“[25] As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. [26] Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.”
So, it seems that Jacob is now seeing that his time in Paddam-aram is coming to a close. Now that the woman he loves has conceived and bore a son, Jacob is ready to head home. His family has grown, and he has accomplished the work that he was commissioned to do. So, he’s ready to go home.
Now, as I studied this passage, I found myself asking, “Why does Jacob essentially ask for permission to leave?” After all, there was never any evidence of Abraham asking to leave any places he inhabited. So, why doesn’t Jacob just gather his family and go?
Well, it’s important to remember that Jacob arrived in Paddam-aram with nothing. He possessed no wealth, no livestock, and no means of providing for himself. To secure the wives he now has, Jacob had entered into a contract with Laban. He had entered into a binding agreement to serve Laban for fourteen years in exchange for marrying his daughters.
So, we don’t known the time frame here. But, it’s likely that those fourteen years have now passed. Therefore, Jacob is coming to Laban with humility saying, “I’ve fulfilled my end of the agreement. My contract is up; it’s been up. I’ve done what I promised to do. May I now return home?”
I think this is a small sign of growth within the heart of Jacob. It’s a small but significant glimpse into God’s sanctifying work in Jacobs life! He’s beginning to look more like the recipient of God’s covenant promise and less like the deceiver he once was! Up to this point, Jacob has repeatedly tried to secure blessing through manipulation and cleverness. But here, even after years of being deceived and taken advantage of by Laban, he doesn’t resort to deceit. He doesn’t sneak away. He doesn’t seek revenge. Instead, he seeks to leave honorably by showing respect to Laban as the head of the household. He’s selflessly honoring the commitment he had made.
Church, we are called to act similarly. We should be a people whose word can be trusted. We should be a people that honors our commitments, even when it’s difficult. We should be a people who respect the authority that has been placed over us. We should be a people who honor those we work for. And we should seek to honor those we work for by how we work and how we leave work.
I’ve always said that you can learn a lot about a person in how they finish their job. How you work when you put your two weeks notice in matters! Godly men and women start their work well and they finish well. Our character should shine just as bright when we’re leaving a job as it was when we began a job.
Jacob is honoring Laban by first requesting his blessing to leave and return home. And in response to this request to return home, Laban says, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you. [28] Name your wages, and I will give it.”
So, Laban has just very candidly acknowledged the fact that he’s been blessed specifically because of Jacob. What a remarkable confession!
Now the phrase “learned by divination” is an interesting one, isn’t it?
Some scholars argue that the verb for divination has broadened in meaning and simply refers to learning by observation or experience. That’s a possibility, sure. But, I don’t think it’s a likely possibility. I think the context of Genesis points to a more straight forward reading, which would be that Laban is practicing divination.
Divination is the attempt to gain secret knowledge, predict the future, or influence events using supernatural means apart from God. It’s a demonic practice. In fact, this same Hebrew root appears later in Deuteronomy 18, where Moses warns Israel, “[9] ‘When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. [10] There shall not be found among you anyone who… practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens…[12] for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.’” So, it seems that Laban had continued to embrace the pagan practices of the surrounding nations. Rather than seeking the LORD himself (that he’s witnessed and watched work), Laban had been seeking hidden knowledge regarding the future through supernatural means.
As Laban sought clarity on the state of his life and the blessing he’s endured, he’s come to the clear conclusion that his blessing is directly tied to Jacob… which is directly tied to Jacob’s God— “The LORD has blessed me because of you.” And because of this blessing, Laban had no desire to let Jacob go. He wanted to keep him close in order to keep God’s blessing close, which led him to say, “Name your wages, and I will give it.”
Friends, can we link this to the gospel for a moment?
In the same way that Laban’s blessing was directly tied to Jacob, the promised son of Abraham… we are blessed by our proximity to Jesus, the Promised Son of Abraham. Every spiritual blessing we enjoy is tied to Jesus Christ! If you remove Jacob, Laban loses his blessing. If you remove Jesus, we lose our blessing! As we’ve carefully paralleled over the past few months, Jesus is the Promised Son of Abraham, the promised serpent crusher, the promised one in whom all the nations shall be blessed through. And just as Laban’s blessing was bound up with his relationship to Jacob, every blessing we receive is bound up with our union with Christ. Our forgiveness is because of Christ. Our adoption is because of Christ. Our righteousness is because of Christ. Our hope is because of Christ. Our eternal inheritance is because of Christ. None of these blessings rest upon our merit; they rests upon the works of another! In the same way that Laban was blessed because of the works of Jacob, we are blessed because of the finished work of Christ! We are blessed because of our proximity to Jesus! He is in us and we are in him! Thus, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ!
Now, with that being said, I think there should also be another practical application for us here! Just as Jacob’s presence was a blessing to Laban, Christians should be a blessing wherever God places them! In the workforce, especially, those around us should be blessed by being close to us. Proximity to Christians should be a blessing to non-Christians. Our communities and neighborhoods and occupations should flourish because followers of Jesus are present! We should strive to be a blessing to those around us by how we work. Whether someone believes the gospel or not, they ought to recognized that Christians make work better for them! Our lives should make those around us thankful that God has placed us among them!
Is that true for you? Are those around you better because of you? Are you a blessing or a curse to those around you?
So, Laban has come to the right conclusion that he is blessed because of Jacob’s God. So, he obviously wants him to stay. But, in verse 29, Jacob responds, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. [30] For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?”
Can we pause here for just a moment and highlight something practical?
