Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #2 of Genesis 31, and we will read Genesis 31:3-9:

And JEHOVAH said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

We will stop reading there.  As we have been following this historical account, we have seen that the deal between Laban and his son-in-law Jacob was to work six years for cattle that matched certain physical characteristics.  That had been accomplished where we are reading here that Jacob is considering fleeing from Haran (and he will flee), and we can be sure that he is not going contrary to the contract, which has expired, or will expire, within days or weeks.  For all practical purposes, the contract has been fulfilled and he has received all these cattle, as we read: “Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.”   A multitude of cattle have been given to Jacob.  They had belonged to Satan, but they now belonged to Jacob according to that arrangement.

And we saw how this fits in with God’s program of salvation and how He has chosen a people for Himself.  So all of that is in view, and we have also seen how Laban is a type of Satan, and Jacob is a type of Christ, as well as (a type) of the elect, and the cattle would represent the great multitude saved out of Great Tribulation. 

Notice that all those cattle were obtained over the course of those six years, so they would have been a very young herd.  None would have been seven years old, or older.  They would all have been recently born, and maybe the majority of them would have been a year or two old.  And I think this would help us understand the nature of the great multitude, as we have discussed at various times.  From other Scriptures, we expect that God saved many very young people over the course of the last 17 years of the Great Tribulation, during the Latter Rain, and this would certainly be a verse we could add to that.  They could have been babies in the womb or toddlers of two, three, four or five years of age, and by May 21, 2011, there could have been tens of millions of elect children that will develop over the course of the next 22 years, from the year 2011 to the year 2033.  And this serves as a protection for many of them because they are in the protection of their parents’ home.  They are being raised in a certain way, but they are being fed and nourished, at least physically, until the time is ripe, and they are being prepared to receive the end-time information that will come to them, I think, as God continues to open up information about His righteous judgment program.  God has commanded us to feed the sheep, and in order for these sheep that are scattered among the nations to be fed, there would have to be a worldwide proclamation of the things that the Bible says, and I do not know when that will take place.  But we would suspect it will be before 2033 and, especially, during the last 3 ½ years, as we are following the pattern of Christ’s first coming, which took on special significance as far as His ministry. 

But however it works out, God has a program to feed the sheep or feed the cattle.  So as we get nearer, the Word will multiply and spread, and it will reach them, and they will be prepared.  Maybe it will reach them when they are 15, 18 or 20 years old, but they will “hear” and be drawn, because the Bible tells us of a delayed drawing program in God’s end-time judgment.  We read that in John 21, so it is something for us to consider as we consider that Jacob’s herd was very young.

God was commanding Jacob to return unto the land of his fathers, and He said, “I will be with thee.”  Then Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field unto the flock, so they were gathered around all the cattle that were at issue, because this was the reason that Laban’s countenance was not toward Jacob as before.  That is, I suppose he had looked kindly or favorably upon Jacob because he thought he was also being blessed as he saw from a distance the great herd, but then Laban’s sons told him, in Genesis 31:1:

And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory.

So the sons or maybe some of their servants went closer and looked at the herd, and they realized that all the best and strong had the markings that identified with Jacob, and the weaker or feebler cattle were Laban’s.  And there was a multitude belonging to Jacob, so they went back to their father, and Laban began to be troubled about it.  We know he was a deceitful man, and although the Bible does not tell us this, he was probably plotting how to get these cattle from Jacob.

So Jacob called his wives, Rachel and Leah, and he told them that their father’s countenance was not toward him as before, and then he says in Genesis 31:6-7:

And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

That is something for us to look at, as we know this is describing Laban.  He has changed Jacob’s wages ten times, and he has deceived him, and that fits in with the character of Satan.  But God suffered him not to hurt Jacob, and that applies to all the time he was serving Laban.  He was afflicted, and we have seen how he was abused through the deceitful dealings of his father-in-law.  But, ultimately, Jacob said, “…but God suffered him not to hurt me.”

The Hebrew word translated as “hurt” is Strong’s #7489, and it is found 83 times in the Old Testament.  It is translated as “hurt” seven times out of the 83.  Most often it is translated as “evil,” twenty times; and as “evil doers,” ten times.  For example, it appears in Jeremiah 25 in a verse we know very well, in Jeremiah 25:29:

For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name…

The word “evil” is this same word as “hurt.”  God suffered Laban not to “hurt” Jacob or to do him “evil.”  You see, that is why the translators did not translate it as “evil” because the first part of this same verse spoke of Laban’s deceitful dealings in changing his wages, and other Scriptures have shown how hurtful and evil it was to substitute Leah for Rachel, and not to say anything until the next day.  That is a very evil thing.  But the translators thought that it did not seem to fit to translate it as “evil.”  And I think they were correct because it was not true that God suffered Laban not to do evil to him because Laban had done evil to him.  I think we will understand why this was a proper translation as we look a little more at this word.

