- Where is Jacob? "We are not exactly sure"
- Near Haran, but given the number of flocks of sheep, probably a ways out of the town
- Why do the shepherds not open the cistern? "We don't know, but we can observe and speculate a little"
- They were waiting for a sufficient number
- Speculation is that Laban owned the cistern, but at this point it is not clear that he is rich in any way (see Gen 30:30)
- Interestingly, Rachel is the shepherdess. Leah is the oldest and probably was excused. Also, for Laban's great wealth, the daughters don't get much of a break
- Jacob, defies the convention and possible creates tension by opening the cistern himself
- Jacob is not known for being strong, that was Esau
- Jacob is certainly not stronger than three men
- Again, we don't want to read into scripture (Eisegesis), but what vibes do we pick up from the Shepherds regarding Laban?
- "We know him" -- nothing good is said
- They were a lot more excited about Rachel coming with the sheep
- Is there anything about Laban's initial response to Jacob that is familiar?
- Gen 24:29-31 Laban reacts similarly after seeing the servant's gifts to Rebekah
- Verse 15 would seem to be a positive statement, but the thing about con men is that the best con is when it appears to be the other person's idea. Who suggests seven years for Rachel?
- Jacob suggests seven years, which is a very good offer (maybe he was afraid of being turned down)
- Leah would have entered the tent at night with her face veiled, although the feast was probably for Rachel
- What is ironic about what Laban (and Leah) do to Jacob?
- Leah pretended to be Rachel, just as Jacob had pretended to be Esau (both also depended on conditions of poor eyesight)
- Leah had to agree to the deceit
- Jacob gets what he deserved for his similar deception of Esau
- When does Jacob marry Rachel?
- On the eighth day, but he works an additional 7 years
- APPL: God does not sin but he uses other's sin to teach lessons. Jacob now knows what it feels like to be on the wrong end of a scheme. God uses it to discipline and teach him. God could have intervened, but he chose not
- What is sad about this story?
- Her father sold her for seven years of labor deceptively (one questions Laban's love)
- Jacob does not love her, but instead he loves Rachel
- Leah wants to be loved by someone (she thinks that raising children will bring her love)
- It is not until the fourth child that she realizes that only God can love her the way she so desperately desires
- She will struggle with this issue some more, but she is learning and growing
- APPL: Our spouse cannot provide the happiness we all so deeply desire. Only God can fill the emptiness of our soul. You cannot find happiness in a person
- NOTE: God is fulfilling the unconditional promise he made to Jacob at Bethel to bless him (seed portion)
- At this point in the story, we have passed fourteen years. What do we have?
- Leah has seven children, six sons and a daughter
- Rachel's servant Bilhah has two sons
- Leah's servant Zilpah has two sons
- Rachel has one son
- Summary: Twelve children, eleven sons and one daughter
- Another ironic event occurs with the mandrakes, do you see it?
- Jacob purchased his birthright with stew
- Leah purchases the right for more children with mandrakes
- How would you describe this passage?
- Family personal conflict between two grown siblings both competing for the love of the Husband (and maybe even the love of their Father)
- These initial fourteen years (which should have been seven) have not been easy. At the end of it, what does Jacob have?
- Lots of children but no income to support his family
- There is a lot of negotiating going here
- Jacob proposes leaving
- Laban acknowledges Jacob's impact and (whose name means "white) proposes Jacob work for Laban
- There some wordplay on the use of the word "white")
- Jacob agrees with his assessment. Jacob asks for all the rare sheep and goats
- Laban agrees and then immediately removes all the rare sheep and goats, giving them to his sons and keeping them 3 days apart
- The wives practiced "bickering, superstition, deceit, and disobedience" (Constable), but God blessed Jacob anyway
- Now we see Jacob acting similarly. What Jacob did is impossible to have an effect on the animals, but God blessed Jacob anyway
- Now Jacob did accomplish one thing by selective breeding but it would have made no difference in getting a rare coloring
- God fulfills his promise to Jacob
- What has been Jacob's experience in the last 20 years (6 as a wage earner)?
- Cheated
- Changed wages ten times
- What has God done
- God has fulfilled his second promise (to bless him)
- God has been with him and has protected him from Laban's deception
- God reminds him of his vow (even though the prayer was terrible)
- God tells him to go back to the land (last part of the promise)
- APPL: It doesn't really matter when someone cheats us. God sees it and God will deal with it. Likewise, we must not cheat anyone because God will deal with us
- Incidentally, what does God suggest of Jacob's technique of mating animals?
- He ignores the technique and tells Jacob that he provided the animals
- Jacob seems to be recognizing that it was God who slowly took away all of Laban's flocks
- They all realize that God has taken away Laban's wealth and given it to Jacob
- The wives also make a startling revelation -- he has sold us
- APPL: We may think that our own abilities has made our fortune, be we need to acknowledge that it is God who gives material blessing and who takes it away as He thinks best
- APPL: The last thing is that Jacob is emerging as a man of faith. He takes the spiritual lead of his family in the departure from Haran
- Things come to a head in this chapter. Jacob attempts one more trick. What is it and did it work?
- He tried to get away so that Laban could not catch him (vs 20)
- Laban caught up with him (vs 25)
- The word "trick" comes up three times (20,26,27)
- Key point: Jacob's tricks really don't work
- Why the discussion about the gods of Laban?
- It gives us some insight into the faulty thinking of the time
- Even believers in the one true God seem to hold on to idolatrous ideas
- That is still true today (share example of creating God in our own image)
- It also give Laban some initial leverage
- Laban does have at least one good argument, although it is really hard to say if it is real, what is it?
