The Family Summit

Genesis 31:44-55

When you hear the word summit, where does your mind take you?  Growing up in the fifties and sixties my mind goes to the many summits held between the USA and the USSR, the two superpowers of that time.  But the summit that is taking place in Genesis 31:44-55 is between families, between an uncle and his nephew, and it is called a covenant.  Where did these two guys come-up with making a covenant?  A covenant is what God entered into with Abraham; it is an agreement that brings about a relationship of commitment between God and his people. The Jewish faith is based on the biblical covenants made with Abraham.

We have this account of the agreement between these two men, “Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I.  And let it be a witness between you and me.”  So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.  And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.”  And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.  Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.”  Often we forget that words mean something, and the understanding of what something is called can forever change an agreement, and even the spirit of such an agreement.  Laban called the pillar “The Heap of Testimony” in the Aramaic language of his ancestors and Jacob called it “The Heap of Witness” in the Hebrew language, which had been used by Abraham and his father Isaac.

As a dad, it’s easy to understand the conditions that Laban is putting on Jacob; first he reminds Jacob that “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.  If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”  What a caring dad, was it not Laban, who forced Jacob into a bigamous relationship, all Jacob wanted was to have Rachel as his wife.  “Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me.  This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness that I will not pass over this heap to you and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.  The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.”

We are told that they had a meal together and the next morning Laban kisses his daughters and grandchildren and departed.  In 2009 it seems to this writer many family’s should have summits to resolve family issues, but a summit only brings the families together, it only sets a format to enter into an agreement.  But agreement in families, as well as nations, has been and will be broken, and that is why we should enter into and understand the word and the meaning of the word covenant.  When both parties ask God into an agreement, then you have a Covenant, and God is the witness between the agreements of the parties.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice