Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #47 of Genesis, chapter 24, and we are reading Genesis 24:50-60:

Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as JEHOVAH hath spoken. And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped JEHOVAH, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing JEHOVAH hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

I will stop reading there.  We were looking at verse 50.  We had backed up in our last study to verse 49 regarding turning “to the right hand, or to the left.”  In verse 50 we see somewhat similar language, as it says in Genesis 24:50:

Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH…

The Hebrew word translated as “thing” is “daw-bawr,” so we can understand this to say: “The word proceedeth from JEHOVAH.”  They were responding to the Eliezer’s question about whether they would deal kindly with his master Abraham, or not.  So they are started off by recognizing that it was a “word” from the Lord.  And that is good and encouraging, but then they went on to say in Genesis 24:50:

… we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.

Then they went on to say in Genesis 24:51:

Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as JEHOVAH hath spoken.

But that is rather unusual, because if they “cannot speak unto thee bad or good,” then why did they say in the next verse, “Take Rebekah and let her go to be thy master’s son’s wife.  Would that not have been speaking “good” to the servant, because that is exactly what he was hoping and the reason he came to them in the first place?  Is that not good?  So you can see why it is a little strange that they used this language that they “cannot speak unto thee bad or good.”  So we want to concentrate on that and try to understand why they said this.  This is something that Laban will say at a later date in Biblical history in regard to Jacob, who would be one of the twin sons born of Rebekah.  So at this point Rebekah returned with the servant to become the wife of Isaac, and she married Isaac when he was 40, and then when Isaac was 60 (twenty years later), she would have these twin sons.  Then many years later, Jacob had to flee to Haran because his twin brother Esau was thinking about killing him, and Jacob spent a 40-year period in Haran with Laban.  And after that 40 years, Jacob determined to leave Haran at age 100 years, with his wives and his children.  He did not tell Laban he was leaving because Laban was really a very deceitful man, even though he sounds holy here when he says, “The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.”  But we know that time will reveal that Laban was a deceitful man.  He changed Jacob’s wages ten times.  At first, when Jacob made a deal with him to work seven years for Rachel, Laban’s daughter, then at the end of the seven years Laban gave Jacob Leah instead of Rachel, without telling him.  It was another underhanded act by Laban.  So at the time when Jacob will finally flee to return to Canaan, we read this in Genesis 31:22-24:

And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

It is the same language we see here in the initial encounter between the servant and Laban where Laban said the same thing: “We cannot speak unto thee good or bad.”  Then later in Genesis 31, Laban was speaking to Jacob.  He definitely realized what God told him to do because it says in Genesis 31:29:

It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

Then he made a covenant with Jacob, and he allowed him to go on his way.  So this is interesting.  It seems that this language is something that is especially identified with Laban.  We discussed Laban several studies ago, and I think I mentioned that he would be a figure of a “professed Christian,” someone within the corporate church and not saved.  That is why he easily referred to JEHVOAH, saying, “The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH.”  That is what professed Christians do – they take the name of God in their mouths.  They will refer to the God of the Bible and to the Scriptures and, yet, it is a different matter regarding what is going on in their hearts.  The condition of their heart does not match up with the words coming out of their mouths.  So this makes it even more curious as we consider what is in view about “not speaking good or bad.” 

Why did God not come to Laban and say, “Do not speak unto Jacob anything bad.”  That is all He had to say, and the word “bad” is the word that is mostly translated as “evil.”  This Hebrew word in Genesis 24:50 is Strong’s #745 and it is only translated as “bad” thirteen times, but it is translated as “evil” four hundred and forty-two times, so it definitely means “evil.”  God came to Laban and said, “Do not speak unto Jacob good or evil.”  Why mention “good”?  Why would God not encourage him to speak “good” to Jacob?  Why could they not say, “Since the thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee evil”?    It seems they could have limited it to that, but why mention both?  In both cases, why did it not just say “evil,” especially since in Genesis 24, he did allow Rebekah to go; and in Genesis 51, he allowed Jacob to go on his way with his wives (Laban’s daughters) and the children and the livestock, which Laban was probably even more interested in.  So why did God say that he was not to speak to Jacob good or evil and, yet, the result was “good” regarding Jacob and “good” regarding Rebekah?

Let me show you what I mean first, before we go to a couple more places.  Let us go to Proverbs 31 before we go to the book of Numbers and see where “good” or “bad” or “good” or “evil” is mentioned.  In Proverbs 31 in the passage regarding the virtuous woman, it says in Proverbs 31:10-12:

Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

The “virtuous woman” is a picture of God’s elect, the bride of Christ, and the husband would be the Lord Jesus Christ, and she will do Him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.  Here, it is very possible for there to be an emphasis on the one, but not the other.  And with the elect in view, they do good and not evil. 

But when it comes to Laban, he is one who does not appear to be one of God’s elect, but he identifies with God.  And that is why he is an apt picture of a “professed Christian” that says he is born again, but he is really not born again.  So we see the difference, where Laban was told, “Do not speak either good or evil.”  That is, if Laban were to speak “good” to Jacob, he would have been doing something characteristic of God’s elect.  Of course, doing good to our Husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, is also involved with our bringing the Gospel and ministering to the body of Christ, as we learn in Matthew 25 where Jesus said, “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat… naked, and ye clothed me.”   Jesus said that whenever you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto Him.  That is not an exact quote, but it reveals that Christ considered it as being done to Him.  So this “virtuous woman” does good to her Husband, ministering to the body of Christ.  She is able to do “good” and not “evil.” 

But for those that are not an elect child of God chosen before the foundation of the world, they cannot do “good” in that sense.  They can do “evil,” unless God restrains them, and that is the spiritual picture that this language depicts as God intervened in Laban’s life through the dream, in Genesis 31, and He restrained Laban from doing “evil.”  Due to his spiritual condition of being an unsaved man, he is unable to do “good” as an elect child of God would be qualified and enabled to do good to Christ and the body of Christ.  But, you see, God is not so much interested in having him to do “good” from the heart, but He is simply restraining him from doing either one.  In other words, you cannot do “good” of yourself, but you can do “evil,” and, yet, the Lord had come to restrain the “evil,” instructing him: “Do not speak good or evil.”  That is the actual condition of the man, once he had been restrained from speaking and doing evil.  That is the point.

Let us go to Numbers 24, and I think we will see this regarding Baalim.  Baalim is a man in a similar spiritual condition and situation as Laban.  He is a man that makes reference to JEHOVAH.   Regarding Numbers 23 and 24, people read these chapters in the Bible and they can get a little confused.  Is Baalim a true child of God?  He made reference to JEHOVAH when they first came to hire him to curse Israel.  He went to the Lord to inquire if he should go with them.  The first time, God told him not to go, and he did not go, so it seemed like he was an obedient man and, yet, when we read everything the Bible has to say about him it becomes very clear that he was an unsaved man.  God actually used him as an example of a wicked man in Jude 1:10-11:

But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Cain, Balaam and Core were three very evil men, according to the Bible, and it is crystal clear, as God is using Balaam as an example of a wicked man, despite the language in the book of Numbers.  Again, the language can be explained as it describes someone that has a close association of God, without being saved.  He knows the name of God and uses His name.  He knows the language associated with God and the Word of God, the Bible, and he uses it, but it does not matter because he never had a changed heart.  In Numbers 24, Baalim had been called upon to curse Israel and, finally, he did go in rebellion against God, but God allowed him to go.  You see, the Holy Spirit permitted him to do this evil, as God does allow that in the lives of wicked men.  And, yet, when he went to consult his soothsaying, God made sure he was not able to curse Israel, but he was caused to bless them, even though he was trying to earn the money he was to be paid, but he was not able to do it.  Of course, the king of Moab, who had hired him, was getting angry with him, and it says in Numbers 24:10-13:

And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, JEHOVAH hath kept thee back from honour. And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of JEHOVAH, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what JEHOVAH saith, that will I speak?

You see, Balaam could not go beyond the commandment.  We can understand the word “commandment” to mean the will of JEHOVAH, and he could not speak good or bad.  But, again, he did speak good of Israel.  It turned into a good result for Israel, but this reference to not doing “either good or bad” is a statement that indicates that God was holding a wicked man back from doing what he would do naturally; that is, doing evil and choosing a “bad” option, doing what comes naturally to his evil heart.

So even though we do not read that God came to Laban and Bethuel in Genesis 24, due to the circumstances and situation, God was restraining him and holding back the evil in his heart.  So he was being forced or compelled by the Lord, as the Lord arranges all circumstances.  And the Lord had arranged these circumstances regarding the servant coming for the bride.  And keep in mind that this has to do with the Gospel.  It has to do with God’s elect ministering the Word to find the bride of Christ, and the bride of Christ responding.  And now the servant wants to take her back to his master’s son, who spiritually represents the Lord Jesus Christ.

Laban is unable to hinder this, although he did try, did he not?  But, nonetheless, he said in Genesis 24:51:

Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as JEHOVAH hath spoken.

But then notice what happened in the next verses, after the servant was rejoicing.  It says in Genesis 24:52-54:

And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped JEHOVAH, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.

So the servant assumed all was well because he had heard directly from Laban and Bethuel that he could take Rebekah and go, believing Laban to be a man of his word.  He was ready to go, but remember that Laban was a very deceitful fellow that would later change Jacob’s wages ten times.  He would make deals with Jacob: “Just work for me seven years and I will give you Rachel.”  Then when the time for the marriage came, he gave Leah to Jacob instead, and then Jacob had to work longer for Rachel.  So Laban was very capable of changing the thing he had said, and that is what he is trying to do here.  After the servant’s request to be sent away to his master, it goes on to say in Genesis 24:55:

And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.

So if she abides ten days, what do you think Laban and his mother would do?  Notice that Bethuel is not in view here.  Again, Laban appears to be the head of the household, and I mentioned that Bethuel may have been his brother or, at least, a weak father.  It is not as though Bethuel was making the decision, if he was her father.  So what do you think Laban would do after ten days?  He would probably have delayed it even further, so it was wise for the servant to press the matter, and that is what he did, as it says in Genesis 24:56:

And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing JEHOVAH hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.

You see, he was on an urgent mission, even though Laban and the house of Laban were not.  And, yet, the servant was always task-oriented and always keeping the thing he was sent forth to do in the forefront of his mind.  He wanted to fulfill it. 

We will have to discuss this further, Lord willing, in our next Bible study.