THEN JACOB CONTINUED on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 2There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
4Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”
“We’re from Haran,” they replied.
5He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”
“Yes, we know him,” they answered.
6Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?”
“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
7“Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
8“We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”
9While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
13As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 14Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”
After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, 15Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
16Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. 18Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” 20So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her.”
22So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 24And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
25When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”
26Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”
28And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. 30Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
31When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”
33She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.
34Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.
35She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
30:1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
2Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”
3Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.”
4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.” Because of this she named him Dan.
7Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali.
9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad.
12Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
14During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”
“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
17God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
21Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”
25After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”
27But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” 28He added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
29Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?”
31“What shall I give you?” he asked.
“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.”
34“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. 41Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
31:1Jacob 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.” 2And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.
3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5He 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. 6You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If 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. 9So 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. 11The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 12And 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. 13I 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.’ ”
14Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? 15Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. 16Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
17Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18and 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.
19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. 20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.
22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24Then 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.”
25Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. 27Why 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? 28You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing. 29I 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.’ 30Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?”
31Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32But 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.
33So 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. 34Now 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.
35Rachel 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.
36Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? 37Now 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. 39I 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. 40This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41It 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. 42If 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.”
43Laban 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? 44Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”
45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
48Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed. 49It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 50If 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.”
51Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 52This 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. 53May 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. 54He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.
55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
Original Meaning
HAVING LEFT BETHEL, Jacob continues on his journey to Paddan Aram and arrives at his uncle Laban’s place. For the next twenty years, he lives there, works for Laban, and marries his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. But the stress of conflict with Laban finally gets the best of him, and he decides to return, with his wives and children, to the land promised to him and his father and grandfather.
Family Reunion (29:1–14)
THE EARLY VERSES describe a typical pastoral scene of shepherds and sheep gathered near a well. The conversation is likewise typical as is the shepherding contract referred to (29:3, 8). Contracts are necessary where water is scarce, and distrust is often warranted. The stone over the well prevents people or animals from stumbling into it (wells did not have protective walls), guards against contamination, and appears also to have served as a means of regulating its use.
Jacob’s warm welcome of Rachel and her resulting excitement is understandable given that there may have been no news of Rebekah since she had left with Abraham’s servant nearly a century earlier. Laban’s enthusiasm need not be attributed to his anticipation of profit because the prospect of family news from Jacob is cause enough for the joy and celebration. Nevertheless, we have a hint of what is to come when Laban comments that Jacob is his own flesh and blood (29:14). This is, of course, an innocent statement on Laban’s part, but the reader has already gotten a taste of Jacob’s nature, and in Laban we will encounter one “cut from the same cloth.”
Wedding-Night Surprise (29:15–30)
JACOB IS IMPRESSED by Rachel’s “lovely . . . form” and “beautiful” appearance. We must recognize, however, that in neither of those descriptions does she necessarily conform to the criteria that are used today. In some cultures a woman is considered attractive if she is strong-boned and stocky. In contrast to Rachel, the feature of Leah that draws comment is her eyes. The NIV translates the descriptive adjective “weak” but notes the alternative “delicate” in a footnote. In other contexts the adjective is generally positive, indicating a certain vulnerability or tenderness. Eyes were considered a component of beauty in the ancient world, so in the end the assessment offered in the text suggests that while Leah is not without striking features, she pales in comparison to Rachel’s overall beauty.
The agreement reached between Laban and Jacob is intended to provide for the bride price that was an essential part of marriage contracts. This was a payment made from the groom or his family to the family of the bride. Its function was to serve as a trust fund of sorts to provide for the support of the wife should the husband divorce her or die. In texts from Nuzi the typical bride price was thirty to forty shekels. Since a shepherd’s annual wage was ten shekels a year, Jacob is in effect paying a premium by working seven years, but he is in no position to negotiate. Theoretically, Laban will garner Jacob’s would-be wages and secure them into a bride-price account of some sort.
