In my chronological Bible study, it is now time to get back to Jacob.
(1 Chronicles 2:1) These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,
The last study recapped the life and descendants of Esau, and now I am going back to Esau's brother, Jacob, who will later be known as Israel.
(2) Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
All twelve sons of Jacob are listed in this passage in 1 Chronicles 2, although not all of them have been born yet in my study in Genesis.
(3) The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three were born to him by the daughter of Shua, the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and He slew him.
All I'm going to say about this passage is to question what it is doing here in this place in a chronological study! As I have already begun a chronologically ordered study by Skip Andrews, I won't try to change course now, but I am pretty sure I will get back to the sons of Judah in Genesis, so I will not bother to study this now. Now back to Genesis:
(Genesis 30:25) And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country."
In the study before the last one that was the recap of the life and descendants of Esau, Rachel had just borne a son, Joseph. Apparently, Jacob's second seven years' servitude for Rachel (Gen. 29) had now expired. Jacob asked Rachel and Leah's father, Laban, to let him go now to his own place in his own country.
(26) "Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you."
Jacob continued asking Laban to release him from service and to let him take his wives and children and go away from him, for Laban knew that he had fulfilled his service well.
(27) And Laban said to him, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, stay, for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake." (28) And he said, "Name me your wages, and I will give it."
Laban was not so eager to see Jacob go. He could see that the Lord blessed Jacob, and he was therefore blessed because of Jacob. He pleaded with Jacob to stay and offered to pay him whatever he wanted.
(29) And he said to him, "You know how I have served you and how your cattle was with me. (30) For it was little what you had before I came, and it is now increased to a great amount, and the LORD has blessed you since my coming; and now, when shall I provide for my own house also?"
Jacob expounded on the fact that the Lord had indeed blessed Laban since Jacob's coming, pointing out that he had little before Jacob came and he now had a great deal, but Jacob felt it was high time that he provide for his own family now.
(31) And he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything; if you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: (32) I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown ones among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. (33) So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, will be considered stolen, if it is with me."
Laban persisted in wanting Jacob to name his fee for staying on with him. Jacob devised a plan. He would agree to take care of Laban's flocks, if he would allow Jacob to take the speckled and spotted ones (and brown sheep) and let him keep and take care of those for himself. In this way, he could begin to increase and provide for his own family, as he cared for Laban's flocks. It would be evident by the coloring which were of Laban's flocks and which were of Jacob's.
(34) And Laban said, "Oh, that it were according to your word!"
Laban thought that sounded like an excellent idea and agreed to it.
(35) And he removed that day the male goats that were streaked and spotted, all the female 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 between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
Laban SAID that he agreed to it, but then he removed all the streaked, speckled, and spotted (and brown sheep), and gave them to his own sons, and I am assuming set three days' journey between these and the rest of his flocks that Jacob would feed. I don't see how he could set three days' journey between his flocks and Jacob's flocks if Jacob was to tend to them all himself, so I believe the meaning is that the ones he took out of his flocks he set three days' journey away from the rest so that Jacob would not find them.
(37) And Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the hazel and chestnut trees, and peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. (38) And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. (39) And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle streaked, speckled, and spotted.
By stripping away parts of the barks of the rods, Jacob made striped rods that he set before the flocks in the troughs and supposedly that made them conceive striped and streaked and speckled young. It sounds odd and even seems like witchery until I get to the next chapter when Jacob tells his wives of Laban's deceit and God's plan to prosper Jacob in spite of it. I have to believe that God probably told Jacob in a dream or vision to do this.
(40) And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban's flock.
As the flocks began to conceive streaked and speckled young, Jacob separated the flocks and positioned the solid colored of Laban's flocks facing toward the streaked and spotted, and in the same way looking at the striped rods would bring forth streaked young, so would looking at the streaked flocks. Jacob kept his growing flocks separated from Laban's flocks.
