20250713_IWillNotLeaveThee

[0:00] How many times do I tend to interpret God's word according to my will instead of according to his.

[0:13] ! That never happens to me.! Jacob has married Leah and Rachel. Leah has born children and now she stopped bearing.

[0:44] So Genesis chapter 30 and we're ready with about verse 9. So read 9 through 15 there if you would please.

[1:00] In a little bit.

[1:18] In those first eight verses we remember that Rachel was barren at this time and she envied Leah.

[1:34] She envied Leah and so she gave Bilhah, her maid, to Jacob. And Bilhah bore a child there and actually she bears two children in a row.

[2:00] Dan and Naphtali and she says, I have prevailed. God has granted me children.

[2:13] I prevailed. It's a contest with her, it seems like. But we'll get going. Now, Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children.

[2:24] You see that in those verses 9 through 15. What did she do?

[2:36] What did Leah do about that? Okay. So she did the same thing Rachel had done, except a different maid.

[2:50] So she gives her maid to Jacob, to wife. And what's the result? Okay. Okay. Now, what's she say about the first one there?

[3:10] Okay. Okay. And then Zilpha bears a second son.

[3:21] And what's she say? Happy am I. Happy am I. They'll call me blessed. And she names him Asher.

[3:33] So now we're up to how many? I think we're up to six, are we? I actually have it written down somewhere, but I didn't memorize it.

[3:48] Okay. Now. Now we're ready to move on. The oldest, we're at seven children.

[4:02] Seven sons. The oldest child, what's his name?

[4:13] Reuben. Reuben. The oldest child now gets pulled into this family brouhaha.

[4:25] I don't know, I don't really know how congenial all this is, but obviously there's some envy and contest in there.

[4:37] So the oldest child gets pulled in. How so? Okay.

[5:00] So at the time of the wheat harvest, he's out, assuming he's out in the wheat, he finds the mandrakes and he brings them to his mother.

[5:24] We have a little more contest going. What does, what goes on now? Yeah.

[5:34] Give me, give me some of those mandrakes. Give me some of those mandrakes. I. I. And they're hallucinogenic.

[5:50] Oh. Hallucinogenic. Well, it is for men.

[6:04] Well, it is for men. Uh, I have heard, I have read commentary that gave two explanations of what this plant is.

[6:19] I don't know that anybody knows certainly. One of them is it's an aphrodisiac and the other one, which was kinda along the same line as what your side note said.

[6:34] The other one is that it was an aid to conception. I don't know. Mandrakes are mentioned only one other time in scripture. That one, I did look up.

[6:46] Take a guess. Nobody yeses. Okay. Oh, you have a footnote.

[6:57] Where is it? Yeah. Yeah. It's only mentioned one other time and it's in Solomon's marriage song and it's in chapter seven, verse 13.

[7:11] That's the only other time it's mentioned and it's not mentioned in great detail. It's just mentioned. Okay. Okay. So, she wants some of, uh, Leah or some of Reuben's mandrakes.

[7:30] So, we, um, what does, what does, uh, Leah say to her sister about that?

[7:44] A little more insight. A little more insight. A little more insight. I'm sorry about that. It was all nice in the morning. A little more insight into the family dynamic here, isn't it?

[7:59] What does Leah say? What does Leah say?

[8:13] That would give me insight into how she's feeling. Is this so trifle to you that you would take my husband?

[8:35] Well, this is a good reason why monogamous marriage is a great idea.

[8:47] Polygamous marriage is not. So, she says, you've taken my husband. You want the mandrakes too. So, now they're going to strike a bargain.

[9:03] Alright? By the way, we can see that there's some family tension. Is this only Rachel's responsibility?

[9:17] Is the tension only because of Rachel? Now we have to rehearse a little bit.

[9:31] Well, it starts back where Jacob worked for Laban seven years for Rachel, right? But Laban deceived him and married Leah to him.

[9:44] Leah knew. Okay. Okay.

[9:55] He worked another seven years for Rachel, right? And the word says that Jacob loved Rachel more than he loved Leah.

[10:14] So, there's an imbalance there, right off the bat. Well, what is Rachel's response to her sister?

[10:29] Leah has said, is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And now you want the mandrakes. And now you want the mandrakes. So, what's the response?

[10:42] Right. I'll tell you what. We'll make a bargain. You give me the mandrakes.

[10:57] And you get Jacob tonight. He goes into you tonight. I can't imagine.

[11:10] Don't want to. But it's not. It's not. Okay. This is the bargain. So, we're ready at verse 16 because the answers here are going to be 16 through 24.

[11:28] If you've read ahead, you're already prepared. What's Leah's response to Rachel's proposal?

[11:45] Okay. So, she said, yep, you got a deal.

[11:58] That's the, that's obvious. So, when Jacob comes in from the field, she makes sure she meets him.

