Hidden Truths and Stolen Idols || Genesis 31:4-55 || Session 51 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

What do you do if you wake up one morning and your god has been stolen? This is a question discussed in today's verse by verse Bible study session. Rachel's audacious act of stealing her father Laban's household idols opens up a whole new area in our study of Genesis. We dissect the profound implications of trusting in a god that can be stolen and ponder the cultural and financial motivations behind her actions. Our conversation branches out into the perils of idolatry, cautioning against turning worldly pursuits like careers and wealth into modern-day idols. We also scrutinize Laban's manipulative nature, stressing the crucial lesson for Christians to neither fall prey to manipulation nor become the manipulators themselves. Join us as we extract timeless lessons from Jacob, Rachel, and Laban’s story, emphasizing vigilance and resistance to manipulation in our lives today.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:19

So if you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis 31,. Starting in verse 4, says this so Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field and said to them Turn to Genesis 31,. Starting in verse 4, says this Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. However, god did not allow him to hurt me. If he spoke thus, the speckled shall be your wages. Then all the flock brought forth speckled. And if he spoke thus the striped shall be your wages. Then all the flock brought forth striped. Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me.

Speaker 1 1:05

And it came about at that time, when the flock were mating, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in a dream, jacob, and I said here I am. He said lift up now your eyes and see that the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled and mottled. For I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now arise, leave this land and return to the land of your birth. Rachel and Leah said to him do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house? Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our fathers belongs calls Rachel and Leah, his two wives. And where does he take them to talk to them? And why would he take them there? Do you think, steve?

Speaker 2 2:18

He takes them out into the middle of a field, I think, so that they're away and can have a private conversation that won't be overheard by any servants and possibly taken back to Laban or Laban's sons. He wants to go to a place where they're meeting with them completely in private. Amongst the three.

Speaker 1 2:38

Jacob knows how controlling and manipulating Laban is. He takes the women out there and has this conversation in the field, because it's very difficult to work under somebody that's very, very controlling. From verses 5 to 13,. Jacob convinces Rachel and Leah to leave. In verse 7, what is Jacob?

Speaker 2 2:58

doing. He's telling them what's been happening, that their father has cheated him 10 times throughout the time that he's been there over these 20 years, but yet he relaying to them that God has actually been protecting him.

Speaker 1 3:14

He's right. Jacob is right here. He's complaining that Laban has cheated him and changed his wages 10 times, which is true. That's a true statement. What has Jacob been doing with Laban for most of this time?

Speaker 2 3:29

Well, he has also been defrauding Laban on certain things. I guess it's not justified. But I also see the point that Laban keeps changing the rules. So Jacob is trying to hedge the bets or hedge the results on his side.

Speaker 1 3:47

Yes, Laban was deceiving Jacob, but Jacob had just gotten through trying to breed just a stronger sheep for himself and leave the weaker sheep for Laban. Both these men are being hypocritical with each other because later we're going to find Laban complaining about you know, you're cheating me. Here's why I always try to apply these things to our day. If Jacob and Laban were honest with themselves, they would admit that they're hypocritical. Are we honest with ourselves? What would we find? I think we'd find that we're hypocritical too, Would we not? If we really look ourselves in a true and accurate mirror, we'd find that we're hypocritical too, would we not? If we really look ourselves in a true and accurate mirror, we'd admit hey, I'm a hypocrite too, Wouldn't you think, Steve? Do we ever get angry at other people about things that we are guilty of ourselves?

Speaker 2 4:37

Absolutely, because we have emotions and we have this fleshly body that's still attached. Like I said in last session, that's where we've got to guard against getting emotionally involved in things and letting God take care of it and let Him work through it. Rather than us coming up with schemes on our own to try and make something happen. We should let God take care of it.

Speaker 1 5:01

That's what is mentioned several times in the New Testament, in the Gospels and in the epistles. It talks about beware that you're not hypocritical. Jesus told them to don't get the speck out of your brother's eye when there's a log in your own eye. And he's talking about being hypocritical. Paul in Romans said quote Therefore, you have no excuse. Every one of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things, says that in Romans 2.1. And then he also, in the same chapter of Romans, he says while you preach against stealing, do you also steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols? Do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law.

