Sermon Nuggets Mon Sept 24 Jacob’s children
Verses Gen 30
I grew up
as one of the baby boomers. After WWII many people had children and were
optimistic raising families without the fear of a major war and with a
promising economy. But when I was a teenager there were
predictions that the world cannot accommodate so great a population. Countries like China limit a family to
one child. If they have anymore it could result in fines and peer disdain.
Abortions are readily available to prevent the overpopulation of the nation.
Various other forms of birth
control became widely used and encouraged in our society. Women were exploring
other options from traditional roles and many looked at being a homemaker as a
lesser important job in our society. Having children took a back seat to
exploring career options.
The desire
to live with more conveniences and more goods, the increase of recreation and
entertainment, the need for wanting all the stuff that it took our parents many
years to get resulted in most families requiring two incomes to make ends meet
for the life style that is considered average. All of that has a barring on how
many children a couple should have. It is a private decision but people with
larger families will readily tell you that subtle and sometimes not to subtle
comments are made by others that they shouldn't have so many kids. Some will
tell you that it is economically prohibitive and irresponsible in our culture
to have large families. People don’t live off the farm they way they used to.
Cost of living has increased so greatly.
So when God
told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob they would have descendants more numerous than
the stars one wonders if that is a blessing. Indeed, God said it was, and it
was part of his plan to fill the earth and take care of it. Our Bible story today talks about Jacob’s
children and how God works through the circumstances of life to carry out his
will and plan. Let us look at how this is illustrated through the life of Jacob’s
family.
Last week in Chapter 29 we saw that Leah
was the unloved wife. Her father Laban tricked Jacob by switching brides on his
wedding day, only to discover it the next morning.
There is an interesting phrase that
says, “When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved he opened her womb.” Each
child is a gift from God. There are no surprise pregnancies with God. There are
many children who are thought to be unwanted because their biological mother
and father didn't want to have a child or raise a child, but that certainly doesn't mean God didn't plan their birth. And this was the beginning of God’s
plan to raise up a nation, which we later know to be Israel.
One of the
tragedies of our day is the lie that women’s rights should include the decision
of what to do with their own bodies. But indeed when their own bodies are
carrying a baby there is a different body involved. It is a creation of God. To
purposely end a pregnancy is killing a child. As any sin that can be forgiven,
but seldom forgotten.
I watched with interest on the TV how
specialists can perform surgical procedures to correct problems on babies
before they are born. As they had shown an unborn child with the commitment of
making that life healthier all I could think of was doctors taking that little
baby and crushing its skull and saying we’ve done nothing wrong. It’s a
personal matter between a woman and doctor. Abortions are no longer limited to
early conception. They are openly and unashamedly crushing heads of babies at
birth before it comes out of the birth canal and calling that good. God help
us.
Leah saw
that each and every one of her babies was a special gift from God and even
though she could not win the love of her husband, she had the heart of God.
Leah had been grateful to God for the children. The pinnacle of Leah’s piety
was that point at which she came to recognize that to be loved and led by God
was a far greater thing than to be loved by any man. While Jacob’s affection
was still something she greatly desired, she was content with the love of God.
In Him she was blessed. To Him she would give praise. And so when her fourth
son was born she named him Judah, “praise the Lord,” .
While three sons did little to
change Jacob’s heart, the birth of the fourth was the occasion for Leah’s
expression of praise and thanksgiving toward the God Who had heard her prayers.
Then she stopped bearing.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Sept 25
Gen 30:1-13 When
Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous
of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2 Jacob became angry with her and
said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”
3 Then she said, “Here is
Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children
for me and that through her I too can build a family.”
4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah
as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5 and she
became pregnant and bore him a son. 6 Then Rachel
said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a
son.” Because of this she named him Dan.
7 Rachel’s servant
Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then
Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have
won.” So she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had
stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her
to Jacob as a wife.10 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore
Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “What good
fortune!” So she named him Gad.
12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a
second son. 13 Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The
women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
An Illustration of Competition
Many people
have the thought that if their marriage is in trouble then children will make
it better. That is not the case. Many times children make marriages worse because
the relationships of parents are challenged when children compete for attention
and needs that have to be met. Children should never be used as pawns in a
relationship.
The way Rachel was thinking is, “my
husband loves me more than he loves my sister. But the more children my sister
has the more attachment he will have toward her because I am not having
children.” Jealousy creeps in because children are also the main reason for
fulfillment in women of the Old Testament. That was their main function to
produce sons and care for their husbands. Since Rachel cannot have children she
does what others have done before her to take matters in her own hands. She
desires to adopt children.
