Genesis 31

Jacob Heads Back for Home (the Promised Land)

⁽¹⁾ But Jacob soon learned that Laban's sons* were beginning to grumble. "Jacob has robbed our father!" they said. "All his wealth has been gained at our father's expense."

*sons: 1st time Laban's sons are mentioned. How old are they?

⁽²⁾ And Jacob began to notice a considerable cooling in Laban's attitude toward him.

⁽³⁾ Then the LORD* said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you**."

*LORD: Jehovah

**I will be with you: Probably said to allay his fear of going back to confront Esau.

   It was now time for Jacob to begin the establishment of the promised nation in the promised land. Jacob has been living "in the world" for 20 years and it was time to get out!

⁽⁴⁾ Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching the flocks,

   Someone might overhear them and report it back to Laban. Jacob needs to explain his actions to them because they might want to stay.

⁽⁵⁾ so he could talk things over with them. "Your father has turned against me and is not treating me like he used to," he told them. "But the God of my father* has been with me.

*God of my father: Still not his own personal God.

⁽⁶⁾ You know how hard I have worked for your father,

⁽⁷⁾ but he has tricked me, breaking his wage agreement with me again and again*. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm.

*again and again - 10 times in the original. Archaeologists have found ancient contracts between an owner and a shepher. These contracts were usually renegotiated at the end of each season. Laban changed the contract whenever he saw that the terms were in Jacob's favor. In one case, when he saw all the flocks gave birth to speckled young, which were to go to Jacob, he changed the contract to Jacob getting streaked young instead (verse 8).

⁽⁸⁾ For if he said the speckled animals were mine, the whole flock began to produce speckled lambs. And when he changed his mind and said I could have the streaked ones, then all the lambs were born streaked.

⁽⁹⁾ In this way, God has made me wealthy at your father's expense.

   Laban had frequently altered his original agreement with Jacob. In every case, however, God kept blessing Jacob. No matter what Laban had tried to do to him, God had protected and prospered him. During all this time, Jacob had continued to serve Laban to the very best of his ability. Jacob made no claim that it was by his own ability that he'd acquired such wealth; he gave all the credit to the God of his father, because his prosperity was entirely due to God.

⁽¹⁰⁾ During the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁽¹¹⁾ Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, `Jacob!' And I replied, `Yes, I'm listening!'

⁽¹²⁾ The angel said, `Look, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

⁽¹³⁾ I am the God you met at Bethel*, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made a vow to serve me. Now leave this country and return to the land you came from.'"

*Bethel - Genesis 28:11-22

⁽¹⁴⁾ Rachel and Leah said, "That's fine with us! There's nothing for us here--none of our father's wealth will come to us anyway.

⁽¹⁵⁾ He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. He sold us, and what he received for us* has disappeared.

*received for us: 14 years of Jacob's labor.

   Now, the anger and humiliation that Rachel and Leah had experienced from their father's manipulation of Jacob about the marriages spilled out. Laban thought he'd pulled a "fast one" on Jacob, but now Laban will pay the price for his deception. Laban cut himself off from his daughters long before they cut themselves off from him - after they leave, he'll never see them or his grandchildren again!

⁽¹⁶⁾ The riches God has given you from our father are legally ours and our children's to begin with. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you."

⁽¹⁷⁾ So Jacob put his wives and children on camels.

⁽¹⁸⁾ He drove the flocks in front of him--all the livestock he had acquired at Paddan-aram--and set out on his journey to the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived.

   Jacob is "sneaking off" because he knows that Laban wouldn't allow him to leave with his wealth. Twenty years earlier, Jacob had arrived penniless, now he leaves a wealthy man with a large family.

   The time had come for Jacob to take over the patriarchal responsibility associated with God's promises. He possessed both the birthright and the blessing; and they entailed great responsibilities, as well as privileges, which it was now time to fulfill.

⁽¹⁹⁾ At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing* his sheep. Rachel stole her father's household gods** and took them with her.

*shearing: Evidently, Jacob had alread sheared his sheep in preparation for his leaving.

**household gods: Rachel had stolen the household gods (teraphim). What the teraphim were is not known for certain. To some, they were a sort of images devoted to superstitious purposes, not considered as gods, but as representatives of certain Divine attributes. Rachel knows about Jacob's God, but she isn't giving up her old gods, "just in case". It is also possible, as impled in some of the Nuzu tablets excavated around 1930, that the teraphim were associated with the inheritance and property rights of their owner. If so, Rachel may have stolen them with the thought that possessing them would somehow help validate the legitimacy of her husband's title to the flocks he had acquired while serving Laban and represent the inheritance she had a right to expect.

