Let me invite you to turn to the book of Genesis once again. And this morning, we're going to be looking, God willing, at Genesis and the 30th chapter. Genesis and chapter 30. And God willing, we're going to look at the entirety of this chapter. But to give us a focal point as we begin, I'm going to read just a portion of it. And this is going to be verses 27 through 30. And this is the response of Laban to the blessings that he had received by virtue of Jacob being near his household. And so let me invite you, as you're able, let's stand in honor of the reading and the hearing of God's word. Again, I'm reading from Genesis chapter 30, and in verse 27, wherein Moses faithfully records. 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. And he said unto him, thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst when I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude. And the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming. And now, when shall I provide for mine own house also? May God bless today the reading and the hearing of his word. And let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, as we come again before the Bible, the scriptures, the holy scriptures, we ask for the illumination of thy Holy Spirit, that we would have a light that comes from thee, that shines upon our spiritual eyes, that opens our spiritual ears, and that loosens our hearts to be able to receive thy word. Help us to receive this word today, not merely as the words of men, but as what it is in truth, the word of God. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. And you may be seated. Well, we are continuing today this ongoing exposition of the book of Genesis, this foundational book. in the Christian scriptures. And we're in the part where we're looking at the patriarchs, the fathers of the faith. It started with Abraham and had gone on to Isaac, and now we're looking at Jacob. And last Lord's Day, we were in Genesis 29, and we were looking at how the Lord was providing for Jacob even though Jacob was a fallen man. He had remaining corruptions within him although he lived in a world that is fallen and there were people of perversity like Laban who would take advantage of him in different ways and he entered into plural marriages which wasn't part of God's plan. So he was a fallen man in a fallen world, and yet the Lord provided for him. And that was the label I gave for Genesis 29. The Lord provides for fallen saints in a fallen world. I'm going to put a different label over Genesis 30. I'm going to label Genesis 30, the Lord blesses his saints. The Lord blesses his saints. And I think that theme of divine blessing upon Jacob, And upon even those connected with him, like Laban, is an overriding theme within this chapter. Jacob is blessed by God. Jacob is protected by God. And this had been told unto Jacob by the Lord. The Lord had promised that he would indeed do this for him. If you go back to chapter 28, the Lord had spoken to him. And verse 14, and said, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Verse 15 of chapter 28. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again unto this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And so that was the promise of God's Emmanuel presence, of His blessing, of His multiplying of Jacob, and of course, What we find is God keeps his word. I said the theme for this chapter, I'll suggest, is the Lord blesses his saints. Now, in proposing that as the theme for Genesis 30, I want to acknowledge that that might be a bit theologically and practically dangerous, because it might seem to support what I believe is a false teaching, a false doctrine that is propagated in some charismatic circles in particular, and that's the doctrine that's known as the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. That if you become a Christian, then everything goes well for you. Your bank account bursts at the seams. You rise in promotion after promotion in your job. You get a bigger and bigger house, a newer and newer car, and so forth and so on. And your family increases or whatever it is that's the desire that you have, desire of your heart, it will be granted. So that being a Christian is sort of like finding a genie's lamp and rubbing it and making three wishes. And God is obligated to bless you. That's a distortion, I think, of the biblical teaching of blessing. I remember a few years back, there was a prominent, one of these type of health and wealth prosperity evangelists, and he wrote a book called Your Best Life Now, Joel Osteen. And if you've ever read that book, I actually went through it and read it and wrote a review of it. I think it's still on our Sermon Audio website. But I remember reading it and in the beginning of the book, there's a little illustration he gives of one time he went to a big shopping mall in Houston and he prayed, oh God, give me the best parking spot at this shopping mall. And just as he pulled in, somebody who was parked right at the entryway pulled out and he got the best parking spot there. And that was given as an illustration of how God blesses his people. Your best life now, if you just become a Christian, you'll get the best parking spot at the shopping mall. But we all know that sometimes you might go to the mall, well, their malls are closed now, but anyways, you might go to some other place where you might drive Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you get the best parking spots. Maybe the Lord wants you to learn how to deal with disappointment sometimes. Maybe he wants to use trials in your life to further your endurance and perseverance in the faith and to teach you