Let us go back to Genesis 31 and see another kind of joy, but on the other end of the spectrum. This is when Jacob is fleeing from Laban. He is trying to get his family out of Laban’s grasp. He is fleeing back toward the land of Israel. He has got all of these flocks and all of his sons (except one of them). He is trying to hightail it across to the land of Israel (or what would be the land of Israel later on) and Laban catches him. Even though Laban had started three days’ late, he took off in his fastest chariot, or fastest stallions, and he and his guys come up and they overtake Jacob’s family before they get into the land. They are in Gilead right before they are about to cross into the land.
Let us give Laban the benefit of the doubt. With Laban you can never trust anything that comes out of his mouth. He would have probably not done this. He would have probably said “Hey Jacob! Let’s renegotiate. I’ve got a deal for you. If you stay with me seven more years, I’ll give you three-quarters of all the wealth that you produce in that time.” And he would probably not have done what he said he would have done here, where he would have had a big feast. They would have taken the fatted calf, had a big chowdown, hired some local musicians and have a big dance, and everybody would have a wonderful time. They would be singing around the campfire and it all would be well. Well, we know the kind of person Laban was.
But this kind of happiness, this feeling of great pleasure of having joy in one’s family—even if it is an occasion where it is a going-away party like this would have been—is the kind of human joy that is the best kind of human joy: the joy of family, the joy of just good times and happiness where no sin is involved, where you are just having a wonderful time with your fellow man making memories that bring a smile every time you think about them. So these are real joys—human joys—going all the way down the spectrum, from the joy in sin to a good joy in one’s family and a joy in the relationships that we have with one another.
