And in verse 7, as we left off
last time, he says, "...and your father hath
deceived me, and changed my wages ten times,
but God suffered him not to hurt me."
Now, is Jacob beginning to complain?
I think so, and we're going to see
that later on in this chapter.
Now, will you notice, he goes on to
explain to these wives, that they'll understand, of
actually what has happened, that the thing that
he has done, has in it the element
of, not trickery, but of taking advantage of
his opportunity in a business way.
I don't want to say he's dishonest here,
because I don't think that he is.
He's been dishonest in so many things, but
I think here, he was just using a
method that I'm sure any businessman would have
used, and it would have been legitimate.
He's certainly not hurting Laban at all.
But God has blessed him to the extent
that Laban now and his sons become very
jealous of him, and they hate him.
And you'll notice, as he goes on to
explain all of this, he tells now, actually,
why he wants to leave.
Because he says in verse 11 of Genesis
31, "...and the angel of God spake unto
me in a dream, saying, Jacob, and I
said, Here am I.
And he said, Lift up now thine eyes,
and see, all the rams which leap upon
the cattle are wringed, strait, speckled, and grizzled.
For I have seen all that Laban doeth
unto thee."
Now, probably you thought last time, that I
was not giving a satisfactory answer to what
had taken place, because I recognize that there
are several explanations of why these animals were
speckled.
But I was waiting till we could get
right here, because why were they that way?
God says, I did it.
May I say that I, therefore, don't need
to look for these natural explanations, although I'm
confident that God probably used one of them.
But since God didn't tell me which one
it is, I'm of the opinion that we
don't know.
There are several explanations, and you can take
the one you want, but I like this
one.
God says, I saw what Laban was doing
to you, and I blessed you.
Now, verse 13, and this is what's important.
I am the God of Bethel.
Now, you see, God goes back to where
He appeared to this boy when He was
running away from home, His first night away
from home, that He spent at Bethel.
And He says now, I'm the God of
Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, where thou
vowest a vow unto Me.
Now arise, get thee out from this land,
and return unto the land of thy kindred.
Now, God wants him out of that land,
because He's got twelve boys that are growing
up, and they are already beginning to learn
some things that they should not be learning.
And they are there in the place of
idolatry and heathenism.
And so God wants to get Jacob and
these boys away from there, just as He
got Abraham out of a home of idolatry.