⁽²⁰⁾ They set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.

⁽²¹⁾ Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the territory of Gilead*.

*Mount Gilead is a mountainous region est of the Jordan River. Its northern edges are nearly 300 miles from Harna; so, a long journey stretched ahead of them. It is possible, of course, that Jacob had already worked his flocks around to the south as far as possible to have a head start.



⁽²²⁾ Laban didn't learn of their flight for three days.

⁽²³⁾ But when he did, he gathered a group of his relatives and set out in hot pursuit. He caught up with them seven days later in the hill country of Gilead.

   A day's journey was usually reckoned at about 30 miles, for men traveling unencumbered. However, with flocks, this would beonly 15-20 miles per day. Laban and those with him covered 300 miles in only 7 days, covering over 48 miles per day - he was definitely in "hot pursuit"! Laban and his sons had no intention of letting Jacob take all his flocks to Canaan, and were determined to forcibly take them from Jacob. Quite likely, they intended to kill Jacob if he tried to resist them.

⁽²⁴⁾ But the previous night God had appeared to Laban in a dream. "Be careful about what you say to Jacob!" he was told.

   God full well know Laban's intent to steal everything from Jacob and kill him, so He's warning Laban that Jacob is under His protection and following His direction. For someone who did not know the God of Isaac and Jacob, this had to have been sobering.

⁽²⁵⁾ So when Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead, he set up his camp not far from Jacob's.

⁽²⁶⁾ "What do you mean by sneaking off like this?" Laban demanded. "Are my daughters prisoners*, the plunder of war, that you have stolen them away like this?

*prisoners: He's clueless about how Leah and Rachel feel about him.

⁽²⁷⁾ Why did you slip away secretly? I would have given you a farewell party*, with joyful singing accompanied by tambourines and harps.

*party: He would never have given a farewell party because he would never have allowed them to leave.

⁽²⁸⁾ Why didn't you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly!

   Of course, Jacob and his wives knew that Laban was lying through his teeth!

⁽²⁹⁾ I could destroy you, but the God* of your father appeared to me last night and told me, `Be careful about what you say to Jacob!'

*the God of your father - Laban does not acknowledge that Jehovah is Jacob's God.

⁽³⁰⁾ I know you feel you must go, and you long intensely for your childhood home, but why have you stolen my household gods?"

   Laban is now trying to excuse his pursuit of Jacob by expressing his concern that his household gods had been stolen. He seems to be more attached to his "gods" than to his daughters - what kind of father is this?

⁽³¹⁾ "I rushed away because I was afraid," Jacob answered. "I said to myself, 'He'll take his daughters from me by force.'

⁽³²⁾ But as for your household gods, let the person who has taken them die*! If you find anything that belongs to you, I swear before all these relatives of ours, I will give it back without question." But Jacob didn't know that Rachel had taken them.

*die: This statement had to have frightened Rachel since she was guilty of the crime. The laws of Hammurabi cite the penalty of temple gods as a capital crime. Jacob also knew perfectly well that no one could claim he had any of Laban's unblemished animals with him.

⁽³³⁾ Laban went first into Jacob's tent to search there, then into Leah's, and then he searched the tents of the two concubines, but he didn't find the gods. Finally, he went into Rachel's tent.

⁽³⁴⁾ Rachel had taken the household gods and had stuffed them into her camel saddle, and now she was sitting on them. So although Laban searched all the tents, he couldn't find them.

   These household gods must have been extremely small for her to simply sit on them to hide them. Moreover, think what a terrible thing it would be for a woman having her period sitting on some gods - they're not very strong, are they? Per Leviticus 15:19-23, everything that came in contact with a woman during her period became religiously polluted.

⁽³⁵⁾ "Forgive my not getting up, Father," Rachel explained. "I'm having my monthly period." So despite his thorough search, Laban didn't find them.

⁽³⁶⁾ Then Jacob became very angry. "What did you find?" he demanded of Laban. "What is my crime? You have chased me as though I were a criminal.

   Jacob finally explodes from all the anger that has built up over the 20 years of Laban's trickery.

⁽³⁷⁾ You have searched through everything I own. Now show me what you have found that belongs to you! Set it out here in front of us, before our relatives, for all to see. Let them decide who is the real owner!

   Let all his relatives be a witness to Jacob's character versus Laban's.

⁽³⁸⁾ "Twenty years I have been with you, and all that time I cared for your sheep and goats so they produced healthy offspring. In all those years I never touched a single ram of yours for food.