things. So I realize I'm labeling this, the theme of this chapter is, the Lord blesses his saints. And that might be dangerous. In this case, however, it's clearly what we see within this chapter. And in this case, it's also the fulfillment. Part of it is the fulfillment of God's word. Because if you go back to Genesis 12, We've gone back to this again and again. It's hard to overstate how important Genesis 12, 1 through 3 is to the whole scope of scripture, because this is the beginning of God's promises to Abraham. And what was the promise that God made to Abraham when he called him to go leave his father's household and go into the land of promise? He said to him, Genesis 12, 2, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee. God promised Abraham, I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. And notice this, it says in Genesis 12, 3, and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee. So God had promised Abraham he would be made a great nation, he would be blessed. Not only that, people who blessed him would be blessed. And so it's not an errant theme. And when Jacob is blessed in Genesis 30, part of what's going on is God is keeping his word. Because Jacob, remember, is the bearer, the bearer of the covenant. He's the bearer of the blessing of Abraham. It's now falling upon him. And of course, throughout this all, God is bringing out about a plan of salvation through which the Lord Jesus will come through the line of Abraham. Again, we've got two competing theological spiritual themes here. God has blessed his saints, but the saints can't always expect to be externally blessed. There's a verse in a psalm that I often have puzzled over. It's Psalm 37, verse 25. I have been young, and now I'm old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The psalmist says, I've never in my life seen the righteous person, I've never seen a righteous person forsaken, and I've never seen his children begging for bread. But are not believers sometimes forsaken in this life? And do not the children of believers sometimes beg for bread? So there's a tension here between two streams of scripture. God blesses his saints. And yet, that blessing is not always demonstrated externally. Still, there's something true about it. God does bless his saints. And clearly, historically, if we look at Genesis 30, God blessed Jacob. We see it clearly in this passage. And it happens in two ways. First, he was blessed because the Lord opened the womb and gave him children. and added to his household. And secondly, Jacob prospered materially. His livestock, his flocks, they increased. And even those who were near to him, like Laban, they were blessed. And so God did bless Jacob. That's historically true. And it says it right here in Genesis 30. And we'll see it now as we turn to this chapter and we walk through it together. Now, if you look at Genesis chapter 30 and you have the authorized version, as I've been pointing out, those old Protestant translators, they divided these long chapters into thought units. And they put a little paragraph marker there. And guess how many thought units are here in Genesis 30? Remember I said this last week? Five. They liked five a lot. maybe because, again, five books of Moses. They didn't always divide them into five parts, but there are five parts here. Verses 1-13, verses 14-21, verses 22-24, verses 25-36, and verses 37-43. There are five thought units. But I want to divide this chapter just into two parts. And each of these parts describe the two spheres of blessing that I just described. So the first part of this passage is verses 1 through 24, or the first three paragraph thought units from the Protestant translators. And it focuses on the blessing of children and the blessing of an expanded household. And then the second of these two parts of our chapter, Genesis 30, is verses 25 through 43, and this describes the blessing of Jacob's expanded livestock and the blessing he was to others, namely Laban, how Laban was blessed through him. So let's look at these two parts, these two blessings historically that Jacob received. First, he received the blessing of children and an expanded household, even though it happened under imperfect circumstances. We talked about this last time. God's design, the pre-fallen design, go to Genesis 2.24, was that marriage would be one man, one woman in a covenant marriage, one flesh union that would last a lifetime. And after Genesis 3, though, sin entered into the picture. And one of the things that we see Even among the patriarchs were plural marriages. This was not God's original good design. It's part of the remaining corruptions, and yet the Lord continued to work even through, again, fallen saints in a fallen world. And so God blessed Jacob, and he added to his family. Now, as we look at Genesis 30, this is really the continuation of the account that began in chapter 29. Chapter 29, remember, verse 31. It says, and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And that began the account of Jacob's family, first of all, through his wife Leah, tender-eyed Leah, that she bore to him four sons. Remember back in chapter 29, verses 31 through 35? First, she had a son named Reuben, which means in Hebrew, look, a son. Ruben, look, a son. Then she had a son, Simeon. And Simeon means hearing. And she said, God has heard my cry. Then she had another son, Levi. And that name means joined. And she said, perhaps because I have a son, my husband will be joined in love to me because of this. And of course, Levi would be the head of the tribe from which the priests of Israel would come. And then finally, she had a son named