The verse “you will reap what you sow” is true of the story of Jacob and the deceit he displayed with his father. His uncle Laban would be used as an instrument of correction in Jacob’s life. May the truth of Christ continue to set us free.
Genesis 28: Jacob Sent to Laban
1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!"
5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
Esau Marries an Ishmaelite
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,"
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,
9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob's Dream
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."
17 And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God,
22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you."
Genesis 29: Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
1 Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.
2 As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large,
3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.
4 Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where do you come from?" They said, "We are from Haran."
5 He said to them, "Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him."
6 He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!"
7 He said, "Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them."
8 But they said, "We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep."
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10 Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.
11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.
12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father.
13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things,
14 and Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh!" And he stayed with him a month.
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?"
16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.
18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
19 Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me."
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed."
22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.
23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.
24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)
25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"
26 Laban said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)
30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.
Jacob's Children
31 When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me."
33 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also." And she called his name Simeon.
34 Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, "Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore his name was called Levi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "This time I will praise the LORD." Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.
Genesis 30:
1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall die!"
2 Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"
3 Then she said, "Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her."
4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 Then Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son." Therefore she called his name Dan.
7 Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 Then Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed." So she called his name Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11 And Leah said, "Good fortune has come!" so she called his name Gad.
12 Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13 And Leah said, "Happy am I! For women have called me happy." So she called his name Asher.
14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15 But she said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" Rachel said, "Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."
16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he lay with her that night.
17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 Leah said, "God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband." So she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son.
20 Then Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons." So she called his name Zebulun.
21 Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
23 She conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach."
24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, "May the LORD add to me another son!"
Jacob's Prosperity
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."
27 But Laban said to him, "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."
29 Jacob said to him, "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?"
31 He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it:
32 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.
33 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."
34 Laban said, "Good! Let it be as you have said."
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.
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.
Things to think about…
1. Jacob was blessed by Isaac even after he deceived his father Gen 28:1-5. It is as if Isaac knew that he was trying to work against the Lord’s will. He tells Jacob that he would “have the blessing of Abraham…and your offspring (and) the land”. God had dealt with Isaac’s sin and was now about to begin the process of dealing with the sin within his ‘supplanter’ son.
2. Esau still didn’t get it. He thought that it was just because he married Canaanite women that his parents were not happy, so he goes and marries a daughter of Ishmael, Gen 28:6-9. Even though she came from the line of Abraham, Esau would have known the prophecies of Ishmael and that the Lord’s blessing would not rest upon this ‘wild donkey of a man’. We can never force the flesh to please the Spirit. Our earthly strength has no part in the Lord’s work. Our weapons are not carnal but spiritual as the Apostle Paul reminds us, 2Cor 10:4.
3. We all know the story of ‘Jacob’s ladder’ and the angels ascending and descending at this place Jacob called Bethel. But look at the bargain Jacob makes with the Lord. He says ‘If God will be with me and keep me….then the Lord shall be my God” Gen 28:20-21, – really? So if the Lord doesn’t bless you He won’t be your God!!? Jacob clearly had a lot of flesh that needed to be burned away. God blesses his people, but the end is for His glory and not our own earthly comfort. Faith accepts and is content with the Lord’s provision; anything else is covetousness, which is a form of idolatry, Col 3:5.
4. Do you see the significance of Gen 29:8? The sheep cannot be watered until they are gathered together and the stone is rolled away from the well. Jesus could only water his flock with the Spirit and eternal life after sin and death has been defeated after the stone had been rolled away – hallelujah!
5. The time of sanctification for Jacob begins with his uncle Laban – who was also a deceiver in Gen 29. There are some parallels here with Jacob and Abraham’s servant – but some critical differences. Jacob fetches the water for Rachel’s flocks, whereas Rebekah (Laban’s sister, Isaac’s wife) watered the servant’s camels. The servant of Abraham came and left Laban’s house straight away after he received word from the Lord – Jacob lingered for a month and was open to deception as a result. Once you know the Lord’s will for your life it is dangerous to procrastinate and thus be open to distraction. Lot lingered remember. Churches can also linger in doing the Lord’s will and waste valuable time – let’s redeem the time and be about the Lord’s work as individuals and as a church.
6. We see the fruit of someone who is loved (Rachel) as opposed to someone who is rejected (Leah) Gen 29:31-36. God blessed Leah with four sons, but Rachel was barren – for a season. It is as if Jacob was reaping from the deception he sowed with a brother who was not loved by him or his mother. If we are called to love even our enemies, what sort of love should we show towards our family? It is interesting that these first three sons of Leah would cause much grief to Jacob and the fourth would be morally weak.
