Jacob Tries To Sneak Off

Good morning from the Panhandle. I guess you noticed that I'm a little late on posting my midweek blog. I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday on the road and Friday working at the church so here we are and it's Saturday.

We are on Chapter 31 of Genesis. This is a long chapter (55 verses). This chapter also reveals something of the character of Jacob. This chapter is filled with fear, hatred and suspicion, misunderstanding, and bargaining. Everything in this chapter points to the fact that Jacob is coming to a crisis in his life. Twenty years of frustration bring Jacob to the point of desperation and decision. Laban has outwitted Jacob at just about every turn. Jacob met more than his equal in Uncle Laban. Tired of the endless fighting, he longs to go home.

Jacob it seems had more trouble and annoyance than any of the patriarchs. He left his father's house in a fright, went to his uncle's in distress, very hard usage he met with there, and now is going back surrounded with fears.(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

CHAPTER 31

AT A GLANCE

I. His resolution to return v. 1-16.

II. His clandestine departure, v. 17-21.

III. Laban's pursuit of him in displeasure v. 22-25.

IV. The hot words that passed between them v. 26-42.

V. Their amicable agreement at last v. 43, etc..

(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Genesis 31:1-16

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father." 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been.

3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

4 So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5 He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, `The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, `The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9 So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me.

10 "In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, `Jacob.' I answered, `Here I am.' 12 And he said, `Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'"

14 Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? 15 Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us.

1. The Flight (vs. 1-15)

Through some angry remarks of Laban's sons with reference to his growing wealth, and the evident change in the feelings of Laban himself towards him (vv. 1, 2), Jacob was inwardly prepared for the end his present situation with Laban. It is also at this same time that he received instructions from Jehovah, to return to his home, together with a promise of divine protection. In preparation of this, he sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him in the field, and explained to them (vv. 4-13), how their father's feelings had changed towards him. He explained how Laban had deceived him in spite of the service he had forced out of him, and had altered his wages ten times. Jacob told Rachel and Leah that the God of his father had stood by him, and had transferred to him their father's cattle, and now at length had directed him to return to his home.

So, when he received direct marching orders from the God of Bethel, Jacob knew it was time to return home. Twenty years had passed, during which time his mother had died. Perhaps Laban would therefore become even more disagreeable. It was time to go home. Jacob explained his decision to his wives, telling them how the angel of God had spoken to him in a dream and encouraged him in his purpose. The "angel" had identified himself with the one who had appeared to Jacob at Bethel. He was actually Jehovah himself.

Leah and Rachel strongly endorsed Jacob's decision. They knew their father, and they had lost their love and respect for him. Rachel and Leah, who well knew the disposition of their father, and now spoke of his true character. He has treated them as strangers-as slaves whom he had a right to dispose of as he pleased; in consequence, he had “sold us-disposed of us” on the mere principle of gaining by the sale.

They remembered that he had collected fourteen years of work from Jacob without giving them the part that a bride could rightfully expect. He had applied to his own use the profits of the sale, and has allowed them neither a portion or inheritance. “Are we not counted of him strangers?” they said, “For he has sold us, and has quite deprived of our money” (v. 15).

(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)

Genesis 31:15-20

16 Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you."

17 Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18 and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household gods.

2. Jacob and his crew sneaks away (vs. 16-19)

Jacob's wives were entirely in agreement with his view of their father's selfishness in dealing with him, and approve of his intended departure. Jacob makes all the needed preparations for a hasty and secret flight. He took advantage of a time when Laban was at a some distance away, probably of three or more days' journey, shearing his sheep.

"Rachel stole the household gods." It is not the business of Scripture to acquaint us with the kinds and characteristics of false worship. So, we know little of the household gods, except that they were employed by those who professed to worship the true God. Rachel had a lingering attachment to these objects of her family's superstitious reverence, and secretly carried them away as relics of a home she was to visit no more, and as sources of safety to herself against the perils of her flight.

Genesis 31:20-24

20 Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21 So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.

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."

