Genesis 31:31-42 - What is my offense?

31:31,32

Jacob has no idea that Rachel is the one who has stolen Laban’s idols. Here he is acting rather timidly, saying he was afraid that Laban would keep his daughters. He also says that if any of his people are found to have the idols, then they must be put to death. Jacob has no idea the risk he is taking.

31:33-35

Laban then searches the tents, starting with Jacob and Leah, where, of course, he finds nothing. Then he goes to Rachel’s tent. Rachel pretends it is her period and cannot move from sitting on the place where the idols are hidden. So Laban failed to find anything there either. So we see more deception in the whole story, this time from Rachel.

31:36-42

Jacob does not get more assertive, not realising how close he came to real trouble. He berates Laban as he has found nothing in the tents. Then he points out to him that while Jacob himself was indeed blessed, Laban didn’t do too badly over the last twenty years. Jacob had worked hard and fairly, while Laban had changed his wages ten times. “Ten” is probably just a figure of speech rather than a precise number.  The point is that Laban has not been exactly fair in his dealings with Jacob. Jacob knew that it was only because of God looking after him that he had prospered, and had been able to escape. Moreover, God had rebuked Laban.

John 7:32-34 - I am going to him who sent me

7:32

The Pharisees became aware of the mutterings of the crowd, in particular the musings about why they hadn’t done anything to arrest Jesus. So they sent temple officers to arrest Jesus. Throughout the gospels the general picture is of the religious leaders reacting to events, and being constrained by the crowd, or by the Roman authorities. They were not in control of events.

7:33,34

While the religious leaders were not in control, Jesus was in control of events. This becomes particularly evident at the trial of Jesus and the surrounding events. It is clear that Jesus is the only one who knows what is going on. And here He demonstrates that He knows what is happening. Jesus would be with them for a short time, then He would return to the Father. After the resurrection they would seek Him. What does this mean? It could, in part, refer to them trying to find the body. It could be taken on a more spiritual level. Whatever the case, they would not find Him, and they could not go where Jesus was going. Man does not have authority to go to heaven, only God can take us there.

Genesis 31:22-30 - But God came to Laban

31:22-24

Eventually Laban discovers that Jacob and his family have fled, so he chases after them, catching up with them at Gilead. God also appears to Laban. We need to realise that God does not just appear to godly people. He gave Nebuchadnezzar dreams, as He did to Pilate’s wife, and as he had earlier done with Abimelech. Here he tells Laban not to say anything “good or bad” to Jacob. Given that Laban actually says quite a lot to Jacob, it isn’t clear what this actually means.

31:25-30

When he eventually catches up with them, Laban plays the innocent, pretending that he had only good motives towards Jacob. If only Jacob had told him, then he would have given them a proper send off. This was a lie, he had spent twenty years manipulating things to get as much as he could out of Jacob. We need to be aware that evil people will often speak with smooth silky words as if butter wouldn’t melt in their mouth. Laban acknowledges that God spoke to him in a dream, but refers to Him as Jacob’s God. It seems that “not saying good or bad” means pronouncing a blessing or curse on Jacob. Laban has also realised that his household gods have gone missing, and holds Jacob responsible.

John 7:30,31 - No one laid a hand on him

7:30

The authorities would actually have liked to arrest Him, but were unable to. Practical reasons could be posited as to why they could not do this at the time (fear of the crowds, what would the Romans say etc), but John points us to the ultimate reason. “His hour had not yet come”. It is God who is in control of events, and things do not happen outside His control. As I have said many times, and will continue to say, this does not mean that men are not responsible for their actions. We are responsible, but God is in charge.

7:31

“Yet many of the people believed in Him”. We are given little indication of the depth of their belief, and the way that John uses the term “believed” or “put their faith” it is difficult to be certain. However, the context would seem to imply that despite the foregoing arguments, many thought that the miracles meant that He could well be the Messiah. They could not imagine the Christ doing more miracles than Jesus was doing. 

Genesis 31:14-21 - He fled with all that he had

31:14-16

The two sisters are in agreement. They see that they have been treated as economic objects by their father. They were sold by their father, not loved by him, and are now regarded as foreigners. They also seem to see that God has provided for them. So they are more than happy to go along with Jacob’s plan.

31:17-21

Jacob is like most of us, in that he is a mixture of trusting God, and his own character traits. So he is following God’s command in leaving, both the immediate dreams he had received, and the long term plan of God. But he also does not tell Laban, but waits for an opportune moment so that he can leave without Laban knowing for a day or two. He takes all his flocks with him. We also read that Rachel took her father’s household gods. We are not told why she took them. It may have been for “religious” or superstitious reasons. However, it may be that possession of them would give her a better claim on an inheritance. Whatever the case, having done this will put her in great danger later on.

John 7:28,29 - He who sent me is true

7:28

Jesus now addresses the crowds. “You know me?” First He cast doubt on the extent of their “knowledge”. They were viewing Jesus as if He was just a man, looking at Him in purely normal human terms. Jesus had actually been sent by the Father. Moreover, the people did not know the Father. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, true wisdom is always founded in God, not in human understanding.

