A BUSINESSMAN’S PROFILE

Genesis 30:25-31:55
Bob Bonner
January 14, 2007

In the past 20 years of having lived in Grants Pass, I have had many opportunities to witness up close many a businessman’s efforts at make a living. Some of those men and women have been Christians, others have not. Sadly, I must admit that I have witnessed very little difference in the business ethics that are practiced by some Christians and non-Christians. To our further embarrassment, I have witnessed many honorable non-Christian businessmen in our community who put some Christian businessmen to shame because of their upstanding ethical practices.

Just last week, I had another conversation concerning why an individual in our community refuses to attend church. The reason is the blatant, observable, unethical business practices of some who claim to be followers of Christ. Too often, Christians live as though God has a right to give them direction as how to live their lives at home and at church. But when it comes to school or business...in other words, getting by in the real world, God has no place. And that kind of thinking is just plain foolishness.

This morning, we are going to look at a rather long section of Scripture that highlights the business practices of two individuals, and see what part, if any, God plays in their work. Their names: Laban and Jacob.

In Genesis 30:25-31:55, we have the whole story as to how Jacob and his family return home to Canaan as a very wealthy family, with many sheep, goats, camels, donkeys and servants.

According to Dr. Bruce Waltke, one of the foremost Hebrew scholars of our day, and the author of one of the most in-depth commentaries ever written on the book of Genesis, he demonstrates that Jacob’s positive business leadership decisions follow in line with a series of dreams Jacob had, in which the “angel of God,” the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, gives Jacob instructions as to how Jacob is to proceed as the provider and leader of his household.  According to Dr. Waltke, Genesis 30:25-34 is chronologically preceded by the first dream in which God forewarned Jacob of his father-in-law’s attempt to deceive and rob Jacob of his rightful earnings. This dream, although recorded later in 31:10-13, gives Jacob the inspiration for his business plan as to how he should protect his earnings against the plans of his greedy father-in-law, who has already cheated him for the past 14 years.

Instead of beginning at the beginning of our section for this morning, I want us to start by looking ahead to Genesis 31:10-13, where Jacob recounts for his two wives the two dreams he had. In Jacob’s recalling to his wives his reasons for his actions, Jacob actually summarizes and joins the two dreams together. The first dream is the one that precedes Genesis 30:25, and it is the dream that inspired Jacob’s business contract with his father-in-law.  The second dream actually takes place in Genesis 31:3, and concerns God’s instructions to Jacob to take his family back home to Canaan. We read in 31:10, “And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. [that in essence is the summary of the first dream. The next verse is the summary of Jacob’s second dream] ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ”

Hence, the first dream points to God’s divinely inspired selective breeding plan for Jacob, by which he will become rich in livestock of varied colors; while the second dream summarizes God’s instruction for Jacob to leave Haran and return home.

With that ample preview of where this story is headed, let’s return to the beginning of our section of study and look at the particulars, beginning with 30:25. Here, we are faced with the establishment of a business contract between Jacob and his crooked father-in-law, Laban. We read, “Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.’”

Jacob’s request to be “sent away” was long overdue, and a slight rebuke aimed at Laban. At this time, in the Near East, if a slave owner was to grant an indentured servant his freedom and send him away, the master was to do so with a liberal supply of flocks, grain, and wine, presumably so that this newly freed servant could get a good start for his own household (cf. Deut. 15:12-14). In Jacob’s case, one who is a relative, an in-law no less, how much more should Laban have sent away his own flesh and blood with a full supply? Instead, Laban seeks to continue to exploit Jacob. Truth be told, if Laban could have had his way, he would have sent Jacob packing empty handed. 

This explains why Jacob does not tell Laban about his dream, by which God would prosper Jacob. Jacob fully anticipates that Laban will not voluntarily free Jacob without seeking to exploit him further. Hence, in the following verses, Jacob offers a business proposition to Laban: “’Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.’ But Laban said to him, ‘If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account.’ He continued, ‘Name me your wages, and I will give it.’”

