Divine Guidance; Divine Discipline. Genesis 29
Jacob and Laban are just not the most attractive
people. They are connivers, swindlers; they are trying to outdo each other.
There are some interesting things that go on in the next few chapters. From
Genesis 29:1, which is when Jacob leaves the Promised Land and goes back to the
homeland in Haran, through chapter 31 when he leaves to return to the Promised
Land, is the Jacob-Laban section which talks about this interaction back and
forth between the two. There are four observations to be made as we get into
this section.
1)
The Lord who
was a primary factor and focus in chapter 28 is not in view in most of chapter
29, until the end in v. 31, so His work is not in front as we come to these
episodes, we simply read what Jacob is doing.
2)
The primary
mention of the Lord in chapter 29, and again in chapter 30, is restricted to
His opening the womb or His work in the pregnancies of Rachel and Leah. We
don’t see any new revelation, any direct guidance. So the Lord is really in the
far background. Behind the scenes of what is going on. We are simply watching
the life of Jacob and his relationship to Laban, his marriages and what happened
in those marriages. So it is a really family dynamic situation where we are
seeing the outworking of certain spiritual principles as opposed to a section
that is more oriented to teaching certain spiritual principles. So in some way
we are looking at how God is working behind the scenes.
3)
Twice in this
section Laban recognizes that he has been blessed in terms of his relationship
with Jacob because of the Lord’s blessing of Jacob. So when the Lord is
mentioned He is mentioned in relation to opening the wombs of Rachel and Leah,
he is mentioned in terms of the source of blessing on Jacob and Laban’s
blessing by association. It is not until the end of chapter 31—this is a
20-year period of time between chapter 28 and chapter 31—that God is
referenced by two or three different people.
4)
So we see
something going on in the background, and in that way there is some application
for us because we live in an era of history when God is not working, as it
were, directly or overtly in our lives in the way He did in the Old Testament.
There is no special revelation. God is not giving new information or personal
guidance through dreams and visions, or speaking through prophets and giving
special revelation. It is a time when God is testing us to see if we are
willing to walk by faith in a completed canon of Scripture and to trust Him in
terms of what He has revealed, understanding that He is still at work in
history and in our lives, but that is a covert ministry as opposed to an overt
ministry.
1)
God is present with
Jacob during these 20 years. That is what God promised when He appeared to
Jacob in chapter 28. For 20 years Jacob has nothing but that promise to rely
on, there is no more visitation from God, no more direct revelation. In a sense
he is very similar during that period to the church age believer, trusting in a
promise of God, waiting for God to bring about that which He has promised. So
what we see during this period is this covert operation of God. God is clearly
guiding and directing, but we don’t see it. It is all behind the scenes. Jacob
isn’t aware of it until it is over with. There are a lot of similarities
between chapter 29 and chapter 23 of Genesis where Abraham sent his faithful
servant to go back to the homeland to find a bride for Isaac. But if we do a
contrast between these two events, when the faithful servant goes back to Haran
he is praying along the way for God to guide and direct him. He is setting it
up. But you don’t see that with Jacob. It is obviously absent from the text. He
is just moving forward and yet God is the one who will bring Rachel to him. So
we have these two terms developing, overt and covert. By overt is meant an
external operation of God that is open to view, it is readily observable,
discernable and clearly recognizable as the work of God in somebody’s life. We
saw that brought out in the text in Genesis 23 when the faithful servant prays
that God would indicate who the right woman was for Isaac because certain
things would happen when he came to the well. So we can say that this is
definitely the work of God. But on the other hand in many instances in
Scripture God works in a covert manner. The word “covert” means concealed or
veiled or secret. In other words, we know God works and controls history but He
doesn’t do it in an overt manner. He is not out their manipulating human
leaders, He is not revealing Himself externally to human leaders, and He is not
giving external orders or direction to human leaders as to what they should do.
He is working behind the scenes in and through the volition of human leaders,
He controls the thoughts/the heart of the king, Proverbs says, but He does it
in a covert manner. The important thing in making this distinction is we have
to realize that God ultimately governs His creation, and so we can always say
that in some sense everything is the will of God and God was working, but we
may not know it or perceive it at the time. We may not come to a decision and
God is going to turn a green light one way and a red light another way. But God
is going to be working behind the scenes in various people, circumstances and
events, so that the options that we have at that point of decision-making are
there because God brought them there. God guides and directs in a completely
covert manner. Afterward, as we go down the road a bit, we can look back and
see how God superintended and managed the circumstances to bring about His
will. But too often when we are in those circumstances we don’t know, because
part of the issue is: are we just going to relax and trust God and use the
doctrine in our souls to make decisions? So we have this contrast between the
way God works overtly and His covert conclusion.
2)
God is working
out the promises that He has already made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with
reference to the Abrahamic covenant. He has promised Abraham the land, seed and
blessing. This is reconfirmed to Isaac and reconfirmed to Jacob at Bethel.