[12:11] And she said, you're in my tent tonight, buddy. I bought ya. Okay. So, what results?

[12:25] Okay. So, the result is that she conceives.

[12:39] And she bears Jacob a fifth son. What's his name? Isakar. Isakar. All right. And to what does she attribute? Are you running down the list?

[12:51] Yeah. It wasn't seven. No, it wasn't. It was four. So, now we have the fifth son. This is Issachar. And to what does she attribute? Are you running down the list?

[13:04] No, it wasn't. It was four. So, now we have the fifth. This is Issachar.

[13:20] Issachar. What does she say about Issachar? You notice that she had, that, that the women have a comment about every child, don't they?

[13:32] What, what does she say? He's a reward for what? Right.

[13:44] So, she names him Issachar. She says, this is, God has rewarded me because I gave my maid to Jacob to wife.

[13:56] Now, now I have a question for us in the church age. Is that right? Is she correct in this?

[14:12] I see some no's. I don't see any violent yeses. Maybe I haven't looked about. Is she correct in her assessment?

[14:23] Not necessarily, is she? What we do know is that it's God's plan for children.

[14:34] So, God allowed her to conceive. Incidentally, or coincidentally.

[14:53] You've known someone who's been deathly ill. And they have recovered.

[15:06] If they are in the church, we call it usually a, we usually say, boy, they were healed miraculously.

[15:18] Now, the person's not in the church. They are a practical atheist. Maybe they're a philosophical atheist.

[15:31] Maybe they're Hindu. Maybe Muslim. And they're healed. That does happen, by the way. They're good luck.

[15:42] They're good luck. Now, what is it? It's good luck. Or if you're, if you're Hindu, it's karma.

[15:54] Or if you're Muslim, it's because you've done enough. Are they right? Now, according to the word of God, I believe this is the correct interpretation.

[16:16] And I take this from what Paul says on Mars Hill when he's in Athens.

[16:28] If anybody's healed, atheist, pagan, Christian, it's because of the grace of God.

[16:39] By God's hand. Because he says, all of us live and move and have our being in God. That's why you should not think of God as living in a temple.

[16:53] And that's why he is not served by men's hand as though he has need of anything.

[17:04] So, it's by God's grace she conceives in God's plan. Okay, so, nevertheless, now we have another son.

[17:21] Now, she conceives again, doesn't she? All right.

[17:33] What does she say about this one? Okay, his name is Zebulun.

[17:50] Okay, okay. Or, some translations will read, now he will dwell with me. Okay.

[18:02] So, he's a good gift. That much we do know. He is a gift. How good he is as a person.

[18:17] If you get in your time machine, you already know the answer to that. When you think, but, God in his plan, here he is. So, this is Leah's sixth son, and he's how many of Jacob?

[18:41] By this time. He's the tenth son of Jacob, by now. We're getting to the end, aren't we?

[18:53] What do you know about the tribes of Israel? Twelve tribes. Twelve tribes. We're getting there. And now we're going to have two more.

[19:06] Who's left? This is a... We're going forward in history now.

[19:18] Who's left? Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph and Benjamin. And a daughter. And a daughter. The girls don't count.

[19:30] No. Actually, the girls are going to count big time, aren't they? They're going to count big time. But, we're not there yet.

[19:42] So, he's the tenth son. Rachel's two sons were born of her maid, right?

[19:55] Bilhah. So far. Now it changes. Verse 22 is where we see the change, right?

[20:10] What changes? All right. All right. And?

[20:25] Now she has... Now she bears a son and calls him Joseph. Is Joseph going to show up anywhere else in scripture?

[20:41] He's going to be big time, isn't he? And he's going to be another illustration of what? What?

[20:52] Favorites. Well, of favorites. He's also going to be an illustration of... God. Romans 8, 28. Now, I know this is Old Testament.

[21:03] I get it. But it's still God. God. Romans 8, 28. Romans 8, 28. Now, I know this is Old Testament.

[21:16] I get it. It's still God. But it's still God. It's also in God's plan. And I know we're in the time machine going forward.

[21:30] What do you know about Joseph? Real quickly. When you think of Joseph, what do you think about? Spoiled? The coat of many colors?

[21:47] What's important about that? He's known for his wardrobe.

[22:02] He's known for his ability to take care of Egypt. God's going to use him mightily. In fact, God is going to use him in a way that seems incomprehensible to me, fortunately.

[22:19] But God's going to send Joseph to Egypt to prepare Egypt to enslave Israel. What? Just remember that.

[22:33] Because here's why you say that. Joseph was sent to Egypt. Real quickly, what happens to him? He goes on the auction block.

[22:44] Who buys him? Potiphar. Potiphar. Potiphar's important in the army. What happens with Potiphar's household while Joseph is in charge?

