The Dispute Between Laban And Jacob. On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.” Gen 31:22-24
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
57. How was Jacob protected from Laban’s pursuit and charge?
JACOB FLEES FROM LABAN
On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban with his relatives camped on the same hill of Gilead.
Then Laban said to Jacob, “What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword?
Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre?
And why did you not allow me to kiss my grandchildren and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have done a foolish thing [in behaving like this].
It is in my power to harm you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak to Jacob, either good or bad.’
Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you were homesick for your father’s house and family; but why did you steal my [household] gods?”
Jacob answered Laban, “[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.
The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [search my possessions and] point out whatever you find that belongs to you and take it.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban searched through all her tent, but did not find them.
So Rachel said to her father, “Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell.” He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.
Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. And he said to Laban, “What is my fault? What is my sin that you pursued me like this?
Although you have searched through all my possessions, what have you found of your household goods? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide [who has done right] between the two of us.
These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not lost their young, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.
I did not bring you the torn carcasses [of the animals attacked by predators]; I [personally] took the loss. You required of me [to make good] everything that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or night.
This was my situation: by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and I could not sleep.
These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for [my share of] your flocks, and you have changed my wages ten times.
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and [the Feared One] of Isaac, had not been with me, most certainly you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [exhausting] labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment and rebuked you last night.”
THE DISPUTE BETWEEN LABAN AND JACOB
These chapters afford a remarkable insight into God’s forbearance. He knew what was in Jacob’s heart, and could see all its weakness and deceit. There was not a thought in his heart or a word on his tongue, but He knew them altogether. Yet God cast the mantle of forgiveness and defense around this most unworthy soul, bidding Laban not to speak to him either good or bad. Indeed, in a later book, we are told, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel.” Not that the holy God was unaware of the evil traits in His child, but that He refused to dwell on them, or to allow himself to be turned away from His purposes of grace. Rachel secretly carried with her the teraphim, which wrought evil throughout the home in after-years, as we shall see. The “fear of Isaac” was on Jacob’s lips, but too little of it in his character and surroundings!
Comments by
WILLIAM MACDONALD
Believers Bible Commentary
On
Genesis 31:22-42
II. THE PATRIARCHS OF ISRAEL (Chaps. 12-50)
C. Jacob (27:1–36:43)
5. Jacob’s Return to Canaan (Chap. 31)
31:22-30 When Laban learned of their departure, he and his men pursued them for seven days’ journey, but the Lord warned him in a dream not to trouble Jacob and his caravan. When he finally overtook them, he only complained that he had been denied the privilege of giving them a royal send-off and that his idols had been stolen.
31:31-35 To the first complaint Jacob answered that he left secretly for fear that Laban take his daughters (Rachel and Leah) from him by force. To the second complaint, he denied having stolen the gods and rashly decreed death for the culprit. Laban made a thorough search of the caravan, but in vain. Rachel was sitting on them and excused herself for not getting off the camel’s saddle to honor her father because it was her menstrual period—or so she said.
31:36-42 Now it was Jacob’s turn to be angry. He denounced Laban for accusing him of theft and for treating him so unfairly for twenty years, in spite of Jacob’s faithful and generous service. This passage reveals that Jacob was a hard worker and that the blessing of the Lord was upon him in all that he did. Are we faithful to our employers? Does the blessing of God rest upon our work?
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