3. Laban gives chase (vs. 20-24)

Laban heard of Jacob's flight, pursued, and overtook him. The river. The Frat, near which, we may conclude, Jacob was tending his flocks. Haran was about seventy miles from the river, and therefore, Laban's flocks were on the other side of Haran.

"Toward mount Gilead;" about three hundred miles from the Frat. "On the third day." This shows that Laban's flocks kept by his sons were still three days' journey apart from Jacob's. His brethren-his kindred and dependents. "Seven days' journey." On the third day after the arrival of the messenger, Laban might return to the spot where Jacob had taken his flight. In this case, Jacob would have at least five days head start; which, added to the seven days of pursuit, would have given him twelve days to travel three hundred miles. To those accustomed to the pastoral life this was a possible achievement.

God appears to Laban on behalf of Jacob, and warns him not to harm him. "Not to speak from good to bad" is merely to abstain from language expressing and prefacing violence.

Genesis 31:25-42

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 tambourines and harps? 28 You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. 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 house. But why did you steal my gods?"

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, he 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 maidservants, 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. "What sin have I committed 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.

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."

4. Laban's expostulation and Jacob's reply (vs. 25-42)

"What have you done?” Laban said that he would have let Jacob go honorably and affectionately, and therefore, that his flight was needless and unkind; and finally charges him with stealing his gods. Jacob let him to understand that he did not expect fair treatment at Laban's hands, and told him leave to search for his gods, not knowing that Rachel had taken them.

After the search for the gods has proved vain, Jacob warmly undid for Laban. "The camel's saddle." This was a pack-saddle, in the recesses of which articles might be deposited, and on which was a seat or couch for the rider. Rachel pleads the custom of women as an excuse for keeping her seat; which is admitted by Laban, not perhaps from the fear of ceremonial defilement (Lev 15:19-27), as this law was not yet in force, but from respect to his daughter and the conviction that in such circumstances she would not sit upon the household gods.

"My brethren and thy brethren"-their common kindred. Jacob recapitulates his services in feeling terms. "By day the drought;" caused by the heat, which is extreme during the day, while the cold is not less severe in Palestine during the night. "The fear of Isaac"-the God whom Isaac fears. Judged-requited by restraining thee from wrong-doing.

Genesis 31:43-47

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.

5. Laban proposes a covenant (vs. 43-47)

Laban, now pacified, if not conscience-stricken, proposes a covenant between them. Jacob erects a memorial pillar, around which the clan gather a marker of stones, which serves by its name for a witness of their compact. Here is the first decided specimen of Aramaic, as contradistinguished from Hebrew. Its incidental appearance indicates a fully formed dialect known to Jacob, and distinct from his own. Gilead or Galeed remains to this day in Jebel Jel'ad, though the original spot was further north.

Genesis 31:48-55

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.

6. The covenant is then completed (vs. 48-55)

And Mizpah. This refers to some prominent cliff from which, as a watch-tower, an extensive view might be obtained. It was in the northern half of Gilead (Deut 3:12-13), and is noticed in Judg 11:29. It is not to be confounded with other places called by the same name. The reference of this name to the present occurrence is explained in these two verses. The names Gilead and Mizpah may have arisen from this transaction, or received a new turn in consequence of its occurrence. The terms of the covenant are now formally stated. I have cast. The erection of the pillar was a joint act of the two parties; in which Laban proposes, Jacob performs, and all take part. "The God of Abraham, Nahor, and Terah." This is an interesting acknowledgment that their common ancestor Terah and his descendants down to Laban still acknowledged the true God even in their idolatry. Jacob swears by the fear of isaac, perhaps to rid himself of any error that had crept into Laban's notions of God and his worship. The common sacrifice and the common meal ratify the covenant of reconciliation.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

This was originally an in home Bible Study so I had questions for these. I thought I would leave them on this time to see if they help.

Study Questions

1. Why did Jacob leave without telling Laban?
2. What is the significance of Bethel?
3. What was Laban’s reaction to hearing Jacob had left?
4. What pretence does Laban use?
5. What did Rachel steal?
6. What is the out come of the meeting between Jacob and Laban?