Despite Jacob’s behavior, his conniving, and all of the things that Jacob is
doing he still ends up being a blessing to Laban. Ultimately God works to bless
Jacob, not because of who Jacob is or what he has done, but because of the
Abrahamic covenant, and He is demonstrating His character of unconditional
grace through Jacob to those around him. God is also working in Jacob’s in the
same way He works in our life to teach us various spiritual truths, to drive
home these principles related to spiritual life and to prepare him for the next
stage. The next stage is to return to Canaan where he
is going to be in closer proximity to Esau where he has to go to the next stage,
which is in relationship to his sons, and eventually there is the Joseph narrative,
which takes them down to Egypt. Jacob is eventually
going to die down in Egypt. But God is working in
each stage to prepare him for the next stage. The same thing is happening in
our life. God is working certain circumstances right now to give us tests to
use and apply doctrine, to prepare us for future test, events, and
circumstances, and to prepare us for whatever service or ministry He has for us
in the future.
3)
There is no
explicit doctrine taught in these chapters. We don’t go to these chapters to
learn about justification by faith alone, to develop a theology of prayer, to
understand covenant. But what we see here is the outworking of God’s
providential management of not only human history but our individual lives as
He moves us down that path toward spiritual maturity. There are two doctrines
that are illustrated in this section that relate to God’s work in the
sanctification or spiritual growth of the believer. The first is divine
discipline. There is an element of divine discipline in what happens to Jacob
the conniver. He is the one who tried to manipulate the blessing of God by
conniving and outmaneuvering his brother Esau, rather than resting in God’s
provision. The result was it created this entire trauma in the family. Now what
is going to happen? He is going to be the victim of Laban’s maneuvering, is
going to end up with the wrong sister, he ends up married to two women, there
is conflict and competition in the family, and all of this plays itself out in
a very negative way in the history of the foundation of Israel. And it is all
because of the attempts to get God’s way our way. God has top discipline Jacob
and he is going to reap what he sowed. Just as he has sowed this manipulative
methodology he is going to become the victim of that same methodology and is
going to reap the negative consequences from it.
In the first fourteen verses God
leads Jacob to his family in Haran. This leadership
isn’t overt. We don’t see God doing anything. He is not overtly directing
Jacob’s steps. He is working behind the scenes, but as we look at this through
the vantage point of the writer we see that God is in control of all the
circumstances in bringing about His desired end. It is up to Jacob, the
believer in the middle of this circumstance, to apply doctrine and to pass the
test. God is teaching him certain things. In these first 14 verses we see God
leading Jacob to his family and we see parallels to Genesis 23, but there are
certain contrasts as well. Jacob isn’t praying for God’s direction,
nevertheless God is leading him. It is very clear that God is orchestrating this
and that the parallels between the two chapters are divinely established.
Genesis 29:1, “Then Jacob went on
his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.” The phrase
“went on his journey” literally means that Jacob lifted his feet. It is an
unusual idiom in the Hebrew and it indicates a light-heartedness on his part
that is the result of what has just happened at Bethel. God has just promised
him that He will protect and comfort him, and so in the wake of his
confrontation with God at Bethel where he recognizes that God is behind him,
God is working with him, he is light-hearted now in facing this journey. So he
goes forward in anticipation of how God is going to work in his life. In these
next 14 verses we see the introduction to the next seven years of his life.
Genesis 29:2, “And he looked, and
behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by
it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon
the well's mouth.” We are not sure if this is the same well that Abraham’s
faithful servant came to when he met Rebekah, but it might be. He comes to a
well and a well is a sign of blessing, of prosperity. We are dealing with a
very arid climate. He comes to this well and there are already three flocks of
sheep that are there, and it is early in the afternoon. Genesis 29:3, “And
thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's
mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in
his place.”
Genesis 29:4-6, “And Jacob said unto
them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. And he said
unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And he
said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his
daughter cometh with the sheep.” Just as he arrives Rachel shows up. This is
what is meant by the covert work of God. We don’t see God out in front but we
know that God is behind the circumstances, behind the scenes, to work out the timing
of this situation.
Genesis 29:7, 8, “And he said, Lo,
it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered
together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. And they said, We cannot,
until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from
the well's mouth; then we water the sheep.” It is not time to uncover the well.
The procedure is to wait.
Genesis 29:10, “And it came to pass,
when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep
of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from
the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.” He
takes initiative. There is foreshadowing here. That is, over the next three
chapters it is going to be Jacob who is the source of blessing for Laban and
for his flocks and increase over the next 20 years. So this foreshadows the
fact that it is Jacob who is the source of prosperity for the flocks. He is so
thrilled with meeting Rachel that he kisses her, and he rejoices and weeps.
Genesis 29:13, 14, Laban’s reaction:
“And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son,
that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to
his house. And he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely
you are my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.” What does “Surely you are my bone and
my flesh” remind us of? Genesis chapter two, when Adam looked at Eve. There is
a very close welcome here, they are glad to see him. Family has met family and
there is a certain endearment here that we don’t see later on in the
Jacob-Laban narrative.
