Genesis 31

Jacob realizes it is time to leaveverses 1-9

And he heard the words of Laban’s sons – saying

Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s

and of that which was our father’s has he gotten

all this wealth

And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban

and – behold – it was not toward him as before

And the LORD said to Jacob

Return to the land of your fathers – and to your kindred

and I will be with you

And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock

and said to them – I see your father’s countenance

that it is not toward me as before

BUT the God of my father has been with me

and you know that with all my power I have served your

father and your father has DECEIVED me and

CHANGED my wages TEN TIMES

but God allowed him not to HURT me

IF he said thus – The speckled shall be your wages

THEN all the cattle bore speckled

and IF he said thus

The striped shall be your hire

THEN bore all the cattle striped

THUS God has taken away the cattle of your father

and given them to me

Jacob has a dreamverses 10-13

And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived

that I lifted up mine eyes – and saw in a dream – and – behold

the rams which leaped on the cattle were

striped – speckled – spotted

And the angel of God spoke to me in a dream saying

Jacob – and I said – Here am I

And HE said

Lift up now your eyes – and see – all the rams which leap on the

cattle are striped – specked – spotted

FOR I have seen all that Laban does to you

I am the God of Bethel – where you anointed the pillar

and where you vowed a vow to ME – now arise

get you out of this land

and return unto the land of your kindred

Jacob leaves with his wivesverses 14-21

And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him

Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

Are we not counted of him as strangers? for he has sold us

and has quite devoured also our money

For all the riches which God has taken from our father

that is ours – and our children’s – now then

whatsoever God has said to you – DO

THEN Jacob rose up – and set his sons and his wives on camels

and he carried away all his cattle

and all his goods which he had gotten

the cattle of his getting

which he had gotten in Paddanaram

for to go to – Isaac his father

in the land of Canaan

And Laban went to shear his sheep

and Rachel had STOLEN the images that were her father’s

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian

in that he told him not that he fled

So he fled with all that he had

and he rose up and passed over the river

and set his face toward the Mount Gilead

Laban pursues Jacobverses 22-24

And it was told Laban on the THIRD DAY that Jacob was fled

and he took his brethren with him

and pursued after him SEVEN days’ journey

and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead

And God came to Laban the Syrian in a DREAM by night

and said to him

Take heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad

Conversation between Jacob and Labanverses 25-30

THEN Laban overtook Jacob

NOW Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount

and Laban with his brethren encamped in the mount of Gilead

And Laban said to Jacob

What have you done – that you have stolen away unawares to me

and carried away my daughters

as captives taken with the sword?

Wherefore did you flee away secretly – and steal away from me

and did not tell me – that I might have sent you away with

mirth – songs – timbrel – harp?

And have not permitted me to kiss my sons and my daughters?

you have now done foolishly in so doing

It is in the power of my hand to do you harm

BUT the God of your father spoke to me last night saying

Take you heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad

And now – though you would needs be gone

BECAUSE you greatly long after your father’s house

yet wherefore have you stolen my gods?

Stolen false godsverses 31-35

And Jacob answered and said to Laban

BECAUSE I was afraid – FOR I said

Perhaps you would take by force your daughters from me

With whomsoever you find thy gods – let him not live

before our brethren discern you what is your with me

and take it to you

FOR Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them

and Laban went into Jacob’s tent – and into Leah’s tent

and into the two maidservants tents

BUT he found them not

then went he out of Leah’s tent

and entered into Rachel’s tent

Now Rachel had taken the images

and put them in the camel’s saddle – and sat on them

And Laban searched all the tent

but found them not

And she said to her father

Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before you

FOR the custom of women is on me

And he searched – BUT found not the images

Jacob confronts Labanverses 36-42

And Jacob was angry – and contended with Laban

and Jacob answered and said to Laban

What is my trespass?

What is my sin that you have so hotly pursued after me?

