There is a statement, several times
repeated, that Laban was “Rebekah’s brother”.
If Rebekah can deceive for her son’s gain, possibly her brother can
deceive for his own, and such at any rate is the fact.
“And
Jacob went out from Beer-sheba (the well of the oath) and went toward Haran
(the frontier town of the Babylonian Empire)” (Gen. xxviii. 10).
Somewhere between these two suggestive
places Jacob is overtaken by the night.
A stone formed his pillow and in that place Jacob met with God. There God speaks with him. No word of censure for his sins, no word of
bitter disillusion, indicating that the blessing of Abraham could never be for
such as he, but a blessed confirmation of the purpose according to election,
which we learn from Romans is an election of GRACE. Above the ladder which Jacob saw, the top of
which reached heaven (or as some read “beside him”,) stood the Lord, who
said:--
“I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father,
and the God of Isaac: the land whereon
thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the
earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the
north, and to the south, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed, and behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land: for I will not leave thee, until I have done
that which I have spoken to thee of” (Gen.xxviii.13-15).
When Jacob awoke, he said, “surely the
Lord is in this place, and i knew it not”, and he was afraid and said, “how
dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is
the gate of heaven”. These words sound
sincere; were they? Some commentators reckon that the bargaining
cheating spirit of Jacob is manifest in the vow that follows; we however believe that here we have, in the
opening chapter of this pilgrimage, the dawn of a new life, not by any means
perfected, for he has much to learn of the weakness and failure of the flesh,
before he shall halt upon his thigh, a cripple of grace. Some say, hark at his bargainings, with his ifs. “If God will be with me … then shall the Lord
be my God”. In the first place a true
translation transposes the “then” of verse 21, and the “and” of verse.22,
making the verses read thus:--
“If God will be with me, and will keep me
in this way that i go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so
that i come again to my father’s home in peace, and the Lord be my God, THEN,
this stone, which i have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that Thou shalt give me i will
surely give the tenth unto Thee.”
Here is no bargaining spirit. Jacob, overwhelmed with grace, can only say,
if this be so it demands of me nothing less than the devotion I now offer. The tenth or the tithe became a Divine
institution, and appears to have been accepted of Jacob. The one whose stolen blessing included PLENTY
of corn and wine is grateful to acknowledge “bread to eat”. Here is Jacob’s first meeting with God, and
here is seen the effect of grace. Any
one less than God would have felt it becoming and right, nay righteous,
yea a moral necessity, to have prefaced the blessing with reminders, with
censure, with warning, with upbraiding.
Blessed be God! He knows
best. Here, Jacob is more deeply moved
by unsullied grace than ever he would have been by perfect law. Censure, rebuke, warning, would have called
forth the depths of Jacob’s duplicity; unmitigated
grace finds its echo in unsophisticated gratitude. Surely a fundamental here, not only of
dispensational truth, but of private conduct too, especially in the
dispensation of the grace of God.
The first act of Jacob was symbolical of
supplanting and gave him his name Jacob (Gen. xxv. 26). His next recorded act shows him cheating his
brother of his birthright and blessing, then comes the crime and the
commencement of his pilgrimage. Here,
possibly for the first time, Jacob comes into personal touch with God, and that
God of his father becomes his God. His
next recorded act is not one of selfishness, but of chivalry:--
“And it came to pass that when Jacob saw
Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of
Laban, his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone
from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother,
and Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept” (Gen. xxix. 10, 11).
The repeated reference to his mother’s
brother seems to indicate Jacob’s affection for his mother, and also carries an
intimation that possibly Laban will have some of the cunning of his sister in
his character, which forebodes trouble for Jacob. However, at the beginning Jacob is received
with warm welcome, and with a kinsman’s affection. The last sentence of verse 13 suggests much,
“and he told Laban all these things”. How much did Jacob tell his “mother’s
brother”? Whatever it was, Laban said to
him, “surely thou art my bone and my flesh, and he abode with him the space of
a month”. At the end of this time Laban
suggests that Jacob should be paid for his services, and asks Jacob to name his
wage:--
“And Jacob loved Rachel, and said, I will
serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter” (Gen. xxix. 18).
