Wonder - Don't Allow Fear to Drive You. Genesis 31:31-42

May the mumbling commence!

Laban searches, and Jacob vents.  It’s been a hard twenty years.  Deceivers do not keep company well together.  Read from Peterson’s The Message:

            Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid.  I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force.  But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find anybody here has them, that person dies.  With all of us watching, look around.  If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it.”  Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen the gods.

                Laban went through Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn’t find them.  He went from Leah’s tent to Rachel’s.  But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them.  When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, “Don’t think I’m being disrespectful, my master, that I can’t stand before you, but I’m having my period.”  So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn’t find the household gods.

                Now it was Jacob’s turn to get angry.  He lit into Laban: “So what’s my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this?  You’ve ransacked the place.  Have you turned up a single thing that’s yours?  Let’s see it – display the evidence.  Our two families can be the jury and decide between us.

                In the twenty years I’ve worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried.  I’ve never feasted on the rams from your flock.  I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket – actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not.  I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night.  For twenty years I’ve done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times.  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless.  But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict.”  (Genesis 31:31-42)  

Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:

Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.  But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods. 

So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah's tent, he entered Rachel's tent.  Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. 

Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period." So he searched but could not find the household gods. 

Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. "What is my crime?" he asked Laban. "What sin have I committed that you hunt me down?  Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us. 

I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.  I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night.  This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.  It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you."  (Genesis 31:31-42)

Though there are considerable amounts of red, the differences do not change the heart and soul of the passage, in my opinion.  Let’s spend time instead thinking about the themes in the passage.

Jacob was driven by fear.  He left on the sly to avoid confrontation with the stronger Laban.  Jacob had no need to fear.  God would protect him.  God did protect him.

I like that Peterson did not attempt to give a different spin on the mysterious “the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac” phrase.  Sometimes we are left to wonder.  Wonder is an important element of our faith.

Sometimes as we grow older, we lose our sense of wonder.  We become jaded.  Let’s bring the wonder back.  God protect us through His presence and the Fear that flies before His presence.  

For those who do not know the Lord, it’s plain fear.  For those who know and seek to follow the Lord, it’s reverence, awe, wonder.  Bring back the wonder!  

Enough mumbling for now…  

Peace Out