For example, we can see the harm or ability to destroy that this word expresses in Psalm 2:9:

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

The translation “thou shalt break” is this same word that is translated as “hurt” in our verse and as “evil” in Jeremiah 25:29.   This verse is speaking of the Lord Jesus in our present time as He is ruling the earth with a rod of iron, according to Revelation 19:15, and He is not ruling for the welfare of mankind, but for their destruction to break them.  The second part of this verse in Psalm 2:9 is Hebrew parallelism, which means that the second part matches the first part of the verse: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.   So breaking them is like dashing them in pieces, like taking a piece of pottery and smashing it on a stone.  All you would have are the broken pieces.  Breaking them with a rod of iron represents breaking them with the Word of God, and the pottery represents the creature, man.  The Bible speaks of God as the Potter and people as “clay,” and He made some unto honor and some unto dishonor.  In the Day of Judgment, He takes the vessels of dishonor and smashes them with the rod, as the Word judges in the last day.  They are being spiritually destroyed to begin with, but in the very last day of earth’s existence, (unsaved) man will be utterly destroyed, even more destroyed than the broken pieces of a vase.  You will not even be able to find the pieces because he will be totally destroyed and annihilated out of existence – he will cease to be.

So the translators did not translate this word as “evil,” but as “hurt,” because Psalm 2:9 does not say “Thou shalt do evil to them with a rod of iron.”  Yes – it is true that Judgment Day is an evil day, but that word does not express the severity of the destruction that in view.

So Jacob said, “But God suffered him not to hurt me.”  Yes – on one level, the things that Laban did were hurtful or harmful.  They were injurious, and they did trouble Jacob.  There is no question.  But it did not destroy him.  It did not break him into pieces and shatter him. 

We are going to look at other Scriptures in the New Testament that use this word “hurt,” and we will go to this verse first, and then we will go back to the Old Testament before returning to the New Testament.  It says in Revelation 9:3-5:

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

Then let us skip down to Revelation 9:10:

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

You see, this fits in, as the five months is a figure that represents the prolonged Judgment Day that will last from May 21, 2011 to the year 2033, which biblical evidence points to as the very end.  So the judgment period of five months would stretch to cover that entire period.  And the “locusts” are God’s elect, and Christ is their King, as we are told in Revelation 9:11:

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Both the name “Abaddon” and “Apollyon” mean “to destroy,” so Christ is that King of destruction that is ruling over the earth.  The destruction is spiritual at first, and then will transition to a literal, physical destruction at the very end.  He comes with “ten thousands of his saints,” who are typified as locusts here, and they have power or authority to “hurt” men for the duration of Judgment Day, the figurative five months.  How are men hurt?  They are hurt through the Word, the “rod of iron,” as God opens up information to reveal His judgment program for pouring out His wrath.  The people of God, the saints, share that information, thus “hurting” men.  But it does not hurt the elect.  It is specifically designed to hurt “those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”  Everyone without the seal of God would be an unsaved person, and they are the ones to be “hurt,” which has everything to do with being destroyed.

As we go back to Genesis 31:7, the Lord moved Moses to write what Jacob had said: “And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.”  And this is actually a truth that extends throughout the history of the earth, and it covers all of God’s elect children at all times, and in all seasons.  It is prevalent everywhere we look in the Bible.  Let us go to 1Chronicles 16:15-22:

Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it. And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

It is the word “harm” that is the same word.  Here, you can see that it says they went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, and this could have various applications.  For example, Jacob went from Haran back to the land of Canaan, and he came from Canaan to Haran.  It could apply historically to the people of Judah going from Judah to Babylon, or to God’s elect going out of the churches and going into the world.  Or it could apply to going from nation to nation in an overall sense, like going from the kingdom of darkness and being translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, the kingdom of light. 

“He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes.”  We have seen it in regard to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, twice in our study in Genesis, and it is a consistent theme throughout the entire Bible.  God will not allow His people to be wronged.  Again, it says in 1Chronicles 16:22:

Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Do them no evil.  Do not break them.  Have God’s prophets experienced wickedness and evil at the hands of the enemies of the kingdom of God?  Without question, they have.  Just read 2Corinthians 11, and read Paul’s account, a pattern of believers, as he speaks of all the affliction he had to endure for the Word’s sake.  Yes – but the way God looks at it is that if He has saved you, then you are safe and secure, ultimately, from evil.  Your soul is eternal.  You have citizenship in the eternal kingdom of God.  As God looks upon us tiny creatures working on this earth, He sees that we have momentary afflictions.  He sees our temporal problems, our cares, and the things that bring us to tears.  But He also sees the long-term picture.  He sees the eternal future, and He sees those that He died and shed His blood for, and He sees our eternal joy and happiness and peace.  He sees the abundant of rich spiritual blessings that will be showered upon us endlessly, so He can say that we experience no real “harm.” 

Laban, typifying Satan, could do Jacob no actual hurt because he was a blessed one.  He is one God determined to love, and has loved with an everlasting love, so it is a wonderful thing.

We read in Isaiah 11:9:

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

We do not have time to read the whole context, but I would recommend you read starting in verse 1, and you will see the Lord Jesus is in view, and the language points to those that have entered into the kingdom of God.  And we know that we can be saved and living on the earth, and yet, have entered into the kingdom of God.  So it says that the enemy “shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” and the holy mountain is a synonym for the eternal kingdom of God.  Once God has saved a sinner that had been a “child of wrath even as others,” and He has translated him out of the darkness into the light, he is now in the eternal kingdom of God, seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  It is an eternal, spiritual kingdom, and nobody can hurt, destroy, or pluck them out of Christ’s hands.  He is settled and established, and it will never change.  There is tremendous safety and security in God’s gracious salvation.