Genesis 31 Off in a Flash

Jacob has been working for Laban to earn his own flock. Laban’s sons are grumbling about Jacob’s profit. Jacob takes off in a flash to prevent them from taking what he has earned.

Laban is NOT a reputable business man. He keeps changing Jacob’s wages. And he started off the partnership by removing what was to be Jacob’s from the beginning. He cannot be trusted. The fact that Jacob lasted six years with him is a testament to Jacob’s willingness to trust God.

Now, Laban’s sons are getting angry about the arrangement. They are saying that Jacob is stealing from their father. Absolutely untrue. Laban has been attempting to steal from Jacob and God has been working it out in Jacob’s favor, in spite of Laban’s efforts.

We left Jacob on the hilltop with Joseph. He had brought him to his altar to meet with God. Jacob has been planning on leaving, but is waiting for the right time. His fortune is made and he risks losing it if he delays much longer. Let’s join him and his family as they take off in a hurry.

♥ ♦ ♥

Jacob had heard what Laban’s sons had been saying about him. They were saying that he took everything that was Laban’s and that he was only rich because he stole from Laban. Jacob knew that his riches had been gained by wise work and God’s hand. He stole nothing from Laban. If anything, Laban stole from him. But he would not say this. He knew his time was short and he would have to leave before Laban found a way to take everything from him. Laban had already allowed his sons to ‘set his wages’, or so Laban would have him believe.

While wondering when to leave, God spoke to Jacob one morning at his altar.

“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you” (verse 3b).

Jacob had a dream earlier in which God told him that he would return to Bethel. God telling him directly to go was all the prompting Jacob needed.

He needed to talk to Leah and Rachel though. If they refused to go, he didn’t know what would happen. Yet, even in this, he trusted God. This conversation needed to be held in private. Something between the three of them. Once they agreed, the rest of the company would be told.

Jacob went to the flock where Levi was in charge. “Dan, I need you to go and tell Ima Rachel and Ima Leah to come and meet me here right away.”

Dan was off in a flash. Leah and Rachel were told that Abba needed them and where within minutes.

Leah and Rachel came as quickly as they could. They had no idea what Jacob needed, but he had never called them with such urgency before. And Dan had conveyed that urgency to the best of his abilities.

When they reach Jacob, he tells them to walk with him. He wants to be out of the hearing of everyone else. He found a place for Leah and Rachel to sit before he started with his concerns.

“I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me…” Jacob decides to share the dream he had in the last breeding season. “…In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred’” (verses 5-13).

Rachel and Leah both know how manipulative their Abba can be. They have no doubt that Jacob’s words of deception and cheating are true. They have no respect left for him. Rachel speaks the words that they both feel in their hearts.

“Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do” (verses 14-16).

“We are leaving. As soon as Laban goes to sheer his sheep, we will leave. He should be doing this in the next few days, so make ready for a hasty departure.”

Jacob believed that his camp was far enough away from Laban’s home that he would not notice the preparations for moving out. The children and the servants would be told that evening, and told NOT to let anyone outside of their company know of their plans.

Jacob was tempted to sheer his sheep before starting out, but that would have alerted Laban to something going on. They usually sheered sheep at the same time; Jacob his flocks and Laban his. The day Laban went to sheer his sheep, Jacob was ready to go.

That morning, Rachel snuck into her Abba’s house and stole his household gods. She didn’t tell anyone what she was doing and she hid them well within the folds of her garments until she could transfer them to her belongings.

While Rachel was sneaking off, Jacob was busy arranging the camels to carry his wives and children. Reuben and Simeon would help herd the sheep but the rest of the children would ride on camels. As Jacob was getting Leah and Zilpah set, Rachel appeared at his shoulder.

“Where have you been” asked Jacob. “It’s time to go.”

“I had some last-minute packing to do” replied Rachel. “I’m ready now.”

Not for the first time, Jacob was glad he had acquired so many servants. He sent six out with his wives and their children. They would lead them and protect them from any harm. He divided the rest of the servants up to drive the livestock and lead the camels that carried all their belongings. He had four carts for carrying the tents and tent poles. They were drawn by Jacob’s strongest oxen.

