Scripture Daily

Context No. 889 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 30:27-31: in context

27Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.” 28He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.” 29Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 30For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. The LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” 31Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

Jacob has served his uncle Laban for years, working off two marriages, and now he wants to leave and provide for his own household. Laban does not want to lose him. He admits, with unusual candor, that he has learned by divination the LORD has blessed him on Jacob's account; his little has become a multitude wherever Jacob turned. So he asks Jacob to name his wages and stay. Jacob points out the plain fact, that Laban's wealth exploded once he arrived, and asks when he will finally provide for his own house.

The interesting figure here is Laban. He is a schemer, a man who has already tricked Jacob once, and he is grasping to keep Jacob because he knows Jacob is the reason for his prosperity. But listen to what he actually says: the LORD has blessed me for your sake. Laban can see the hand of God plainly enough to want to hold onto the person who carries it, yet there is no sign he wants the God who gives it. He wants the effect without the source, the fruit of the covenant without the covenant. It is possible to recognize God's blessing on someone's life, to profit from it, even to depend on it, and still relate to it only as an asset to be kept. Jacob, for his part, is done being someone else's asset; he is ready to build his own house under the same God. The blessing on a faithful life often spills over onto people who only want the spillover.

Am I after the blessings God gives, or after God himself, and would the difference show if the blessings dried up?

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