Blessing and Justice/Sowing and Reaping. Genesis 29-30

Last week, Josh walked us through Jacob’s dream, where God confirmed the passing on of the covenant through Jacob – remember, Jacob stole the blessing from Esau, the first-born, through a deceptive plan carried out between he and his mother, and fearing for his life was on the run – And in the middle of his deception, God promised him a blessing, which makes no sense on the surface – But Josh pointed out last week that it is the love of God, not the righteousness of Jacob, that earned the blessing of the covenant – God blesses who he blesses, which should be both comforting and unnerving for all of us.

Moving forward this morning in Jacob’s story, we will be surveying Genesis 29-31 – I have to admit I didn’t understand how Jacob was able to steal God’s promised blessing from Isaac, and how God promised to bless him anyway – it seemed like he got off scot-free – But, as we move forward in the narrative this morning, we see another principle at play: the principle of sowing and reaping – It is a principle taught throughout the Bible – Proverbs 22:8, Job 4:8, Ecclesiastes 3:1, Malachi 3:10, Luke 6:38, Galatians 6:7, 2 Cor. 9:6 – Bottom line: While Jacob was in-line for the covenantal blessing from God, there are still consequences for his sin.

For you and me today it is no different – the end NEVER justify the means – God is SOVEREIGN and blesses who he blesses, but God is also JUST and when sin is cultivated in your life, it MUST be dealt with – let’s look at this principle at play in Jacob’s life
Genesis 29:1-35 (summarize) - Jacob gets up from his dream at the end of chapter 28, made an altar, calls it Bethel, “house of God”, and at the beginning of chapter 29, headed out to find Rebekah’s brother Laban.

V1 – “continued on to the land of the eastern peoples…” – maybe a bit of a wink to us by the author – when people settle EAST, it represents a move AWAY from God – but Jacob, armed with God’s promise seems to have a new spring in his step.

Jacob met shepherds who were watering their flocks, asked if they knew Laban, and they let him know that Laban’s daughter, Rachel, was coming toward him with Laban’s flocks – Jacob met her at the well, introduced himself, Rachel ran and grabbed Laban, they met and embraced.

V14 – “you are my own flesh and blood” – similar to Adam’s proclamation to Eve in Genesis 2 – this begins a weird 20 year “marriage” of sorts between Jacob and Laban.

V14-18 – Laban offered to hire Jacob, and asked for his wage requirements - Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel – Leah had “weak eyes”, not sure what that means, and Rachel was a hottie – And Jacob made a deal – 7 years of labor for Rachel’s hand in marriage – and here is where the reaping begins.

V20 – 7 years passed in the narrative in an instant, both in the narrative and in Jacob’s mind, because he was focused on his prize: Rachel.

V21-25 – after 7 years, Jacob asked for payment, so Laban threw a feast – reading into the text, but there must have been some sort of combination of drinking, darkness and maybe a veil, but Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah instead – the deceiver became the deceived! Can you imagine Jacob awakening and lying next to the WRONG WOMAN?

V26-27 – Laban’s response: “the older goes first, then the younger” – Here is Jacob’s first REAPING moment with God – He used Laban’s deception to remind Jacob of his deception – “Remember when you stole the birthright and blessing from your OLDER brother? It ALWAYS comes back to you.” Remember, 7 years had passed, but there is STILL consequence for sin – Today, we call it the GOLDEN RULE – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, but in reality, it is the principle of sowing and reaping: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

Illus – In doing premarital counseling, I often run across couples who are sexually active – principle applies here – you don’t always see the consequences of sexual sin, but they happen in unexpected ways – Yvonne and I struggled before marriage, and it wreaked havoc in our marriage in ways we never saw coming . You can’t live outside of God’s plan and expect God’s blessing .  Will Jacob be blessed by God? Yes, because God promised him – however, there will be pain along the way because of Jacob’s sin.