Marriage customs in the ancient Near East combined legal and festive elements in different ways from current Western practice. The legal aspect did not feature a formal ceremony by a licensed cleric or public official. Instead, it was reflected in a private marriage contract drawn up by the families involved. Such contracts did not depend on the agreement of the bride and groom and sometimes were made while they were still children. When the agreed-upon time arrived, a marriage feast was held to honor the couple. It included a ritual, celebratory meal and concluded with the couple retiring to consummate the marriage. Even after the feast the bride continued to live in the house of her father for several months and receive conjugal visits. Often the conception of a child signaled the time for the couple to begin their own household.
The traditional feast is held in 29:22–24. A bride was veiled during these public festivities, and it was not uncommon for the celebratory mood to lead to drunkenness. Though we have no indication that Jacob is drunk, that is one way to account for his inability to recognize the substitution of Leah for Rachel. In verse 25, the text offers only a summary statement of what must have been a very distressed response from Jacob in the morning. It is not difficult to imagine him sitting astride a flattened Laban with teeth bared and knife in hand, though perhaps he is more reserved and respectful than today’s movie version might make him. Whatever scenarios we may conjure up, the point is that Jacob is not pleased to be on the victim side of a deceptive masquerade. We will pursue this further under Bridging Contexts.
The details are worked out, and Jacob ends up obliging himself to seven more years of work, though he is allowed to marry Rachel in short order. Now Jacob’s bevy of spouses is set with wives Leah and Rachel and eventual concubines Zilpah and Bilhah. The scene is also set for the favoritism that will be a significant factor in the next generation: Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah (29:30).
Children (29:31–30:24)
AS GOD BEGINS to provide a family for Jacob, we see a new twist on an old theme of the unloved and the firstborn. With Abraham, Hagar was likely unloved, and though Ishmael was loved by Abraham, he was rejected and sent away. Isaac’s firstborn, Esau, though preferred by his father, was, like Ishmael, not the chosen son and was rejected by God. Now it is the unloved wife, Leah, who produces the firstborn child. He will eventually be rejected as a result of his behavior. It is clear from the names given to her sons that Leah is haunted by her inability to elicit favor and affection from Jacob, though providing four sons would be expected to gain her some standing in his eyes. Tension festers into jealousy as each woman has something the other wants (Leah has sons, Rachel has love). Thus a new generation is born into conflict as the obstacles mount.
The old, familiar obstacle of barrenness continues to be endemic in the line of Terah. We have already noted that Abraham responded to Sarah’s barrenness with patient faith (as well as an attempt at an alternative route) while Isaac responded to Rebekah’s barrenness with prayer. Given the context of tension, conflict, and jealousy, it is perhaps no surprise that Rachel’s condition occasions angry frustration (30:2). Consequently, Rachel, as Sarah had before her, encourages Jacob to resort to her handmaid to provide a child to their marriage through a surrogate. Rachel’s naming of the son Dan (“vindication”) indicates that she feels vindicated by this birth. She feels a need for vindication because her infertility would bring at least the tacit accusation that she is suffering punishment for (undoubtedly) secret sins.
The family continues to grow. Leah goes through her own period of infertility, likely curbing her scorn of Rachel, and the handmaids continue to have their role in producing children. The names by and large reflect the tension in the family. Yet Rachel is still without children. When Leah’s son Reuben finds some mandrakes, Rachel thinks they may help her. The mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) is a stemless, perennial root in the potato family that grows in stony ground. It has narcotic and purgative properties, which explain its medicinal use. Its shape and pungent fragrance may be the origin of its use in fertility rites and as an aphrodisiac (see Song 7:12–13). It has dark green, wrinkled leaves, from which rise a violet, bell-shaped flower. Its fruit is a yellowish berry approximately the size of a small tomato, which can be consumed.