There are agencies that work out
adoptions of children both within our culture and in other nations as well. But
with medical science some infertile couples are finding that in certain
incidents they can take the sperm from the father and egg from the mother and
artificially fertilize it in laboratory conditions and then reinsert the egg in
the mother and the child is a biological offspring. There are other scenarios
of fertilizing the egg within the mother, and taking the egg from the mother
fertilizing it and putting it in another woman’s body to carry. There are
further cases where either the egg or the sperm is donated by another family
member if the spouse is unable to produce it.
Here the science laboratory is
nothing more than Rachel substituting her handmaiden, Bilhah, in her place as
her substitute with the father to have a baby by adoption in her name.
I wish more was said of these
handmaidens who become the victims of such thinking. Slaves were owned by their
masters and had very little say when their masters slept with them or were told
to have intercourse with their mistress’s husband. There were all types of
sexual exploitations done to slaves throughout the history of man. Because this
was the way it was doesn’t mean that was the way it should have been. Please
understand that. This was a means of adoption due purely to competition for the
love of Jacob as well as for ones own need of self fulfillment. It was selfish
sin.
Rather than recognize her
barrenness as coming from the hand of God, she sought to shift the blame to
Jacob. It was all his fault, she insisted. The story the results with the
competition of sisters which has Jacob being shuttled from bedroom to bedroom,
tent to tent. Modern-day soap operas deal with a very similar kind of plot.
However, God’s “soap” is not intended to encourage us to think sinful thoughts
or to commit illicit acts but rather to “clean up our own acts” and to live
righteously before Him.
Like Rachel, Rebekah had been
barren, but Isaac’s response was quite different from Jacob’s. He prayed on
behalf of Rebekah, and on his behalf God gave her children. No prayers are
mentioned here. We are only told that God heard the petitions of the
wives. Sarai’s cry came more from
circumstances in which there were no children and she didn’t see how she could
have any. Rachel’s demand comes from her own pride and jealousy. She must have
children, and she would take any steps necessary to get them.
The results were just as Rachel had
hoped, and her response to the birth of this boy sounded most spiritual. One
would think that Rachel had done a most wonderful and sacrificial thing in
giving her maid to Jacob. Her words were intended to give credit to God for all
that she and He had accomplished together. The name Dan meant “judged.” She
claimed that God had judged the matter of her dispute with her sister Leah and
had sided with her as proven by the birth of this child.
The statement made by Rachel on the
occasion of the birth of Bilhah’s second son is more reflective of her true
spiritual state at this time: “I won. I struggled with my sister and I am now
on top.” It was egocentric. That is never the reason for children.
Rachel, while wrong in proposing
that Jacob sleep with Bilhah, at least can be understood to have been reacting
to her barrenness; but Leah already has four sons of her own. There was no need
to give her maid Zilpah to Jacob for a wife—other than the fact that this was
what Rachel had done. Leah and Rachel are in a head-to-head confrontation. If
Rachel can employ her maid in this contest, so can she.
Even though commitment was the
illustration in the first four births, Leah’s speech betrays her here. She does
not mention God at all this time. In the fervent competition between two
sisters, little thought is given to the ethics of their actions, only to the
expected results. She who previously had viewed her children as a gift from a
gracious and caring God now sees these sons as merely good fortune—“How lucky I
am,” “How fortunate,” and “How happy am I.” Religious commitment now seems to
be thrown to the wind. For anyone keeping
score, Leah was ahead of Rachel 4 to 2, but that was not enough. Now she has
added two more points to the scoreboard.
Where does
jealousy, resentment or competition fit in your life? Who serves as the person,
or people, you feel you are in competition with? What would God have you do?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Sept 26
Gen 30: 14 During wheat
harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake
plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please
give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it
enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes
too?”
“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in
return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 So when Jacob came in from the
fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she
said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her
that night.
17 God listened to Leah, and she
became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then
Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my
husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19 Leah conceived again and bore
Jacob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said, “God has
presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with
honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21 Some time later she gave birth to
a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered
Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She
became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my
disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph, and said,
“May the Lord add to me another son.”
