HARAN

GENESIS 31

Before Jacob had ever set foot in Padan-Aram Jehovah, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, had said to him, "Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." (Gen. 28: 15.) And now the time had drawn near when our patriarch was to return to the promised land. He was not to spend the remainder of his days in his uncle's household; God had a different purpose than that for him, and all things were made to work together for the furtherance of that purpose. But not until God's hour was ripe must Jacob leave Padan-Aram. Some little while before God's time had come, Jacob assayed to leave: "And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country." (30: 25.) Apparently Laban was reluctant to grant this request, and so offered to raise his wages as an inducement for Jacob to remain with him, "And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it." (30:27, 28.) Ere proceeding with the narrative the above words of Laban deserve to be noticed. This was a remarkable confession of Jacob's uncle-"The Lord hath blessed me for thy sake." Laban was not blessed for his own sake, nor on account of any good deeds he had done; but he was blessed "for the sake" of another. Was not God here setting forth under a figure the method or principle by which He was going to bless sinners, namely, for the sake of another who was dear to Him? Do not these words of Laban anticipate the Gospel? and point forward to the present time when we read "God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32), and again in 1 John 2: 12 "your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." Yes, this is the blessed truth foreshadowed in Gen. 30: 27: God blessed Laban for Jacob's sake. So again we read in Gen. 39:15 concerning Potiphar, "The Lord blessed the Egyp

tian's house for Joseph's sake." And again we have another beautiful illustration of this same precious fact and truth in 2 Sam. 9:1: "And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake." Reader, have you apprehended this saving truth? That for which we are accepted and saved by God is, not any work of righteousness which we have done, nor even for our believing-necessary though that be—but simply and solely for Christ's sake.

The sequel would seem to show that Jacob accepted Laban's offer, and decided to prolong his stay. Instead, however, of leaving himself at the mercy of his grasping and deceitful uncle, who had already "changed his wages ten times" (see Gen. 31:7), Jacob determined to outwit the one whom he had now served for upwards of twenty years by suggesting a plan which left him master of the situation, and promised to greatly enrich him. (See Gen. 30:31-42.) Much has been written concerning this device of Jacob to get the better of Laban and at the same time secure for himself that which he had really earned, and varied have been the opinions expressed. One thing seems clear: unless God had prospered it Jacob's plan had failed, for something more than sticks from which a part of the bark had been removed was needed to make the cattle bear "ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted" young ones. (Gen. 30:39.)

The outcome of Jacob's device is stated in the last verse of Gen. 30: "And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses." This intimates that some little time must have elapsed since our patriarch suggested (30: 25) leaving his uncle. Now that prosperity smiled upon him Jacob was, apparently, well satisfied to remain where he was, for though Laban was no longer as friendly as hitherto, and though Laban's sons were openly jealous of him (31: 1, 2) we hear no more about Jacob being anxious to depart. But, as we have said, God's time for him to leave had almost arrived; and so we read, "And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee." (31: 3.)

God timed this word to Jacob most graciously. The opening verses of Gen. 31 show there was not a little envy and evilmindedness at work in the family against him. Not

only were Laban's sons murmuring at Jacob's prosperity, but their father was plainly of the same mind and bore an unkindly demeanor toward his nephew-"And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before." The Lord had promised to be with Jacob, and to keep him in all places whither he went, and he now makes good His word. Like a watchful friend at hand, He observes his treatment and bids him depart. As another has well said, "If Jacob had removed from mere personal resentment, or as stimulated only by a sense of injury, he might have sinned against God, though not against Laban. But when it was said to him 'Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee,' his way was plain before him. In all our removals, it becomes us to act as that we may hope for the Divine presence and blessing to attend us; else, though we may flee from one trouble, we shall fall into many, and be less able to endure them." (Andrew Fuller.)

