wanted it, and you said, "Awwwwwww. I'm still mad at you, but ..." Of course you have! It's human nature. And the other person is saying, "Come on ...."9 And Jacob said, ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, “Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good”, 10I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12Yet you have said, “I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.” ’
13 So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16These he delivered into the hand of his servants, each drove by itself, and said to his servants, ‘Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.’ 17He instructed the foremost, ‘When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, “To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?” 18then you shall say, “They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.” ’ 19He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, ‘You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, 20and you shall say, “Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.” ’ For he thought, ‘I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.’ 21So the present passed on ahead of him; and he himself spent that night in the camp.
Jacob is saying "Come on" three times. And there's that significant number again. Three can be either a blessing or a curse. Three times and you're out. Third time's a charm. In this case, three is a positive feature.
22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ 27So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ 28Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,* for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ 29Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.Do you think that Jacob can wrestle with God and win? No. Your arms are too short to box with God! And surely in a wrestling match ... But this is a mighty struggle, and only because God lets it be a mighty struggle. And it's a mighty struggle for you! It's not a struggle for God at all. But God is getting you to the very limit of your strength, stretching you--stretching Jacob in this instance, to the point where at the end of the night, He blesses him with another identity. He gives him a new name: Israel, by which all of the children who ever can be born to his line will be the children of Israel. And it's a name in connection with promise that God has made. He says, "I won't keep you, but I will remind you." He reminds him by striking him on that hip.
At the end of the night, Jacob says, "I have looked at God face to face, and I have lived." The thing is, if Jacob can do that with God, why would he be afraid of Esau? What would make him think he couldn't see Esau face to face?
Look at the ones he put in front and the ones he put in back. The ones he values the most are in back.Genesis 33
33Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. 2He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.
3He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.Wait a minute! How many different acts do you record there? Esau ran to meet him (one), and embraced him (two), and fell on his neck and kissed him (three), and they wept (four). All these actions! Is any one of them violent? No. Each is an act of love, a demonstration of love. These are the same actions you'll read about if you read the story of the prodigal son.
5When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he said, ‘Who are these with you?’ Jacob said, ‘The children whom God has graciously given your servant.’ 6Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down; 7Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and finally Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8Esau said, ‘What do you mean by all this company that I met?’ Jacob answered, ‘To find favour with my lord.’ 9But Esau said, ‘I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.’Isn't this something?!
10Jacob said, ‘No, please; if I find favour with you, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God—since you have received me with such favour. 11Please accept my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have everything I want.’ So he urged him, and he took it.12 Then Esau said, ‘Let us journey on our way, and I will go alongside you.’ 13But Jacob said to him, ‘My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me; and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die. 14Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.’
15 So Esau said, ‘Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.’ But he said, ‘Why should my lord be so kind to me?’ 16So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17But Jacob journeyed to Succoth,* and built himself a house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the place is called Succoth.
18 Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram; and he camped before the city. 19And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for one hundred pieces of money the plot of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
In the next chapter, we see what happens now in this relationship ...
Comments