Whereas you have searched all my furniture

what have you found of all thy household furniture?

set it here before my brethren and your brethren

that they may judge between us both

This TWENTY YEARS have I been with you

your ewes and your she-goats have not cast their young

and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten

That which was torn of beasts I brought not to you

I bore the loss of it – of my hand did thou require it

whether stolen by day – or stolen by night

Thus I was – in the day the drought consumed me

and the frost by night

and my sleep departed from mine eyes

Thus have I been TWENTY YEARS in your house

I served you FOURTEEN YEARS for your two daughters

and SIX YEARS for your cattle

and you have changed my wages TEN TIMES

Except the God of my father

the God of Abraham and the FEAR of Isaac

had been with me – surely you had

sent me away now EMPTY

God has seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands

and REBUKED you last night

Laban and Jacob make covenantverses 43-55

And Laban answered and said unto Jacob

These daughters are my daughters – and these children are my

children and these cattle are my cattle – and all that you see is

mine and what can I do this day to these my daughters

or to their children whom they have borne?

Now therefore come you – let us make a COVENANT – I and you

and let it be for a WITNESS between me and you

And Jacob took a stone – and set it up for a PILLAR

and Jacob said to his brethren – Gather stones

and they took stones – and made an heap

and they did eat there on the heap

And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha [the heap of witness]

BUT Jacob called it Galeed [heap of witness]

And Laban said

This heap is a WITNESS between me and you this day

THEREFORE was the name of it called Galeed

and Mizpah[watchtower] – for he said

The LORD watch between me and you

when we are absent one from another

IF you shall afflict my daughters or

or IF you shall take other wives beside my daughters

no man is with us

SEE – God is WITNESS between me and you

And Laban said to Jacob

BEHOLD this heap – and BEHOLD this pillar

which I have cast between me and you

This heap be WITNESS – and this pillar be WITNESS

that I will not pass over this heap to you

and that you shall not pass over this heap

and this pillar unto me – FOR HARM

The God of Abraham – and the God of Nahor

the God of their father – judge between us

And Jacob swore by the FEAR of his father Isaac

THEN Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount

and called his brethren to eat bread

and they did eat bread

and tarried all night in the mount

And early in the morning Laban rose up

and kissed his sons and his daughters – and blessed them

and Laban departed – and returned unto his place

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 3 And the LORD said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to your kindred; and I will be with you. (4138 “kindred” [mowledeth] means nativity, born, begotten, offspring, origin, descendants, family, or lineage)

DEVOTION: Jacob had been gone from his parent’s home for over twenty years. If you remember when his mother sent him off it was for a short time until his brother’s anger calmed down. He was also to find a wife while he was visiting his uncle.

Well we know that he found not only one wife but four wives during his time away. He also had gathered a collection of other possessions. The attitude toward him had changed between him and his uncle. He knew it was time to leave.

The LORD instructed him in the fact that HE wanted him to leave as well. HE promised to be with him on the journey back home. HE wanted him back in the land of his fathers. HE wanted him to have a time with his brother and father.

I have mentioned many times in the devotions that I would like the LORD to come and speak to us today just like HE did in the Old Testament.

The New Testament informs us that HE did speak to us but it was through HIS Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave us enough instructions to know when it is time to move. HE showed the disciples that when HE opened a door, they were to go through it. Also, when HE closed a door they were to stay where they were or go in another direction as the Holy Spirit gave them instructions.

Through open and closed doors is how the LORD works today. When we try to go through a closed door it hurts. Open doors bring us times of blessings. Prayer is again the key to knowing when it is time to move to a new locations or new position.

CHALLENGE: Waiting on the LORD is always hard but the blessing flow when we wait on HIM to direct our steps. Keep all moves in prayer.

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. (3581 “power” [kowach] means to be firm, vigor, ability, might, substance, wealth or human strength. In verse 29, 410 “power” [‘el] means mighty, strength, men of rank or used of God)

DEVOTION: Have you ever watched people size up one another? There are boxers who try to intimate one another before a fight. It is said that there is a coach in the NBA who tries to intimate a player on the other team, to see, if he can get him to foul himself out of the game. This causes his team to win the game. Sometime this even happens at board meeting at churches. One deacon/elder tries to intimidate another to see if he can get his plan moved forward.

