Genesis 31

Witnessing and Watching

The already strained relationship between Jacob and Laban results in this chapter in Jacob leaving Padan-Aram the home of his uncle. He saw that 'the countenance of Laban ... was not favourable toward him as before' and he fled to return to Canaan (v18).

Laban immediately takes up the chase, pursuing after Jacob, until God stops him in his tracks. He is rebuked by Jacob's God, and the remainder of the chapter tells a story of reconciliation between the two of them. Hostility and estrangement are soon overtaken by reconciliation, peace and blessing. That is the Scriptural way to deal with friendships which have turned sour, and with relationships which are not as full and as open as they were formerly.

In order to preserve their mutual friendship and respect, Jacob and Laban enter into a covenant - a formal, binding agreement with mutual obligations. Covenants are a marked feature of the Old Testament world. We find several covenants mentioned in the Bible; such as that between Abraham and Abimelech in Genesis 21. In covenant, friendship is lifted to a higher plane, to a level of contractual and formal arrangement. In covenant, there is something binding, a bond not easily broken. In covenant, friendship is given room to develop and grow by delineating responsibility and by reminding the parties to the covenant of the obligations and the blessings attached to the relationship.

We have already noted that covenant is God's way of saving. God established a covenant with Noah, and with Abraham. The whole of Scripture is dominated by the covenant motif; that is why we have an Older Testament (=covenant) and a New Testament. God's way of saving sinners is the same in every age and generation - he saves by bringing sinners into what Ezekiel describes beautifully as 'the bond of the covenant' (Ezekiel 20:37). If am saved - if God loves me and I love Him, we are in covenant - He has undertaken to do certain things for me, and I am under obligation to serve and honour Him.

The human covenants of Scripture shed light for us on this aspect of the Bible's testimony. The theologians describe this dimension of the Gospel message as 'the covenant of grace' - God's loving and purposeful determination to save sinners, not on the basis of what they are but on the basis of his covenant love and redemptive grace.

It is into such a bond that Jacob and Laban enter in this chapter. They make a covenant. And there are two beautiful things told us about their covenant.

First, there was a stone pillar set up as a WITNESS to their covenant. It stood there, permanently, as a visible sign of their invisible bond with one another. Their friendship could not be seen, but the sign of their relationship could be seen. There was a visible form to it in the heap of stones that stood as witness to their bond.

On the level of our inter-personal relationships, John tells us that one mark of having passed from death to life is that we love the brethren; that is, we love the people of God. We are, in a sense, in covenant with them, obliged to love them and help them. But John warns against a 'word-only' love. He encourages us to bear witness to our love 'in deed and in truth' (1 John 3:18). There must be a seen, a visible, dimension to our profession to be the Lord's people. We need to cultivate this aspect of our spiritual lives day by day.

And if that is true on a human level, how much more ought it to be true on a spiritual level. Is our relationship with God seen in the world? Is there a manifestation of it in holy living, in public service? Does our life have the quality of consecration and commitment required of those who are in covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ?

Second, there was a WATCHING in their covenant. It was a prayer that God would watch over them in their absence from one another (v49). They knew that there was a God in Heaven who never parts from his children, and who is able to watch over them when they are parted from each other. The assurance that gives us is great indeed. We are able to pray not only for ourselves, but for our loved ones wherever they may be.

Life is made up of meetings and partings. We cannot freeze the moment, or stay in the sunshine forever. Sometimes we are called to move into the darkness, and into the shadows. But even when we must be parted from those we love most dearly, we are able to rejoice in the knowledge that the God of Heaven will never leave us nor forsake us. In covenant with his people, he is bound to them in the cords of love, which cannot be broken. May we be able to invoke his blessing on all our relationships, and say "God watch over us while we are absent from each other".