Genesis 31:22-42
Sermon 1 - "Jacob's Protector" (vv. 22-30)
Sermon 2 - "Jacob's Justification" (vv. 31-42)

  1. Laban's Complaint and Testimony (22-30)
    1. Laban Pursues and God Appears (22-24)
      1. Jacob fled with all that he had in v. 21.
      2. And we are informed in v. 20 that in doing so, Jacob was again practicing his ways of deceit.
        1. Jacob deceived Laban, not telling him that he intended to flee
        2. For all his talk of how God has protected him against Laban, he still fears Laban.
        3. But by the end of this chapter he will understand better how much the Lord protects him, and he will no longer be afraid.
      3. However, from a human perspective, Jacob had good reason to sneak away.
      4. As soon as Laban hears of his departure, he pursues him with a company of men.
        1. That liar is not just going after Jacob so he can kiss his girls good-bye and have a going away party, despite what he will say later.
        2. He's going after Jacob with a vengeance.
      5. But on the way, God appears to him (24)
        1. And God's word to Laban is the same as the word he spoke to Jacob
        2. To Jacob he said, "I am with you wherever you go."
        3. To Laban in effect he says, "I am with Jacob wherever he goes."
        4. "Don't speak to him, either good or bad" is a Hebrew way of saying, don't mess with him in any way.
      6. So even before Jacob knows he is being pursued, God is at work protecting him from the wrath of Laban.
      7. And our faith is encouraged by this to know that God is at work even before his people know they have need of him.
      8. So when Laban finally catches up with Jacob, we are calm
        1. Do you suppose Jacob was calm?
        2. Or do you suppose his heart was racing and he was worried to the point of distraction?
        3. He should have been calm.
        4. Did he not remember that God had promised to be with him and bring him back to the Promised Land?
        5. Therefore, he had nothing to fear from Laban.
        6. Yet he has so far been acting in fear, and you can bet this encounter got his heart racing.
      9. How foolish are we, like Jacob!
      10. How slow of heart to believe all that is written concerning the work of Christ on our behalf.
      11. Who can harm you, O believer?
      12. Though Satan himself should come against you with great fury, yet your Lord is greater still and has made promises to you to protect you.
        1. "And though this world with devils filled/ Should threaten to undo us./ We will not fear for God hath willed/ His truth to triumph through us./ The prince of darkness grim/ We tremble not for him./ His rage we can endure/ For lo! his doom is sure./ One little word shall fell him."
        2. Christ has already conquered Satan and with him all earthly powers and everything that threatens. In the last day he shall cry, "Depart!" and Satan shall depart into hell. Fear not!
      13. He will not fail.
    2. Laban Complains Against Jacob (25-28)
      1. "What have you done?" he begins
        1. This is exactly what Jacob asked Laban once
        2. He labored 7 years for Rachel and woke up next to Leah.
        3. "What is this you have done to me?" Jacob asks
      2. So even Laban's opening statement reminds us that he is a deceiver himself. Now he complains that he has been deceived. What did he expect?
        1. And it's good to remember this if we are tempted to sympathize with Laban.
        2. He is a liar and a cheat.
        3. Yet like all liars and cheats, how grieved he becomes when someone else deceives him.
        4. After his behavior, did he really think he deserved notice before Jacob left?
        5. He deserves what he gets.
      3. The accusation
        1. You have deceived me (v.26) True
          1. But Laban deserved it
          2. Our only concern is that this deception reflects Jacob's continued trust in his own cleverness and his continued fear of Laban, even though God himself is with Jacob.
        2. You carried away my daughters like captives of the sword
          1. False
          2. They went willingly as we saw last week
          3. And they went because they felt Laban had given them no reason to stay.
          4. The world promises much, but in the end it gives you nothing.
          5. Cling to the promises of God.
        3. Why did you flee secretly and not tell me?
          1. Because Jacob was afraid. (He will confess that in a moment)
          2. Because he knew Laban would try to prevent him by force
          3. Laban tries to respond to that implicit reply.
            • He tries to pretend he meant Jacob nothing but good.
