In this 19th study in the book of Genesis, Chuck Misler discusses Genesis chapter 29, verse 31, through chapter 31, verse 14. He begins by sharing an anecdote about meeting Malcolm Toon, a former ambassador, and highlights the lack of understanding about the Middle East among political leaders. Misler then delves into the story of Jacob and his journey back to the land of his father. He emphasizes the three steps Jacob took to discern God's will in his life: a conviction in his heart, seeking guidance from God's word, and relying on God's protection. Misler also references Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32, which praises God's guidance and protection of Jacob.

Welcome to the 19th study in the book of Genesis conducted by Chuck Missler. The subject of this tape, Genesis chapter 29, verse 31 through chapter 31, verse 14. Before we do get started, I have to share one thing. We had an opportunity yesterday afternoon to go up to Beverly Hills and home of some friends and receive Malcolm Toon, who is the ambassador to the Soviet Union, or was. Any guy that was declared persona non grata by Brezhnev can't be all bad. And, but he is, Carter left him there and he's not retiring from government service. He previously was the ambassador to the nation Israel. So it was an interesting afternoon to, you know, shoot questions and so forth and no great insights particularly relevant to this other than the more you hear from these guys, the more you're convinced that they don't really understand the Middle East because they don't understand its roots. Problems in the Middle East did not start in 1948 or in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration or what have you, started in the book of Genesis right about where we are. And it's, of course, it's always interesting among a group of Jewish dignitaries receiving someone like that to be a goyim in the midst of them and raising questions relative to the Genesis roots of the issue as opposed to the other things. And, but anyway, it is interesting how we live in a world where these very issues that we're studying here are coming to a crisis. And, yes? Goyim? Thank you. I'm a goyim. All right. I've been called worse things. We'll open with a word of prayer, but I figured that just get the circulation going and so forth and I'll give any other late comers a chance to sneak in quietly. Father, we just praise you for this evening. We thank you, Father, for your presence here. We thank you, Father, for your promise that you've given us that you would never leave us or forsake us. And we thank you, Father, for your abiding presence in our lives and in our hearts and with us tonight. We ask you for your Holy Spirit and the authority of Jesus Christ that he might instruct us and show forth those great and mighty things that you've done on our behalf. And, Father, we would above all these things see Jesus Christ in all that we behold here. We ask you, Father, to just open our hearts and minds, thoughts, but all else aside and help us this hour to be drawn more closely to you and Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. Okay. We have been shifting gears a little. You may have noticed, contrary to my usual style of digging in with thousands of irrelevant details, we've started moving along, letting the narrative just carry us along. But in so doing, in going over my notes, there's a number of points that I think I either didn't make or may need emphasizing again. We've carried ourselves through chapter 28, where Jacob was at Bethel, and verse 15 of chapter 8 meant a lot to me lately, where the Lord, in contrast to the blessings that occurred in the earlier chapter, the Lord himself blesses Jacob far more than Israel, his father did. And verse 15 says, For I will not leave thee. And that is probably the most precious promise that you can get out of the scripture. And that was the promise given to Jacob. It was also the promise given to Moses for all the people before they crossed the Jordan, under the leadership of Joshua in Deuteronomy 31. That was the promise that was given to Joshua himself as he assumed the leadership and faced the battle, Joshua chapter 1, verses 5 and 8. It was the promise given to Solomon when he rebuilt the temple. I shouldn't say rebuilt, when he built the temple. It was also the promise given to the disciples before the ascension. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. It's interesting enough, that's one reason I wanted to mention it this evening in the prayer that we opened up with. If you turn to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5, we can claim that ourselves in a very special way. So let your manner of life be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. There's some people that'll run around and try to teach you otherwise. I commend to you to mark vividly in blue, green or whatever you're carrying with yourself. Verse 5, he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And boy, am I glad that that abiding is on his faithfulness, not mine. Why does he do that? Verse 6, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Gee, we could spend all evening on this. But I do suggest your response to that promise in Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5 and 6, not be the same response that Jacob had when he got the promise that I will never leave thee, because he immediately made a vow. I think we touched on vows, but in listening to the tape and going over my notes, I felt that I should maybe reinforce something. I don't know personally of any vow that's useful in the scripture. That's probably a wrong statement, but as I've warned you many times, I throw those out just to see if you're doing your homework. But I'm going to suggest the proposition that a vow has two problems. One, it is a usurpation of the sovereignty of God, because it assumes that you have the capacity to fulfill the vow, and you don't. Nothing you can do, nothing you aver can avoid the footnote as the Lord wills. And for you to make a vow is a usurpation of that idea. Secondly, a vow will hinder your spiritual growth. And so I just submit those two ideas, reminding you of our premise on which this whole gathering is based. And that's Acts 17, 11, right? These are more noble than those in Thessalonica, speaking of the Breons author, or rather Luke says in the book of Acts, in that they receive the word with all readiness of mind, but search the scriptures daily to prove whether those things be so. Not if I'm right. I'm just laying that out on you in terms of this vow thing with Jacob, I don't know of anyone in the scripture, of the Lord of course, that makes a vow and survives it constructively. I don't think you need to make vows in the Christian era. You can talk all you like about the Old Testament time, and I'm not going to quarrel with that. I am going to suggest that you and I have no need for making vows. We seek but one thing, Christ's abiding. A vow is an attempt to take on yourself a responsibility that God probably didn't intend. So, but anyway, that's Jacob's approach to grace, is to put himself under the law. But I'll leave that with you. He also goes into the tenth. I think we did talk about tithes and tenths and all that, right? Malachi Old Testament says that the tenth is the Lord's. We know better than that, don't we? Right? Ten tenths is the Lord's. Fair? Thirty-four of Moses' laws were in operation by this point in Genesis. So those laws that are dignified or ceremonialized or instituted in the laws of Moses were already operative even prior to Moses, incidentally. And the tithe is one of them. Here's evidence of it. But again, I don't think, all we know for sure from Malachi is that less than the tenth means you're stealing. Right? Well, we went through that last time before, I guess, so move on. But I just thought I'd remind you that. Unless you felt comfortable and