Judah. And Judah means praise. And she praised the Lord for providing for her this son. And of course, from Judah would come David and the great kings of Israel. And from Judah, of course, would come the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes from the tribe of Judah. And so this is now going to continue in chapter 30. But you'll notice, remember at the end of chapter 29, that we were told that after Leah was given these four sons, that she left bearing. She stopped bearing children. And now we have the continuation of this account. And it starts with Rachel, who is positively green with envy at all these children that are being born to her sister, who is also wife to Jacob. Look at verse 1. And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. and said unto Jacob, give me children or else I die. And so again, we're seeing here that plural marriages are not presented as a positive ideal within the scriptures. They're presented always as causing strife and division. And so she is not happy that her sister has had children. She envied her sister. And in despair, she attacks Jacob, give me children or else I die. Several commentators that I read on this passage pointed out that Rachel is presented here as not being someone who is exhibiting worthy character, worthy spiritual character, because she's barren. Does it say she turned to the Lord in prayer? No, she turned and attacked her husband. And so this showed sort of the depravity of the situation as it was developing that we're seeing the wreck and ruin of plural marriages where rivalry and envy reign. And in verse 2, Jacob doesn't handle things very well either. It says, in Jacob's anger, was kindled against Rachel. Wait a second. He loved Rachel so much. He worked seven years to gain her hand. It seemed but a few days to him. The honeymoon is over now. And the man who loved Rachel so much is now angry with her. His anger is kindled against Rachel. And he said to her, am I in God's stead? Give me children or you don't. Do you think I'm God? Do you think I opened the womb? Am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And of course, we could say the same about Jacob, as we said of Rachel. Is his response, let's go to the Lord together in prayer? No, his response is to attack his wife and to really maybe, although what he says is correct, but it's also sort of a self-righteous sort of response to Rachel and her pain who has said this to him. Rachel then concocts a plan, remember. Her maid, Bilhah, had also been given to Jacob. And look at verse 3. It says, and she said, behold, my maid, Bilhah, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her. And so she conceives this plan whereby her maid would serve as a surrogate and bear a child for her. And this sort of reminds us, doesn't it, of Abraham and Sarah. Remember when Sarah was barren, and she decided, let's have a child by my Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. How did that work out exactly? Not so great, right? Hagar had Ishmael, and then Sarah had Isaac. And then there was rivalry about their sons. We might note, by the way, in this phrase, she shall bear upon my knees. The Puritan exegete Matthew Poole explains that this ellipsis or short speech means she shall bear a child which shall be laid upon my knees or in my lap, which I may adopt and bring up as if it were my own. Well, did Jacob learn from the experiences of his grandmother Sarah? No. We're told in verse 4 that he followed the counsel of his wife. Again, he's in some ways abdicated his role as a man, as a husband, a spiritual leader within the household, and goes by what his wife tells him without discernment. And we're told in verse 4, she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid to wife. And Jacob went in unto her, verse 5, and Bilhah conceived and bared Jacob a son. Again, Bilhah was the surrogate. And so notice in verse 6 that it is Rachel, though she's not the natural mother of this child, who claims the privilege, the responsibility of naming the child. And Rachel said, God hath judged me and hath also heard my voice and hath given me a son, therefore called she his name Dan. And the name Dan in Hebrew means judge, like in another Old Testament book, Daniel. Daniel means God is my judge. And Dan, this is the son who will be the leader of the tribe of Dan, which means judge. And then this continues. Look at verse 7. And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again and bared Jacob a second son. And once again, it's Rachel who has used this maid as a surrogate. who steps forward to name the child. And Rachel said, with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she called his name Naftali, or Naftali. And that name means my wrestling. Naftal is wrestle. And that I on the end, like Dani, El, my God is my judge. Naftali means my wrestling. And she speaks here of having wrestled with her sister, but she's also been wrestling with God, hasn't she? Well, again, whatever the fallen circumstances, God is yet adding to Jacob and adding to his household and expanding his household. In addition now to the four sons that have been born to Leah, he's got now two sons that have come through Bilhah. But in verse 9, in this ongoing struggle within Jacob's household, Leah counterattacks. She who had left off bearing begins to counterattack. Look at verse 9. When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. And so she follows now in the footsteps of Sarah, who offered Hagar to Abraham. And she follows in the footsteps of her rival sister wife, Rachel, and who gave Bilhah. And she gives her maid. And in verse 10, we read, and Zilpah, Leah's