Genesis 31 contains the narrative that describes Jacob’s exodus, or departure, from Laban after working for him for 20 years. If you are familiar with the story, you will know that Laban didn’t treat Jacob with the most integrity. Laban famously tricked Jacob into marrying Leah, Laban’s eldest daughter, whom Jacob did not want to marry. And over a 6 year period, Laban changed Jacob’s wages 10 times (Gen. 31v7).<\/p>\n
And if you’re familiar with even more of the backstory, you know that Laban’s treatment of Jacob was Jacob getting a little taste of his own medicine; or in more biblical terms, reaping what he sowed. Jacob was quite the trickster himself – most famously tricking his blind father Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of his older brother Esau, who was out hunting in the fields at the time.<\/p>\n
Back in Genesis 31, after many hard years of labor, Jacob finally makes his move on Laban. “And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee” (Gen. 31v20). The deception continues. After Jacob makes his great escape we learn (Gen. 31v22) that it takes Laban 3 days to find out that he had been tricked.<\/p>\n
I can’t help but see Christ here. There was no deceit or sin of any form in Christ, yet he played the greatest trick of all time. After Christ died a death on the cross, bearing all the wrath and punishment for all of Jacob’s sin, and ours, he died. But 3 days later, death found out that it had been tricked by the God-Man Jesus Christ. Jesus died; but not unto a death unto which he would stay dead. He died to live, and to live so that other dead people could come alive.<\/p>\n
All of Jacob’s and Laban’s little squabbles of trickery were nothing compared to the ultimate trick Jesus put on death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Genesis 31 contains the narrative that describes Jacob’s exodus, or departure, from Laban after working for him for 20 years. If you are familiar with the story, you will know that Laban didn’t treat Jacob with the most integrity. Laban famously tricked Jacob into marrying Leah, Laban’s eldest daughter, whom Jacob did not want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":3470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[60,205,274,355,539,557,560,562,619,669,678,679,699,723,733,869,1012,1014,1050,1056,1105,1275,1276],"class_list":{"0":"post-3469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-60","9":"tag-bible","10":"tag-christ","11":"tag-death","12":"tag-genesis","13":"tag-god","14":"tag-good","15":"tag-gospel","16":"tag-hope","17":"tag-jacob","18":"tag-jenkins","19":"tag-jesus","20":"tag-joshua","21":"tag-laban","22":"tag-leah","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-rachel","25":"tag-rags","26":"tag-resurrection","27":"tag-riches","28":"tag-scripture","29":"tag-trick","30":"tag-trickery","31":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/01\/fog-dawn-landscape-morgenstimmung-163323.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3503,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-depth-of-mercy-in-the-pits-of-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":3469,"position":0},"title":"The Depth of Mercy in the Pits of Sin","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Genesis 34 narrates the darkest hours of Jacob's life. Not only in terms of things that happen to him, but also in terms of his own sin in response to those things. His only daughter, Dinah, is raped. Jacob responds with what seems like apathy - clearly the rotten fruit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "theology"","block_context":{"text":"theology","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/theology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/2016-02-27-1456600071-9967635-blackhole.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/2016-02-27-1456600071-9967635-blackhole.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/02\/2016-02-27-1456600071-9967635-blackhole.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4999,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-land-was-filled-with-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":3469,"position":1},"title":"The Land Was Filled With Them","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"May 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:\u00a02\u00a0Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,\u00a03\u00a0Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,\u00a04\u00a0Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.\u00a05\u00a0All the descendants of Jacob were\u00a0seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.\u00a06\u00a0Then\u00a0Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/Exodus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3491,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-divine-wrestler\/","url_meta":{"origin":3469,"position":2},"title":"The Divine Wrestler","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The latter portion of Genesis 32 contains the event of Jacob wrestling with God. 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First he ran for his life from Esau, then he ran for his life from Laban, then he wrestled with God for his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/07\/jacobs_death_22-57.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3570,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/a-substitute-for-the-guilty-commentary-on-genesis-44\/","url_meta":{"origin":3469,"position":4},"title":"A Substitute for the Guilty: Commentary on Genesis 44","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"May 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"There are three elements to the narrative that will guide our thought concerning this passage here: Joseph's Test, The Brother's Guilt, and Judah's Plea. Joseph's Test Verse 1:\u00a0The passage begins with Joseph filling the brother's sacks full and putting their money back in their sacks. In other words he continues\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/05\/open-bible.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/05\/open-bible.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/05\/open-bible.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/05\/open-bible.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/05\/open-bible.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/05\/open-bible.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3497,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/favor-with-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":3469,"position":5},"title":"Favor with God","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In Genesis 34 there is a young man named Shechem who rapes Jacob's daughter, Dinah. 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