Jesus associated the salvation of souls with a harvest that required laborers to reap the crop and he told his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37). The laborers that Jesus was referring to were men that were called to preach the gospel. Jesus chose twelve apostles that were given the mission of informing “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” that the kingdom of heaven was approaching (Matthew 10:6-7). According to Matthew, the names of Jesus’ apostles were, “Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him” (Matthew 10:2-4).

Jesus gave his twelve apostles specific instructions about how they were to conduct themselves while they were out preaching (Matthew 10:7-14). The apostles were thought of as ambassadors of the Gospel and were delegated miraculous powers that they were at liberty to use as they pleased (G1849/G652). Jesus instructed his apostles to, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6). The mission the apostles received was primarily concerned with the well-being of God’s chosen people. God had promised to send the Jews a Messiah that would save their nation from its spiritual destitution (G622).

Jesus’ program of discipleship was not simply learning the doctrine of Christ, but getting to know Christ Himself and applying the knowledge so as to walk differently from the rest of the world (G3129). Jesus told his disciples to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” and said, “You received without paying; give without pay” (Matthew 10:8). Jesus made it clear that the supernatural powers that the apostles were given were not meant to be used as a means of gaining wealth. He told them, “Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food” (Matthew 10:9-10).

Jesus indicated that his apostles weren’t expected to benefit materially from the work they were doing for God’s kingdom. The principle that Jesus wanted his disciples to demonstrate to the Jews was the grace of God. Jesus said, “You received without paying; give without pay” (Matthew 10:8) in order to point out that salvation was a gift from God and should not be offered on the basis of merit or any other condition. Jesus said, “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” (Matthew 10:14-15).

One of the characteristics of the covenant that God made with Abraham was that it provided a means of judging the world. God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Before he sent his son to Paddan-aram to get a wife, Isaac blessed Jacob and gave him this benediction, “God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” (Genesis 28:3-4). God confirmed his covenant with Jacob and told him, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:13-15).

God said he would bring Jacob back to the land, indicating that he would cause Jacob to return to the course that he had departed from when he left his father’s household for Paddan-aram. The Hebrew word that is translated return, shuwb (shoob) is associated with having a relationship with God. “The process called conversion or turning to God is in reality a re-turning or a turning back again to Him from whom sin has separated us, but whose we are by virtue of creation, preservation and redemption” (H7725). Jacob’s experience in Paddan-aram seems to suggest that he didn’t have a relationship with God. Three times Jacob agreed to serve his uncle Laban in exchange for possessions that he probably could have obtained much more easily if he had been willing to accept God’s help. It wasn’t until Jacob “saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before” that he took action to leave his uncle’s home (Genesis 31:2, 17-18).

Genesis 31:1-3 states: “Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, ‘Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.’ And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.'” One way of interpreting God’s message would be that he was telling Jacob to go back where he belonged. Jacob had been away from his hometown for 20 years and his behavior and mannerisms had likely changed quite a bit as a result of living with his uncle Laban. After gathering together his wives and children and packing up all of his belongings and it says that “Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead” (Genesis 31:20-21).

The Hebrew word that is translated tricked in Genesis 31:20 is leb (labe) which means the heart. In the Hebrew language,”The heart includes not only the motives, feelings, affections, and desires, but also the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect of man. In fact, it embraces the whole inner man, the head never being regarded as the seat of intelligence. While it is the source of all action and the center of all thought and feeling the heart is also described as receptive to the influences both from the outer world and from God Himself” (H3820). Jacob’s action of fleeing Laban’s home without telling him suggests that he didn’t trust his uncle or was too weak to stand up to him. It could be that Jacob lacked confidence because he was riddled with guilt about having stolen his brother’s birthright (Genesis 25:31) and deceiving his father so that he would bless him instead of his twin brother Esau (Genesis 27:19).

The LORD’s instruction to “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred” (Genesis 31:3) implies that God wanted Jacob to go back to his father’s house and deal with the conflicts that he had left unresolved. Genesis 31:21 tells us that Jacob “set his face” toward the location of Isaac’s camp, indicating that Jacob intended to obey the LORD’s command, but as he was fleeing, “Laban overtook Jacob” (Genesis 31:25) and confronted him with a crime, putting Jacob on the defensive.

And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? 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 say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods? (Genesis 31:26-30)

Jacob didn’t know that his wife Rachel had stolen her father’s idols and responded to Laban’s accusation by declaring, “Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live” (Genesis 31:32).

