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Genesis Chapter
Thirty
Genesis 30
Chapter Contents
A further account of Jacob's family. (1-13) Rachel
beareth Joseph. (14-24) Jacob's new agreement with Laban to serve him for
cattle. (25-43)
Commentary on Genesis 30:1-13
Rachel envied her sister: envy is grieving at the good of
another
than which no sin is more hateful to God
or more hurtful to our
neighbours and ourselves. She considered not that God made the difference
and
that in other things she had the advantage. Let us carefully watch against all
the risings and workings of this passion in our minds. Let not our eye be evil
towards any of our fellow-servants
because our Master's is good. Jacob loved
Rachel
and therefore reproved her for what she said amiss. Faithful reproofs
show true affection. God may be to us instead of any creature; but it is sin
and folly to place any creature in God's stead
and to place that confidence in
any creature
which should be placed in God only. At the persuasion of Rachel
Jacob took Bilhah her handmaid to wife
that
according to the usage of those
times
her children might be owned as her mistress's children. Had not Rachel's
heart been influenced by evil passions
she would have thought her sister's
children nearer to her
and more entitled to her care than Bilhah's. But
children whom she had a right to rule
were more desirable to her than children
she had more reason to love. As an early instance of her power over these
children
she takes pleasure in giving them names that carry in them marks of
rivalry with her sister. See what roots of bitterness envy and strife are
and
what mischief they make among relations. At the persuasion of Leah
Jacob took
Zilpah her handmaid to wife also. See the power of jealousy and rivalship
and
admire the wisdom of the Divine appointment
which joins together one man and
one woman only; for God hath called us to peace and purity.
Commentary on Genesis 30:14-24
The desire
good in itself
but often too great and
irregular
of being the mother of the promised Seed
with the honour of having
many children
and the reproach of being barren
were causes of this unbecoming
contest between the sisters. The truth appears to be
that they were influenced
by the promises of God to Abraham; whose posterity were promised the richest
blessings
and from whom the Messiah was to descend.
Commentary on Genesis 30:25-43
The fourteen years being gone
Jacob was willing to
depart without any provision
except God's promise. But he had in many ways a
just claim on Laban's substance
and it was the will of God that he should be
provided for from it. He referred his cause to God
rather than agree for
stated wages with Laban
whose selfishness was very great. And it would appear
that he acted honestly
when none but those of the colours fixed upon should be
found among his cattle. Laban selfishly thought that his cattle would produce
few different in colour from their own. Jacob's course after this agreement has
been considered an instance of his policy and management. But it was done by
intimation from God
and as a token of his power. The Lord will one way or
another plead the cause of the oppressed
and honour those who simply trust his
providence. Neither could Laban complain of Jacob
for he had nothing more than
was freely agreed that he should have; nor was he injured
but greatly
benefitted by Jacob's services. May all our mercies be received with
thanksgiving and prayer
that coming from his bounty
they may lead to his
praise.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 30
Verse 1
[1] And
when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children
Rachel envied her sister; and
said unto Jacob
Give me children
or else I die.
Rachel envied her sister — Envy is grieving at the good of another
than which no sin is more
injurious both to God
our neighbour
and ourselves. But this was not all
she
said to Jacob
give me children or else I die - A child would not content her;
but because Leah has more than one
she must have more too; Give me children:
her heart is set upon it. Give them me
else I die
That is
I shall fret
myself to death. The want of this satisfaction will shorten my days. Observe a
difference between Rachel's asking for this mercy
and Hannah's
1 Samuel 1:10
etc. Rachel envied
Hannah wept:
Rachel must have children
and she died of the second; Hannah prayed for this
child
and she had four more: Rachel is importunate and peremptory
Hannah is
submissive and devout
If thou wilt give me a child
I will give him to the
Lord. Let Hannah be imitated
and not Rachel; and let our desires be always
under the conduct and check of reason and religion.
Verse 2
[2] And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said
Am I in God's
stead
who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
And Jacob's anger was kindled — He was angry
not at the person
but at the sin: he expressed himself so
as to shew his displeasure. It was a grave and pious reply which Jacob gave to
Rachel
Am I in God's stead? - Can I give thee that which God denies thee? He
acknowledges the hand of God in the affliction: He hath withheld the fruit of
the womb. Whatever we want
it is God that with-holds it
as sovereign Lord
most wise
holy
and just
that may do what he will with his own
and is debtor
to no man: that never did
nor ever can do
any wrong to any of his creatures.