The mandrake is native to the Mediterranean region but not common in Mesopotamia.1 In fact, M. Zohary claims that they have never grown in Mesopotamia and concludes that the Hebrew dudaʾim must be a different plant believed to have similar qualities.2 Nevertheless, the lexicons continue to offer the translation “mandrakes,” following the lead of the LXX. In the text it is clearly considered by Leah an aphrodisiac. The exchange between the women concerning the mandrakes again illustrates the bitter conflict and rivalry between Leah and Rachel. Ironically, the night with Jacob that Rachel trades for the mandrakes brings renewed fertility to Leah rather than a child to Rachel.
In 30:22 Rachel’s barrenness is resolved as God opens her womb. Despite the fact that the surrogate provision of Dan has theoretically provided vindication for her, finally getting pregnant herself completes the process of erasing her public disgrace (30:23). The end to this portion of the family history does not come when all the children have been born, but when Rachel is no longer barren. This suggests that Rachel’s barrenness is at issue rather than the general concept of extending the family to the next generation. Since Jacob has no shortage of children, why is Rachel’s barrenness an issue? What is it an obstacle to? We must conclude that it is not an obstacle to the covenant from a family standpoint but only to the audience, who is well aware of the importance of Joseph.
IT IS NOT COINCIDENTAL that Jacob requests permission to take his leave of Laban only after Joseph is born (v. 25). If a woman has not borne children, she can easily be discarded or demoted. The only protection she had came from her father’s family, who then took responsibility for her. Prior to Joseph’s birth, a request to leave would have been inappropriate from Jacob’s standpoint and risky from Rachel’s, for it would rob Rachel of her protection.
Though Laban is relieved of his concern for Rachel’s well-being, economic issues lead him to negotiate for Jacob to stay. There are few indications of Laban’s religious practices, but here we see him engaged in divination. An Israelite reader may be shocked at the thought that Yahweh would communicate by means of divination. But the text stops short of suggesting that. Rather, Laban claims that his divination has led him to conclude that Yahweh has blessed him because of Jacob. The question he brought to the divination process (whatever it was) may have concerned which god was bringing him a blessing. Even if Yahweh did in fact respond to Laban’s divination initiative, this is no serious problem. God occasionally chooses to use methods that are generally prohibited, as the Bethlehem star attests.
Laban’s offer results in an agreement to give Jacob part ownership of the herd and the potential to increase his interest as time goes on. Jacob gets all the goats that are not totally black and all the sheep that are not totally white.3 Ancient shepherd contracts that worked on the principle of payment from the flock usually provided for a share of between 10 and 20 percent as well as a percentage of the wool and milk by-products. Dark and spotted animals usually represented a smaller proportion than that. The passage thereby suggests that Laban has the better end of the deal.
Is Laban doing anything different from what Jacob has anticipated in his proposal? A simple reading of the NIV translation suggests that in 30:32 Jacob proposes to remove the designated sheep from Laban’s flock for his wages. If so, then Laban’s actions in 30:35 appear to be a violation of this agreement. Alternatively, since Jacob has insisted in 30:31 that Laban give him nothing, we must conclude that Jacob’s intention in the proposed deal is to separate out the type of animals he has spoken about and perhaps mark them in some way as Laban’s. Then any spotted or speckled that are born from that point on will be his wages. If this is correct, Laban’s unanticipated action in verse 35 is the total removal of these spotted animals from the breeding pool—a move that, under normal circumstances, will greatly reduce the number of spotted and speckled goats and dark-colored lambs being born.
Not to be deterred, Jacob applies the science of his day to compensate for Laban’s shrewd strategy. Any shepherd knows that strong parents breed strong lambs and kids. Jacob therefore engages in common sense selective breeding as a means to produce strong, healthy offspring (30:41). This strategy is combined with folk traditions that conditions during breeding, such as what is in the animals’ visual field, may have an impact on the offspring. This principle has no genetic logic or verification. Whatever level of success Jacob enjoys while using this procedure is attributable only to God, regardless of the conclusions Jacob may have drawn. God does not reveal to him new, successful strategies; he merely brings him success despite his strategies.