An illustration of
Confusion
Now we come to another confusing part
of the explanation of what is happening with the competition. There is
confusion as to how to have babies. Mandrakes were a plant with berries found
in that part of the world which were thought to stimulate the desire for
“love-making” and also to enhance the chances of conception. Leah, I suppose,
was more interested in these berries, Rachel for the love potion. While
temporarily not bearing children, Leah’s greatest need was to get Jacob into
her tent where nature could take its course. Rachel, on the other hand, had
Jacob with her nearly every night, but she seemed unable to become pregnant.
However, before we become too smug
in our sophisticated and enlightened day, let me remind you that billions, are
spent on cosmetics by Americans each year. Every day the tooth paste and the
perfume commercials convince us that whiter teeth or cleaner breath or a more
“come hither” perfume will do what nothing else can to enhance our love life.
So you see, things have not really changed so much over the centuries after
all. In that same way there is confusion
in our society as to what builds health and godly relationships. It is not how
sexy one becomes, but what type of character they have as God’s spirit moves
and makes us each one.
Rachel wanted this so badly she
will do anything, and Leah as if she needs to buy her husband will only give
them to her sister if she agrees that she can have sexual relationship with
Jacob. Leah would get what she wanted. In exchange for this one night, Rachel
got the mandrakes, which she hoped would enable her to conceive.
What a sad situation this had
become to resort to a form of prostitution to purchase his services as her
husband. And Rachel was so lacking in faith that she put her trust in mandrakes
rather than the God who made them. Rachel, it would appear, attempted to
produce sons like Jacob sought to produce sheep, by the use of magical devices.
Indeed, her night with Jacob did
bring about what Leah had hoped for, another son. It was not because of
mandrakes but because God had compassion on her that she conceived and bore Jacob
a fifth son. It must be in spite of her bargaining with Rachel and not because
of it that God blessed Leah.
I believe that Leah wrongly
interpreted the meaning of God’s gift of that fifth son. It was a gift of God’s
grace in response to her circumstances that the son was begotten; but Leah
chose to interpret this son as evidence of God’s approval and blessing of her
giving her maid Zilpah to Jacob. In her days, as in ours, true believers are
all too quick to credit God with the “successes” of life which are a result of
our sins. We seek to sanctify our sins by saying that God was behind it all. My
friends, I sincerely believe that God is given too much credit whenever we make
Him our partner in sin. Pious words do not necessarily prove pious works.
Finally, Leah is reported to give
birth to a sixth son and also a daughter: Prayer does not immediately occur to
Rachel as the solution to her stigma of barrenness, but it does seem to be her
last resort. I never cease to be amazed at myself and others who leave prayer
in the category of “last ditch” actions.
Neither sex nor children can create
love. Leah would be quick to tell us that she learned no amount of sex could
ever earn the love of her husband. Even after six boys, she was still unloved.
Love cannot be manufactured through sex or with having children.
This is a truth that I desperately
desire girls to learn. There are so many instances of girls who long to be
loved giving their bodies in the vain search for love. Sex will produce
children, but it will never produce love. I fear that many prostitutes were
driven to their profession by the feeling that they were unloved. All they had
to give, they supposed, was their body.
In time now, Rachel does have a son
who is named. “Joseph”. His name means.
“has taken away,” which has reference to the removal of the barrenness
which had so plagued Rachel It must have been nearly seven years after her
marriage to Jacob that Rachel finally bore him a son. There may be significance
to this delay. Jacob, due to his deception and deceit, was delayed in the
process of getting a wife for himself. Perhaps Rachel was delayed in her
attempts to have a child for the same reasons. She, too, was willing to employ
questionable methods to obtain a son. Only after all these futile efforts were
thwarted and shown to be without result does God open Rachel’s womb, and that
may be in answer to her prayers. Rachel is yet to have another child, but he
will come at the cost of her own life .
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Sept 27
Gen 30: 25 After
Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I
can go back to my own homeland. 26 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.”
27 But Laban said to him, “If I have
found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has
blessed me because of you.” 28 He added, “Name your
wages, and I will pay them.”
29 Jacob said to him, “You know how I
have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30 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?”
31 “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: 32 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. 33 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.”
34 “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be
as you have said.” 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-colored lambs, and
he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he
put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued
to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Jacob,
however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and
made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner
wood of the branches. 38 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,39 they mated in front of the branches. And
they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40 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. 41 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, 42 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. 43 In
this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and
maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
An illustration of
Character
Our actions
reveal our character in time. Jacob acted out of integrity whereas his
father-in-law had consistently acted out of greed and selfishness.
