Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Genesis-Chapters 31-32

Gen 31.1-55 tells us about a dispute between Laban and Jacob; God tells Jacob to return to Canaan; Jacob’s dream; Rachel and Leah support Jacob’s idea about moving; Jacob leaves without saying goodbye and Laban pursues him; Jacob explains why he left so sudden; Laban’s gods were stolen and Jacob denies taking them; a search is made and they are found in Rachel’s tent because she had taken them; Jacob rebukes Laban, and they make a covenant; a pillar of separation is set up and they depart from one another. From Gen 30.1 to 33.17 we will have an eschatological picture of the seven year birth-pains, from Rosh Ha Shannah to Sukkot, so we will point this out as we move along.

v 1…Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth (a common accusation against the Jewish people today like “Jews have all the money” and “they cheated their way to prosperity and robbed us”, etc; but it was God who did it-v 9-13; this was necessary to get Jacob to move back to the land; Israel eschatologically will be afflicted before the birth-pains begin, forcing them out of “Babylon” back to the land).”

v 2…And Jacob saw the attitude of Laban and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.

v 3…Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return (a term for Rosh Ha Shannah)to the land of your fathers and to your relatives and I will be with you (Jews will return back to Israel after Rosh ha Shannah, year 6001 and the Naztal-Mic 4.10; Jer 50.8.16, 28; 51.6, 9, 45, 50).”

v 4…So Jacob went and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field (where he was pasturing them);

v 5…and said to them, “I see your father’s attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me (and that is why my wealth has increased).

v 6…And you know (they knew above any one that it is evident) that I have served your father with all my strength (and faithfulness).

v 7…Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times (meaning several times; very often); however, God did not allow him to hurt me (God protected him, and he protects us, too).

v 8…If he spoke (or stipulated), ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if spoke (stipulated), ‘The striped (ringed ones) shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped.

v 9…Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

v 10…ANd it came about at the time when the flocks were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled and mottled.

v 11…Then the angel of God said to me in a dream, “Jacob” and I said, “Here I am.”

v 12…And he said, “Lift up, now, your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled and mottled, for I (Yehovah) have seen all that Laban has been doing to you (God draws Jacob’s attention to the fact that the male goats were mating and they were striped, speckled and mottled. There are no peeled trees, no segregated flocks, no visuals. What determined the offspring was genetics caused by God).

v 13..I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a pillar (alludes to Yeshua being anointed at his coronation in Rosh Ha Shannah right after the Natzal) where you made a vow to me. Now, arise, leave this land, and return (an idiom for rosh Ha Shannah) to the land of your birth.”

v 14…And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house (they knew he never intended to give them anything)?

v 15…Are we not reckoned by him as a foreigner (and not as children)? For he has sold us (to Jacob as if they were slaves), and has also entirely consumed our purchase price (that Laban got by the service of Jacob, instead of giving it to them as their portion).

v 16…Surely all the wealth which God has taken away (and given to Jacob) from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do what God has said to do (they were in agreement).”

v 17…Then Jacob arose (idiom for Rosh Ha Shannah) and put his children and wives upon camels;

v 18…and he led away all is livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram (he took nothing that did not belong to him), to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac (not to arouse suspicion; anyone seeing this would have thought that he was doing this with Laban’s blessing, as opposed to sneaking away).

v 19…When Laban had gone to shear his flock (three days away-30.36), then Rachel stole the household idols (teraphim that were images made in human form-1 Sam 19.13) that were her father’s (called “gods” in v 30; possibly because of the gold and silver in them as her portion, or they contained valuable family relics; much discussion has been made about why she did this, and we will leave it the reader to research for themselves).

v 20…And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by nit telling him he was fleeing.

v 21…So he fled with all that he had and he arose and crossed the river (Euphrates), and set his face toward the mount Gilead (on the border of Lebanon and Canaan).

v 22…When it was told Laban on the third day (that was the distance between them) that Jacob had fled,

v 23…then he took some of his kinsmen (relatives) with him, and pursued him seven days journey (by the time Lban found out, there was a six days difference), and he overtook him in the mount Gilead (on the seventh day).