smug and comfortable tonight, I thought I'd leave you something to bother you on the way home. Okay, then we shifted from chapter 28 to chapter 29. Chapter 29, which we started, we jumped into last time, but I want to pick up tonight, is that period of time that Jacob, I imagine it was his dearest time in his life. I say that because he never forgot this period. He spoke of it even on his deathbed. We'll see that when we get to chapter 48, verse 3, which you don't have to turn to now because we'll do that in 18 or 20 months from now. But anyway, he never forgot this period. And he never forgot it. If nothing else, he found out what his uncle Laban was all about. But even Moses himself sang of this period in Deuteronomy 32, verses 9 through 13. Maybe we'll turn to that one. Deuteronomy 32 is known as the Song of Moses. And verses 9 through 13, Moses makes reference to Jacob. The Lord's portion, verse 9, is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in the waste, howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, flutterth over a young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him. There was no strange God with him. We're going to find a little incident about strange God shortly, but not with Jacob. That was with Rachel when she lifts the tariff from her uncle. That's a whole other thing we'll get into tonight. There was no strange God with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he might eat of the increase of the fields, and he made him to suck honey out of a rock, and oil out of plenty of rock, and so forth. Do you notice where it says, where he fluttereth over the young? What does that remind you of? Hey, very good. Genesis, verse 1. Right. Spirit of God. Darkness is upon the face of the deep, right? The Spirit of God brooded, fluttered, vibrated, if you want to be a physicist, over it. I told you about the three guys that were arguing about the oldest profession, didn't I? Did I share that with you? I have a story from the book of Genesis. Believe it or not, I got it on a sales trip. There was a doctor, an engineer, and an attorney that were arguing about who was a member of the oldest profession. The doctor said, well, of course, medicine is the oldest profession. It goes all the way back to Genesis, chapter 2, where Eve is taken out of the sight of Adam. It's an operation. It's not an operation. It's with a deep anesthesia. That proves that medicine is the oldest profession. I kept getting caught up in the spirit of the discussion. The engineer, not to be out there, says, nonsense. Adam came along late. That was the sixth day. What actually happened was the greatest creative act was the universe, all the planets and galaxies. That was the greatest engineering feat that has never been equaled. So engineering is actually the oldest profession. The lawyer stepped up and said, you didn't read this text carefully. All of this was created out of chaos, which proves the attorneys were there first. So I just had to work better. OK, onward. We got through this beautiful period of Genesis 29, where Jacob falls in love with Rachel and arranges with Laban to work for Rachel. And Laban, out of his connivery, but probably in the will of the Lord, in terms of God's desire in Jacob's life, gives Jacob a lesson in the rights of the firstborn. Because Leah, the one with the bad eyes, tender eyes is the polite term, but the Hebrew implies there were weak eyes. Leah is substituted. And so Jacob is cheated. And we're very reminiscent of the way Jacob cheated his brother before their father in the rights of the firstborn. And we find Jacob himself disenfranchised of his desire, having to honor the rights of the firstborn. And we have that whole incident that we talked about last time. But he loved Rachel so much that he worked another seven years. So this poor guy has put in 14 years for these two gals. And I'm going to show great self-control tonight by not getting into this whole issue of polygamy and, you know, sufficient until the day, et cetera. So we'll just pass on that one and see what Jacob reaped by having two gals under the same roof. We got into this last time, but I'm going to pick up tonight's discussion at verse 31 of chapter 29. Because this is where we start to get into, well, I might start a verse earlier, that each one of the two gals gets a handmaid, Bilhah and Zohah. And of course, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, so he served another 30 years. Now, you can imagine, just put your imagination on it. It's my presumption that Rachel was probably insufferable. Can you imagine Jacob, who has shown so much preference for the sister as to work seven years and then be cheated and work another seven for her? That's got to be a tough environment. If you were Leah, you probably had a, you could visualize being in a pretty tough predicament where Rachel is obviously the favored one. Verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Now, that may, we're jumping to conclusions, but that may speak volumes. In any case, Leah conceived and bore a son called his name Reuben. For she said, surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction. Now, therefore, my husband will love me. Now, what we're going to do tonight is we're going to go through these births. And for each birth, you might make note of two things. What the name means, or our best guess as to what it means. And secondly, the incident or attitude or exclamation that gives rise to the name. Now, Reuben means see a son. Very natural. Here's Leah competing with her, the other wife. And she has the first, you know, that's a big deal that they're a son at all, let alone the first one, Reuben. Reuben means see a son. For Leah says, quote, surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction, looked upon my affliction. Now, therefore, my husband will love me. That's her thought that the Holy Spirit records incident to Reuben. Now, we're going to go through the narrative to feel what exactly happened, but then we're going to go back and see what else the Holy Spirit may be doing here. That's the first one, Reuben. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon, which means hearing, hearing. See, in other words, because the Lord heard, the word heard, you might underline, because the Lord heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also and called his name hearing. Okay. Simeon means hearing. She conceived again and bore a son and said, now this time will my husband become attached or joined unto me because I have born him three sons. Therefore, his name is called Levi, which means joined or attached. Do you know that's what Levi meant? Joined or attached. Okay. She conceived again and bore a son and she said, now will I praise the Lord? Underline the word praise. Now will I praise the Lord? Therefore, she called his name, praise, Judah. And then she ceased bearing. Now, she has four sons and then she ceased bearing. She's going to have a couple more later, but she had these four. These four each include the covenant name of Jehovah in the name. So, they speak of a spiritual strength, probably, in Leah's demeanor, background, expression. She's later to have Gad, which is a Babylonian deity, the God of fate. So, the later names don't necessarily have the dignity, if you will, that these first four do. These first four are named after, in a sense, named after God in some way. They include, in the Hebrew construction, a reference to the covenant name of Jehovah. So, that's interesting. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. The first four born of Leah. And, well, before we amplify it too much, let's continue on. Let's go through the whole, let's go through 11 of them. We won't go through 11 because the 12th takes a couple chapters to arrive. Well, maybe we should do that too. Let's go through the 12 tribes and then take a look at the several different ways. So, let's just continue with chapter 30, verse 1. And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob, no children. Now, can you imagine what Rachel's going through? Here's Leah, who's the despised one. And I'm jumping to a lot of conclusions. I've always sort of visualized Rachel as being extremely attractive, but spoiled rotten. And, but here she is, not having any children. Leah, the older sister, having four. She's getting a little unglued. Rachel envied her and said unto Jacob, give me children or else I die. Would you say she's a nag? Can you nag in the will of God? I let you girls, I bothered the fellas with a couple of cracks tonight. I'll let you girls think about that on the way home. Can you nag in the will of God? I'm going to suggest that you cannot nag in the will of God. God never nags. Do you know that? Women who nag cannot be in the will of God. Who is the nagger? Revelation 12.10. Satan. So I'll lay that on you just to have a little fun. And this may be wrong. You know, a check mister's all screwed up. He's, what can an engineer know? There was a guy by the name of Hammurabi, who is recorded in Genesis chapter 14 verse 1, briefly mentioned this Amraphel, but we know him in secular literature as Hammurabi. He lived about 800 years before Moses and he developed a code of laws and ethics that became the standard from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea and from Persia all the way to the Mediterranean. The code of Hammurabi. And you'll find many references to him if you're studying ancient history. But in the code of Hammurabi, it was normal for a woman, a wife who was barren, to put in her place a surrogate wife, namely her handmaid, to raise up children to the husband. She was in effect, biologically speaking or physiologically speaking, a stand-in, a pinch hitter, if you will. And it was, I hope that's not an offensive way of expressing it, but that was not my intention. But the point is, this was commonly done. We read about it here and several places in the scripture and it strikes us as quaint or bizarre or weird, what have you. You need to understand that in this part of the world at that time, that was commonly done. And that's exactly what Rachel finally resorts to. She says to Jacob, give me children or else I die. Verse two, and Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel and he says, am I in God's stead? Got to give Jacob some credit here. During the entire sojourn in Paddan Aram, there is no evidence that Jacob was in fellowship particularly. He builds no altar, there's no prayers recorded, et cetera. However, there are a couple of places, and this is one of them, where it may be more than just a figure of speech. Jacob attributes Rachel's barrenness to God's sovereignty and how well we might all do that too, where there's a circumstance, favorable or unfavorable, to recognize it's entirely God's sovereignty. But in any case, am I in God's stead? Who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her and she shall bear upon my knees so that I may also have children by her. So she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid, as his wife, and Jacob went in unto her. Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Rachel said, and this is what Rachel says upon the birth here, the Holy Spirit thought this was important enough to record this particular quote. All the way through, by each son, there is a quote by the wife. Rachel said, God hath judged me, underline the word judged, God hath judged me and hath also heard my voice and hath given me a son. Therefore, call she his name, judging Dan. Now, Dan was really born out of a jealous act. Rachel is trying to compete with Leah. Pride, envy, nagging, conniving, jealousy is the background of Dan. We're going to study the 12 tribes in great detail before we're through Genesis, primarily because of our insatiable interest in the book of Revelation. The tribe of Dan does not get listed in the 12 tribes that are sealed in chapter 7 of the book of Revelation. In fact, Dan gets the back of the hand of the Holy Spirit, so to speak, all the way through the scripture. When we go through the genealogies, you'll see the genealogy given of each of the 12 sons of Jacob, until you get to Dan, it says Dan and others. You'll notice it lists all the sons of each one. When it gets to Dan, if you don't have a good translation, it'll confuse you. There's two words after that, but they're not names of sons. It's really a way of saying and others. And all the way through, Dan is in bad shape. And it's as if the Holy Spirit could foresee that it was through the tribe of Dan that idolatry would enter the land. And we'll study that in great length. I won't get into it now because we'll build a whole study on the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. When we get to chapter 49, Jacob himself, leaning on his staff, prophesies over each of the 12 tribes. And those prophecies come through the scripture and the impact or understanding of the book of Revelation. We'll take that up in great detail then. But you just might make a note that Dan is in trouble from the beginning. Okay, and Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again and bore Jacob, a second son. And Rachel said, with great wrestlings, with great wrestlings, have I wrestled with my sister. Who's Rachel's problem with? Leah. This whole thing is a big race, a big competition. Rachel says, with great wrestlings, have I wrestled with my sister, sister, and I have prevailed. Two key words, wrestling and prevailed. She called his name, wrestling, naphtali. Leah saw, she saw a good thing going here. She saw Rachel yield a couple by this surrogate wife idea. So Leah saw that she had ceased bearing. She took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her to Jacob as his wife. Jacob is getting a full house. He's now got four gals on his hands. Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, notice there's always a quote by Rachel or Leah. Leah says, good fortune. And called his name, it actually translates a troop or a company, a military group. But it also was the name of a Babylonian god, the god of good fortune, the god of fate. It's like calling him lucky or calling him, you know, good fortune. Gad is the term, tribe of Gad comes out of him. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for the daughter shall call me blessed. And called his name, Asher, meaning happy. Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field. Mandrakes, incidentally, are a root that had the superstitious, superstition surrounding them that they were an aphrodisiac. I think more modern texts refute that, any biological basis in that idea. But that is the concept that mandrakes are ascribed to be an aphrodisiac, and that's what's coming up here. Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest, found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said unto Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy sons mandrakes. And she said unto her, is it a small matter that thou has taken my husband? Wouldst thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, therefore, he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes. And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her all that night. So the two gals are bartering him. I don't think it requires any comment. I'll just forego that. And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah has, naturally, herself two more. She had four originally, two by her handmaid, and then now two more by herself of her own. She bore a fifth son. Leah said, God hath given me my hire. In line the word hire. Because I have given my maiden to my husband, and she called his name Issachar, which means hire or wage, wages. And the reason they go into this mandrakes thing, you wouldn't understand why she called him Issachar, except because she, in effect, felt she'd hired or paid for the privilege which caused her to conceive. Leah conceived again, and bore Jacob a sixth son. Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry. A good dowry. Now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons, and she called his name Zebulun, which means dwelling, tied to the dowry. And afterwards, she bore a daughter, called her name Dinah, and Dinah is going to feature heavily in a later episode. God remembered Rachel. Now we had four with Leah, two with Rachel's handmaid, two with Leah's handmaid, two naturally again with Leah, right? Now we get around to number, if I'm counting right, 11. God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, God hath taken away my reproach. She called his name Joseph, which can mean adding to, and said, the Lord shall add to me another son. That turns out to be a prophecy. And just to make our tour here complete, we have to skip all the way over to chapter 35 to pick up the 12th son. Chapter 35, verse 16. A lot happens in the meantime, you know, they leave, there's a lot of things that'll happen in the meantime. But now we're getting several chapters later, and we're in chapter 35, verse 16. And it says, and they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath. And we're going to discover in verse 19 that this is Bethlehem. Ephrathah is the general locality, Bethlehem is a specific city. And it's the Bethlehem that obviously is the Bethlehem we all know as the birthplace of Christ. There are two Bethlehems, one you don't read about much, but there really was another Bethlehem to avoid confusion. This is the Bethlehem we're talking about. Came to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. And it came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her, fear not, thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass as her soul was in departing, for she died. She died in that childbirth. But as her soul was departing, that she called his name Ben-Onai. Ben-Onai, which means the son of my sorrow. Okay. But his father called him Benjamin, which means the son of my right hand. And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And if you go to Bethlehem today, one of the places that you can stop, and I recommend you do, is at Rachel's tomb. Very, very beloved spot to the Jewish people. And their tomb is there, just outside Bethlehem. Yeah, Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, and that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day, and so on. Now, very, very interesting. We have 12 tribes, the 12 sons of Jacob. These 12 tribes, each name has a translation. Each name is associated with a quotation of the mother. And it's very interesting, and I'm just going to tease you with a few observations, with the idea that you will take it upon yourself to take these home, make little charts, list the 12 sons, and except you have a little problem, the 12 sons are listed in the scripture over a dozen times. What's interesting is each time they're listed in the scripture, they're listed in a different order. Almost, sometimes they're the same order, but there's several basic orders they're listed in. One order is the order we have them here, the order of their birth. Right? Another order is to put all Leah's sons first, then Rachel's sons, then the sons of the handmaidens, respectively, in some kind of natural hierarchy, if you will. The concept being that Leah was the first wife, the natural sons of Leah having precedence. That gives rise to another order in the genealogies. And so on and so forth. We're going to discover that Joseph has two sons, both of which are adopted by Jacob as his own sons. Joseph, we're going to discover, has two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And Joseph will end up getting the rights of the firstborn and thus has a double portion. You say, well gee, that's Reuben. He's the firstborn. Yes, but he forfeits it through some heinous crimes. And it gets down to Judah. And Judah has the right of kingship. We're going to discover that Joseph has two sons. Both the two sons are adopted by Jacob, Ephraim and Manasseh. Now that actually gives us 13 tribes to choose from. And all through the scripture, it turns out, you'd like to have 12 tribes, except you sometimes don't want to count Levi. And sometimes you do. Because Levi does not go to war. So he's not counted in the army. The tribe of Levi was commissioned to take care of the tabernacle. So how do you get 12 tribes if you don't count Levi? Very simply, you count Joseph as two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. So you've actually got 13. You can take one away and still have your 12 tribes of Israel. Terrific. There's other times when you want to have everybody there and you want to have 12 tribes, fine. You have the tribe of Joseph. You double them up. You can play a shell game here, depending on how you want to list the 12 tribes. And we'll study that. I think we'll get into most of that when we're in chapter 49. Because there's some very, very interesting observations. But the first thing you can do is take each place they're listed. Here in Genesis, several times. In Exodus, in Numbers 1, Numbers 10, and so on. And certainly in Revelation, chapter 7. Also in Ezekiel 48, when they inherit the land. And you discover some interesting things. Each time they're in a different order, and each time the order of their listing gives you a sentence. And a sentence can carry a meaning. Whether it's significant or not, you'll have to judge. One example is what we have here in the natural order. Some scholars have seen, in the meaning of the names of the 12 tribes, the gospel. Reuben's first, see a son. This calls to mind John 1.9, behold the Lamb of God. That's where we start. Faith cometh by hearing. Simeon, the second son, is by hearing. And faith cometh by hearing we are joined, or have union with him, the tribe of Levi. Reuben, Simeon, Levi. Which leads to what? Judah. Praise. Our sins are thus judged, in terms of Dan. There's wrestling, in terms of the walk with Naphtali. There is a troop or company, or the concept of fellowship, in the name of Gad. There's happy, in the concept of the name of Asher. There is the concept of hire, or hiring, or service, in the name of Issachar. Zebulun is dwelling. Joseph is adding, or the concept of reward, being added to. That brings us to Benjamin, which brings us full circle, the son of my right hand. And that can either appeal to you or not. I'm not here to sell it. I'm here just to call it to your attention, because you can make a big thing of that. Some of the authors will write pages and pages to amplify that basic idea. There are some other ideas that I think are a little more obscure. The more obscure the idea is, the more I'm attracted to it, of course. You may recall, this is a review time now. Remember when we were in chapter 28 with Jacob, I suggested to you that the man of Jacob is a type. He's a type of the believer, just like Esau is a man of the flesh, of the field, the world. Jacob is a man of faith, surprisingly enough. Justified by faith. And he's also a type of something else. What's his new name going to be when we get there? Israel. And just to refresh your mind, a couple of things. He was the object of God's election. He was loved before he was born. He lacked natural attractiveness. He was one from whom the 12 tribes sprang, after whom the Jewish race was most frequently called, after Jacob. I think the ratio is 45 to 23, in terms of Jacob over Israel, in the use of his name. He is to be served, we find in Genesis 25 and so forth, and we went through the references before it's on the tape, but just by way of review now. He was given an earthly inheritance. He suffered attempts to be robbed of that earthly inheritance. All these are parallels to the nation Israel. He valued the blessing of God, but he sought it in carnal ways. He's