It took two days before the last of Jacob’s belongings disappeared over the hills from view of Haran. Jacob breathed a sigh of relief when he could no longer see the city or the fields of Laban. It would be another day before they crossed the Euphrates River and headed towards Gilead.

Laban came in from sheering his sheep. It has been three long days of back breaking work. When he arrived home, one of his servants ran out to meet him. “Jacob has left!”

“What do you mean? Left where?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell anyone he was leaving. I only know because I happened to walk by his camp this morning, in search of one of my friends, who is Jacob’s servant. Every tent and table are gone!”

Laban is angry but he needs something to eat before he goes after them. When he walks in the house and empty space by the door catches his eye. This is the space where his gods sat. Food is forgotten as flames ignite in his belly. “After all I have done for him! And he does this to me!!!”

Laban rushes outside and calls for his servant. “Get me a mount! I’m going after that scoundrel.”

“But my lord, it is a long journey. Certainly they have been gone for days. You will need provisions.”

“Fine. Get it arranged. I want to be out of here before the sun is at its highest.”

“Yes my lord.”

Jacob’s company made it safely across the river before Laban and his kinsmen were able to depart. Jacob drove his company hard, knowing that Laban would be sure to follow. He had no idea how much time would pass before Laban would be alerted to their absence.

Jacob’s company needed rest and the Sabbath was the next day. They had driven hard for nearly a week. They were safely back in the land of Canaan, near Gilead. Before evening fell, Jacob announced; “We will rest here tonight.”

A cheer went up throughout the company. The servants started erecting tents and moving in the belongings that would be needed, but only enough for a short stay. Everyone was hot, tired and hungry. With everyone working together, the camp was set before dark and the women had a hot meal waiting.

Once the men and the children were fed, Jacob’s wives gathered to eat their meal.

“It is nice to be off that camel” remarked Rachel.

“With the Sabbath, we will get to stay off of it for another day” exclaimed Leah.

“I will never again look at another Sabbath the same way” chimed in Zilpah while rubbing her back. All the women laughed.

“I think I will get the children started washing up” offered Leah.

“We can’t. The Sabbath is already here. All we can offer them is a cloth for their faces and feet” Bilhah reminded everyone.

“Then cold cloths it shall be” sighed Leah. “I was looking forward to some ‘washing up’ myself.”

The whole camp is in bed and asleep in no time at all.

Laban spotted the cooking fires from a distance. He drove his group on until they were out of sight but within a half hour’s walk of Jacob’s camp. “We will make camp here. It’s late and I know I could use the rest. I want to be fresh when I confront Jacob tomorrow. We need to keep the noise down too so we don’t alert him to our presence. I don’t want to give him the opportunity to take off again.”

Laban had a dream in the night that shook him. He knew without a doubt that it was Jacob’s God speaking to him. Who else would so fiercely protect Jacob. He had seen the power of Jacob’s God on more than one occasion and was terrified to cross him after such a warning. Jacob’s God hadn’t told him what would happen if he ignored this warning, and he didn’t want to find out!

Jacob sees Laban approaching from the top of the hill. He isn’t surprised to see him. He is ready to stand his ground. Jacob will not allow Laban to take even a string of a sandal that belongs to Jacob. He waits with his head held high as Laban approaches.

Laban approaches Jacob with a ‘lets be friends’ attitude. Laban stretches out his hands as if to embrace Jacob. Jacob is not buying it. He doesn’t reach back, instead, he waits for Laban to speak.

Laban sees Jacob’s slight and pretends it didn’t happen. Instead of looking rebuffed, Laban uses his arms as gestures for what he is about to say.

“What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. It is in my power to do you harm…” Laban takes a breath.

Jacob is doing all he can not to throw Laban’s words back in his face. “Who tricked who” muses Jacob.

After a deep sigh, Laban continues. “…But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?” (verses 26-30).

Jacob is furious with Laban’s accusations. They both know that Laban would not have permitted them to leave in peace. And Jacob knows that he stole NOTHING from Laban. Jacob is ready to answer Laban’s charges.

“Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it” (verses 31-32). Jacob KNEW he was innocent.

Laban began to search Jacob’s camp. And he was not gentle in his search. Pallets were tossed about, clothing snatched up from the floor and strewn about the tent after a thorough search. Jacob’s tent was the first to receive this treatment. Zilpah, Bilhah, and Leah’s followed suit. Rachel’s tent was up next.