Jacob’s rash behavior was compounded by the fact that he didn’t know how to control his emotions. Jacob became angry and berated Laban for chasing him down and falsely accusing him (Genesis 31:36). In the end, the only way Laban could save face was to make a covenant with Jacob. “Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm” (Genesis 31:51-52). Even though Jacob and Laban agreed to live harmoniously with each other, the nations that they established, Israel and Syria were in constant conflict with each other throughout the Old Testament of the Bible and remain bitter enemies to this day.

When Jesus sent out his twelve apostles “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6), he told them, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mathew 10:16). The conflict that Jesus expected his disciples to encounter had to do with the deception of false prophets. Jesus had previously warned his followers to “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15). In order to discern the motives of their adversaries, Jesus told his disciples to “be as wise as serpents” (Matthew 10:16). In other words, the apostles needed to keep mentally alert and use their cognitive faculties to outwit the false teachers that wanted to undermine their message of hope.

Jesus’ admonition to be “innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16) may have been a reference to the Holy Spirit’s involvement in the salvation of souls. The Greek word that is translated innocent, akeraios (ak-er’-ah-yos) means unmixed (G185) and is derived from the word kerannumi (ker-an’-noo-mee) which means to mingle (G2767). What Jesus may have meant by the phrase innocent as doves was that his disciples shouldn’t interfere with or try to take the place of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s heart. The primary objective of the twelve apostles mission was to bear witness or more succinctly, to proclaim the truths of the gospel as revealed to them by Jesus Christ during his three-year ministry on Earth.

Jesus warned his disciples that men would deliver them over to courts and flog them in their synagogues, “and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:17-19). Jesus didn’t downplay the danger associated with his disciples mission, but encouraged them to stay one step ahead of their enemies. He said, “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 10:23).

Jesus’ reference to his return to Earth suggests that the mission he was sending his apostles on would not be completed in their lifetimes. It could be that Jesus wanted his disciples to focus on the bigger picture and was concerned about their willingness to stay at the task if their lives were in constant danger. Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:28-31).

One of the motivations Jesus gave his disciples for expending their lives for the sake of preaching the gospel was that it would result in special recognition from God. Jesus said, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men. I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but who ever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). The Greek word Jesus used that is translated acknowledge, homologeo (hom-ol-og-eh’-o) literally means “to speak the same thing” (G3670). What this seems to suggest is that a believer’s profession of faith needed to be validated by the things that he said to other people about God.

When the LORD told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, God said that he would be with him (Genesis 31:3). What that meant was that Jacob would be protected from harm. God was assuring Jacob that he and his family would make it to their destination safely and he would take care of any problems they encountered along the way. God protected Jacob when spoke to Laban in a dream and warned him to “be careful not to say anything to Jacob either good or bad” (Genesis 31:24). Apparently, Laban was going to try and stop Jacob from leaving again and the LORD intervened so that he wouldn’t do that.

Jacob’s interaction with Laban seems to suggest that he didn’t believe God would protect him. Jacob told Laban that he fled without saying goodbye because he was afraid that Laban was going to take his daughters away from him by force (Genesis 31:31). Jacob referred to the LORD in an impersonal way when he said, “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty handed” (Genesis 31:42). Later, Jacob affirmed a covenant with Laban by swearing “by the Fear of his father Isaac” (Genesis 31:33), indicating that it was the authority of his father’s faith in God and not his own that made their agreement binding.

Jacob didn’t go so far as to deny God, but his behavior clearly demonstrated that he wasn’t trusting in the LORD. The Greek word that is translated denies in Matthew 10:33, arneomai (ar-neh’-om-ahee) means to contradict with regard to one’s speech (G720). When Laban confronted him, Jacob denied taking his uncle’s gods. Jacob even became angry and berated Laban for making a false accusation against him, but the idols were actually hidden in his wife’s saddle (Genesis 31: 34-35). Even though Jacob was unaware of what Rachel had done, he was responsible for her actions and deserved to be punished for the crime.

Jesus told his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). The Greek word that is translated to set, dichazo (dee-khad’-zo) means to cut apart or divide in two (G1369). Figuratively, dichazo means to alienate oneself, something that Jacob seemed to do on a regular basis.

The conflict between Jacob and Laban was inevitable because these two men stood on opposite sides of God’s kingdom. Jacob was the designated heir of God’s covenant with Abraham and Laban was doing everything he could to stop him from fulfilling his destiny. Even though Laban managed to delay Jacob’s return to his father’s household for 20 years, Jacob eventually broke free from Laban’s control and seemed to be determined to make a fresh start when he set his face toward the hill country of Gilead (Genesis 31:21). The only problem was that Jacob still wasn’t ready to submit himself to God’s will and thought he needed to stay on Laban’s good side and agreed to make a covenant with him (Genesis 31:53).

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!