7:29

While the people did not know the Father, Jesus most certainly did know Him. For Jesus came from the Father. He has been with the Father from all eternity, and He came to earth because the Father sent Him. If we want to know or understand Jesus we must view Him from the Father’s perspective, not from a human perspective. He was sent by the Father to do the Father’s will, and we must listen to Him.

Genesis 31:1-13 - Return to the land of your fathers

31:1-3

At last Jacob manages to leave Laban and head back to Canaan, this was after spending twenty years with Laban. During this time Laban had in various ways been seeking to get as much out of Jacob as he could, and God had been continuing to bless Jacob. So Jacob’s wealth increased, this arose the jealousy of Laban’s sons, and of Laban himself. Previously Laban had had an outwardly friendly attitude towards Jacob, though this was probably just a front. However, Laban’s attitude was now changing. God tells Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and promised that He would be with him. There is a mixture here of Jacob being moved by events, and being moved by the word of God. We will find that events and the word of the Lord often work together. This is not too surprising as God is in control of events!

31:4-13

In the previous chapter Leah and Rachel regarded each other as rivals, but it seems now that they have accepted the situation and are much more in harmony. Jacob recounts to them a brief history of the last twenty years, of how Laban had tried to take advantage of him, but that God had blessed him. The key point is the changing attitude of Laban towards him. God had appeared to Jacob, and has now told him that it is time to go.

John 7:25-27 - Here he is speaking openly

7:25,26

Apparently some of the people in Jerusalem were aware of rumours of the religious leaders wanting to kill someone. Previously people were amazed that Jesus thought people wanted to kill Him, thinking Him paranoid. Now others are amazed that the religious leaders were not making any moves to get Jesus. Jesus was speaking openly, without fear or favour, yet the authorities were taking no action. Some wondered if they had decided He actually was the Messiah! We should not be surprised that there was a diversity of views and opinions.

7:27

However, they reasoned that He could not possibly be the Messiah, for the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem (Mic 5:2). They “knew” that Jesus came from Nazareth. In fact their knowledge was lacking on a number of counts. They apparently did not know that Jesus had actually been born in Bethlehem, and, of course, Jesus came from the Father.

Genesis 30:37-43 - The man increased greatly in wealth

30:37-39

Jacob went through this “fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plain tree” rigmarole in an attempt to rig the system. This was probably based on a belief that experiences in the womb influenced the outcome. There isn’t much support for this, particularly in the context we have here. However, the text does say “and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled and spotted”, so maybe we should not dismiss it so readily.

30:40-43

Jacob continued with his selective breeding policy, so ensuring that the number and quality of the sheep that would belong to him would increase, and Laban would get a very poor outcome from the deal. The outcome was that Jacob increased greatly in wealth, not just in terms of the sheep and goats, but also in terms of servants, camels and donkeys.

John 7:21-24 - Do not judge by appearances

7:21

“I did one work ...” This is probably the healing of the man at the pool as that miracle was carried out in Jerusalem. The marvelling could be the fact of the healing of the man who had been paralysed for thirty eight years, and this would make sense in terms of “answering the crowd”. However, as we now go onto a discussion about the Sabbath it would seem to make more sense in terms of their “marvelling” that Jesus told the man to carry his mat on the Sabbath.

7:22-24

Jesus then points out a paradox in their so-called “observance” of the Sabbath. “Moses gave you circumcision”. The details of circumcision were laid out in the Law, but circumcision came in long before the Law with Abraham. Now the Jews were quite happy to circumcise a child on the Sabbath if that was the eighth day. So the Jews accepted the principle that “breaking the Sabbath” was OK in some circumstances, in particular if it was necessary in order to keep the circumcision law. They saw circumcision as a vital part of God’s purpose and will.

Jesus then points them to a greater “law”. God wants our whole body, our whole life, to be well. So Jesus is pointing to the greater purpose and will of God. Jesus closes this part of the argument off by calling on them to use their brains!

Genesis 30:25-36 - Name your wages

30:25-28

All the child bearing seems to have finished, at least for now, and we turn to other matters. Jacob’s stay with Laban was always meant to be a temporary measure, but has now gone on for many years. However, leaving Laban would be no simple matter. Jacob asks to leave, for he has now paid the bride price for his two wives. Laban wants to keep Jacob, he has learnt by divination that God blesses Jacob, so he wants to share in that blessing. We are not told what method of divination was used, and the Law would forbid such practises. So Laban asks Jacob to name his wages.

30:29-36

What we now see is the battle of the tricksters. It seems that Laban’s fortunes had indeed improved markedly since Jacob started working for him. Jacob seems to sense the chance to make a killing (financially). So instead of naming a price, he asks for the speckled and spotted sheep and goats. Laban seems very pleased with this suggestion, for he too will seek to manipulate things. So he separates out the speckled and spotted animals and puts his own men in charge of them.

