Family Conflicts

Genesis 31:1-16

Often when we read the Bible we have this mindset, those people are special and how can we relate to them?  If only we would stop and recall the price God was willing to pay so that you and I could have a relationship with him, are we not special?  And as we look at the Scripture listed above, it is about family conflicts, and that is something many who read this can identify with.

Verse one begins in this way; “Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and from what was our father’s he has gained all his wealth.”  You might entertain the notion that Jacob’s brother-in-laws have a low opinion of him, and that they see him as a scoundrel who is taking all of daddy’s money; money they would inherit.  Placing yourself in Jacob’s shoes, what would you do?  First Jacob stopped and gave thought to what he was hearing and what he was observing; his father-in-law did not regard him with favor as before.  Next, he prayed and God spoke very clear to him, picking up in verse three, “Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”  The next thing Jacob did was call in his wives, and explain what God had shown him.

Beginning in verse four, “So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flocks were and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my fathers has been with me.  You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. (Note: Sounds like he could have been in sales for any large company)  “But God did not permit him to harm me.  If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages, ‘then all the flock bore striped.  Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.  Jacob goes on to share a dream that he had while in the field and how the angel of God told him he was aware of all that Laban had done and how he would make all the sheep and goats to be spotted, striped and mottled, so that they would be his wages.  This was the way God gave him instruction on what to do next beginning in verse thirteen, “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.  Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.”  What a wise man to share what God has been saying to him, and to bring them into the decision process.  It has taken many years for me to learn that my wife has special insights from God that I do not have, and she needs to be part of all the decisions and contracts that we enter into.

Jacob made be a little surprised in hearing both Rachel and Leah tell him that they feel abandoned by their father, and that he treated them no different than his flock.  That just as he sold the sheep and goats, he has sold them, and they state the following; “All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice