In yesterday's passage Laban accused Jacob of stealing his idols, but it was Rachel who stole them and Jacob doesn't know she did such a thing. When we closed yesterday, Jacob had invited Laban to look through everything at the campsite to assure himself that his idols aren't there.
I picture Laban angrily bustling about the campsite, messily going through everyone's possessions and flinging stuff everywhere. "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. 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." (Genesis 31:33-34) Household gods were not large. They were small and portable, about the size of a china figurine we might have on a shelf. It wouldn't be hard to hide all of Laban's idols under Rachel's saddle.
To explain why she doesn't stand up in respect when her father enters the tent, she makes an indelicate statement that we don't expect to find on the pages of the Bible. "Rachel said to her father, 'Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand in your presence; I'm having my period.' So he searched but could not find the household gods." (Genesis 31:36) In the KJV her statement is worded more subtly: "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before me; for the custom of women is upon me." I've been a liar just like Rachel because I used to use this same excuse when I didn't want to dress out for gym class in high school. My male gym teacher didn't want to know about or think about such things, so as soon as he caught on to what I was about to say he'd start waving his hand at me to stop talking and he'd instruct me to sit on the bleachers during class. I think when Rachel says what she says, Laban waves his hand at her to say no more. It doesn't occur to him to ask her to stand up because he believes she's feeling unwell. He doesn't think she'd disrespect his idols enough to sit on them like they are common objects and not objects of religion. He especially doesn't think she'd sit on them while "the custom of women" is upon her. He finishes looking through the rest of her stuff and leaves her tent.
Jacob feels vindicated that his father-in-law has found nothing. He's insulted that Laban would even suggest he or his family would steal anything. "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? 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.'" (Genesis 31:36-37)
Jacob really gets on a roll now. He's taken abuse from his father-in-law for many years but he gritted his teeth and said nothing and put up with it. He doesn't have to put up with it anymore and all the things he's bottled up inside come pouring out. "I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 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 by night." (Genesis 31:38-39) If a wild animal attacked a sheep or goat, the shepherd was expected to try to save the sheep or goat. This could entail beating the wild animal with a rod, trying to chase it off, or attempting to wrestle the sheep or goat away from it. A shepherd could easily lose his own life defending the flock, which is why the Lord Jesus said when referring to Himself as the good shepherd: "A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11) If a shepherd could not save the life of the sheep, he was to bring its torn body to his master as proof that he tried to wrestle it from the mouth of the lion but couldn't. Then he would not be held accountable for the loss of the sheep. But Jacob says he didn't even do that. He held himself to a high standard, so when he was unable to wrestle a sheep free and save its life, he paid for the sheep himself.
"This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 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. 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." (Genesis 31:40-42) Laban ought to be ashamed. But he's not and he tries to justify his behavior. He won't acknowledge that anything at the campsite belongs to Jacob or that Jacob has a right to possess anything after his many years of service. But because the Lord has rebuked Laban, and because the Lord will avenge Jacob if Laban doesn't let him go in peace, Laban proposes a truce. "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? Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.'" (Genesis 31:43-44)
"So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 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. Laban called it Jeger Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed." (Genesis 31:45-47) They break bread together as a sign that they are at peace with each other. Laban names the heap of stones "round heap of witness" and Jacob names the heap "watchtower".
"Laban said, 'This heap is witness between you and me today.' That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, 'May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 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.'" (Genesis 31:48-50) Mizpah means "to watch". Laban is saying, "I might not see it if you do wrong, but God will see it and He will punish you." Laban has never been very concerned with God seeing or punishing his own wrong deeds, but he's not above threatening Jacob with the wrath of God. Laban is a man who only uses religion when there is something to be gained from it.
"Laban also said to Jacob, 'Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 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. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.'" (Genesis 31:51-53a) Jacob has served Laban faithfully, yet Laban behaves as though he can't trust him. He's in no danger of Jacob sneaking back to Harran to murder him in his sleep. He doesn't need to say these things to Jacob and he has no reason to require Jacob to take an oath that he will not harm him. But Jacob takes the oath anyway. It's easier just to go along with Laban than to argue with him. "So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac." (Genesis 31:53b) This verse in the original language is literally: "He took an oath in the name of the One who made Isaac tremble." Isaac had a healthy reverence for the Lord. Isaac trembled on the day when he realized that, in spite of his efforts to establish Esau as his heir, the Lord kept His word that Jacob would be the heir. The Lord had the last word because He is sovereign over all things, and this realization made Isaac tremble in holy fear.
Jacob makes a sacrifice to the Lord and prepares a feast to commemorate the truce. "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. Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home." (Genesis 31:54-55)
If Laban had been a better man and had treated Jacob fairly he could have enjoyed a relationship with his daughters and grandchildren for the rest of his life. Instead he will never lay eyes on any of them again.
But this is an example of God using someone's evil intentions for the other person's good. If Laban had done the honorable thing and made Jacob the heir---or at least an heir---of his estate, Jacob would not have headed back to Canaan. But it's the Lord's will for Jacob to head back to Canaan because the Lord has promised the land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants. The Lord has promised Jacob the birthright and the leadership of the family. Jacob must return home in order for these things to fall into place, so the Lord has used the poor character of Laban to entice Jacob home.
We will go through hard times in life. We will endure unfairness and mistreatment from others. How might the Lord intend to use these things in our lives later on? How might He weave these hard times into the tapestry of our lives to bring us to the places we're meant to be? Laban is a bad man and I'm sure he had to answer to the Lord for his sins. But at least his sins against Jacob weren't for nothing. The Lord used them to bring Jacob to the place where he's meant to be. Soon Jacob will have a fresh new encounter with the Lord---an encounter he wouldn't have had if he'd remained with Laban.
No comments:
Post a Comment