Speaker 1 5:59

Again, that's in Romans 2. All of us need to be very careful not to judge another so quickly that we realize hey, I'm being hypocritical here. Yes, we have grounds to stand on in the scriptures to hold each other accountable for honesty and righteousness and morality and faithful to God's commands. But scripture also warns Christians don't be hypocritical. And the reason it warns Christians not to be hypocritical is because there's so many hypocritical Christians running around. How is the question? How do I examine myself? So that I'm not being hypocritical.

Speaker 2 6:39

By continually going to the Lord, learning from his word, building that relationship with him and staying focused on him and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us. If we stay in the word and focus on him, then that, I think, will curb some of our natural desires to get involved and come up with some of these schemes.

Speaker 1 7:05

So in this passage, jacob says that he had served Laban with all his strength, and that was true. He did. He worked for Laban for 20 years and he kept his obligations. On that we can compliment Jacob for that. God was teaching Jacob a lesson, because Jacob had been a deceiver that's what his name meant was deceiver. God was using these 20 years to teach Jacob a lesson that what you do, you're going to come back to you. What you sow, you're going to reap. That's the lesson is that Jacob had schemed and manipulated against his father and his brother and he goes off and guess what Same thing happened to him. Laban schemed and manipulated against him, changed his wives, changed his wages. What we sow, we're going to reap. We don't get away with sin. God had been taking this man to school to teach him not to sin.

Speaker 1 7:58

In verse 8, even though Jacob has been a deceiver, god has blessed him. Even though Jacob had been a sinful person, god still blessed him and worked through. Jacob had been a sinful person, god still blessed him and worked through him. And, steve, I take that as encouragement because I know I fall, I'm not a perfect person and even though all the stuff I've done, I still go back to God and beg forgiveness and he can still bless me and he can still work through me. My Christian friend, if you think God's done with you, then all you have to do is go back to him and he will work through me. My Christian friend, if you think God's done with you, then all you have to do is go back to him and he will work through you. We're all flawed, just like Jacob. Nobody in the scriptures was sinless, yet God still worked through them. What he wants is a relationship, a love relationship. If we have that, then God can still accomplish his will and work through us.

Speaker 2 8:44

The best way for God to continue to be able to work through a person like that that they've sinned. He's not denying anything. Jacob is acknowledging that well, yeah, well, I've been doing all this stuff to try and manipulate the offspring. Really, it's been God that has been doing it. He says there in verse 8.

Speaker 1 9:02

In verse 13,. God appears to Jacob and he speaks to him and he says I am the God of Bethel. Well, if we remember Bethel, bethel was the place where God had appeared to Jacob. Jacob was escaping, running from Esau, and that's where he had the vision, the dream of Jacob's ladder. That was Bethel. God appears here as Jacob decides to go back. God is reminding Jacob of the time that he first had a direct encounter with God. Jacob was running away and God appeared. And now he's headed back and God appears. And what does that tell us? God appears to us when we need him the most. It also tells us that God will periodically remind us of who he is and periodically remind us that we are his children. Will he do that? You think, steve? Has he done that in my life, in your life? Does God show up and remind us I'm your father and you're my child?

Speaker 2 10:04

The question is how would we want God to remind us that we're still there? Because what do you do with a child who disobeys? You correct them. What do you do a child who obeys Many times? You bless them. So God can remind us that he's there and can also remind us that we're his children, by either correcting us or by blessing us. The question is, which way do we want to be reminded that we're God's children? Me, I'm always wanting to be reminded through a blessing. Hopefully, I don't get into a situation where I'm being corrected.

Speaker 1 10:40

We can take comfort in knowing that, even though Jacob had sinned, god didn't give up on him. Jacob sinned repeatedly and God didn't give up on him. Jacob sinned repeatedly and God didn't give up on him. God is faithful, even if we're not. As long as we continue to call on the Lord, as long as we continue to fall at his feet and beg forgiveness, he will not give up on us. He still has a blessing for us. God wants Jacob and his family to return to the land and of course we've hit that many times the land of Israel that he gave him. It was the land of promise. He promised it to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He's saying go back to the land.

Speaker 1 11:15

In verses 14 to 16, rachel and Leah both agree that there's nothing left for them here, there's nothing left here in the household of Laban, and they agree to go. This tells us something about Laban. Laban has been foolish with his money. He's been foolish with his money. He's wasted everything he has gotten and wasted the things he could have given to his children as an inheritance. He is a non-example. He should be the one that Christians are not like simply because we should be frugal to the point that we have something to give our children. We should not be so greedy and giving away all of our money, so loose with our money, that we deny biblical monetary principles, like Laban did. Now the children say there's nothing for me here. He spent all of our inheritance. Does the Bible give Steve? Does it give advice on how to handle money?

Speaker 2 12:09

Yes, it does. Throughout all of scripture, there's plenty of things that tell us how that we should treat money. One of the main things is Jesus says over the New Testament, though, is you can't serve two masters. You can't serve money and also serve God. You got to make a choice between the two and those people who follow the way of the money. It doesn't last. The money runs out, the looks run out, the popularity runs out, but yet God is everlasting. That's why we should always choose God.

Speaker 1 12:40

The Bible actually has quite a bit about how to do money. The one that comes to my mind immediately is the borrower is the slave of the lender. We have many biblical principles, and if we learn them then we can stay out of a lot of financial troubles. Well, let's move on to the next section. We'll find out what happens next. Steve, if you could start in verse 17 and read down through verse 21.

Speaker 2 13:03

Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels and he drove away all his livestock and all his property, which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Padam Aram, to go to the land of Canaan, to his father, isaac. Then Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father's, and Jacob deceived Laban, the Aramean, by not telling him that he was fleeing. So he fled with all that he had, and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

Speaker 1 13:39

In this passage Jacob sneaks out and leaves. Laban takes the wives and the children and the family and the flocks, doesn't tell Laban he's I'm leaving. Today Laban had been away with business. Jacob's basically sneaking out and he's doing it because Laban is so controlling that Jacob knows he's going to have a hard time leaving. Jacob is still not being above board and, totally honest, we still see him trying to do things of his own strength. We can kind of get some sympathy here for Jacob because Laban is quite difficult. He's very manipulative. Even now we're going to see in the next part of the story he's still trying to get him back. It's probably not the case that Laban's just going to let him go. Jacob feels he has to sneak out. What do you think of Jacob's kind of leaving without letting him know?

Contrasting Gods and Worldly Ways

Speaker 2 14:27

We see Jacob not having a trust of Laban. Laban has come up with different ways to try and keep Jacob there. The first one was with Leah and everything. So I think Jacob is just really being cautious. He's wanting to make a break. God has given him instructions. You can finally go home. I think he's just wanting to go home without having any more drama happen.

Speaker 1 14:50

Then, in verse 19, as they're leaving, rachel steals the household idols that belong to her father, Laban. Here's a question, steve what do you do if you come home one day and your gods?

Speaker 2 15:02

are stolen. Rachel became a god thief. I think if you have a god that can be stolen, you need to get you another god.

Speaker 1 15:08

That's the lesson If your god gets stolen, it's time to get another one. And get one that can't be stolen. We need to have the real god that somebody can't pick up and carry off with them, because only false gods can be stolen. But what's really going on here with these? It says household idols One. It tells us that their idols were part of that household, if not that culture right it does that.

Speaker 2 15:31

this is still something that is there Now in the studies. Part of this household idols had a connection to the inheritance of the family. By having these idols, it was also connected to what the ownership of all the property that the people had. This came out of the newsy tablets of the day that give some of these rules. That's why the scholars say that this is possibly the reason why Rachel is taking these Laban has squandered their dowry. They say that in the few verses before that. Now Rachel possibly is taking these household idols so that she can have claim to the inheritance from all her other brothers whenever they leave. But it's still something that she shouldn't do. She's not trusting God is going to protect them and take them back. When they give permission to Jacob. They said go ahead and do Jacob what your God is telling you to do. I get a sense here that Rachel is doing something on her own, not trusting God like she should when she said to Jacob in that passage, your God.

Speaker 1 16:40

she didn't say our God or just God. There's a little bit of separation here. That hints at me that Jacob hasn't really brought her into the fold of worshiping the one true God. But if I ask myself, okay, what's going on here with taking these idols? One thing you pointed out, steve.

Speaker 1 16:58

It's very likely true that part of that culture, the family inheritance, kind of went along with it. It's also possible that they were just valuable, that they were made out of gold or silver or precious stones. She wasn't going to get any money from her father. She took that as valuable. That's also possible. It could have been the only valuable thing around. It's also possible that she'd been raised in a household with idols and hadn't been taught to walk away from that.

Speaker 1 17:25

One of the questions we'd have to ask ourselves as a Christian if I find myself in a culture that accepts things that are ungodly and I hope that our listeners don't have an actual physical statue over in the corner that they bow down to but we make idols out of other things, right, we make idols out of our careers, or idols out of our homes, or idols out of our wealth or idols out of our power, our physical abilities. We make idols out of drugs and alcohol. We make idols out of all kinds of things. We need to make sure that we're not compromising on an idol. We need to make sure that, when we get up and go back to the Lord, we're not trying to carry our idols with us, because, no matter what the culture says, we need to leave the idols behind. We need to go back to the land of God and leave the idols behind in the world. That's what Rachel didn't do.

Speaker 1 18:23

Now, moving on, when Laban deceived Jacob but he didn't get away with his sin Rachel deceived her father, laban, when she stole this. She's going to suffer the consequences too. She's not going to get away with this sin either, because the law of sowing and reaping is going to apply on all these people's lives. In the next verses, starting in verse 22, we have here Laban chases after Jacob. He catches up with him and confronts him, and at the end of verse 27, we have Laban saying I might have sent you away with joy and songs. Well, steve, do you think Laban would have had a big party and sent Jacob away with his blessing?

Speaker 2 19:09

No, not at all, not based upon everything that had been going on. This is a trait, a little bit of a narcissistic trait, of manipulation. And that Laban is catching up to him and saying what are you doing? What are you doing sneaking out? I would have sent you away, I would have let you go, but history shows in his actions that that probably would not have been the case shows and his actions that that probably would not have been the case.

Speaker 1 19:36

He was manipulating or trying to manipulate Jacob and his children. As Christians, we need to recognize that this sometimes happens to people. We don't need to be the people that manipulate others and we don't need to be manipulated by other people ourselves. We need to recognize when people around us, in our family or our circle of influence is trying to manipulate us, and that's one reason Jacob snuck out and ran away is because he knew how much of a manipulator that Laban was, and sometimes we have to do what we have to do to get out from under that influence.

Speaker 1 20:10

Christians should be very careful and not let other people manipulate us. Some religious people get manipulated by religious leaders, or there's people that'll manipulate us because of guilt into making them wealthy. There's other people that'll use manipulation techniques just to get wealthy. That's what Laban's doing here. Manipulation techniques just to get wealthy. That's what Laban's doing here. These people view religion as a way to manipulate others, to have a game so that they can get power or wealth in themselves. We need to be very aware of controlling people, and one, not be that, and two, not let ourselves be subject to that. Now down in verse 34 and 35, laban catches up with them, accuses them of stealing the idols and goes and starts looking for where the idols are. And in verse 34 and 35, where did Rachel hide the?

Speaker 2 21:04

idols. She hid the idols first within her own tent where she was staying, and then, second, she hid it in the saddle of the camel that she had been riding, and then she sat on that saddle.

Speaker 1 21:17

When Laban asked, she says well, I'm in the way of women, which is the Bible's way of saying her monthly menstrual period. She's saying I'm having my period and I need to stay sitting here. Think of the contrast here, steve. What she's doing is she had taken the gods and was sitting on them, which is a symbol that's filthy enough. Minstrel periods were ritually unclean and actually unclean, and so were idols. The spiritual picture here is that, even if she's lying and not really on her period, she thinks so much of her gods that she's sitting on them. The real God is such a contrast of this. The real God is high and lifted up, holy, pure, majestic, awesome, powerful. The false gods are unclean underneath and in the lower parts. So such a picture of the contrast between the false gods and the real gods. Why would we ever go for a false god, when it's really unclean and something that goes underneath our bottom, to be set on, when we could have the real God that's high and holy and pure and clean and lifted up? That's the contrast here. Then, in 36 to 42, jacob gets angry with Laban. Laban doesn't find the idols. He gets angry because Laban has accused him of stealing the idols and Laban kept tricking him to get him to stay longer. Here, jacob, some of his anger showing through. What we just see here is sort of an ugly scene. They finally part the last part of this chapter, but they've both been guilty of deceiving each other.

Speaker 1 23:06

It's the story of the world and how the world's ways are not God's ways. We have people stealing from each other. We have people lying from each other. We have people trying to manipulate each other. We have people running from each other because they don't want to deal with each other. Those are all the bitter fruit of the world. By contrast to that, what does the New Testament tell us? The fruit of the Spirit Love, joy, peace, patience. Testament tell us the fruit of the Spirit right Love, joy, peace, patience. All the things of God are always pure and holy and clean and high and lifted up, and the things of the world are always down and dirty and death and destroying. This whole story just gives a contrast between the ways of the world and the ways of God. I just find it to be such a contrast.