This verse shows how Jacob was feeling that he was used by Laban. He complained that he worked hard for nothing. He didn’t feel appreciated. He wanted out. He was going. He even had a word from the LORD to go.

Here we have a contrast between the power of Jacob and the power of Laban in their own minds. Laban thought he had mighty power because he was a man of rank in his world. Jacob talked about using his human strength to serve Laban. What Jacob didn’t realize, at the time, was that God was giving him strength to serve Laban. What Laban didn’t realize is that he had no power except what God gave him. Jacob was telling his wives why it was time to leave. They agreed with him.

Jacob also had a dream in which the LORD told him to leave. This was another theophany. Remember that a “theophany” is the visible appearing of deity in the Old Testament. It would be nice if God still visited us in our dreams, however, we have the completed Word of God so we don’t need any further revelation.

God had warned Laban before she saw Jacob to watch what he said. Laban was restrained but still questioned Jacob on his reasons for leaving without telling him.

We need to learn about where we are in our world and on whose strength we need to depend. If we are a child of God, we have HIS strength to help us through all circumstances. When we get to the point where we think that all that is getting done is in our own power, we are in trouble.

Laban was a god unto himself but he met the real God of the universe. Remember whom we serve!!! Our wealth doesn’t come in our own strength. Our wealth comes in the strength God has given us. Too often we look at what we have and think that we have gotten by ourselves under our own strength. When we think those thoughts we are falling into the hands of our enemy. He wants us to think that we don’t need God. Sometimes we can think we need God for one part of our life but not another. We tend to compartmentalize our lives. God is good in one part but not the other. Think again!! Let’s keep our focus on the LORD. HE is the one who gives us strength to do ALL THINGS.

CHALLENGE: Obey the LORD when HE speaks to us through HIS word. When HE tells us to move, we should move. When HE tells us to go, we should go. Jacob was listening to the LORD but still had problems with trusting HIM to lead all the time. LET HIM LEAD!!!

: 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you vowed a vow to me: now arise, get you out from this land, and return to the land of your kindred. (4886 “anointed” [mashach] means painted, spread a liquid, consecrate, or often in a religious ceremony of blessing or dedication or consecration)

DEVOTION: Communications is very important in every relationship. Here we have a relationship between a man and his God. We notice again that it is the “angel of God” who is speaking to Jacob.

Remember that the word for “angel” means messenger. Here we have a messenger from God. This messenger uses the personal pronoun “I” in this conversation. This is again the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ or the second person of the Godhead speaking with Jacob.

Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Jesus Christ existed before the foundation of the world with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. All three were involved in the creation of the world. There are three persons in the Godhead but only ONE God.

So we have Jesus Christ talking with Jacob about his future. HE wants Jacob to remember his commitment to God when he saw the ladder to heaven. He made a promise to God that if HE would protect him and provide for him and help him return to his father that God would be his God and he would give him a tenth of all that he had to God.

Now it was time to return to his father. Jesus Christ told him to return to his father and that HE would protect him on the trip. HE had protected and provided him as he had requests at Bethel.

On our journey through life if we are a follower of Jesus Christ HE has promised to never leave us or forsake us. HE has promised to provide for our every need.

CHALLENGE: HE is still on the throne even when we think that HE is not keeping HIS promises. HE is!!

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spoke to me yester-night, saying, “Take you heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad”. (410 “power” [‘el] means mighty, great, strong, strength, greatness or the ability to do a certain physical even, whether to harm or defend)

DEVOTION: God will only let people go so far in our lives. HE is still in the protection business. HE watches over HIS children day and night. There is never a time that HE doesn’t know what is happening in our life. HE is omniscient.

Here we find God warning Laban not to hurt Jacob. HE visits him in a dream to give him instructions the day before he is to meet up with Jacob. The instructions are plain. He is not to speak either good or bad to him. He is to be civil with Jacob. He is to understand that he is under the protections of the creator of the universe.

Laban arrives in the camp of Jacob and tells him that he has enough men with him that he could hurt him. He could take everything that Jacob has with him and return everything back to where Laban lived.

However, Laban took the visit from the LORD seriously and didn’t want the LORD to deal with him. He believed in the God of Jacob even though his family worshiped false gods.

Rachel had stolen the false gods of her father to carry with her to worship. She was not one who believed only in the Creator of the Universe that Jacob worshiped.

If there are any false gods in our life. we need to get rid of them. Who or what is more important to us than the God of the Bible? Many times, you have heard of the god of money. Also, you have heard of the god of sports. Sometimes it is someone we love that is more important than God.

Our priority has to put Jesus Christ at the top of our list each day. We can only do it if we keep ourselves close to the LORD. This is done through our time in the Word of God and prayer.

CHALLENGE: God will take care of any enemy we face if we depend on HIS strength.

:42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely you had sent me away now empty. God has seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you yesternight. (6040 “affliction” [ʿoniy] means 1 poor, afflicted, humble, wretched. 1a poor, needy. 1b poor and weak. 1c poor, weak, afflicted, wretched. 1d humble, lowly. [Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship])

DEVOTION: What do you do when you are going through suffering? For many of us, the first thing we do is to question God’s fairness and mercy. We think that we do not deserve to suffer, and are surprised when it comes our way. This is especially true when we suffer unjustly because someone else wants to get ahead. We forget that we live in a fallen world where sin still reigns.

Jacob realizes for the first time in his life that God has been watching him every step of the way. Up until this point, Jacob has thought that he could get away with every kind of deception that he was able to pull off. Now he is realizing through suffering that God is aware all the time of what is going on in his life. God is using the megaphone of suffering to help Jacob know who He is. Even though Jacob recognized that his suffering at the hands of Laban was unfair and unjust, he is willing to submit to it because he realizes that the LORD is in control.

At this point, not only does Jacob confront Laban for his dishonesty, but he states that the LORD is the one who will provide for him despite Laban’s cheating. In other words, Jacob now has turned the corner in terms of acknowledging that God is in complete control. He is even willing to leave to go back to his family in Canaan, facing an uncertain future there. He does not know whether either of his parents are still alive, but he does remember his fuming brother who promised to kill him for stealing his blessing shortly before he left. He has to trust in the LORD because there is no way for Him to humanly make right what has happened.

CHALLENGE: Are you suffering today? If so, turn to God and ask Him to show you how He wants you to trust Him in this suffering. (BM)

DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Covenant between Jacob and Labanverses 44-54

Jegar-sahadutha = Laban called

Galeed = Jacob called Mizpah

Frugality (Wise use of resources)

Devoured of our moneyverses 15-16

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)

Offered sacrificeverse 54

DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

Isaac in the land of Canaanverse 18

Abrahamverses 42, 53

Fear of Isaacverses 42, 53

Nahorverse 53

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

LORD (Jehovah)verses 3, 49

LORD told Jacob HE would be with himverse 3

God (Elohim)verses 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 24, 29, 42, 50, 53

God of Isaacverse 5

God suffered Laban not to hurt Jacobverse 7

God took cattle from Labanverse 9

God of Bethelverse 13

I AM the God of Bethelverse 13

God appears to Laban in dreamverses 24, 29

God of my fatherverse 42

God of Abrahamverses 42, 53

God sees afflictionverse 42

God is witness of covenant between Jacob and Labanverses 44-50

God of Nahorverse 53

God of their fatherverse 53

Judgeverse 53

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

Angel of the LORDverses 11-13

God the Holy Spirit Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Angelverse 11

Angel of Godverse 11

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)

Inheritanceverse 14

Strangersverse 14

Galeed – heap of witnessverse 47

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)