maid, bared Jacob a son. And in verse 11, you'll see that just as Rachel had named the children of her surrogate, Leah does the same. It says, and Leah said, a troop cometh. And she called his name Gad. And so that name Gad means something like a troop. And so I don't know if she was just saying, look, Rachel has had two sons by her maid, but I bore four sons, and now one more. I've got a whole troop of sons I'm giving to Jacob. That shows you my place in the household. And she doesn't stop there. She goes a bit further. And we're told in verse 12, and Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a second son. Again, Leah, takes the prerogative of naming the son, verse 13. And Leah said, happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher. And the name Asher does indeed mean happy or blessed. And indeed, notice Leah's motivation. She wants to be recognized by the daughters of the land. That's something, isn't it? I want to be admired by all the other women because I have given more sons to my husband. And notice I said the theme of blessing is thick in this chapter. The daughters will call me blessed. The daughters of Israel will call me blessed. And there is indeed, we must say, within the Old Testament a theme of how children are indeed a blessing of the Lord. Perhaps you're already well familiar with those two psalms, those two twin psalms that are right by each other within the scriptures, Psalm 127 and Psalm 128. And both of these psalms are there within the scriptures And they both of them speak about the blessing of having children, the blessing of children. So if you're looking at Psalm 127 in verse three, it says, Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, so are children of the youth or one of one's youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. And so the point of Psalm 127, part of it is simply, it's a blessing. It's a blessing when the Lord adds children to one's household. Likewise, it's twin Psalm, Psalm 128, touches on some of the same themes. And I love one of my favorite images in the Bible, Psalm 128, verse 3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants around thy table. And you're at that stage in life where your children are young and you sit at the dinner table and they're just popped up all around the table, the little olive plants that have grown up within your household. And I love this part about Psalm 128. It also talks about the blessing of grandchildren. Verse six, yea, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon Israel. And so there's a great theme within the scriptures, within the Old Testament, about the blessing of children. You see, the world is telling us today, aren't they? Oh, they're telling us so much. Oh, children are a burden. You don't want to have them. Oh, they cause lots of trouble. You can't find your fulfillment in life. You can't pursue your career and so forth. The Bible has a very different view. Children are seen not as a burden, was a great blessing, a great blessing in one's life. And so again, that's what we're being shown here. The Lord is blessing Jacob. The Lord is giving to his household, expanding it. And the story continues. Look at verse 14. We have this little vignette about Reuben, remember, who had been the firstborn of Leah. It says in verse 14, And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them unto his mother Leah. And I saw this word mandrakes, and I didn't know exactly what that was. Some of you horticulturalists might know better. But I looked it up in a Bible dictionary that I have, and this is what it said about mandrakes. It says, the mandrakes are a plant of the nightshade family with large spinach-shaped leaves in a rosette pattern. and flowers that form in the middle which later become yellow red fruits resembling tomatoes. It has an unusual smell and taste and may have produced strange effects since it was used medicinally as a narcotic or purgative. And the dictionary article went on to say it was sometimes called a love apple. and was purported to be an aphrodisiac, an enhancer of fertility. And so here's ancient Viagra. The mandrakes are found. And Reuben finds these and brings them to his mother. But Rachel, look at verse 14. She said to Leah, give me, I pray thee, thy son's mandrakes. And again, remember what we talked about before? Descriptions, not prescriptions. This is describing a fallen world, and distorted relationships, and envies. It's not being put forward as a model. And yet, through it all, God is at work, providentially. So anyways, they work out this arrangement. Leah sees an opportunity. Verse 15, and she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? And wouldst thou take away my son's mandrakes also? So first of all, she takes it as an occasion just to blast Rachel. Of course, she doesn't hold Jacob to account for what he's done. It's all Rachel's fault. And Rachel said, therefore, he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. So she, Rachel, is is offering to try to work out a husband-sharing agreement in return for those mandrakes. And apparently, Leah agrees to this. And we read in verse 16, and Jacob came out of the field in the evening. And Leah went out to meet him and said, thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And it says, he lay with her that night. And of course, even though this is not being put forward before us as a model to follow, but we're seeing God is at work. And indeed, look at verse 17. It says, and God hearkened unto Leah. We talked last time about how God had a soft spot in his heart for Leah because she was not loved of her husband. We saw this, remember, back in chapter 29, verse 31. And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb. And He acts again in a compassionate way. And she conceived, look at verse 17 of Genesis 30, and bared Jacob the fifth son. And Leah said, verse 18, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband, And she called his name Issachar. And Issachar means wages or hire. She had paid the mandrakes, gotten access to the husband. And God had hearkened unto her and opened her womb. And it doesn't stop there. Look at verse 19. And Leah conceived again and bare Jacob the sixth son. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry. Now will my husband dwell with me? It's one of the points of pathos to this whole story is how Leah wanted the companionship of Jacob. And she couldn't get it. She thought by supplying these children, she would get that. And that was the whole point with this sixth child, that she wanted having given him six sons that he would dwell with her. And so she named her son Zebulun, which means dwelling. And then to add yet something else to it, in verse 21, we have the first mention, an only mention, of a daughter being born to Jacob, also from Leah. And it says, verse 21, afterwards, she bear a daughter, and called her name Dinah. And Dinah is the feminine form of the name Dan. This name also means judgment. And so we'll see later on in Genesis 34, Dinah will be at the center of that chapter. Well, the last part of this first section, remember I said there are two blessings that are given to Jacob. First, the blessing of children. than the blessing of material expansion of his flock, his cattle, and herd, and so forth. But the last part is finally, in verses 22 through 24, the Lord, in his mercy, saw fit to open the womb of Rachel. Look at verse 22. And God remembered Rachel. And God hearkened to her. and opened her womb. Notice the threefold actions of the Lord. He remembered, he listened, he hearkened, and he acted by opening her womb. This verse brought to my mind Psalm 30, verse 5, which says of the Lord, his anger endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. There had been a long night of barren weeping for Rachel, but then the joy of conceiving and having a child. And we're told in verse 23, and she conceived and bear a son. And she said, God have taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph. Genesis is going to have a lot to say about Joseph. Chapter 37 through 50 is going to be the Joseph story. She said, we'll call his name Joseph. And she said, the Lord shall add to me another son. The name Joseph means the Lord has added to me a son. And now this is the 11th son that's been born to Jacob. Six through Leah. two through each of the maids, this one Joseph. And we're going to see later on, we'll get to it eventually, in Genesis 35, Rachel will have another son, and his name will be Benjamin. And sadly, she will die in giving birth to Benjamin. But what we see here, we look back on it retrospectively. Again, God blessing, providing for fallen saints in a fallen world is from these 12 sons of Jacob will be the structure for the people of Israel. And what did God told Abraham back in Genesis 12, verse 2? I will make you a great nation. And slowly over time, God is providing exactly that. These sons will be the heads of these 12 tribes. and they will make of Israel a great nation. God is faithful to keep his word. Well, let's look at the second part of the passage. The first way Jacob was blessed is through children. The second way he is going to be blessed is through his expanded livestock and the blessing of others through him. Look at verse 25. It says, it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away that I may go into my own place, into my own country. Now, Jacob realizes he had only come to Haran to get a wife. He's achieved that. And now it's time for him to go back to the promised land. So he's going to fulfill the promise to Abraham. And it's going to be in the promised land, not in the land of Haran. And so he makes this request. And he says to Laban, give me my wives. This is his father-in-law, the father of Leah and Rachel. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee and let me go. For thou knowest my service, which I have done thee. He's almost like Moses at the Exodus saying, let my people go, let my family go so we might return. And Laban, remember, Laban is very shrewd. And he doesn't want to let them go. Look at verse 27. 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. There's the theme of blessing again. And again, this fulfills what God said to Abraham. Remember what God said to Abraham, Genesis 12, verses 2 and 3? Those who bless you, I will bless. Laban had blessed Jacob by giving him wives and sons and flocks, and now he's being blessed. It's the residual effect of being blessed by being around God's people. And we might, I don't think it would be stretching it too much if we said that wherever God's people are, they bless those who are around them. Remember what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount? You will be salt and light like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. I remember when we visited China some years ago to add Joseph to our family, our Joseph to our family, and through adoption. And we met a good number of Christians there because we were working with a Christian adoption agency. And there was one woman in particular who was telling us about her house church. And she said, yeah, we meet at 5 o'clock in the morning every day. And we pray. I said, what do you pray for? She said, we pray for the leaders of our nation. Every morning, five o'clock in the