The key of the clouds
of the heart
of the grave
and of the womb
are four
keys which God has in his hand
and which (the Rabbins say) he intrusts neither
with angel nor seraphin. He also acknowledges his own inability to alter what
God appointed
Am I in God's stead? What
dost thou make a God of me? There is
no creature that is
or can be
to us in God's stead. God may be to us
instead
of any creature
as the sun instead of the moon and stars; but the moon and all
the stars will not be to us instead of the sun. No creature's wisdom
power
and love will be to us instead of God's. It is therefore our sin and folly to
place that confidence in any creature
which is to be placed in God only.
Verse 3
[3] And
she said
Behold my maid Bilhah
go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my
knees
that I may also have children by her.
Behold my maid
Bilhah — At the persuasion of Rachel he took Bilhah her handmaid to wife
that
according to the usage of those times
his children by her might be adopted and
owned as her mistresses children. She would rather have children by reputation
than none at all; children that she might call her own
though they were not
so. And as an early instance of her dominion over the children born in her
apartment
she takes a pleasure in giving them names
that carry in them
nothing but marks of emulation with her sister. As if she had overcome her
1.
At law
she calls the flrst son of her handmaid
Dan
Judgment
saying
God
hath Judged me - That is
given sentence in my favour. 2. In battle
she calls
the next Naphtali
Wrestlings
saying
I have wrestled with my sister
and have
prevailed - See what roots of bitterness envy and strife are
and what mischief
they make among relations!
Verse 9
[9] When
Leah saw that she had left bearing
she took Zilpah her maid
and gave her
Jacob to wife.
Rachel had done that absurd and preposterous
thing of putting her maid into her husband's bed
and now Leah (because she
missed one year in bearing children) doth the same
to be even with her. See
the power of rivalship
and admire the wisdom of the divine appointment
which
joins together one man and one woman only. Two sons Zilpah bare to Jacob
whom
Leah looked upon herself as intitled to
in token of which she called one Gad
promising herself a little troop of children. The other she called Asher
Happy
thinking herself happy in him
and promising herself that her neighbours would
think so too.
Verse 14
[14] And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest
and found mandrakes in the
field
and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah
Give
me
I pray thee
of thy son's mandrakes.
Reuben
a little lad of five or six years
old
playing in the field
found mandrakes. It is uncertain what they were; the
critics are not agreed about them: we are sure they were some rarities
either
fruits or flowers that were very pleasant to the smell
Song of Solomon 7:13. Some think these mandrakes
were Jessamin flowers. Whatever they were
Rachel
could not see them in Leah's
hands
but she must covet them.
Verse 17
[17] And
God hearkened unto Leah
and she conceived
and bare Jacob the fifth son.
And God hearkened unto Leah — Perhaps the reason of this contest between Jacob's wives for his
company
and their giving him their maids to be his wives
was the earnest
desire they had to fulfil the promise made to Abraham (and now lately renewed
to Jacob) that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude
and
that
in one seed of his
the Messiah
all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed. Two sons Leah was now blessed with; the flrst she called Issachar
a
hire
reckoning herself well repaid for her mandrakes; nay
(which is a strange
construction of the providence) rewarded for giving her maid to her husband.
The other she called Zebulun
dwelling
owning God's bounty to her
God has
endowed me with a good dowry. Jacob had not endowed her when he married her;
but she reckons a family of children
a good dowry.
Verse 21
[21] And
afterwards she bare a daughter
and called her name Dinah.
Mention is made
of Dinah
because of the
following story concerning her
Genesis 34:1-16
etc. Perhaps Jacob had other
daughters
though not registered.
Verse 22
[22] And
God remembered Rachel
and God hearkened to her
and opened her womb.
God remembered Rachel
whom he seemed to have
forgotten
and hearkened to her
whose prayers had been long denied
and then
she bare a son. Rachael called her son Joseph
which
in Hebrew
is a-kin to
two words of a contrary signification: Asaph
abstulit
he has taken away my
reproach
as if the greatest mercy she had in this son were
that she had saved
her credit: and Joseph
addidit
the Lord shall add to me another son: which
may be looked upon as the language of her faith; she takes this mercy as an
earnest of further mercy: hath God given me this grace? I may call it Joseph
and say
he shall add more grace.
