Jacob Flees from Laban. Jacob noticed [a change in] the attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before. Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.” Gen 31:2-3
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
II. GOD AND THE CHOSEN FAMILY, Genesis 12-50
2. The History of Isaac and Jacob, Genesis 25:19-35:29
56. In leaving Haran how did Jacob do the right thing in the wrong way?
JACOB FLEES FROM LABAN
Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken away everything that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this wealth and honor.”
Jacob noticed [a change in] the attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before.
Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.”
So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field,
and he said to them, “I see [a change in] your father’s attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me.
You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
Yet your father has cheated me [as often as possible] and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me.
If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled [young]; and if he said, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked [young].
Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me.
And it happened at the time when the flock conceived that I looked up and saw in a dream that the rams which mated [with the female goats] were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
And the Angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’
He said, ‘Look up and see, all the rams which are mating [with the flock] are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'”
Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price.
Surely all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has told you to do, do it.”
Then Jacob stood [and took action] and put his children and his wives on camels;
and he drove away all his livestock and [took along] all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel [went inside the house and] stole her father’s household gods.
And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean (Syrian) by not telling him that he intended to leave and he slipped away secretly.
So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].
JACOB LEAVES LABAN
Jacob was a remarkable mixture. He had an eminently religious nature, and had intimate dealings with God. Note Gen_31:3; Gen_31:5; Gen_31:7; Gen_31:18. But he grossly misrepresented God’s dealings with him when he gave his wives the reasons on which he proposed flight. Note Gen_31:9; Gen_31:13. So the flesh and spirit struggle for mastery within us all, and only as the grace of God enters our hearts can we come into the absolute supremacy of the spiritual and divine, Gal_5:17. The secret departure was very undignified and unworthy of the heir of the promises. The command to return was of God, and what He commands He becomes responsible for. Besides, had not the Almighty promised to keep him in all places? See Gen_28:15. When we are on God’s plan, we may reckon on Him absolutely.
Comments by
WILLIAM MACDONALD
Believers Bible Commentary
On
Genesis 31:1-21
II. THE PATRIARCHS OF ISRAEL (Chaps. 12-50)
C. Jacob (27:1–36:43)
5. Jacob’s Return to Canaan (Chap. 31)
31:1-18 After Jacob discovered that Laban and his sons were growing jealous and resentful, the LORD told him that the time had come to return to Canaan. First he called Rachel and Leah and discussed the matter, rehearsing how Laban had cheated him and changed his wages ten times, how God had overruled so that the flocks always bred in his favor, how God had reminded him of the vow he had made twenty years earlier (Gen_28:20-22), and how the Lord had told him to return to Canaan. His wives agreed that their father had not dealt honestly and that they should leave.
Griffith Thomas points out several interesting principles for discerning God’s guidance here. First, Jacob had a desire (Gen_30:25). Secondly, circumstances necessitated a change of some sort. Thirdly, God’s word came strongly to him. And finally, there was confirming support from his wives, despite their natural ties to Laban. . . . Note that the Angel of God (v. 11) is the God of Bethel (v. 13).
31:19-21 Before the secret departure, Rachel stole her father’s household idols and hid them in her camel’s saddle. Possession of these household gods implied leadership of the family, and, in the case of a married daughter, assured her husband the right of the father’s property. Since Laban had sons of his own when Jacob fled to Canaan, they alone had the right to their father’s teraphim. Rachel’s theft was therefore a serious matter, aimed at preserving for her husband the chief title to Laban’s estate.
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