Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #27 of Genesis, chapter 24, and we are going to read Genesis 24:29-33:

And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well. And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of JEHOVAH; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.

I will stop reading there.  We are being introduced by God to a new character in the story, and that is Laban.  Laban is Rebekah’s brother, and Laban will be one of the major characters that we read about in the book of Genesis.  And by “characters,” I mean individuals.  Of course, this is a true historical account.  Laban was an actual man, as well as all these people that lived and died long ago, and God is taking “bits and pieces” out of their interaction at this time (when the servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac) in order to paint spiritual pictures.  That is why we call them historical parables, but it is true history that happened.  Laban will be a main figure in later chapters in Genesis when Jacob followed his servant’s lead and went to the Haran to find his wife.  He will find Rachel, as well as Leah, and a couple of other handmaids that will be his wives.  And Laban will be a central figure in that account, when we get to it, Lord willing.

Laban’s name appears about fifty times in the book of Genesis, so he is not a minor character.  He is not playing a minor role.  God does highlight him, and he is one of the more difficult figures to assign a spiritual meaning to, at least from my perspective.  Sometimes it is fairly clear cut regarding what God is pointing to through in an individual, but it is not that clear cut in the case of Laban.

Laban’s name is #3837 in Strong’s Concordance.  It is from #3836, which is translated as the color “white.”  It is also related to #3535.  The word #3836, which is the word “white,” is found in Exodus 16:31:

And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

The manna that God sent and which fell from heaven was a miraculous food that sustained the lives of the children of Israel in the wilderness.  It was white or “Laban” and, of course, that is a good connotation or tie-in. 

We could also look at Isaiah 1:18:

Come now, and let us reason together, saith JEHOVAH: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

So the reference to “white as snow” identifies with purity and of being cleansed.

Also, it says in Psalm 51:7:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

If God washes a soul with His Word, He cleanses away all iniquity and spiritual filthiness and sin, thereby leaving that person righteous.  That person is without sin in the sight of God and, of course, the only way God could do that in the life of anyone was through the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ who became sin for His people; that is, Christ become polluted and filthy as He bore the sins of His elect at the foundation of the world and He died for them.  In dying for them, He paid for them.  And that is why death is also related to “fire.”  Hell is typified as a fiery pit and everlasting fire, because in death Christ was purged or baptized with “fire” and it washed away the sin.  It removed the enormous amount of sin that He was bearing for, perhaps, as many as 200 million elect.  It all came off in “hell.”  It was all paid for in full in His death.  Then when Jesus rose from the dead, He triumphed victoriously, coming up out of “hell” or “death” to live again and to justify all His people because payment was made in full.  The atonement was accepted.  The Law received what it demanded, which was death for the “wages of sin,” and now God could apply that saving work to His elect after creating the world and unfolding history, day after day after day.  His elect were born in various generations into the world, and the Lord sent forth His Word to find them, and the Word was applied to them.  As they heard the Word, they became saved and were cleansed of their sin and delivered from the wrath of God. 

Of course, we still have physical bodies that will need to be transformed and cleansed as part of the overall salvation program, as the Word of God will be applied to our bodies on the last day.  It was not God’s plan to apply the blood of Christ through the hyssop of His Word to our bodies during our lifetime in this world.  That would not be practical because after experiencing salvation, as we become servants and messengers of the Gospel to others because we would be shining with the brilliance of the “sun” (Son) in both body and soul.  We would have been totally cleansed and if we had received our holy, new resurrected bodies while we lived in this contaminated, cursed world, with sinners all around, the sinners would not want to receive a tract from us because they could not get near to us.  Remember how the Israelites reacted after Moses had contact with Holy God on the mount, and when he came down from the mount, his face shone.  It was necessary for him to put a veil over his face because they were too frightened by that sight alone.   When the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the mount of Transfiguration, imagine if that was the case with everyone God saved.  It would just not allow God to have the wheat and tares growing together during the church age.  Obviously, you would have automatically known the wheat from the tares.  The ones that were “glowing” were the ones that God saved, and the ones that were still in their physical bodies were the ones that God had not saved.  So it was just not convenient or wise or possible for God to save the physical body at the same time as He saved the soul, although He could have done so because the payment for the sins of the body had been made, as well as the sins of the soul, at the foundation of the world.  Actually, the payment for the whole personality of a saved man or woman was paid for by Christ.  He paid for it all.