Verse 34
[34] And
Laban said
Behold
I would it might be according to thy word.
Laban was willing to consent to this bargain
because he thought if those few he had that were now speckled and spotted were
separated from the rest
which was to be done immediately
the body of the
flock which Jacob was to tend
being of one colour
either all black or all
white
would produce few or none of mixt colours
and so he should have Jacob's
service for nothing
or next to nothing. According to this bargain
those few
that were party-coloured were separated
and put into the hands of Laban's
sons
and sent three days journey off: so great was Laban's jealouly lest any
of those should mix with the rest of the flock to the advantage of Jacob.
Verse 37
[37] And
Jacob took him rods of green poplar
and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and
pilled white strakes in them
and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Here is Jacob's policy to make his bargain
more advantageous to himself than it was likely to be: and if he had not taken
some course to help himself
it would have been an ill bargain indeed; which he
knew Laban would never have considered
who did not consult any one's interest
but his own. 1. Now Jacob's contrivances were
He set pilled sticks before the
cattle where they were watered
that looking much at those unusual party-coloured
sticks
by the power of imagination
they might bring forth young ones in like
manner party-coloured. Probably this custom was commonly used by the shepherds
of Canaan
who coveted to have their cattle of this motly colour. 2. When he
began to have a flock of ring-straked and brown
he contrived to set them
first
and to put the faces of the rest towards them
with the same design as
he did the former. Whether this was honest policy
or no
may admit of a
question. Read Genesis 31:7-16
and the question is resolved.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
30 Chapter 30
Verses 1-13
Rachel envied her sister.
Rachel’s impatience
I. IT WAS
UNGODLY.
1. She was the victim of unholy passions. Envy and jealousy.
2. She took a despairing view of life.
3. She failed rightly to recognize the true Author of all good
things.
II. IT LED TO THE
ADOPTION OF WRONG EXPEDIENTS. Showing impatient haste of unbelief
and a want
of confidence in God.
III. IT HAD AN
INFLUENCE FOR EVIL.
1. Upon her own character. Boasting (Genesis 30:6; Genesis 30:8).
2. Upon her sister (Genesis 30:9). (T. H. Leale.)
Domestic irritations
I. JACOB TOOK
UPON HIMSELF DOMESTIC TROUBLES
II. IT REQUIRES
SOMETHING ELSE THAN THE ATTAINMENT OF OUR WISHES TO BRING HAPPINESS.
III. BLESSINGS DO
NOT ALWAYS COME AS WE EXPECT.
IV. HISTORY
REPEATS ITSELF.
V. THE PROMISES
OF GOD ARE GRADUALLY FULFILLED.
VI. THE
UNDESERVING ARE BLESSED BY GOD.
VII. HAVE PATIENCE
WITH IRRITATING ASSOCIATES. (D. G. Watt
M. A.)
Envy
The infatuated Caligula slew his brother because he was a
beautiful young man. Mutius
a citizen of Rome
was noted to be of such an
envious and malevolent disposition
that Publius
one day
observing him to be
very sad
said: “Either some great evil has happened to Mutius
or some great
good to another.” “Dionysius the tyrant
” says Plutarch
“out of envy
punished
Philoxenius the musician
because he could sing
and Plato
the philosopher
because he could dispute
better than himself.” Cambyses killed his brother
Smerdis
because he could draw a stronger bow than himself or any of his party.
Verse 8
With great wrestlings have I wrestled
Great wrestlings
Thus speaks Rachel; and this woman’s experience
multiplied as it
is a thousand-fold in hearts that never told their struggles
shows us that
life is not so calm as it seems.
Beneath many a placid stream there are deep and dangerous under-currents. Often
a quiet face hides the deep things
which even the dearest intimacies cannot
draw out
and which constitute the tragedies of the heart’s history. It is well
that we learn the need of wrestling; for life
especially Christian life
has
flesh and blood to battle with. Paul says
“we wrestle”; and goodness
even at
its best
is dearly bought and hardly won.
