Preaching the Word
Preaching the Word
Gen 30:25-43 - Jacob from Servitude to Prosperity - The Mysteries of God's Word
What if you could navigate life’s most complex relationships with wisdom and foresight? Discover the transformative journey of Jacob as we explore the conclusion of Genesis, chapter 30. We unravel the intricate dynamics between Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban, examining how Jacob, feeling trapped in a web of deceit, plans his future to secure prosperity for his growing family. With Laban acknowledging the prosperity gained from Jacob’s service, Jacob proposes an ingenious deal, opting for future compensation tied to the speckled and spotted offspring of Laban’s flocks—a move that shows his trust in God's plan and design for his future.
Join us as we reflect on Jacob's transformation over two decades, from arriving in Paddan Aram with nothing but a staff to becoming a wealthy man blessed abundantly by the Lord. Uncover how these profound narratives resonate with timeless themes of growth, faith, and destiny.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Thank you for once again joining me for the Mysteries of God's Word. Today we're at the end of Genesis, chapter 30, and we will see that Jacob will spend another six years with Laban. Verses 25 through 43 of chapter 30 chronicle this, and we begin at verse 25. As soon as Rachel had born Joseph, jacob said to Laban the service that I've given you. In our first two verses we read as soon as Rachel had born Joseph, rachel giving birth to Joseph is the event that triggered Jacob talking to Laban. And Jacob talked to Laban about leaving for his home country, going back to where Isaac was.
Speaker 1:The general consensus of most commentators is that Joseph's birth was right at the end of that 14-year contract that Jacob had with Laban, and this timing is very probable considering the wealth that Jacob is about to accumulate from this point until the time he actually will leave Laban. However, it is also possible that Jacob waited for a short period of time after that 14-year period for Rachel to finish her term of pregnancy and have Joseph and Jacob says and have Joseph and Jacob says send me away, that I may go to my own country, give me my wives and my children, for whom I've served you the language here that we see where Jacob is asking permission from Laban to leave shows that he wants Laban's approval. Jacob feels emotionally trapped in this relationship. Jacob's relationship and contract with Laban has never been on good and honest terms. Jacob still, even at the end of 14 years, desires things to be good between him and his father-in-law Laban, to be good between him and his father-in-law Laban. But Laban wants to take advantage of Jacob's goodwill and manipulate this relationship at every point that he can. Jacob points out you know the service that I've given you. Jacob describes how he has more than fulfilled his end of the bargain, his end of this contract. In verse 27, we read but Laban said to him If I've found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wage and I'll give it to you. Name your wage and I'll give it to you. In verses 27 and 28,.
Speaker 1:Now that Laban's been confronted by Jacob, laban acknowledges that the contract has been fulfilled and he no longer has power over Jacob through this contract. But Laban's plea to Jacob should not be mistaken as an honest appeal. Plea to Jacob should not be mistaken as an honest appeal. Laban is attempting once again to deceive Jacob into staying with him because he knows how profitable it is for him. And Laban says that he's learned by divination that the Lord has blessed him because of Jacob, him because of Jacob. What a crazy statement. Here we see once again Laban gives lip service to the Lord God, but he does not have faith in the Lord God. The Hebrew word used for divination here refers to the pagan practice of looking for an omen, such as reading a liver or observing the flights of birds. Later, under the law of Moses, these kinds of divination practices will clearly be condemned.
Speaker 1:Leviticus 19.26,. Deuteronomy 18.10. Laban says name your wage, 1810. Laban says name your wage. If you remember, laban had once before used this kind of language In Genesis 29.15,. Laban had said to Jacob because you're my kinsman, should you therefore serve me from nothing? Tell me what will your wages be? Here again, in an attempt to convince Jacob to stay on with him, laban says name your price.
Speaker 1:Both Laban and Jacob are well aware of how Laban has prospered with Jacob's help, and we see this in verse 29, where Jacob said to him you yourself know how I've served you and how your livestock has fared with me, for you had little before I came, and it increased abundantly. And the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household? Also, we see in these two verses that Jacob points to the fact that Laban has prospered greatly during the time that Jacob has served him, that it has been the Lord's blessing on Jacob that has helped to prosper Laban. And Jacob says should I not provide for my own household too? This, of course, is a rhetorical question. Of course Jacob should provide for his own home. Of course Jacob needs to take care of his household and his family. Jacob knows now, with 11 children at this point, two wives and two maidservants, that it's time to provide a home. And simply multiplying Laban's home is not God's design for his family in the future, god's design for his family in the future.
Speaker 1:Then we read in verse 31 through 34, he said what shall I give you? Jacob said you shall not give me anything. You will do this for me. I will again pasture your flock and keep it. Let me pass through all of your flock today, removing from it speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later when you come and look into my wages with you. Every one that is not spotted or speckled among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen. Laban said Good, let it be as you've said.
