|
|
|
Genesis 30:25-31:55 Key Verse: 31:13 JACOB BUILDS HIS WEALTH "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land." Jacob was a very unique person. He was ambitious and selfish and persistent. He bought the birthright from his twin brother Esau for a bowl of lentil stew. He cheated his father to get God's blessing that was supposed to be given to the oldest. Jacob sought love. He worked for 14 years for Rachel, the woman he loved. He is a man of a never-give-up spirit. He was like a bulldog that never lets it go once it bites something. In today's passage he began to think about material things. He wanted to become independent from his uncle Laban. Meanwhile, he experienced God's help and protection. From today's passage, let's learn Jacob's faithfulness to his work and God. May God teach us to be a man of faithfulness to God and our mission. 1. When may I do something for my own household? (30:25-43) Jacob worked very hard for fourteen years to get his love, Rachel. He was so romantic and sacrificial man that he sacrificed his young years getting love. He was indeed the man all women are thirsty for. The Samaritan woman in John 4 sought this kind of man. She was the Jacob Fan Club President. She despised Jesus, comparing with Jacob, the object of her admiration. In this respect, I want brothers here to be decent and nice to women like Jacob. Now, he began to think about how to build up his own house. Look at verse 30:29-30. "Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"" God had blessed Laban because Jacob worked hard for him. Laban knew this. It was time for a new contract after Jacob's 14-year service. Laban didn't want to let Jacob leave. He wanted Jacob to stay permanantly with him. So he proposed a new contract. He agreed to pay Jacob wages from then on. Look at verse 31-32. Laban told Jacob, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "Don't give me anything..... I want one thing.... Remove from your flocks every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages." Most of the flock was white. Speckled or spotted or dark-colored sheep or goats are inferior animals. Jacob's suggestion was that speckled and spotted animals to be born would be his wages among white ones while tending Laban's flocks. That sounded stupid. Laban, without hesitation, agreed to this. He thought Jacob was stupid because he had worked 14 years only for Rachel whom he loved. Now Laban thought Jacob had made an unprofitable contract, because speckled or spotted ones were rare to be born from white ones. Laban came up with a wily idea--that was to send speckled or spotted or dark-colored ones in a remote place a three-day journey away so that he might prevent Jacob's plan from being realized. Jacob looked like a novice. He seemed to be nothing but a fool who just worked hard. But he had a never-give-up spirit. He had a bull-dog spirit. He never gave up and got what he set his heart on getting. He took care of his uncle's flocks faithfully; at the same time, he used his wits and skills to increase his own flocks. He put stripped branches in the water troughs where the strongest and best of the flock mated together. Jacob made them look at the stripped branches when they mated there. Jacob thought the stripped branches would influence them so that they might produce speckled, spotted, or dark-colored babies. Jacob's efforts was so funny and primitive and unscientific. He didn't know genetic engineering, but he tried to do primitive genetic engineering in his own way. Anyway, God blessed Jacob's hard work and he prospered. In spite of Laban's efforts to deceive and cheat him, Jacob's wealth increased. Laban changed his wages 10 times. When the flocks began to bear speckled young, Laban said that only the streaked young would be Jacob's. When they bore streaked young, then Laban changed his mind and said that the spotted ones would belong to Jacob. (31:4-12) But Jacob's flocks increased anyway. Jacob had worked hard for Laban for 20 years. He was a faithful shepherd. He cared for the flocks day and night, in cold weather and in the blazing sun. The sheep and goats did not miscarry, but bore healthy young. He spent many sleepless nights watching over the flock. Jacob took personal responsibility for the animals that were killed or injured by wild beasts. He knew, however, that his success was due primarily to God's blessing. (31:38-42) Here, we can learn Jacob's hard-working and never-give-up spirit. God blesses our hard work. God is pleased with our never-give-up spirit. Hard-working and never-give-up spirit is the faith our God wants us to have. When Jacob made a unprofitable contract with his uncle, he could have complained to himself, "You are so greedy! How long are you going to squeeze me out?" If he left the land empty-handed, his 14-year-long efforts would been in vain. If he stayed, he would be exploited by his uncle without gain. He had no choice. He couldn't but sigh in frustration. But Jacob was a man of challenge. He gladly challenged the unfavorable conditions. He thought about how to increase his own livestock. He tried to come up with new ideas. He began with something he could. Beginning with something that we can do is the starting point of history-making. We must do something instead of spending time being frustrated. God wants us to do something however small it may be. God begins to work at the very moment when we do something however small it may be. What did Jacob do in the unfavorable situations? He took fresh-cut branches from trees. He peeled the bark and made white stripes on them. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs. Then what happened next? The sheep and goats got dizzy when they looked at the striped-patterned branches. They bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted! That didn't make sense. That didn't match up with genetics. He didn't know nothing about genetics, but God blessed Jacob! God blesses those who do something having faith in God. God blesses those who work hard however small the things may be. In John's Gospel 6, there's a silly-looking man who brought five loaves and two fish to Jesus. He heard Jesus saying to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" Philip scratched his head while calculating the cost, but the man named Andrew went searching for possibility. He found a child who had a lunch box of five loaves and two fish. He appealed to the boy to get them to Jesus, promising better food to him later. Those small things became the foundation of feeding more than five thousand people. A miracle happens with small things. Success is followed by hard work. History-making comes from never-give-up spirit. I pray all of us may have hard-working and never-give-up spirit, so that we might be used in his life-saving work. Every Sunday we greet with "하나님 사랑, 말씀 사랑, Hi! History-makers!" As we do so, Dr. Samuel Lee greeted American shepherds with a motto. Do you remember what the motto is? "Eat a lot; Work hard!" He challenged American students to take after their ancestors' hard-working and never-give-up spirit. The United States was founded on the basis of the spirit of hard-working spirit. God has blessed Korean people's hard-working spirit; as a result, Korea has prospered a lot. From now on, let's greet each other with Dr. Samuel's greeting. "Eat a lot; Work hard!" 2. Jacob flees from Paddan Aram (31:1-3; 13-37; 43-55) Six more years passed. Jacob realized that Laban and his sons' attitude toward him had changed. They were not happy to see Jacob grow more and more wealthy. Jacob was ready to listen to God's word to him. Look at 31:3. "Then the Lord said to Jacob, 'Go back to the land of your father and to your relatives, and I will be with you." God was closing the door in Paddan Aram. He wanted Jacob to return to the land of God's covenant promise. Jacob had promised God that if God would be with him and would provide for his needs and bring him back to his father's house safely, God would be his God and he would worship God at Bethel and give him a tithe of all his possessions. (28:20-22) God had been with Jacob in Paddan Aram and had protected him from his wily uncle. He had blessed him. Now it was time for him to return and keep his vow. Jacob was a faithful man. He was faithful to his human commitments, and he was faithful to God. He would keep his vow. God accepted Jacob's vow. His vow was like a long rope attached to Jacob. Jacob wandered far away, but he never cut the rope of vow connected to God. Now God was pulling him back to God and to the land of promise. Jacob had a family council meeting. He explained his situation to his wives and they agreed with him and supported his decision to leave. He was still afraid of Laban, however. He didn't trust him. He knew that Laban would do everything possible to prevent his leaving. So he waited until Laban was out of town. One day he seized the opportunity and fled with his wives and children and all his possessions. He crossed the river and headed for the hill country of Gilead. (17-21) Laban found Jacob and his family had already left. He and his family pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with Jacob. Then God intervened. He came to Laban in a dream and said, "Be careful not to say anything, either good or bad." Laban was warned by God, so he couldn't do anything to Jacob. He just said to Jacob, "Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you say good-bye to me? If you had done so, I could have had a farewell party for you and sent you away with joy. You didn't let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye." Then he suddenly changed his mind. He said that his idols had been stolen. He looked for an excuse to take hold of Jacob. He searched for his missing idols that his daughter Rachel had stolen. But Rachel cleverly hid them and nearly escaped the risk. Laban failed to find his missing idols. Then Jacob confidently rebuked Laban. He reminded him of his hard work. Laban couldn't but let Jacob and his daughters go. Jacob and Laban agreed to part. They ate a meal together and agreed to go across the other's land and not to harm each other. Jacob finally left the land of exile in peace. Look at 31:13. God is faithful. God reminded Jacob: "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land." As Jacob was setting out on his life of pilgrimage, God met him at Bethel. He renewed his promise with Abraham--the promise to give him descendants and land and the promise to bless all peoples on earth through him and his offspring. Specifically, God promised Jacob, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you." (28:13-15) Jacob had responded to God's promise with a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be your God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." (28:20-22) God had indeed been with him and gave all things Jacob had asked for. God gave him a beautiful wife Rachel. God gave him a lot of sons and daughters. God gave him great wealth as well. He might have settled down in peace. But God didn't want him to settle down. God was like an eagle that stirred up his nest and hovered over him and spread its wings to catch him and carried him on its pinions. (Dt 32:11) Jacob couldn't settle down in Paddan Aram because of his greedy and wily uncle. God gave him troubles so as to remind Jacob of his promise. It was time to continue his pilgrimage. It was time to go home. Life is a pilgrimage. We must also live as aliens and strangers in the world. Our destination is our Father's house (Jn 14:1-5). We are inclined to settle down in this world peacefully. People are looking for a secure job for settlement for the rest of their life. But there's no secure place. This world is like troubled water. God gave us troubles on and off to remind us that life is a pilgrimage. From today's passage, we learn that we must be ready for a long journey home. God is our captain in our ship that is setting off to the heaven. God is so faithful that he will keep his promise and lead us safely to the end. May God give us hard-working and never-give-up spirit. May God remind us that life is a pilgrimage and let us make a progress by faith until we go through the gate of the heavenly kingdom. |
| 
|
