IF WE CAN TRUST GOD FOR LIFE IN ETERNITY, WE CAN TRUST GOD FOR OUR LIFE ON EARTH TODAY! 

ISAIAH 41:13

 MATHEW 28:20 NKJV
"I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Amen.

WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1ST-8TH-15TH, 2017

GENESIS 31

JACOB FLEES FROM LABAN 

1/ Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.” 2/ And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before. 3/ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”
4/ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, 5/ and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6/ And you know that with all my might I have served your father.

7/ Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.



GOD IS NOT ONLY THE GOD OF THE PAST AND OF THE FUTURE, HE'S THE GOD OF YOUR RIGHT NOW TODAY!!! 

8/ If he {Laban} said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he {Laban} said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. 9/ So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

10/ “And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. 11/ Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12/ And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

13/ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’”

14/ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him {Jacob}, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15/ Are we not considered strangers by him? For he {Laban} has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. 16/ For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”

17/ Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18/ And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19/ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols {teraphim} that were her father’s.

20/ And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.

Household Idols/Teraphim

Kabbalah: Teraphim - Teraphim were called the "givers of prosperity," “guardians of comforts," They were suppose to bring prosperity and good luck, though the practice was considered heathen. 

Rachel may have stolen the household idols of her father "Laban the Syrian" out of a superstitious fear of moving from the only home she ever knew, believing the idols would protect and bring blessing to her and her household.



The idols, also called "teraphim", were large or small human shaped figurines. 

Pictured above: three Syrian terracotta idols circa 2nd millennium bc

  More household ancient idols pictured above.

Having household idols could have been what amounted to the superstitous beilef that it would bring good-luck and blessings for the posessor's household. 

It seems as though Rachel continued to hold onto pagan spiritual practices and superstitions embraced by her father’s family. Remember Rachel and the mandrakes in WBS #165 Genesis 30 *Rachel Gives Birth to Joseph"* 

Let's not judge Rachel. Let each of us take personal inventory of ourselves. Do any of us professing Christians today have difficulty letting go of non-Christian practices that exist as part of family tradition? Do we embrace little or big idols or good luck charms in place of believing God's promises in His Word to bless, protect and care for us?

PUT AWAY THE GODS YOUR FATHERS SERVED ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD!

God destroyed the whole world and all of the people in it except for Noah and his family; eight people total God saved to continue the human race.

Any kind of idol worship no matter how big or small or insignificant you think it might be, is sin against God and a doorway for you to be controlled by demonic activity. 

The Moral Code {Ten Commandents} were not known to Laban and his household; so they quite possibly would not have not known their actions were sins against God. The Ten Commandments, God's set standards for righteous living on earth were given by God to Moses over 400-500 years later as God was bringing the Israelites up spiritually, and out physically of Egyptian bondage. 



UNLIKE IN THE TIME OF LABAN AND RACHEL, TODAY WE KNOW GOD'S MORAL CODE AND WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WE DO CONCERNING IT.

  REVIEW WBS #89 HOUSE CLEANING CHECK TIME & #86 WHAT'S THE CONDITION OF YOUR GROUND?

 Zechariah 10:2 NKJV

2/ For the idols {Hebrew teraphim} speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd. 

WE PRAISE AND THANK GOD FOR GIVING US A SHEPHERD FOR THE WORLD TODAY!!!



REVIEW WBS # 19/ "THE 23RD PSALM"



21/ So he fled with all that he had. He {Jacob} arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.

  Laban Pursues Jacob

22/ And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23/ Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24/ But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”

25/ So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
26/ And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? 27/ Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? 28/ And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing. 29/ It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ 30/ And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”

31/ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ 32/ With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33/ And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34/ Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. 35/ And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.”{Rachel told her father she was on her period of menstruating.} And he searched but did not find the household idols.
36/ Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? 37/ Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! 38/ These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. 39/ That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40/ There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. 41/ Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 42/ 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.”

CAN YOU RECALL HOW BADLY JACOB'S HARDWORKING, WELL DIGGING FATHER, ISAAC WAS TREATED; AS WELL AS OTHER HEBREW NAMES OF GOD WE STUDIED? SEE IT ALL IN WBS  #161/GENESIS 26 *GOD BLESSED ISAAC, ISAAC WENT FORWARD & BECAME A VERY GREAT MAN"     

James 5:4 ESV
4/ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

GOD HEARS OUR CRY!

Laban’s Covenant with Jacob

43/ And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? 44/ Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
45/ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46/ Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. 47/ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha {Literally, in Aramaic, Heap of Witness}, but Jacob called it Galeed {Literally, in Hebrew, Heap of Witness}. 48/ And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, 49/ also Mizpah {Literally Watch}, because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. 50/ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”
51/ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. 52/ This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53/ The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.”

And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. 54/ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. 55/ And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.



LORD WILLING WE WILL BEGIN WBS #167 GENESIS 32 ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15TH, 2017.

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