Why was the mizpah benediction a warning?

Answer 1

This old Mizpah is not about what most of us think it's about. It is not really a pleasant little benediction praying for God's watchful care over us when we part company for a while - even if it involves a fisherman and a fish. No, this little Mizpah is about something else altogether. Do you remember the story of Jacob? After cheating his twin brother Esau out of the family inheritance, Jacob has to get out of town in a hurry. So he goes to a faraway land to live with his unscrupulous uncle Laban. And Laban has a beautiful daughter named Rachel. Well, Jacob falls head over heels in love with Rachel and wants to marry her. Uncle Laban gives his blessing to the marriage, so long as Jacob first works for him for seven years. So Jacob works for seven years to get Rachel. And at the end of the seven years, the wedding day comes. Well, on the big day, Laban gets Jacob to have a little too much to drink and the next morning Jacob wakes up in his wedding bed only to discover that its not Rachel he's married, but her older, homely sister Leah! Uncle Laban has tricked him! You talk about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" being a funny story! This takes the cake! So Jacob goes to Laban and complains. Laban says, "Hey, it's not the custom in our country to let the younger girl get married before the older. You shoulda known that, so tough luck, pal!"But - Laban offers - if Jacob will work another seven years, he can have Rachel too! So Jacob agrees. And finally, Rachel is his. She must have been a pretty hot number, huh? Well, that's not the end of the story. Some years later, Jacob - still nursing the resentment of how his uncle cheated him - goes to Laban and says he wants to take his wives and children and return home. So they design a golden parachute for Jacob. As a reward for his long service, Jacob gets to exercise some stock options - literally. He gets some of Laban's sheep and goats. And then, by some amazing talent Jacob had at animal husbandry, Jacob's flock grows big and strong while Laban's flock becomes small and weak. Laban sees that HE has been tricked now, and sets out to kill Jacob. So Jacob rents a U-Haul truck into which he puts his wives, children, Goats and Sheep, and hot tails it out of town. But finally, Laban catches up to Jacob at a rolling roadblock near all the construction on I-40. And the two men have it out. "You cheated me over Leah and Rachel and all the years I had to work for you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, and would kill you if I could!" says Jacob. "Yeah? Well, you cheated ME out of the choice goats and lambs, and now I've got to hire Arthur Anderson to restate my earnings! I'd love to kill you, too!" says Laban. "You cheated me first!" "No, you cheated ME first!" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Did not!" Did too!" "You're the biggest jerk in the world!" "I know you are, but what am I?" Well, this is obviously a family in distress. Sort of like some of our families! Jacob and Laban cannot agree on anything. They've both done things that make it impossible to trust the other. And they'd love to kill each other. But they choose to take another course instead. Do you know what they do? There in the desert, they agree to disagree. They acknowledge that they'll probably never get along. And so they build a big pile of stones, almost as high as a watchtower. And as they walk away from each other to go their separate ways, this is what they say, "May the Lord WATCH between me and thee, while we are absent, one from the other." Genesis tells us that this watchtower they built - this Mizpah representing the presence of God - was erected as a buffer between these two extremely conflicted and estranged people. And this is how they described the meaning of the Mizpah in Genesis 31:52: "I will not go past this watchtower to your side to harm you, and you will not go past this watchtower to my side to harm me." This is what it means when you say, "May the Lord watch between me and thee…"