Speaker 1:Again, we see in verse 31,. Laban says what shall I give you? Laban, both through his experiences and also through these occult practices of divination, is convinced that he will continue to prosper if he can get Jacob to stay on and manage his flocks. And Jacob says I don't want anything right now. But a new deal is struck. Jacob again isn't asking for anything of value right now. Rather, he's requesting that he be able to gather all of the speckled, spotted and black lambs to pasture them for Laban, that he might have the children or the babies of these animals when they are born, if they are spotted, speckled or black.
Speaker 1:Now in the Middle East the sheep were commonly white, goats were commonly brown or black, and a speckled or spotted one was rare. Also, animals with speckles or spots would have been considered of less value than the solid colored animals. Jacob's request that today he receive those sheep from the flock and any born later must have seemed like a great bargain for Laban and Laban says good, let it be as you've said, and Laban here verbally commits to this new deal that Jacob has proposed Verse 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. He put them in the charge of his sons and he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock. In verses 35 and 36, we see that Laban went and removed the striped and spotted goats, both male and female, and every lamb that was black. This tells us that before Jacob was able to go into the flock and separate the sheep and the goats, as was agreed upon, laban went out and took out the striped and speckled goats, as well as the lambs, the young sheep that were black, and he gave them to his sons to pasture. It is interesting in these two verses that we are not told that Laban took any adult sheep that were striped or speckled.
Speaker 1:Laban once again shows his dishonest, deceitful and manipulative nature, breaking the agreement that he had just made with Jacob, and he does so in such a very manipulative way, since Jacob only requested ownership of the spotted and speckled animals that were to be born and Laban has legal ownership of the live animals. Technically, laban can do anything he wants with the live animals, even though he's breaking his word with Jacob. Furthermore, it would appear that Laban is not taking all of the speckled or spotted animals. He's taking the goats and the young sheep, thereby leaving the speckled and spotted adult sheep, making this even a more difficult decision for Jacob as to whether he should just pick up and cancel this deal altogether. Then it says Laban set a distance of three days. In setting such a distance between his sons and Jacob, laban is making sure Jacob will not come and claim the animals he just cheated him on. Also, in setting this distance and removing the animals that Laban has removed, he's reducing Jacob's starting flock and any possibility of crossbreeding. Laban must believe that by keeping these animals apart, he is seriously limiting Jacob's ability to mate animals with markings. Certainly, laban believed that he was leaving Jacob with a limited pool of animals that would not produce many marked animals.
Speaker 1:Verse 37,. Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plain trees and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places where the flocks come to drink. And since they breed when they come to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled and spotted.
Speaker 1:In verses 37 through 39, we see that, after being deceived by Laban, yet again Jacob comes up with a plan based on local superstition and his own cunning. At this point in history, there was a commonly held superstition that whatever an animal saw while it was mating would cause its offspring to have a similar appearance. This is why Jacob was peeling the white streaks in these sticks. Jacob believed that when the sheep were looking at these striped sticks, they would produce striped offspring. Clearly, jacob had failed to fully trust in the providence and sovereignty of God and instead he believed that somehow, through his own cunning and this superstition, that he was going to bring about justice on Laban and he was going to bring about his own prosperity. To bring about justice on Laban and he was going to bring about his own prosperity.
Speaker 1:In verse 40, jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them back in Laban's flock. So we see Jacob here separating his flock from Laban's flock and we also see this superstitious mating strategy continued as Jacob faces the flocks toward the striped and black of the flock Verse 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 amongst the sticks, but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there, so that the feebler would be Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. In verses 41 and 42, we see again for the third time this local superstition continues to guide Jacob's thinking in how he breeds his flock, while using sticks had no real value in the outcome of the offspring for the animals. There's no doubt that Jacob was detailed in his attentiveness to all of the flocks during this time, and his detailed attentiveness to the flocks would certainly have brought about a strong increase. In verse 43, we see Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants and camels and donkeys.
Speaker 1:Twenty years prior, jacob had arrived in Paddan Aram with only his staff. But now, over these past six years, with the Lord's blessing and providence, jacob has become very rich. Despite Jacob trusting in a local superstition and failing to fully trust in the Lord, god God has blessed him. Furthermore, jacob has learned to manage his household well. Furthermore, jacob has learned to manage his household well. He has increased not only in sheep and goats, but also in male and female servants who help to care for the animals and his family. We also see that Jacob has procured riding animals, both camels and donkeys. The description of Jacob here resembles that of his grandfather, abraham, back in Genesis 24-35, where the Lord had greatly blessed Abraham and he had become great. Join me next week as we begin to see Jacob breaking away and leaving Laban. God bless you this week.