morning, we're up praying for the leaders of our nation. And I thought, how would it be if in China, you've got these Christians and they strive to be honest and forthright and to be faithful in their marriages and not cheat people or swindle people. And they get together at five o'clock in the morning to pray for their leaders. Why would you not want people like this to be around? You're going to be blessed by having people like this around. And yet somehow in their perversity, they try to suppress and persecute the churches. And so anyways, we're seeing here that Jacob was a blessing to Laban. But Laban is going to try to work out a deal. He says, OK, you want to leave? Verse 28, appoint me thy wages and I will give it. And you might remember he had said something very similar to Jacob when he had sort of hoodwinked him into marrying Leah before marrying Rachel. And so you're going to be on your guard here. Jacob, perhaps, is a little wiser. And he responds in verse 29. He said, thou knowest how I have served thee and how thy cattle was with me. For it was, verse 30, little which thou hast before I came, and it is now increased into a multitude, and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming. Again, Genesis 12, 2 and 3, the fulfillment of it. God has blessed Laban. And now he says, when shall I provide for mine own house also? OK, now I need to leave. I need to separate. I need to return, as the Lord has told me. And I need to establish my own distinct household. Verse 31, and he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. I will pass through all thy flock today in removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle. And here in the authorized version, cattle is used in an old way to refer not merely to cows and bulls, but also to sheep and goats and lambs, basically all the flock or all the herd. And all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my hire. Now, there's a lot within this chapter, as we're going to see, that's going to talk about some things related to animal husbandry that doesn't make sense according to modern science. But what we're going to see is the point is not that Jacob was able to use ancient animal husbandry, but that the Lord was willing to bless him. And so he says, I'll take all the speckled animals and you can keep all the solid ones. And he says, I'll do this, verse 33, so shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come. When it shall come for my hire before they face every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. So you'll prove my righteousness when you come look at my flocks and there are no solid white sheep or brown goats. They're all going to be speckled and spotted. Those are the ones that are mine, and I'm not going to take any of yours. And Laban seizes upon this. And he realizes that this will be a very good deal for him. Verse 34, and Laban said, behold, I would it might be according to thy word. He knows that this is a good deal for him. Jacob is just going to take the speckled ones, and he gets to keep the white sheep and the brown goats. And so Laban is going to get the richer. And Jacob is going to be the poor for taking these ones that really nobody wants. And so it says in verse 35, Laban went to work. He removed that day the he goats that were ring straped and spotted and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted and everyone that had some white in it, all the brown among the sheep and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. And yet, this is not the place where it would end, because Jacob, again, was going to be blessed by God. And this is the place where Jacob uses a animal husbandry practice that might not be readily understood. Look at verse 37. It says, and Jacob took him rods of green poplar and of hazel and chestnut tree and pilled white streaks in them and made the white appear, which was in the rods. You might say, what in the world is going on here? One commentator that I read suggested that Jacob was using what he calls a maternal impression process. That is, he acts on a common belief of the time that a vivid sight during conception or pregnancy of these animals will leave its mark on the offspring. And so he takes these streaked rods that he's created. Look at verse 38. He piled them before, pilled them rather, before the flocks in the gutters and the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle or herds, ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs and set the faces of the flock toward the ring straight and all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he put his own flocks by themselves and put them not unto Laban's cattle. And so we read further, verses 41 and 42, it came to pass. Whenever the stronger cattle did conceive that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, and they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger were Jacob's." Again, someone may look at this and say, wait a second. Is it really true that if you put streaked rods before animals that they will produce speckled offspring? No, that's not what happens. We know now, genetics, that's not what happens. One commentator said this. He said, is there any evidence that such a prenatal influence theory has any basis in fact? Does it work scientifically? He answers, absolutely not. What's the point though? Here's what Calvin said. Calvin said the point is God made it work. One commentator added, in other words, God intervened to cause the animals of Jacob to flourish. Success did not come by questionable ancient customs, but only by the hand of Jehovah. Jacob was not the means. God's power was the means. And so in the end, what was the end? Look at verse 43. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses. The end result was that God sovereignly, by His own power, blessed Jacob. Jacob was blessed in two ways. He was given children, he was given material success, God blesses his saints. Now, we've covered the chapter. And we've noted these two ways in which God saw fit to bless Jacob. Let's look at the first one. He gave him 12 sons. And these 12 sons would be the foundation, as I noted, of the 12 tribes that would compose the nation of Israel, as well as giving him a daughter. I already noted one of those sons was Judah, from whom David would come, and from whom Christ would come. Just this past Wednesday night, we read Paul's words in 2 Timothy 2.8, remember, that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Jesus Christ of the seed of David. God was working out his plan in blessing Jacob, giving him these sons. He's working out his plan of salvation. And here's another interesting thing. What was one of the things Christ would do during his ministry? during that three-year ministry that he had, he drew to himself how many apostles? 12. 12 apostles. And by drawing these 12 apostles, he had many followers, but he had 12 men in particular. What was he doing? He was constituting a new kingdom, a new nation. God had blessed Jacob, giving him 12 sons to establish a nation. Christ comes from the line of Judah via David and takes 12 apostles and establishes a new nation. And one of the things that Christ said to those 12 apostles when he gathered with them in the upper room, Luke records in Luke 22, verses 29 and 30, he said to those disciples, and I appoint unto you a kingdom. as my father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." All of this was being prepared in the time of Jacob. God was at work, and he would eventually raise up the Lord Jesus Christ, and he would raise up a new nation of which we are part. Secondly, the Lord blessed Jacob by increasing him exceedingly, and even by making him a blessing to those around him. As he said to Laban in verse 30 of Genesis 3, and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming. Let's go back to the question I asked at the beginning. Does Genesis 30 sanction a full-blown health, wealth, and prosperity gospel? Does Genesis 30 teach that if you are a believer, that you will automatically be blessed materially, externally? And the answer to that is no. Why? Because Genesis 30 isn't the only chapter in our Bible. And because as Paul told the Ephesian elders, we need to listen to all the counsel of God. Yes, God blessed Jacob. fulfilling His promise to Abraham because from Abraham would come a great nation. God does always bless His saints, but He doesn't always do this merely externally. How do we know that? Well, we have the whole counsel of God's Word. God allowed righteous Job to lose all of his children and to be covered with sores from head to toe. God allowed godly King Josiah to be struck down in battle against the king of Egypt. God allowed his righteous prophet Jeremiah to be cast into the bottom of a miry cistern. God allowed Solomon's temple to be destroyed by the Babylonians, and for many of the Israelites to be carried off into exile, including Daniel. God allowed righteous Stephen, who served the church at Jerusalem, to be stoned to death. God allowed the apostle James to be put to death by the sword, according to Acts 12. God allowed the Apostle Peter, as Christ prophesied in John 21, to stretch out his arms and be led to a place where he did not want to go, probably to be crucified, as Christ had been. God allowed the Apostle Paul to be imprisoned. And as we believe, likely to be beheaded at the hands of the Roman emperor. And yet, do you think Job wasn't blessed? Josiah wasn't blessed? Peter wasn't blessed? Paul wasn't blessed? Yes, they were all blessed. Paul said in Philippians 4.12, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." And then he said, Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Jacob was blessed externally to fulfill the plan of salvation that had begun with Abraham. All men who truly know the Lord and sincerely follow him will be blessed. though all might not receive the same external blessings of Jacob. Perhaps the most fitting New Testament passage that we could place along Genesis 30 today would be from Matthew 5, Sermon on the Mount. Do you remember how the Sermon on the Mount begins? It begins with a group of teachings that are known as the Beatitudes, or the blessings. And this is how Christ said you can live a blessed life. Yeah, you can go down the charismatic line and think living a blessed life means exactly what happened to Jacob and finding the best parking lot in the shopping mall. Or you can listen to what Christ said about what a blessed life is. This is what Christ said. Blessed are the poor in spirit. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So friends, let us determine to follow and serve the Lord, sincerely knowing that he may be pleased to bless us externally, as he did Jacob. But He most certainly will bless us inwardly and ultimately with eternal reward if we receive and honor Him and His Son above all. Amen? Amen. Let me invite you to stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for thy word and for these lessons that we are getting from Genesis about how you worked out the plan of salvation in the lives of the patriarchs. And help us in reading and reflecting upon this to be pointed, though, to the end, to the goal of scripture, which is Christ, and help us be drawn ever closer to him. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.