Striving to See

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Sermon Text Part 1: Genesis 30:25-31:55
Sermon Text: Part 2: Genesis 32:1-32

Review (12/18/11)

We covered Genesis 29:1-30:24 on December 18, 2011. The sermon (Idolatry: Its Cause, Characteristics, and Cure) documents Jacob’s first 14 years in Laban’s house. It also is a vivid illustration of idolatry. The narrative was about Jacob, his uncle Laban, Leah, and Rachel. Idolatry is accurately described by Jeremiah 2:13, “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Remember, Idolatry is caused by forsaking God as the fountain of your ultimate satisfaction, which inevitably results in you seeking satisfaction somewhere elsewhere. The characteristics of idolatry are bitter disillusionment, addiction, and cynicism. The cure for idolatry is a greater affection: glorifying God by drinking from Him to satisfaction.
 The section is also monumental in that it records the birth of what would become the twelve tribes of Israel.

In Genesis, chapter 30, we saw a Jacob who is tempted to trust in his own skill and his own schemes to bring about his own prosperity. By Genesis 31, when he is relating the source of his prosperity to his wives, Leah and Rachel, he does not mention one thing about his own skills, but he entirely credits the Lord with what has happened to him (Genesis 31:4-11).

An Overview of Genesis 30:25-31:55

Jacob demands to leave (30:25-26)
Laban agrees to pay Jacob for his labor (30:27-34). Jacob reminded Laban of how Jacob had greatly multiplied his flocks. So, Jacob asked for every speckled and spotted sheep and goat. Jacob also asked for every black lamb. Jacob was going to breed these animals and take his wages from the flock.
Laban deceived Jacob by removing every kind of animal Jacob requested, and sent them three days journey away (30:35-36).

(30:37-43) Jacob placed the solid colored animals in front of speckled and spotted bark as they bred. Jacob seemed to be employing an ancient custom of placing visual impressions in front of animals that would influence the traits of the offspring. Later, Jacob would attribute this miracle to the LORD (31:11-12).

Because of what Jacob observed (Laban’s manipulation and deceit) and because of God’s Word to Jacob, Jacob convinced Leah and Rachel to flee with him. There was consternation towards Laban from Leah and Rachel as to how they were treated, for he gave them no inheritance (31:1-21). It was also noted that Rachel stole Laban’s gods.

(31:22-35) Laban pursues Jacob and catches up to him. Laban’s words in v. 26, “What have you done?” mirror the words of Jacob to Laban the morning after Jacob’s wedding.  Laban accuses Jacob of deceit and of disregarding cultural customs for departure. Laban accuses Jacob of stealing his gods. Laban searches for his gods, but cannot find them. “The time of women” was upon Rachel, and she hid the gods by sitting on them. The gods of Rachel’s culture were said to help with fertility and inheritance. These gods were saved by a menstruation, functioning as sanitary towels.

(31:36-55) Jacob vents 20 years of frustration on Laban. Jacob in turns says something like this: You, accusing me of stealing? You have been stealing from me for 20 years!  Laban acknowledges Jacob’s superiority by asking to make a covenant that would protect Laban from future harm. Jacob leaves the taskmaster Laban only to face the murderer Esau.

What is Moses’ message to Israel? Jacob’s escape from the clutches of Laban, who had treated him more like a slave than a nephew or son-in-law, prefigured his physical descendants’ escape from Egypt. God causes His children to persevere, even when enslaved, threatened, and tricked.

Look at how Jacob seems to be changing since the blessing at Bethel (Genesis 28):
Read Genesis 30:30
Read Genesis 31:4-13
Read Genesis 31:29
Read Genesis 31:42

Genesis 32

A Review of the Jacob Narrative
It has been made very clear that Jacob is a scandalous, selfish, wicked, rebellious, deceiver (Genesis 27). It is necessary and glorious to be pursued with relentless mercy (Genesis 28); It is inevitable to wrestle with idolatries sway (Genesis 29-30:24); It is discouraging to run from that which enslaves us, only to be deceived, caught and accused (Genesis 30:25-31:55); It is a privilege that few experience to wrestle with God until we break through to intimacy (Genesis 32).

Introduction

Jacob and Rachel escape almost certain death from Laban, only to face the certain inevitability of meeting his brother, who was to be dreaded immensely more.  It was the threat of Esau that causes him to flee twenty years earlier. Now Jacob returns to a possibly worse situation, with Esau prospering and bitterness brewing.


Genesis 32:1-21

“In Jacob’s pilgrimage, the way to the heights now led through a valley of humiliation which he made no attempt to skirt” (Kinder). I want to begin by emphasizing a word Kinder uses, “Through.” There are no CLEP tests in Christianity. Christianity will make your life harder. There is no way to shorten or avoid times of severe loneliness and painful brokenness. We will endure these times when we view them as necessary. We will embrace these times when, although severe and painful, are rightly viewed as the gateway to deepest intimacy with God. How does this really practically occur when my children are wayward, when there is interpersonal conflict amongst close friends, when a Church is divided, when a baby is born dead, when I am abused, when I am still single, when my marriage is in shambles, when I am without a job, when finances seem absent? I will get to the Biblical and practical answer to that question in the conclusion.

