We have some relatively short and not to exciting text today. However, I do believe there are some lessons to be learned here. I'm going to summarize the verses and then pick out something I think is of real importance and applies to us today.
Summarization
Jacob decides that he wants to leave Laban, and go back to his own people. He asks Laban to give him his wives and his children and let him go. (I must say, I find it so weird that he had to ask him. I'm glad we live in this day and time!) Laban does not want him to go because he believes that God has blessed him because of Jacob. Laban asks Jacob to name his price (so to speak) and Jacob starts to lay out his plan of trickery. Thanks to some superstition, selective breeding, and divine help, it works and Jacob is soon very prosperous.Because of this, Labans sons and Laban himself, had become openly hostile towards Jacob. Jacob decides it's time for him to leave and it is confirmed by God telling him to return to Canaan. He asks his wives, and they agree that he is to do what God says. However, instead of leaving the right way, he flees without telling Laban. Laban finds out three days later and goes after him. Fortunately, God tells Laban not to do Jacob harm. Laban catches up with Jacob and tells him how angry he is with what he has done. Jacob states his case and puts up a pretty good defense in my book! They make a covenant between themselves to not do each other harm and for Jacob not to do harm to Labans daughters or take any other wives.
Now in verse 19 of chapter 31 it says that, "...Rachel had stolen the images that were fer father's." Then in verses 30-37 when he ask of their whereabouts she lets him look all over for them and she hides them(v34) and lies to him (v35) saying "...let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me."
Digging Deeper
*Where do I start. It does not tell us why she took them in the first place. In these days, it was customary for these household items to be given as part of an inheritance. Perhaps she took them because she was leaving her homeland and would have little other legal claim to her father's inheritance. She may have wanted some extra security. She may have felt as though she deserved them. She may have just been angry at her father for marrying Leah to Jacob. We'll never know until we get to Heaven...but I think the reason she took them was purely materialistic or monetary in nature. I'm going to stretch this a little, but bear with me...Jacob had been blessed. Really blessed, and so had Rachel. God had given them cattle, camels, servants, goods, children of abundance. Yet, this isn't enough for her. She has to steal from her father and then lie to him. (and using her cycle as an excuse to not get up...I guess this dates back this far ladies...is there nothing we won't use it as an excuse for?) Ahem, but seriously, she still wants more. It is so typical of our human nature to always want more. To not be satisfied with what God has given us. Through this whole passage we read today, everyone in this passage wanted more, and was not satisfied with what they had.
So many have gone so far as to STEAL what they desire. I'm no different. Just because I may not physically steal something from someone else's possession, doesn't mean I'm not guilty of theft. When I take money from tithes or offerings to have a nicer car, or take money from the grocery budget to buy clothes, or whatever the situation may be, that's stealing. I'm stealing from God, or stealing from my family to fulfil my desires. Even spending time in longing for something I can't have, is robbing time from God that should be spent on thanksgiving for what He has provided me with. We live in such a materialistic world and even when we're not trying to "keep up with the Jone's," we are trying to keep up with ourselves, and our selfish desires. We come up with all kinds of them. I want more space, a bigger house. I'm tired of not getting the car started, I need a new one. Little Timmy just walks around bored all day, he needs new toys. The list could go on and on. This subject is really close to my heart because it is one of my main goals for this year. To be thankful for what the Lord has provided me with, and keeps my eyes on what I have, instead of what I don't have.
I'm the kind of person who always looks to the next thing. What can I improve on now? What can I change now to make things more efficient? How can I make my house look nicer and feel more peaceful? This can be good to a certain extent, but I have to be careful. Because I will say that I'm done spending money for a while, but then next thing you know, I need to buy organizer shelves, because they are needed to make the house run more smoothly! It just doesn't end. Somewhere, somehow God has to be put first! Thanksgiving has to come before requests. During our prayers, we need to give thanks for what God has done before we ask more of Him. I have now begun to pray as I am going to the store that God would show me exactly what He would have me to get, nothing more and nothing less. I ask Him before every purchase that I make, and then I ask Him to give me the strength to say no to the things He doesn't want me to have. I've even done this when going grocery shopping, and you wouldn't believe how far my dollar has gone lately!
I'm earnestly trying to be thankful for all of His provisions. Health, safety, protection, provision, salvation, family, friends, mercy, grace, strength! God is so good and I don't want to spend my time longing for that which I don't have. I don't want to be lured into stealing, figuratively or literally! This can go for all things, it doesn't just have to be monetary in context. Wanting our children or husbands to be like someone else's isn't being thankful for what God has given us either. I even charge you to be thankful that you are who you are today! God made you precious in His own sight! Join me in thanksgiving today and let's try to make it something we strive for on a daily basis. Lets learn from Rachel's example here.