            • This man who deceive Jacob on his wedding day now pretends to have Jacob's best interests at heart.
        4. I would have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre
          1. Baloney.
          2. He would have done everything in his power to confiscate Jacob's wealth and wives and send him away empty-handed.
        5. Why did you not permit me to kiss my sons (i.e. grandsons) and daughters farewell?
          1. It's such a sympathy evoking question. But the man is a snake. He is as cunning and remorseless as the devil.
          2. He would have done more than kiss his daughters and grandchildren.
          3. He would have held on to them and hidden them somewhere.
        6. What you have done is foolish
          1. Is Jacob foolish for not trusting Laban?
            • Not at all!
            • Let's review Laban's treachery and stinginess
              • He takes Jacob into his family, then changes his mind and makes Jacob a wage slave.
              • Jacob names his wages - Rachel - and offers a generous 7 years work for her. Laban tricks him with the old switcheroo and makes him labor another 7 years for Rachel.
              • And at the end of that 14 years, what does Jacob own? The clothes on his back. His wages are Rachel and Leah. Nothing else. Not one goat. Not a single sheep.
              • So Jacob labors another 6 years to gain sheep and goats, during which time Laban keeps changing the rules of the game.
                • First he says, you get the speckled
                • Then he says, you get the spotted
                • etc.
              • And when Jacob prospers in spite of this? Laban no longer looks on him with favor.
            • The man deserves zero trust
            • Jacob isn't at all foolish.
          2. Is Jacob foolish for not trusting God?
            • Yes indeed!
            • Let's review God's faithfulness
              • God chose Jacob, LOVED him, while he was still in the womb.
              • When Jacob cheated and lied and tricked himself into needing to leave the Promised Land, God REAFFIRMED his love for and choice of Jacob.
              • And he swore to Jacob
                • I will be with you wherever you go
                • I will bring you back here to this place that you are leaving because of your sin
                • I will fulfil my promise to Abraham and Isaac in you.
              • God brought Jacob to the house of Laban so he could find a suitable bride and thus have children and become a great nation.
              • God made Jacob rich under Laban, causing the goats and sheep to bear speckled and spotted, whatever Jacob's wages were supposed to be.
              • And God appeared to Jacob in a dream reaffirming his favor and telling Jacob to return to the Promised Land.
            • God deserves all of Jacob's trust.
            • Why then does Jacob still fear?
        7. So Laban's complaint is unwarranted.
        8. Jacob had every reason not to trust Laban and Laban knows it.
      4. Children of God, we are thus gently rebuked for our love of this world and the littleness of our faith as well.
        1. Are we foolish when we trust our lives to the things and people of this world
          1. Of course we are!
          2. Let us review. What has the world ever done for you?
          3. Has your money ever bought you anything of eternal value?
          4. Have your possessions ever provided you with the joy that is found for free in Christ?
          5. Has your reputation before men ever proved impressive to God?
          6. Has your intellect or your industriousness or your strength provided even earthly goods?
            • Are you still so foolish that you have not learned the lesson of Jacob?
            • It is God who has prospered your hand and all good gifts are from him alone.
          7. On the contrary, haven't all the things of this world tempted you away from trust in the living God?
          8. Your money, your possessions, your reputation, your abilities -
            • these things have too often become stumbling blocks for you, as you have turned to trust in them rather than in God who gives you all things.
            • They have turned your head too often to love this world and be content in making your home here and so you do not long for the next.
            • Use the things of this world, o believer, but never trust them or love them. The god of this world is treacherous, a father of lies. But you must follow after the truth.
        2. Trust, then, your life to God who has given you his Son and in him all things.
          1. God chose you as he chose Jacob, and loved you from before the foundation of the world.
          2. When you sinned in Adam and forfeited any right to God's presence, God still loved you.
          3. When in Adam you were kicked out of the presence of God because of sin, God sought you and swore to you, I will bring you back and establish you.
