Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #10 of Genesis 31, and we are going to read Genesis 31:20-24:

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead. 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.

I will stop reading there.  This is the end of 40 years of Jacob’s stay in Haran.  God has commanded him to leave, so he gathered his family and all his livestock, and he has fled.  Then Laban heard of it, as he had gone to shear his sheep, and he was at a distance of a three-day journey.  He will finally catch up to Jacob.

But we are going to try to see what we can learn from the language God has given us in Genesis 31:20:

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.

First, we going to look at the word “fled,” and then we will look at some of the other words in this verse.  It should not surprise us that this is the same word we find in Exodus 14:4-5:

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am JEHOVAH. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?

Pharaoh had a change of heart at the news that the people of Israel had fled.  How many of the Israelites fled Egypt in the time of the exodus?  And the answer the Bible gives us is that all of them fled, and they took their possessions and everything they owned, and the Lord even caused them to “spoil” the Egyptians who gave them gold and silver and jewelry.  They left with everything that belonged to them.  So, too, we read in Genesis 31:21:

So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river…

He took everything he had, which were his children, his wives, and a great multitude of cattle and some servants, and he fled.  He went as quickly as possible out of the land of Haran and away from Laban.  Again, this is very similar, spiritually, to Israel leaving the land of Egypt and fleeing from the bondage and affliction they had experienced there, as they fled from Pharaoh who had been lord and ruler over them.  They came out of Egypt, and then we see that Pharaoh pursued with his army after Israel, just as Laban would bring his sons and pursue after Jacob.  And Jacob is “Israel,” is he not?  It was the descendants of Jacob and his sons that would later flee Egypt, and Jacob was soon to have his name changed to Israel.  So, here in Haran, Jacob is fleeing from Laban and the servitude and affliction he had experienced at the hand of his father-in-law.  So, again, it is a continuation of the spiritual figure of Laban as a type and figure of Satan.

Jacob fled, and the word translated as “fled” is also used in Isaiah 48:20:

Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, JEHOVAH hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

The command was, “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans,” and we are not surprised that God also uses this word in connection with going out of Babylon and fleeing from the Chaldeans, because Babylon is a similar picture to Egypt.  Egypt typifies the world, the kingdom of Satan, and Babylon typifies the world, the kingdom of Satan.  Egypt was ruled over by Pharaoh, a type of Satan, and Babylon was ruled over by the king of Babylon, a type of Satan.  And God brought His people Israel out of the land of Egypt, and God brough His people Israel out of Babylon.  It is a similar spiritual picture, so this word “flee” identifies with the elect of God coming out from under the authority and power of the Evil One, and going to the kingdom of God.

If we go back to Genesis 31:20, we understand that Jacob has fled, as it says, “And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.”  The words translated as “stole away” is a translation of the Hebrew word, Strong’s #1589, that could be translated as “stolen.”  It is the same word used in a previous verse describing Rachel’s theft in Genesis 30:19:

And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.

So when Jacob “stole away,” it is the same as “steal.”  Jacob stole unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.  We wonder, “Does this have something to do with the cattle, or did he also take something that did not belong to him, like Rachel did?”  No – there is no indication of that.  Later when Laban caught up with him, he did not accuse Jacob of breaking the contract or stealing anything.  Actually, Jacob pointed out to Laban, “If I have stolen anything, bring it here and put it before us.”  But nothing was put before them, so this word “stole” is not being used in the sense of stealing property.  It is not being used that way, but it is being used in the same sense that we see in 2Samuel 19, where the same Hebrew word, #1589, is found twice in verse 3.   It says in 2Samuel 19:1-3:

And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.

This was a very sorrowful situation for David, King of Israel.  His son Absalom had rebelled against him, and David gave strict orders that Absalom was not to be hurt.  Joab, his general, disobeyed and killed Absalom.  The people realized the grief of David because it was very obvious, if we go the previous chapter, in 2Samuel 18:31-33:

And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king: for JEHOVAH hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

So the people heard him, and they saw how grief-stricken he was, and that is what it says in 2Samuel 19:1: “And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.”  It was well known, and this caused the army to enter into the city, but not with a loud noise of rejoicing in victory, but they came “by stealth.”  That is, they very quietly entered the city, not wanting to be noticed or to make a sound.  They did not want to draw any attention to the fact that they had just won this battle because that would also draw attention to the death of Absalom, so it says, “And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.”

And that is what Jacob did.  That is the word used back in Genesis 31:20:

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian…

Jacob packed up everything as soon as he knew that Laban would be a distance away, a three-day journey from him.  He was not making a lot of noise.  There was no fanfare.  He was not saying goodbye to the neighbors.  He did not want anyone to know.  He did things as quietly as one could pack up such a large company, and he began his journey back to the land of Canaan, and he left Haran with everything he had.

So this all seems understandable.  We know why Jacob fled the way he did, but there is a problem with this verse that is not easily seen in the English translation, but we do see it in the Hebrew.  Actually, it is not a problem for theologians that would just sort of explain it away, but it is a problem for us because we know that God chooses His words very carefully, and it becomes a problem for the spiritual understanding of what is happening. 