Jacob had merely to name his price, and Laban assured him he would meet it, if Jacob would only keep working for him. However, this time, because Laban had no other daughters to offer Jacob, he knew he would have to actually give Jacob some form of payment. Something he had a hard time doing. Jacob knew this and as later developments proved, Laban had no intention of allowing Jacob to leave with anything.

Furthermore, Laban had been somewhat perplexed by the fact that Jacob’s care of his flocks had resulted in such a great increase in his own wealth. Curious to know how, apparently, Laban reveals that he had returned to his idolatrous ways and sought out a pagan medium to divine the truth behind Jacob’s success. As a result, this soothsayer or oracle revealed to him that Yahweh had indeed been the one behind Jacob’s success.  Fully believing that Yahweh would continue to prosper Jacob, Laban was looking forward to swindling Jacob out of most of his earnings.

So, Jacob responds to Laban’s “Make me a deal,” in verse 29. “You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” In other words, “When and how can I get started with my own holdings such that I can leave here, find another place and provide for my own family?”

Laban responds, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything.” In other words, Jacob is not asking for freebies or handouts. He is more than willing to earn his fair share, even if Laban stubbornly refuses to provide for Jacob in the rightful and customary manner. Hence, Jacob offers this plan: “If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen. Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’”

Jacob proposed a plan by which he would gain little in comparison to Laban. Jacob asks Laban to allow Jacob to begin with the present spotted goats and black sheep that were in Laban’s flocks. Jacob would then remove them far away, keeping them separate from Laban’s flocks. If Laban comes and finds any in Jacob’s flock that are not mis-colored, then they would both agree that those animals had been stolen and would be returned to Laban’s flock. For this, Jacob would oversee not only his own flocks, but Laban’s. If Laban’s gave birth in the future to odd-colored goats and black sheep, then they would be added to Jacob’s flock as his only payment for shepherding Laban’s flock. 

Normally, in the Near East at this time, the hire of a shepherd, such as Jacob, was to be 20 percent of the flock. Rarely, if ever, would the speckled population be such a large percentage. Hence, Laban quickly agreed to this arrangement because he thought it could work only to his advantage.

Beginning with verse 35 and to the end of this chapter, we see the contest between these two schemers, Laban and Jacob. In verses 35-36, we see Laban’s first dishonest move to keep Jacob as his hired hand. We read,

“So he [Laban] removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.”

Notice, right off the bat, Laban starts cheating Jacob. The agreement in verse 32 was for Jacob to start with what few multicolored animals were already in Laban’s flock and go from there. But Laban, unilaterally, decides to take those already born as multicolored, leaving Jacob with nothing to begin. Laban made sure that Jacob would have a difficult time succeeding, thus guaranteeing himself many more years of free labor at Jacob’s expense. At least, that was his plan. God had a bigger plan, and Jacob trusted God with it. Notice, Jacob knew that Laban had cheated him, but he did not protest, which he could have. Instead, he chose to semi-trust God, but also fight fire with fire, as we see in these next verses.

Beginning with verse 37, Jacob makes his own vain attempt to become successful apart from just working hard, honestly and depending upon God. He turns to a superstitious ploy. “Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.”

Jacob superstitiously believes that if flocks mate in front of striped tree branches or rods, they will produce only striped or multicolored animals. This vain and superstitious attempt went beyond the normal practice of selected breeding. In the end, Jacob betrays his own unrighteousness by trying to cheat Laban.

Within the space of only a few years—perhaps four or five—Jacob’s flock had indeed grown so large, and he had prospered from it so greatly, that he had to employ many servants, both male and female, and had purchased many camels and donkeys to carry the supplies needed to feed and care for the flocks and the servants. Due to his selective breeding practices, Jacob had quickly become a very prosperous rancher and a very wealthy man.

