Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. You'll receive Skip's weekly devotional email to inspire you with God's word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com. That's connectwithskip.com.
Now let's get into today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig. What is a mandrake? Technical term. Mandragorus autumnalis. What it was, was a perennial fruit that grows in the Mediterranean regions, bluish flowers in the winter, dark green leaves, and a yellow plume-like yellowish fruit in the summer. It also had a root. It was a carrot-like root. And the belief, the superstitious belief, is that it was an aphrodisiac. It increased sexual appetite, and it opened the womb, enabling barren women to conceive. It did not. It was simply superstitious.
She's following the superstitions of her time, trying to get more children. When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, now he had no idea what's happening. His hard day's working. He comes in and he yawns in the tent, wants to grab the Jerusalem Post and sit down and read the paper. Jacob came out of the field in the evening. Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come into me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes. I told you it was a weird chapter. And he lay with her that night. Interesting.
It's as though she's believing this ideology. Well, God hasn't helped me. And my husband, he's not helping me any. So maybe these mandrakes will help.
Also, they were called love apples. You know, I've trusted in the Lord. Where has that got me now?
That same philosophy I've heard over and over again on a number of different levels. Well, God isn't doing anything, so I guess I have to help God out. That's what Abraham and Sarah thought with Hagar.
That's what she is thinking. And so, and he lay with her that night. Verse 16, their marriage had been reduced to a legal contract. And God listened to Leah, evidently then means she had prayed, and she conceived and bore Jacob, a fifth son.
Now the writer, Moses of Genesis, wants you to know that it's because God did it that they had the child. God listened to the prayer and gave her another son. And Leah said, God has given me my wages because I have given my maid to my husband. And so she called his name Issachar, which means hired or for sale. And Leah conceived again and bore Jacob, a sixth son. And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good endowment.
Now my husband will dwell with me because I've borne him six sons. And so she called his name Zebulun, which means to dwell. Afterward, she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah, which means judgment. It was very difficult to be a woman in those days. Here's just a little insight. When a woman was about to give birth, they brought in the food and the singers and the wine, and they were all ready to party, hearty, if a boy was born.
If a girl came out, well, congratulations, but pack up the wine and the party attire, and we'll see you next time. She's competing with her sister. She now has six to zero.
That's the score, six and O. She has a daughter. The daughter is mentioned, but her name is judgment.
Verse 22 is a highlight. Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb.
So after the Mandrake madness was over, that didn't work, but prayer did. She's trusting in the Lord. She's leaning on him, and the Lord opened up her womb.
She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. So she called his name Joseph, which means to add, and said, the Lord shall add to me another son. Now Joseph, we'll get to later. He dominates the last 11 chapters of the book of Genesis. He is the one who was sold out of jealousy by his brothers into Egypt. He is in Potiphar's house. He will eventually become a ruler in Egypt.
In fact, the prime minister, and deliver the world from a famine. But his name is interesting because it really is a prophecy. The Lord will add to me yet another son. She's going to have two children. The second son will be Benjamin, but he won't come around for a while.
But Joseph, her one and only up to now son, is born by natural childbirth. So, so far it's a sad picture. It's a dysfunctional family. It's a family that never learned how to resolve conflict, and children were placed in the middle of adults who are at war with each other. Now I want you just to think for a moment about how couples resolve conflict.
And people do it different ways. Some people resolve conflict by not resolving conflict. They never deal with it, don't want to talk about it.
And they give the cold shoulder to the mate. Honey, what's wrong? Nothing. It seems like, oh no, nothing wrong.
Why do you ask? Oh, but honey, no. And it's awfully hard to snuggle a bobcat. But that's how many will try to resolve it, just by not resolving it. Don't deal with it. Don't talk about it.
But it's still lying there. Other people deal with conflict by just kind of letting it simmer. They'll be very passive about it, but they just let it simmer.
And then it simmers a little more, and a little more, until eventually they can't control it and they blow up like a volcano and take half the house with them. Others place their children in the middle of their conflict. If that ever happens, please don't be surprised if your children grow up to handle conflict exactly the same way it's been modeled to them. If you use your children, like these two gals, as weapons, that's a mistake, pitting one against the other. I see husbands and wives using their children as weapons, especially if there's a divorce. Other parents worship their children. Alienating their spouse is now all about the child, all about the baby, all about that child, and their whole life. So what happens is when the empty nest comes around, they're so used to neglecting the spouse and not nurturing that relationship, and it's all about child-centered parenting. Once the child leaves the home, they look at each other and say, Now, who are you, and why should I remain with you?