I. THIS IS TRUE
OF THOSE WHO ARE OUTWARDLY THE WEAKEST. Nothing betokens the warrior; there is
no mailed breast
no gauntleted hand. The character seems like the face
perhaps
to be common-place and dull. But what a world there is within the
humblest forms that move to and fro amongst us! That plain face that we mark no
loveliness in
is beautiful perhaps in the eyes of angels--that unillustrious
life is associated with paths where some Goliath has been laid low
and where
the Philistine host has been dispersed.
II. THIS IS TO BE
THE LOT OF OUR CHILDREN. Listen
and you may hear a sigh as of a distant storm
in the spring breeze of childhood’s morning
which may break into a weird
tempest over their heads before the evening comes. These children of ours
cannot do without religion
without Christ--the Brother and the Saviour of men.
Do these little ones look made forthe endurance of hard wrestlings? Perhaps
not. But these little hands will be stretched out in the dark night; these
little feet will have to climb in loneliness the toilsome way
when you and I
are gone. Who can wonder that we wish to see them before we die in the covert
of the great rock?
III. THIS IS THE
ONLY PATH TO VICTORY. God sees that it is best. The oak that struggles with the
tempest strikes deeper root in the soil; and the faith that has struggled with
doubt is the firmest of beliefs. The love which has learnt human insincerity
learns to prize beyond all price the less demonstrative love of true natures.
We gain conquest through hardship
defeat
and peril. We wrestle with great
wrestlings over inborn tastes and desires
over habits that have steadily risen
to dominance
over affections that are carnal and corrupt
and over enemies
visible and invisible. For ease is death. When we cease to wrestle
the enemy
binds us with fetters of iron. Conquer we may and can--through the faith that
looks upward all through the wrestling years. To him that overcometh the
glorious promise of victory is vouchsafed. But the struggle will be severe; we
shall have not only ordinary sorrows
superficial anxieties
but great
wrestlings; and this is the victory that overcometh the world
even our faith.
These wrestlings are not mere matters of mental energy; they are connected with
moral pain. Dispositions natural to us have to be overcome; human nature
like
a child
likes to be spoiled and petted--it can ill-endure rebuke and
resistance I Consequently the battle is hard
and there is no plaudit of
honour
no noise of conquest
no palm-wreath on the brow.
IV. THIS IS THE
ANCIENT WAY. It leads us back to Moses
to Abraham
and to Jacob who was left
alone--“and there wrestled a man with him till the break of day” (Genesis 32:24). And that we have a Divine
nature is proven by man’s spiritual wrestlings from the earliest dawn of
history. And the rendering of this text
as you will see in the margin of your
Bibles
leads us to think of God. “With great God-wrestlings have I wrestled.”
And this ancient way will be our way too. (W. M. Statham
M. A.)
Verses 22-24
And God remembered Rachel
God’s favour towards Rachel
I.
IT
WAS LONG DELAYER. Discipline.
II. IT WAS GRANTED
TO HER AFTER SOME SOLEMN LESSONS HAD BEEN LEARNED.
1. Dependence.
2. Patience.
3. Faith and hope.
III. IT AWAKENED
GRATITUDE.
1. Grateful recognition of God’s dealings (verse23).
2. Heartfelt acknowledgment of God (Genesis 30:24). (T. H. Leale.)
Verse 25
Send me away that I may go unto mine own place
and to my country
The lights of home
There is in Switzerland a hill known as the Heimweh Fluh
or
Home-sick Mount.
It is so called because it is usually the last spot visited by the traveller
when leaving that part of the country at a time when his thoughts are turned
homeward. It commands a glorious view of the whole valley of Interlaken
with
its fields and pastures
its villages and lakes
with a back-ground of
snow-capped mountains. It is a fair scene
but the heart of the traveller is
not there. His thoughts are with his friends and loved ones at home. He looks upon
the homesick mount
and seems to murmur with the patriarch Jacob
“Send me
away
that I may go unto mine own place
and to my country.” There are many
such homesick mounts
such landmarks
to remind us of home. The sailor on the
slippery deck points to some dark towering cliff
and says
“We shall soon see
the Lizard Light”; or
“Yonder is Beechy Head!” The traveller along the wintry
road strains his eyes through the darkness to catch a glimpse of the lights of
home. And we
if we have learnt to think of our life here as a pilgrimage
shall often stand
as it were
upon some Heimweh Fluh
some mount of
home-sickness
and whilst we gaze on the beauties of this world; we shall feel
“This is not my home
I am a stranger and a sojourner
as all my fathers were.”