Deceivedverse 7

Changed wages ten timesverse 7

Stolen the images (false gods)verse 19

Speak badverses 24, 29

Foolishlyverse 28

Stolen godsverses 30, 32, 34

Afraidverse 31

Lie of Rachelverse 35

Trespassverse 36

Sinverse 36

Changed wages ten timesverse 41

Salvation(Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)

Presence of the LORDverses 3, 5

Blessed with possessionsverse 9

Vowverse 13

Affliction seen of Godverse 42

God sees our laborverse 42

Covenantverse 44

Watch verse 49

Israel(Old Testament people of God)

Laban’s sonsverses 1, 19

Said Jacob took their inheritance

Shear sheep

Jacobverses 1-55

LORD told Jacob to return to father and his kindred

Told wives of Laban’s countenance

Told wives he served father’s will, all his power

Dream – God of Bethel

Anointed the pillar

Vowed a vow

Told to get out of the land and return to land of kindred

Didn’t know Rachel had stolen images

Served Laban twenty years

Laban the Syrianverses 2, 5-9, 19-55

Third day he found out Jacob leaving

Took brethren with him to confront Jacob

Over took Mount Gilead

Changed Jacob’s wages ten times

Covenant between Laban and Jacob

Rachelverses 4, 14, 19, 33-35

Stolen images

Custom of a women

Leahverses 4, 14

Bethelverse 13

Padan-aramverse 18

Isaacverses 18, 53

Land of Canaanverse 18

Mount Gileadverse 21

Abrahamverse 42

Isaacverses 42, 53

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events)

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QUOTES regarding passage

22–42 The dispute over the stolen household gods (v.30) gives an occasion for the writer to restate his central theme. The theme is expressed in Jacob’s words to Laban: “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you” (31:42). Jacob’s wealth had not come through his association with Laban. On the contrary, it had come only through God’s gracious care during his difficult sojourn. (Sailhamer, J. H. (1990). Genesis. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers (Vol. 2, p. 207). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

31:22–35. In the seven-day pursuit to Gilead, east of the Jordan River, just as Laban was catching up with Jacob, he was warned by God in a dream not to speak good or bad to Jacob. Without this decisive act of God Jacob might not have brought anything home with him.

In the controversy between Jacob and Laban legal jargon was used to describe their civil suit. In the first “strife” (rîḇ; cf. v. 36) or accusation Laban claimed that Jacob had robbed him (vv. 26–27, 30)—but he presented himself as a hurt father (v. 28) and a baffled avenger (v. 29). When Laban demanded that Jacob return the teraphim (gods), Jacob put the death penalty on Rachel unknowingly (v. 32).

But Laban was then deceived by Rachel (vv. 33–35). She put the idols in her camel’s saddle and sat on the saddle in her tent. Apparently Laban never dreamed that a woman would dare take a chance to contaminate the idols. But what a blow this was to the teraphim—they became “nothing gods,” for a woman who claimed to be unclean sat on them (vv. 34–35; cf. Lev. 15:20). (Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 78). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

Confrontation (vv. 22–42). Since a three-days’ journey lay between Laban’s settlement and that of Jacob (30:36), it took that long for the word to get to Laban that his son-in-law had bolted; and by the time Laban got the news, Jacob was far away. It took a week for Laban to catch up with the fleeing family, and Jacob and Laban finally met in the hill country of Gilead.

Laban tried to get the upper hand immediately by rebuking Jacob for the way he had stolen away from Padan Aram. Imagine this clever schemer asking Jacob, “Why did you run off secretly and deceive me?” (31:27) Deceive him indeed! Laban had spent twenty years deceiving Jacob! But for all his blustering, Laban was helpless to harm Jacob because the Lord had warned him to be careful (vv. 24, 29). God had promised to protect Jacob and He kept His promise.

But the thing that angered Laban most was the fact that somebody had stolen his household gods, and he was sure the guilty person was in Jacob’s family. He was right; it was Rachel who did the deed (v. 19), but Jacob didn’t know it. The fact that Laban was distressed shows that his faith was in idols and not in the true God whom Jacob served. By pretending to be unclean because of her monthly period, Rachel escaped detection and further trouble with her father.

Watching his devious father-in-law arrogantly search through all the family’s personal possessions made Jacob angry, and rightly so; and feelings were now released from his heart that had been buried there for twenty years. Jacob spoke openly of Laban’s underhanded practices, how he had deceived Jacob, given him the hardest work, and changed his wages many times. God had blessed Laban because of Jacob, but Laban had never thanked either the Lord or Jacob, nor had he repaid Jacob for the animals he replaced at his own expense.

But the most important thing in Jacob’s speech was the way he gave honor to the Lord: “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night” (v. 42, nkjv). What a testimony from a man who was inclined to give in to others and do what he was told! (Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). Be authentic (pp. 47–48). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.)

Ver. 35. And she said to her father, &c.] As he approached nearer to her, having searched her tent all over: let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee: she addresses him with great honour and respect; calling him her lord, being her father, though an unkind one, and entreats him not to be displeased that she did not rise up and yield that obeisance to him which was due from her to a father: for the custom of women is upon me; her menstrues; which before the law of Moses were reckoned a pollution, and such persons were not to be touched or come near unto, and everything they sat upon was unclean, and not to be touched also; Lev. 15:19–23 and he searched; all about her, and around her; but did not oblige her to get up, nor could he imagine that ever the images could be under her in such circumstances: but found not the images; and so left off searching; nor do we find that he searched the flock for any of his cattle there, knowing full well Jacob’s honesty and integrity. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 1, p. 211). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

33–42. After the search for the teraphim has proved vain, Jacob warmly upbraids Laban. The camel’s saddle. This was a pack-saddle, in the recesses of which articles might be deposited, and on which was a seat or couch for the rider. Rachel pleads the custom of women as an excuse for keeping her seat; which is admitted by Laban, not perhaps from the fear of ceremonial defilement (Lev. 15:19–27), as this law was not yet in force, but from respect to his daughter and the conviction that in such circumstances she would not sit upon the teraphim. My brethren and thy brethren,—their common kindred. Jacob recapitulates his services in feeling terms. By day the drought; caused by the heat, which is extreme during the day, while the cold is not less severe in Palestine during the night. The fear of Isaac,—the God whom Isaac fears. 42. Judged,—requited by restraining thee from wrong-doing. (Murphy, J. G. (1873). Notes on the Old Testament: Genesis (pp. 406–407). Boston: Estes and Lauriate)

FROM MY READING:

(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)

Nehemiah 5
Nehemiah stops the internal mistreatment among the Jews by force of example
INSIGHT

The prospects for some of the returned exiles are bleak. There are deficient rains and poor harvests. As a result, the farmers mortgage their lands to their wealthier brethren and, in extreme cases, sell their children into slavery to pay the king’s taxes. The rich Jews, rather than helping out, are capitalizing on the situation to line their own pockets. This is inexcusable! Few things bring on more reproach to the cause of the Lord than the worldliness and hard-heartedness of those who claim to follow Him. Unselfish dedication to the common welfare of others in Christ is our spiritual obligation. (QuietWalk)

“AN UNCERTAIN SOUND”
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
1 Corinthians 14:8
The apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, “If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” If the sound is uncertain, then we shall add to the confusion. And that is why nothing is more important than that we should be perfectly clear in our minds as to what this Christian message really is. What does Christianity offer to people; what is it? How can we become Christians? These are the questions that we must answer.
Furthermore, what makes this terrible confusion so utterly inexcusable, of course, is that we have an open Bible before us, and we have it in a language that we can understand. If we had no Bible but merely some oral tradition, then there would be some excuse for the confusion. Or if we only had the Bible in a language that we
could not understand, again there would be considerable excuse. But that is not our position at all. So why is there any confusion? And there is only one answer to that question. It is because men and women, instead of taking the message as it is in the Bible, are imposing their own message upon it. They are approaching it with their philosophies, their theories, their ideas, and their attempts to understand; and they are bypassing what is stated in this Book that is open before them in a language that all can understand.
So my plea is that in all honesty, apart from anything else, we must come back to the Bible. Here are the documents of the early Church; here are the records of how Christianity came into being, of what the Church taught at the beginning and something of what happened as the result of that. In particular we must come back to the words and to the teaching and the message of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

