Jacob took his family in the night and ran from Laban. Fear caused him and his family to move an ethically questionable manner. Download the free powerpoint at www.BibleGuy.org

1. Family Fear
Genesis 31:17-55

2. video
• I showed the following video from Wingclips
about fear: http://www.wingclips.com/movie-
clips/walking-across-egypt/im-swimming

3. Fear
• Causes to us miss out on the simple pleasures of
life.
• Causes us to be paralyzed to go forward with life.
• Causes us to cling to what is unimportant
• Causes us to panic or be angry
• Causes us to be irrational
• Causes us to think our troubles are bigger than
they are.
• Causes us to loose our footing.

4. In our story today
• Fear causes Jacob to leave town in a hurry
• Fear causes Rachel to steal her father’s idols
and then lie about it.
• Fear of loosing his possessions causes Laban
to chase after Jacob
What does fear cause us to do?

5. Jacob was a man of fear
• Out of fear, Jacob:
– Deceived his brother for first born rights.
– Stole his brother’s blessing
– Ran to Heron to escape his brother
– Remained in Heron under Laban’s authority for 20
years
• He fear going home and having a confrontation with
Esau
• He feared that his resources were not adequate to go
home

6. Jacob Goes Home
Genesis 31:17–18 (NET) 17 So Jacob immediately
put his children and his wives on the camels. 18
He took away all the livestock he had acquired in
Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that
he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the
land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac.

7. Rachel’s Fear
Gen. 31:19 While Laban had
gone to shear his sheep,
Rachel stole the household
idols (teraphim) that
belonged to her father.
• Her motivation:
– To have the teraphim may
have meant the right to
inheritance (the Nuzi
tablets of the 15th century
b.c.);
– it certainly meant Laban
was without what he
thought was his protection.
• Fear motivated her to
steal and fear motivated
her to do it the way she
did.

8. Jacob’s Deceived Laban out of Fear
Gen. 31:20–21 20 Jacob
also deceived Laban the
Aramean by not telling
him that he was leaving. 21
He left with all he owned.
He quickly crossed the
Euphrates River and
headed for the hill country
of Gilead.
• Fear caused Jacob:
– To leave without telling
Laban
– To leave in haste.
– To cross the Euphrates
– To head to the hill
country.

9. Laban’s Fear
Gen. 31:22–24 22 Three days
later Laban discovered Jacob
had left. 23 So he took his
relatives with him and
pursued Jacob for seven
days. He caught up with him
in the hill country of Gilead.
24 But God came to Laban
the Aramean in a dream at
night and warned him, “Be
careful that you neither
bless nor curse Jacob.”
• A combination of fear and
anger caused Laban to
pursue Jacob
– Fear of loosing his family
– Fear of loosing his
possessions
• God put a greater fear in
Laban:
– It didn’t stop his anger and
fear.
– But, caused him to with
frame from acting on it.
The materialistic man puts his faith (security) in his
belongings. He always lives in fear of loosing what he has.
He fears those closest to him because they may take what
he perceives as his.

10. Fear can lead to Conflict
Gen. 31:25 Laban
overtook Jacob, and when
Jacob pitched his tent in
the hill country of Gilead,
Laban and his relatives set
up camp there too.
• Fear prepares for
conflict. A battle is in
the making.

11. Laban’s Rebuke
Gen. 31:26–28 26 “What have
you done?” Laban demanded
of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me
and carried away my
daughters as if they were
captives of war! 27 Why did
you run away secretly and
deceive me? Why didn’t you
tell me so I could send you off
with a celebration complete
with singing, tambourines, and
harps? 28 You didn’t even allow
me to kiss my daughters and
my grandchildren good-bye.
You have acted foolishly!
• Laban’s words were meant
to make him look good to
the relatives (cover-up):
– Jacob stole his daughters?
They thought Laban treated
them like foreigners.
– He would have given them a
party?
– Jacob deprived him of kissing
his family good-bye? He never
paid attention to them. He
was too busy with his
possessions.
• Are these his real motives
for pursuing Jacob?

