Twenty years earlier, Jacob fled Canaan to Paddan-Aram after deceiving his father and his brother. On the way there, he met God who renewed the Abrahamic covenant with him, and promised he would be with him and return him to Canaan. The place they met at was named Bethel – the house of God. For the next 20 years, we find the deceiver being deceived: Jacob – whose name became synonymous with deception – was out-jacobbed by none other than his own uncle Laban, who always had a desire for gain. But Jacob learned honesty and patience through toil and trouble, and the Lord was with him and prospered him. Then came the time where circumstances converged for Jacob to get up and go. His cousins started speaking ill of him; his uncle no longer regarded him with favor; and his wives realized they had been swindled by their own father. Yet at the end it was the Lord’s word that commanded Jacob to finally return to his land.

What comes next is a clear parallel with the exodus from Egypt. Moses intended to point to his readers the similarities between Jacob’s return to the land from Paddan-Aram, and Israel’s return to the land from Egypt. Jacob was deceived by Laban in a foreign land for 20 years; Israel was oppressed by Pharaoh in Egypt 20x20 years. Both Jacob and Israel fled and were swiftly pursued. God protected both of them and they both crossed a body of water, one the Euphrates, the other the Red Sea. Jacob left with a lot of possessions, which Leah and Rachel in v.15 describe using the same word – plunder – that Israel did to the Egyptians as they were leaving, and so took many possessions with them. The victory belonged to God while the gods of Laban and the gods of the Egyptians were both defeated. Both stories are a fulfilment of God’s promise to bring the people of the covenant to the land of promise.

The chapter before us is lengthy, but in its verses we can find how fear turned to faith, folly turned to frustration, and flight turned to faithfulness.

FEAR TURNED TO FAITH

Laban and his sons schemed to undermine not only Jacob, but also Leah and Rachel by essentially stealing away their dowry. Yet, they still harbored ill intentions toward Jacob. Whatever favor they had extended to him was only given with the expectation of selfish gain behind it. So Jacob presents his case to his wives in v.4-13 with a speech that sounds very similar to a psalm: I did what was right; my enemies rose and schemed against me; the Lord heard my plea and gave me mercy. These verses contain the word “father” 7 times, sharply contrasting the father of the brides with the God of Jacob’s father. The earthly father is a cheat; a conman; a cruel master; a misogynistic father; a selfish man. But God is the God of justice and righteousness; of seeing and remembering; a promise giver and a covenant keeper. Jacob had a rough 20 years in the land of estrangement. But the Lord was with him and gave him success. It was the Lord who opened the wombs of his wives and gave him children. It was the Lord who made the flocks bear speckled, spotted and striped. This is revealed in the words of the angel of the Lord to Jacob in a dream that he will be blessed in his dealings with Laban, when his uncle changed the deal several times. It was the Lord’s work, not Jacob’s breeding tactics, that multiplied the flock for his good. In the first mention of direct contact between God and Jacob in this land, Yahweh reminds the son of Isaac of events 20 years earlier at Bethel where he appeared to him and made a vow that he will return him to his land. And now God is keeping his part of the covenant, promising to keep Jacob safe and to return him secure.

Jacob presents his case to his wives who despite their bitter rivalry now unite in acknowledging how their own father embezzled from them, and professing how God gave Jacob favor by broadening his place, instantly agreeing to leave with him. Laban had undermined his own daughters and by extension, his own grandchildren. So they altogether decide to flee, since Laban would most likely strip them of whatever they have, had they told him their plans. But as they stole away southwest across the Euphrates and likely through Syria down to Gilead, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. Opinions differ on what these gods are: maybe small figurines made of precious metal; maybe keys to an inheritance; maybe idols she was used to worship or was attached to. Or maybe she was cunning and wanted to further twist the knife in her father’s side. Regardless, in doing this, Rachel showed that she herself learned deception, and she was not yet fully trusting the God of Jacob. But this led to Laban now being committed to pursuing them, if not to bring them all back, at least to rescue his gods.

What follows is a pursuit over a week: fast and furious, camel edition. Jacob and his crew had a 3-day head start, yet Laban and his crew caught up with them in 7 days, covering about 400 miles. Let the choice of language not be lost on us: the Hebrew words used are of military tone: pursued, followed close after, overtook, pitched a tent, and driven away like captives of the sword. Moses is reminding his readers here of how Israel was oppressed for 400 years, how it went out to the desert to flee Pharaoh, how it went on a long journey, how the angel of the Lord was with them, and how Pharaoh and his armies pursued them. There are many parallels between the story of Jacob and the story of Exodus. It was a flight of fear – or at least it began with the fear of Laban and of Pharaoh – but it turned to faith as Jacob and Israel believed the Angel of Lord who reminded them that he had watched over them. So Jacob goes back to a place of faith, trusting that the Lord will give him victory and keep him safe as he had promised him at Bethel (28:10-22), and as he was about to show him.