We shall press onward “through the night of doubt and sorrow
” straining our
eyes to catch sight of the lights of home. Let us
by God’s grace
try to live
and work for Him daily
and when death comes we can say
without fear
“Send me
away
that I may go to mine own place
and to my country.” The dying Baxter
who wrote “The Saints’ Rest
” said
“I am almost well
and nearly at home!” and
another dying man exclaimed
“I am going home as fast as I can
and I bless God
that I have a good home to go to.” Yes
that thought of home is a blessed one
both for time and for eternity. During the American Civil War the two rival
armies were encamped opposite each other on the banks of the Potomac River.
When the federal bands played some national air of the union
the confederate
musicians struck up a rival tune
each band trying to out-play and silence the
other. Suddenly one of the bands played “ Home
Sweet Home
” and the contest
ceased. The musicians of both armies played the same tune
voices from opposite
sides of the river joined the chorus
“There’s no place like home!” So we
the
pilgrim band
are bound together by that one strong link--we are going to our
own place and our own country
“Our feet shall stand within thy gates
O
Jerusalem.” When that brave soldier of Jesus Christ
Charles Kingsley
lay
dying
he was heard to murmur
“No more fighting; no more fighting.” No one
knows the full meaning of those words except one who has fought the good fight
whose life has been one long battle with sin. Those words have no meaning for
the coward who yielded himself a prisoner to the enemy
the drunkard who never
fought against his besetting sin
the angry man who never wrestled with the
demon of his temper. What know they of fighting? (H. J.Wilmot Buxton
M. A.)
Verse 27
I have learned by experience
Moral and religious lessons gained by experience
The words are Laban’s
and
taken in their connection
they
intimate that even an utterly wordly man
such as he was
may be forced to
acknowledge the moral providence of God
whereby He takes especial and peculiar
care of His servants.
Look at the moral and religious lessons which a thoughtful man may learn by
experience.
I. We learn by
experience MUCH THAT IS WHOLESOME ABOUT OURSELVES. By the blunders we have
made
the falls we have suffered
the injuries we have sustained
the sins we
have committed
and the wrongs we have inflicted on others
God has enlightened
us in the knowledge of ourselves
and made us feel that it is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps.
II. Experience has
taught us MUCH REGARDING THE WORLD AND ITS PLEASURES
POSSESSIONS
AND
ENJOYMENTS. Even in the case of the Christian
there is much to wean him from
the world as the years roll on. As he grows older the world becomes less and
less to him
and Christ becomes more and more. He learns to delight in God
and
his growth in holiness becomes the ambition of his life.
III. The experience
of the lapse of years teaches US MORE AND MORE OF GOD AS THE GOD AND FATHER OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. We have increasing proofs of God’s wisdom and God’s
faithfulness. Whoever has been false to us
He has remained true. This
testimony of experience thus grows with our growth and strengthens with our
strength. It is a fortress which is utterly impregnable. (W. M. Taylor
D.
D.)
Experience
Find men where you may
they all agree in owning that they owe
much to the same Instructor: they all agree in owning that they have grown
wiser for the teaching of that unflattering Preceptor
who knows no royal road
to truth
and in whose stern school you must stumble once
that you may learn
to avoid falling again. And truly here is the best way to learn--the way that
sinks the deepest
and is remembered the best.
And if it be true
as the proverbial saying would have it
that
experience teaches the foolish
surely it is true no less that experience makes
the wise. And as experience is the teacher that instructs all men and instructs
them unthanked and unasked
so there are many things which no other can teach
us: many lessons we never learn
and many matters we never rightly understand
till we have “learned by experience.” We shall never know
for example
what
our hearts can feel and bear
by the descriptions of other people; no account
can make us understand what great sorrow is
or great anxiety
or buoyant
gladness
or hearty gratitude
or fixed determination; we must feel in
ourselves the quickened pulse of hopefulness
the laden heart of care
the
blankness of disappointment and failure; or we shall never know what they mean.