John 7:19,20 - Why do you seek to kill me?

7:19

One of the key lines of thoughts that the religious leaders followed was that they were following the Law of Moses and they saw themselves as guardians of the Law. Jesus points out a certain flaw in their thinking, they were not keeping the Law! They were not keeping the Law in the general sense that no one keeps the Law perfectly, but there were also specific instances. The specific way in which they were breaking the Law was their planning to kill Jesus. “Thou shalt not kill.” When we are acting or speaking out of our own understanding, living out of the flesh, claiming our own righteousness, which is what the religious leaders were doing, our flesh rises us up, and we so easily become blinded to what we are doing. 

7:20

While Jesus' primary dialogue was with the religious leaders, “the Jews”, it seems that the crowds were listening in. They would be unaware of the religious leader’s plots to kill Jesus, so they accuse Jesus of being mad, or having a demon that was leading Him to make these outrageous claims. Sometimes the “common people” will be more aware of the truth than the so-called educated classes. Today transgenderism is a prime example of this. Most people know full well the difference between male and female, and the immutability of that difference. The so-called “elite” seem to live on another planet (and not one where intelligent life is found!). 

Genesis 30:19-24 - Leah conceived again

30:19-21

Leah saw Issachar as a reward for giving her servant girl to Jacob. Now Leah herself conceives again and has another son, Zebulun. She believes that Jacob will now honour her because of the number of sons she has given him. After this she has a daughter, Dinah.

30:22-24

In the midst of all this, God is keeping count of what is going on and He gives Rachel another child. This time Rachel herself conceives, and she gives birth to Joseph. One of the themes that runs through all this from the time of Isaac is that of favouritism. Joseph would be Jacob’s favourite because he came from Rachel. All this favouritism causes trouble.

John 7:17,18 - The one who speaks on his own authority

7:17

Now Jesus knows He has made a bold claim. So how is one to test whether it is valid or not? How is one to know if Jesus is teaching the word of God? Or if anyone else is teaching the word of God, for that matter? Jesus does not give a “theological” test in an academic sense, but more of a moral test. The key is whether we are dedicated to doing the will of God, then we will know when someone is speaking from God, and when they are speaking out of their own ideas. You do not need a theological degree to be able to discern truth from falsehood, but a heart dedicated to the Lord.

7:18

Someone who speaks on their own authority is seeking their own glory. So here we have someone who is speaking out of their own ideas. Now there is a big difference between someone who accepts the word of God, seeks to understand it and explain it, and someone whose primary authority is themself! The former is fine, the latter is not. The person who speaks out of his own authority wants glory for himself. He wants praise and admiration, and wants people to accept his ideas. The person dedicated to the Lord wants people to know and understand the Lord and to follow Him, he wants people to give glory to God.

Genesis 30:9-18 - For women have called me happy

30:9-13

Rachel thinks she is back in the game, but Leah decides she wants to have more children, so she too gives her servant girl to Jacob. They slept together, and Zilpah had a son. Leah is now more delighted than ever. It is worth noting in all this that it is Jacob who is being treated as a “sex object”. Normally we talk of women being treated as sex objects, but here it is Jacob who is treated as a means of getting children. This will become even more evident in the next few verses.

30:14-18

This must be a few years on from the birth of the first child, Reuben. He is out in the field collecting mandrakes. Mandrakes may have been believed to enhance fertility, or may even have had some hallucinogenic properties. Rachel is desperate to have the mandrakes, though no clear reason is given, and she offers to let Jacob sleep with Leah in exchange for the mandrakes. As said in the previous comments, Jacob is treated as nothing more than a sex object. Jacob seems to have very little, if any, say in these matters. So he sleeps with Leah and she conceives again. And so Issachar was born.

John 7:14-16 -My teaching is not mine

7:14,15

Having arrived in private, at the middle of the feast (which lasted about a week) Jesus went up to the temple. He went there to teach, not to do miracles as His brothers had been urging Him to do. In Mark’s gospel in particular it is clear that Jesus viewed His teaching as being of the utmost importance. Carson seems to think that “the Jews” here has a wider application than the religious leaders, but I am not so sure. It would make perfect sense for the religious leaders to be amazed that someone who had never attended a rabbinical school could teach like Jesus did. Matt 7:28,29 records the crowds as being amazed at His teaching. There they contrasted Jesus’ authority with the distinct lack of authority that the rabbis had. In Acts 4:13 the religious leaders were amazed at Peter and John, for they too were unschooled. I am pretty sure that “Jews” here does mean the religious leaders.

7:16

Jesus answered them by saying that His teaching was not His own, but belonged to the One who sent Him, i.e. to the Father. A common practice of the day was for rabbis to quote numerous antecedents, building on the work of others. Jesus taught directly from God. Now there is an interesting point here. Jesus is God, so surely He could have spoken on His own authority? Sometimes He did, but Jesus is both fully God and fully man. He shows us how a man under God’s authority lives. We should also note that Jesus did not “parrot” the words of the Father. He had a deep understanding and appreciation of them. So we see something of what we are meant to be like if we are involved in teaching and preaching. We are to speak the words of God, but not as automatons.