Flight (31:1–21)
JACOB’S DECISION TO return to Canaan is a combination of his awareness of the hostility of Laban’s sons toward him and direction from God. As Jacob discusses his plans with Leah and Rachel, he acknowledges that his success is attributable to God, despite Laban’s dishonesty; he also recounts to them the dream that directed him to return.
The willingness of Leah and Rachel to leave is premised on an accusation against their father concerning his handling of their inheritance. As mentioned above, the bride price paid by the husband’s family was supposed to be held in trust in the event it was needed to provide for the wife if she were abandoned or widowed. Jacob, of course, gave no bride price but his labor, so the equivalent of his wages should have been set aside for the women. Apparently that was never done. Jacob’s labor has benefited Laban, not the women; thus, it is as if he has “sold” them to Jacob. If their father’s house holds no economic security for them, they have no reason to stay.
They choose sheep-shearing time to make their escape because they know that Laban will be away and preoccupied. The text also includes Rachel’s theft of the household gods (terapim). These were images of either the ancestors or the patron gods of the ancestors (suggestions go both ways). They were believed to bring prosperity and protection. Given how Rachel is able to conceal them, these must be very small. That they can sometimes be large is demonstrated by 1 Samuel 19:13, where one is used to make it look as if David is in his bed. These gods have no temples but are likely provided with a shrine area in the home. Deception and theft precipitated Jacob’s departure from Canaan; now both accompany his return.
Confrontation and Parting Agreement (31:22–55)
THE SITE OF Mizpah (where Laban catches up to Jacob) is not known, but from Haran to the northern end of the hill country of Gilead is approximately three hundred miles. To reach that spot in ten days (three-day head start plus seven days for Laban’s travel, 31:22–23), Jacob would have traveled thirty miles per day, an incredible rate. Caravans usually managed twenty-three at most. Sheep and goats cannot achieve or maintain that pace (see 33:13), and women and children likewise slow down the speed of travel. Given the circumstances, Jacob cannot expect to make more than about ten miles per day.
The above data lead even conservative commentators to suspect that we are reading something wrong.4 Whenever the text refers to a journey (Heb. derek) of a particular number of days, the number is one, three, or seven,5 suggesting the possibility that the expression is idiomatic rather than precise.6 Yet that does not solve all the problems, because if Jacob travels at a rate of only ten miles per day, one would expect Laban to catch him long before he arrives at “the hill country of Gilead.” Laban is able to travel perhaps twenty miles per day, in which case he could catch Jacob after only three days, about sixty miles from Haran, just west of Carchemish.
Certainly the results will be different if one assumes that Jacob is traveling faster or Laban slower, but the numbers we have used (ten and twenty respectively) are the most defensible. If Jacob is traveling twelve or thirteen miles per day and Laban seventeen, Laban would catch Jacob after about seven days (as the text seems to suggest). But they would only be about 110 miles from Haran, putting them somewhere near Ebla, only one third of the way to the hill country of Gilead. The only conceivable solution that explains Laban’s not catching up to Jacob before the area of Gilead is to assume that it takes Laban a week or ten days to prepare for the trip before he can set out and that he cannot travel very fast (after all, he is over 150 years old now).
When Laban and Jacob finally meet face to face, there is a major confrontation between them, with each airing the complaints built up through twenty years of underhanded behavior. Laban’s complaints focus first on Jacob’s furtive flight, turn to the stolen gods, and climax in the claim that all of Jacob’s prosperity has been at his expense. Jacob’s grievances begin with Laban’s general untrustworthiness. He then reminds Laban of the hardships he has suffered in his employ while maintaining an unblemished record. The only thing both agree on is that Jacob’s God has protected him and prospered him. Rachel’s deception is added to her theft as she lies about her condition as an excuse to prevent Laban from finding the stolen images.