(41) And it came to pass, whenever the stronger cattle conceived, 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 did not put them in, so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. (43) And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Jacob began to pick and choose the livestock he wanted to reproduce as streaked so that his flocks became stronger and thus were Laban's made weaker. In this way, Jacob prospered exceedingly, and of course, it had to be by God's blessing, as there was no real magic in striped sticks.
(Genesis 31:1) And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and of that which was our father's he has gotten all this glory." (2) And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before. (3) And the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."
Jacob began to hear the grumblings of Laban's sons that he had taken away all that was their father's to become great, and Laban began to treat him differently, as well. It was then that the Lord told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers and that He would be with him.
(4) And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, (5) And said to them, "I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me."
Jacob called his wives out to the field of his flocks to tell them of the situation with their father.
(6) "And you know that with all my power I have served your father. (7) And your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me."
Jacob told his wives that he had served their father well, as they would well know, but that their father had deceived him and changed his wages more than once. I don't think "ten" was meant literally, but it seemed to Jacob Laban was constantly changing what he had told him he would pay him. Laban had deceived Jacob into 14 years' service instead of the seven Jacob had first agreed to for Rachel. When Laban told Jacob he could have all the spotted and speckled of the flock, he then took those from the flocks and hid them three days' journey from Jacob. As Jacob continued telling his wives of Laban's deceit and fraud, it sounds like there may have been more agreements than the reader of these accounts may have known, so maybe "ten" was a literal number after all. As Jacob related these events to his wives, he told them that regardless of what Laban had tried to do to hurt him, God did not allow it.
(8) "If he said thus, 'The speckled shall be your wages', then all the cattle bore speckled; and if he said thus, 'The streaked shall be your wages', then all the cattle bore streaked. (9) Thus God has taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me."
Here it does seem like there may have been more agreements and changes to their agreements than we knew, but whatever Laban tried to do, Jacob recognized that it was God working in Jacob's favor against Laban's deceit, and it was in that way that Jacob had taken the flocks from Laban, from honest agreements on his part, not from any theft.
(10) "And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were streaked, speckled, and spotted. (11) And the angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, 'Jacob.' And I said, 'Here am I.' (12) And He said, 'Lift up your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the cattle are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to you. (13) I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me; now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.'"
Indeed, Jacob had seen in a dream or vision that God had made the flocks streaked, speckled, and spotted, because He saw Laban's deceitful acts and plans. He declared He was the same God who had appeared to Jacob at the place he called Bethel where he had had the dream of the ladder and where he had erected the stone and made the vow to God. God now told Jacob to leave this land and return to the land of his family, and this Jacob relayed to his wives.
(14) And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? (15) Are we not counted by him as strangers? For he has sold us, and has quite devoured also our money. (16) For all the riches which God has taken from our father, that is ours and our children's; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it."
Rachel and Leah could see that they had been treated as things by their father, and that he had never intended to give them any inheritance. Anything he made from his deals with Jacob, he had apparently kept and spent on himself. The wives of Jacob felt that anything God had allowed their husband to take from their father they should have had coming as an inheritance anyway, so they were in full agreement that whatever God had told Jacob, they should do.
(17) Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; (18) And he carried away all his cattle and all his goods which he had gotten, his acquired cattle which he had gotten in Padan Aram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
Jacob took his family and all his acquired possessions and headed back to Canaan, the land of his father Isaac.
(19) And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.
Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and this would have been an ideal time to steal away unbeknownst to him, but Rachel had taken some things that were her father's. What they were exactly is pretty much a mystery, and any one of many Biblical scholars' guesses. The original word for "images" here is "teraphim" which seems to mean, gathered from its mentions in other parts of the Bible, some sort of image or idol used in a household shrine or for worship. There are three uses of "teraphim" in Judges and one in Hosea where the words "teraphim" and "image" are both used in the same sentence, so merely "image" doesn't appear to be its full meaning, so that sort of puts the quietus on the suggestion by some that these were just family images, like portraits of sorts, of family members that Rachel wanted for her own. Indeed, the other uses of the word in scripture make it sound like it was a sort of superstitious talisman, perhaps used in sorcery. Some suggest that Rachel stole them so that her father would not be able to consult them to know where they had gone, but I wouldn't think that after so many years with Jacob, Rachel would give any credence to such false idols. She certainly doesn't treat them with respect as will be pointed out in a later scripture. Based on what Rachel and Leah had said in verses 14-16 above, I think it is more likely that even if Laban considered them idols of worship with perhaps some power, Rachel may have stolen them simply because they may have had some value and she felt she was entitled to some inheritance. That doesn't make it right to take something of her father's, but it does explain why she might want these idols.
(20) And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he fled. (21) So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and crossed the river, and headed toward the mount Gilead.
It does seem that for the time being, Jacob had stolen away with all his family and his possessions, unbeknownst to Laban, and had gotten a good distance away.
(22) And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. (23) And he took his brethren with him and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.
Since it was three days before Laban knew Jacob was gone, it would seem he was tending his flocks that he originally separated and kept three days' journey from Jacob. Otherwise, I would think he would have discovered Jacob was no longer tending his flocks as he may have felt they still had an agreement for Jacob to do. When Laban found out Jacob and his family were gone, he pursued him with his brethren, which may have been his actual brothers, or may have been other relations or maybe just friends and/or neighbors. Because Jacob had a three day head start, it took Laban seven days to catch up, but he eventually did.
(24) And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, "Take heed that you not speak to Jacob either good or bad."
Probaby this vision of God came to Laban right before he actually overtook Jacob. God warned Laban not to speak good or bad, probably meaning to keep the speech generic with no promises of good if he were to stay or no accusations of bad because of the stolen images, for examples.
(25) Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount; and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead.
It does appear that it was after the dream that Laban actually reached Jacob. Jacob and his family were already in tents on the mount, and now Laban and his brethren pitched tents there, too.
(26) And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? (27) Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me, that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with harp?"
Up to this point, Laban had been careful to say neither good nor bad, but simply asked Jacob why he felt the need to steal away secretly like a thief in the night. Based on previous experiences, I don't believe Laban would have readily let them go and with celebration to boot, but he at least pretended that might have been his intention if Jacob had not stolen away secretly.
(28) "And have not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters. You have now done foolishly in so doing. (29) It is in the power of my hand to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed that you not speak to Jacob either good or bad.' (30) And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father's house, yet why have you stolen my gods?"
Laban got a little close to speaking bad when he told Jacob he had acted foolishly and that it was within his right to do harm to Jacob, but he told Jacob of his dream of God telling him not to speak either good or bad to Jacob, so he returned to a generic comment and another question--why did he steal his gods? Rather than "teraphim", the stolen items were called "elohiym" or "gods" by Laban, indicating he probably did use them for some sort of worship.
(31) And Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force. (32) With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live; before our brethren, discern what is yours with me and take it with you." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
Jacob answered the first questions about why he had stolen away secretly. He was afraid that Laban would not let them go and might take his daughters from him by force, perhaps changing his wages yet again. As far as the stolen gods, Jacob had no idea that Rachel had taken them and was so confident that Laban would not find them with him or his company, that he told Laban to kill whoever had taken his gods and to take whatever he considered his.
(33) And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maids' tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered into Rachel's tent. (34) Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat on them. And Laban searched all the tent but did not find them.
Laban looked diligently for his gods or images in the tents of Jacob, Leah, the maids, and now searched Rachel's tent. Rachel was in her tent and had hidden the images in what sounds like the camel's saddle and sat upon the saddle. Rachel's act of sitting upon "gods" would seem to be one of disrepect if she had any reverence for these false gods; that is why I don't think she revered them as idols of worship, but probably just for their monetary value, or maybe she just felt it was within her right to take something her father valued because he had taken away any inheritance from her, and maybe she didn't really value them at all.
