Jacob Departs for Canaan
TEXT: Genesis 31:1–55 (ESV)
Last week we reviewed the main theme of Genesis––blessing
We also learned that the fulfillment of God’s promises to Jacob did not depend upon Jacob. It depended upon God’s faithfulness.
A. Today’s Story has six movements
1st Movement is in vs. 1-3. Six years have passed since chapter 30. As God has multiplied the speckled and spotted animals, Jacob has become richer and Laban has become poorer. So, Laban and his sons have turned on Jacob. They are jealous. They mean harm. So, God speaks to Jacob, and tells him it is time to return to Canaan.
(Genesis 31:3) "3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”"
2nd Movement is in Vs. 4-16. Jacob justifies his decision to return to Leah and Rachel. His wives, concubines, and family have spent their entire life in Harran with their father’s extended family. Now Jacob is going to ask them to follow him on a five hundred mile trek through bandit infested lands to a strange country. They will never see their family or country again. So he needs to sell his wives on God’s commandment. This is what good husbands do. They don’t force their wives. They lead them. They appeal to a heart decision.
He starts with the obvious. (Genesis 31:5) “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me." Then he details his sincerity. He served their father, Laban, faithfully and loyally, yet (Vs 7a) “your father cheated me and changed my wages ten times.” Then follows the key statement, “But God did not permit him to harm me” (7b).
Then Jacob reminds his wives about the speckled and spotted animals. Remembering the promise of God at Bethel he concludes, (Vs. 9) “God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.” Leah and Rachel respond, (Vs. 14) “Is there any inheritance left for us in our father’s house?.” In other words, we don’t want to stay with our father. He has become poor, but you have become rich. We are willing to risk the journey.
3rd Movement is in Vs 17-21. Jacob flees. However, because he fears Laban he leaves when Laban is away on a three day journey. His old habits of deceitfulness and manipulation are still hard at work. His faith is growing, but it is still weak.
4th Movement is in Vs 22-35. Laban, learning of Jacob’s deceitfulness, feeling betrayed, realizing that his daughters and grandchildren belong to him, that he will never see them again, and realizing he is going to fall further into poverty with Jacob gone, pursues Laban. He is angry. He plans to inflict bodily harm on Jacob. The Hebrew verbs describing his pursuit all have militaristic overtones.
However, in Vs 24 describes God’s protection of Jacob. "But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”" When Laban finally catches Jacob he reluctantly explains God’s intervention with these words, "29 It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’"
5th Movement is in Vs 36-42. Jacob justifies himself to Laban. Now Jacob is angry. For 20 years Laban has used and deceived him. So, here is how Jacob interprets Laban’s dream, and it is the punch line of this entire story. "42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.” In other words, in spite of Laban’s attempts to us and abuse him, God has protected Jacob as he promised at Bethel.
6th Movement is in Vs 43-55. Laban and Jacob form a Covenant not to harm each other or be enemies. By doing this Laban finally agrees to treat Jacob as his equal. Jacob continues on to Canaan freed from the fear of Laban, free to obey God knowing that God has and will fulfill his lavish promises.
B. Main Point: God Keeps His Promises
What was God’s promise? As we learned last week, on his way to Haran, 20 years prior to this story, Jacob spent the night at Bethel. In a dream he saw a ladder connecting earth and heaven. The angels were ascending and descending on this ladder. Later, in John 1:51 Jesus will tell us that he was Jacob’s ladder. In other words, because his death and resurrection reconciled earth and heaven, the angels were able to come from heaven to earth and mediate God’s promise to Jacob. The ladder is Christ’s atoning work. So, in today’s an angel mediates the dream explaining that God is the reason Jacob’s flock is growing. In next week’s sermon the angels of God will meet Jacob as he advances toward Canaan. The angels are descending on the ladder.
In other words, in Jacob’s Bethel dream God renewed the promises that he had initially made to Abraham to his grandson, Jacob. We can sum up God’s promises to Jacob in Gen 28 dream with three Ps––
· A People
· A Place
· Protection
1. Obstructions to God’s Promises.
Laban’s greed. If God had not intervened, Jacob would have been impoverished by Laban and could not have returned to Canaan.
Laban’s deceitfulness. On his wedding night, Laban exchanged Rachel for Leah. However, Rachel was barren. Therefore, the promise of a people would have never occurred unless Jacob had married Leah. God’s providence was at work using Laban’s evil intentions for good.
Laban’s enmity. In today’s story he wanted to kill Jacob. But God protected him from Laban.
The objections of his wives and children to a distant move. God overcame them by delaying Jacob’s departure to the 20th year rather than the 14th. In the 14th year Jacob was poor and Laban was rich, but by the 20th year Jacob was rich and Laban was poor.
