Value

DEVOTION

GENESIS

VALUE

Gen 31:17-24

17 Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18 and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household gods. 20 Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21 So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead. 22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."

NIV

We are entering a section where the final goodbyes take place with a covenant. But we need to stop throughout this narrative for some lessons along the way. Jacob takes all his family and flocks and heads out for home. For whatever reason Rachel decides to steal her father’s household gods. Were they of material value, made of gold of silver? Were they of sentimental value to her? Perhaps she took them to spite her father. Rachel and Leah had just had that conversation about their father spending that was supposed to be theirs. They had considered that all the wealth God took away from their father belonged to them and their children. So it would seem the household gods had material value. Rachel was endeavoring to take something back from her father. It is coming down to materialism. God has not yet given Moses the Ten Commandments which include, “Thou shall not steal”. But it would seem the way this narrative ends Rachel gets by with it. Yet we cannot help but think want she did was wrong in the eyes of God, although in his eyes these objects were nothing but false gods. Maybe he inspired her to take them to teach Laban a lesson. Yet it appears this was nothing more than payback, getting even with her father for how he treated Jacob, Leah, herself and the children. This whole situation about their leaving in the middle of the night, so to speak, not saying goodbye, not informing Laban of their departure was not the right thing to do either. Again we are seeing a family in crisis, yet a family that has the blessing of God on them. As Laban pursues them, in his anger, God makes sure he knows he is not to do anything harmful to them. Laban has all his household gods, but he hears from God Almighty and understands who he is hearing. We are going to see some change in the heart of Laban, although he still accussed Jacob’s family of thievery, of stealing his household gods. Again this may have been due to their material value, rather than articles of worship. Then again if they were articles of worship, how could he worship them knowing about the God of Jacob? It seems it might just be about materialism. These men were all about their wealth. It seems their worth was wrapped up in their wealth. It is strange what we place so much value on. The Lord has instructed us that where our treasure is there also is our heart.

Matt 6:19-21

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

NIV

Sure, Laban chases them down and it takes him days to do so, and he accuses them of just running off without saying goodbye, but he also includes the stealing of his gods. He may not have chased after them with such vigor, had Rachel not stolen his gods. We need to be careful what we place value on. We need to make sure we do not fall into the trap of either materialism or of having any false gods, false ideas we put faith in.  We know putting our faith in money is a false god, for we cannot serve both God and money. However, putting faith in our own abilities may also be a false god. Putting faith in our intellectual prowess and understanding of scripture might be a false god. Putting faith in any system the world has to offer is a form of a false god. What should be the number one priority in our lives is God. He is a jealous God and desires to have fellowship with us. He gives us everything, our hearts desire, if only we will serve him, and him alone. Nothing has any value in this life except our relationship with him. How he puts up with all the shenanigans of Jacob, Leah and Rachel is beyond our understanding, yet he does because he made the covenant with them. He has also made a covenant with us, through Jesus Christ. So although we too might mess up from time to time, fail and fall into those temptations of placing value on something or someone other than him, he is always faithful to his word and we are still his family, his children because we accepted Jesus as our Savior. Yet let us remember who is the greatest value in our lives, God.