Tomorrows readings are Genesis 32:1-35:27. Click here to read online.
8 comments:
Great post, Kristi! Thanks for your insight on "stealing" within the family budget. I've struggled with that myself and checking myself about want vs. need when at the store is something I've been trying to be more diligent about recently.
The other thing I thought about while reading this passage was how enormous an undertaking a move like that must have been. I'm really surprised that they could have managed to sneak away without Laban realizing it in the first place! Now there was a distance between the households - it says a three-day journey. But think of what it's like to move today - I haven't done it in a while, but it's a daunting prospect! SO MUCH to be packed, etc. Now imagine it in their time... Not only household belongings and food, but probably the tents themselves, 11 children, many servants, enormous herds of animals... The caravan was probably miles long! And not only that, but Rachel and Leah were leaving behind everything they'd known for a completely unfamiliar land and people. I have to respect them for going so willingly. (Although I'm not impressed with Rachel for stealing from her father.)
I wonder if their rivalry was so deep that they couldn't be glad to have each other now that they were leaving behind their family and their home?
Thanks Kristi for you post!! It oo though the "stealing" things you brought up were good. I think also we steal when we covet what someone else has, and that is a sin. No matter if its something material, something about their appearance, their relationships, their family. Wanting what someone else has and not being content, or seeking God and faithfully waiting, or doing something about! so if you want that hot body your friend has, go to the gym!
I just couldn't get over the constant lying and deceit that was happening from all sides. Jacob was deceitful but I wonder why God allowed him to be successful in things? Was it because he loved God and Laban didn't? Was it because of the promise to Isaac and Abraham?
Thanks for digging deeper for us!
Oftentimes, we fail to see the significance of Bible passages because we're looking at through the lens of a completely different culture and so sometimes we simply miss the point.
I wonder if the reason we're not told the reason Rachel stole the household gods is because the reason is irrelevant! It's the action that's relevant. The fact is, she stole and that was wrong.
Just like in the passage where Abraham acts in obedience to God and heads up the mountain to give up his only son - we aren't told whether or not he pleaded for his sons life (and I am 99.999% sure he did!) because that part is not really relevant. What's relevant is the obedience.
We need to be content with what we have. We need to be thankful for our blessings. We need to be joyful in the midst of our circumstances no matter what they may be.
We need to live honourable lives, even when "no one" is watching. As far as we know, Rachel never got caught for stealing the idols. But God knew.
Tammy-Yes in deed! That's one thing I always teach my children on almost a daily basis...God is always watching, God always sees, God always knows. We can fool a lot of people, even ourselves sometimes, but not God. I do believe why Rachel took them is irrelevant. Wrong is wrong. Whether Abraham pleaded for his son's life is irrelevant. Right is right.
Nicole-My take on it is that everyone is deceitful in one way or another. I don't believe Jacob was any better or worse than many people in his day. Unfortunately, because of sin we all fall short of the glory of God. God chose the people in which nations would be born, nations would be protected, and nations would be saved. This line of people, and these descendants had to be protected and sometimes blessed to carry out God's will and promises. Not due to any merit of their own oftentimes. Even if they didn't suffer immediate consequences for their wrong actions, doesn't mean they got away with it. They will all have to face God the same as we at either the Great White Throne Judgment or the Judgement Seat of Christ and be held accountable for their actions!
Miriam-I have had to pick up everything and move across country twice in my life know, and it certainly isn't an easy task. I do give them credit for agreeing so easily (we think, from the way the text shows it.) I am so grateful for the way the God provided everything that we needed. It was very scarry giving up a stable job that my husband had been at for almost 8 years, and moving to a new place, when we had 6 mouths to feed and to shelter. But God called us here, and He provided us with everything we needed and so much more!
Are there two judgements? I mean there is isn't there, my brain is foggy. So everyone before Christ is judged at the White Throne? and everyone after at the seat of Christ? I have some more reading to do :) And yes, valid points thanks!
All unsaved people will go to the Great White Throne Judgment and the saved will go to the Judgment Seat of Christ. My husband has the verses wrote down some where, I'll see if he can get them for me.
Romans 14:10 & 2 Corinthians 5:10 speak of the Judgment seat of Christ (which is for the believer only)and 1 Corinthians 3 10-15 speaks a little bit of what will happen there. About how a believers works will be tried by fire and that all works that were not built upon Christ as the foundation will burn. We will receive rewards for good works and faithfulness.
Revelation 20:11 speaks of the great white throne judgement. If you keep reading through verse 15, it tells of what will happen to the unbeliever. This should make us all the more determined to reach those who are lost!
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