exiled because of his sin. Spent life as a wanderer. There was no altar during his exile. He yearned for his homeland. He was dealt with unjustly during his exile. He was indeed a crafty schemer. He received promises in his exile that he would return. He received no further revelation of God during his exile, until he was bidden to return. He was preserved by grace in his exile. He was the object of God's special providence. He did return wealthy. He incurred the enmity because of his wealth of those among whom he sojourned. He ultimately returned with Gentile wealth, and he is seen as a blessing to the Gentiles, and also as God's prophet. Those are just a list of ways that Jacob is analogous or a type, a model of the nation Israel. See, if that's true, what about his 12 sons? Well, come on, the 12 sons are Israel. Yes, but there's another interesting kind of a thing we might explore together as our Monday night speculation. I have to live up to the course title. It's heresy, what, 2b, I think. Is that what someone did? Let's take the first two sons of Leah. Reuben, Leah says, God looked upon my affliction, and in Simeon, he heard me, right? Now, is there a way that we can say that of the nation Israel? Where was the nation Israel born as a nation? Anyone? Egypt, right on. Good for you. Let's turn to Exodus chapter 2, and let's just pick up verse 25. Chapter, God looked upon the children of Israel, and God knew their plight. Skip down to chapter 3, say maybe verse 7, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have what? Heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and so forth. Okay, I'm going to suggest to you that Reuben, this, the phrase that Leah mentions there is that God looked upon her affliction, and with Simeon, he had heard her plight, okay? Terrific. Levi is the next one, okay? What did Leah say when Levi was born? She said, now this time will my husband become joined unto me, because I have born him three sons, therefore his name is called Levi. When we speak of Israel as the wife of Jehovah, right? You know, Hosea uses that expression, so forth. You all through the Old Testament, it's an idiom that God uses of Israel as the adulterous, unfaithful wife of Jehovah, right? When does God become joined here? In the Passover. In the Passover. The whole significance of the Egyptian deliverance is the birth of the nation Israel, and it starts with Passover, that's why Passover is the first feast of Moses, and so on. The whole significance of the Egyptian deliverance is the birth of the nation Israel, and it starts with Passover, that's why Passover is the first feast of Moses, and so on. Let's just pick a verse to jump in, grab a, there's thousands we could pick from, but let's just take Jeremiah 31, and you'll get a feeling for how the Holy Spirit speaks of some of these issues. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31 and 32. Jeremiah says, or the Lord says, Behold, the days will come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I was a what? A husband unto them, saith the Lord. Okay, I want to suggest to you that the first three, the first three, the first three sons of Leah are Reuben, looked upon my affliction, Simeon, he'd heard me, Levi, a husband that joins, that will be joined to her. Let's turn to Judah, praise, right? When is the first case of national praise to God? Has to be after Egypt, because they weren't a nation in the sense before then. Turn to Exodus chapter 15, verse 11. Chapter 15 is the song of the redeemed. That is the redeemed of Egypt. And there's a whole marvelous, almost psalmic type passage here that we'll just pick one verse out of it to serve our purpose tonight. Verse 11, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods, who is like thee, glorious and holiest, fearful in what? Praises, doing wonders. The whole thing is praise, but I wanted to pick the name praise out of there. But lest I'm contriving, turn to Psalm 106. Psalm 106, and I'm interested in verse 11 and 12. We might start with verse 10, And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. Well, verse 9, He rebuked the Red Sea also. It was dried up. He led them through the depths. Psalm 106, verse 10. So he led them through the depths as though, as through the wilderness, he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. What enemy is he talking about? Egyptians, that's close. What does Revelation 12 teach us is the real enemy. Satan, that's right. There's a very specific plot on Satan's part to undo God's work and that's another whole thing. Verse 11, The waters covered their enemies, not one of them left. Right? They believed, then believed they his words. They sang his praise. When? After the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea. Did they believe up till then? Apparently not. Not really. That's when it got to them. That's when they as a nation could praise the God of the covenant. How interesting it is. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah can, could be structured to suggest the order of Israel's development. The Lord looks upon their affliction, hears their cry, as a husband is joined to them, and they praise him. What comes next? Dan, God judged me. And Naphtali, the wrestlings, and yet they prevail. That sound like the wilderness wanderings? Could be. The murmuring, the waters at Meribah, the whole period could be maybe summarized here. In fact, this idea of wrestlings suggests, remember Amalek, Exodus chapter 17 verse 11, twice uses the same Hebrew word, the word prevailed, that Leah uses. It came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Remember? The word, the wrestlings and the word prevailed are used in the quote by Naphtali and are also used of this period. Well, that's kind of interesting. The four sons of Leah speak of the Egyptian experience. The two sons of Bilhah of the wilderness experience. And that's as far as I'll take you. You can do the rest yourself. What you'll discover is that Gad and Asher means a troop cometh. Is that the conquest of the land? Could be. Happy am I is what Asher means. Was that successful? The conquest under Joshua. You bet. Issachar and Zebulun are the next two sons. And by the way, the wilderness wanderings are the sons under Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel. The conquest of the land are the next two sons of Zilhah, the handmaid of Leah. Now we're down to Issachar and Zebulun, the last two sons of whom? Leah, naturally. God hath given me my hire and God hath endued me with a good dowry. And you can deal with that. But the interesting thing to me are the last two sons. The sons of Rachel. Joseph means God shall add to me another son. Another son. Rachel calls the last son, the son of my sorrow. The son of my sorrow. His blood be upon us and our children. They scream in the court before Pilate. But who renames him? Doesn't say Jacob. It says his father names him the son of my right hand. Isn't that interesting? I'm probably making something out of nothing. I'll leave that up to you. Well, terrific. We're all the way into chapter 30, verse 24. I'm just trying to recall what else I really wanted to comment about the 12 tribes. Oh yeah, I didn't finish the other thought I wanted to make. What I suggest you do, if you're inclined to this, if the Holy Spirit suggests to you that this might be a useful exercise, take a sheet of paper and go through the scripture. You can do it with a concordance. Find out the places where the 12 tribes are listed. List the names in the order that they're in. And then play around with the translation of the names or the quote the mother gives when the tribe is born. And see what it says. And you'll find that the names are listed in numbers. I think it's one in numbers 10. There's the order of March. There's the order that they inherit the land in Ezekiel 48. Remember, Dan does not appear in the list in Revelation 7, which