Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #14 of Genesis 31, and we will read Genesis 31:24-29:

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. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. 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.

I will stop reading here.  We find this statement in verse 24: “Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”  Also, in verse 29, it is repeated as Laban is explaining to Jacob.  We wonder, “What is the meaning of God warning Laban to beware that he speak not to Jacob either good or bad?”  It is curious that earlier in Laban’s lifetime, there was a similar statement made, if we go back to Genesis 24:48-51:

And I bowed down my head, and worshipped JEHOVAH, and blessed JEHOVAH God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. 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.

Laban and his father Bethel said this to Abraham’s servant (who was likely Eliezer) who had come to find a wife for his master’s son Isaac: “The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.”  Then they told him, “Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go.”  That is, “It is the will of God and coming forth from Him, so what can we say bad or good, one way or the other?”  So he did take Rebekah and return to Canaan.

It is actually a similar picture when Rebekah became a bride of Isaac, who is a clear type and figure of the Lord Jesus.  So that makes Rebekah a type and figure of the elect.  The servant went seeking for a bride for his master, which is exactly what happened with the people of God over the course of history.  We are servants of our Lord and Master, and we were sent forth to seek the bride for our Lord Jesus Christ.  The sending forth of the Gospel accomplished the salvation of God’s elect which formed that spiritual bride.

So this is a picture of the servant who has found the bride, and now he wants to go to Canaan, the kingdom of God, to present the bride to Christ.  That is the spiritual picture, which is a similar picture to Jacob, as we are told in Hosea that he “kept sheep for a wife” with the earlier marriage contracts he had.  First, it was thought to be only for Rachel, but then it turned out he worked a second seven-year period, but both periods of time were really for Rachel.  He purchased a wife, just as Christ has purchased His people.

But the Lord continued to paint spiritual pictures in Jacob’s 40-year stay (in Haran), and the last spiritual picture was the obtaining of the multitude of cattle, typifying the elect.  And now Jacob had his wives, his children, and his cattle, and he wanted to go back to Canaan.  And if you remember the account back in Genesis 24, Laban and his family did attempt to hinder the return of the bride Rebekah to Isaac.  I did not see this as clearly there, but Laban was also obstructing and hindering, acting as a type of Satan at that time.  And now he is trying to hinder and prevent the return of  Jacob.  It is the typical response of the Devil to the Gospel message of the Word of God that saves His people.  Satan is always opposing and hindering and trying to stop the way.  So too, Laban pursued after Jacob and his multitude, and he has finally overtaken him, but God had warned him not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. 

As we continue to look at this reference to “good or bad,” we find the account of Balaam, a false prophet, and we find that when he went to curse Israel, he would wind up blessing them according to the Word of God.  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?

Here, again, we see a reference to the “commandment of JEHOVAH.”  Balaam said, “I cannot go beyond the commandment of JEHOVAH, to do either good or bad of mine own mind.”   And, again, it is just as what was said in Genesis 24:50:

… The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.

The commandments of God always come forth from JEHOVAH.  It is the will of God, and when God’s will is to be done, do not speak good or bad. 

But we still have a question.  It is understandable why God would say, “Do not speak bad or evil. That is, do not curse.  Do not threaten.  Do not say anything negative about Jacob.”  The Lord could have said, “Beware that thou speak no evil to Jacob.”  But why would He not allow for speaking “good” to him?  Why could Laban not come and speak kindly and good to his son-in-law, and show him favor?  Why would God prohibit speaking both good and bad?  That does not leave much, does it?  It is curious, and it is probably related to the whole idea of Laban as a deceiver who is able to flatter and speak smoothly.  He has a way with words, where he could say something in a contract in one way, and then later he could say, “Well, I did not mean that, but I meant this other thing.”  He could probably have spoken in a kindly and goodly manner to Jacob to prevent him from leaving.  He could have said, “Let us think about this, Jacob.   Let us sit down together.  You have been such a wonderful asset.  You are an outstanding shepherd, as you have kept my flock.  And I know that for your sake, I have been blessed of the Lord.”  He could have strung together a whole bunch of flattering words, and that might be something that could allure. 

You know, false prophets do not typically speak evilly or negatively.  They do not come looking like false prophets.  Satan comes as an angel of light, and his messengers as ministers of righteousness.  They say nice things and good words like, “God loves you.  He has a wonderful plan for your life.  Trust God, and He will bless you abundantly.”  They say things that are true for God’s elect, but not true for all people, and the false prophets do not know if it is truth for the ones that they are saying it to, but the vast majority of people are not saved, so God does not love them.  God does not have a wonderful plan for their lives, and God has no intention of blessing them eternally or abundantly. 

So in Satan’s vocabulary, there are a lot of nice sounding words.  They are flattering words and smooth words and good words.  But, here, God is telling Laban, “Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”  And word “bad” is the word “evil,” so he is not to speak good or evil. 

Another Scripture that contains both of these words is found in Isaiah 5:20:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil.  We have numerous examples of this in our present time, do we not?  All we have to do is listen to the world for five minutes today, and they will no doubt be calling extremely wicked things “good,” like abortion, which is the murder of children.  Can you imagine people calling this a moral right?  And yet, they do.  If people can fool and deceive themselves into thinking something as horrific as the murder of a baby in the womb is a good thing, there is a big problem.  Man has a problem in understanding what “good” is, and he is not grounded (in the truth).  He thinks that something “evil” is good.  On the other hand, he can look at something “good” and think it is “evil.”  And, again, this is happening out in the world everywhere we look.