The covenant Laban and Jacob make is designed to protect each one against hostility or ill-treatment at the hands of the other. The text refers to both a standing stone and a pile of stones serving as witness to the agreement. The use of a heap of stones as a boundary marker, a memorial to an event, or a witness to a covenant appears several places in the biblical text (see Gen. 28:18; 35:20; Josh. 24:27). In Canaanite religion, the maṣṣeba (NIV “sacred stones”) was erected and considered as a guardian or dwelling place of a god (see Deut. 16:21–22; 1 Kings 14:23). The fact that both Jacob and Laban erect a “pillar” (also maṣṣeba) here and give each a name suggests an invoking ritual in which the god(s) of each party are called to witness the treaty-making ceremony and to enforce its stipulations.7
The stipulations placed on Jacob concern the proper treatment of Laban’s daughters and a prohibition against taking other wives. Clauses to this effect are also found in legal documents from Nuzi (fifteenth century B.C.). These stipulations protect the rights and status of Laban’s daughters in Jacob’s household, since Laban will not be there to vouchsafe them. In addition to serving as a witness, 31:52 suggests that the stones serve as a boundary marker between Jacob and Laban. The covenant is sealed with a ritual meal, as is customary (cf. 26:30).
Finally, a word must be said about the “Mizpah benediction” in 31:49. It is not unusual today to hear this intoned by a minister as the benediction to the congregation at the end of a service or even to find it inscribed on wedding rings. In using it this way, we show our misunderstanding of the words. Here in Genesis they express suspicion. Laban does not trust Jacob, and Jacob does not trust Laban. They both regret that they will have no means to keep an eye on one another and prevent mischief-making, so they commend one another to the watchful eye of deity. A paraphrase is, “I don’t trust you out of my sight, but since I can no longer personally hold you accountable, may God do so.” It is hardly the sentiment that one would want on a wedding ring, and although a minister may feel that way about a congregation, it is not in good taste to express it so unequivocally.
REVERSAL. As the text begins to address the obstacle of Jacob’s character, it highlights Jacob’s twenty years in Haran as a period when he becomes the victim of the same types of situations that previously he used to his advantage. These include a masquerade, a food swap, and birthright pilfering.
Masquerade. Many questions immediately come to mind when we read the story of Leah’s being substituted for Rachel. How much do the girls know of this plot? To what extent are they willing accomplices? How do they feel about it? Why does Laban do it? The text offers little satisfaction to our questions. Certainly Laban’s “Oh, didn’t you know . . . ?” response in 29:26 is intended only to obfuscate his reprehensible exploitation of Jacob’s vulnerability.
Yet as readers it is difficult to feel pity for Jacob, who has not been the sort to be caught in naiveté. Although Laban’s defense is based on custom, one can hardly imagine Jacob’s working for seven years to earn the right to marry Rachel, yet her conversations with him never mention that Leah must be taken care of first. But if it were not custom, would Jacob not have had some legal recourse? Marriage contracts were usually precise in designating all the parties by name. That means that the marriage contract drawn up for Rachel specified that Jacob’s seven years’ labor will be for Rachel. Of course, Laban intends to honor that contract. Jacob may start on that seven years as soon as he wishes! Jacob could claim that no contract indicated that the seven years he has already worked was part of an arrangement for Leah.
We could spend a lot of time and energy trying to track down all of these questions and offer our speculations in response. But the text does not try to work out the legal logistics. In fact, the greatest impact of Laban’s reference to “custom” in 29:26 is to be found in the rebuke that it offers to Jacob. This is obscured in the NIV’s reference to marriage. A straightforward rendering of the Hebrew here says: “It is not done in our place to set the younger before the elder.” This draws the first episode to a conclusion and sets the stage for the guiding principle of the next several chapters. The text is only interested in demonstrating how Jacob is beginning to suffer the consequences of his own behavior as he is treated in the same way he has treated others (notably Esau). This reversal is crucial to an understanding of this section.