Genesis 30:1-8 - Am I in the place of God?

30:1,2

Rachel is jealous of Leah’s having so many children while she has none. She demands that Jacob give her children, and Jacob reacts with anger. We see wrong reactions on both sides here. Rachel is putting Jacob in the place of God. It is a mistake for any wife to put her husband in the place of God and will always lead to nothing but trouble. The husband should provide godly leadership in a household, but he is not God, he is not in control of everything. Jacob knows that he is not God, but then reacts with anger. In a similar situation, his father Isaac had prayed for Rebekah and God gave her children (Gen 25:21,22).

30:3-8

Rachel then goes for the Sarai solution, telling Jacob to sleep with the servant girl. Jacob, like Abraham, slept with the servant girl, and Bilhah became pregnant. The plan is the same, but it does not seem to have quite so disastrous consequences this time. We should also note that in the culture of the time, this was an accepted practice (which doesn’t make it right). Sarah was resentful when Hagar became pregnant, but Rachel rejoices. In fact, Rachel is so pleased with the outcome that the arrangement continues and another son is born. Note that Rachel sees this as a “victory” over her sister. So far there are lots of bad attitudes and actions around.

John 7:11-13 - He is a good man

7:11-13

The Jews are the religious leaders, and they were looking out for Jesus. Obviously they expected Him to appear at the festival. They were frustrated by the fact that they could not find Him. So Jesus’ going up in private was obviously effective. 

Having had the attitude of the religious leaders, in v12 we get the attitude of the “people”. Being the festival, this would include Judeans, Galileans and diaspora Jews. Jesus was a common topic of conversation, His miracles having aroused much interest among people. Not everyone, in fact the majority, would not have seen Jesus, so there was much debate about who and what He actually was. Some claimed He was a good man, while others saw Him as a trouble maker. “Leading people astray” could be a reference to Him leading people against the teachings of the religious leaders, or possibly to potentially causing trouble with the Roman occupiers. While ESV has “leads the people astray”, NIV has “deceives the people”.

However, all the talk among the people was kept to themselves, they would not say anything in public. The religious leaders had significant power over the day to day lives of people and could effectively brand a person as an outcast if they wished, so people kept quiet. Maybe one could draw a parallel with the situation today where many are reluctant to speak out on transgender issues for fear of the consequences.

Genesis 29:31-35 - This time I will praise the Lord

29:31-35

Jacob’s marriages bring children, and that produces another set of problems. It says here that Leah was hated. Given that Jacob had never wanted to marry Leah it may well have been that he did loathe her, though it might also be an element of contrasting his feelings towards Leah compared to those towards Rachel. However, the Lord cared for Leah, and so He opened her womb, while Rachel was barren. Leah’s first son was called Reuben, and she thought that having produced a son for him he would now love her. Her second son is called Simeon, because the Lord has heard her cry. The third son is called Levi, which means attached, and Leah still hopes that Jacob will now love her. Her fourth son is called Judah, which means praise. At this point she praised the Lord. The situation she found herself in was very difficult. Remember that earlier we had read about her having “weak eyes”. Unlike her sister, she was not immediately attractive, and she had been given as a wife to someone who did not really want her. She found solace when she praised the Lord. Praising the Lord is so often the key to unlocking or resolving a situation. LIke Leah, we can go through many phases before we reach that point.

John 7:8-10 He went in secret

7:8,9

“You go up to the feast”. The brothers were part of the world, they were not interested in God’s agenda, so Jesus tells them if they want to go up to the feast then they should go. However, Jesus would not be told what to do by worldly people exercising worldly wisdom. Jesus lived His life according to the Father’s plan, and His “time had not yet fully come”. So he remained in Galilee. Some manuscripts in v8 have “I am not yet going up ...” This yet was probably added because of v10, which at a superficial level seems to contradict v8. The yet does give the meaning of v8, sort of. The key point is that Jesus’ life would not be dictated to by others. He would only obey the Father.

7:10

Jesus did actually go up to the festival, but on His terms, or rather on the Father’s terms. He did not go up in order to do a miracle show, which is what the brothers wanted Him to do, instead He went up in private, not publicly. So Jesus was not dictated to by the suggestion of His brothers, nor was He constrained by not going up to the festival because His brothers had suggested it.

Genesis 29:21-30 - Behold, it was Leah!

29:21-24

The time comes for Jacob to get his prize, but he is in for a big surprise. The ESV has an interesting way of putting things, “that I may go into her”. Leaving that aside, we now learn that Jacob gets the wrong wife! We naturally wonder how on earth such a thing could happen. The wedding ceremony was rather different than what we are used to. He would not receive his bride until evening/night time when it was pitch black. She may have been veiled, it is also possible that Jacob had had something to drink. Even so, you think they may have spoken to each other. However, getting Leah rather than Rachel would have been the last thing that Jacob was expecting. So however this happened, it was Leah he ended up marrying!