means he's not sealed or protected during the great tribulation. But he does survive because he inherits after the tribulation is over in the millennium when the land is divided. Ezekiel 48 describes that and he is the first to inherit. Interestingly enough, because it goes from north to south and he inherits the band that's northern most. One of the things that's really fascinating about the 12 tribes is that the Holy Spirit does indeed use these 12 tribes mystically. Don't misunderstand me, they're real tribes and we're going to discover they're full of real problems and they do real sins and they equip themselves terribly in many respects and very interestingly in other respects. And Reuben is disenfranchised of the rights of the firstborn because of an incestuous situation. Simeon and Levi slaughter a tribe in such a bloodthirsty manner that they're deemed ineligible and so the legal line goes to Judah who is the heavy. Because of Jacob's obvious preference for Joseph, it's probably Judah that conspires to have him put in the pit and all of that and we'll get to that fascinating episode shortly. But the 12 tribes are used in addition to being real, live, gutsy guys, each with their own distinct personality. They also are used by the Holy Spirit mystically. We're fascinated to see that the camp of Israel, every detail was specified. The order that they were to march was specified. The way they were to camp was specified. The tabernacle was in the center of the camp, the gate facing eastward. The tabernacle was in the hands of the three primary families of the tribes of Levi. The tribes of Levi were set aside to manage and take care of the tabernacle, they did not go to war. But around the tabernacle were the 12 tribes, three to the north, three to the south, three to the west, three to the east. East of the tabernacle were three tribes, and I forget the three, but the lead tribe was Judah. And the group of three tribes was called the house, excuse me, correction, the camp of Judah. Judah's ensign, which was in the form of what? A lion, was the rallying point for the three tribes assigned to the camp of Judah to the east. To the north was Dan and two others, and his ensign was the rallying point, it was an eagle. And to the south, I believe it was Reuben, who had the ox, and I think it was, I'm doing this from memory, so I may have the two, the one east, correction, the one west and south backwards, but one was a man, one was an ox, in terms of the ensigns that rallied the camps. Now what's interesting is that to the extent that the tabernacle is a model of the throne of God, we have surrounding the throne of God four images. A lion, a calf or an ox, a man, and an eagle. And what's interesting about that is in Isaiah chapter 6 we see the seraphim, in Ezekiel chapter 1 and 10 I believe it is, you see the cherubim, and in Revelation chapter 5, 4 and 5, you see the four living creatures. In each case having the very interesting similarities being the cherubim, the super creatures that are assigned the protection, the deity, the holiness of the throne. And in each case they have four faces. Man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. And so we look back at the Old Testament as we see the camp of Israel camped around the tabernacle, we're fascinated now from the book of Revelation looking back to realize they are acting out a model of the throne of God. Did they know that? I don't know. Do we know that? You bet, because we can see God's pattern. And we're also very fascinated as we study the four Gospels, how the four Gospels are designed to show Jesus Christ, if you'll excuse the expression, in four different ways. Matthew was a Levi, he was preoccupied with the idea that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of Israel. Therefore, he designs his entire Gospel for that end. He starts off with a genealogy, from when? As any Jew would, from Abraham through the legal line to show that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. Every miracle he picks, every detail he records, supports, goes at the proof that he was the Messiah. His continual recounting of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is uniquely rabbinical. The second writer was Mark, who doesn't care about that stuff. He's showing forth Jesus Christ as a servant. Mark, because he's interested in showing Jesus as the servant, doesn't care about his pedigree. It's the only Gospel of the four that does not have a genealogy. But every detail he carries speaks of Jesus Christ as the obedient servant of the Father. Third Gospel writer is Luke. Luke might have been Jewish, but he was a Greek physician. Those aren't contradictions. And he writes with very clearly a Gentile frame of mind. Luke and Acts were probably the trial documents for Paul's defense before Pilate. And there's some evidence in the writing that that was its purpose. But what he's really preoccupied by is the humanity of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. Pursuant to that end, he takes his genealogy from Adam to Christ and through the natural line, through Mary. Not the royal line that carried the blood curse, but the other one. When he gets to David, he takes a split. He doesn't go through Solomon, he goes through Nathan and down the other way. To show that Christ was heir of David's throne. Legally, by being the legal son of Joseph, but not carrying the blood curse, because he wasn't the blood line that carried the curse, the Gentile line, but through Mary. So Luke is our humanist. He's our one that's interested in the humanity of Jesus Christ. That brings us to John. John expresses in chapter 20 his purpose in writing that, that he might believe that Jesus Christ was what? The Son of God. He's preoccupied with his deity from end to end. His genealogy is the first three verses where he ascribes in eloquent terms Jesus Christ's pre-existence before the beginning of time. And every detail, his gospel is out of order. He organizes seven particular miracles which gave rise to seven specific discourses. Each ascribing an I am statement to Jesus Christ. And his whole structure though is aimed at Christ's deity. If you take the gospels and study their miracles, the first quote, the last quote, every detail it supports, Matthew's being the Messiah, thus being who? The Lion of the tribe of Judah. Mark, the servant. The classical symbol of servant is the ox. Luke, the man. And John, the eagle. Very interesting mystical structure. It fascinates me, aside from the substance of it, it fascinates me in an adjective sense because it's a demonstration of design in the scripture. We have 66 books written by 40 guys over 4,000 years that bear evidence of intricate engineering of every phrase, every number, every detail to have a single author and that author existing outside our time domain. Okay, 12 tribes. We actually have 11. We snuck a look ahead at Benjamin. But lest the time get totally away from us, let's return to chapter 30, we got down to verse 24 I believe. At this point we get into one of these bizarre passages that probably isn't really that important but really trips up people because you're not sure what's going on here from a scientific sense. But let's just jump in and take a look at it. Verse 25. It came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away that I may go into mine own place and to my country. It's very interesting. Once Rachel bore a son, that's when Jacob feels a yearning to go home. He's been here about 20 years. He's ready to go home. Go to my own place, to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee and let me go for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry. For I have learned by experience, actually the word is enchantments, that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. It's very interesting. Laban is a type of, you run into these people all the time, that stand