Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #6 of Genesis 31, and we will read Genesis 31:13-16:

I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

I will stop reading there.  We have been going verse by verse through this chapter in the book of Genesis, and as we noted previously, we see several similarities with Jacob’s situation in Haran as he served his father-in-law Laban for 40 years.  Then he came out after this last six-year contract of service, and he departed Haran in haste, and he fled out of that land, and then he was pursued by Laban and his sons and servants.  Can you see how similar that is to Israel’s stay in Egypt for 400 years?  The number “400” is “10 x 40,” so they are similar numbers, just multiplied by “10,” and we have the number of years that Israel was afflicted in Egypt, as God was very careful to tell us back in Genesis 15:13-14:

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

So we see that similarity in the time duration, and the number “40” identifying with testing.  This was happening in the life of Jacob.  After being 40 years in Haran, he was 100 years old, and since he was born in 2007 B. C., it would be 1907 B. C., and it would still be some time before he will have to also leave Canaan after his return back there.  God will set up another historical parable wherein Joseph is sold as a slave into Egypt, and then rises to the position of Prime Minister, and then there is a terrible famine.  As a result, Joseph will control circumstances in order to get his father and all his brethren to leave Canaan and go into the land of Egypt.  They will enter (Egypt) in the year 1877 B. C., but they apparently would not experience affliction right away, as God tells us that His people will be afflicted in a strange land for 400 years.  And we know precisely from the biblical calendar that Israel’s total time in the land of Egypt was 430 years, from 1877 B. C. until 1447 B. C.  Since the Bible is always true and faithful in everything it says, both statements are correct, and the simple solution is that for the first 30 years under the care and protection of Joseph, Israel was not being afflicted.  But after that (and probably under a new Pharaoh), affliction began to develop, and it deteriorated into total bondage and into servitude as slaves serving an evil Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. 

And yet, God uses that reference to 400 years, and in Genesis 31, it was 40 years that Jacob served Laban, and now he is coming out, and he is coming out with great spoil or great riches, just as God said of Israel in Genesis 15:14:

… and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

So there are numerous similarities, with Laban being a type of Satan, just as was Pharaoh, and with what happened after Israel departed out, as they were delivered by force when God brought Pharaoh and all Egypt to their knees through the plagues.  Israel was permitted to leave, but then Pharaoh pursued after them, until he came to the Red Sea, and then he and his army perished in the Red Sea when God collapsed the water on them, and they drowned.

And, here, the similarity is that Laban will pursue after Jacob when he departs.  Of course this is a historical parable, so we can add numerous similarities, but it does not have to be exact duplication in every situation.  And, here, Laban and his sons and servants were not killed, but he was judged.  The whole matter was a judgment of God against him for the way he had dealt with God’s servant Jacob or the people of God.

So we see that Jacob was given the command, “Get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.”  We have looked at this before.  But, again, it would line up with what we read in Exodus 6:13:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Now let us read on here in Genesis 31:14-16:

And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

At this point, Jacob brought his two wives (not the concubines) that he had purchased through work contracts of having worked seven years and then working another seven-year period.  And he brought them out to the flocks, and there he told them what happened regarding God coming to him in a dream, and the arrangement he had made with their father.  He explained that God had commanded him to get out and to return to the land of his kindred.  He also told them that Laban’s countenance was not toward him as before, and he feared that Laban would do something deceitful and wicked. 

So Rachel and Leah, who had previously been at odds with one another as they competed with one another, were unified in this matter, and they said, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?”  And in verses 14 through 16, we find plural pronouns, as they speak of “us” and “our” and  “we,” so it applies to both of them.  They are in full agreement that it is time to leave, and time to take the riches that God had taken from their father, as they said, “For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.” 

You know, we have to ask a question because this is how we study the Bible.  The whole Bible is a parable.  It is full of mysteries and hidden truths, and there is nothing in the Bible that is there just by happenstance or just as filler to get us to the more important sections.  That is a totally wrong way of reading the Bible: “Oh, I just want to read all the exciting parts in Genesis.”  Yes – there are many exciting parts in Genesis.  We have gone through all the verses in the first 30 chapters, and we have looked at things up to Genesis 37, and there are not too many dramatic things that happened.  I have experienced this, so I suspect that other EBible listeners have also experienced this, where we kind of gloss over things and even look ahead, as we think, “I cannot wait to get to the more meaty and exciting stuff about Joseph in chapter 37, but there is not much here in chapter 31.”  No – there is plenty here, as far as truth and the Gospel are concerned, and it is our task to find it.  We cannot always do that, but when we come upon a chapter that seems rather plain or boring, like it is just too simple, it is more than likely that God has hidden information there that would be equal to anything else we might read where there appears to be more flair and excitement.