[22:58] It prospers. Potiphar's all about it. He says, hey, Joseph. You're my man. You are running this house.

[23:10] All I'm going to do is attend to the Pharaoh's business. His house prospers. Why? Because Joseph is faithful.

[23:21] And God is with him. And God's going to prosper. Oh, wait a minute. What did God say to Abraham? Abraham. Back in chapter 12 or 15 or something, God said to Abraham, in you and your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

[23:44] This is almost a prefiguring. Oh, by the way, and he also said, but know this for certain, your descendants are going to be slaves for 400 years.

[24:01] So, he sends Joseph to get that ready. Potiphar's house prospers. Now what happens? Everything goes well because he's doing the right thing, right?

[24:16] Does everything go well for Joseph? What happens? He gets thrown in prison. He messed up and he did something wrong, right?

[24:29] Well, why did he get to prison? He lied? Oh, she lied. Who's she? Potiphar's wife lied.

[24:42] Okay, so now he's in prison. And now Pharaoh has a dream. And Joseph is a dream.

[24:53] And Joseph interprets it. And now, the dream told Pharaoh what? See, we're rehearsing because this helps me remember detail and remember how God is working.

[25:15] So, what happens with... You're dreaming with seven years of good... Good, prosperous... Seven years of prosperity and seven years of...

[25:28] Famine. And so, Joseph says, hey Pharaoh, I have an idea. Here's what you need to do. What is it? Quickly.

[25:39] What is Joseph's suggestion? Lay it up during the seven years of prosperity. By the way... By the way...

[25:53] By the way... They used to teach these things even in public school. About the grasshopper and the ant.

[26:05] You remember that one? That's kind of an Aesop fable type thing. What about the grasshopper? What did he do in the summer? He fiddled and danced.

[26:19] What happened with the ant? He put food away. What happened when the fall came? The grasshopper was hungry. What did he say?

[26:30] Give me the food. And the ant said, what we should say today... You danced it all away. When you have the years of prosperity, you better be putting something back for the years of lean.

[26:45] Anyway, that wasn't... That wasn't really part of the biblical lesson. But that's what Joseph tells him. What does Pharaoh say? Sounds the man...

[26:56] You're the man. Right? You're my steward. Okay? So, what happens in the years of lean? This sometimes... I haven't heard this preached as often.

[27:10] But I need to. I need to remember. There are a couple of lessons in it. One that has entirely nothing to do with the biblical lesson. But it has something to do with my thinking.

[27:26] The people of Egypt don't have any food. What do they do? They don't have any seed. What do they do? Okay? They start selling their...

[27:38] They said, I'll tell you what. We'll be your slaves. We need seed. We need food. And Joseph said, I'll tell you... I'll make you a deal.

[27:50] Your land now belongs to Pharaoh. This, by the way, was Joseph's. Your land belongs to Pharaoh. You are now Pharaoh's slave.

[28:03] So, you're gonna... I'll give you seed. You're gonna sow the land. And in the harvest, you give me 20%. By the way, 20% is the threshold of slavery.

[28:16] Well, that's my political statement. So, thus, all the land became Pharaoh's except for the priests.

[28:30] And that's how God organized for the coming of the children of Israel and the slavery.

[28:41] See, at that time, everybody was a slave to Pharaoh. And that's how... That's how it became...

[28:55] God laid the groundwork. Now, by the way, there will be a statement in that that serves to remind me where it will say, There arose another Pharaoh in Egypt who knew not Joseph nor remembered the things that he had done.

[29:17] It's a good reason for teaching biblical history and national history. And teaching the truth about it.

[29:30] Because there will arise another generation that doesn't remember. Right? I remember a brother who's with the Lord now, with whom I disagreed many things.

[29:45] However, he was right about this. He said, this nation is going to be in a lot of trouble when the first president is elected who doesn't remember the Depression. That was almost prophetic, wasn't it?

[30:01] And he said that when I was a boy. For some reason, I remember that. But he was right. Because he said when they forget what things were really like, then they will be willing to do things that are really bad for the country.

[30:29] Yeah. Okay. So now, we have Joseph. We're going to come back to chapter 30.

[30:43] So here's, I'll just rehearse just a little bit. The children of Leah. Reuben. Now Jacob will love me.

[30:55] Simeon. God knows that I am hated. Levi. Now Jacob will be joined to me. Judah. Praise the Lord.

[31:08] Gad. Here comes a troop. Or a crowd. Asher. I am happy. Issachar.

[31:20] God has rewarded me. Zebulun. Now Jacob will dwell with me. And Rachel. Dan. God has decided for me. Naphtali.

[31:33] I have prevailed against my sister. And Joseph. God has taken away my reproach. So, now we're down to 11 sons.

[31:47] And approximately 17 years with Laban. Approximately. Okay. So now we're at verse 25.