A Thought to Ponder: We must come back to the Bible.
(From The Kingdom of God, p. 50, by Dr. Martyn Llooyd-Jones)

The Lord and King Cyrus
“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” (Isaiah 44:28)
This is a remarkable prophecy, one of the main stumbling blocks of liberals who use it as an excuse for their completely wrong notion of a “second Isaiah.” Long before Jerusalem was invaded and its temple destroyed by the armies of Babylon, Isaiah was already prophesying its rebuilding!
Furthermore, the great Persian emperor Cyrus (whose nation would eventually conquer Babylon) was here named by God about 150 years before he was born and 175 years before he would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy by giving Ezra authority to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-2).
Since liberal scholars do not want to believe in miracles and fulfilled prophecy, they have decided that this prophecy could not have been written by the original Isaiah but by some later writer living after Cyrus. The truth is, however, that God controls the future and can reveal it if He chooses, using this very fact as proof that He will keep His other promises. “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus…I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou has not known me” (Isaiah 45:1, 4).
God had also named King Josiah before he was born (1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23:15-16), with the specific prophecy concerning him waiting to be fulfilled for over 300 years after it was first spoken.
It may take a long time, but God will surely do all He has said. “I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)

The previous post in this series examined Peter Berger’s explanation for the progress of secularization in the Western world. In addition to Berger, Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor has also carefully traced the influence and effects of secularization on the West. As he explains in his important book, The Secular Age, the way people hold to theological convictions and religious principles in the modern era is fundamentally different than how people believed in the past. Modernity has made religious belief provisional, optional, and far less urgent than it was in the pre-modern world.

I had this notion pressed upon me in some force when I was a doctoral student and I had the opportunity to attend a seminar with Heiko Oberman, a prestigious history professor from the University of Arizona and one of the world’s greatest scholars on the Reformation. Oberman was about seventy years old at the time; I was in my early twenties.

Halfway through the lecture, Oberman, through no fault of our own, became exasperated with the class. “Young men,” he said, “you will never understand Luther because you go to bed every night confident you will wake up healthy in the morning. In Luther’s day, people thought that every day could be their last. They had no antibiotics. They didn’t have modern medicine. Sickness and death came swiftly.” Oberman’s point was that when Luther closed his eyes at night terrified he was afraid he might wake up in hell. Luther recognized that every day might be his last and he could very quickly find himself either face to face with God or the devil.

Taylor makes the same point, although not as anecdotally as Oberman. As Taylor notes, on this side of modernity when people believe, they are making a choice to believe that previous generations did not make. Belief is now a provisional choice, an exercise of personal autonomy. When people identify as believers in Jesus Christ they are making a far more individualistic statement than was possible in years past. Furthermore, they are doing so in the face of alternative worldview options that were simply unavailable until very recently. In fact, as I was doing research for my book on atheism I learned that the very first use of “atheist” in English came from Miles Coverdale who invented the word during his time translating Scripture. The remarkable thing to notice is that Coverdale had to invent a term for someone who did not believe in God because he did not know anyone who actually held that conviction. No one in the Elizabethan age would have denied God’s existence.

Perhaps the central insight from Taylor’s book is his categorization of the pre-modern, modern, and post-modern time periods with respect to the worldview options available in a culture. As Taylor argues, western history is categorized by three intellectual epochs: pre-Enlightenment impossibility of unbelief; post-Enlightenment possibility of unbelief; and late Modern impossibility of belief.

