Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Sometime going back to a situation is not something any of like to do, but something we should do.
Thursday, August 15, 2002
EXO 3:6 “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
1. We have two unprincipled deceitful men, each trying to outwit the other.
2. Laban is snickering over his bargain and trying to cheat Jacob by removing all of Jacobs flock and sending them off under the care of his sons.
3. Jacob is laughing because he knew, or thought he knew, a plan of winning to himself a great advantage.
4. The Bible does not hesitate to tell us the very worst about its heroes so that we may better magnify the grace of God out of which trophies of mercy are created.
5. Undoubtedly someone will take unfair advantage of you but that is not justification for you to do the same to them.
6. People may do mean and dirty tricks but they will eventually be trapped in their own pits and pierced by their own swords, while if you continue to stick with doctrine, you will go forward to success.
Gen 31 - Jacobs increasing prosperity stirred up jealousy on the part of Labans sons who realized that Jacob had ripped off their father Laban.
Sometimes going back to a situation is not something any of us like to do, but sometimes something we should do.
GEN 31:17-19 - Laban had gone to shear his sheep when Jacob loaded up everything he had accumulated and slipped out of town.
GEN 31:22-23 - as soon as Laban heard the news he called his relatives and they pursued Jacob.
GEN 31:25-28 - Laban reproached Jacob for deceiving him and running off secretly.
He also said that Jacob missed having a joyous going-away celebration with tambourines and lyres.
GEN 31:45-47 - Jacob set up a stone as a memorial pillar and these would mark the boundaries between Laban on the north and Jacob on the south.
These angels were sent by God to Jacob to make him conscious of the heavenly presence and to assure him of divine protection.
HEB 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
They are called “mighty angels,” 2TH 1:7, that “excel in strength” and “obey His word,” PSA 103:20, and they are “sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,” HEB 1:14.
Mahanaim = two camps or encampments, God and his, recognizing that the angels had been there with him all the time even though he could not see them.
While we are on the right path, we can expect to encounter certain things which will test our faith.
Jacob is returning from his long exile, being in the wrong place, to the land given to his fathers and later to himself by Jehovah.
When Jacob comes back, he brings a lot of wounds and scars with him including four wives and eleven children.
Jacobs two great enemies and opponents were Laban and Esau, one outside the promised land, one within - this typifies the believers struggles against the world and his own flesh.
Robert R. McLaughlin All Rights Reserved 2002