Jacob's Journey 2 (Genesis 31:3)

“Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives and I will be with you.” Genesis 31:3

After an exile of 20 years—spent in servitude to a conniving uncle in exchange for wives and flocks—after being cheated, deceived, and having his wages repeatedly changed, Jacob finally gets the command from God to return. This is the calling for which he has surely been waiting. Return home.

Remember, this is all shown to be God’s plan. (see Jacob's Journey) Despite the fact that Jacob was fleeing from a murderous brother. Despite the fact that he has been under the power of his uncle who keeps finding ways to extend his stay, and who could conceivably take everything away from Jacob if he were to break his agreements and leave. This has been God’s way of working in Jacob’s life, of blessing him, of changing him into the man he needs to be. Jacob’s circumstances have not changed. He is presumably still threatened back home. He is still under service to Laban. But now God is telling him to leave. Or, more precisely to return. The call of Jacob, and God’s promises to him earlier in chapter 28, echo God’s words to Abraham and Isaac:

“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3

“Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.
Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you,
for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands,
and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.
And I will multiply your descentants as the stars of heaven,
and I will give your descendants all these lands;
and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
because Abraham obeyed Me
and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” Genesis 26:2-5

“I am YHWH the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac;
The land on which you lie, I will give it to you and your descendants.
Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth,
And you shall spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south;
And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And 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

All three promises are consistent regarding the land, the descendants, and the blessing. Isaac and Jacob hear that God is with them. Abraham is told something similar in 17. God’s plans and promises are consistent and trustworthy. However, what is fascinating to see is that He deals with individuals individually! Abraham is told to leave everything he knows and to strike out blindly to where God will lead him. Isaac is explicitly told to stay put, to remain where he is with God. And now, Jacobs call is to return BACK to his father’s house, to his relatives. It is nearly a reverse course from the command to Abraham. The consistency is not in the actions commanded, but there is a through-line. They are all commanded by God to follow Him where He led, be it to leave to remain or to return.

All too often we look for patterns in God’s plan and then canonize those patterns. That is a mistake. We want to follow God forward, not a pattern of experience that we or those we have known have been through. God’s word is always to be trusted and followed beyond any understanding or interpretation we have developed from experience or reason.