The Idols Under the Modest Skirts
“And she [Rachel, second wife of Jacob] said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.” (Genesis 31:35)
“The custom… is upon me.” “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” (Mattheww 15:6)
Human nature is so cunning and deceitful, so desperately wicked, that it seizes upon religious tradition and custom to justify itself in the things that it desires in the inward parts. For there is room in the careful, sanctimonious observance of the outward trappings of godliness to offer impressive reverence and idolatrous veneration that strangely comforts the uneasy conscience.
King Saul calmed down under the influence of the hymns of David, but he retained the same wicked heart at the end of the performance as when it began. The custom of moderated wickedness became a feature of his life. As the harp played the sweet songs of Zion, and a sweet, innocent voice sang the sacred words, the carnality of the hypocritical king was soothed and reassured. He felt reassured that he was not so bad, after all. Under the sentimental influence of the songs of Zion, Saul felt that he meant well—that the means were justified by the greater good. The uncomfortable, smarting memory of the wicked acts, chafing under the lash of outraged conscience, was dimmed. Many an unacceptable-before-God heart finds comfort in the customs, the forms, of worship in a chapel, and goes forth seemingly in a better mood—but basically unchanged, still a captive of the devil, still in the kingdom of darkness, still judgment-bound with hell to follow. The custom is upon me; I rest upon the cherished images. “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”
She sat upon the idols. She rested herself upon the abominations beneath her modest skirts. She lied to her father as she sat upon the pagan images. (Notice how respectfully she lied.) Only she (and God) knew that they were there. Her father was searching for them. Her husband knew nothing of the matter.
The preachers of the outward standards hammer away at the appearance, “for man looketh on the outward appearance.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Get the outer appearance right! They demonstrate what will happen if the outer appearance is not right. They harangue away at the effect of the outer appearance.
But God is looking at the heart. He is looking beneath the good appearance of the modest skirts. He is looking in the heart at the idols, at the pride, at the stubbornness, at the prejudice, at the self-will, at the unwillingness to go as deep as the Spirit of God would go. He sees the idol of the heart. “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6) He sees the carnal leaven of the reasoning, the fleshly assurance that is not born of His Spirit, the knowledge of the form of truth that is not known and possessed as it should be. He sees the unacceptable heart.
The disciplined, careful, zealous man goes to the temple to pray with himself. He thanks his god, addressing him as the Almighty, for a number of actually quite necessary virtues. He has done it before. At times, his words are punctuated with the “amens” of those of like spirit and mind. A little arrogance peeks out. “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are… even as this publican.” (Luke 18:11) Can you see the idols beneath the skirts of virtue? Can you see the exalted doctrine in the proud Pharisee’s heart? There are many people of whom it is well not to be as they are—but if I have such at attitude as this, I might as well be just as lacking in virtue as the worst sinner. What? The worst sinner, you say? Listen. The pride is every bit as bad as extortion, injustice, adultery, and the worst excesses of the worst publican. The pride is the idol under the good-appearing, concealing “skirts” of the man. He rests upon it; he draws his assurance from it.
After Rachel took those idols, unbeknown to any other person, the idols were sought by her father. Laban had accused Jacob of taking his gods, and Jacob had protested his innocence. “There are no false gods among us,” he said. “Anybody that has taken those things will die” (Genesis 31:32). There was more truth to that statement than Jacob realized himself. He had no idea that his favorite wife, the one for whom he had labored fourteen years, had taken the idols. There are many Jacob preachers today who are basically in denial of serious and persistent spiritual disasters among them from those who have entered into possession of idols—even idols under their modest skirts. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1 Corinthians 11:30) Not only are these conditions prevailing, with few able to pray the prayer of faith and few able to testify to real victory by heaven’s grace in the daily trials and temptations of life, but many are just flat-out, graveyard dead. For Rachel, favorite wife or no, did die before much time had passed, in the birth of her second son. But before this happened, before this judgment came upon her, there was an overtaking and a diligent search for the idols that found nothing. Not because there was nothing to find, but because the abomination was hidden well beneath the innocent appearance of things. The search was not quite thorough enough; the determination to find it; the belief that it was there, was lacking.
“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” (1 Corinthians 10:14)
Were there no indicators that the heart of Rachel, wife of Jacob, was turned after false gods? Did her inward desire fail to manifest itself, long before she stole her father’s gods and concealed them?