v 24…And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad (with promises of good things if he returned to Haran, or threatening things if he didn’t).”

v 25…And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain (Gilead), and Laban with huis kinsmen camped on Mount Gilead (both on the same mount, but apart).

v 26…Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword (what crime have you committed that made you go secretly without allowing me to say goodbye; Laban acts like he was the one injured)?

v 27…Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and the lyre (as if he would not have been against their departure);

v 28…and did not allow me to kiss my sons (his grandsons) and my daughters (rachel, Leah and Dinah)? Now you have done foolishly (but not in God’s eyes; he was told to go).

v 29…It is in my power to do you harm (Laban and his men), but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob (see v 24 comments).’

v 30…And now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; why did you steal my gods (“elohay”)?”

v 31…Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you would take your daughters from me by force (Jacob thought that Laban would justify himself in doing this because he still believed they belonged to him-see v 43).’

v 32…The one with whom you find your gods shall not live (be placed in Laban’s hands); in the presence of our kinsmen point out what is yours among my belongings and take it yourself.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

v 33…So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent, and in the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent (it appears that that mean and their wives had separate tents).

v 34…Now Rachel had taken the household idols (teraphim) and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all of the tent and did not find them.

v 35…And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me (her monthly cycle).” So he searched (around her and about her), but did not find the household idols.

v 36…Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban (because he did not believe Jacob); and Jacob answered (his accusations) and said to Laban, “what is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?

v 37…Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.

v 38…These twenty years (alludes to the last 2000 years) I have been with you; your ewes and your male goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock (as shepherds allow themselves to do.

v 39…That which was torn (by lions or wolves) I did not bring to you, I bore the loss of it myself (though not legally required to do so). You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night (this was unjust).

v 40…I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

v 41…These twenty years (alludes to the last 2000 years of the Olam Ha Zeh) I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times (very often).

v 42…If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac (Yehovah, who Isaac feared in reverence), had not been for me, surely you would have now sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so he rendered judgment (rebuked you) last night (this alludes to Rosh Ha Shannah, called a “Yom Ha Din” or day of judgement).

v 43…Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine (invoking a primitive custom of the region that the head of the family was the owner of all that belonged to its members). But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne (how could I possibly hurt them)?

v 44…So now, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

v 45…Then Jacob took a stone (showing his readiness to agree; spiritually Jacob had the stone-Messiah) and raised it up as a pillar (a mazavah on a high point probably).

v 46…And Jacob said to his kinsmen (servants employed by Jacob), “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap (mound for a landmark), and they ate there by the heap (set their food on it in a covenantal meal which was part of the ceremony).

v 47…Now Laban called it Yegar-sehadusa (Aramaic for “the mound is a witness”), but Jacob called it Galed (Hebrew for the mound is a witness).

v 48…And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it is named Gal-ed (Laban agreed to the Hebrew name; this later evolved into Gilead);

v 49…and Mizpeh (Hebrew “watchtower”) for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from each other (this alludes to Golgotha where the Lord looks down on all men).

v 50…If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”

v 51…And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me.

v 52…This heap is a witness, and pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar for harm.

v 53…The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor (Laban’s grandfather), the god of their father (Terah’s idolatrous gods), judge between us (Laban invoked Yehovah and the idolatrous gods of Nahor and Terah).” And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac (Yehovah-Jacob would not swear using idolatrous gods, so he took the oath in the name of Yehovah).

v 54…Then Jacob offered a sacrifice (zevach) on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal (a meal consecrated to God as far as Jacob was concerned), and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

v 55…And early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his sons (grandsons) and his daughters (Rachel, Leah and Dinah) and blessed them (best wishes and happiness to all of them). Then Laban departed and returned to his place (Haran).

