Review of Genesis 31

— by Victor Fawole

I welcome everyone back to our “No Bible, No Breakfast” spiritual exercise. We resume back to studying Jacob’s life. After more than 14 years living outside the Promised Land, God called him home. Let us review this chapter together:

1. THE FIGURE CALLED LABAN
Let us take some time to consider this Bible character. Laban, the brother of Rebekah. Hmmm… If there’s a word that suitably describes Laban, then it is the word “Trickster”. This man is the only character who managed to beat Jacob at his own game of deception.

• He took Jacob’s 14 years of hard committed yet fruitful labours, changing the initially agreed duration of 7 years.
• He deceitfully removed speckled animals from the flocks which he’d promised to Jacob.
• He changed Jacob’s wages ten times! Ten times! Wow. It seemed that his life’s goal was to give Jacob a run for his money.
• He reeked of self-centeredness and greed.

2. THE FIXATION OF LABAN’S SONS

Gen. 31:1-2 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. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

As God blessed Jacob, Laban’s sons became envious. They were too fixated on Jacob’s wealth. Jacob actually didn’t steal anything that belonged to Laban. The reality was that his wealth was increasing in proportion to Laban’s wealth. God blessed Jacob’s flocks with fertility and his flocks grew while Laban’s flocks decreased. Because of their envy, they lied that Jacob had taken away “all” that belonged to their father.

The fixation of Laban and his sons on Jacob’s wealth spurred acrimony against him. Jacob sensed the tension in the atmosphere and he knew that his safety and wellbeing were no longer guaranteed. We need to always remind ourselves of the evil of envy. You can listen to this sermon by Pastor Dammy titled: “Proverbs About Envy”

3. THE FLIGHT OF JACOB

Gen. 31:17-18 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

God used the evil of Laban’s (and his sons’) envy, for His glory, to close Jacob’s door in Haran and called him home. This was like a three-step process:

• Jacob developed the “desire” to go back home (Gen. 30:25).
• His circumstances became unbearable.
• God gave him a direct instruction to leave.

The most important thing for Jacob was the unshakable promise of God’s presence. The promise of God’s presence meant everything. If God be for (and with) us, who can be against us?

One may criticise Jacob for leaving Haran “secretly”, without informing his boss cum father-in-law. While his mission was godly, his method seemed otherwise. It oozed the fear of man. However, we cannot deny that his flight revealed three things:

Gen. 31:21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead.

• Obedience: “So he fled with all that he had…”
• Commitment: “and he rose up, and passed over the river…”
• Focus: “and set his face toward the mount Gilead.”

4. THE FOULNESS OF RACHEL

Gen. 31:34-35 Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched but found not the images.

Rachel stole her father’s household idols and deceived him. She had learned the ways of deception very well from the two most important men in her life – her father and her husband.

We can speculate different potential reasons that made Rachel steal the idols, but it is clear that she took her father’s family idols because her heart was divided. Her heart was still in her homeland, not the Promised Land. That’s the same way Lot’s wife was also unwilling to let go of her idols. God provides these examples as a warning to believers. There are ungodly desires that we used to have before salvation, that we must personally discipline ourselves to deny – under the wings of grace and rooted in the truth of our righteousness in Christ.

We have to let go of ungodly practices (outings, actions, slangs / statements, relationships, etc.), especially the ones that tend towards idolatry. We should give no place for the devil at all times.

If not for her deceptive way of hiding her sin, Rachel would have been caught and would have brought shame and trouble to her family. In that case, she wouldn’t be suffering as a “believer” but as a “thief” (1Pet. 4:15-16). As believers, we are encouraged to not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). Ponder on this: If you should be indicted as a Christian, would there not be enough evidence to convict you?

One final thing to note is that Rachel’s action is an invitation to Satan. In church yesterday, Pastor Dammy taught the Part 3 of our ongoing series, titled “Not Ignorant Of The Devil’s Devices”. I’ll recommend that you listen to the sermon again to learn the five major loopholes that people create in their lives to invite Satan into their spaces. Click here to listen/download.

Grace to you, Church!