Food swap. In Genesis 25 Esau came in from the fields having had no success, saw food that he needed badly, and sold his birthright to Jacob in the bargain. In Genesis 30 Reuben goes out to the field and has success in finding something. Rachel wants the food he has found and trades an opportunity for conception to Leah in the bargain.8 In the former passage, Esau had become nothing but a pawn, and now Jacob finds himself in the same situation. Jacob has become the victim in two situations that mirror both of the occasions in which he swindled Esau. But God is not done with him yet.
Inheritance pilfering. In Canaan, Jacob had great expectations deriving from the inheritance he acquired from Esau and the blessing he tricked out of Isaac. But he had to flee for his life, leaving the status of those expectations in disarray and doubt. What sort of inheritance and blessing will he bring out of Paddan Aram? In the second part of Genesis 30, Jacob begins to put together an inheritance, and in Genesis 31 he receives a blessing—but again, reversal is evident. God is going to provide the inheritance this time, and Jacob’s efforts to do it his way will be ineffective and again put him on the receiving end of Laban’s cunning.
In his dealings with Esau concerning the birthright, Jacob ended up with his rightful share of the inheritance as well as Esau’s additional share. In his dealings with Laban, the original arrangements leave Jacob with less than his normal share, and Laban’s subsequent actions (30:35–36) and frequent alterations to the terms (31:7–8) reduce that share even further. Likewise, Leah and Rachel complain that their father has taken away their inheritance (31:14–16). God’s remarkable care of Jacob lead to his gaining of his rightful share and end up with much of Laban’s profit margin as well (31:9). In this inheritance, God is the One who has provided for Jacob’s abundance.
In his dealings with Esau concerning the blessing, Jacob ended up with the hope for prosperity, respect among the nations, and power over his brother (27:27–29). In his dealings with Laban, the blessings, emerging out of the covenant at Mizpah, are much less favorable (31:49–53). In an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and mistrust, the relationship and destiny of father-in-law and son-in-law are put in the hand of God (“May the LORD keep watch,” 31:49; “May God judge between us,” 31:53). This is precisely where the text thinks it ought to be.
It is not the text’s custom to conclude with a moralizing summary, but it does so in 31:20: “Jacob deceived Laban . . . by not telling him he was running away.” The point of this comment is to indicate that despite all of the experiences that Jacob has had, he has not yet learned his lesson—he is still a deceiver. The reference to Rachel’s theft of the household gods is yet another indication that all is far from well with Jacob. Theft has been as recurrent a theme as deception has been. It does not bode well for a successful return to Canaan if the Jacob who returns is unchanged from the one who left twenty years earlier.
In these passages the obstacles introduced in chapters 25–27 of conflict and character continue. Jacob suffers more losses in the conflict, but God gives him enough success for Jacob to recognize God’s hand in all that happens. In chapter 31 the conflict with Laban is resolved adequately, though with no real satisfaction. The larger conflict with Esau remains to be addressed, and Jacob’s character manifests no noticeable change. At the same time the covenant is advanced as Jacob acquires a family and prepares to return to the covenant land.
Conflict in being unfavored. Why is the text so interested in Leah’s status as the unloved wife? It is specifically mentioned by the narrator (29:31) and by Leah in conversation (30:15), and it is continually reiterated in the names she gives her children (29:32, 33, 34; 30:20). In this we find a new level of conflict—one that arises from being unfavored. Not only do we see Leah unfavored by Jacob; we also see Rachel unfavored by God (reflected in her barrenness), which also leads to another conflict (30:8). In the next generation this conflict over favoritism will become the centerpiece in the relationship between Joseph and his brothers.
Again an obstacle to the covenant appears in the conflict and jealousy that plague the major characters. Conflict has plagued the world from Cain’s jealousy of Abel down to each of our lives as we live minute by minute. God’s covenant people (either old or new covenant) are not exempt. The text is setting up to show God as the One who resolves conflict. This is a lesson we need desperately to learn, for solving conflicts at times may appear to be the most impossible task we can set before God.