[31:59] Unless you have something to interject right now. Okay. Look at 25 through 34. After Joseph's birth.

[32:29] Jacob. Comes to Laban. What's he say? It's time to part ways.

[32:41] It's time to part ways. Uncle Laban. It's time to part ways. He gives a reason for that. Why?

[32:57] Right. It's time that I built my own. I provided for my own. All right. So, what's Laban's response?

[33:11] See, Jacob's worked for him for about 18 years. Seven years for Leah. Seven years for Rachel. Seven years for Rachel. Seven years for Rachel. Seven years for Rachel.

[33:22] Seven years for Rachel. Seven years for Rachel. Seven years for Rachel. Eleven of his 12 sons were born here. All right. So, what's Laban's response to Jacob saying, it's time for me to go?

[33:38] It's time for me to go. That's pretty important, isn't it? He's saying, what's it going to take for you to stay?

[33:54] Why? Why does Laban want him to stay? Why does Laban want him to stay? He's gotten wealthy because of Jacob. And he realizes that.

[34:08] And he said, the Lord has blessed me for your sake. And he makes him a deal. He said, tell me what it'll take. And we'll name your price.

[34:22] And we'll do it. So, does Jacob say, no, I'm going to leave? Does he say that now?

[34:36] I want to go. So, does he go? Yeah, that's going to come in a little bit.

[34:54] Because he's still going to work for him a little bit, but he makes a deal on the wages. Now, let's back up a little bit. Why did Laban want him to stay?

[35:06] Remind me of that. He's gotten wealthy. He's gotten wealthy. And he attributes it to God's blessing because of Jacob.

[35:21] Now, let's think about that promise to Abraham and all the nations of the earth being blessed.

[35:32] This may be a, I'm reading into it, but it's a prefiguring of what ultimately is good.

[35:45] We know through the Apostle Paul is fulfilled in whom? In you and your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

[35:57] The Apostle Paul says that seed is Christ. It's Christ. In Christ, all the nations will be blessed.

[36:10] The seed is Christ. That would be Galatians 3.16, if you want to check that out.

[36:24] And then, the ultimate fulfillment is in Christ. Yet, we see glimmers of that even here.

[36:38] So, we have Laban and Joseph. Do you remember any others where we saw that? One we've already rehearsed. Potiphar, or Laban and Jacob.

[36:52] Potiphar and Joseph? Pharaoh and Joseph? Okay, beyond them, do you remember any?

[37:08] I thought of two because Jesus used them in his speech in the synagogue in Nazareth, which made them really angry.

[37:21] Okay, Naaman the Syrian. What do you remember about Naaman the Syrian? He was a Syrian, so he was not a Jew.

[37:37] There is Israel at this time. But he has a Jewish slave girl. Okay? He has leprosy.

[37:49] And what's this girl telling? There's a prophet in Israel that can heal you with that. So, he goes down there.

[38:02] What happens? The short story. Go dip in the Jordan seven times, and he comes up clean.

[38:13] Okay? So, Naaman the Syrian. He's not a Jew. Elijah and the Sidonese woman.

[38:28] I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the time of the famine, but the only person who God healed was a Sidonese woman.

[38:39] That really ticked them off. If you go back and read about his speech in the, in, in, uh, that's Jesus talking in, in Nazareth, in the synagogue.

[38:54] He was, he was prefiguring, or kind of giving him a picture of what Israel was going to do with him. But, nevertheless, back here, Elijah and the Sidonese widow.

[39:06] What, what do you remember about her? Well, I already gave you one. There's a great famine going on in Israel and in Syria.

[39:19] All right? Elisha goes to her and says, hey, how about making me a cake?

[39:32] And what does she say to him? Now you're starting to remember. What'd she say? I have enough for me and my son.

[39:44] One, one more meal and then we're gonna, then we're gonna die. We're gonna eat our last loaf of bread and then we'll die. Because there's no food.

[39:58] And what does he say? Make me a loaf of bread. And then what happens?

[40:12] And then bake one for yourself. But what happens? The flour and the oil never, never ran out till the end of the famine.

[40:26] It was a miraculous occurrence. But she was Sidonese. She was not Jewish. What do you know about Daniel?

[40:46] The Babylonian Empire flourished under Daniel's supervision.

[40:59] Nebuchadnezzar had made Daniel number two in the kingdom, basically. Daniel was actually the chief executive officer.

[41:12] He was executing for Babylon. Babylon was blessed under Daniel. They were not Jewish.

[41:29] Okay. Back to Laban and Jacob. Now the wage negotiation begins in earnest. And we're gonna stop.

[41:42] Right with the wage negotiation. Because there's, for one thing, it's quarter till. And for two things, there's probably more involved in this negotiation and talking about this than we have time to discuss this morning.

[42:03] Thank you very much. God bless you. Have a wonderful week. Yes, Yes, Yes,