For years, Jacob has labored faithfully, and, in doing so, all of the fruit of his labor has deepened the pockets of someone else. He has watched Laban’s flocks multiply. He has watched Laban’s wealth increase.
Humanly speaking, it would have been easy for Jacob to become bitter. Humanly speaking, it would have been really easy to think, “Why should I keep working so hard when someone else is receiving the benefit?”
Yet, Jacob kept working.
Church, it’s ok to work hard, even when your hard labor is building up someone else’s wealth.
Now, the temptation of our hearts is to grow frustrated when we see the fruits of our labor go into the pockets of another. But, I want to remind us today that it’s ok. It’s ok for others to be blessed by your hard work.
Don’t resist hard work simply because you won’t receive the full fruit of it. Sometimes God calls us to work hard, not merely for our own prosperity, but so that our faithfulness might be a blessing to someone else.
Perhaps one day the LORD will open up a door for you to own your own business. Perhaps he will open up a door for you to lead the company. Perhaps he will open up a door for you to enjoy the full fruit of your labor.
But, what if that day never comes? Are you ok with God’s provision, even if it’s not as much as you would like? Is Christ enough for you? Are you content to work with excellence, even if God called you to spend your life helping someone else flourish? Would you be ok if God called you to a life of service, to a life of building up the wealth of another over the wealth of your own?
After studying this passage this week, I’ve begun to feel a deeper desire in my spirit for this to be true of me. As a barber, my hope is that the barbers around me are blessed because of my presence in the shop… …that my customers are blessed because they’ve sat in my chair… …and that the business I work for is blessed because I’m an employee of it.
Part of a being a light in a dark place isn’t simply found in my proclamation of the gospel. It’s also found in me living out of the gospel. We obviously open our mouths and share with others the hope of the gospel! But, we also adorn the gospel we preach with the gospel we live!
May those we work with say, “I’m thankful that person works here!”
So, Jacob has worked hard over the years, and the LORD has blessed Laban wherever Jacob turns. He and Laban both know this to be true. But, Jacob presses Laban and says, “But now when shall I provide for my own household also?”
So, Jacob is saying, “I’ve honored my contract. I’ve built your wealth, when can I build mine? I’ve taken care of your family, when can I take care of my own?”
Jacob is ready to move on. He’s ready to return home, back to the land of promise.
In response, Laban says, “What shall I give you?”
Jacob responds, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.”
Jacob is essentially saying, “Give me the undesirables. You take the best; I’ll take the worst.”
Jacob’s words here parallel Abraham’s words to Lot back when he said, “You go left and I’ll go right, or you go right and I’ll go left.”
Notice what Jacob says, “My honesty will answer for me later.”
This isn’t the Jacob we’re used to seeing! Contrary to who Jacob was before, his words are now selfless, humble, honest, and rooted in faith. The man who once grasped for blessing is now willing to trust God for it. The selfish deceiver is now selflessly and honestly working.
Laban agrees. In verse 34, he says, “Good! Let it be as you have said.”
But, then we see Laban try to take matters into his own hands. Laban quickly makes plans to take advantage of Jacob. So, where Jacob has been sanctified over the years, Laban hasn’t. Jacob was once a deceiver, but now he’s seeking to live honestly. But, not Laban!
Church, this is what walking with God does! If you begin to walk with God, I promise you God will not let you stay the same. He will transform you. He will sanctify you! The longer you walk with Christ, the more you will look like Christ. You will become like the God you worship. If you worship a false God, falsehood will begin to come out. If we worship dead idols, dead works will follow.
But, if you worship the God who is abounding in steadfast love and love will begin to come out. If you worship the God who cannot lie, truth will begin to come out.
Jacob and Laban are beginning to reveal, by the fruit of their lives, whom they truly serve.
So, look at what Laban does next— “[35] But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. [36] And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.”
Do we see what he’s doing here? He’s removing the very means by which Jacob would be paid!
Imagine working at a fruit stand and agreeing to be paid from the lemonade sales, only to have your employer throw away every lemon before the stand even opens. That’s what Laban has done!
If it were me, I would have been livid. And maybe Jacob was. We don’t know. But, there’s no proof in the text of Jacob responding in anger. Instead, he gets to work.
“[37] Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. [38] He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, [39] the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. [40] And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. [41] Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, [42] but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. [43] Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.”
Now, depending on who you read or who you listen to, there are differing opinions surrounding Jacob’s actions here. Some would say that his actions are deceptive. Some would say he’s adopted a type of pagan superstitions. Some would say that he’s acting in faith.
I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle here. In the next chapter, we find Jacob explaining to his wives what’s been happening. He says, “You know that I have served your father will all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. In the blessing season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mater with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where You anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.’”
Jacob is allowing his wives to peek behind the curtain of what the LORD has been doing in and through him. He’s telling his wives that God told him what was going to happen before it happened. So, I don’t think Jacob is trusting in peeled branches here. Instead, I think he’s walking in faith. He’s trust the God who’s spoken to him! He’s heard God’s words, and he believed God’s word. And as he believed God’s word, he sought to walk in obedience to God in the best way he knew how.
Yes, Jacob used the ordinary knowledge and practices available to him at this time as a shepherd. But he understood that it was God alone who worked! He understood that God was working supernaturally through ordinary means.
Church, God is faithful. He will always be faithful. Here he is working faithfully behind the scenes to carry out his divine plan in and through Jacob. Jacob didn’t deserve God’s blessing. Neither do we. God blesses His people because He is gracious and faithful. Jesus came so that everyone who trusts in Him can receive God’s greatest blessing, which is forgiveness of sins and eternal life.