In verse 15 we shift to the next section,
which is where we see God is working in this circumstance to teach Jacob a
lesson, and that is called divine discipline. So behind all of this we see the
guidance of God operating covertly, but in this He is going to bring some
discipline into Jacob’s spiritual life. “And Laban said unto Jacob, Because you
are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? tell me, what shall
your wages be?” The payment of wages is the core idea in the next three
chapters. Laban offers to pay Jacob wages, and then he is going to cheat him
out of those wages. Ten times Jacob is going to complain that his father-in-law
changes his wages. But in the end we are going to see that Jacob is reaping
what he has already sowed.
Jacob falls in love with Rachel and
there is an agreement with Laban that he works for her for seven years. But
just as the seven years are up and it is time to get married Laban outmaneuvers
Jacob and on the wedding night he substitutes Leah, the older sister for
Rachel. This is God’s sense of humor, as it were, because remember the time
when Rebekah was pregnant with the twins that the younger would serve the
older? To bring that about Jacob out maneuvered his older brother. And now this
same older-younger rule is going to be brought into play and he is going to be
told he can’t have the younger one, the older one has to get married first. So
God is using the same elements that were involved in Jacob’s conniving Esau out
of the birthright in order to bring about a-little-turnabout-is-fair-play on
Jacob. Laban then tells Jacob he must work another seven years to have Rachel
as his wife. This is an interesting insight into how God disciplines a believer
and teaches us how to trust Him top bring about His plan rather than trusting
in our own manipulations and our own flesh in order to bring that about.
1)
In life there
are two categories of suffering: deserved and undeserved. Everybody, believer
and unbeliever, goes through both categories of suffering.
2)
Undeserved
suffering falls into two categories: a) Suffering from self-induced misery. It
is just the principle of reaping what we sow. We get the negative consequences
of bad decisions. b) There is an additional suffering that goes on top of that,
and that is divine discipline. Reaping what you sow isn’t divine discipline.
Divine discipline, according to Hebrews 12, is God’s family discipline on those
who are members of the royal family. It flows out of His love and is designed
for the purpose of producing self-mastery, spiritual discipline, and
self-control in the life of the believer. Suffering divine discipline is a
matter for spiritual training and is directed by a loving father to His
children to bring them to spiritual maturity.
3)
Divine
discipline is deserved suffering in the life of the believer and it is designed
by God to accomplish two things: to teach, to instruct us so that we learn
certain spiritual principles in the process, and it is also designed for
correction or remedial discipline.
4)
The goal of all
discipline is to produce in the believer the character of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
5)
All divine
discipline is based on love. Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loves he chastens
[disciplines]..” This is not necessarily the retributive type of discipline. It
is in the second part of the verse. But in this verse the Greek word PAIDEUO [paideuw], which has
the idea of training and discipline. It is the idea of teaching and training
children to have self-discipline, self-mastery, and to do that which is right
because it is the right thing to do. This is positive training for obedience.
The next verse is a contrast: “and scourges every son whom he receives.” The
Greek word there is the verb MASTIGOO [mastigow] and it means to whip or to flog or to scourge. It
used in Luke 18:33; John 19:1 to describe the whipping that the Lord Jesus
Christ received before He went to the cross. So this is a harsh word for
retributive discipline. This is an enforcement of certain negative consequences
on a child in order to reinforce whatever other negative consequences there
might be. The goal of divine discipline is positive, to produce in the believer
the character of the Lord Jesus Christ and to instill self-mastery.
6)
Every believer
has arrogance skills. These have to be controlled not just in the power of the
flesh because anybody can exercise a certain amount of self-discipline in the
flesh, but it has to come from a supernatural self-discipline from the Holy
Spirit. And one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is self-mastery. As we grow
and mature as believers self-discipline is developed which is a control of the
trends and the lusts of the sin nature. That can only come about through the
work of the Holy Spirit and is one form of divine discipline.
Divine discipline, as we see from Hebrews 12:6, means that sin is not
the issue at salvation. It is the
issue after salvation. Personal sin
in the life of the believer is dealt with by the Lord as a family matter. It is
not a matter of getting into the family because Jesus Christ already paid the
penalty for all sins on the cross—1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also has once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” The word
translated “for” [for sins] is the Greek preposition PERI [peri] that
indicates “once concerning sins” or “once with reference to sins.” Then in the
next phrase is that same English word “for” but it is a different word in the
Greek, “the just for the unjust.” There we have the Greek preposition HUPER [u(per] plus the
genitive, indicating substitution: “the just in the place of” or “as a
substitute for the unjust.” The word there for unjust is the Greek word ADIKAIOS [a)dikaioj], so it is
translated “the righteous [the Lord Jesus Christ] for the unrighteous” because
that is our core problem, unrighteousness. The issue, therefore, is not what
sins we have committed because the sins are paid for on the cross. It doesn’t
say He suffered for sins; He died once for sins, He paid the sin penalty on the
cross so that that is not the issue. The issue has to do with the next clause,
which is righteousness. So the issue is not sin in salvation, the issue is
understanding that we must have perfect righteousness and we must have
spiritual life in order to have a relationship with God.