In the English, we read in Genesis 31:20:

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.

Again, that is understandable, but when we look at the Hebrew word “unawares,” the Hebrew word is actually a word that means “heart.”  It is translated over 500 times as “heart,” and it is Strong’s #3820.  Jacob stole away “heart” to Laban.  This is how the sentence would read literally: “And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.”  Jacob stole Laban’s heart.  That is what the verse says in the Hebrew.

I have read theologians that say, “Well, it is like a Hebrew idiom, indicating that through his fleeing, Jacob is deceiving Laban.”  Historically, that is what it means, but we are looking at the deeper spiritual level, and there is a reason that God used the word “heart.”  Also, there is a reason He used this word in regard to Laban.  Just think of it spiritually.  We have Jacob, a type of Christ, who has worked for his flock of sheep, and he has worked for his bride.  In both cases, it indicates the Lord Jesus as the Saviour of His people, and the great flock of sheep represent His people, and His bride represents His people.  Now it has come to conclusion, and all His work has been done.  He has his children, his wives, and his cattle, and now we are reading that Jacob, a type of Christ, stole the “heart” of Laban, a type of Satan.  And that is a problem. 

In the Jay Green’s Interlinear Bible, he tries to solve the problem by saying that Jacob deceived the heart of Laban, so he did recognize it was the word “heart.”  But the problem is that the Hebrew word translated as “stole,” which is Strong’s #1589 (and which we looked at earlier), is found 39 times, and 30 of those times it is translated as “steal;” and seven times it is translated as “steal away;” and once it is translated as “carry away;” and one time as “brought.”  It is never translated as “deceive” or “deceived.”  That is not the meaning of the word, and we cannot just make up our own word because we do not understand what God is saying.  And this means that Jay Green’s interlinear translation is incorrect.  It is not actually the literal translation of this word.  We have to look at it as it is written, and we must try to understand it, by God’s grace.

In order to try to understand what God is saying here, we are going to look more closely at the Bible’s teaching regarding “stealing.”  And I think as we look at several Scriptures in the New Testament and Old Testament, I think we will get an idea of how God does relate the word “stealing” to the “heart.”

Let us start by looking at one of the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20:15:

Thou shalt not steal.

God is speaking of taking something that does not belong to you.  If it does not belong to you, you should not take it.  It is stealing.

It is also spoken of in Leviticus 19:11:

Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

The Lord also speaks specifically of Israel in relationship to “stealing” in a few places.  It says in Hosea 4:1:

Hear the word of JEHOVAH, ye children of Israel: for JEHOVAH hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

He is addressing Israel, His people, and the land of Israel, and His controversy has to do with the fact that there is no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God.  Then He says in Hosea 4:2-3:

By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

God is indicating His displeasure and anger with them for breaking His commandments.  These were part of the Ten Commandments – swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery – and Israel was disregarding and trespassing against His commandments.

Also, in Jeremiah 7 the Lord finds much fault with Israel and the spiritual leaders of Israel, as it says in Jeremiah 7:3-10:

Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of JEHOVAH, The temple of JEHOVAH, The temple of JEHOVAH, are these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

Again, the Lord is referring to His commandments that Israel was breaking.  And we know that as God speaks of Judah and His people Israel, it is referring to the corporate church, spiritually.  The Lord was using Judah or Israel as figures or representations of the churches.  We have covered that a lot (in our studies), and by God’s grace, He has opened up our eyes to understand this as we read the book of Jeremiah.  It is really a revelation of the sins of the New Testament church, and it shows us why God brought an end to the church age and why judgment began at the house of God.

Let us look at one more verse in Jeremiah, as I think this is all we will have time for in this study.  Lord willing, in our next Bible study, we will try to understand the spiritual dimension of “stealing,” according to the Bible.  Once we have a good idea about that, we can come back to Genesis 31 and see what could be in view with the language of Jacob stealing the heart of Laban, or of Christ stealing the heart of Satan, on a spiritual level.

In Jeremiah 23, the Lord is once again pronouncing judgment against a rebellious people.  It says in Jeremiah 23:28-32:

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith JEHOVAH. Is not my word like as a fire? saith JEHOVAH; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith JEHOVAH, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith JEHOVAH, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith JEHOVAH, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith JEHOVAH.

God is against them that teach false doctrines and false gospels.  That is basically what God is declaring, and the context of verse 30 is very helpful: “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith JEHOVAH, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.”  What could the Lord mean by that? 

Well, just think of the parable of the sower.  The sower is Christ, and He sowed the seed upon various types of ground.  In the explanation of that parable, we see that the “seed” is the Word of God, and the “ground” is the “hearts of men.”  The Word of God is sown upon the hearts of men, and we are told that on some of the ground, the fowls of the air come and catch away that which was sown there.  If they come catch it away, what would that be but stealing?