- Verse 27-28. There were his children and grand-children, and he felt they were stolen out from under him
- The most interesting part of the story is the next part
- God spoke to Laban
- God protected Jacob (again)
- The search for the gods also brings up some interesting observations
- Jacob essentially condemns his wife to death for her sin
- Rachel defiles the gods by her actions (although I think it was unintentional and only to hide her sin)
- These gods were superstitiously believed to protect one's household and land, and now Laban no longer has them
- Jacob now takes the offensive. Both men had an eruption of bitterness
- Sin does that especially when deceit is practices
- How does Jacob describe the last 20 years?
- Very painful (lack of sleep, bore loss [not the shepherd's responsibility], heat & cold, changed wages) -- life has been hard
- God is in control
- Ps 71:20-21 (NIV) Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
- Lam 3:19-23 (NIV) I remember my affliction and my wandering,
- Lam 3:38 (NIV) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
- APPL: Circumstances of life are not a good measure of God's control. Faith believes that God is in control despite all the evidence against it. Someday, we will see God's hand
- It is hard to read to understand Laban's last statement. I choose to read it as a surrender to God. He too learned a lesson during these 20 years
- What Laban says finally is both incorrect and to a degree correct
- They were his children
- It used to be his wealth (although Jacob created it)
- Everything he had was torn away from him (it is a very sad ending)
- The parity covenant has two purposes
- One, Laban could have been afraid of his remaining household since he lost his gods
- Two, it was an attempt to heal some very deep wounds
- Some commentators feel the loss of Laban's household gods caused Laban to protect himself against Jacob
- It is a parity covenant
- The fascinating thing is it also represents a border for the land of Dan
- While God promised the land to the Euphrates (later?), the original land only went this far
- It is where Laban caught up with Jacob
- It is where their stone pillar, their mizpah is set up
- The scene ends on a very happy note
- Laban kisses his grandchildren
- Laban kisses his daughters
- Laban blesses them
Review:
|
2236
|
Birth of Terah
|
Gen 11:24
|
|
2166
|
Birth of Abram
|
Gen 11:27
|
|
2091
|
Abram departs
from Haran
|
Gen 12:4
|
|
2066
|
Birth of lsaac
|
Gen 21:2; cf.21:5
|
|
2006
|
Birth of Jacob
and Esau
|
Gen. 25:26
|
|
1966
|
Marriage of Esau
|
Gen 26:34
|
|
1930
|
Jacob journeys to
Haran (after 1966 but not sure how much; Isaac' eyes are very bad)
|
Gen 28:2
|
|
1916
|
End of Jacob's 14
year labor for his wives
|
Gen 29:30
|
|
1916
|
Birth of Joseph
|
Gen 30:23
|
|
1910
|
End of Jacob's
stay with Laban
|
Gen 31:41
|
|
1886
|
Death of lsaac
|
Gen 35:28
|
Genesis 29:1–12 (ESV) —
1 Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of
the east. 2 As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and
behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks
were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large, 3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll
the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone
back in its place over the mouth of the well.
4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said,
“We are from Haran.” 5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of
Nahor?” They said, “We know him.” 6 He said to them,
“Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is
coming with the sheep!” 7 He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not
time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go,
pasture them.” 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are
gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we
water the sheep.”
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s
sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 Now as soon as
Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of
Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the
well’s mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he
was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.
Gen 29:13-30 (ESV) As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, 14 and Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh!" And he stayed with him a month.
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?" 16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. 18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." 19 Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed." 22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. 23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. 24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) 25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" 26 Laban said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years." 28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) 30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.
Genesis 30:1–24 (ESV) —
1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. 7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad. 12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun. 21 Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
MANDRAKES
(Heb. dudâim) are mentioned in Gen. 30:14, 15, 16, and in Song. 7:13. The
mandrake, Atropa mandragora, is closely allied to the well-known deadly
nightshade, A. belladonna, and to the tomato, and belongs to the order
Solanaceæ, or potato family. It grows in Palestine and Mesopotamia. (It grows
low, like lettuce, which its leaves somewhat resemble, except that they are of
a dark green. The flowers are purple, and the root is usually forked. Its
fruit when ripe (early in May) is about the size of a small apple, 2½ inches
in diameter, ruddy or yellow, and of a most agreeable odor (to Orientals more
than to Europeans) and an equally agreeable taste. The Arabs call it “devil’s
apple,” from its power to excite voluptuousness. Dr. Richardson (“Lectures on
Alcohol,” 1881) tried some experiments with wine made of the root of mandrake,
and found it narcotic, causing sleep, so that the ancients used it as an
anæsthetic. Used in small quantities like opium, it excites the nerves, and is
a stimulant.—ED.)
(Smith,
W. (1986). In Smith’s Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
Genesis 30:25–43 (ESV) —
25 As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me
away, that I may go to my own home and country. 26 Give me my
wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know
the service that I have given you.” 27 But Laban said to
him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that
the Lord has blessed me because of you. 28 Name your wages,
and I will give it.” 29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have
served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. 30 For 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?” 31 He said, “What shall I give
you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me,
I will again pasture your flock and keep it: 32 let 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
they shall be my wages. 33 So 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.” 34 Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” 35 But 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 the
charge of his sons. 36 And he set a distance of three days’ journey
between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
37 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees,
and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. 38 He set the sticks 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, 39 the flocks bred
in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and
spotted. 40 And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of
the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put
his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the
sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed
among the sticks, 42 but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay
them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants
and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was 5 and said to them, "I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. 8 If he said, 'The spotted shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, 'The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore striped. 9 Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. 10 In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. 11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!' 12 And he said, 'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.'" 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? 15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. 16 All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."
17 So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. 20 And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. 21 He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25 And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” 31 Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. 35 And 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.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.
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 this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? 44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me."
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
21 You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, 49 and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. 50 If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. 53 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, 54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.
55 Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.
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