But Jacob was focused on his troubles with Uncle Laban. Jacob was focused on his objectives and efforts. He was distracted. The fear of God was not upon the man as it needed to be. Had it been so, he would have taken some kind of action, as Moses did when returning to Egypt with his family after the visitation from God at the burning bush.
“And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him [Moses], and sought to kill him [Moses’ oldest son]. Then Zipporah [the wife of Moses] took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he [God] let him [the oldest son] go: then she [the wife of Moses] said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.” (Exodus 4:24-26)
Moses was sent on a mission to tell Pharaoh that God would slay Pharaoh’s son, even his firstborn, if Pharaoh would not do as God wanted him to do—let Israel go. But Moses went on this mission with his son uncircumcised, so God, being no respecter of persons, sought to kill the oldest son of Moses. Then Moses had his son circumcised by the boy’s mother, right then and there, even as the boy was dying—for he knew that the only way to satisfy God was to meet conditions right then and there for divine acceptance. This offended the wife, but was acceptable to God.
The only way to escape the wrath of God is to agree with our adversary quickly, so to speak. Meet Bible conditions; get rid of the idols; humble down—way down—and obey from the heart that form of doctrine delivered to you. Do this just as soon as the revelation of the images under the modest skirts begins. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18) You will notice that God is faithful to deal continually with the reality of things. People who fill themselves with the husks of the forms of righteousness—men who hold the truth in unrighteousness—will find that it does not work for them as it worked for those who held the truth in righteousness of heart. When they attempt to go through the motions of trusting God completely for healing, He will not answer the same way that He did when there was no idol under the skirt. God knows when we are fully trusting Him, or when we are going through the motions while doctoring ourselves, or just hoping we’ll get through somehow, or some path other than complete and exclusive faith. If we regard iniquity in our heart, He will not hear us; and our cemeteries will fill up prematurely, and we will not get out of our trials what God meant for us to grasp.
If we insist on some outward sign of submission on the head of wives to husbands, then we will find that the true victory inside, even truth in the inward parts, will fade and become less of a blessing and more of a habit or a burden, while we focus on and concentrate on having the appearance of victory rather than actually triumphing inside over all the things that would rob us of submission. This never makes sense to those who fight so valiantly to retain the outward standard, for they really feel that to lose the appearance is to lose the fight. But the real fight is inward. Real victory inside will express itself outside—if real victory exists within, it will not fail to reveal itself in time. But it will not necessarily express itself in what people think the outward standard should be. A wife who has won the consent of her heart to submit to her husband as Sarah did to Abraham will not be rejoicing in the covering of her head, whether it be her hair or another covering. Such a wife who has triumphed within will know that the real elements of victory did not come from off her head, but from higher up, even in heaven. When the blessing of consecrating to the sacred place of a wife with a husband for a head comes upon her from heaven; it comes into her inner being, even in her heart, and from there she is now enabled to serve God acceptably and with joy in her high and noble calling. There is far more than the custom of women, so to speak, upon her. There is a lack of idolatry, and a great pliability to be shaped for the Master’s use upon His turning wheel, with no resistance on her part. Hallelujah! Here is victory indeed. Such a wife has power to keep trusting God when Abraham acts as Sarah’s Abraham did. She can maintain her position and station in life by trusting Him who fails not, although surrounded by perils brought on by her husband’s faults and failings. And did Sister Sarah trust God in vain? No. Praise God!
Now a woman who has concealed a certain idolatrous regard in her heart for the doctrines of men may trust in her wearing a piece of apparel on her head or trust in never cutting her hair. She may expect that by doing things she will be kept. She may trust in those outward actions for serenity and peace in such storms, for the maintenance of an absolute consecration and committing of herself to God; but the idols upon which she sits will not impart those needful and vital things. She may have carefully kept the rules; she may possess the highest esteem of the congregation, even the esteem of her husband, but the hour-to-hour keeping power she needs is not supplied by anything but real grace and strength from God. She that has relied on external standards will gain some strength from human sympathy and support, from a clear mental conviction that she is doing the right thing, (for as Brother Paul said, there is a “shew of wisdom” (Colossians 2:23) in these things), but oh, that comfort and inward assurance that comes from Him who is the very God of Comfort! There is nothing like it.
