Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're looking into Genesis actually chapter 31 and we read in verse number 1 of chapter 32 that Jacob went on his way. We're going to be looking at three messages probably on that title. Jacob went on his way. Have your Bible ready. Well, we saw in our last broadcast that there were some serious family problems going on here. Rachel had some major envy against her sister. Jacob was angry against his wife. There's a whole lot of emotion going on here, and very little of the spiritual life at all. And we've said before that we are made up of three parts of body, soul, and spirit. The soul consists of the mind, the will, and the emotions. The spirit is that part that communicates with God. This whole picture is just happening here in the emotion area. in the mind, will, and the emotions. Nobody's getting in touch with God. It is an amazing chapter in that we see all of the nonsense that's going on here. There's going to be 12 tribes before this story is all over, 12 sons, but he's going to have them by three different women, and it is amazing that God would have anything to do with any of us here in this globe. But we see the amazing grace of God, and the Twelve Tribes will come. Well, when Joseph was born in chapter 30 and verse number 23 and 24, we find that God has put it into the heart of Jacob to get out of that area. It's time for you to leave this area. It's time for you to get out of this environment. and get back to where you came from 20 years ago. And so we read in verse number 25, we read, it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph, that jacob said unto laven send me away that i may go unto my own place and to my own country give me my wives and my children i want my wives i want my children i'm going to my country now it's going to be a few years before he leaves but as we get to chapter 31 we read and he heard the words of laban's sons saying jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers and of that which was our fathers has he gotten all the glory now between verse 25 and the last chapter verse number 43 God has made Jacob a very wealthy man he has got cattle he's got he's got flocks and Laban's sons now are not very happy about it and we read in verse number two And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. And so we begin in verse number three, And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. Now Jacob gets his wives together, and he's explaining to them that we're going to be leaving, and it's a very interesting conversation that he has with them. It says in verse 4, And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock. And he said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father has been with me. That is, he has blessed him. in a major way in materialistic things here. And we see in verse 6, And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. I have done my job, he said. And verse 7 says, And your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God suffered him not to hurt me. So Jacob's in a very touchy spot here. He's talking to his wives, he's talking about their father. He continues, he said, and if he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages. In other words, Jacob said, you get the speckled animals, okay, then all the cattle bear speckled. And if he said thus, the ring-staked shall be thy hire, then all the cattle were ring-staked. What happened here? Well, it's very simple. Verse number 9, God has done this. He's explaining this to his wives, who of course are Laban's daughters. And it came to pass at that time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream. And behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-staked, speckled, and gristled. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob. And I said, here am I. Now keep in mind, he's still talking to his wives about what's happening here. And he said, God said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-staked, speckled, and gristled. For I have seen all that Laban hath done unto thee. God says, I've seen it, I know what's going on, and God has made this all to happen. Well, we read in verse 13, I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, and where thou vowest a vow unto me. Now arise, get thee out of this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred." Let's get out of here, God said. You need to get back to where you came from 20 years ago. Well, how will the girls respond? It says in verse number 14 in Rachel, And Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he has sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. Laban, as I said way back a few broadcasts when he first came into this story, he's interested in money well they said for all of the riches which god has taken from our father that is ours and our children's now then whatsoever god has said unto thee do it well he's got his wives on board that's good they're leaving and therefore they've had enough of this nonsense from laban well we read in verse 17 then jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels and he carried away all the cattle and all the 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 now it's interesting here he's going to his father it's very important to understand as we said at the beginning of this series that jacob was a mama's boy you remember she was his she jacob was her favorite and uh he he just you know they schemed together at the beginning of this whole story him and his mother it's interesting how many times if you go down through this chapter that uh the word mother is mentioned here For example if you look back in chapter 29 and verse number 10 when he first meets with Rachel it says here that it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother and that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of his mother's brother. He refers to his mother here about a dozen times, but as we get into this portion of scripture where we are now, we read in verse number 18 that he went to his father in the land of Canaan. Now you remember that You know, 20 years ago, his mother said, now you need to go for a few days until your brother cools down, because he says he's going to kill you. Well, that few days turned into 20 years, and she is obviously off the scene here. She's not mentioned anymore. he is going back to his father. All that scheming that went on back there did not work out very well for her and it won't work out well for us either. Well we read here in verse number 19, and Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. Now that's interesting, Rachel stole the images. What's she doing with those images? Well here's a better question, what's he doing with those images? We're living in a land of idolatry, and we've got two groups of people here. One represents those who believe in God, and one represents those who do not. And Laban does not believe in God. He's got his false gods. He's got his images. And Rachel comes in here before they leave, and she steals the images that were her father's. Now, why would she do that? Well, some speculate the fact that it was back in those days, as time went on, whoever had those images had the inheritance. And whether this was a moment of weakness for her, whether she could prove she had these images when her father was off the scene and she would get the inheritance, possibly that's what it was. There's no indication that Rachel wanted to serve false gods. I think it's just a moment of weakness here. She's looking to physical things. And as you see down through this chapter, nobody's really very spiritual at this point in their lives. Well, it says in verse number 20, the Syrian in that he told him not that he fled. So he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and passed over the river and set his face toward the Mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him and pursued after him seven days journey and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take a heed, that thou speak not to Jacob, either good bad well we read here then Laban overtook Jacob now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount and Laban with his brethren pitched in them in Mount Gilead and Laban said to Jacob what has thou done that thou has stolen away unawares to me and carried away my daughters as captives taken with the sword what hast thou done well that I remember that phrase we had that back there when when Jacob woke up in the morning and realized that Laban had given him the wrong daughter to marry. Remember, he got Leah instead of Rachel. Well, he said, what has thou done? You see, sowing and reaping, everybody deceives everybody and you deceived. You sow deception, you reap deception. Well, not only that, it's interesting here in this portion of scripture. God said, don't speak to him. He went ahead and spoke to him. Let's look at the verse again. He said in 24, and God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said unto him, take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Now, he specifically qualifies his conversation here. He didn't say he couldn't speak to him. He said, I don't want you to speak to him either good or bad. What does he mean by this? Well, the culture of that day when someone came up to someone, he would say, peace be unto you. And what God is saying here to Laban, I don't want any hypocrisy here. Boy, I like that. Say what you're thinking. Let's not have any hypocrisy. Don't say peace be unto you and then stick a dagger in his ribs Well, you know, unsuspected. And so you get some examples in the Bible, for instance, when you look how books were written. When Paul wrote to the Romans, he said, Grace and peace be unto you. 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1st, 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, Jude, and the seven churches of the Revelation. Every one of those open up with peace be unto you. It was just something they said. Now what God is saying here to Laban is don't come in here and say peace be unto you. This is not time for your cultural niceties. Let's just get on and deal with what needs to be dealt with here. And so in verse number 26, Laban said to Jacob, what has thou done that thou has stolen away unawares to me? He said in verse 27, wherefore didst thou flee away secretly and steal away from me and didst not tell me that I might have sent thee away with myrrh and song and with tavern And with heart, say, yeah, we could have had a party here. And you go sneaking off in the night and has not suffered me to kiss my daughters. Thou hast now done foolishly. He says, what have you done? And then he goes ahead and answers the question. I'll tell you what you did. You did foolishly. And then he said in verse 29, it is in the power of my hand to do you hurt. But the God of your fathers spake unto me yesterday night, saying, take thou heed. that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. So they're having it out, they're talking it straight out and they get into it here. We'll have to look at it in our next program because we're out of time again. Tune in again for another broadcast. We'll try to make it plain and we will try to make it simple.