God's Faithfulness to Jacob and Israel

to Genesis and chapter 30. We're looking at the life of Jacob and we're going to read from verse 25. So Genesis chapter 30, starting to read from verse 25.

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, send me on my way so I can go back to my homeland. Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you. But Laban said to him, if I have found favour in your eyes, please stay.

I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. He added, name your wages and I will pay them. Jacob said to him, you know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?

What shall I give you? He asked. Don't give me anything, Jacob replied. But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them.

Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. And my honesty will testify for me in the future. Whenever you check on the wages you have paid me, any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark colored, will be considered stolen. Agreed, said Laban. Let it be as you have said. That same day, he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats. All that had white on them.

And all the dark colored lambs. And he placed them in the care of his sons. Then he put a three day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks. Jacob, however, took fresh cut branches from popular almond and plain trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white in a wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark colored animals that belonged to Laban.

Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals. Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches. But if the animals were weak, he would not place them there.

And the strong ones, so the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way, the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. Well, let's do a little recap before we get into these verses.

Jacob has left the land of Canaan and gone to the home of his mother's brother so that he can marry one of his daughters. He's gone to a place called Haram. He ends up, as we've seen, marrying both of Laban's daughters, Leah and Rachel. And with Leah and Rachel and their maids, he ends up having 12 boys along with one daughter. And the 12 boys, of course, in time will become the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, now that Jacob has acquired his two wives, he wants to go home.

Understandably so. And with him, he wants to take his wives and all of his children. 14 years, 14 long years, he has worked for Laban and he doesn't want to hang around any longer. But as we've seen from our Bible reading this evening, Laban wants Jacob to stay.

And the reason he wants him to stay is because great blessing has come upon him as a result of Jacob being with him because God's blessing rests upon Jacob. So will or won't Jacob stay?

Jacob doesn't want to stay. But he says this to Laban.

And the reason he wants him to stay is because great blessing has come upon him as a result of Jacob being with him because God's blessing rests upon Jacob. So will or won't Jacob stay?

Jacob doesn't want to stay, but he says this to Laban, verses 31 to 33. But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them.

Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-coloured lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. And my honesty will testify for me in the future. Whenever you check on the wages you have paid me, any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted or any lamb that is not dark-coloured will be considered stolen. So it seems that Jacob is willing to stay if Laban is willing to give to him all his unusually marked animals.

And the implication seems to be all the unusually marked young that are born to these animals in the future. Laban agrees. In fact, Laban can't wait to agree because he thinks that this is going to work out wonderfully for him. Long term, how can it not work out wonderfully for him? But we see that he's rather naughty, don't we, in verse 35.

That same day, he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted and all the speckled or spotted female goats, all that had white on them and all the dark-coloured lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. Do you remember Jacob requested that he might go through the animals belonging to Laban and pick out for himself all these unusually coloured or decorated animals. But before he could do that, Laban removed them for himself.

He removed them a day's journey away from Jacob and put them in charge of his sons. This, I think, meant that Jacob would only have the unusually coloured newborn animals. And there wouldn't be that many of them, would there? So, verse 27, Jacob began to take care of Laban's animals with nothing for the time being to claim as his own.

But Jacob has a plan. And the plan is spelt out in verses 37 to 39. Jacob, however, took fresh cut branches from popular almond and plain trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. And when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. This all seems rather weird, doesn't it? Now, the tactic of Jacob here is to get Laban's animals to produce unusually coloured animals.

But what a strange tactic. The idea was that when the animals mated, that they did so seeing these rather vivid-looking branches, and that made all the difference with regard to the outcome. The idea, let me put it another way, was that all the newborns would be unusually coloured. That is, they would be speckled and spotted and striped and so on. Now, I want to say to anyone who might be here this evening, don't adopt this particular practice because it won't do you any good whatsoever.

This was nothing but superstition on the part of Jacob. The idea of doing this, we might say, was simply an old wives' tale. There is not an ounce of scientific evidence to justify this practice. But God's intention was to bless Jacob and to do it through this particular means.

And thus we find the unexpected happening. Look at verses 39 and 40.

They mated in front of the branches, these unusually striped branches, these branches that had bits of the bark pulled off to reveal the white underneath. They mated in front of the branches, these branches that had been put in the troughs, and they bore young.... do this particular means. And thus we find the unexpected happening. Look at verses 39 and 40.

They mated in front of the branches, these unusually striped branches, these branches that had bits of the bark pulled off to reveal the white underneath. They mated in front of the branches, these branches that had been put in the troughs, and they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. And Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves. He did so for himself because they were owed to him. This was part and parcel of the agreement that he had made with Laban. And then we find Jacob doing something really smart. Verses 41 to 43.

Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches. But if the animals were weak, he would not place them there.