Rachel had heard her Abba speaking to Jacob. She had to work quickly to hide the household gods she had stolen. She already had them in a bag and she placed it beneath her camel’s saddle and sat on it. When Laban came in to search, Rachel remained right where she was. Laban looks all around the edges of the tent. After finding nothing, he looks over at Rachel intending to search where she was. What she said stopped him in his tracks.

“Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me” (verse 35).

Laban immediate leaves Rachel’s tent. Jacob has finally had enough. He walks up to Laban and gives him all that has been pent up for so long.

“What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. These TWENTY YEARS I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. What was torn my wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty hears I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks, and you have changed my wages TEN times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. GOD saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night” (verses 36b-42, emphasis added).

Laban’s face is beet red as he fires back at Jacob. “The daughters are MY daughters, the children are MY children, the flocks are MY flocks, and ALL that you see is MINE…” Laban reaches deep inside himself and tamps his anger down before continuing. “…But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me” (verses 43-44).

Jacob was happy to make a covenant between him and Laban; especially with all these witnesses looking on. He is certain that Laban will not break this agreement.

Jacob started the monument by choosing a single rock. Then he called to all of his kinsmen; of his own and of Laban’s. “Gather stones.”

When everyone, including the children who were able brought stones to Jacob, he had them to throw them into heap on top of where Jacob’s stone sat. After the stones were assembled, Jacob called for a meal to be served.

Usually, such activities were not done on the Sabbath, but Jacob believed that ,if God had spoken to Laban in the night, then this breach would be forgiven.

All shared a wonderful meal at the base of the marker they just erected. Laban called the stones “Jegar-sahadutha” while Jacob called it Galeed.

Once the meal was completed, it was time to swear a solemn oath. Laban went first.

“This heap is a witness between you and me today… The Lord watch between you and me, whey we are out of one another’s sight. If you oppress my daughters, of if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me” (verses 48-50).

Laban pointed at the heap of stones before going on. “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. The god of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us” (verses 51-53).

“I so swear it” answered Jacob.

Jacob went immediately to the top of the top of a nearby hill and offered a sacrifice to the Lord. When he was done, he called all of his kinsmen to share bread with him to commemorate the covenant and offering.

Everyone retired to their tents that night. The tension wasn’t completely gone but is was so far below the surface that it wasn’t noticeable. In the morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them before returning to his home.

Rachel and Leah both felt nearly giddy with relief. Their Abba would not chase them or interfere in their lives anymore. And he had made Jacob promise not to take any other wives.

“One hurdle down, another to go” thinks Jacob. He is overjoyed to be out from under Laban’s thumb, but there are relationships he needs to mend before he can settle down peacefully with his family. Next is Esau.

(to be continued)

I would like to say something to Laban. “You did NOT keep your mouth shut like God told you to!!!” He did exactly what God told him not to do. He spoke evil against Jacob right away when he accused him of “tricking” him and “stealing” everything. Laban learned NOTHING from God’s warning. I wonder if God dealt with him when he got home; or maybe God dealt with him on the way home. We see nothing more of him in the rest of our bible texts.

Something else I’m curious about. We learn that Laban had sons. So, why did Rachel have to tend the flocks? I thought that was a job usually done by boys. I just googled female shepherds in the bible and found that there are two mentioned by name; Rachel and Zipporah. Then Google tells me that women often did this job.

“In the Ancient Near East, girls often worked as shepherds because men did not do such “menial” work. Girls would start tending the flocks when they were around eight or ten years old. They would take the flocks into the field each day and bring them back home at night.”

That is a surprise to me. Maybe it is because they are not mentioned as shepherdesses by scriptures very often at all. I wonder if what Google says is accurate. With the internet, you can seldom be certain.

Father God, thank You for sharing your story with me again. You already wrote most of it. Thanks for letting me add just a little to it. Jacob still has hurdles in front of him, but he trusts You to bring him through it all. You have proven Yourself faithful in my life too. I have had hurdles to go over. And You have been there to lift me over or knock them down. I KNOW that is You are the ONLY reason I wake up each morning. You have given me another day to seek Your face and to tell Youor stories.