Contemporary Significance
GETTING A DOSE of one’s own medicine. The story is told of the cruel and tyrannical Baron Rascas and his beautiful and kind wife, the Lady of Rascas. When the baron was summoned to the Crusades by his king, he was so concerned that his wife would turn to another (either because of his death or his long absence) that he commanded his wizard, Malagan, to make her ugly just after his departure and then for the wizard to join him in the Crusade so the spell could not be undone. It was done as the king commanded, with the result that the good lady had the face of a horse. Despite her condition, she managed the lands of the baron well during his absence, and the people grew to love her with no thought to her appearance.
After seven years, the baron returned without Malagan and was repulsed by his wife’s ugliness. Without Malagan there was no way to reverse the spell, and the wife was utterly rejected by the baron, who, if it were possible, had become even more insufferable since the wars. Word was sent far and wide offering a reward to any wizard or magician who could reverse the spell. Many tried; none succeeded. One day a poor beggar arrived at the gates and, after gaining admission to the baron’s presence, identified himself as Malagan. He recounted before the entire court how the baron abandoned him when he had been wounded and left him for dead. Years of slavery followed, and he lost most of his skills before he was finally able to regain his freedom. He had now returned to remedy the situation.
When the Lady of Rascas was called into the king’s presence, the wizard’s words proved not to transform the lady to her earlier beauty, but instead, transformed the baron to a similar horse-faced appearance. It was only in this condition that the baron finally learned to love and cherish his wife and become the kind and caring lord he should have been from the start. The moral of the story has two parts to it: (1) “Out of evil came good, out of ugliness, beauty”; (2) “he who turns to evil will, at the end, find it turned against him.”9
These two morals are appropriate to Jacob’s life here as he learns both lessons. The difficult experiences of his twenty-year association with Laban bring Jacob to the point where his character, like that of the wicked baron, is about to be transformed. It is only a particular type of hardship that can transform his character. Likewise, Jacob’s deceitful ways have been turned against him as Laban has treated him in the same way he (Jacob) was accustomed to treating others. Both morals acquaint us with God’s ways. We will discuss the first in the Joseph story; the second is the main thrust of the text’s theme of reversal.
“Be sure that your sin will find you out” is the way the Old Testament puts it (Num. 32:23). Paul phrases it, “A man reaps what he sows” (Gal. 6:7). This is not a guarantee that every person will receive in this life the just reward or punishment for his or her behavior. But it indicates that God’s nature assures that one’s behavior will have consequences as one’s destiny unfolds. There is no more powerful example of this in the Old Testament than that of Haman, who attempted to exterminate the Jewish people in the time of Esther. But does the same sort of thing happen in our lives today?
“Cats in the Cradle” is a song written by Sandra Chapin in 1974 and sung by Harry Chapin. It tells the story of a father who is just too busy to spend time with his son. As often as the son asks for his father to join him in one activity or another, he gets put off. Yet the son admires his father and is determined to grow up to be like him. One verse goes like this:
My son turned 10 just the other day,
Said thanks for the ball now c’mon let’s play
Will you teach me to throw, I said not today,
I’ve got a lot to do, he said that’s ok
And he walked away and he smiled and he said
You know I’m going to be like you, Dad,
You know I’m going to be like you.
As the song continues, the roles gradually reverse, and in the last verse of the song, the elderly father seeks time with the son, now grown to adulthood and married. When the son puts his father off because he is so busy in his job and home duties, the father sadly recognizes that his son has indeed grown up just like him.
One of the ways in which we suffer the consequences of our behavior is by passing our bad habits on to our children. Is it possible that this is sometimes responsible for children rejecting the faith and values of their parents? For instance, let’s say there is a spiritually minded and godly father who, nevertheless, has a cynical streak. Perhaps his upbringing has balanced his cynicism sufficiently so that it does not negate his faith. Additionally, he has learned to control his cynicism in public. But in the home his children are constantly exposed to his less controlled, cynical responses to the pastor, the worship services, and the programs and people of the church. Everyone else is surprised and baffled at how this godly pillar of the church could have children who go so wrong in their cynical dismissal of their faith and of everything the church stands for. Only inside the family can the key to the secret be found, and even then it may be too subtle to be recognized without significant powers of introspection. Perhaps only years later does the father see how he planted the seeds of cynicism into his children and is reaping the sad harvest.
