Now will you notice verse 14, "...and Rachel
and Leah answered and said unto him, Is
there yet any portion of inheritance for us
in our father's house?"
In other words, they're saying, well, certainly as
the daughters of our father, we should receive
some inheritance and that ought not to cause
him to be so antagonistic.
And verse 15, "...are we not counted of
him strangers?
For he hath sold us, and hath quite
devoured also our money."
Old Laban can't be trusted, friends.
And you know that today, unfortunately, there are
many Christians that the way they handle money,
their own and others, reveals the fact they
can't be trusted either.
That is, I think, maybe a real test
of an individual today.
I could tell you some stories that would
make your hair stand on end, things that
Christians do, Christian leaders do.
They ought not to do.
Now will you notice verse 16, "...for all
the riches which God hath taken from our
father, that is ours, and our children.
Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee,
do."
I admire these two women.
They say, whatever you want to do, Jacob,
you go ahead.
We're with you.
And our father has apparently robbed us.
Let me read verse 17, "...then Jacob rose
up, and set his sons and his wives
upon camels.
He carried away all his cattle, all his
goods which he had gotten, the cattle of
his getting which he had gotten in Padan
Aram, for to go to Isaac his father
in the land of Canaan.
And Laban went to shear his sheep, and
Rachel had stolen the images that were her
father's."
Let's just stop there a moment because there's
a revelation here of something that's quite interesting.
Now Jacob rises up and leaves post haste
again.
You remember that's the way he had to
leave his home.
Now he leaves his uncle Laban the same
way.
And actually it's not all his fault here,
but it was his fault when he had
to leave his own home.
But he's prepared for this.
After all, he's had practice in leaving overnight.
And so he has all the cattle and
everything ready to march, ready to get out
of that land.
And his wives apparently didn't have a chance
to even get many of the things that
were theirs.
But notice what happened.
Rachel stole the images that were her father's.
I told you we were in the home
of idolatry.
God didn't want the boys brought up there.
But you see, Rachel has been brought up
in a home of idolatry.
And she felt like she wanted to take
her gods with her.
What a primitive, heathen notion she had.
Poor Jacob thought he ran away from God
when he went to Bethel.
God appeared to him there.
And he found out you can't run away
from God.
In fact, David wrote about that.
David said, Though I make my bed in
Sheol, why, I don't get away from God.
Death won't separate you.
Though you go to the height of heaven,
you'll never get away from Him.
And you can't get away from Him by
going to the moon.
You just don't get away from God.
That's all.
She, though, wanted to take these images that
had been in the home.