7. Genesis 30:1-24 seems like a game the wives of Jacob seem to be playing for who would sleep with him and who would get pregnant – especially with a son. We read such commentary in the scriptures and find it rather amusing, but of course it all comes down to identity. Having the family line being carried on by sons was vitally important. Sons were a blessing from the Lord because they ensured the family line would continue. Time and time again we read in the scriptures that having children is a blessing from the Lord, but to have sons held the highest honour. These wives of Jacob were fighting for that honour against the shame of not having their line continue, which was considered as a judgement from the Lord. The most dangerous place in the world for a little girl today is in the womb. The second most dangerous place is once she is born. Abortion before birth and abuse afterwards are the tragic reality for many girls in many parts of the world. Dinah was the only daughter that is born to Jacob – note that her name is not given any meaning or reference, unlike the boys. Dinah means ‘judged’ or ‘vindicated’ if you were wondering. Pray that Christians may lead the way for safety and justice for girls and young women, these are the world’s most ‘at risk’ group.
8. The spotted, streaked and speckled goats story in Gen 30:25-43 shows deceit, greed and a little bit of what looks like magic – certainly not genetics. Just because goats mate in front of different coloured sticks in the water does not make them produce spotted or streaked offspring. God was clearly in this because he was blessing Jacob and judging Laban for keeping Jacob from returning home and worshipping his God. How do you discern when it is time to move on from an employer? May I suggest that it is only right to move if the Lord is leading you where He alone gets the glory by doing so. I have heard at times when someone is finding it difficult in a marriage that they say it is time to move on. God has called us to peace. If that is not possible where unbelief and destructive behaviours continue this can be reason enough to move away. In our reading, Jacob was unfortunately reaping what he had sown in his own life over the years of deceiving his father and brother.
Vision Point
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Questions for Cell groups
Sunday’s sermon, “The legacy of Abraham” came from Gen 12 by Doug Horne.
1. In your own words what legacy do you think Abraham has left on the earth? Discuss the significance and challenges within each faith group of Jewish, Muslim and Christian believers and the challenges associated with how they relate to each other.
2. Abraham’s legacy was represented through the request to sacrifice his only son Isaac. This is represented through God offering up Christ as our sacrifice. When the Lord said that Abraham’s children would be greater in number than the stars, was he referring to nations or believers in Christ? Discuss.
3. Doug spoke about the legacy that we leave and gave a heartfelt testimony of his father, who is about to enter glory and how he is leaving a legacy marked with grace and the gospel of Jesus. What legacy are you leaving, or what legacy would you like to leave?
3. Pray for your cell group and prayer/praise points. Pray for our “Blessing Beirut” appeal as we endeavour to help these ‘sons of Abraham’.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Lebanon and the people of Beirut with this accidental blast from the storage of ammonium nitrate. 157 confirmed dead. 5000 wounded, 300, 000 left homeless. $10 - $15 billion to rebuild.
2. Pray for those who heard the gospel on Sunday. Pray for Christ to grant them salvation.
3. Pray for Victoria they are in stage 4 lockdown. Curfews and very strict travel restrictions in place for 4 weeks.
4. Pray for our church services now meeting together and our streaming that both can continue to be done well every Sunday.
5. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
6. Sunday’s messages and for Kids church. The message this week – “God blessed anyway” Gen 27 – Ps Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. New visitors. Please pray that they receive Christ as their Saviour. Pray they keep coming back to CBC.
2. Wonderful spirit of joy in our church. Thankyou Jesus.
3. Finances being maintained and donation to Café roof. Thankyou!
1. We have established a “Blessing Beirut” fund. Pray we can find a gospel centered ministry to bless the people of Beirut as they rebuild.
2. One service at 9:30am Every Sunday morning. This service will also be live streamed. No kisses, hand-shakes or hugs are allowed. Hand sanitizer is to be used, tables will be wiped and chairs arranged for appropriate distancing. Families can of course sit together. CBC is allowed up to 50 people inside, then we will have an overflow in the house and Kids church will be in the crèche in the cafe.
3. Cell groups – Ask for details as to how and what is required.
4. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
5. Kids Church will be run in the house when the message starts.
Q. 15. What do we pray for in the fifth petition? A. That God would pardon our sins for Christ's sake, and enable us to forgive those who have wronged us.
