Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #25 of Genesis 31, and we are going to read Genesis 31:46-50:

And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; And Mizpah; for he said, JEHOVAH watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee;

Before we begin, I just want to say that this chapter has probably been one of the more pleasant surprises for me of any Bible studies I have done.  Before now, I really did not know how to approach this chapter, and I was coming to it with the idea that there was nothing too exciting or dramatic here.  And in years past, I would just look forward to those chapters dealing with Joseph and Jacob and the famine, and I would just sort of read this and go quickly by it.  So I am very thankful to God that I have had this opportunity (as well as all of you that are following along) to go through this chapter.  It really enforces what we know, but, you know, sometimes we are not able to find the deeper spiritual meaning of the Word of God, although we know the whole Bible has a deeper spiritual meaning.  And this chapter is an excellent example of how Christ spoke in parables and how the entire Bible is a parable, and we see it in this historical parable in verse, after verse, after verse.  And the key to understanding was when we saw that Laban was a type and figure of Satan.  Once that understanding came, the whole thing began to open up.

And we are going to find…and I must say that I was shocked and more than pleasantly surprised with what we are going to learn in the remaining few verses of this chapter regarding “Galeed,” or the “heap of stones” or pillar that Jacob set up.  And it became the focal point of the covenant between Jacob and his father-in-law Laban.  But spiritually, we understand that Jacob is a type of Christ and Laban is a type of Satan.  And once we have an understanding of the characters and the typology, then we try to follow it through, but it does not always follow through as God can change the spiritual picture from verse to verse.  But often, the Lord will carry the spiritual picture through the chapter or even through a whole book.  And here, Laban has consistently been a type of Satan, and Jacob has been a type of Christ, as he has fled Haran after 40 years, which we can tie into the last 40-year period beginning with the beginning of the Latter Rain in 1994 through 2033, which is 40 inclusive years.  And we say 2033 because biblical evidence points to that year for the end of the world and the conclusion of all things.  Jacob coming out of Haran with his cattle and family is really a picture of spoiling the house of Satan and of saving all those that were predestinated to become saved whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Again, we have seen this consistently.  It is proven when we put forth these kinds of spiritual contexts and ideas, and then verse after verse fits in with the overall pattern and harmonizes with that spiritual picture.  It is confirmation and proof on a level that is beyond any human level.  It is proof on the spiritual level by the Spirit because God is showing us that this is how it is, and that we have it right.

I was really encouraged as I looked at the last two verses in this chapter regarding just how right we do have it (the spiritual picture), and what we are going to see next is validation that on the spiritual level we have been seeing it correctly, and the climax of this chapter will be a very definite proof.

We were looking at the word “Galeed,” and in our last study we saw that it is a compound word, made up of two words that are found in this passage.  The Hebrew word translated as “heap” is “gal,” Strong’s #1530, and the Hebrew word translated as “witness” is Strong’s #5707, and it is the word “ayd,” and when we put them together, it forms the word “Galeed.”   So it means “heap of witness.”  It said, “This heap is a witness between me and thee this day.”  The word “witness” is the usual and typical word for “witness” in the Old Testament, as in being a faithful witness, or the necessity of having two or three witnesses that agree together in order to know that a thing is true.  And that is really in accordance with the biblical principle that not only do we compare spiritual with spiritual (and the Holy Ghost teaches), but any conclusion we arrive at must agree with everything else the Bible says.  And there would be the “witnesses,” and the two or three (witnesses) would be the Persons of the Godhead.  It is God agreeing with God and, therefore, it is the Word of God, the truth of the Bible, when “two or three witnesses” agree.

So “Galeed” is “heap of witness.”  We understand the word “witness,” but the word “heap” is a very important word.  Again, this word is #1530, and I encourage you to look it up, and when you do, you will find it is used in about 35 places in the Old Testament.  Out of those 35 times, it is translated as “heap,” 18 times.  It is also translated as “wave,” 14 times.  So that is 32 out of the 35, so they would be the primary ways of translating this word, and they are very similar.  A heap of stones becomes a pile, as one stone upon another starts to build into a rock formation.  And a wave is water that piles up in the sea, and it rises up in a similar way to rocks rising up on the ground, so we can understand why God would speak of a “wave” as a “heap.”  It is the same idea, but “wave” is on the water.

So let us take a look at a lot of these verses because I want to make the point that Judgment Day is in view here, and I think we will understand this to be so.  Let us go to Joshua 7, where Joshua is speaking to Achan.  At the time Jericho fell, Achan had taken some gold and silver and a goodly Babylonish garment from the spoils, and he hid them in his tent.  Then God caused Israel to fall at the city Ai because there was the “cursed thing” in the camp, which was this sin of Achan.  Then the Lord led Joshua to find it out, and we read in Joshua 7:25-26:

And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? JEHOVAH shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So JEHOVAH turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

Here, we see a similar picture of heaping together stones, and it has to do with God’s wrath and His judgment on Achan and his family for this sin.

We read in Joshua 8:28:

And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.

This word translated as “heap” is a different word, but it just so happens that God is describing what became of Ai, which had to do with judgment, so it is a very close picture.  This is not the Hebrew word “gal,” but this is the Hebrew word “têl,” translated as “heap” in verse 28. The word “gal” is in the next verse, in Joshua 8:29:

And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.

Also notice the phrase that was used in the previous chapter regarding Achan and his family: “unto this day.”  And this is a phrase that would represent an eternal principle.  That is, it is forever.  The wrath of God has come.  The man is dead.  He has been judged and punished, and it is an eternal punishment that is in view (eternal death), and, once more, they raised a great “heap of stones,” which is what we saw in Genesis 31.