In the pre-Enlightment era it was impossible not to believe. One simply could not explain the world without some appeal either to the Bible or to “enchantment,” to return to Weber’s terminology. No other worldviews were available to members of society other than supernatural worldviews, particularly the Christian worldview in the West. While society had its heretics, there were no atheists among them. Everyone believed in some form of theism, even if it was polytheism. As Taylor simply states, it was impossible not to believe.

That all changed with the Enlightenment and the availability of alternative worldviews by which one could frame a comprehensive account of the world set over against the Christian worldview. These alternative worldviews made it possible for members of society to reject the supernaturalism of Christianity for a naturalistic worldview. Taylor’s careful phraseology here, however, is also important to note. While it was certainly possible not to believe, it was also the case that it was not likely that people would reject the Christian worldview because the theistic explanations for life were simply more pervasive, binding, and persuasive than non-theistic worldviews.

The intellectual conditions in Europe and on American university campuses have now secularized such that it is impossible for those under such conditions to believe in God. In other words, we have arrived at the third intellectual epoch of Western society: impossible to believe. As Taylor observes, to be a candidate for tenure at a major American university is to inhabit a world in which it is virtually impossible to believe in God. Under the first set of Western intellectual conditions, not everyone was a Christian, but all were accountable to a Christian worldview because there was no alternative. Secularization in American culture has reversed the conditions: not everyone is a non-Christian, but all must operate under a secular worldview that denies the legitimacy of a Christian worldview. In three hundred years, Western intellectual conditions have moved from an impossibility of unbelief to an impossibility of belief.

So what does this mean for us as preachers? We must recognize that these intellectual conditions now prevalent in Europe and in the American universities are quickly filtering down from the elites to the general culture. The mechanisms in this process are fairly easy to trace. In fact a number of polls reveal that the greatest predictor for whether you will find yourself in an increasingly secular space comes down to whether you live near a coast, a city, or a university. Given that the future of America is increasingly defined by most of its population being coastal, urban, and university-educated, you can see that the future of America is also increasingly secular.

Given these cultural changes, we need to recognize we are not preaching to people who hear us in the same way as previous generations in Western societies. Furthermore, we are not preaching with the same authority, culturally speaking, as we once did because we no longer represent the dominant, established worldview of the culture. Instead we now represent a worldview that is not only considered marginal but subversive of the new intellectual and moral regime. Even the people in our churches believe in a way that is more provisional and less theologically grounded than in previous generations.

The question remains, “What does preach look like, in the secular city? How do we preach a binding authority when people do not even realize they are under authority? How do we preach the objective truths of a non-provisional gospel? How do we preach the authority of a single book, its singular Savior, and a faith once for all delivered to the saints when most people hold, even unconsciously, to a firm commitment to pluralization? (Impossible to Believe – Preaching in a Secular Culture by Al Mohler)

….

In evaluating the book, it must be kept in mind that The Shack is a work of fiction. But it is also a sustained theological argument, and this simply cannot be denied. Any number of notable novels and works of literature have contained aberrant theology, and even heresy. The crucial question is whether the aberrant doctrines are features of the story or the message of the work. When it comes to The Shack, the really troubling fact is that so many readers are drawn to the theological message of the book, and fail to see how it conflicts with the Bible at so many crucial points.

All this reveals a disastrous failure of evangelical discernment. It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals — and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe.

The answer is not to ban The Shack or yank it out of the hands of readers. We need not fear books — we must be ready to answer them. We desperately need a theological recovery that can only come from practicing biblical discernment. This will require us to identify the doctrinal dangers of The Shack, to be sure. But our real task is to reacquaint evangelicals with the Bible’s teachings on these very questions and to foster a doctrinal rearmament of Christian believers.

The Shack is a wake-up call for evangelical Christianity. An assessment like that offered by Timothy Beal is telling. The popularity of this book among evangelicals can only be explained by a lack of basic theological knowledge among us — a failure even to understand the Gospel of Christ. The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine. (The Shack & the Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment by Dr. Albert Mohler)

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