Speaker 2 23:51

That's why we should do like Paul says put on Christ daily. That's a conscious effort of ours to do that, to become more Christ-like, because the more Christ-like we become, the more apart from the world and the world is behind us. I think it's very valid to not be a part of the world.

Speaker 1 24:11

Let's look at verse 42. This is Jacob speaking to Laban. He says if the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so he rendered judgment last night. And the last night was the vision that God had given to Laban to say don't harm this man, let him go. Has Jacob always been a righteous man? Has he always followed the Lord's ways?

Speaker 2 24:45

He has not, but at the same time, he is also continues to acknowledge that God is the one. Remember the vow that he made at Bethel God, you bring me through all of this stuff. I get back into the land safely. You're going to be the God that I'm going to worship.

Speaker 1 25:01

That's right. Jacob has not always followed God. However, God has always followed Jacob and God's hand is still in this. As you rightly pointed out, in the end, Jacob goes back to God. Do we find some of Jacob in ourselves?

Speaker 2 25:16

Unfortunately. Yes, I think we find a little bit of ourselves in all of these characters here in Scripture in the Old Testament, and I believe that that's a secondary thing that we have from reading these Old Testament texts is that it's a picture and mirror of us. Why? Because they're people just like we are. Even though there's thousands of years that separate us, we still see the same human characteristics of these people that we have today. We can learn from that. That's how we can read these stories and say I don't want to be like Jacob in this area, but then on the areas where they follow God, like Abraham believed God and God counted in the righteous I want to be like Abraham in that we overlook what we have through God's word, through God's scripture, that we can learn from. We should learn from all of these characters what not to be, and we should learn from them what we should be in relation to God.

Speaker 1 26:21

People tend to focus on New Testament. A lot of great things in the New Testament, but sometimes it is quite hard to understand, as Peter says, but back here in the Old Testament, these stories, they go down just so easy. They're so easy to learn these principles from and they apply so much to our lives. We sometimes find ourselves going our own way, just like Jacob went his own way, and trying to manipulate and do things on his own. We find ourselves in that same situation, but in the end, just like Jacob. In that same situation, but in the end, just like Jacob, we go back to the Lord. We go back to the Lord. That's what makes us unique.

Speaker 1 26:58

Laban at the end of this chapter goes back, walks off the pages of Scripture and we never see him again. Jacob goes on to follow the Lord. He prays to the Lord, he asks forgiveness of the Lord. We see God's hand working through him and blessing him. Such a great picture. Same thing with us. If I wake up one day and find out I've wandered, all is not lost, my Christian friend. Follow the Lord just like Jacob. If God can bless a scoundrel like Jacob that lied to his own father, cheated out his brother and manipulated his boss and still came back and blessed him, then he can bless you and he can bless me. A flawed man like Jacob can be used of God. Then maybe I can, and maybe you can too. In verse 43, we have Laban saying that the daughters were my daughters and the children are my children and the flocks are my flocks and all that you see is mine. Is that true, steve, or is that false?

Speaker 2 27:57

That's false. It's kind of a bluff from Laban. He's already been told, as you pointed out before, through a dream. Of God says don't do anything good or bad to Jacob. So this is a bluff on Laban's part. I've got all this stuff here. No, you don't. Jacob has all this stuff. Jacob has all this livestock. He's the one fleeing. Laban is the one who has come up behind Jacob to try and catch up to him. It's a bluff. It's a bluff on Laban's part.

Speaker 1 28:26

It's a bluff on Laban's part. He's trying to hold on to all these things. His greed is showing through. One lesson that I get that as we wrap up is that parents need to let go. At this point. Those, biologically, were his daughters, but they were primarily the wives of Jacob, and Laban needs to let go. Parents, when they have grown children, need to let go. That's a lesson for us Sometimes, especially Christians. We have such a responsibility to raise our children that we try to hang on to them when they're adults. Those children are grown Parents. You need to let them go. That brings us to the end of this chapter. Next time we're going to find out what happens when Jacob actually starts back to the land. He's going to meet his brother, esau, and remember how he left him last time. So there's more drama. Jacob leaves one issue and he's afraid of going back to another. So we're going to find out about that next time as we continue to reason through the book of Genesis.

Speaker 2 29:29

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.