          4. And so he did, in Christ Jesus.
          5. In Christ he has brought you even up to heaven to dwell with him forever.
          6. What more could you ask for? What more do you need or desire?
          7. Who do you have in heaven but him? And beside him you will desire nothing on earth. Your flesh and heart are weak and will fail, but God is the strength of your heart and your portion forever. His nearness is your good, and he has been brought so near in Christ.
          8. Trust him who has done so much. Will he not complete his work?
    3. Laban's Testimony of God's Protection and Final Accusation (29-30)
      1. Laban reveals his untrustworthiness immediately
        1. He makes an implicit threat: "It is in my power to do you harm" (29)
        2. After all that, he doesn't say, "It is in my power to do you good."
        3. He wants Jacob to sweat a little.
        4. He wants Jacob to consider how dangerous it was to offend such a powerful man as Laban.
        5. He takes a swing at Jacob that stops two inches from Jacob's nose. He wants Jacob to flinch
        6. What a mean-spirited, angry, contemptible man.
        7. Even while he is arguing that Jacob should trust him, he can't help revealing his hateful spirit which wants to dominate Jacob through fear.
      2. And he reveals the trustworthiness of God
        1. He confesses that the only thing stopping him from harming Jacob is that God has warned him not to.
        2. Laban is treacherous, but God is faithful. And God is more powerful, so Jacob is protected.
        3. Laban hates Jacob and longs to harm him, but God loves Jacob and has determined to bless him. And God is more powerful, so Jacob is blessed.
        4. If God is for Jacob, what does it matter that Laban beats his chest and howls his rage?
          1. Laban can do nothing to harm Jacob or thwart God's plan.
          2. Thus, Jacob's fear of Laban is rebuked by the faithfulness and care of God.
      3. Here it is, out of Laban's own mouth
        1. I am not trustworthy, Jacob; but God is.
        2. I hate you, but God loves you.
        3. And God is more powerful than I.
        4. Thus is Jacob sweetly rebuked for his lack of faith.
      4. Children of God, again with Jacob we are rebuked.
        1. How sweetly the devil talks to you
          1. Why do you leave the world behind you and seek the joys of heaven? cries your adversary
          2. Why will you not let me please you with money and respect and the desires of your eyes and of your flesh?
          3. And almost we are turned back to him, and to his offers.
          4. But then he growls at us and reveals himself for the devil that he is, the hater of our souls.
        2. At the end he wishes to dominate you with fear
          1. Do you not know I have the power to harm you? he shouts.
          2. I can take away from you all those things that belong to you.
          3. I can make your life miserable
          4. Do you dare to insult me when I have such a hold on you?
        3. Do not fear little flock. It is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom
          1. Your adversary tempts and teases and threatens and blusters
          2. But the LORD - your savior Jesus - has appeared to him and warned him, "Do not speak anything good or bad to them." Leave this one alone. He is mine. She is mine.
        4. Then have more confidence than Jacob.
        5. The LORD is on your side.
          1. He will not allow you to stumble
          2. He will preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore
          3. Turn your back on the world and all it offers
          4. And have no fear of all the world threatens against those who turn their back on it.
          5. NOTHING can harm you, for God himself is with you, even more than he was with Jacob
            • The Spirit of his Son dwells in you
            • Jesus will never leave you nor forsake. He is with you always, to the end of the world.
      5. So Laban is rendered ineffective, except for a final accusation (30)
        1. I know you had to leave and go to your father's house…
        2. But WHY did you steal my gods?
        3. Oh, what a black heart of unbelief this man has!
          1. GOD himself has appeared to Laban and declared himself the power that is above all
          2. Does Laban say, let me follow after you, Jacob, and take your God as my own for he alone is Lord over all?
          3. No! He says, if you've got such a powerful God, you don't need MY gods. So … could you give them back?
      6. Again, what a rebuke against Jacob (though Jacob doesn't know it)
        1. You have an ALMIGHTY God, Jacob!
        2. Lay aside your trust in other things.
          1. Idols are nothing!
          2. Wealth is a dream.
          3. Reputation is fleeting
          4. But the favor of the Lord endures forever.
      7. And this is the message to us as well.

[Go to Part 2 - "Jacob's Justification" ]

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