So, what is going on here?  What is going on with Rachel and Leah at this point?  Remember that similarity we keep seeing with Israel and Egypt, as we know that Israel’s stay in Egypt is a historical parable pointing to God’s elect that were in the darkness of this world, in captivity to sin and to Satan.  We have learned that Laban is a type of Satan, although I will not say that is always true, but pretty consistently in the last chapter he was being used by God as a type and figure of Satan.  So what about Rachel and Leah, as they are talking about their father?  “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children'…”

We have to keep in mind something that I did not realize until this passage started opening up a couple of years ago in Mark 3 regarding a house divided and a kingdom divided, and how that indicates the fall of Satan.  I will read it, in Mark 3:24-26:

And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

What do we see? If I said that “kingdom” and “house” are synonyms and they are saying the same thing, you would probably nod your head and say, “Yes, I can see that.”  Again, it says, “…a kingdom be divided against itself, it cannot stand,” and then there is an identical statement that says, “…And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

So Satan’s house and Satan’s kingdom are one and the same.  If we were to find a verse somewhere that spoke of a house in an evil, negative way, we could relate that to Satan’s kingdom.  So that is clear, but the same thing said of the kingdom and of the house is said of Satan: “And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand…:  So, really, God is making synonymous a “house,” a “kingdom,” and “Satan.”  They are all saying the same thing.  When we see the kingdom of Satan (the nations of this world or the kingdom of darkness), then we are seeing Satan divided.  We are seeing his fall.  The fall of this world is equivalent to the fall of Satan.

Therefore, when Rachel and Leah, whose father is being portrayed as a figure of Satan, say of him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?” what would that be?  It would be the kingdom of Satan that is made up of the nations of this world, the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  The world was under Satan’s dominion and power, and it belonged to him since the fall in the Garden of Eden and through thousands of years of earth’s history until May 21, 2011.  When the kingdom of Satan fell, Satan fell and has his end, which is being worked out over this prolonged judgment period.

We know that Rachel, ultimately, would have two sons of her own, but she claimed two sons through her handmaid, so she had four.  Leah has six sons of her own, but claimed two sons through her handmaid, so she had eight.  (At this point, Rachel had not born Benjamin yet, but this will apply to her, finally.)   So we see that out of the 12, there is “one third” for Rachel, and “two thirds” for Leah, and they are a picture of all that would have dealings with the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  Although Leah and her sons can at times represent the elect, for the most part, they represent the “many” that are called but not chosen.  And Rachel, for the most part, would represent God’s elect, although she herself gave indication that she may not personally have become saved.  But it is just a picture, and her name means “ewe lamb,” so she is the “sheep,” and the bride that Jacob worked for, as God uses her as a figure of the elect, the “few” that had been chosen:  “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

But all of them, especially over the course of the church age, would have relationship with God, and it could be said that they had the idea or belief that the inheritance of their father’s house belonged to them.  Again, this is referring to Laban, a type of Satan, and, therefore, it applies to the whole world, the kingdom of Satan.  Then it goes on to say in Genesis 31:15:

Are we not counted of him strangers?

Is that not what happens to God’s people when we are taken out of the world and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, spiritually?  Even with those that are not truly saved, just with their profession of saying they are a Christian, they are saying they are no longer part of this world, but are as a stranger.  And the world traditionally has despised the professed Christian as well as the true Christian due to their identification with the Word of God, the Bible, and with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Rachel and Leah proclaimed that they are counted as strangers by their father.  And Satan was the ruler of mankind throughout history.  Then they said in Genesis 31:15:

… for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.

Now this is more difficult.  How has Satan “sold” the ones that would become Christ’s?  And I am not too sure I know the answer to that, except to say that it would have to do with statements that say that Satan, the Devil, had the power of death, and Christ, through His death, purchased a people for Himself.  We know that for certain if we go to 1Corinthians 6:19-20:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We are bought with a price, and we also see this in Matthew 13:44:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

The “field” in an earlier parable in Matthew 13 is explained to be the world.  He bought the world.  And maybe it will help us to think of it this way.  If Adam had not fallen, there would have been no need to “buy” the world so that He could own it and possess the “treasure,” because the “treasure” is pointing to the predestined ones, God’s elect that are in the world.  And they are elect because God had determined to save a people for Himself, so He chose a certain few, and the only reason it was necessary to purchase the world was because the world was lost by Adam when he disobeyed God and obeyed the Serpent.  By obeying the lie, he  became servant to Satan, and Satan then ruled over man and everything man had ruled over in this world.  So Satan obtained the world through deceitfulness and through the lie.  And through the lie, he murdered mankind.  He was a liar from the beginning and a murderer, as we are told in the Gospel of John, and he brought spiritual death to Adam and Eve and all their descendants.  Through that, he had the power of death because he was the original instigator.  He was the deceiver who came and set these things in motion.  Of course it was all according to the infinite will of God, but it was Satan’s doings.  He did these things, and through death he obtained control.  Through sin, which is closely identified with death, he took the world.

But Christ, at the foundation of the world, bore the sins of His elect and purchased the world through the giving of His life (this world and the world to come), in order that He would have legal right to the treasure within.  He would take the spoil of Satan’s house, and remember that house or kingdom identifies with the whole world.  He spoiled Satan’s house, ransacking it to take away the “gold, silver, precious stones,” the treasure that is God’s elect people.  So in that sense, through death, Christ bought His people, and in order to buy His people, He had to buy the world.  In other words, He paid the penalty or the wage that was necessary due to Satan’s evil dealings at the very beginning.  It had to be paid in order for this world to belong to Christ and for those that He had determined to save out of it to become His people.

So I think that is what is in view with this statement, “… for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.”

But we will look at this again, Lord willing, in our next Bible study.