{"id":16353,"date":"2021-06-21T22:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T05:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_31_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-06-19T23:56:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T06:56:23","slug":"genesis_31_17-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_31_17-32\/","title":{"rendered":"What Passes Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 31:17-32 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 31:17-32.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 31:17-18 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-18:\u00a0\u00a0When Jacob first arrived at Paddan Aram, he was single and had nothing to his name except the clothes on his back.\u00a0\u00a0Now he is leaving and going back to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan a married and very wealthy man.<\/p>\n

Genesis 31:19-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-23:\u00a0\u00a0While Jacob\u2019s marital status and financial status had changed significantly between the time he first arrived at Paddan Aram and this time as he leaves, Jacob\u2019s penchant for tricking others did not change that much.\u00a0\u00a0Jacob does not tell Laban that he is fleeing.\u00a0\u00a0Also Rachel steals the household gods of her father, who himself had used deceitful ways to trick Jacob.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you act in deceitful and untrusting ways toward others, don\u2019t be surprised if others act in deceitful and untrusting ways towards you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 31:24-30 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps?
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-30:\u00a0\u00a0In verse 24 God speaks to Laban in a dream, warning Laban not to harm Jacob (v24).\u00a0\u00a0In verse 29 Laban acknowledges that it was the God of Isaac, Jacob\u2019s father, who spoke to him.\u00a0\u00a0Yet Laban still clung to his own household gods (v30), which he probably used for divination purposes (see Genesis 30:27).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0It is possible to acknowledge God and even experience God and still cling to idols<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike Laban, we mimght not necessarily bow down to a statue and worship it, but do we put anything ahead of God in our lives or cling to something more than we cling to God?\u00a0\u00a0If so, that thing we put ahead of God and that thing we cling to more than anything is really what we worship.\u00a0\u00a0That thing could be money, our own happiness, our status in the eyes of people, or another person.\u00a0\u00a0May we not worship anything other than God, for He alone is worthy of our worship and only worshiping Him alone satisfies in the end.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 31:31-32 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.<\/em>
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 32:\u00a0\u00a0Why would Rachel steal her father\u2019s household gods?\u00a0\u00a0Various commentators have posited various theories.\u00a0\u00a0One theory is that the household gods were made of precious material and could be sold for a significant amount of money.\u00a0\u00a0Another theory is that whoever possessed the household gods had a claim to their father\u2019s estate.\u00a0\u00a0Still another theory is that Rachel simply wanted to spite her father for not treating her and Leah as members of the family and not providing for them well.\u00a0\u00a0Whatever the reason, Rachel steals her father\u2019s household idols and does not tell Jacob.\u00a0\u00a0Jacob makes a vow that if anyone in his camp is found to have stolen Laban\u2019s gods, they would not live.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0The fact that Rachel was going to take her father\u2019s household gods with her reminds me of this truth:\u00a0\u00a0sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, we can take with us the idols that the generation before us worshiped<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0For example, Jacob tells Laban that the reason he did not tell Laban he was leaving was because he feared that Laban would forcibly take away his wives Leah and Rachel from him.\u00a0\u00a0Although it is not exactly the same situation, this reminds me of how Isaac lied to Abimelech about whether he was married to Rebekah for fear that he would be killed (Genesis 26), or how Abraham lied to Abimelech about whether he was married to Sarah, also for fear of being killed (Genesis 20).\u00a0\u00a0It seems that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were each not forthright with others because they feared for their lives.\u00a0\u00a0So while the faith of Abraham certainly passed down to his son Isaac and to his grandson Jacob, so did their household idol of being deceitful to save their own skin.\u00a0\u00a0May we be careful to pass on our faith to the generation after us and to do away with any idols we might worship so that the generation after is not affected by them as much as possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

God, You alone are worthy of my worship. May I not worship anything or anyone other than You.\u00a0\u00a0May the generations that come after me inherit my faith but not my fear, that they would be stronger, wiser, more blessed and more of a blessing than any previous generation that came before them.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 31:17-32.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 31:17-18 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,
\n18\u00a0\u00a0and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.<\/p>\n

On verses 17-18:\u00a0\u00a0When Jacob first arrived at Paddan Aram, he was single and had nothing to his name except the clothes on his back.\u00a0\u00a0Now he is leaving and going back to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan a married and very wealthy man.<\/p>\n

Genesis 31:19-23 (NIV)
\n19\u00a0\u00a0When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away.
\n21\u00a0\u00a0So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.
\n22\u00a0\u00a0On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
\n23\u00a0\u00a0Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16353"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16354,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16353\/revisions\/16354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}