(35) And she said to her father, "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before you, for the custom of women is upon me." And he searched but did not find the images.
I always thought this was rather amusing. Just in case Laban would decide to look under Rachel, she told her father she was having her period! Laban searched everywhere else, and of course, did not find the images.
(36) And Jacob was angry and argued with Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued after me? (37) Although you have searched all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both."
By now, Jacob was angry with Laban's intrusion and his apparent (to Jacob) false accusations. He challenged Laban to put before them all his personal property he had found among Jacob's group and let their brethren judge between them.
(38) "These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. (39) That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you, I bore the loss of it; you required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. (40) There I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. (41) Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your cattle, and you have changed my wages ten times."
Jacob did not hold back and told Laban how he had served him for 20 years. He told him how he had treated him more than fairly, absorbing any losses himself. Day in and day out, no matter what the weather, and for as long as it took, even if he lost sleep, Jacob had served Laban well. He pointed out that Laban had not treated Jacob as fairly, but had changed his wages ten times, whether that is literal or figurative, I don't really know.
(42) "Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, been with me, surely you would have sent me away now empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."
Jacob continued his tirade to Laban. He finished by saying if it hadn't been for God and the reverence and fear for Him that he undountedly learned from his father Isaac, that he knew Laban would have sent him away empty-handed. It was God who had seen how Laban treated him as he described to Laban above, and it was God who rebuked Laban in the dream because of it.
(43) And Laban answered and said to Jacob, "These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that you see is mine; and what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?"
Laban didn't deny anything Jacob said, but he pointed out that these were his daughters and grandchildren, and his flocks, or at least young that came from his very flocks. He saw all these as his own and would not do anything to hurt any of them.
(44) "Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be for a witness between you and me." (45) And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. (46) And Jacob said to his brethren, "Gather stones"; and they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. (47) And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
Laban asked that they come to a peaceful agreement, and Jacob set up a stone as a pillar to serve as a sign of their agreement. They heaped stones around or beside it and then ate there at the heap. Laban called the place Jegar Sahadutha, which literally meant "heap of the testimony" or "witness heap" in his Syrian language. Jacob called the place Galeed, which literally meant the same, but was in his Hebrew language.
(48) And Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore its name was called Galeed, (49) And Mizpah, for he said, "The LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.
Laban proclaimed that the heap would serve as a witness to their covenant. It was called Galeed by Jacob, as already cited, but it was also called Mizpah, which literally meant "watchtower", because the Lord would watch over them when they were absent from one another and see to it that they adhered to their covenant.
(50) If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters; no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me."
As a "for instance", Laban declared that if Jacob ever did anything to harm his daughters or if he took new wives, although no man might be there to see, God would see and would be a witness. Laban appears to show a kindness and affection for his daughters, although up to this point, he had treated them more like property.
(51) And Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. (52) This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. (53) The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
Actually, Jacob was the one who placed the pillar, but I suppose Laban was in agreement that it be set, and he and his brethren helped to pile the heap. The heap wasn't really meant to be a boundary between them, but the meaning was that they would do no harm to one another. It appears that Laban may have sworn by more than one god, the true God of Abraham, and the false gods of Terah. I guess he thought he was covering all his bases, unless he realized the God of Abraham was the God of all, but regardless, Jacob swore by the one true God feared and revered by his father, Isaac.
(54) Then Jacob offered sacrifice on the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they ate bread and stayed all night on the mount. (55) And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them; and Laban departed and returned to his place.
Jacob offered a sacrifice and it appears that Laban and his company stayed with Jacob's on the mount all night, and then Laban departed the next morning, after kissing and blessing his daughters and his granchildren. The same Laban who had tracked them down, and by his own admission in so many words, probably had the intention of doing them harm, now kissed and blessed them and departed from them in peace, after his dream from God.
No comments:
Post a Comment