Be careful not to say anything to Jacob
Mon, 30 January, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. 24 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.”
Jacob the deceiver has spent the last twenty years in Laban’s home, where he has been tricked and cheated numerous times. He worked for seven years for Laban’s daughter Rachel only to find that he was married to Rachel’s older sister Leah. Laban then demands another seven years of work for Rachel. Then for the last six years Jacob worked for the flocks. But as God blesses Jacob, Laban changes the terms of the agreement to cheat Jacob.
Jacob has now decided to return to Canaan, and he is worried about how Laban will react. So, in typical Jacob fashion, he decides to sneak out without telling Laban.
Laban finds out about Jacob’s departure, and sets out in pursuit. We aren’t told what Laban intends to do when he catches up with Jacob, but we see that God intervenes. From this we can guess that Laban planned to harm Jacob in some way, and he had to be stopped by God. Perhaps he intended to take the animals, or to force his daughters to return. Whatever Laban’s intentions, God steps in to preserver Jacob.
What do we learn from this?
God preserves and protects His own people. Jacob isn’t a model citizen, but he is the line of promise. God is working in Jacob’s life for his good and God’s glory. We see this as God causes Jacob to live on the other side of deceit. But as God allows Jacob to learn from this, He doesn’t allow Jacob to be destroyed. God only allows Laban to cause Jacob annoyance, but not harm.
So we see that God will allow things into our lives to shape and mold us into the people He wants us to be. But He will not allow His people to be destroyed or ultimately harmed. We can expect to suffer, as God sees that it will help to make us into the people He wants us to be. But God also will carefully limit the extent of what He allows. Nothing will come to us outside of His providence, and all will be for our good and for His glory.
Where is Christ in this passage?
God is clearly working in Jacob’s life. Jacob is fleeing from Laban only to find that God intervenes to stop Laban from harming him. Jacob realizes that he is heading back to his brother Esau who has vowed to kill him. On the eve of that confrontation, Jacob will spend the evening wrestling with the Angel of the Lord. So we see that this story is clearly coming to a crisis point for Jacob.
God is breaking Jacob. He must learn to depend upon God rather than upon himself, and in these situations, God is showing Jacob to rely upon God and God alone. In today’s passage, God makes it very clear to both Laban and to Jacob that God is the one who is protecting Jacob.
God also works in our lives to make us realize our dependance upon Him for our salvation. We can’t save ourselves from our sins. Instead, we must come to God for the salvation He provides in Jesus Christ.
God will work in His elect to bring them to a point where they realize this and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. It isn’t always in dramatic ways like we see here with Jacob. But God will bring things into our lives to bring us to the place where we realize our dependance upon Him and come to Him in faith.