So in speaking to a wicked and unsaved man like Laban, God is “covering all the bases,” saying, “Do not speak bad, and do not speak good,” just in case what he thinks is good is actually evil.  “So do not do either one.”  So it is very wise for God to use this kind of language to Laban.

It is not just out in the world, as I mentioned earlier.  It is not the people of the world that are saying, “God loves you.”  It is not the people of the world that are saying, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.”  But they are those that profess to be children of God.  They profess to be Christians, but they misapply, misuse, and pervert the teachings of the Bible.  They pervert “grace” and turn it into “works,” and they think they are doing good.  They are going to hold a big evangelistic gathering, and they are going to give the altar call, and there is going to be all these people walking down the aisle, and they are baptized and told they are saved and children of God.  They would say, “Where is the evil in any of that?”  That is what they are thinking.  And yet, if this takes place in a church, they should not even be in a church, to begin with, because the church age is over.  They should not be encouraging people to come for salvation when there is no more salvation at this time.  Even worse, they should not make it appear that mankind has the power and ability to get himself saved by walking down an aisle and saying the Sinner’s Prayer, or by mouthing the words, “I accept you, Lord.”  It is all desperate wickedness.  It is all darkness, and they are all filthy deeds that are being done in churches and congregations, and yet, they think it is all wonderful and good: “Oh, we grew the church.  We fulfilled the Lord’s Great Commission.  We have saved sinners from hell.”  They think it is all glorious, and yet, it is not.

We have a biblical example in 2Chronicles 18, where there were hundreds of false prophets that came together before two kings to prophesy – King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah.  And we read in 2Chronicles 18:4-12:

And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of JEHOVAH to day. Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king's hand. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of JEHOVAH besides, that we might enquire of him? And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of JEHOVAH: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. And the king of Israel called for one of his officers, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat either of them on his throne, clothed in their robes, and they sat in a void place at the entering in of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith JEHOVAH, With these thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for JEHOVAH shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent; let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.

There is the “encouragement” to Micaiah, who happened to be the lone true and faithful prophet of God, whereas all this great number of prophets were prophesying “good” to the king.  That is what the messenger said to him: “Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent.”  And what were they prophesying about? “Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for JEHOVAH shall deliver it into the hand of the king.”  That is, they were saying, “You will win the battle.  You will defeat the enemy.   You will be victorious.”  That is what they were all saying, and this was what the king wanted to hear.  He liked this kind of prophesying, so that is the reason that many of these prophets were speaking that way.  But behind the scenes, God actually revealed events that took place in heaven when He said, “Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead?”  And then Satan offered up himself to accomplish that purpose, so what they were prophesying were actually lies, but this is what the king of Israel wanted. 

The king of Judah, who was Jehoshaphat, sensed something was wrong, which was why he asked for another prophet.  But the king of Israel, Ahab, preferred the lie over the truth.  He wanted to hear a certain thing.  He had his mind made up to go to battle, and he wanted encouragement for himself and his troops.  He wanted “good prophesying.”   That is, “Tell us we are going to win, so there will be no doubt in the mind of the soldiers.  Tell us that we are going to be victorious.”  He had his position already made, and he wanted favorable prophesying that was in line with his position.  But Micaiah, a true prophet of God, came.  First, he mocked them by telling him exactly what he wanted to hear, and then the king said, “How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth?”  Then Micaiah told him the truth, which was that if he went to this battle, he was going to die, and that is exactly what happened.

So we have to ask the question: “Were the words of these prophets truly good?”  They sounded good.  They were exactly what the king and all the people gathered together wanted to hear.  It was what the General and his soldiers wanted to hear.  Everyone had their ears “tickled,” in that sense.  They received the type of prophecy they had hoped for and wanted, and what they had actually demanded, as we saw when the messenger said, “Let your prophecy be as theirs, and speak good to the king.  Speak good in the ears of the king.”  And yet, it was not good because Satan had put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets.

But for unsaved people…and Christ spoke of this matter in John 8, and it is a statement that speaks a great deal about things that take place in the world.  It says in John 8:43-45:

Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

The people of the world are of their father the devil, and the things that sound good to their ears are lies and falsehoods, which is why false gospels are so numerous, and why hundreds of millions of people speak in tongues and fall over backwards, and why there are hundreds of millions more that believe the lie of “accepting Christ” in their free will gospels.  It is why so many people of the world believe lies about abortion, or they believe lies about gender and how it is fine to change your gender, or they believe that two men can marry one another, and two women can marry one another.  And they are all lies and deceitful things that flow forth from the hearts of men, and they are of their father the devil, who was a liar from the beginning and the father of it. 

But Christ is the truth.  Christ speaks the truth, and the truth is rare in this world.  The truth is in the Bible, but in our day those in the churches have Bibles, but they do not speak the truth.  They do not have the Holy Spirit to guide them into truth, so they develop all manners of lies, false doctrines, false gospels, and so forth. 

So we can see why God is saying to wicked Laban, “Do not speak good or evil.  Do not speak what you think to be evil, and do not speak what you think to be good.”  What an excellent admonition by God to evil individuals in this world because they cannot tell the difference, and they do not really know what is good and what is bad.