V27-30 – Laban offered Rachel for another 7 years of service, and Jacob loved Rachel so much that he agreed – so, Jacob ended up with two wives and two maidservants, which will be important to the story – don’t get hung up on multiple wives here, or the fact that they’re cousins – God will use this situation to create the foundation of the 12 tribes of Israel.

V31-35 – Barrenness rears its head here again – Jacob loved Rachel but she couldn’t have kids – Leah was unloved, however, was a baby-making machine, conceiving and giving birth to four kids: Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah – and after each child, she though it would bind she and Jacob together – sex and children is a poor substitute for love.

Genesis 30:1-8

V1-2 – Rachel was jealous of her sister, and drama ensued – “Gove me kids or I’ll die” – “Take it up with God” – Again, Jacob is dealing with the consequences of his deception: A divided house, jealous sister-wives.

V3-8 – Repeated sin – “Take my servant Bilhah and have children with her” – again, surrogacy was common in that culture – two more sons: Dan and Naphtali – Rachel felt vindication – now she had Jacob’s affection and children, although not technically from her

V9-13 – Leah wanted to stay in the baby game, gave servant Zilpah to Jacob and had two more sons: Gad and Asher.

V14-20 – here is more reaping and sowing – Rueben found mandrakes in the field – known to be aphrodisiac – Rachel thought they could be answer to barrenness, sold a night with Jacob for the mandrakes – Leah slept with him and conceived a 5th son, and then a 6th son: Issachar and Zebulun – so, Rachel’s solution backfired.

V21 – Barely a mention, but Leah had one daughter, Dinah

V22-24 – Rachel finally conceived and had a son, Joseph – “God remembered and listened to her” – after years of brokenhearted jealousy, God provided a son for her.

Pause in story: So much to digest – 11 sons born from 4 women, and one more son, Benjamin, will be born to Rachel in chapter 35 – Two things at play here: God’s fulfilled promise of blessing, and God’s justice for sin.

1. God’s FULFILLED promise of blessing. God blessed Jacob in spite of himself. In fact, nothing in the passage speaks of Jacob’s joy or his relationship with God – God had a plan to execute, a promise he made to Abraham, and he accomplished it through the seed of Jacob. And it is exponential, twelve times over – God was creating the foundation for the 12 tribes of Israel – Jacob’s 12 sons became the foundation, and he will change Jacob’s name to Israel in chapter 32 – Jacob’s righteousness was not the prerequisite for God’s blessing – in fact, God founded a nation IN SPITE OF Jacob’s righteousness – why? Because we are all God has to work with! If you feel unworthy of God’s blessing, get in line, because YOU AREN’T, but God is up to something and wants to use you in spite of yourself. 2 Cor. 1:20

Ephesians 2:10 is real for all of us – God has a blessed life, an assignment for each in the room, and Jesus is the activator of that blessed life – the same blessing promised to Jacob is promised to you and me through Jesus – and, just like Jacob, your righteousness is not prerequisite, but the righteousness of Jesus. 2 Cor. 5:21

2. God’s JUSTICE for SIN. Jacob was the conduit for God’s covenant, but nothing in the passage says he enjoyed it. In fact, God put a mirror in front of him in his uncle Laban, and he spent 20 years in a game of chess and deception with him. The last part of chapter 30, Jacob asks for release from Laban, and Laban works out a deal with Jacob for flocks, but it is a deceptive plan, which is countered by Jacob with his own deception to take the best of Laban’s flocks with him – Again, Jacob was blessed, but he had learned little and was still fighting, clawing and deceiving. - Galatians 6:7 – “God is not mocked – a man reaps what he sows” – You don’t get to make a mockery of God – God blessed Jacob, but he was either running from his brother or enslaved and indebted to his uncle - words of Jesus - Matthew 16:26 – “Gain the world, lose your soul.”

Over next few weeks, we will see seed of Jacob’s deceptive character passed down to sons – kids are watching and following you

“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Principles of Sowing and Reaping:
You reap what you sow – Galatians 6:7
You reap MORE than you sow – Matthew 13:23
You reap later than you sow – Galatians 6:9
Works both ways – Psalm 1:1-3