But for Laban, the pursuit was about to turn sour. His folly was about to turn into fear.

FOLLY TURNED TO FRUSTRATION

Laban was a man who was given over to the pursuit of gain. We see the first glimpses of this in Genesis 24:29 where Laban runs out to meet Abraham’s servant who had come to find a wife for Isaac. We read that “as soon as he saw the ring and the bracelet on his sister’s arms” he invited the servant to come in. He walked by sight. His hospitality had ulterior motives for gain. Throughout his dealings with Jacob, he has the same motives, even at the expense of his own daughters. And that’s foolishness. Proverbs 24:9 says the devising of folly is sin, and Laban was an expert. In fact, it was his own schemes that made Jacob leave, and gave him a head start, since Laban quite likely took his sheep a 3-day journey so that he would undermine Jacob’s flock from breeding and growing. He was neither the first nor the last person whose wits would lead him to foolishness. But his foolishness must have quickly turned to dread and fear when the Lord came to him by night and warned him against doing evil. In fact, he warned him against saying anything, either good or evil. Laban may have become so foolish in his pursuit of gain that he no longer had the ability to discern between right and wrong, good or evil. And I think there is in this a warning to all those whose pursuit of a goal, whether good or bad, starts to transcend what is moral, what is right, what is true.

But instead of repenting, he continues in his scheming, falsely accuses Jacob of forcing Leah, Rachel and others to go with him, and then lies when he says he would have loved to throw him a feast and a party before he left. He even has the guts to accuse Jacob of foolishness (v.28), and to claim he has the power to do harm, even when God had warned him in the night. There’s more of a telltale of his foolishness and his heart of stone when he does not heed the God who spoke to him at night as he calls him the “God of your father” when addressing Jacob, instead of fearing him and calling him my God. The Living God had appeared to him at night, and it never dawned on him to worship this God, while he was still wanting to rescue his tiny gods. Laban had been so close-minded that in 30:27 he tells Jacob: I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. I wonder if it never dawned on him to actually ask Jacob all these 20 years, or to ask God himself whom he had seen at work. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the experience, the vision and the logic, Laban did not believe God, and was such a fool as to go look for his puny gods. And the mockery was about to become worse.

Laban continues in his endeavors by searching Jacob’s tent first. A deceiver, a schemer, a liar and a dishonest man thinks everyone else is like him. But he is frustrated in his search and finds himself empty-handed. Add insult to injury by appearing more of a fool in what follows: his gods were so puny that they needed to be searched for, and now sat defiled under Rachel whose menstruation customarily defiled everything she touched. This is a clear declaration that our God is above all other deities, and all other deities are but an abomination and a mockery. Psalm 96:5 says all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Psalm 115 says: their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

What a fool had Laban become, trusting in worthless idols, pursuing after material gain, estranging his own daughters, and not even believing the living God who had appeared to him face to face and spoke to him like a man. His problem with believing was not the lack of evidence, but the suppressing of it and the refusal to believe it. Soon in the final exchange between him and Jacob, he will make himself more of a fool by losing his arguments against his nephew.

FLIGHT TURNED TO FAITHFULNESS

Beginning in v.36, Jacob has another lengthy discourse in which he unloads his exasperation by his uncle and his dealings for the past 20 years. He lays out his argument: he has been wrongfully accused, mistreated, overworked, underpaid, swindled, deceived, pursued and maligned. Yet we also see his faith in v.42 as he gives glory to God and credit to him for safety and success. Unlike Laban who speaks of the living God in a 3^rd person, Jacob calls him the God of my father. He is also the God of Abraham, who though dead, is a son of God and is resting on his promises in the hope of resurrection. God is also the Fear of Isaac: Isaac was still alive and feared God as every living believer should. Abraham, now dead, had no longer need to fear God. But God is called the Fear of Isaac who still lived and worshiped God in reverence and awe. Jacob has finally realized by faith that God has kept his part of the covenant he made with his fathers, and that he made with him at Bethel, and was now bringing him back to the land of Canan to return to his kindred and the land that was promised to him and his offspring. He had left Canaan alone, but now he was returning with the fathers of the tribes of Israel. God saw; God cared; God saved. God rebuked the enemy, and kept his children safe.