Now we will not see “stones” mentioned everywhere we look at this word, but here it is a very clear link to Jacob gathering stones and building a heap between Laban and himself.  Obviously, when it refers to waves of the sea, there are no stones involved, but the wrath of God would be a consistent theme between them.

Let us turn to 2Samuel 18:17:

And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

Absalom was the rebellious son of David that sought to usurp the kingdom from his father, and David’s general Joab slew him, contrary to David’s wishes, but he slew him, and they laid a great heap of stones upon him.  Again, this is indicating that his death was a result of the wrath and judgment of God.  So far this fits the pattern does it not?

Let us go to 2Kings 19:25:

Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

Fenced cities were laid into ruinous heaps, and this has to do with cities that were being destroyed.

Turn to Job 15:28:

And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

It says in Jeremiah 9:11:

And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

This is a verse that reveals the judgment of God on Old Testament Jerusalem and Judah, and, in turn, it points to the judgment of God on the New Testament churches and congregations when judgment began at the house of God.  God turned Jerusalem into heaps.   Remember, it says that “not one stone shall be left upon another.”  It was complete desolation.  And the reference to “heaps” here does signify God’s wrath and judgment on a rebellious people that were called by His name.

Also, in Jeremiah 51, we will see Babylon is in view, and Babylon is a representation of the kingdom of Satan of this world.  The Hebrew word “gal” (heap) is found three times in this chapter.  We are only going to look at two verses.  One time it is translated as “heaps,” and the other time it is translated as “waves.”  It says in Jeremiah 51:37:

And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

The reference to being “without an inhabitant” in this verse, as well as in Jeremiah 9, means that God the Holy Spirit has departed from it.  He did so first with the churches when He departed from them, and, so too, He has done so with the world on May 21, 2011, as far as the activity of salvation.  The Holy Spirit was (and is) no longer operating to save.  He left the churches, and then He left the whole world “without an inhabitant,” and that “inhabitant” would be the Lord Jesus Christ.  So Babylon became “heaps,” and that tied into May 21, 2011, the beginning of Judgment Day, when Babylon (the world) fell.

Then it says in Jeremiah 51:42:

The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

The sea would represent the wrath of God that has come up upon Babylon, the world, and the whole world is covered with the multitude of the waves.  So the waves have risen up upon Babylon, typifying the whole world.  In other words, the whole world has become a “heap,” because the word “waves” is the same word that is translated as “heaps.”  Again, there is no mistaking the wrath of God in the Day of Judgment.

You know, when we look up a word, we often find a theme as we follow that word.  And you could be looking up a word that is found 500 times in the Bible.  But when you see some key verses with 10, or 15, or 20 out of the 500, you have a “pattern,” and you can apply it.  But when you have a word that is only used 35 times, as you look at verse, after verse, after verse that is following a similar pattern, then you really have a definition for the word that you can apply to other verses where you may not see that pattern immediately because it is more veiled or hidden.  But when God has defined it in other Scriptures, you can bring it back and apply it, as we can in this case with the heap of stones – Galeed – that is a “heap of witness” between Jacob and Laban.

We read in Ezekiel 26:2:

Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

It is important for us to understand that Tyrus is saying this against Jerusalem – that she is broken and Tyrus says, “Aha,” like he is glad it happened that she is laid waste.  Here, Jerusalem would be God’s judgment on the churches, and Tyrus is in favor of that judgment on the churches.  So that helps us to understand that Tyrus is similar to Babylon in that it represents the people of the world that are a part of Satan’s kingdom, which would mean they are unsaved.

Then it says in Ezekiel 26:3:

Therefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

And the word “waves” is the same word as “heaps.”  God is now against Tyrus, just as He was against Babylon.  And as a result, the Lord will cause many nations to come up against Tyrus, “as the sea causeth his waves to come up.”

Here, the Lord is tying together the waves of the sea with many nations coming against Tyrus.  Perhaps we can get a better understanding if we go to Zechariah 14:2-3:

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall JEHOVAH go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Now let us also turn to Jonah 2, where we will find this word translated as “waves.”  It says in Jonah 2:1-3:

Then Jonah prayed unto JEHOVAH his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto JEHOVAH, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

There is a spiritual picture of Christ, typified by Jonah, who was cast into the sea and was swallowed by a whale, and he was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.  And Jesus referred to this in the Gospels when He said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  So the experience of Jonah as described in chapter 2 was a picture of the experience of Christ in enduring the wrath of God.  Therefore, the waves or heaps passed over Him, and that would connect this word to the wrath and anger of God upon sin.

Let us go to one other place, in Psalm 107, where we read in Psalm 107:24-29:

These see the works of JEHOVAH, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto JEHOVAH in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

Here, the word in verse 29 is the same Hebrew word, “gal,” and the picture is of those that go down to the sea in ships, and God raises a stormy wind and lifts up the waves.  We have that same picture in the book of Jonah in chapter 1 when the storm was assailing the ship, and they were about to perish, and then Jonah said, “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea,” and they said, “Let us not perish for this man's life,” and they threw him into the sea.  It is pointing to God’s salvation program through the atonement of Christ.

Here too, the waves are typifying the wrath of God against sin and the sinner, and if God does not intervene, it would destroy the ship and destroy the men and drown them, just as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were drowned, which would point to being killed by God forever, due to sin and rebellion against Him.

But when God does intervene, as He did in this case, it says, “He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.”  Once Jonah was thrown into the sea, the storm ceased its raging.  And that is the peace that God gives His elect people for the sake of Christ’s sacrifice performed on our behalf, and the wrath of God is no longer vengeful toward us because it has been appeased.  The demand of the Law of God toward us has been satisfied, and now there is the calm sea.  We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we can see this word in every one of these verses clearly identifies with the wrath and punishment of God on the sinner because of his sin.