And, by the way, that is not a problem.  The payment was made in full and, yet, that particular child of God had to be born and then could have lived 50, 60, or 70 years in the world, being under the wrath of God in their sins, until God determined to apply it (the atoning work of Christ) to that person.  And, yet, the payment was already made, just “sitting there,” as it were, ready to be applied according to the will and wisdom of God.  He would apply it to a soul at a particular point, but not to the body, and that is what He decided to do.  Again, it was the only way it could be done and still keep the salvation program of God operating while allowing God to work out all the other details, wherein it becomes by “faith” that people believe they are saved, because you cannot “see it,” as you are not glowing with the brightness of the sun after becoming saved.  Therefore, there must be trust that God’s invisible Spirit has accomplished an invisible work of salvation in the spirit or soul (which is also invisible) of a man or a woman.  It is all by faith, which is the way that God desired it to be done.  Yet He purified the soul and made it truly born again, giving a new heart and new spirit and removing the heart of stone, that ugly, dead heart of these sinners.  And that new perfect, holy and righteous soul (without any sin) was put therein.  Again, on the last day, this will happen to our bodies.

So this is what the word “Laban” or “white” points to, and there are several verses like this.  We just looked at a few.  Laban could identify with manna.  Laban could identify with being made “whiter than show.”  So we would tend to think that Laban is someone that would certainly identify with the kingdom of God, or maybe with God Himself, and with that which is pure and holy. 

But when we look further at this word, we find that it is also used in another way.  In Leviticus 13, a chapter that discusses leprosy, it says in Leviticus 13:24-27:

Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white; Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

Here, we find the word “white,” but it is used to indicate a sign of leprosy, and in the Bible, leprosy identifies with sin.  A leper pictures someone who is in their sins, and that is why Jesus would cleanse a leper.  Even in the Old Testament, when Naaman the Syrian was cleansed by dipping himself ten times in the river Jordan, it was a picture of being cleansed in salvation. 

Of course, it is used in a negative sense in Leviticus 13, and it would identify with being sinful.  So the word “white” has to be understood in its context.  You cannot think that whenever you see the word “white,” it has to do with purity and holiness.   In some verses, that is the case, but in other verses we see that a leper is seen to be anything but holy; it is seen to be “unclean.” 

And it is similar with Laban.  For example, again ,it says in these verses in Genesis 24:29-32:

…and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well. And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of JEHOVAH; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat:

He appears to be doing everything quite right.   He is acting in a hospitable way.  Everything seems well and, yet, we know that this same Laban will later on be involved in some deceitful activities in his dealings with Jacob, so he is someone it is hard for us to figure out as far as what he is representing on a spiritual level.  But it is probable that Laban is representing the overall corporate church.

You know, we are living at a point after the end of the church age.  The church age is over.  God has ended His relationship with all churches and congregations in the world, and we have been witnesses to the ugly end of the churches as they fell away and went into terrible apostacy.  We see all the doctrinal errors that are so widespread in all the churches, and we have seen how they have trampled underfoot the Word of God.  So we have not seen the church at its best.  I think that is a huge understatement.  Actually, we have seen the churches at their worst.  This is not the church of the Reformation a few hundred years ago.  It is not the church that was in operation down through the centuries.  The churches always had their high places and sins, and they always had tares among the wheat and tares in positions of authority.  And there are denominations, such as the Catholic Church, that went astray centuries ago, and there are churches that added and subtracted from the Word of God.  That is true, but there was always also a faithful proclamation of the Word of God; that is, they were faithful to the degree that they had understanding, which was only partial.  They saw through a glass darkly during the church age, and that is all God held them accountable for, and He did not hold them accountable for failure to see that which He had sealed up until the time of the end.  How could they understand those things?  It takes the Lord Jesus to open up the eyes and the understanding of people.  But He gave them a certain portion (of truth) for their time period, and a fairly large number of churches were reasonably faithful at that time, and that was what God held them accountable to.

So I think Laban is a picture of when God would direct people to the church during the church age.  The elect bride was still within the church, as Rebekah was still there, so it was still that time of the church age.  And he was showing forth hospitality, as it says in Romans 12:13:

Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

We also see this word “hospitality” in Hebrews 13:1-2:

Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

The word “entertained” is the same word translated as “hospitality.”  It is #5381 in Strong’s Concordance, and Hebrews is referring back to Lot’s meeting with the “two angels” that came to Sodom, and we know those angels were God Himself, so Lot entertained strangers and, thereby, entertained angels unawares.

But this also has application to what Laban was doing.  He was going to bring these strangers, Abraham’s servant and the men with him, into his house.  So he was using good hospitality.  It is a Biblical principle that does relate to the sharing of the Gospel, the Word of God.  We share what God has given to us, which would be the Gospel that the Lord has opened up to His people.  His people shared truth with those that entered into the churches and congregations, the house of God.  So we can see that principle in view here with Laban.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next study, we will begin to look at Genesis 24:32, and we will look at the camels again, as they come back into view.  Then this servant will refuse to eat until he tells his errand, and we will see what that means, by God’s grace, in our next Bible study.