Give me a good reason. The best way to resolve conflict is to sit down, look each other in the eye, get a mediator if need be, a counselor or pastor if need be, somebody skilled at biblical counseling, but put your heart on the table and deal honestly and be submissive to the Lord's will and ask for forgiveness and then move on. Jacob did none of that in his family, and neither did these two gals, and you'll see their children as they grow. Enough said. The second part of this chapter, and we want to go quickly, is the workplace. He works for Uncle Laban.
Now watch what happens. It came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own place and my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you and let me go, for you know my service and what I have done for you.
You betcha, 14 years of that service. And Laban said to him, Please, stay. If I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.
Then he said, Name your wages, and I will give it. See the word experience? Some of the modern translations rightfully translated divination. I have learned by divination that the reason I am so blessed is because you're here. That is more accurate. Laban was also superstitious.
The idea that omens and signs would predict a future because the pagan belief is that evil forces control the world, not a sovereign God. No, he uses God's name because he's clever. The Lord has blessed me. Yahweh is the word, has blessed me because of you. But don't be fooled by this cat. He's not interested at all in Jacob's God, only the blessings that will come from Jacob's God.
Stay. Dude, I feel so much better when you're around because he was blessed because of his sake. It's a beautiful principle.
And it's a promise. God had promised Abraham that the descendants of Abraham would be the source of blessing to the world. Through you and your offspring, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And it's wonderful when God blesses other people because of you.
It's a wonderful thought, is it not, that you could be the reason that other people get blessed. Well, it happened with Isaac. Isaac went down to Gerar, and King Abimelech of Gerar realized that God blessed him, the king of Gerar, because of Isaac. Later on, chapter 40, 41, Joseph will be down in Potiphar's house in Egypt, and Potiphar will be blessed for Joseph's sake.
Laban realizes that's happened to him. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, if you've ever wondered what the Bible has to say about some of our culture's big issues, we have a great resource for you. When you give a gift of $50 or more this month to support the ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you God Speaks, biblical answers for today's issues. This special resource bundle contains six of Pastor Skip's booklets that address topics like suicide, why the truth matters, heaven and hell, and the church's response to racism. You'll gain valuable insight into what God's Word says about the big questions in our culture and get equipped to stand for the timeless truth of Scripture.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $50 or more. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Jacob said to him, verse 29, you know how I've served you and your livestock has been with me. For what you had before I came was little and it has increased to a great amount. The Lord has blessed you since my coming.
And now, when shall I also provide for my own house? And he said, what shall I give you? And Jacob said, you shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks. Let me pass through all of your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and these shall be my wages. So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come. When the subject of my wages comes before you, every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs will be considered stolen if it is with me. And Laban said, oh, that it were according to your word. Now that means, I don't know if I can trust you or not. You have one con artist facing another con artist and they don't trust each other. Now what's the deal here?
Here's the deal. Jacob is basically seeing Laban all of the purebred, blue ribbon stock, the best, they're yours. Your flocks have increased because of me, but the best should be yours.
I'll take the leftovers. All I want is the opportunity to build my own flock. So, verse 35, he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. Now Laban takes the lambs Jacob said he wanted, he takes them, gives them to his sons, and he puts three days journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flock.
So here's what's happening. Laban doesn't trust Jacob. Takes the ones he said he wanted, puts them in a flock by himself, and separates them so that at any time Laban could go check on that flock to make sure that Jacob hadn't stolen any others to add to it. He doesn't trust him.
He's keeping a close eye on him. Now Jacob took for himself, verse 37, here's, if you thought it was weird up till now, it gets even weirder. Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of almonds and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, that is the feeding troughs or the drinking troughs, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink so that they should conceive when they come to drink. So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth, streaked, speckled, and spotted. Now you're thinking by now, what on earth is going on?
And I have to say, I'm not quite sure. Some, and there's different explanations for this, think it's a selective breeding process, whereby he's keeping tallies with them with these different rods that have markings on them, so selectively he could breed them. But most people think that just like the mandrakes were superstitious for Rachel, these rods are superstitious for Jacob. They did nothing at all. But it was based upon the superstition that the embryo within a female would be affected by whatever the female sees at the time of and after, in the initial stages after conception. That was their belief. If they saw something weird, it's going to affect the outcome. It had nothing at all to do with the outcome. God was in control, just like he was in control of human gestation, he's in control of blessing the flock.