29:25-30

Not unnaturally, Jacob is rather put out by the matter. So he confronts Laban. Laban’s defence is that it is the custom of his people to give the elder daughter away first. No doubt this was true, but he had clearly given Jacob the impression that it was Rachel that he was going to marry. The outcome is that Jacob ends up with two wives. Two for the price of one, but not quite for Jacob has to work another seven years. “Complete the week”. The week would be a mixture of wedding celebrations and honeymoon. Leah is glad to get Leah off his hands. Having more than one wife is not a good idea, though it is not Jacob’s fault in this case, and Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah. In Laban, Jacob has met someone who is as much a twister as he is.

John 7:6,7 - Its works are evil

7:6

“My time has not yet come, but your time is always here”. Various words are translated time or hour. hora  is translated “hour”, and refers to the crucifixion. Chronos refers to the extent of time, and kairos  refers to a particular event or point of time, i.e. to a significant time, but unlike hora, does not refer specifically to the crucifixion. Kairos is the word used here, so Jesus is saying that now is not the time for His glorification, now is not the time for Jesus to be attracting all people. There is a time and a place for everything, and Jesus was here to carry out a particular plan. His brothers had no such plan. (All this is based on my understanding of Carson’s comments on this verse).

7:7

“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil”. This verse teaches us an awful lot. The fundamental truth is that the world is in rebellion against God. So often we think that if only we are nice enough and winsome enough then our evangelism will be successful. This view is deeply mistaken, and can lead us to abandoning God’s truth in order not to offend. This is not a Biblical approach, and it is not Jesus’ approach. Now this does not mean we should be as obnoxious as we can, and does not mean we are not to exercise wisdom, but we do need to be realistic, and to understand the true situation. Jesus’ brothers were “of the world”, and so the world was quite happy with them, and the world’s wisdom seemed sensible to them. Sometimes we ask the world how we can be more effective in evangelism, this is a ridiculous thing to do. The world is in rebellion against God. Jesus, of course, was not in rebellion against God, but lived in perfect obedience to the Father, so the world hated Him. Jesus also testified to the world that its ways were evil. Jesus was not “nice”. Too often the church thinks it needs to be nice, and not offend sinners.

Genesis 29:9-20 - They seemed but a few days

29:9-12

With Abraham’s servant events all fell into place, and so they do with Jacob as Rachel arrives with her sheep. God is in control of events. Rachel was a shepherdess. On seeing her arrival with her sheep Jacob moves the stone away for her. This may well have been quite a feat of strength, depending on how big the stone was. Jacob kissed Rachel. This would be a family greeting kiss rather than a presumptuous romantic kiss! Jacob tells Rachel who he is, this clearly delights Rachel as she runs off to her father. It doesn’t mention what happened to the sheep!

29:13-20

Laban also seems pleased with the news, and gives a warm welcome to Jacob. With Laban it is always difficult to know how much to trust him, and how much to take things at face value. Initially Jacob stayed with him a month, and seems to have done some work for him. Jacob had his eye on another prize! Laban had two daughters. Leah is described as having weak eyes, this is contrasted with Rachel who was beautiful in every way, and Jacob quite clearly fancied her. In those days the father of the bride would normally receive a bride price for a daughter. So Jacob’s offering to work for seven years is his way of giving a bride price. We might have thought that seven years would drag, but we are told the time passed very quickly, “because of the love he had for her”. We can be far too impatient these days, and true love puts all things in a different perspective.

John 7:1-5 - Show yourself to the world

7:1,2

“After this ..” indicates the chronological sequence, but says little about the time gap between the previous event and this one. The “Jews” here refers to the religious leaders, who “were seeking to kill Him”. It was the time of the Feast of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles. This celebrated the bringing in of the harvest of grapes and olives. This places the event about six months after the feeding of the five thousand. This feast was the most attractive of the main festivals, gathering the largest crowds. People travelling from the rural areas brought branches and leaves to make temporary shelters for themselves, hence the name of the festival.

7:3-5

“His brothers”. At this point his brothers did not believe in Him, though after the resurrection they did come to believe. The synoptic gospels concur that Jesus’ family were highly suspicious of what Jesus was doing, thinking Him mad. Here they suggest that He should go up to Jerusalem. They were probably aware of the desertion of many disciples after the discourse in chapter 6. There would be large crowds in Jerusalem, and if they saw the miracles many would believe. Or so the reasoning of the brothers went. It also made sense to them, why do miracles in private? Do them in public, get large crowds! “For not even his brothers believed Him.” Jesus was not courting popularity. 

As an aside, ESV has a footnote that “brothers” in 7:3 could be “brothers and sisters”, NIV does not have such a footnote. ESV is generally far more faithful about using the male gender than the more recent versions of the NIV, the pattern seems to be reversed here.