Jacob had been deceived, and his
return had already been delayed seven years longer than he had expected. Having
fulfilled his obligation to Laban, Jacob was free to go, but Laban was
reluctant to see this happen. He had come to realize that his prosperity was
the result of Jacob’s presence (verse 27). If Jacob were to stay, Laban reasoned,
it would be on the basis of the profit motive. All of Jacob’s labor over those
fourteen years had been in lieu of a dowry. He had nothing to show for his
labor except for his wives and family. It was now time to re-negotiate Jacob’s
contract, and Laban asked him to name his terms.
Jacob names his terms. Normally
goats in that land were black or dark brown, seldom white or spotted with
white. On the other hand, the sheep were nearly always white, infrequently
black or spotted. Jacob offered to continue
working as a tender of the flocks if he were but to receive these stripped and
spotted animals.
It seems that Laban was trying to
pull a fast one over on Jacob. He agreed, but then took all those animals and moved a three
days’ distance kept by Laban’s sons. This would make it even harder for Jacob
to achieve his wages.
Some later time the herd would be
examined, and the spotted or striped animals would go to Jacob, while the rest
would be Laban’s. He thought removing the flocks would lessened the chances of
other spotted or striped animals being conceived, since these would not be
mating with the flock. He then could keep the adults and prevent lambs from
being spotted or striped.
Jacob did three things: took
fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane 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. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they
mated in front of the branches.
It was the belief that visual
impressions at the time of conception affected the outcome at birth. The peeled
poles were thought to produce striped offspring. No one believes that this is
true today, and no farmer uses this technique to upgrade his cattle.
Only later will we be told the real
reason for Jacob’s prosperity. But when we think of character Jacob did not
prosper because he pulled one over on Laban. Jacob’s success was not the
product of his schemes. He did not trick Laban but was applying breeding
techniques he thought would improve his chances of a desired flock. He worked to
achieve his goals. He sought to earn his wages the old fashioned way-work and
plan ahead.
.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Sept 28
Gen 30
An Illustration of
the Covenant.
What is the connection between the
peeling of branch, or having the livestock drink from water where a stick is
placed? Moses helps us understand that what Jacob did wasn't so much a
superstitious activity of man as it was a symbolic expression of obedience of
his faith in God. Chapter 31:10-13 comments on what happened. 10 “In breeding season
I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating
with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11 The
angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I
am.’ 12 And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the
male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I
have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I
am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made
a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.
So many of the actions of the rites of the
Levites, or the way the temple was constructed were symbolic of something they didn't understand but did in obedience as a faith commitment to the covenant or
agreement of God. Just like baptism symbolizes our salvation and does not save
us, so these poles and sticks are a means of God’s grace, not the cause of
these animals becoming stripped. If there is some special type or symbol I am
not sure what it would be other than a symbol of obedience to God who not only
gives children to men and women, but kids to goats, rams, and sheep. Jacob did
what God told him to do, period.
Countless men and women are trying
to work their way into God’s heaven by their own devices. Some of these would
include church membership, baptism, confirmation, communion, church leadership,
charity, and so on. Now all of these activities may have great value to the
Christian, but going through those motions don’t mean anything to someone
trying to win God’s approval by anything but faith. The only way to enter God’s
heaven is to trust the work of salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ. He bore
the penalty for our sins. He provided the righteousness which God requires.
Don’t mix up the results of success
from a human point of view, with the righteousness that God requires. As
someone has rightly pointed out, we are not commanded to be victorious, only
obedient.
God used the circumstances of Jacob
and his wives and concubines to begin the nation he wants holy unto himself. He
takes what is and makes it what He wants it to be. That is good news. He takes
you and me like we are and makes us, if we let him, what He wants us to be.
That is covenant relationship. That is the agreement that takes God at his
word. Throughout this chapter the covenant of God that he will bless and
multiply shows that even through the ups and downs, the positive and negative,
the cheating and manipulating, the commitment and the failings, God works out
His will and plan. PTL
In the this story of Jacob we see
love, sex, marriage, and family are all gifts from a good and loving God, but
their enjoyment cannot be complete apart from fellowship with Him. Kids galore
are the ways God provides for blessing and for worship that we can say as
expressed in this chapter. Work hard, Do you best, trust God and watch Him
work.
We are blessed that people will see
God at work. That is his plan as we are part of his covenant people saved by
Jesus Christ. Marvel at his work in our circumstances.
Pastor Dale
