The Witness

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE WITNESS

Gen 31:43-50

43 Laban answered Jacob, "The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? 44 Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us." 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.   48 Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Galeed. 49 It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me."

NIV

Although Jacob worked diligently for twenty years to pay Laban for his two wives and all the flocks he had acquired through an agreement, Laban still considered everything his. That would be like working for an agreed wage, only for the employer to say all your wages belong to him. Yet he understands he can do nothing about it, so he wants to make a covenant with Jacob and let it be a witness between them. Again, we do not understand how, after Laban spent seven days chasing Jacob over his idols and calling them gods, he made that statement about the LORD keeping watch between them. If he is concerned about the LORD keeping watch between them, why did he still want his idols? It almost seems Laban is using Jacob's fear of the LORD as a weapon or threat: if Jacob does anything wrong, God is watching him; God is a witness between them. This may be true for our lives. Although we may not make an official covenant with people, except our spouses, the LORD watches how we treat others. First, let us focus on the covenant we made with our spouse before God. That may not mean we are perfect in all we do or that we never make mistakes, but that is the point of a covenant. We are held together, bonded to each other, no matter what. Those words: " What God has joined together, let no man put asunder."  That was the covenant Laban made with Jacob; he made it in the presence of the LORD, and no one could break it. A covenant declares the Lord is the witness between them. Although we make that official covenant with our spouses, we should also remember that the Lord witnesses how we behave toward others, in attitude and action. When some believers, non-believers, or even relatives disappoint or offend God, and thus us, because we belong to God, we wonder what kind of witness we are before God. Maybe it comes down to the truth that God is our witness.