So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. Jacob is looking after Laban's flocks and what he does is he puts the stronger ones in front of these troughs with these branches. And the result is lots of little newborns that are uniquely coloured. He keeps the weaker ones away from the branches and they produce young that are weak. And they're normally coloured. And so they go to Laban.

And in this way Jacob prospers. He comes to own large flocks as well as female and male servants and camels and donkeys. I don't know about you, I find this a fascinating story. It's a story that I've had to spend a little while to try and get my head around. It's an intriguing story. The thing is, what do we make of it? What is being taught here? Well, let me impress two things upon us.

Firstly, in these verses we see God fulfilling his great promises to Jacob. Turn back with me, will you, for a moment to chapter 28. These are the words that God spoke to Jacob at the ladder or at Bethel. Verse 13 and following.

Let me begin reading at the beginning of verse 13. There above it stood the Lord and he said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and I will watch over you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

Jacob now has lots of children. He has 12 healthy sons. The beginning of a great nation. Laban has been blessed through the presence of Jacob. And God has been with Jacob and watching over him, enabling him to prosper. And God will soon bring Jacob back to the land of Canaan. We see this in the following chapter. Here is God beginning to fulfill his great and wonderful promises to Jacob.

Now I know that we've said this several times before, but I think it's worth repeating. God is one who always keeps his promises. We make promises to people, don't we, from time to time. I wonder whether we've ever broken our promises and disappointed those who we have made promises to. I wonder whether people have made promises to us. Perhaps we've hoped that they would keep their promise or their promises and they haven't. And we've found that difficult and perhaps we've struggled to trust them in the future. Well we can always trust God because God always keeps his promises.

He always proves faithful. That's so encouraging, isn't it? Especially when we read of so many wonderful promises that God gives to his people in the Scriptures. Every single one of them will be fulfilled. But secondly this evening, what happens in the life of Jacob? always keeps his promises.

He always proves faithful. That's so encouraging, isn't it? Especially when we read of so many wonderful promises that God gives to his people in the Scriptures. Every single one of them will be fulfilled. But secondly this evening, what happens in the life of Jacob, I think is a microcosm of what happens in connection with the nation of Israel.

Jacob, you remember, had to flee from his brother Esau, and he ended up in a kind of exile where he found himself serving Laban. Well, in the years to come, Israel will find himself in Egypt, having to serve the Egyptians.

Jacob grew a large family in Haran. The nation of Israel will become large in Egypt. Indeed, the nation will become numerous. Jacob kind of plundered Laban. At least that's how Laban's sons saw it. Look at chapter 31 and verse 1.

And of course, this was God's doing. Well, in time, Israel would plunder the Egyptians.

And that too would be God's doing. You may remember from your reading of Exodus that God made the Egyptians favorably disposed towards his people, the people of Israel. And Jacob would soon flee from Laban to return to the land of Canaan. And in the years to come, Israel would be set free from slavery in Egypt so that he might make his way towards the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. So I'm arguing this evening that Jacob's experience is a kind of microcosm of Israel's experience.

And of course, the nation of Israel points to the ultimate Israel, that is to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was one, wasn't he, whom God called out of Egypt. In Matthew 2 and verse 15, verses 14 and 15, we read, So he, that is Joseph, got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, Out of Egypt I called my son.

And this Jesus, what did he do? We talked about it this morning. He died and he rose again to bring about an even greater exodus, an even greater redemption, an even greater salvation so that we who are trusting in him, we who are in him, might also prosper. Not with lots of sheep and goats, or lots of silver and gold, but with countless spiritual blessings. And we were reading about these not so long ago at our prayer breakfast as we turned to Ephesians and chapter 1. God promises to bless all those who are united to his Son, the Lord Jesus, in faith. And in this life we know countless spiritual blessings. And these are blessings that will last into all eternity as we spend our days, not in an earthly Canaan, but in the heavenly Canaan.

So just a few thoughts really this evening from this particular passage in Genesis and chapter 30. Next week, God willing, we'll move on to chapter 31. Let's pray and then we'll sing again. Lord, we thank you for the wonderful promises that you gave to Jacob all those years ago. And as we read on in the book of Genesis, we see the way in which your promises to him began to be fulfilled. Your hand was clearly upon him and you prospered him. Lord, a similar story as we've seen this evening could be told of the nation of Israel. And then of course we read about your son and how your hand was very much upon your son.

Or how we thank you that he died and rose again to bring about an incredible exodus, an incredible salvation. And we are those. Evening could be told of the nation of Israel. And then of course we read about your son and how your hand was very much upon your son. Oh how we thank you that he died and rose again to bring about an incredible exodus, an incredible salvation. And we are those who get to share in all the spiritual blessings that were won and secured by him. We thank you for your great goodness towards us as your people. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Well let's sing shall we?

Our next song.