But cannot a person who wears such a covering get the same inward victory? Yes. But not a person who trusts in an outward standard. You see, it is the inward that counts. If the modest clothes are torn from the body, it is the modesty of the inward man (or woman) that counts. It is that which is still giving answer according to right and holiness that matters when push comes to shove, and the full weight of persecution is allowed to fall upon the trusting child of God. There was no modest clothing on the cross, but the Savior’s heart was still as pure, as holy, as ever. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Beware of the accepted norms among a people, especially if they are not definitely taught in the Word of God. These are the customs of a given people, the traditions. They are the identifying habits of a given people. Now of the people of God, we read: “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2:10) They once had no common identifying traditions or customs. They were not a certain race, nor a certain nationality. The people of God are drawn from all nations, all races. They come with the accompanying traditions and customs of their races, their social stations, their nationalities, their genders—but these are not the common, identical things that distinguish them as the people of God. What are the common things now? “Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2:10) What else? Every single one of the newly-minted people of God have been “called… out of darkness into His marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Jude calls it the “common salvation,” and speaks of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 3) “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) Many people think of “the faith” as a body of knowledge, a creed, an understanding of doctrine, but this scripture in Jude hints at something more than can be passed on from generation to generation as a creed. Brother Jude says it “was once delivered unto the saints.” From where? From heaven, from God. How is it done? “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) No man can make another man born again—“born from above” (margin). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6) We have people that are said “to be raised in the truth,” but this is false. They may be raised around truth, but the only way to be raised in the truth is in being born from above by the Spirit of God. Folks say that they are holding the standard for their children, but that is only outwardly, for it is not possible inwardly. It is not in men’s hands to hold it or bestow it inwardly—all we can do with God’s inward standard is receive it and live it unto the Lord. Then it bears fruit and shines out to all the unsaved, including our unsaved children. Merely displaying the form of godliness will make an idol, but bearing the fruit of godliness because of a possessed godly inward life will focus the attention on the work of God in the heart. People raised around truth have not come to the truth. People who are mentally convinced and loyal still have not come to the truth.
“Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?” (2 Corinthians 10:7) “That ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.” (2 Corinthians 10:12)
Holy living is not only the refraining from doing the wrong and the doing of the right, but it is the refraining from doing the wrong from an inward principle of holy hatred of the wrong inwrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and a doing of the right in the life and holiness of God. It is more than the good deeds done by human life; it is good deeds done by the life of God in the human life. There is a vast difference. There is danger, great danger, in holiness professors attending to the outward life to the neglect of the inward life. So long as they do not do anything wrong, and so long as they do things that are right, they think themselves safe. We can live good lives and, like the church at Ephesus, lose the love of God out of the soul. Right living may be only man in action; holy living is God in action.
[Charles E. Orr; Helps to Holy Living, “Meditating on God and His Word”]
To hold loyalty to Bible doctrines and principle in the flesh, by the will of man alone, is to hew out a graven image—an idol for the soul. Since man goes by the outward appearance, and salvation is absolutely a matter of inward appearance with outward fruit which varies according to the light and understanding of the individual, a focus on outward appearance will inevitably result in the creation of an idol of doctrine and produce unity only among such human beings (saved and unsaved) as will bow at the altar of the doctrine. This is the true nature, the reality, of what mostly passes itself off for Christian churches. They worship at the altar of their creeds (their beliefs), rather than the inwardly-imparted faith (life) from God by divine work in the heart. And the awful thing is that these traditions make the Word of God of none effect. Why? You don’t need something from God to meet the requirements of these idol-worshiping assemblies. You can measure up and be accepted without a work of grace in your heart. The Word of God, focused on the inward need of the heart, becomes actually irrelevant when human tradition is idolized.
Think of it. I can dress modestly without a work of modesty wrought in my heart. You can take off the necktie, thinking thus to be delivered from superfluity and ornamentation, regardless of whether you are delivered from pride. The outward standard is not necessarily connected to the inner. I can bow to outward conformity to a body of ministry, whether I am convicted or convinced of the truth itself. This is will worship.
