Rachel and Leah Say 'Do Whatever God Has Told You' (Genesis 31:1–16)

Laban's face had changed

Jacob left Laban because Laban's family had turned against him and the LORD told him to go home. Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father's expense" (Genesis 31:1). "And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed" (Genesis 31:2).

Then the LORD spoke to him: "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you" (Genesis 31:3). Twenty years before, at Bethel, Jacob had made a vow that began, "If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey" (Genesis 28:20). Now God answered that vow in His own words. His uncle's face had cooled, and God's promise stayed exactly as He spoke it.

Out in the field

Jacob told his wives what God had done for him over twenty years and what God had said to him in a dream. "I can see from your father's countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me" (Genesis 31:5). Laban had changed his wages ten times, he said, and "God has not allowed him to harm me" (Genesis 31:7).

Then he told them the dream, down to his own reply: "In that dream the angel of God said to me, 'Jacob!' And I replied, 'Here I am'" (Genesis 31:11). He had kept that night in his memory, and now he spoke it aloud to the two women whose lives it would uproot. This promise would move a whole household across the Euphrates, so the whole household needed to hear it.

Do whatever God has told you

Rachel and Leah agreed to leave, because what Jacob told them matched what they had lived. "Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father's house?" they asked (Genesis 31:14). "Are we not regarded by him as outsiders?" (Genesis 31:15). Their father had sold them and spent what was paid for them. Then they said, "So do whatever God has told you" (Genesis 31:16).

The sisters had fought for years over Jacob's love and over sons. In this field they spoke with one voice. They heard what God had said, weighed it against what their father had done to them since the day he sold them, and put their children's future on it.

I will be with you

God's promise to be with Jacob reached its fullest form in Jesus, who made the same promise to everyone who follows Him. On a mountain in Galilee, Jesus sent His disciples out to the nations and said, "And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

Jacob left Haran with flocks, wives and children, and what kept them on the road was God's promise to be with him. In Jesus, God Himself came to be with His people, and He has not left them since.

Tell it to someone who walks with you

Jacob kept what God said to him, and when the time came he told it to the people who had to walk with him. We are the people who remember what God has said. When He speaks to you through Scripture or an encouragement someone shares, write it down in the Doxa app with the date, then read it to someone who walks with you and let them weigh it at your side. The God who said "I will be with you" to Jacob in Haran (Genesis 31:3) is with you today. Keep what He says to you, and you will come to know Him as Jacob did, the God who keeps every word.

Who could you tell this week about something God has said to you?

Deeper study today in the Doxa Deeper Dive: the small Hebrew word that ties Laban's face to God's promise, and the name God spoke at the burning bush. Read it here.