"And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee." (31: 3.) What a showing forth of God's wondrous grace was this! In all that is told us about Jacob during the twenty years he spent at Padan-Aram there was not a word which intimates he had any dealings with God during that time. There is no mention of any "altar," no reference to prayer, nothing to distinguish him from a thorough worldling. It needs to be remembered that the "altar" speaks not only of sacrifice but of communion too. The altar pointed forward to Christ, and it is only in Him that God and the redeemed sinner meet and commune together. Jacob, then, had no altar in Padan-Aram because he was out of communion with Jehovah. "Although God in His faithfulness be with us, we are not always with Him." (J. N. D.) But if Jacob had forgotten the Lord, Jehovah had not forgotten him; and now that Jacob begins to be in real need the Lord spoke the suited word. Yet mark the other side.

Having been warned of God to depart, Jacob sends for his wives into the field, where he might converse with them freely on the subject, without danger of being overheard. (See 31: 4-13.) The reasons he names for leaving were partly the treatment of Laban, and partly the intimations of God-"I see your father's countenance that it is not

toward me as before." Mr. Fuller's practical observations on these words are so good we cannot refrain from quoting them: "It is wisely ordered that the countenance should, in most cases, be an index to the heart; else there would be much more deception in the world than there is. We gather more of men's disposition toward us from their looks than their words; and domestic happiness is more influenced by the one than by the other. Sullen silence is often more intolerable than contention itself, because the latter, painful as it is, affords opportunity for mutual explanation. But while Jacob had to complain at Laban's cloudy countenance he could add, 'The God of my father hath been with me. God's smiles are the best support under man's frowns; if we walk in the light of His countenance we need not fear what man can do unto us."

Having talked the matter over with his wives, and obtained their consent to accompany him, the next thing was to prepare for their departure. Had Laban known what was in his nephew's mind there is reason to fear he would have objected, perhaps have used force to detain him, or at least deprived him of the greater part of his possessions. Acting with his usual caution, Jacob waited until Laban was a three days' journey away from home, absent at a sheepshearing. Taking advantage of this, Jacob, accompanied by his wives, his children, and his flocks, "stole away unawares to Laban." (31: 20.) How little there was of Divine guidance and of faith in Jehovah in this stealth! Not of him could it be said "For ye shall not go out with haste, nor by flight; for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward." (Isa. 52: 12.) That the Holy Spirit was not here leading is made still more evident by what is told us in verse 19: "And Rachel had stolen the teraphim that were her father's." It may be of interest to some of our readers if we here digress again and contemplate these teraphim in the light of other scriptures.

Scholars tell us that the word "teraphim" may be traced to a Syrian root which means "to enquire."* This explains the reason why Rachel took with her these family "gods" when her husband stole away surreptitiously from her home -it was to prevent her father from ''enquiring" of these idol "oracles" and thus discovering the direction in which they had gone. Mark that Laban calls these teraphim his

*Probably the name "teraphim" was originally a corruption of cherubim.

"gods." (31: 30.) The next reference to the "teraphim" in Scripture confirms the idea that they were used for oracular consultation. In Judges xvii: 5 we read: "And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest'; next we are told "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes" and "Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah." (Verse 6, 12.) Then, in the chapter that follows, we read of the tribe of Dan seeking an inheritance to dwell in, and sending out spies to search out the land; and they came to "the house of Micah (who had the teraphim) and said to his priest, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. (Judges 18: 6.) That it was of the "teraphim" they wished him to enquire, and not of the Lord, is clear from what follows, for when the spies returned to their tribe and made their report (which was adopted), the tribe on going forth to secure their inheritance carefully saw to it that Micah's "priest" with his "graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim" accompanied them, so that we are told he became their "priest." (See 18: 8-20.) Next we read in 1 Sam. 19:13: "And Michal took a teraphim and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth." This scripture not only reveals the sad fact that Saul's daughter was an idolator and practiced necromancy, but also intimates that by this time. the "teraphim" were fashioned after the human formhence Michal's selection of one of these to appear like the figure of her sleeping husband.* Ezek. 21: 21 also makes it clear that the "teraphim” were used for oracular consultation "The king of Babylon . consulted with tera

phim.” Later scriptures indicate that after Israel had apostatized from Jehovah they turned to the "teraphim" more and more-"For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain." (Zech. 10: 2.) Hence it was in pronouncing sentence on recreant Israel, God said: "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without a

*This one must have been much largor than those which Rachael concealed under her saddle.