on the sidelines and they somehow sense that it's a good thing. You know, to send your kids to Sunday school. The church is a good, the Christians are, that's a good thing. I'm glad they're there. Although he ain't one himself. You gals probably know the type. The husband says, gee, I sure want my daughter. Take our daughters to Sunday school while I watch the football game or whatever. I mean, you sort of know it's a good idea and you want it taken care of for the other guy, but there isn't any self-identity. And Laban, he has the sense that he has prospered because the Lord is blessing Jacob. In other words, he's getting a derivative blessing. I might mention, this is a spurious idea, but you might be, this guy Laban is kind of an interesting guy. We know that he's an idol worshiper because we're going to see an incident occur where Rachel thieves one of the teraphim, a household god. And a whole big thing comes of that because they chase and so forth and Jacob doesn't know that she's hidden it and so forth. And he's outraged that he would be accused of stealing. Well, she's actually been stealing. She's got this teraphim tucked away. The existence of the teraphim, which is a household god, a little idol, tells you that Laban is an idol worshiper. Something that's not obvious from the text that we've learned about from more recent archaeology is that the teraphim were also probably legal claim to his estate should he die. So there may have been material gain as well as, because it doesn't imply that Rachel is an idol worshiper. She may have just been trying to steal that to have a claim on the estate. There's a whole lot of intrigue that may be going on behind this. The point is Laban is one of these strange characters that knows God, I should put it this way, knows that God exists. He's aware of God and yet he is an idol worshiper. There is another guy like this in the scripture that throws us fits. A prophet that is a heathen prophet that figures very prominently in the book of Numbers. Who's his name? Balaam. You might get a kick out of taking a look at one little fact about Balaam. Turn to Numbers 23. Balaam is a strange guy because Balaam is the guy that has the prophecy about the star that some people think is the star of Bethlehem. Balaam is quoted twice in the book of Revelation so he draws our attention even though he's a heathen prophet if you can relate to that. But in Numbers 23 he is mentioned and verse 7 has an interesting thing. He took up this parable and said Balak king of Moab, Balak the king of Moab is trying to bribe this guy to do some stuff. Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from where? Aram. Where does Laban live? Where is all this going on with Rachel and the seven years for Leah and the seven years for Rachel and the flocks being multiplied for Laban? Aram. It's interesting he says out of the mountains and so forth come curse me for Jacob. Now when we see how Jacob and Laban split with each other you can see there's no love lost between the two. The mispa thing we're going to run into is a very misunderstood thing we'll come to that. But there is a possibility, there is a possibility that Balaam the son of Baor, the son of Baor himself being the son of Laban. That there may be a lineage here. That lineage is alluded to in the Targum of Jonathan and also in the Targum on 1 Chronicles 1 verse 44 and I won't get into that because that isn't necessarily reliable authority it's just an interesting tradition that I thought I would throw out to confuse you with. Okay, back to Laban. Laban in any case is one of these guys who is a heathen but sees enough of what's going on to respect that God is acting in Jacob's behalf. He likes him to have him around because he's profiting. We're now down to verse 28 of chapter 30. In other words, Jacob's come there and he's worked hard and because he's there Laban's flocks have grown. And he wants a piece of the action, he wants something to show for it instead of just being the hireling under Laban working for wages in effect. Verse 31, and he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou will do this thing for me I will again feed and keep thy flock. In other words, he's going to make a business proposal here. I will pass through all thy flock today removing from there all the speckled and spotted cattle and all the brown cattle among the sheep and the spotted and speckled among the goats and of such shall be my hire. So shall my honesty answer for me in time to come when it shall come for my hire before thy face. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep that shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, Behold I would it, it might be according to thy word. And he removed that day the he goats that were striped and spotted and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted and every one that had some white in it and all the brown among the sheep and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. Now, if you know anything about genetics, you know that they're not going to multiply in equal types anyhow because they're regressive and all that. I don't want to get into all that with charts and blackboards. We'll skip all that. What confuses the story is this form of what probably was superstition on the part of Jacob because what he does is, verse 37, Jacob took him rods of green poplar and of almond and plain tree and peeled white streaks in them and made white appear which was in the rods. In other words, he strips away bark so they look speckled or banded. And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle striped, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he put his own flocks by themselves and put them not unto Laban's cattle. And it came to pass, when soever stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, and they might conceive among the rods. And when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in, so that the feebler were Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and made servants, and then servants, and camels, and asses. Now, there are three aspects to this. First of all, you can actually find commentators that try to somehow ascribe that this procedure of Jacob's had some impact on the offspring. And that really flies in the face, to the best of my knowledge, of any scientific empirical evidence. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that if you study this, there would be a natural bent in favor of the markings that Jacob had chosen, and he may have known that, he may not have. In any case, independent of the natural causes, it's clear that it pleased God to bless Jacob. And he blessed him in spite of the fact that Jacob was prone to this what probably was a superstition, or a presumption on Jacob's part. There is a third possibility that I'll share with you. I'm not sure I hold this view, but it's worth mentioning. It's also possible that this was, in a sense, something that Jacob was instructed to do and was prophetic. Some scholars think so. I don't, for a lot of other reasons. I think it's inconsistent with the period that he's in and a lot of other issues here. So I don't want to get into that. The net of it is, though, God did, in fact, increase his flocks. And it becomes a bone of contention later on, in effect. And his blessing the flocks has nothing to do with his shenanigans. And I think there's a story there for all of us. I don't think we need any shenanigans. I don't think we have to conspire with Mother to put on hair, gloves, and on the back of the neck to make Dad think that we've cooked his venison for him for a blessing. Jacob would have had the birthright because that was the prophecy given to his mother, Rebecca, before he was born. He didn't have to go through those shenanigans and dishonor himself. In fact, his exile here is punishment for that sin, not the mechanism by which he became the