As a result of quickly accruing wealth, Jacob realizes that the time is near for him to leave. In fact, the next events, spelled out in chapter 31, make it imperative that Jacob head home to Canaan. For we read, “Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, ‘Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.’ Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.”  Laban’s sons are no dummies. They have watched Jacob’s increasing in wealth over the past several years, while their prosperity has not grown proportionately. Like their greedy father, they see their potential inheritance slipping away, and become bitter and wrongly accuse Jacob of stealing their inheritance. Jacob, himself, hears their public charges and sees Laban’s body language and realizes, now would be a good time to git! 

God, likewise, knew it was time for Jacob to leave, hence, He tells Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, and said to them, “I see your father’s attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me. “You know that I have served your father with all my strength. “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. “If he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped. “Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. “And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ”

Jacob has just declared what he has known to be the truth behind all of his success and prosperity. If someone asked him, “How is it that you have become so successful?” he could honestly give two reasons: “First, I applied myself and my brains. I worked hard and I practiced selective breeding.” These things were true, according to 30:43. But now, in 31:9-12, Jacob declares the real reason for his incredible success. Many had used their brains and worked hard before him, but did not enjoy his amount of success. Jacob knew this. Furthermore, he knew that because the growth of his flock was so great for the allotted time period, it was impossible to point to hard work and selective breeding alone as the only explanation for his success. Hence, Jacob acknowledges the second reason...the real reason for his success. God had miraculously intervened and increased the size of Jacob’s herd.

Rachel and Leah respond supportively and affirmingly, in verse 14, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. “Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”

Although there had been much conflict between these two sisters over their love for Jacob, both of them knew why they were in the position they were in. It was all their father’s fault. He had treated them both badly and they had long resented him for it. Through his economic relationship with Jacob concerning their marriages, Laban had treated them as slaves and foreigners. He had sold them to Jacob, not given them away as brides, as customarily was done. They both loved Jacob for his commitment to work fourteen years to have both of them. With equal passion, they hated their father. And added to their insult, rather than giving the dowry to his daughters which was typically used to help them start their own homes, Laban had consumed it himself! Hence, they had no qualms with anything Jacob chose to do.

“Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s. And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.”

If you are trying to travel with flocks, it would take you about ten days to travel 90 miles. But if you are racing after someone on horseback, unencumbered, the same trip would take about three days. Furthermore, Jacob got a jump start on Laban, because he fled during sheep-shearing time. This was a time when men were out in the fields far from home for several days at a time. Consequently, Laban and his sons would have been preoccupied with their work and were not immediately aware of Jacob’s flight.

But when he heard that Jacob had fled, he followed in hot pursuit of Jacob. He probably had designs on not only getting what he thought belonged to him, but maybe even killing Jacob. However, when he caught up to Jacob and was ready to presumably attack Jacob, the night before, God interrupts Laban’s sleep and in a dream and says to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.” [In other words, “Don’t you dare touch Jacob or anything he possesses!”] Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.

What follows is a pathetic hypocritical speech of Laban’s. We don’t have the time to look at all the innuendos, and unwarranted slurs and aspersions that Laban casts in Jacob’s direction. But at least, we shall read it. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre; and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. “It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?”

Realizing that God was with Jacob and that Jacob had a legitimate right to leave and possess what he did, Laban still did not want Jacob to have the last word. Laban wanted to save face by pointing out something bad about Jacob. So he accuses him of having stolen his pagan idols, which in that culture carried with them the inherent right to leadership over the family, Laban’s family. 

Jacob then answers why he left and pleads innocent to having stolen his family idols. “Then Jacob replied to Laban, ‘Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our kinsmen point out what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself.’ For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. She said to her father, ‘Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.’ So he searched but did not find the household idols.’” The camel’s saddle was a box 18 inches square and 14 inches high that was strapped to a camel. But it was more than just a saddle. The box typically, was a saddle bag and doubled for a small chair, when it was placed on the ground. Being her time of the month, Rachel, like most women of that day, would be doing much sitting during her time. Hence, her father would not have asked her to rise so that he could inspect the saddlebags. Furthermore, he probably never would have suspected his own daughters of stealing or lying to him.