Now commences the operation of that
even-handed justice which commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice to
our own lips. Jacob of all men has to
say to his uncle:--
“What is this that thou done unto me? Did not I serve thee for Rachel? Wherefore then hast thou BEGUILED me?” (verse
25).
Laban realized that in Jacob he had too
valuable a servant to lose, and possibly noting the rare love which Jacob had
(verse 20) for Rachel acted accordingly.
Another seven years unpaid service must Jacob give for the wife of his
choice. Leah was hated (possibly “not
loved so much”, see verse 30), and the Lord gave Leah children, but
withheld children from Rachel. Rachel
may have been more beautiful and loved more ardently, yet there is manifested
in Leah’s attitude a loving patient trust in God, which is not so marked in
Rachel. This comes out in the naming of
her children. The first is called
Reuben, “for she said, surely the Lord hath looked upon (raha) my
affliction; now therefore my husband
will love me”. Her second son she called
Simeon (shimeon, hearing), “because the Lord hath heard (shama)
that I was hated”. Again a son is born,
and again her sorely tried faith revives, “now this time will my husband be
joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons; therefore was his name called Levi”
(joined). Her fourth son is called
Judah, for his mother said, “let me praise the Lord”. Man had failed, her husband still loved
Rachel more than herself, and she turns to the God of all comfort, voicing no
more her heart’s burden, but saying in true resignation, “let me praise the
Lord”.
Leah’s fruitfulness, if it failed to
arouse her husband’s love, moved Rachel’s envy.
Even Jacob’s anger is kindled against Rachel by her importunity. Rachel then in agreement with the code of
Khammurabi and the example of Sarah gives her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob. A son is born, and Rachel calls his name Dan,
for said she, “God hath judged me”. This
child is not born into so kindly an atmosphere as the sons of Leah. The second one too, called Nephtali,
was so called because Rachel said, “with great wrestlings have I wrestled with
my sister, and I have prevailed”. Leah
is now stirred and presents Jacob with her maid Zilpah; another son is born, and in happy exuberance
Leah cries, “a troop cometh”, and calls his name Gad. Again another son, and he is called Asher,
for said Leah, “happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed”, and so
through the whole story. Isaachar
means “hired”, Zebulun, “endued with a dowry”, Dinah the daughter
is so named, but no reason is given. At
last Rachel herself is remembered of God, and gives birth to a son whom she
named Joseph, for she said, “the Lord shall add to me another son”. Here we reach another turning point in
Jacob’s eventful career. Immediately the
chosen wife of Jacob bears a son, Jacob thinks of home:--
“And it came to pass, when Rachel had
borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away that I may go unto mine
own place, and to my country” (Gen. xxx. 25).
What follows to the end of the chapter
appears at first to be an evident piece of Jacob’s typical cunning. Laban agreed that Jacob’s hire shall be the
speckled and spotted cattle, and removed all such from the herd and set a three
days’ journey between them and the rest of the flock under Jacob’s hand. The question arises once more, was the action
of Jacob, detailed in verses 37-42, the ingenuity of the man Jacob, or was it of
God? Our first thoughts condemn Jacob we
do not shrink from exploiting his cunning — yet, as at Bethel we may find
sufficient evidence to alter our verdict.
Read on into chapter.xxxi. The
Lord said unto Jacob, “Return unto the land of your fathers, and to thy
kindred, and I will be with thee”. He
reminds his wives that with all his power he had served their father, who had
nevertheless deceived him and changed his wages ten times. Then he introduces the part that God took in
this state of affairs. At the time
covered by Gen. xxx. 37-42 Jacob had a dream, and the angel of the Lord
showed him practically what he then put into operation, and declared Himself to
be “the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst
a vow unto Me”. Laban’s cupidity had
alienated his daughters from him; “he
hath sold us”, could both Leah and Rachel say with truth, “and hath quite
devoured also our money”. Thus Laban
prepared his daughters to be willing to leave their home and journey back with
Jacob to the land of his fathers.
Truly, whether the central figure be a
placid Isaac, a scheming Rebekah, a deceitful Jacob, or a greedy Laban, all are
in the hands of One Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Bethel was the turning-point in Jacob’s
life. As the God of Bethel God appears
unto Jacob in his exile, so at Bethel once again with changed name shall Jacob
once more meet with God.
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