This is where human nature miscalculates. This is where the deceitful heart deceives. The reasoning goes like this: “It is so humbling, even humiliating, to look different than the world—to be a gazingstock, to appear so peculiar—that one must have something inside to produce such a change on the outside.” Now this line of reasoning, with respect to purity of motives, real love of God, an inward principle of holiness established by the Holy Ghost, is easily discredited. Look at someone expressing Gothic-Punk culture. Why is their hair pink, orange, fluorescent green? Why do they have such outlandish body tattoos, such weird jewelry piercings, such spiked hair, black lipstick? Their motive is mostly to shock. (It works, doesn’t it?) But some of them are responding to a peer pressure; they want to fit in with others that have caught their fancy. Holiness? Real love of God? Purity of motive? Of course not. Merely looking distinctive and peculiar is not a virtue in itself.
When the zealot looks upon a congregation of saint-look-alikes, he or she is not looking at the motives of the heart. They are looking at a deeply satisfying appearance. They look so good—to the outward appearance. “We need more of them.” “All of the people should look like this.” “They are like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.” When the choir of young voices is raised in beautiful harmony to a stunning climax of sound, when people are so affected as to weep, the oracle of outward appearance is overjoyed and ecstatic. “Wasn’t that wonderful? How could anyone not see something in that?”
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15) God sees it for what it is—in the secret corridors of the heart. Then He sends His Word to the goodly-looking throng, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:12-13) This is remarkably horrifying to the outwardly-focused human being. They are saying: “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” (Acts 15:1) But there is consternation when the Word of God is preached in penetrating power. Then it is, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6) “And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” (1 Corinthians 14:25)
The only answer to the idols hidden beneath the modest skirts is the presentation of the Word in prophesying and praying that makes manifest the secrets of the heart, to the extent one falls upon their face toward God. This is the only discovery of these hidden things that brings real deliverance.
Consider how much the idols meant to Rachel. She undertook great risks to acquire them and to conceal them. She suffered the effects of deceiving her husband, even her sister, their handmaidens, her father. What did she see in those dead, inanimate idols that moved her to pay such a price? What responded in her to idolatry? Where was Satan’s seat in her? In one sense, the trouble was not the idols upon which she sat; the problem was the idols in her heart. Did she pray to them? Did she rely upon them?
Man looks upon something from an outer appearance because he thinks he sees some advantage in it. A certain form of dress will increase the unity, he thinks. Some other cherished concept seems to offer advantages that are worth the price. Eve would disobey the plain commandment of God because “she saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise.” (Genesis 3:6) Did the eating of the forbidden fruit accomplish the coveted objectives? Yes, but with a twist—a terrible side effect. The wisdom was the knowledge of both good and evil—not just the good. It did not turn out for either of the guilty pair as they had hoped. If they could have seen all the future, would they have abstained?
Now this is very likely the case with Rachel, too. However she regarded these idols before, they took on an ominous aspect after she stole and hid them. What now? What will husband think… and do… if he sees these things? How can I keep hiding them? And the more that Jacob got down to business in serving the one, true God, the more the wife’s torment in concealing her stolen idols. And what about the children—energetic, inquisitive, like sponges, absorbing ideas and experiences as they develop—what will they think? Will they become idolaters like myself? These are serious, weighty thoughts.
And finally, discovery. “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” (Luke 12:2) The Lord took Rachel’s life. She went to face a just and holy God. What happened to the idols? (Were they all abandoned at the time of Genesis 35:2-4? If so, did it take the massacre of all of Shechem’s people and the resultant danger of annihilation to finally bring about the forsaking of Rachel’s idols?) How did the family regard Jacob’s favorite wife, the mother of two of his children (whom he favored) after the possession of idols was revealed? But even this amount of discovery was not the end of it. The folly of Rachel in clinging to idols continued and continues to be manifest, even to our time. God spoke of it to Moses, and it was recorded in the book of Genesis for generation upon generation of God’s children and others to read and ponder. “But they [men of corrupt minds, resistors of the truth, reprobate concerning the faith] shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs [Jannes and Jambres] also was.” (2 Timothy 3:9) Yea, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
“But God is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) There was a marvelous light, a powerful light, a searching light, shining on the dysfunctional family of Jacob—a group of human beings put together by being cheated, by the dispersed affections of the head of the family with no less than four mothers of his children, by favoritism and the resultant envies, passions, rivalries. What a mess! If Grandpa Abraham had learned a serious lesson with Sarah and Hagar, how much further did sin take Jacob in his life? If favoritism and deception tore apart the family of Isaac and Rebecca, what can be said of Jacob’s family? We catch a hint of this when Jacob told Pharoah, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Genesis 47:9) What a terrible testimony! “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” I have not done as well as those before me. All of this was known to some extent by Rachel in her sin. And the dealings of God with Jacob and his whole family kept casting light on what she had done and was doing. The Lord kept pulling on her reins, so to speak. “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Jeremiah 2:19) Her rival, her sister, had first claim on her husband’s affections; for Leah gave him sons, and then Rachel had to share Jacob with her sister. As you can see, sin is expensive; it will cost more than you ever imagined. And then Rachel was cut off in her years. She had only one child to mother for a short time, and she died in giving birth to the second. In the meantime, a host (“a troop”) of children by other women were added to the family of Jacob. All of this chafing, this frustration, was from God—He was dealing with Rachel’s heart, as well as others’.