Even Jesus Christ
our Maker
gained that consummate sympathy with us which it
became our Saviour to have
through actual experience. But there is one class of
subjects one great subject which above all others we must know by experience
or we shall not know at all. My brethren
this is a thing that is hard upon
mere human reason; this matter of the real power and efficacy of prayer. If
there be any truth in what we believe of the power of prayer
it is the
mightiest agent--save God Himself--in all the universe: it is stronger than the
hurricane that wrecks a navy: stronger than the great ocean to which man’s
mightiest works are as a plaything. Christian brethren
let us frankly confess
what a weak state
what an insecure position we should be in
if we were taking
all this on hearsay. Why
it looks such a truly monstrous deal to believe
that
positively for your credit as a reasonable man
you would be half ashamed to
say you fancied all this. Never concern yourself to unravel the threads the
sceptic has twisted; never set yourself to answer by argument the objections he
has raised. It can be done
but there is a far better way. Tell him that your
Bible bids you pray
and assures you that prayer shall prevail; but tell him
more--and God be thanked if you can say so much--tell him that you have put the
matter to the proof!--that you were not content to take the thing on the word
of others; that you fairly tried
and that you “learned by experience” that
prayer is heard and answered! Another thing that we may learn by rote
but that
we never shall really believe till we learn it by experience
is the
insufficiency of this world to satisfy the soul; the great truth
that “This is
not our rest.” For experience alone is enough to bring men to the strong
belief
that all worldly things
even when possessed in their intensest degree
leave an aching void within the soul--many a stated man of pleasure
many a
successful man of ambition
has told us as much as that--but it needs God’s
Holy Spirit to touch the soul
before it can take the next step--before it can
draw the final conclusion--that the right things for the soul to love and seek
are beyond the grave
and that the heart’s true home and abiding treasure are
there. But we shall give the remainder of our time to looking at one great fact
which is best learned by experience--I mean the preciousness
the
all-sufficiency
the love and grace
of our blessed Saviour. You remember it is
written
“Unto you which believe He is precious.” Now that seems to mean
that
to those who believe
He is more precious than He is to other people; that
in
a peculiarly strong sense
His preciousness is a thing that must be learned by
experience. So it is. And it is easy to see how it must be. For the value of a
thing is understood fully only by those who know how much they want it. And if
a man feels that he does not want a thing--that he can do perfectly well
without it--why
he will esteem it as of very little value indeed. Now a
perfectly worldly and unconverted man feels he needs food
he cannot do without
that; and so of course he sets a value on it. He feels he needs a home to dwell
in--he cannot do without that; and so of course he sets a value on it. He feels
he needs friends--that life would be a poor
heartless thing without them; and
so he sets a value on them. But the quite worldly and unconverted man
who
brings everything to a quite worldly estimate
does not feel he needs Christ; he
never feels any want of Him; he thinks he can do quite well without Him; and of
course he sets no value on Him; of course the Saviour is not precious to that
man--how can He be? But
brethren
look to the man who has been convinced of
his sin and misery by the Spirit of God; and that only our Redeemer can save us
from that dismal estate
and see what he thinks of Christ! Yes
that convicted
sinner has found his need of the Saviour. He has learnt that food and raiment
and all things men work hardest for and value most
are not the one thing
needful--are worth nothing when compared with a saving interest in the blessed
Lamb of God. He has “learned by experience I “ He has felt a want
felt that
the Saviour alone could supply that want; and he knows what Christ is worth
by
what Christ has done! (A. K. H. Boyd
D. D.)
Experience
1. The true teacher.
2. The universal monitor.
3. The indisputable evidence.
4. Experience of sin
pardon
peace.
5. Character thus becomes argument.
6. Let sin be subjected to this test.
7. The Christian triumphant here.
8. Many can answer by experience who cannot answer by controversy. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
Learning by experience
The world is a school
and the period of our remaining here is the
school-time of our existence. The school is a severe one
the discipline is
hard
and the process is often tedious. God is the teacher
and He has many
assistants
which in various ways and manners are used to bring the soul to
saving knowledge of the truth. Now
there is no method so potent for impressing
facts on the mind as actual practice. Theory is an ideality which amid the
whirl of time and business is soon dissipated. It is only when we ourselves
apprehend
through actual touching and handling
that we get a positive and
practical knowledge of anything. The most learned engineer who ever lived would
feel at a terrible loss if put to drive an express locomotive or to superintend
the engines of a vast steamship
if he had never seen one before
although he
might have read and written on the subjects all his life. The most skilful
theoretical architect would shrink from the ordeal of practical building.
