I recognize that there are compelling current issues to discuss, and I will do so. But I'm committed to this project, which is not in fact entirely irrelevant. Again, Genesis 31 is very long. Even taking it in two pieces it makes for a long blog post. And it's very boring. The point of it is elusive, it's repetitive, and it's factual basis is murky. But let's get it over with.
22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25 Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. 27 Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? 28 You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. 29 I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?”
This is a Trumpean trick. Laban goes goes on a critical rant against Jacob, then says "But God told me not to say anything bad to you, so I won't" even though he just did. What's the deal with the "household gods?" you may well ask. In many pagan cultures small idols, embodying minor deities or spirits, were kept to protect the household. We aren't sure about the specifics of this practice in Laban's Aramaic culture. The Hebrew word is "teraphim," of uncertain etymology. According
to Wikipedia, "According to
Genesis 31,
Rachel takes the teraphim belonging to her father
Laban when her husband
Jacob
escapes. She hides them in a saddle bag and sits on them when Laban
comes looking for them, and claims that she cannot get up because she is
menstruating. From this it can be deduced that they were small, perhaps
30–35 cm."
31 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32 But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live.
In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is
anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not
know that Rachel had stolen the gods.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.
35 Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods.
36 Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.
Okay, Jacob doesn't know that Rachel stole the Gods. But presumably he will find out in due course. Does he ever correct the theft and the lie and try to make amends? Uhh, no.
38 “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39 I
did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself.
And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40 This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”
This time, Jacob knows he is full of BS. He systematically took the best sheep and goats for himself, and gave Laban the weaklings. Also, this is the first time we've heard him complain about his circumstances. Last we heard, he was fat and happy.
43 Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? 44 Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. 49 It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
51 Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. 53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.”
So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. 54 He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.
55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
As before, I expect the main point of all this is to establish Jacob's claim to the land and the animals. At least they part amicably.
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