Genesis 29:1-8 - Jacob went on his journey

29:1-3

This is a somewhat bemusing story. It starts off well, with some similarities to Abraham’s servant’s trip. This isn’t too surprising as Jacob is going to Laban. It is referred to as the “land of the people of the east”, it might be that this implies the people did not worship the Lord, which they almost certainly didn’t anyway. We then get a description of how the shepherds would roll away a stone from the well in order to water the sheep, the point of the description is that Jacob would do this later for Rachel.

29:4-8

Jacob speaks to the shepherds and inquires of Laban. They tell him that Laban’s daughter Rachel is coming with her sheep. The phrase “son of ...” does not necessarily denote a father-son relationship, it can be any descendant, and Nahor was Laban’s grandfather. Jacob seems to want to get the shepherds out of the way so he can speak to Rachel.

John 6:68-71 - Yet one of you is a devil

6:68,69

“Lord, to whom shall we go?” As in the synoptics, it is Peter who is not afraid to speak up. It is worth noting that as in the synoptics Peter is at the forefront. The gospel of John is, of course, very different in style and approach to the synoptics, but it is complementary, and is entirely consistent with them. “You have the words of eternal life”. He then goes on to say “we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God”. Now we also know that their faith had a lot to learn, but God is not looking for our faith to be perfect, though He does work to make our faith more complete. We know, without being able to fully explain, that Jesus is the saviour, and that we have nowhere else to go.

6:70,71

“Did I not choose you? Yet one of you is a devil.” We might think that surely if God chooses something or a certain path, then it will be perfect (in the sense that we would think something perfect). Yet Jesus had purposefully chosen one of the twelve who “was a devil”, who would betray Him. This was all part of God’s plan, an essential part of God’s plan. Obviously to a far lesser degree than with Jesus and Judas, God’s plans for our lives may sometimes include parts that we would never choose for ourselves and are very painful, yet we can always be confident that God has a good purpose in all things.

Genesis 28:15-22 - Surely the Lord is in this place

28:15-17

“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go ...” This is an amazing promise to Jacob, and one that is not based on his character! It is based on the goodness of God, and it is based on God’s commitment to His promises. He also promises that Jacob will come back to the land. As an aside, it would seem to imply that God’s promises to Israel persist beyond the New Testament! Jacob then awoke from his dream and declared “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it”. The kindness of God extends far beyond anything we imagine. He was also afraid, declaring this is the place of God and the gate of heaven. In truth, the whole earth is the Lord’s, and anywhere we humble ourselves before Him is a stairway to heaven.

28:18-22

Abraham often set up an altar at places where he encountered the Lord, and Jacob does much the same. He used the stone pillow (still don’t think stone pillows are a winner) and called the place Bethel, which means “house of God”. 28:20 is taken by some in a negative way, as if Jacob is bargaining with God, or is having a purely transactional relationship. Given what we know of Jacob’s character this could well be true, but it is possible to take a more charitable view and see Jacob as declaring that he believes God’s promises, as the Lord will be his God. As with Abraham and Melchizedek, we have the giving of a tenth. Tithing has a history that began long before the Law.

John 6:66,67 - Many of his disciples turned back

6:66

“After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him”. As noted earlier, “disciples”here is not used in the sense of dedicated followers, but just those who were following Him at the time. We come to Jesus on His terms, and we follow Him on His terms,for Him to lead us where He will. That applies both in physical terms, and, as here, in terms of understanding how things work. Jesus is Lord, we are not.

6:67

Jesus then asks the twelve if they want to leave as well. The twelve is referring to the apostles, and they have a deeper commitment. Note that this is far from meaning they understood everything! The gospels make it quite clear that their understanding was far from clear. The key point was that they were prepared to let Jesus lead and teach them. Those are the key elements of being a true disciple.

Genesis 28:10-14 - A stairway to heaven

28:10-12

The journey from Beersheba to Haran was about 550 miles, so was quite a trek and would take several days. They came to one place and rested for the night. I must admit a stone pillow does not sound too comfortable. However, Jacob seemed to sleep well enough and had a dream. He saw a ladder, though “stairway” may be a better translation. So you can either have Jacob’s ladder, or a stairway to heaven, take your pick! It is worth remembering that Jacob spends most of his life grasping and manipulating his way. Here God just appears to him. It is an act of grace. We can sometimes be like Jacob, always trying to force things. The Biblical way is to wait upon the Lord. Now this does not mean we are passive. It does mean we do the things that God has called us to do (loving God, living our neighbour).

28:13,14

Angels were ascending and descending on this ladder or stairway. At the top is the Lord and He now speaks to Jacob. God reminds him of his heritage, and the promises. God reaffirms the promise of giving the land, and that he will have countless descendants. And that all the families of the earth will be blessed through his offspring. The promise to Abraham is now extended, for God tells Jacob that his offspring would spread to the north, south, east and west.