12. Fear Squelches Laban’s Revenge
Genesis 31:29–30 29 I have
the power to do you harm,
but the God of your father
told me last night, ‘Be
careful that you neither
bless nor curse Jacob.’ 30
Now I understand that you
have gone away because
you longed desperately for
your father’s house. Yet why
did you steal my gods?”
• Fearful people attempt to
create fear in others by
intimidation.
• The bully is stopped by a
force bigger than himself
(big brother, daddy, God).
• If he understood Jacob’s
longing for home, why
hadn’t he helped?
• Real motive for the chase:
“You stole my gods”.

13. Jacob’s Defense is Fear
Gen. 31:31–32 31 “I left
secretly because I was
afraid!” Jacob replied to
Laban. “I thought you might
take your daughters away
from me by force. 32
Whoever has taken your
gods will be put to death! In
the presence of our relatives
identify whatever is yours
and take it.” (Now Jacob did
not know that Rachel had
stolen them.)
• Jacob explains his motive
for leaving in secretly and
hastily:
– He was afraid that Laban
wouldn’t permit him to
take his family with him.
– The materialistic man even
saw his kids and grandkids
as his possession.
• Jacob, in fear of Laban,
tells him whoever took
his gods will die. Find
them and leave.

14. Laban Searches For what
he fears he lost
Genesis 31:33 33 So Laban
entered Jacob’s tent, and
Leah’s tent, and the tent
of the two female
servants, but he did not
find the idols. Then he left
Leah’s tent and entered
Rachel’s.
• Instead of showing love
to his family Laban
searches out his family
for his possessions.
• His idols are more
valuable to him than his
family.

15. Fear Causes Rachel to lie
Gen. 31:34–35 34 (Now
Rachel had taken the idols
and put them inside her
camel’s saddle and sat on
them.) Laban searched the
whole tent, but did not find
them. 35 Rachel said to her
father, “Don’t be angry, my
lord. I cannot stand up in
your presence because I am
having my period.” So he
searched thoroughly, but did
not find the idols.
• Rachel’s fear of her dad
was greater than her
respect for the idols.
– Sitting on the idols isn’t
respectful.
– If she is really on her
period….
• Would Rachel have been
put to death if she had
been caught?

16. Fear Fires Back
Gen. 31:36–37 36 Jacob
became angry and argued with
Laban. “What did I do wrong?”
he demanded of Laban. “What
sin of mine prompted you to
chase after me in hot pursuit?
37 When you searched through
all my goods, did you find
anything that belonged to
you? Set it here before my
relatives and yours, and let
them settle the dispute
between the two of us!
• The conflict turns in Jacob’s
favor.
– Laban has demonstrated his
true motives. It wasn’t family.
– Jacob defends his integrity.
– Jacob presents his case to the
relatives (they are the jury).
• Jacob uses the peer
pressure to bring fear on
Laban. They witnesses to
matter.

17. Jacob Fires Back –
I’m the one wronged
Gen. 31:38–39 38 “I have been
with you for the past twenty
years. Your ewes and female
goats have not miscarried, nor
have I eaten rams from your
flocks. 39 Animals torn by wild
beasts I never brought to you; I
always absorbed the loss
myself. You always made me
pay for every missing animal,
whether it was taken by day or
at night.
• Jacob builds his case before
the relatives:
– I haven’t wronged you
– You have wronged me
• Fear caused Jacob to put up
with Laban for so long.
• Now he sees Laban in fear
and Jacob takes the
opportunity to register his
complaint.
• Laban managed by
intimidation and fear. It
always comes back.

18. I’m the one wronged!
Gen. 31:40–41 40 I was
consumed by scorching heat
during the day and by
piercing cold at night, and I
went without sleep. 41 This
was my lot for twenty years
in your house: I worked like
a slave for you – fourteen
years for your two
daughters and six years for
your flocks, but you changed
my wages ten times!
• Out of fear I put up with
the heat.
• Out of fear I put up with
the cold.
• Out of fear I put up with
sleepless nights.
• Out of fear I accepted
being treated like a slave
for 20 years.
• You even cheated me on
my pay.

19. God is on my side!
Gen. 31:42 42 If the God of
my father – the God of
Abraham, the one whom
Isaac fears – had not been
with me, you would
certainly have sent me
away empty-handed! But
God saw how I was
oppressed and how hard I
worked, and he rebuked
you last night.”
• Would you have sent
me away with a party?
No way!
• The only reason I have
anything is because God
protected me.
• God has rebuked you.