Jacob’s unbelief. He doesn’t trust God. God works anyway.
2. How did God fulfill the promise?
1st God prospered Jacob at the expense of Laban. To make this journey with hundreds of livestock, Jacob would need great wealth. Over a period of six years God transferred much of Laban’s wealth to Jacob. In other words, Laban’s impoverishment was an example of God’s promise to Abraham. “I will bless those that bless you and those who curse you I will curse” (Gen 12:2-3). Once Laban began to abuse Jacob, God cursed him by transferring Laban’s wealth to Jacob.
2nd God directed Jacob to the place. When the time was right, God commanded Jacob to return to Canaan.
3rd God made Jacob into a people––God gave him 2 wives, 2 concubines, twelve sons and at least 1 daughter. In addition, God gave him servants, shepherds, immense flocks, etc.. When Jacob left Harran for Canaan it was like a small city setting out.
4th God protected Jacob from Laban, from bandits, famine, etc.
C. Application: So What?
1. Jacob’s story is a pattern of the obedience of faith and God’s faithful response.
God kept his promise to Jacob just as he did to Abraham, and he will also keep his promise to Jacob’s descendants. There is a pattern here and it appears at least three times in Genesis and Exodus.
First, God promised Jacob’s Grandfather that he would give him Canaan. He left everything to journey to the Promised Land. However, after he arrived, fearing famine, Abraham went down to Egypt. Then fearing the Pharaoh, he lied about Sarah. Nevertheless, God protected him. He brought him out of Egypt and back to Canaan greatly enriched.
The pattern appears two more times. God has promised to bring Jacob back to Canaan, and God is performing that promise. In a similar way God promised Jacob’s descendants, those who later went down to Egypt, that he would bring them back to Canaan. God also kept that promise, although he did not keep it on their timetable. There are many parallels between the exodus of Jacob and Israel.
Just as Laban in Harran oppressed Jacob, so the Pharaoh in Egypt oppressed the Israelites.
Just as Jacob left Harran at God’s command to return to Canaan, so at God’s command through Moses Jacob’s descendants left Egypt to return to Canaan. The fulfillment of the Promise required a response of faith. How about you? Are you willing to leave everything to follow Christ?
Just as Jacob plundered Laban and returned to the Promised Land wealthy, so the Israelites, his descendants, plundered Egypt and returned to Canaan wealthy and powerful.
Just as Laban feared the presence of his brother in Canaan (next chapter), so the Jews returning through the Wilderness will fear “the Giants in the Land.”
Just as Laban pursued his fleeing son in law, so Pharaoh’s chariots will pursue the Jewish people as they flee from Egypt.
Just as God protected Jacob from Laban, so the Lord will protect the fleeing Israelites from the Egyptian war machine.
Just as Jacob experienced his great crisis of faith with God (more in the next two weeks) at the river Jabbok, so Israel will experience a great crisis of faith at the Red Sea.
However, in both cases God was faithful to make good on his promise of a people, a place and protection them
1 Corinthian 10 tells us that all of this was written down for our instruction.
In the same we are the people promised, and we are commanded to increase the people promised. Christ will not return until there are enough coverts to fill the earth with his image and likeness which is his glory.
We also have a place prepared for us.
(Romans 4:13) "13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith."
Last, God will protect us until we attain the promised inheritance. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
So, have you responded by faith to God’s invitation? You must leave the familiar and journey into the unknown by faith. Although salvation iss free (you can never earn it), it will cost all you have.
2. Jacob’s story is a picture of the gospel.
Ultimately, Jesus was the culmination of everything the Jewish people stood for. He is and was the only sinless Jew, and he perfectly fulfilled all of God’s requirements. Therefore, Jesus is the true Israel of God.
Like Jacob Jesus was called out of Egypt to return to Canaan.
Jesus crossing of the Jabbok was his baptism. Then, like the Jews he was tested 40 days (instead of years) in the wilderness. He entered Canaan preaching the gospel and saying, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Good News!” Jacob plundered Laban, and Israel plundered Egypt, but Jesus plundered the world, the flesh and the Devil. We are the Treasure with whom he enters the true Canaan.
When we put our faith in Jesus we become all that he is. We become the true Israel of God. In Christ we leave the world and begin our journey toward Canaan. God gives us a faith that motivates us––like Jacob, Israel, and Jesus, to leave the comfortable for something better. That faith is a saving faith. There is no other, and it is always costly.
As Jacob saw in his dream, Christ’s death and resurrection is the ladder that unites heaven and earth. It makes all of this possible. It makes the three Ps––People, Place, and Protection possible. On that ladder the angels of God descend to minister God’s grace to us so that God’s promises can come to pass.
Put your hope in God. He kept his promise to Jacob. He will keep all of his promises to you and me as well.
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