Here's the result. Jacob separated the lambs, made the flocks face toward the street and the brown in the flock of Laban, but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban's flock. And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock and the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in, and Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's. Thus, the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
There's something you should know, and I think this is one of the reasons it's here. There's a play on words in the original Hebrew, I'm told by the commentators. Do you remember back when we talked about Esau and the alternate name he was given, the name of Edom, which means red? And there was a play on words that with red stew, Old Man Red had his blessing taken from him. It's a play on words. The word Laban means white.
So there's a play on words with the white that's on the shafts or the rods of these pieces of wood and Laban himself. As if to say, Old Whitey got outsmarted and God added to his flocks and strengthened the flock of Jacob and it was God doing it regardless of what Jacob did or didn't do. God added to the flock.
How do I know that? Because in chapter 28, the Lord appears to Jacob when he's on the way to Uncle Laban's and I want you to know something, Jacob. I am the God who's going to bless you.
I'm going to be with you wherever you go and I'm going to bless you and you're going to be a blessing to others. So God is simply doing what God promised before he got there that he would do. He's blessing him, blessed him with many children and now he is increasing and strengthening his flock. Let's bring it to a close and see how this fits into communion. This guy's home life was an utter mess.
His work situation, an utter mess. But in the midst of that mess, God superimposed his will and brought a great blessing. Out of what you might call the worst family came the best blessing. And what was the best blessing?
The Jewish nation that brought forth the Messiah to fulfill the promise, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Why would God ever bless these folk? These are weirdos eating mandrakes and pulling stuff off of sticks and all of this trickery and conniving. What a horrible family. Yet God blesses the most unlikely and will take the very worst and often make the very best out of it. And again, the prime example is the cross. The worst event in human history from a human perspective would be killing God. From any perspective, killing God, doing away with God, that's a tragedy, that's horrible. Yes, it was a travesty of justice.
It was a breach of justice. But God was behind the scenes working it all out because of the death of his son. He could save human beings who believe in him. There's a philosopher from Boston College named Peter Kreeft who puts it this way. Suppose you're the devil. Now I know that's going to be hard for some of you to imagine that.
For some others, maybe not so hard. But suppose you're the devil. You're the enemy of God and you want to kill him, but you can't. However, he has this ridiculous weakness of creating and loving human beings whom you can get at.
Aha, now you've got hostages. So you simply come down into the world, corrupt humankind, and drag some of them to hell. When God sends prophets to enlighten them, you kill the prophets. Then God does the most foolish thing of all. He sends his own son and he plays by the rules of the world. You say to yourself, I can't believe he's that stupid.
Love must have addled his brains. All I have to do is inspire some of my agents like Herod punches Pilate, Caiaphas, and the Roman soldiers, and get them crucified. And that's what you do. And so there he hangs on the cross, forsaken by man and seemingly forsaken by God, bleeding to death and crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What do you feel now as the devil? You feel triumph. You feel vindication.
But of course, you couldn't be more wrong. This is his supreme triumph and your supreme defeat. He has struck his heel into your mouth, you bit it, and that blood has destroyed you.
The very worst thing in history became the very best thing in history. Now, if that is true with the cross, couldn't that be true with lesser tragedies? I want you to think tonight about your own life. You might have a very difficult home life. You may have a very difficult work environment. And maybe you're tempted, like Rachel and like Jacob, to descend to the lower level and get legitimate needs met at an illegitimate source. That's idolatry, by the way. It's the meaning of idolatry.
Getting your needs met at an unauthorized, illegitimate source. Instead of saying, in the midst of this mess, oh, Lord, redeem it and make it something wonderful. Shape my life, my children's life, for your glory. He did it at the cross, and he can do it in your life and mine.
We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you God Speaks! Biblical Answers for Today's Issues, which contains six of Pastor Skip's booklets to help you understand what the Bible says about big issues like racism, the importance of truth, suicide, and heaven and hell. To request your copy of God Speaks! Biblical Answers for Today's Issues, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskiff.com slash donate. For more from Skiff, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskiff.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
