Genesis 31: 1-55 "Jacob Flees From Laban". [Part 2 of 3]

Jacob Flees from Laban - Fulfilling the Call of God

[Part Two of three]

Genesis 31: 1-55

All right let’s pick up the story again. This story has a lot of twists and turns and covers all 55 verses of chapter 31. We’re picking up at verse 22 today.

“On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban the Aramean [Syrian] in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

(Genesis 31: 22-24)

Why 3 days before Laban was told that Jacob had fled, well remember in the last chapter we were told Laban moved his family 3 days away. So, it would take three days for the news to arrive. He has discovered that Jacob has gone and his married daughters had gone with him. All of Jacob’s flocks and herds were also gone, they had left lock, stock and barrel, so to speak. Laban then sets off and pursues them for seven days, remember they had a three day start so not surprisingly it took him seven days to catch them up in the mountains of Gilead.  God has been protecting Jacob and he does it in this case by speaking directly to Laban in a dream and this is what he says.

Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. 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?

(Genesis 31: 25-27)

“You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughter’s goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. 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.’ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?”

(Genesis 31: 28-30)

“Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 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.

(Genesis 31: 31-32)

Alright, Laban was upset, and you might say justly so. He didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his daughters and so he rebukes and reprimands, Jacob, but he ends up by saying, why did you take my household idols. I understand, he says, that you might want to leave and go back to your father’s house and your land, so can understand that, but why did you take my idols with you. Now Jacob didn’t have a clue about that, he didn’t know that the items were taken. When Jacob answered truthfully and said he didn’t tell him he was going to leave because he was afraid because he thought Laban might take back his daughters by force. Furthermore, when he says If you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live, Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. You see what he just did? He has just pronounced a death sentence  on Rachel. I haven’t got them he says and if you find the one who has them you can kill them.

Is this interesting, I bet can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen. If it were on TV at this point, we’d have a commercial break. Hope and you’re sitting on the edge of your seat, what’s gonna happen next? 

“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. 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.

(Genesis 31: 33-34)

Laban searches Jacobs tent first then Leah’s tent and then the tent of her two servants, but he does not find them. Then he went into Rachel’s tent, now it was Rachel who had taken the household idols, and she has put them in the camel saddle and she is sitting on them.  When he entered her tent, she’s sitting on the saddle and in the saddle bags are the items. Get the picture, now a daughter would have normally risen from wherever she was sitting and approach her father and bow down as a sign of honour to the father. 

“ 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”.

(Genesis 31: 35)

But look at verse 34, Laban searched all through the tent and did not find them because she’s sitting on them. Rachael makes excuses to her father and says forgive me for not rising because I am having my period. If Laban was anything like men are when woman talk about such things he probably though, I don’t want to even go there and think about this. She tricks him in plain sight, and  he searched the whole tent and he didn't find him. By the way, according to the Book of Leviticus, for her to sit on these idols particularly would have contaminated these idols. So, she didn’t have a lot of respect for these idols by sitting on them like this which helps us have a more forgiving attitude about her relationship with them. At any rate, he didn’t find them. This is the point at which we see Jacob’s response to all this.

“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 relates and mine and let them judge between the two of us.

(Genesis 31: 36-37)

Earlier in the passage, labour lit into Jacob for leaving them. then he accuses him of stealing his idols, which of course Jacob didn't do. So now it's Jacob's turn to say something back. Jacob is now going to tell a few home truths to Laban and tell him about all those things that he has done to him over the years As I count them six complaints are contained within his statement. It's a long passage, so bear with me. 

 “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 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. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

(Genesis 31: 38-40)

 “ 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. 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.”

(Genesis 31: 41-42)

Point 1 He is saying in essence, look, he was the shepherd of the flock, and he was careful in taking care of your lambs and his goats and that there were no miscarriages under his care. 

The second observation he makes. I have never used any of your flock for his own food. 

His third observation, I've been a good employee for you even when an animal was torn by beast, I carried the loss . In order to appreciate this, you need to understand that under the law of the Near East at the time a shepherd, was not held responsible for losses of his master’s flock due to the attack of wild. So, what he’s saying is legally I’m not responsible for the sheep that got eaten or destroyed by wild animals, but I still took the loss, not you. as. 

His fourth observation is in verse 40. Is he’s saying, look, I faithfully served you in all weathers, 110 degree heat and I served you when it was below 0, I served you through all of that? 

Number five. I have stayed loyal to your House 20 years, even though you’ve changed my wages 10 times. Wait a minute, he served seven for Rachel and seven for Leah, where the 20 come from. Remember the deal in chapter 30? He wanted to leave, and Laban said no stay, and that’s when they made the deal about the spotted and speckled animals. Well, apparently at that point where he has worked six more years, so it was 20 years total.  What he’s saying in this passage is that for 20 years he has faithfully served him and during that time he was always faithful even though Laban kept changing the terms of the deal. We are finding out  about thing that have gone on that have not been mentioned before. At one point, he said, you can have the speckles and when they started multiplying, you changed it and  you can have the spotted. It is at this point we really find out what a dodgy character Laban is.

The he makes a final observation in verse 42, that if it hadn’t have been for God watching over him he would have been ruined many times over. Had been with me through it all he says. As a matter of fact, if it had been left up to you, you would have cheated me out of everything. In other words, he references God, just like his father Isaac had done before him.

He finishes by saying God had seen my affliction and the work of my hands.  So, he is saying, except for the blessing of God, the God of Abraham and the one Isaac, you would have sent me home empty handed.  But God saw to it that he would be with me, which is exactly what. God told Jacob in the first place.

Remember Jacob and his family still haven’t gotten him back home yet. What did the Lord say he wanted Jacob to do? Go home. Right. Well, all he got is half-way home and now he is in the middle of the journey, and this great conflict and he still isn’t back home right, but at least now he has said his peace and maybe even cleared the air, let’s see if they can finally make peace together and we will see what they do next in the next episode.