John 6:63-65 - The Spirit gives life

6:63

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all”. The Jewish leaders were intent on devising their own ways of being righteous. They had the Law, which was from God, but then they made all sorts of rules and regulations with the intention that this would enable them to keep the Law. This was a futile task, one doomed to failure. The reason was that the root of the problem, the fundamental cause of our inability to keep the Law, lies with our sinfulness, it lies in the heart of man. In Romans 8 Paul tells us that if we try to live by the flesh we cannot please God, it is only by living by the Spirit that we can find life (Rom 8:5-8). So how do we live by the Spirit? We need to listen to the words of Jesus , they are spirit and life.

6:64,65

Jesus knew full well that many of the disciples did not believe. He also “knew from the beginning” that Judas would betray Him. The betrayal by Judas was never a surprise for Jesus, this does not strip Judas of his responsibility. “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” It is so deeply ingrained in us that we can find our own way to God, that we can please Him by our own efforts. So here even choosing to follow Him for a while achieved nothing. For unless we have been born again, there will come a point before long when something that Jesus says will offend us, as happened to the people here. We need a change of heart, and only God can do that for us.

Genesis 28:1-9 - May He give you the blessing of Abraham

28:1-5

Isaac sends Jacob on his way. He seems to have accepted Rebekah’s explanation about avoiding a Hittite wife, no doubt also remembering Abraham’s concerns about the wife that he would take for himself. So Isaac instructs Jacob not to take a wife from the Canaanite women. Instead he is told to take a wife from among Laban’s daughters. Hittites were a subset of the Canaanites. Isaac also prays that God will give the blessing of Abraham to Jacob. This assumes that Jacob will come back to Canaan. So Jacob went on his way to Laban, the son of Bethuel.

28:6-9

Esau saw that Isaac did not want Jacob to marry a Canaanite. So Esau went to Ishmael and took one of his daughters as a wife. So it seems that Esau is trying to gain favour with Isaac. There are two problems here. One is that he already has a couple of Hittite wives. This is only going to compound the problem. The second is that it is not addressing the real problem, his disdain for his birthright, which he sold some time ago.

John 6:59-62 - This is a hard teaching

6:59,60

This teaching was taking place in the synagogue at Capernaum. Jesus never tried to be popular, indeed he was very wary of being popular, and He certainly succeeded in that goal here. Many of His disciples said the teaching was too hard. They do not mean it was too hard to intellectually comprehend, its meaning was quite plai, but the impact and meaning was too difficult to accept. We should note the use of the word “disciple” here. Here it is not referring to committed followers, but people who were following at that time. Verses 66 and 67 contrast disciples with the twelve. 

6:61,62

Jesus knew that the disciples were grumbling. He asks them” do you take offence at this?” He asks this not in order to placate their concerns. Jesus' attitude to “offence” is quite different from the ridiculous approach we have today, where offence seems to be a major crime. The people’s attitudes needed to change, not Jesus’ teaching. Jesus then adds “then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” Jesus has said that He has come from heaven, which has caused all sorts of offence, how would they react if they saw Him return to heaven. Once again, Jesus is making the offence “worse”. For He is not just here now, having come from heaven, later He will ascend back to heaven.

Genesis 27:37-46 - I will kill my brother Jacob

27:37-40

Isaac states that he has nothing else to give Esau. Isaac can be viewed as totally passive in the whole episode. Alternatively, if he did know what God had said to Rebekah about the younger serving the elder, then his sending out Esau hunting with the promise of the blessing when he got back could be viewed as Isaac trying to obviate God’s word, because Isaac favoured Esau over Jacob. So we see all the machinations and failings of men and women in all this, but it is the Lord’s will that prevails.

Esau continues to plead for a blessing, and Isaac eventually makes a declaration over him (blessing doesn’t quite seem the right term to use). Esau would not dwell in the richness of the land, but would live by the sword. He would serve his brother, but only for a time. He would grow tired of this and rebel against it.

27:41-46

Esau hated Jacob, and resolves to kill him once Isaac has died and the time of mourning is over. However, Rebekah gets told about Esau’s threats and passes on the news to Jacob. She also tells him to flee to Haran to be with her brother Laban. He was to stay there until Esau’s fury had passed. Then she would send word to Jacob that it was safe for him to return. Isaac was not dead at this point, despite Esau’s words in v41. Rebekah’s words to Isaac may have been to provide an excuse for sending Jacob away, other than the real reason.

John 6:55-58 - This is the bread that came from heaven

6:55,56

Natural food and water keeps us going, but the body and blood of Jesus gives us eternal life. They are true food and true drink, they are what we should be focused on above all else. If we feed off His flesh and blood then we abide in Jesus, and He abides in us. “Abide” is a keyword (among many others!) in John’s gospel. Right at the beginning of the gospel we read of the Word being with the Father. There is a closeness of relationship, and we too are meant to have that closeness of relationship with God. We should note two things in particular. First, it is not a matter of ourselves getting lost in some universal consciousness, or anything like that. When we abide in Christ we do not lose our identity, rather our own identity is enhanced in Christ. We become who we were always meant to be. Secondly, it is not a relationship of equals. We learn from Christ, we feed off Him. He does not learn from us, so that is the approach that seems to be taken by rather too many theologians!

