Even When we Stumble, God is Always with Us
a commentary on Genesis 31
This week’s commentary on Genesis 31 starts with a bang! Then it just gets more exciting from there! If you remember last week, we saw Jacob ask Laban if he could leave and head back to Canaan. Laban tricked him with the wages and took all the miscolored animals away so Jacob would have to stay. Then we saw God bless Jacob by making it so only miscolored sheep were being born in Jacob’s flocks! This week, the story picks back up, and we get to see Jacob finally leave. Again, I urge you to read it yourself at some point! But, either way, let’s jump into Genesis 31 and see what happens!
Context
The story begins with Jacob hearing word that Laban’s sons are accusing him of cheating their father out of his wealth and prosperity. It says that “Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.” The relationships here are crumbling and it’s time to go!
Jacob sends word to his wives and explains the situation. He tells them that it was God who divinely orchestrated the birth of the miscolored animals. God had sent a dream to Jacob (once again) and told him the whole plan. God told him He had taken away Laban’s wealth and given it to Jacob, and that it was now time to leave and return to the promised land.
Upon receiving news from Jacob, Rachel and Leah are on board with the plan. They believe there is nothing left for them to inherit from their father since all his wealth now belongs to Jacob. So they leave with peace and joy!
NOT!
Two things happen as they prepare to leave that remind us we’re still dealing with sinners.
First, Rachel goes into her father’s household and steals all his idols. Why? We don’t know for sure, but she does and it’ll be a huge deal in a bit.
Second, Jacob moves his family without telling Laban. He worked for Laban for over 20 years and then out of fear he sneaks off with Laban’s only daughters to never be seen again.
The story isn’t over yet! Laban catches wind of what happened and pursues Jacob. The night before he catches up to them, God brings a warning to him in a dream. God tells him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” Laban was a trickster just like Jacob, and God was telling him not to say anything decisive that could alter what was already happening. God is bringing Jacob home to the promised land and Laban will not stand in the way. Not anymore.
Laban catches up to Jacob and is still furious. He tells Jacob it was wrong to leave without telling him, that he loves his children and grandchildren, and that he wanted to kiss them goodbye. Then to top it all off, he accuses Jacob of stealing those idols!
Jacob responds that he was afraid Laban wouldn’t let them leave and that no one has his idols. Jacob didn’t know Rachel had them and told Laban if he found them he’d kill the one who had them! Oh no!
Rachel keeps the family’s deception theme and hides the idols from her father! Laban can’t find them and all is at “peace”.
Now it is Jacob’s turn to get angry. You know those classic quitting stories where the employee just lets his boss have it? This is what Jacob does! He tells Laban that for 20 years he worked for an unjust, awful boss. He then, in his anger, does something remarkable. He gives the glory to God! Jacob says that despite the unjustness, God prevailed and blessed him.
Laban is left speechless. He just asks to make a covenant with Jacob. Part of the covenant was that Jacob could not take any more wives (not a problem haha). Also, that neither Laban nor Jacob could enter the other’s land in order to attack it. Jacob agrees to the covenant, Laban kisses his family goodbye, and Jacob and the rest move on to other issues.
Interpretation
So what happened, what can we glean, and what can we learn from this passage? There are a few themes in this passage that stood out to me I’d like to share:
Everyone is still a sinner.
First, we see Jacob using his old friend, deception, to leave Laban without telling him. At the root of this deception, we learn that Jacob was fearful. That he once again did not fully trust the Lord and took matters into his own hands.
Rachel stole her father’s idols. Now the reason for her stealing the idols is not clear. There is no evidence before or during this passage that Rachel worships the idols, so I don’t believe that to be the case. Some commentators propose she stole them to actually save her father from a life of idolatry. Others believe she thought the idols had the ability to tell Laban where they were going and did it out of fear. Either way, there is definitely some scheming and deception going on here, even if it was a noble task.
Remember, Jacob was the rightful heir to the blessing he stole from Esau. That did not make it ‘ok’ for him to lie and steal the blessing. I do not believe it is ‘ok’ for Rachel to steal and lie to her father, even if it was for a good purpose. She should have confronted him and talked to him about his sin. At the very least, she should have told Jacob what she did!
This leads us to Laban. We see his sins in the form of idolatry, unjustly putting Jacob to work, and changing Jacob’s wages to try and benefit himself. Laban recognized Jacob was blessed by God and wanted the blessing for himself, not Jacob. We know he was most likely planning to catch up to Jacob and do some kind of harm, but God intervened. God would not have intervened if it was not for a purpose.
God Protects His Children
This leads us to our next theme, which is that God protects His children. God was with Jacob over the last 20 years and throughout this story. He protected Jacob from the unjust ruler, Laban, and delivered him from Laban. God fulfilled his promises to Jacob and began leading him back to Canaan as he promised. God was with Jacob despite his sin!
Application
That last part is crucial to me. God is with me despite my sin! He is with you despite your sin! What a beautiful truth of God’s grace! This does not give us an excuse or freedom to sin. As Paul says in Romans 6:15-16 - “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
God’s grace sanctifies us! That sanctification process produces good fruits. If we no longer see good fruits being produced in our lives, then we need to go back to God and confess our sins to him. Sins are not good fruit and we should avoid them! Sins are the fruitless work of darkness! But we are children of light! As Ephesians 5 says, “The fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Testing what is pleasing to the Lord.”
All that to say, God was not pleased that Jacob sinned. He was not pleased Jacob didn’t trust him enough to follow his plan and trust in his protection. BUT, God protected, guided, and fulfilled His promises anyways. That is the truth we get to hold on to! We strive and desire to be sanctified, but when we stumble God is always with us!
There is another takeaway here that is applicable to a lot of people. Jacob served an unjust ruler (or boss) for 20 years and God protected him through it. Jacob exclaimed that God did not let Laban harm him all those years. After 20 years of suffering, God delivered Jacob from the unjust ruler.
If you are feeling oppressed, abused, or are dealing with unjustness, remember, God will protect you! It doesn’t mean it will be easy. It doesn’t mean you won’t face hardship. These are not God’s promises. What God does promise is that He will never leave you nor forsake you!