Notice first, the formerly prayerless and ambitiously deceptive Jacob was now a humble man of prayer.
Jacob could have fought. Jacob could have arrogantly met Esau with confidence in the Covenant that God would deliver him just as he did from Laban’s army. Jacob did not defend or justify his past behavior.

Vv. 4, 5, 18, 20 – Even oriental courtesy would not lead to such extravagant humility towards a twin brother (Wenham).
The first recorded prayer of Jacob (vv. 9-12) focuses on God’s mercy and covenant faithfulness.

Vv. 15-16 - Jacob offers a Hebrew tribute, placing him in the position of the lesser. Here Jacob offers a very costly gift of 550 animals.

V. 20 “appease; accept me” literally means “cover my guilt,” which is an expression that acknowledges guilt. Jacob was acknowledging his sin against Esau.

Genesis 32:22-32

The great encounter with God came when Jacob knew himself to be exposed to a situation wholly beyond him (Kinder). His prayer, dangerous dark river crossing, and desire to be alone are evidences. Do you see loving your wife, being a God-honoring parent, being obedient to your parents, being upright in your integrity, as a situation wholly beyond you (John 15:5)?

This was a real physical (32:31) altercation. Theologians agree almost universally that the “man” is a theophany (a visible manifestation of God who is intrinsically invisible).

The altercation was initiated by the LORD (32:24). “With the cunning thou dost wrestle” (Psalm 18:26 AV). It was against the LORD, not Esau or Laban, that he had been pitting his strength, as he now discovered; yet the initiative had been God’s, as it was this night, to chasten his pride and challenge his tenacity (Kinder). Jacob’s real problem was with self. God had freely made covenant with him and graciously delivered him out of Laban’s hand. Jacob saw his primary problem as deficiency rather than self-sufficiency. Many people are demoralized by the realization of their deficiency, disregarding the fact that deficiency, when it leads to intimate striving with God, is our greatest asset.

The blessing is the crippling. Jacob is in fear of his life, Esau is hunting him down, Jacob is strategizing and moving his family, and what does God leave him with? A broken hip and a night with no sleep: the mandate to depend. After the brokenness and exhaustion, Jacob sees the face of God.
After fighting through the discouragement and pain and refusing to let go, Jacob’s interest became, “Who are you; What is your name.” Why was this Jacob’s preoccupation?? There is something that comes through persistent, focused, desperate striving.

Look what happens here in verses:

vv. 24-25 – God will never prevail against “whole” man; God gives victory and defeat in one blow. The breaking causes us to realize what was true all along – we are needy, deficient, desperate, wicked people. Moses’ message to Israel and God’s message to us is this: God does not allow independent, self-sufficient people to enter the Promised Land but only those who rely on God through striving.

vv. 26-27 – The wrestling is not you breaking into God, but God breaking into you. Jacob won’t let go – “I need something from you that I cannot get by myself (remember when we talked about the definition of blessing in chapter 27?). What is the blessing? God asks: What is your name? Jacob then admits “I am a Jacob” (a swindler; a wretch). Even at the bottom – darkest, most painful, most lonely – Jacob won’t let go. Jacob is striving after God. When you let go of God in the brokenness f life, it shows why you were holding on in the first place.

v. 28 – The etymology associates “Israel” with dual meanings: One who strives with God and God strives. What is the point? Is God striving for Jacob or against him? The answer is, both.
It is true for Jacob, for Israel, for you, and for me: When God seemed to be fighting against them, He was simultaneously fighting for them, on their side. He both fights for us and against us.

“This, though at first sight seems absurd, experience and reason teaches us to be true. Since all prosperity and adversity come from His hand and by His permission, it is easy to untie the knot. For we do not fight against him, except by his own power, and with his own weapons; for he, having challenged us to this contest, at the same time furnishes us with means of resistance, so that he both fights for us and against us. In short, such is his apportioning of this conflict that while he assails us with one hand, he defends us with the other; yea, in as much as he supplies us with more strength to resist than he employs in opposing us, we may truly say, that he fights against us with his left hand, and for us with his right hand. For while he lightly opposes us, he supplies invincible strength whereby we overcome” (Calvin’s Commentary on Genesis).

vv. 29-30 When we view God as the chief of the trial and the refuge, we will not cling to Him and avoid the trial, for we will realize that He is the trial. When this is understood, the trial becomes the delight, for in it is the face of God.

She (Elizabeth Elliot at Jim Elliot’s funeral) ended with a poem by Martha Snell Nicholson (a “mendicant” is a beggar):
I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne
And begged him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own.
I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart
I cried, “But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.
This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me.”
He said, “My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee.”
I took it home and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore,
As long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more.
I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace,
He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face (from www.desiringgod.com).