Laban finds nothing, and Jacob finally blows his cork. For twenty years, Jacob suffered his father-in-laws mistreatment in silence. Unable to contain himself any longer, Jacob explodes into a tirade. “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear [or better translated “the Awesome one”] of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night.” Meaning, “God in your dreams, rendered judgment against you last night!”

Laban could only maintain an embarrassed silence as Jacob spoke. But when he does respond, Laban’s words are still filled with arrogant bluster. “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? So now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me. Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. Jacob said to his kinsmen, ‘Gather stones.’ So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.” Former name is Aramaic, because Laban is a Syrian; Jacob, a Hebrew, gives it a Hebrew name. Both mean “a heap of witness.” “Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between you and me this day.’ Therefore it was named Galeed, and Mizpah [watchtower], for he said, ‘May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.’”

Laban is implying here that somebody needed to watch Jacob, because Jacob was just as much a crook as Laban. Then listen to his empty bravado of concern for his daughters. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.

“If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me. Laban said to Jacob, ‘Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.’” Notice how this fool takes credit for having even built this religious altar, when it was Jacob’s men who built it. But Jacob lets this arrogant fool off and agrees. They have a meal together and the next day, after saying goodby, Laban leaves, never to be heard from again.

The Laban’s of this world, unfortunately, are many. In fact, some claim to be followers of Christ, and may even attend this church. If you are a Laban, I have some unpleasant news for you. You will leave this world as Laban left Jacob, empty handed.

Laban knew about the true God, but he had no heartfelt dealings with God. He had even enjoyed many of God’s blessings through his relationship with Jacob and other believers. Yet, he remained a man of the world: greedy, jealous, covetous, out for no one but himself. He merely coveted the blessing of God as seen placed on Jacob, but wanted nothing of God. In turn, he ends up losing everything: his wealth, his family, his self-respect. He leaves this world a defeated man.

Laban’s example leaves a sober warning to the semi-religious, sanctimonious half-hearted follower of Christ, who is basically a self-worshiping and self-centered person. Seek God with your whole heart, or don’t seek Him at all. He is truly either your master, the Lord over all the areas of your life, including your business practices, or He is not your Lord at all.

Furthermore, this section of Scripture illustrates for all of us that material prosperity is a blessing from the Lord and not the product of one’s own limited abilities.

In addition, Laban, this sanctimonious hypocrite, reminds us that those who attend worship services every week, just like this one, and are guilty of separating the way they do business from their other areas of spiritual life, believing that it really doesn’t matter, are in for a shock. How we live our lives outside of church, how we do business does matter to God. From the simple observation of Laban’s life, we learn that falsehood ultimately fails and righteous business practices win in the end. 

For those of you who run a business or work by commission, do not approach your work as though it is somehow separate from other areas of your spiritual life. The office and this place are both holy ground before God. The Laban’s of the world, unfortunately, are too many. The religious, self-righteous, sanctimonious hypocrites, who claim to be followers of Christ, but their business practices and lifestyles deny it will continue to drive people away from Christ, right here in our own community.

Hence, be it understood, that if you meet fraud by faith, cunning by conscience, and violence by virtue, you will succeed in your work, and the Lord will fulfill His promise to “keep you” and your family.  Your customers and competitors may be unscrupulous in their dealings, but you will live to see them trapped in their own pits, and their dealings turn to failure. 

On the other hand, if you cheat, defraud, spread vicious lies about your competitor or knowingly misrepresent your product or his, God will bring discipline not blessing upon your life. And if you are married, you will not be the only one who suffers. Your household will suffer along with you.

back to top