Or what about the church in which the pastor and board establish an atmosphere where power is garnered, hoarded, and wielded? When the leadership of a church allows power interests to govern the way they do their business and make their decisions, power will be the factor that makes the church ineffective or even destroys it. When factions form or money speaks or officers and staff operate without accountability, churches eventually fall victim to their own corruption. When ministry goes begging at the feet of those whose only concern is preserving their power prerogatives, the lack of effective ministry will cause the church to wither with no power left to wield. Corruption breeds corruption; those who live by the sword, will die by the sword.
But God is capable of overcoming the obstacles of character and conflict to stop the cycle of reversals. Our task is to make sure that we are part of the solution rather the problem.
God’s path to success. We live in a society that has taught us to “look out for Number One.” This means taking whatever steps are necessary to assure ourselves of success and achieve our goals or ambitions. Many Christians can compete with Jacob as master manipulators, making their own way through life and taking their destiny into their own hands. But that is not God’s way. God wants to be recognized as the source of our success. Shrewd or cunning strategies, especially when they involve a level of dishonesty, are counterproductive to God’s work in our lives. Just as God negated Jacob’s attempts to succeed in order eventually to replace them with his own blessings, God sometimes uses failure in our lives to draw us to depend on him.
Brother Andrew, in his book God’s Smuggler, tells of his work in bringing Bibles behind the Iron Curtain in the years before the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. On one trip across the border into Rumania, he was behind six other cars. Each one was taken apart by the patrol. On some cars more than an hour was spent, during which seats were taken out, hubcaps removed, the engine partially disassembled, and everything unpacked in the search for the smallest bit of illegal literature. When he saw how thoroughly cars were checked at the border for illegal contraband, he decided on an unusual strategy.
“Dear Lord,” I said, as at last there was just one car ahead of me, “what am I going to do? Any serious inspection will show up those Rumanian Bibles right away.
“Lord,” I went on, “I know that no amount of cleverness on my part can get me through this border search. Dare I ask for a miracle? Let me take some of the Bibles out and leave them in the open where they will be seen. Then, Lord, I cannot possibly be depending on my own stratagems, can I? I will be depending utterly upon You.”10
So, instead of trying to outwit the savvy of the border patrol, he determined to make no attempt at hiding his literature and to leave the matter to God. Brother Andrew then took several Bibles from their hiding place and set them on the seat beside him. With great trepidation he drove up to the checkpoint when his turn came.
It was my turn. I put the little VW in low gear, inched up to the officer standing at the left side of the road, handed him my papers and started to get out. But his knee was against the door, holding it closed. He looked at my photograph in the passport, scribbled something down, shoved the papers back under my nose, and abruptly waved me on.
Surely thirty seconds had not passed. I started the engine and inched forward. Was I supposed to pull over, out of the way, where the car could be taken apart? Was I . . . surely I wasn’t . . . I coasted forward, my foot poised above the brake. Nothing happened. I looked out the rear mirror. The guard was waving the next car to a stop, indicating to the driver that he had to get out. On I drove a few more yards. The guard was having the driver behind me open the hood of his car. And then I was too far away to doubt that indeed I had made it through that incredible checkpoint in the space of thirty seconds.
My heart was racing. Not with the excitement of the crossing, but with the excitement of having caught such a spectacular glimpse of God at work.11
This was only one of many occasions where Brother Andrew found that abandoning his own strategies and putting himself entirely in the hands of God brought success to his work. In this way he demonstrated that God was responsible for all he was able to accomplish.
This is not to say we should never plan or strategize. But it does point out the need to acknowledge God as the source of our prosperity and to give him credit for all that works out well in our lives.