20. Laban exposes his selfishness
Gen. 31:43–44 43 Laban replied
to Jacob, “These women are
my daughters, these children
are my grandchildren, and
these flocks are my flocks. All
that you see belongs to me.
But how can I harm these
daughters of mine today or the
children to whom they have
given birth? 44 So now, come,
let’s make a formal agreement,
you and I, and it will be proof
that we have made peace.”
• Everything you have is
mine.
– He speaks of the daughters
and grandkids as possessions
at the same level as the flocks
and material things.
• Is the temptation to harm
family present? Better to
destroy them than let Jacob
have them?
• Since I can’t take them back
lets make an agreement not
to take from each other any
more.

21. Resolve Out of Fear
Gen. 31:45–47 45 So Jacob
took a stone and set it up
as a memorial pillar. 46
Then he said to his
relatives, “Gather stones.”
So they brought stones
and put them in a pile.
They ate there by the pile
of stones. 47 Laban called
it Jegar Sahadutha, but
Jacob called it Galeed.
• They make a pack
between them with
their relatives as
witnesses.
• Jegar Sahadutha
(Aramaic) meaning “the
pile is a witness”
• Galeed (Western
Semitic) meaning “the
pile is a witness”

22. A Contract is built on Fear
Genesis 31:48–50 48 Laban
said, “This pile of stones is a
witness of our agreement
today.” That is why it was
called Galeed. 49 It was also
called Mizpah because he said,
“May the LORD watch between
us when we are out of sight of
one another. 50 If you mistreat
my daughters or if you take
wives besides my daughters,
although no one else is with
us, realize that God is witness
to your actions.”
• Mizpah - can be a watch
tower for military defense,
or a high hill that serves the
same function.
• The pact is a contract of fear
between each other.
– To keep each other from
doing harm once they leave
one another’s presence.
• Laban’s terms:
– Don’t mistreat my daughters
– Don’t have other wives

23. Not a contract of unity but of fear
Gen. 31:51–52 51 “Here is
this pile of stones and this
pillar I have set up between
me and you,” Laban said to
Jacob. 52 “This pile of stones
and the pillar are reminders
that I will not pass beyond
this pile to come to harm
you and that you will not
pass beyond this pile and
this pillar to come to harm
me.
• Laban’s terms:
– You stay out of my territory
– I’ll stay out of yours
• It is a coming to terms:
– They admit they don’t trust
each other
– They admit they are not
going to come to resolve
– They agree to stay away
from each other so as not
to take from each other.

24. God is the judge
Gen. 31:53–54 53 May the
God of Abraham and the
god of Nahor, the gods of
their father, judge between
us.” Jacob took an oath by
the God whom his father
Isaac feared. 54 Then Jacob
offered a sacrifice on the
mountain and invited his
relatives to eat the meal.
They ate the meal and spent
the night on the mountain.
• Laban’s polytheistic oath
– Abrahham’s God
– Nahor’s God
– Gods of their father
• Jacob’s monotheistic oath
– God whom Isaac feared
• Jacob offered a sacrifice
and the family ate it.

25. Out of One another's life
Gen. 31:55 Early in the
morning Laban kissed his
grandchildren and his
daughters goodbye and
blessed them. Then Laban
left and returned home.
• Laban is never
mentioned in the Bible
again.
• He went home.
• His fear of loosing what
was his led him to loose
everything that was
dear to him.

26. Luke 12:22–32 (NET)
• 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you,
do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or
about your body, what you will wear. 23 For there is
more to life than food, and more to the body than
clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or
reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds
them. How much more valuable are you than the
birds! 25 And which of you by worrying can add an hour
to his life? 26 So if you cannot do such a very little thing
as this, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider
how the flowers grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I
tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed
like one of these

27. • ! 28 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass,
which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into
the fire to heat the oven, how much more will he
clothe you, you people of little faith! 29 So do not
be overly concerned about what you will eat and
what you will drink, and do not worry about such
things. 30 For all the nations of the world pursue
these things, and your Father knows that you
need them. 31 Instead, pursue his kingdom, and
these things will be given to you as well. 32 “Do
not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well
pleased to give you the kingdom.

28. “He is no fool who gives up what
he cannot keep to gain what he
cannot loose.”
Jim Elliott