6:57,58

Another key message of John is that the Father sent the Son, this is absolutely crucial to any proper understanding of who Jesus is and His mission. Jesus lives because of the Father. Earlier we read that the Father granted for Jesus to have “life in Himself”, and so Jesus is able to give life to whoever believes in Him. Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. Jesus reminds them again that though their forefathers ate the manna, they all died. The bread that Jesus gives enables us to live forever. The Jewish leaders needed to recognise how much greater Jesus is than all that came before, and how much greater the offer is. And today we need to realise just how much greater the offer of the gospel is than anything the world may have to offer.

Genesis 27:26-36 - May God give you the dew of heaven

27:26-29

Isaac now asks Jacob to come forward to be close to him and he smells the garments. The smell seems to convince Isaac that this is indeed Esau and he then declares the blessing. The first part is for prosperity with his crops. Then, that the nations would serve him and bow down to him. He was to be “lord over his brothers”, and anyone who cursed him would themselves be cursed, and anyone who blesses him would themselves be blessed. This latter part is very similar to God’s words to Abraham (Gen 12:3).

29:30-36

Esau then returned to find out what had happened. He too brought delicious food and thought all was going to go well. Isaac wondered who he was, and then had a fit when he discovered that it was Esau. However, the blessing on Jacob stood and could not be revoked, even though Jacob came deceitfully. Esau asks to be blessed as well, but was told that Jacob had taken away the blessing. Esau seems to consider the birthright and blessing to be two different things. Even if we consider them as two different things, the first was certainly down to Esau’s impetuousness. Esau continues to plead for a blessing, but Isaac seems to think he has nothing more to give.

John 6:51-54 - I will raise them up

6:51

Jesus again claims to be the bread of life, the living bread. The manna was inanimate, Jesus is a living person. Like the manna, He came from heaven. The manna was not natural bread, Jesus is fully human, but He came from heaven. God’s answer to us comes from heaven. In our rebellion we look purely at the earth, if we are in a proper relationship with God then we should also look to heaven. Jesus reiterates that if we eat the true bread of life we will live forever. Then He says that the bread He gives is His flesh. Now the people would immediately interpret this as referring to eating His flesh, an abhorrent thought. What He actually meant was the giving of His life on the cross. The physical death of Jesus on the cross is absolutely central to the fulfilment of God’s plans.

6:52,53

The Jews, the religious leaders, did indeed start arguing about “how can this man give us His flesh to eat”. Now Jesus did not actually say that. He was using metaphorical language in referring to Himself as the bread of life, but He would actually die on the cross. In a sense He makes things “worse” by then talking about drinking His blood! Just to heighten any reaction against what He was saying! However, the mention of blood also clarifies things, and makes it clear that He is talking about His death, not physically eating His flesh. 

6:54

Under the Law it was strictly forbidden to eat meat with blood in it, and eating human flesh was obviously wrong. So it seems that Jesus is being deliberately provocative in the way He is speaking. Perhaps Jesus is speaking like this to emphasise the metaphorical nature. The emphasis should be on what Jesus did on the cross.

Genesis 27:18-25 - Are you really my son Esau?

27:18,19

Jacob went to his father. His father had some doubt as to who this was, the voice would probably have caused some doubt to arise in Isaac. Jacob tells an outright lie, “I am Esau, your firstborn”. It is amazing and puzzling that all this is built on a lie. Esau had no thought for his birthright and deserved the rejection he experienced. However, Jacob most definitely did not deserve the inheritance he received. None of us deserve to be in the kingdom of God. Jacob was no better than Esau. 

27:20-25

Isaac was still puzzled, thinking it was impossible for Esau to have accomplished his task so quickly. Jacob, pretending to be Esau, claimed the speed was because God had granted him success. Isaac then called Jacob to come near him, so he could touch and smell him. The voice was Jacob’s, but because of his disguise, he felt like Esau. Nevertheless, Isaac blessed Jacob. Even then, he began with the words “Are you really my son Esau?” Jacob lies again. I am sure that in a court of law this blessing would prove to be null and void because of the deception involved.

John 6:49,50 - Yet they died

6:49

Jesus contrasts the Old Testament with the New. The people, and the leaders in particular, were so focused on the Law. Now see how Jesus uses common sense here. The Israelites in Exodus did indeed eat the manna, but they also all died. This could be referring to death in general, or to the fact that most of them died in the desert because of their unfaithfulness. The manna did not give eternal life.

6:50

In contrast, the bread from heaven, i.e. Jesus, was sent by God that “that one may eat of it and not die”. A much greater reward was on offer from God. Note that it is God’s purpose that we have eternal life. Yet we will so easily settle for something far less. We will do this through religion, as the religious leaders of the day were doing, and religious leaders ever since have been prone to do. We need to be aware of the greatness of the gift of God.