Gen 32.1-32 tells us about Jacob’s time of distress and trouble as he enters into the land, and this is a picture of the birth-pains or “tribulation”; Jacob’s fear and his preparations for his encounter with Esau; Jacob wrestles with a man at Peniel; Jacob’s name is changed to Israel.

v 1…Now as Jacob went on his way (from GIlead to Bethel in Canaan ), the angels of God met him (to help and protect him-Psa 91.11).’

v 2…And Jacob said when he saw them (possibly he alone saw them, as in 2 Kings 6.17), “This is God’s camp.” SO he named that place Machanaim (meaning “two camps”-2 Sam 17.24; the two camps were either Jacob’s and the angels, or the angels were divided into two companies, one to guard the rear and one to the front of Jacob; this will be about 400 yards from Peniel in the valley of Sukkot, where David settled when he fled from Absalom; we have two camps in our lives, too).

v 3…Then Jacob sent his messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir (the Horite) in the country (field) of Edom (inhabited by Esau, a name for Esau-Gen 25.30).

v 4…He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now;

v 5…and I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have set to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight (I am on my way home; are you still angry with me).”

v 6…And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him (a large number that naturally alarms Jacob).”

v 7…Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed (alluding to the time of Jacob’s trouble, a term for the birth-pains-Jer 30.7), and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two companies (to save half; the family would be in the rear and the front half was the buffer against Esau);

v 8…for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

v 9…And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord (Yehovah), who did say to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you.’

v 10…I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which you have shown to thy servant; for with my staff only I crossed the Jordan, and now I have become two companies (camps).

v 11…Deliver me, I pray, from the hands of my brother, from the hand of esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, and the mothers with the children (who he is really concerned about).

v 12…For you did say, “I will surely prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude (Jacob was thinking about the promise to his forefathers in Gen 22.17).

v 13…So he spent the night there (at Machanaim). Then he selected from what he had with him a present (tribute) for he brother Esau;

v 14…two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams;

v 15…thirty milking camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

v 16…And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me (over the Jabbok river), and put space between droves (don’t follow each other closely, slowing Esau down between droves).”

v 17…And he commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’

v 18…Then you are to say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present to my lord Esau. And behold, he is also behind us.’ “

v 19…Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the drove, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

v 20…and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us’ for he said, ‘I will appease him with the present that goes before me.’ Then afterward I will see his face, perhaps he will accept me.”

v 21…So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent the night in the camp.

v 22…Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven chilodren and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

v 23…And he took then and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had (servants, livestock, goods, etc).

Gen 32.24-32 is a picture of the birth-pains and Yom Kippur, the time of Jacob’s Trouble, where Israel will wrestle with God in the form of a man (Yeshua).

v 24… Then Jacob was left alone (his family and livestock having passed over), and a man wrestled with him until day break (God had to show Jacob his weakness until it dawns on him; the birth-pains will do the same thing to Israel).

v 25…And when he (the man) saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

v 26…Then he said (the man) to him, “Let me go for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me (by the dislocation and the effect, he perceives that he is more than a man).”

v 27…So he said (the man) to him (Jacob), “What is your name (the question is rhetorical, like in Gen 3.9 to initiate dialogue)?” And he said, “Jacob.”

v 28…And he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and prevailed (alludes to Israel as a nation believing in the birth-pains).

v 29…Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name?” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name (you know who I am, and Jacob did)?”

v 30…So Jacob named the place Peniel for “I have seen God (in the form of a man) face to face (an idiom for Yom Kippur), yet my life has been preserved (the purpose for Yom Kippur is to restore a covering).”

v 31…Now the sun rose (Israel is out of darkness and has been enlightened through the the time of Jacob’s trouble) upon him just as he crossed over Peniel and he was limping on his thigh (Israel now has a different walk).

v 32…Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip (this is not a commandment of God in the Torah, but it is a custom at least up to the time of Moses and Sinai; so, what we have so far eschatologically from Gen 31.1-13 is we have had allusions to Rosh Ha Shannah and Yom Kippur; Israel has been commanded to leave “Babylon” (USA) and go back to the land; this will happen on Rosh Ha Shannah, year 6001 from creation, before “Babylon” falls-Mic 4.10; Israel leaves and goes through the “time of Jacob’s trouble” or the birth-pains, where they will wrestle with God and be preserved, having a different walk because they have been delivered-Ezek 39.22; now we will move into Gen 33 which will have Sukkot idioms, which alludes to the Messianic Kingdom).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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