⁽³⁹⁾ If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, did I show them to you and ask you to reduce the count of your flock? No, I took the loss! You made me pay for every animal stolen from the flocks, whether the loss was my fault or not.

⁽⁴⁰⁾ I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights.

⁽⁴¹⁾ Yes, twenty years--fourteen of them earning your two daughters, and six years to get the flock. And you have reduced my wages ten times!

⁽⁴²⁾ In fact, except for the grace of God--the God* of my grandfather Abraham, the awe-inspiring God** of my father, Isaac--you would have sent me off without a penny to my name. But God has seen your cruelty and my hard work. That is why he appeared to you last night and vindicated me."

*awe-inspiring God of my grandfather Abraham - Literally, "Fear of his father Isaac". As opposed to Laban's powerless household gods. He's bluntly telling Laban that he, Jacob, serves the true God (Jehovah) and Laban doesn't.

**God of my father, Isaac - But, is He Jacob's god yet? He is the "God of Abraham and the God of Isaac". Eventually, He would be called the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob".

⁽⁴³⁾ Then Laban replied to Jacob, "These women are my* daughters, and these children are my* grandchildren, and these flocks and all that you have--all are mine*. But what can I do now to my own daughters and grandchildren?

*my / all are mine - Laban is saying that Jacob is entitled to nothing, but won't take them away because of his daughters and grandchildren. Laban doesn't deny the charges and quickly changes the subject.

⁽⁴⁴⁾ Come now, and we will make a peace treaty, you and I, and we will live by its terms."

⁽⁴⁵⁾ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument.

⁽⁴⁶⁾ He also told his men to gather stones and pile them up in a heap. Jacob and Laban then sat down beside the pile of stones to share a meal.

⁽⁴⁷⁾ They named it "Witness Pile," which is Jegar-sahadutha* in Laban's language and Galeed** in Jacob's.

*Jegar-sahadutha means "witness pile" in Aramaic.

**Galeed means "witness pile" in Hebrew.

⁽⁴⁸⁾ "This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of our agreement," Laban said.

⁽⁴⁹⁾ This place was also called Mizpah*, for Laban said, "May the LORD** keep watch between us to make sure that we keep this treaty when we are out of each other's sight.

*Mizpah means "watchtower."

**LORD - Jehovah. Laban is implying that Jacob was the one who needed watching by Jacob's God.

⁽⁵⁰⁾ I won't know about it if you are harsh to my daughters or if you take other wives*, but God will see it.

*other wives: The only wife Jacob had wanted was Rachel! Leah was foisted on Jacob by Laban's trickery.

⁽⁵¹⁾ This heap of stones and this pillar

⁽⁵²⁾ stand between us as a witness of our vows. I will not cross this line to harm you, and you will not cross it to harm me.

   Is Laban worried that Jacob will return someday for revenge?
Romans 12:19 - Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written,"I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it," says the Lord.
Deuteronomy 32:35 - I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.'

⁽⁵³⁾ I call on the God of our ancestors--the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God* of my grandfather Nahor--to punish either one of us who harms the other." So Jacob took an oath before the awesome God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line.

*God of my grandfather Nahor, - "Elohim" as opposed to the God Isaac and Abraham worshipped! Nahor's god was probably an idol. Nahor was Abraham's brother - both were sons of Terah, but of different mothers, if you recall from Genesis 11:27.

⁽⁵⁴⁾ Then Jacob presented a sacrifice to God and invited everyone to a feast. Afterward they spent the night there in the hills.

⁽⁵⁵⁾ Laban got up early the next morning, and he kissed his daughters and grandchildren and blessed them. Then he returned home.

   Laban realizes that he's really messed up and that his daughters and grandchildren know what a scondrel he is. He thinks that this will overcome their feelings toward him. He will never see them again. Notice that he does not give a blessing to Jacob or say anything "nice" to him.

   Laban is an example of a worldly, covetous man, one who knows about the tru God and to whom a thorough witness has been given. He had seen the reality of God in the life of Jacob. He had even enjoyed some of the benefits of having a son-in-law who was being blessed by the true God.

   Is there a Laban in your life? How are you dealing with it?

RESOURCES:

• “BibleGateway.com”


• “Bible.org”


• "Clarke's Commentary - Genesis 30"


• “Gleanings in Genesis”


• "Heartlight’s Search God’s Word"


• “New Living Translation” – Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.


• “New International Biblical Commentary - Genesis” – John E. Hartley – Hendrickson Publishers


• “Scriptures for the Whole House of Israel


• “The Genesis Record” – Henry M. Morris – Baker Book House