Peace Out - Genesis 31:17-55

31:17-19 - With the approval of his wives and the Lord, Jacob “rose up”, put his family on camels and headed out on his own way home. The way that this is said “rose up” makes it sound like he left that afternoon, whereas common sense would tell us that uprooting 20 years worth of life, business, and family would have taken considerable planning to facilitate that move, especially if Jacob wanted to keep Laban out of the loop. It seems like Jacob waited until “Laban went to shear his sheep” which was probably a multiple day venture for him, which would have given Jacob enough time to make a clean getaway.

Here's the part that presents probably the biggest problem for the Jacob-exit, and that is that “Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.” I always just thought that Rachel stole these “images” or “idols” because she was being spiteful and wanted to mildly inconvenience her father, or that maybe they were made of gold so they were valuable, but apparently it is much more than simple petty theft. The IM comments that “the Hebrew word which is sometimes used for small images of false gods is teraphim. Some translators render the word as ‘household gods.’” This is how I’ve always understood it. The IM poses the question, that if these household Gods were truly meant to represent Laban’s spiritual beliefs, the “why did Jacob go all the way back to Haran to find a wife if they were idolators like the Canaanites?” This is a fair question, and it’s possible that Laban and maybe even Rachel believed in these images as deities, meaning that Jacob was meant to go find Leah as his wife because she was the true believer.

The lectures that I listen to from the Torah Class makes the same suggestion as the IM in that it is “theorized that these images were somehow tied in with the legal rights of inheritance. If this theory is correct, the possessor of the teraphim had the right to inherit the father’s property. This circumstance would explain why Rachel stole the images, since her father had ‘stolen’ her inheritance. It would also explain Laban’s extreme agitation over their loss and Jacob’s severe penalty offered against the guilty party.” So it would seem that these “images” were a very big deal, possibly religiously, and probably legally, so it’s fascinating that Rachel would have stolen them. Did she steal them because she was angry? Did she steal them to throw her father’s household in to chaos? Did she steal them because she planned on coming back at the time of Laban’s death and declaring that she was the rightful heir of all her father’s possessions? It’s an interesting concept to think about.

31:20-32 - It takes three days for Laban to find out that Jacob “was fled,” and he immediately pursued them. Jacob is traveling with his entire household, 4 wives, a crap ton of children, servants probably, and all his animals, which walk slowly, and Laban was only traveling with “his brethren.” They made quick time finally reaching them on the 7th days “in the mount Gilead.” Right before Laban reached Jacob’s party, Laban had a dream in which God told him “Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” That is an interesting command, “don’t say anything good or bad to Jacob,” I’m not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean.

When Laban finally met up with Jacob, he is outraged, accusing Jacob of stealing from him, all his children and livestock, without his permission. Laban puts on a good show here, we all know what kind of guy Laban is because we all know people like him. He’s not angry that he didn’t get to say goodbye, he’s angry at Jacob’s defiance. Laban says that if he would have known Jacob wanted to leave, “I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp.” He wanted to throw a going away party for Jacob and “kiss my sons and my daughters,” again this is all lies because Laban immediately reminds Jacob “it is in the power of my hand to do you hurt.” Can you imagine saying, “Why did you leave without saying goodbye? You know I can kill you if I want right?” This is such a classic abuser tactic, but alas “the God of your father spake unto me yesterday,” commanding Jacob’s protection. I think it’s interesting here that it is the God of Jacob’s father, and Lacob himself. Laban makes absolutely no connection between himself and this God that blesses Jacob and gives Laban commandments in his sleep. If I had a God speaking to me in my sleep, it would probably very quickly become my God, but not with Laban.

Finally Laban states his real purpose for pursuing Jacob, saying basically, “I know that you want to go back to your father’s house, and I respect that,” but “wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?” This is probably the first time Jacob is hearing about Laban’s gods’ being missing. Jacob answers that he was afraid if he knew, Laban would take Jacob’s wives away. This is an interesting reference to all of Jacob’s wives, not just Rachel, so it seems that he’s gaining a fondness for the rest of them as well, after 13 years and 11 children. As far as the gods, Jacob offers a significant punishment, death for the one who has stolen them. This is what makes me think that Jacob has many servants with him because if the only options for being the thief were his wives and children, I doubt that Jacob would have offered death as a punishment.

31:33-44 - Laban searches the tents of Jacob, Leah, and the maidservants before he finally goes into Rachel’s tent. Rachel had placed the stolen gods in a sort of satchel it seems and sat on it, and when Laban came into the tent, she said, “don’t be angry that I can’t get up to greet you, I’m on my period.” Because periods and all that stuff was such taboo in my household growing up, I couldn’t imagine saying that to my father, so I assumed that Rachel told her father that because her father loved her and didn’t want her to have to be uncomfortable by standing up. Apparently, that is not the case at all.

According to the Torah Class lectures, a woman was considered unclean while she was menstruating, and anything that she touched was considered unclean as well, meaning that any clothing, furniture, household objects that a woman touched during that time would have to be ritually cleansed before it could be put back into use by anyone else. This also meant that the culture was such that women knew that they could not touch or interact with certain objects while on their periods, meaning that the thought that Rachel would have touched the household gods, something so important to Laban, with her butt, while menstruating, was so outrageous, no one even considered it as a possibility.

Laban can’t find the “images” and Jacob is just done with him and starts to let all his frustrations out, including some of the ways in which Laban screwed him that we weren’t previously aware of: 1. Jacob did not eat any of the animals that belonged to Laban, probably even when that was the only option or others were doing it, because it seems like he says it like it’s a pretty big deal. 2. Whenever an animal was killed by a “beast,” Jacob paid Laban for it, instead of Laban just chalking it up to the cost of doing business. 3. The same if anything was stolen. Loss of animals for whatever reason are just a part of the game and it seems that Jacob was made to take the loss as a personal responsibility. 4. He suffered while serving Laban, from thirst, and the cold and he lost sleep over it. 5. Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times in the 20 years while working for him

Jacob loudly states for all to hear, that only through the grace of God, has he been able to acquire anything to show for his 20 years of labor, and only through the grace of God has Jacob been able to keep Laban from stealing that too. This really pisses Laban off, and he answers, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine.” He’s really mad. But he sees that he must let Jacob keep going away from him. Why does he see that as the option, I don’t know. Maybe because he remembered the command that God gave him to saying nothing good or bad to him, maybe because he knows that his daughters don’t want to go back with him, maybe because he knows that God will continue to bless Jacob is Laban forces him back. Lots of reasons, but whatever it is, Laban calls for peace.

31:45-55 – Jacob makes a pillar as a symbol for the covenant that he and Laban make to each other, for peace, or more likely a simple, “you stay on your side of the street and I’ll stay on mine.” Laban also shows a bit of humanity here when he insists that Jacob treat his daughters well and not take any more wives. Jacob agrees, probably because he thinks he’s already got 4 wives, he can’t handle anymore. Jacob and Laban covenant with each other that they won’t cross onto the other person’s side of the pillar, and Jacob “offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread… and tarried all night in the mount.” The next morning Laban woke up, kissed and blessed his sons and daughters, “and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.”

Just a note that culturally at this time, a man’s children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. were considered to be his sons and daughters, so Jacob didn’t take Laban’s other literal, first generational biological children away, but instead, he’s referring to Jacob’s wives and children as his own, which would have been appropriate and understood at the time.