Many people are frustrated in their ambitions. They have certain idols in their heart, and they devote themselves to worshiping at the altars of “success,” imagining that peace and satisfaction are to be found thereat. But God, in mercy, does not allow things to work out for many. There is more mercy in this than they can appreciate, yet they turn not from their idolatrous way. At times, God allows a few of them to gain the wealth, the prestige, the advantages for which they all sacrifice, and the end result—the awful cost—is worthy of the attention of all. But here, too, they get it wrong. They are blind. They go not to the sanctuary, so they do not see the end (Psalm 73:17). They are blind to the slipperiness, the casting down, the solemn accountability, the corroding sin that turns worldly success to ashes in the mouth. The defiled conscience. The people who have been trampled, the atrocities committed, covered and left behind, the impending judgment, the stewardship of it all.
In the end, I assure you, Rachel regretted taking those idols. It was one of the worst mistakes of her life. She heartily wishes now she had never so much as laid eyes on them, that she had never heard of them. They were thieves and stole her life. She thought she was taking them, but they were taking her.
Rachel’s Character
“Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.” (Gen 29:17) God measures out the portion of every human being, and the result is an enormous diversity in how we look, our general disposition, and the various abilities and potential that each is given. Here were two sisters, one of whom was raccoth—soft, delicate, lovely, especially in her eyes. The other is described as yephath toar and yephath mareh—beautiful in shape, person, mien, and gait and beautiful in her countenance. Thus we are created. Some appear to have quite the advantage in appearance and personality—they appear to sparkle and to surpass their siblings or others their age. Like Absalom and Tamar, they are given gifts that require carefulness and humility to properly handle, else they will be spoiled and marred in their potential. Every person has their own beauty and their own usefulness. “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30) To ignore a wealth of natural gifts and to humbly fear God is a very effective counterbalance, but very few seem to find this path. Reader, think upon this question: How did Rachel feel about her perceived advantages? Did she fear God? Was she looking to Him to help her in her life, or was she leaning upon her status in the family as “beautiful and well favored”?
Then we consider the man who had entered Rachel’s family circle. He had been close to his mother. Did this seem to offer any advantage to Rachel? Jacob was obviously smitten with her—not her older, marriage-eligible sister, the tender-eyed Leah. Jacob and Rachel, con man and spoiled girl. Did this well-favored, beautiful young woman ever imagine a situation where she and her sister would be married to the same husband, a husband that was infatuated with her, while she was unable to bear children? Her less-favored sister, who obtained the one who loved her (Rachel) by fraud and deceit, would have one baby after another with her husband. It is God who tests our inner motives, who exposes our own heart condition to ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9-10). So… what came out of Rachel’s heart?
“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.” (Genesis 30:1) This is an imperious demand—an indicator of the lack of fear of God in this young wife’s life. Her husband was startled to find that the object of his affection would actually make such a demand of him. “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?” (Genesis 30:2) The contrast between husband and wife could hardly be demonstrated more vividly. The spoiled girl, the prima donna: “Give me what I want. I would rather be dead than ungratified.” And the startled husband, fascinated and infatuated with his beautiful, young wife: “I didn’t make you barren. God did. How can I make up for what God does?”
The pampered, coddled woman didn’t accept her husband’s displeasure with her, either. If others failed her in getting her own way, she would take matters into her own hands. When Jacob’s mother was barren, her husband prayed for her and entreated God (Genesis 25:21), but Jacob did not do so with Rachel. Why? It was different in many ways. Jacob, the cheater, had been cheated, thus ending up with two wives—what a sad and miserable frustration it was turning out to be. He recognized that God had allowed Rachel to be barren, but he was in no condition to pray for her.
“Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!”*
Who can fully appreciate the cost of sinning? The shrewd con man was cheated by sin, even more than he was cheated by Uncle Laban. And now he was married to Uncle Cheater’s two daughters, and the most attractive one (to him) was accustomed to having her own way all of the time. Rachel could not bear to be in exactly the position that she was in. She, the favored one, the beautiful one, was now the pitied one. Now Rachel felt the awful sting of envy.
Uncle Laban was an idolater, too. Where did Rachel look for help and assistance when the storms of life became too violent and overwhelming for even the most hard-headed and strongest-willed?
In Proverbs 7:10-23, we read of a spoiled woman who went further than Rachel ever did. She is described as “a woman with the attire of an harlot.” “Subtle of heart.” “She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house.” Notice the restlessness here—the lack of peace—the lack of consecration to be a wife, to be a mother. She has “an impudent face”—a disrespectful, rude, shameless, brazen, audacious attitude. She is very good at fair speeches and flattery of the lips.
As Rachel took the first steps down this path, we see the same characteristics in their embryonic form. At the bottom of it all is this determination to do what I please, regardless of consequences. “I see what I want, and I will have it!” God wouldn’t let her have a child? She would find a way around it, somehow. So we read, “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.” (Genesis 30:3)
This was the beginning of an even more deplorable family situation than had been the case when the lesser-favored wife had all the children and the more-favored wife had none. Now the handmaidens of the two rival wives became involved, too. As the two women competed relentlessly for advantage in their husband’s eyes, and he, silly fool, had so little of the fear of God upon him that he participated in the emulations that now characterized his family, did he ever think what kind of family, what kind of life, was being created by all this sinning? As the songwriter put it, “Sin will take you further than you ever thought you would go.” If rivalry between Jacob’s brother, Esau, and himself brought about deplorable results in the family of his father and mother, just look at how sin was working in Jacob’s life, now!
It is out of this background, this horrible state of affairs, that we find the whole family fleeing from father-in-law Laban. The recriminations flew; everybody blamed everyone else, and no one took the blame. And in the middle of it all, the spoiled daughter stole her father’s idols and concealed them, telling no one, not even her husband. Not just a spoiled girl… now a spoiled girl with idols. The outcome could have been disastrous; Jacob and his family could have been wiped out, but God did not allow it to come to this.
The lesson is plain. Sin begets sin. The most minimal sin has the potential for the most horrible consequences. In the sin of Micah, as related in Judges 17, we find that theft lay at the beginning, then the crafting of images, both molten and graven. (Some things come about because people are melted down, while others are carefully, perhaps even skillfully, graven.) This led to a false priest, a hireling, then to violence and oppression and yet more theft.
The idols that are hidden beneath the modest-appearing skirts are hard to really find. They have roots that go beyond their current manifestation. It is no small matter to trace the sin back to its source in the heart. Only God can help us to search so perseveringly, so diligently, so that we can find that which is so well hidden. But there is no real finding or destroying of the idols without this. “I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.” (Psalm 77:6) Without this, repentance is premature and does not prove out.
Observation from years of experience teaches us that relatively few people escape the framework of their conditioning. It is possible to live close enough to God that we find ourselves outside of our “box” (and outside of our “comfort” zone), but very few are doing so. In the minds of most people, a stigma is attached to drawing near to God, getting more spiritual, etc. And to this is added the hazards of trying to escape our background. In trying to escape, we may get (and many have gotten) into worse trouble. Those hazards are real, and many a precious soul has been ensnared in fanaticism and strain. If we attempt to draw near to God without being led by the Spirit of God, step by step, we will undoubtedly come to grief. “There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.” (Job 28:7-8) The Spirit of God does know it, and He knows how to guide us into all truth, safely and without misstep. If we are guided by the Holy Ghost, it need not be said of us, “And he searched, but he found not the images.” Not only may the images be found, abandoned, and destroyed, but we can be true worshipers, worshiping in Spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him (John 4:23).