I. We learn by
experience THE FLIGHT OF TIME. The child is scarcely conscious that time moves
at all. It is to him a calm
placid
unruffled lake. But the illusion is
gradually dispelled. Youth deepens into maturity
maturity glides into
incipient decay
and the soul is startled to find how rapidly life is passing.
Then it begins to fly by like a rushing river torrent.
II. We learn by experience
THE FRAILTY OF HUMAN NATURE. The curse of decay comes as a revelation. Death of
a playmate or relation startles the little soul and awakens an unknown terror.
Then with the flight of time comes the realization of weakness within
ourselves.
III. We have
learned by experience the DISAPPOINTMENTS OF EARTH. How has the sanguine heart
grown broken and seared! The rosy vision has minished into darkness.
Disappointments!
IV. We have learnt
by experience THE VANITY OF TRUSTING TO SELF. Self-sufficiency is man’s
heritage and Satan’s mightiest weapon. The best contrived scheme brought to
nought
the wisest forethought nullified
the labours of a lifetime lost
have
shown us how vain is man.
V. We have
learned by experience THE UNENDING LOVE
COMPASSION
AND GOODNESS OF GOD. (Homilist.)
Experience
I. SOME OF THE
LESSONS LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE.
1. The unsatisfying nature of all earthly objects.
2. The preciousness of Christ.
3. The efficacy of prayer.
4. The benefit of affliction.
5. The sustaining power of God’s grace.
II. THE REASONS
WHY GOD TEACHES US BY EXPERIENCE.
1. Because we will not learn our duty without it.
2. Because the lessons thus acquired are the most valuable and
permanent.
3. Because we are then more useful to our fellow-men. (Seeds and
Saplings.)
Verses 28-43
Appoint me thy wages
and I will give it
Jacob’s new contract of service
I.
IT
WAS ENTERED UPON IN OPPOSITION TO HIS BETTER FEELINGS AND CONVICTIONS.
II. IT WAS MARKED
BY WORLDLY PRUDENCE.
1. The prudence which calculates.
2. The prudence which takes advantage of superior knowledge. (T.
H.Leale.)
Lawful diligence blessed
A Divine benediction is always invisibly breathed on painful and
lawful diligence. Thus the servant employed in making and blowing of the fire
though sent away thence as soon as it burneth clear
ofttimes getteth by his
pains a more kindly and continuing heat than the master himself who sitteth
down by the same; and thus persons industriously occupying themselves thrive
better on a little of their own honest getting than lazy heirs on the large
revenues left unto them. (Fuller.)
Advised diligence
What though you have found no treasure
nor has any friend left
you a rich legacy! Diligence is the mother of good luck
and God gives all
things to industry. Then plough deep while sluggards sleep
and you shall have
corn to sell or to keep. Work while it is called to-day
for you know not how
much you may be hindered to-morrow. One to-day is worth two to-morrows
as poor
Richard says; and further
never leave that till to-morrow which you can do
to-day. (Franklin.)
Holiness
God has given us precepts of such a holiness and such a purity
such a meekness and such humility
as hath no pattern but Christ
no precedent
but the purities of God; and
therefore
it is intended we should live with a
life whose actions are not chequered with white and black
half sin and half
virtue. God’s sheep are not like Jacob’s flock
“streaked and spotted
” it is
an entire holiness that God requires
and will not endure to have a holy course
interrupted by the dishonour of a base and ignoble action. I do not mean that a
man’s life can be as pure as the sun
or the rays of celestial Jerusalem; but like
the moon
in which there are spots
but they are no deformity; a lessening only
and an abatement of light
no cloud to hinder and draw a veil before its face
but sometimes it is not so severe and bright as at other times. Every man hath
his indiscretions and infirmities
but no good man ever commits one act of
adultery; no godly man will at any time be drunk; or if he be he ceases to be a
godly man
and is run into the confines of death
and is sick at heart
and may
die of the sickness--die eternally. (Jeremy Taylor.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》