The language in this passage is one of legal proceedings, similar to business that would be conducted in the gate of a city in the hearing of elders and officials. Many people are hearing this legal argument: Jacob’s case is strong and winsome. Yet foolish Laban attempts one more time to make an empty accusation that falls on its face: he accuses Jacob in v.43 of stealing everything that was his, while Jacob had only taken what was rightfully his (see v.1; 15-16). Oh the gall of those who are foolishly given over to sin and evil desires, bringing false accusations against the children of God, even when God himself warns them. It feels quite satanic to do that. Our enemy the Satan himself knows that our God reigns and that he will keep his children safe and bring them home to glory, yet is still accusing us. But brothers and sisters: we have a greater inheritance; a great Defender; the Son of God whose sacrifice is sufficient, whose blood is efficient, and we have the Holy Spirit who seals our inheritance, both of whom now intercede for us and pray on our behalf to God the Father who will keep us and preserve us and bring us to the land of promise, the city of God, the feast of the Lamb. His covenant is sure and secure.

In a final attempt at saving face, Laban the deceiver ironically asks to make a covenant with Jacob. His intention is clear: he wants Jacob not to return to Paddam-Aram, and that’s why the name Mizpah is used, which means a watchtower, so that Jacob is watched over and prevented from going back. Jacob has no intention of going back, and shows his faithfulness in how he approaches the covenant. Jacob raises one stone as a pillar, which can be seen as a symbol of one God, while Laban and his people raise a heap of stones, which can be a symbol of many gods. Each will serve as a witness to this covenant, and both will serve as a boundary between the land of Jacob – a land of promise and of hope – and that of Laban which is truly a land of toil and trouble, estrangement and deception. As is customary, a covenant is ratified by a sacrifice and further affirmed by a meal where the parties eat together and dip morsels in the same plate as a sign of trust. But let it not be lost on us that this is not a total reconciliation or a peace treaty: it is more of an armistice between 2 parties who worship different gods and have different morals. Yet I think there is something for us to learn here: sometimes it is worth for the people of God to negotiate clear boundaries with those who oppose us – or even wish us harm – so that we may be able to live out our calling as children of God and be a blessing to the nations. We have the promise of Proverbs 16:7 that: when a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Jacob’s journey began with a flight from Canaan. It was punctuated by the ebenezer of encountering God at Bethel. It was marked by 20 years of discipline and development. It took off again with a flight from Paddan-Aram toward Canaan. And now it is being punctuated once more by another pillar of testimony that the God of his fathers is faithful to his covenant and to his promise to deliver.

***

The Lord sees and delivers. 20 years can be a long time to wait for a spouse; to wait for a child; to wait to return; to wait for deliverance. 20 years can lead most people to despair, to stop praying, even to lose faith. The readers of Moses who had spent 400 years in servitude and 40 years in the wilderness were no strangers to these feelings, and very well acquainted with these realities. Yet I think the book of Genesis is written for their instruction – and ours – to bring to mind the truth that our God sees; that behind the scenes of pseudoscience that even believers can do (think mandrakes, peeled sticks and white streaks), it was the Lord who heard the plea, the Lord who opened the womb, the Lord who gave the growth, the Lord who stopped the enemy.

Brothers and sisters: God sees our affliction…and he delivers. He is not a god like those of the nations. He does not need you to go search for him or rescue him. He cannot be sat on in a saddle and is not defiled by bodily functions. Our God is in the heaven, and he does all that he pleases (Ps. 115:3). Our God’s disposition is to see the affliction of his people and come to our rescue. Our God holds us safe and secure in his palm and none can snatch us out of it. It might be hard for us to see his works in the future and believe what we cannot yet see. But stories like this remind us that he has given us enough to believe in him, and he has even brought the future into our present when he himself made a way for us by his own blood that became to us the eternal covenant by which we are reminded tangibly in the communion of the saints that he will keep his vow and he will return us to the land he has promised to give us as an inheritance. (c.f. Isaiah 40:28-31)

Brothers and sisters: the Lord – even now – sees you, sees your affliction, and draws near to you. He stands ready to welcome you into his arms, to draw you to his heart that is gentle and lowly, so that he may give you rest. The Lord sees; the Lord cares; the Lord keeps you safe; the Lord has you secure in his hand. Believe the truth of his word; draw near to his heart; open your eyes to see his beauty; your ears to hear his word; your mind to hear his Spirit; your heart to his heart of love. Fall before his cross, his throne, his feet and lay down your burdens. Let him lift you up, extend you hope, grant you peace, give you rest. Let him do away with the lies of the enemy and fill you with the truths of his promises. Believe that he is with you, fighting on your behalf, and he sees your affliction, and he is able and willing with his omnipotence to deliver you. He who brought Jacob out of Aram, Israel out of Egypt, us out of our sin, Jesus out of the grave, is the one who said: fear not for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior ... [I will] bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made (Isaiah 43: 1b-3a, 6b-7). I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you (Jeremiah 31:3b).

Believe his promises today; trust his word; and rejoice that our God cares, sees, loves, and delivers.

REFERENCES

Allen P. Ross. Creation and Blessing. Ch.47: Jacob’s Flight from Laban and God’s Protection. pp.524-535.