We know of a group of people who have thought it best to ban all literature from being distributed among them, except that which is printed in their church print shop. Only authorized (by them) literature is permitted to be distributed at their meetings or among their people. Under the innocent skirts of seeming carefulness and protection against confusion is something that will not bear investigation. For this apparently innocent, sensible rule conceals an arrogance and pride that is breathtaking. Do they think they have a monopoly on truth? Do they recognize that God raises up people as He sees fit, and that He does this without taking counsel with them? Is not truth still truth, no matter who publishes it? Would they confine the Almighty to thus work only through them? And if He does not stay within the box of their thinking, what will they do with His workings? Will they reject truth by forbidding truth that is published elsewhere from being distributed among them? Here the words of Jesus apply with great authority: “And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.” (Mark 9:38-40)
But what happens to a people who disregard the command of Jesus, “Forbid him not”? There are serious consequences. Each repeated rejection of truth reinforces the idolatrous focus of the group. Each confrontation stresses a reliance on their resolutions, their beliefs, rather than receiving truth however God is pleased to send it. A new definition of what is “truth” is forged by the people. Truth is no longer “thus saith the Lord,” but now it is what “we” say it is—namely what is published by “our” publishing work. The molten idol is cast. The form takes shape before all.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:34-35) We notice here that God was sending prophets and others to the people of Jerusalem. We say again, God was sending. But these God-sent messengers met with a deadly reception. “Which killest… and stonest.” At this time in our country we have civil authority which has largely stopped the physical killing and stoning, but the murder of reputations and the stones of vehement criticism and prejudice are as effective as ever. God is utterly prevented from doing what the people both need and are ignorant of, for any messenger that God sends is slain and stoned. The consequences? There are two that the Lord Jesus mentions here.
1. “Your house is left unto you desolate.” How could it be otherwise? If we reject what God sends to us, we are left to what we can gather on our own. This may consist of genuine spiritual heritage, but without the Spirit of God to direct and guide us in how to utilize this, we will build a monstrosity out of what was originally established properly. In due time, the sound of spiritual grindstones will not be heard, for something else will have taken their place. People will be starving for true nourishing, spiritual bread, but a famine is on the land. Folks may flatter themselves with their unique doctrine, teaching, etc., and feel that they are better off than others, but Revelation 3:17 will be the true picture of conditions.
2. “Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” When folks reject God’s messengers, they see something other than God. They see those that come in the name of the idol. The accepted preachers. The ones in the yearbook—however the “yearbook” is put together. They see something. They just can’t see God. They have proclaimed that the Almighty will only work through them, their system, their way; so they can’t see God in anything else. So they go on, “holding the truth,” without seeing God. “Ye shall not see me.” The folks in Jerusalem did not see Jesus. Jesus did not appear as the Messiah to them. His messengers did not appear as His messengers to them. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” (John 7:48) You can see that this was the guideline that mattered to them. They did not and could not see Jesus. They just couldn’t, dear reader. Hardly any got beyond this. “Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” (Acts 5:28) “You have embarrassed us. You do not respect us. We told you not to do this.” All this, from an inability to see God.
Now, if Jesus had become a Pharisee… they would have listened. Then He would be under their rules and discipline, etc., so they would have regarded Him. But, of course, to do such a horrible thing, Jesus would have had to forsake truth; He would have had to sin. Imagine a Pharisee saying, “But everything about us wasn’t bad!” No, everything wasn’t. But this testimony would have become impossible: “For the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” (John 14:30) Praise God! Satan could find nothing in Jesus that was not truth and holiness. The disciples of the Lord Jesus had it too: “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) May we have the same testimony.
Here is the conclusion of the whole matter: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” This will root out all idols, hidden or on display. Acknowledge thy true condition, O Rachel! Rise up and seek the Lord. Humble thyself under the mighty hand of God. Forsake the abominations; abhor the concealment of the evil of thy apparently virtuous traditions and flee to the one, true God; confess and halt the denial of the inward-working power of God. This will put us on the solid Rock, rather than the sinking sand.
Seek ye the LORD
while He may be found,
call ye upon Him
while He is near:Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the LORD,
and He will have mercy upon him;
and to our God,
for He will abundantly pardon.For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,
saith the LORD.
For as the heavens
are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven,
and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth,
and maketh it bring forth and bud,
that it may give seed to the sower,
and bread to the eater:
So shall My Word be
that goeth forth out of My mouth:
it shall not return unto Me void,
but it shall accomplish
that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it.For ye shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace:
the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn
shall come up the fir tree,
and instead of the brier
shall come up the myrtle tree:
and it shall be
to the LORD for a name,
for an everlasting sign
that shall not be cut off.