firstborn, as far as God is concerned. And I'm going to suggest here that his blessing, his growth of flocks, had nothing to do with his own shenanigans here to try and defraud his uncle. Okay? Remember what God said to Abraham. I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. Right? But what happens if, you know, my grandson here is a conniving cheat? What does God say to that? I will bless thee. What happens if the one you appoint king becomes an adulterer with Bathsheba, murders Uriah, and so on and so forth? What does God say to that? I will bless thee. What does he say to you and I, who are guilty of things that I won't enumerate here tonight? Relax. I will bless thee. In fact, he says in Hebrews 13.5, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Is that because we peel willows with speckled bands and put on hair gloves to fool the old man? Heavens no. In fact, that gets in the way. God's going to bless me because I take on a vow and champion some big cause to show him how good I am? Nonsense. That just gets in the way. God is looking. His eyes look to and fro throughout the world, seeking opportunities to show himself strong. Not for us to show ourselves strong. Let's see. We can't get through all of 31, but we can probably make it down to one. We just keep moving. Chapter 31, verse 1, And he heard the words of Laban's son, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and all that which was our father's hath he gotten all his wealth. In other words, the sons are recognizing that Jacob is getting the gain of their herds. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. Gee, I wonder why. The guy's a sore loser. The Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field in his flock. By the way, I think we're indebted to Griffith Thomas for the observation. This is an interesting passage because probably the biggest problem you and I have in the Christian walk is knowing God's will. We could spend nights and evenings and hours and stuff, weekend retreats, trying to wrestle that and probably not come up with any good simple little formula that really works. How do you know God's will in your life? Well, it's suggested here there are three steps. At least there was in Jacob's, and it may be more universal. The first thing that happened is there, what we've noticed back here after Joseph, it came to pass that Jacob had a yearning in his heart to go back. So the first step was a conviction in his heart that he was to return to the land. The second thing that happened was circumstances conspired to make it favorable. The worldly events, the circumstances in which he found himself. His flocks were multiplying on the one hand, so he had the wealth to move back. On the other hand, he's also starting to sense the friction and the animosity. He had a sense from the worldly circumstances, it's time to be moving on. And the third thing and the thing that seals it is the command of God. He doesn't actually move until here the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers. But notice what's going on beforehand. He had the desire in his heart and the circumstances had turned to favor that. So some would suggest that those three events might apply in our own lives. He says, delight thyself with the Lord and he shall give thee what? Desires of your heart. And that works two ways. He actually will give you the desires of your heart if that's what's best for you. In my life, I've had a long list of strange desires. And the Lord has fulfilled every one of those. I won't get that provincialist to enumerate those for you tonight. But in my walk personally, I've had a series of boyhood dreams. A list of them all dissimilar strange kinds of things. And the Lord has just checked them all off and done everything that I used to dream of. But the other side of the coin also works. He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. He'll also put in your heart those things which he wants you to desire. So it works both ways. That's step one. Step two, the God of the universe is also the God of the cash flow. He's the God of the circumstances. He's the God of job opportunities. He's the God of whatever. And if he wants you to move in a certain way, he is able to maneuver circumstances so as to nudge you in that direction. But those two are not enough. You need the clear commandment from God. Typically found, he will speak to you through his word. Those three steps are what apply to Jacob. And was Jacob in fellowship at the time? I doubt it. Supposition on my part, but I doubt it. We're down to verse 4. Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock and said to them, I see your father's countenance that is not toward me as before, but the God of my father hath been with me. Oh, could we say that? If you can say that, boy, then there's nothing that can stand in your way. If you really know the God of the universe is with you. Verse 6, and ye know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father hath deceived me and has changed my wages ten times. But God allowed him not to hurt me. How interesting that is. He got abused, taken advantage of, but not really touched. Remember Job. Even Satan himself could not touch Job, but with God's permission. Anything that comes into your life is father filtered. He has a hedge about you. Now, he may decide to intervene in your life pretty vigorously. Even in Jacob's sense, he actually has to disable him. He wrestles him to bring him to the end of himself, even to the point of making him a cripple. We'll see that bizarre incident coming up here. One of your prayers might be that we learn more quickly than Jacob does. If he said thus, the speckled shall be my wages, then all the cattle bore speckled. If he said thus, the stripes shall be my hire, then all the cattle striped. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me. And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived that I lifted up mine eyes, and I saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were striped, speckled, and spotted. And the angel of God spoke unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. He said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, and all the rams shall leap upon the cattle are striped, speckled, and spotted. For I have seen all that lay benduth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, and where thou avowedest a vow unto me. Now arise, get thee out of this land, and return into the land of my kindred. This is the verse that puts the basis that what went on before was really him acting out a prophecy. And you can build on that if you wish. I think we'll cut it off here, because at this point we're going to get into the whole flight, and we're at the hour, so I won't abuse you. We'll pick it up from here and go on, and the narrative moves at a pretty good pace. We're going to see him in a wrestling match. We're going to see him renamed. And we're going to learn some interesting things about the way that name is used. And we're getting quickly into what's probably the most fun in Genesis. That's the story of Joseph. We're not far from that. So let's stand and have a quick closing word of prayer. Father, we just praise you. Thank you for Jacob. We thank you, Father, that you can justify all of us. We thank you, Father, for your Holy Spirit. We would ask you tonight, Father, to increase in us an appetite for your word. Lead us this week as we go forth. Draw us into those portions of your word where you have something special for each and every one of us. Help us to grow an insatiable appetite for the bread of life. We ask you, Father, to just lead us clearly in your word, that we might behold that unique and special ministry that you have for each and every one of us. That we might be pleasing in thy sight. O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. This concludes the 19th study in the book of Genesis.