Albert Barnes Commentary Genesis 31
Albert Barnes Commentary
Genesis 31
Albert Barnes Commentary
Genesis 31
"And he heard the words of Laban`s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father`s; and of that which was our father`s hath he gotten all this glory. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime. And Jehovah said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto them, I see your father`s countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that will all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy wages; then bare all the flock ringstreaked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled. And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father`s house? Are we not accounted by him as foreigners? for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our money. For all the riches which God hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children`s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels; and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan. Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father`s. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days` journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and Laban with his brethren encamped in the mountain of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp; and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? now hast thou done foolishly. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father`s house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. And Laban went into Jacob`s tent, and into Leah`s tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah`s tent, and entered into Rachel`s tent. Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel`s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the teraphim. And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two. These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes. These twenty years have I been in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have borne? And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: and they did eat there by the heap. And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed: and Mizpah, for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set betwixt me and thee. This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the Fear of his father Isaac. And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain. And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed and returned unto his place." — Genesis 31:1-55 (ASV)
תרפים terāpı̂ym — Teraphim. This word occurs fifteen times in the Old Testament. It appears three times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the Pentateuch. It is always in the plural number. The root does not appear in Biblical Hebrew. It perhaps means “to live well,” intransitively (Gesenius, Roedig.), or “to nourish,” transitively (Furst). The teraphim were symbols or representatives of the Deity, as Laban calls them his gods. They seem to have been busts (προτομαί protomai — Aquila) of the human form, sometimes as large as life (1 Samuel 19:13).
Those of full size were probably of wood; the smaller ones may have been of metal. In two passages (Judges 17:1–13; Judges 18:0; Hosea 3:4) they are six times associated with the ephod. This suggests either that they were worn on the ephod, like the Urim and Thummim, or more probably that the ephod was worn on them. In accordance with this, they were employed for the purposes of divination (Genesis 30:27; Zechariah 10:2). The employment of them in the worship of God, which Laban seems to have inherited from his fathers (Joshua 24:2), is denounced as idolatry (1 Samuel 15:23); and therefore, they are classed with the idols and other abominations put away by Josiah (2 Kings 23:24).
שׂהדוּתא יגר yegar-śâhădûtā', Jegar-sahadutha, “cairn of witness” in the Aramaic dialect of the old Hebrew or Semitic speech. גלעד gal‛ēd — Gal‘ed; and גלעד gı̂l‛ād — Gil‘ad, “cairn of witness” in Hebrew especially so called .
מצפה mı̂tspâh — Mizpah, “watch-tower.”
Jacob had now been twenty years in Laban’s service and was therefore ninety-six years of age. It had now become clear that he could not obtain Laban’s permission to return home. He must, therefore, either depart defiantly or by secret flight. Jacob had many reasons for preferring the latter course.
Eventually, circumstances led Jacob to propose flight to his wives. His prosperity provoked the envy and slander of Laban’s sons, and Laban himself became estranged. The Lord now commanded Jacob to return and promised him His presence to protect him. Jacob then opened his mind fully to Rachel and Leah. Rachel, we observe, is put first.
Several new facts emerge in his speech to them. Jacob appeals to his wives on this point: You know that with all my might I served your father. He means, of course, to the extent of his engagement. During the last six years, he was to provide for his own house, as the Lord permitted him, with the full knowledge and agreement of Laban. Beyond this, which is a fair and acknowledged exception, he has been faithful in keeping Laban’s cattle. Your father deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; that is, as often as he could.
If, at the end of the first year, Laban found that Jacob had gained considerably, though he began with nothing, he might have changed his wages every following half-year, and so actually changed them ten times in five years. In this case, the preceding chapter only records his original expedients and then states the final result. God suffered him not to hurt me.
Jacob, we are to remember, left his wages to the providence of God. He thought himself bound at the same time to use all legitimate means for the attainment of the desired end. His expedients may have been perfectly legitimate in the circumstances, but they were evidently of no avail without the divine blessing. And they would become wholly ineffective when his wages were changed. Therefore, he says, God took the cattle and gave them to me.
Jacob seems here to record two dreams, the former of which is dated at the rutting season. The dream indicates the result by a symbolic representation, which attributes it more to the God of nature than to human skill. The second dream alludes to the former as a process still going on up to the present time. This appears to be an encouragement to Jacob now to commit himself to the Lord on his way home. The angel of the Lord, we observe, announces himself as the God of Bethel and reminds Jacob of the pillar and the vow. The angel, then, is Yahweh manifesting himself to human understanding.
His wives entirely agreed with his view of their father’s selfishness in dealing with his son-in-law and approved of his intended departure. Jacob made all the necessary preparations for a hasty and secret flight. He took advantage of the occasion when Laban was at a distance shearing his sheep, probably a journey of three or more days.
Rachel stole the teraphim. It is not the role of Scripture to inform us about the kinds and characteristics of false worship. Therefore, we know little about the teraphim, except that they were used by those who professed to worship the true God. Rachel had a lingering attachment to these objects of her family’s superstitious reverence. She 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.
Laban hears of his flight, pursues, and overtakes him. Stole the heart, κλέπτειν νοῦν kleptein noun. The heart is the seat of the understanding in Scripture. To steal the heart of anyone is to act without his knowledge. The river: the Euphrates, 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 Euphrates. On the third day. This shows that Laban’s flocks kept by his sons were still three days’ journey apart from Jacob’s. His kinsmen: his relatives and dependents. Seven days’ journey. On the third day after the arrival of the messenger, Laban might have returned to the spot from where Jacob had taken his flight.
In this case, Jacob would have had at least a five-day head start, which, added to the seven days of pursuit, would give him twelve days to travel three hundred English miles. To those accustomed to the pastoral life, this was a possible achievement. God appeared to Laban on behalf of Jacob and warned him not to harm him. Not to speak from good to bad is merely to abstain from language expressing and preceding violence.
Laban’s protest and Jacob’s reply. What have you done? Laban implies that he would have dismissed him honorably and affectionately, and therefore that his flight was unnecessary and unkind. He finally charges him with stealing his gods. Jacob lets him know that he did not expect fair treatment from him and gives him permission to search for his gods, not knowing that Rachel had taken them.
After the search for the teraphim proves fruitless, Jacob warmly rebukes Laban. The camel’s saddle. This was a pack-saddle, in the recesses of which articles could 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. Laban accepts this, not perhaps from fear of ceremonial defilement (Leviticus 15:19–27), as this law was not yet in force, but from respect for his daughter and the conviction that in such circumstances she would not be sitting on the teraphim. My kinsmen and your kinsmen—their common relatives.
Jacob recounts his services in emotional terms. By day the drought; this was caused by the heat, which is extreme during the day, while the cold is no less severe in Palestine during the night. The fear of Isaac—the God whom Isaac fears. Judged—repaid by restraining you from wrongdoing.
Laban, now pacified, if not conscience-stricken, proposes a covenant between them. Jacob erects a memorial pillar, around which the clan gathers a cairn of stones, which serves by its name as a witness of their agreement. Jegar-sahadutha. Here is the first clear example of Aramaic, as distinguished 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.
The covenant is then completed. And Mizpah. This refers to some prominent cliff from which, as a watchtower, an extensive view could be obtained. It was in the northern half of Gilead (Deuteronomy 3:12–13) and is mentioned in (Judges 11:29). It is not to be confused with other places called by the same name.
The reference of this name to the present event is explained in these two verses. The names Gilead and Mizpah may have arisen from this transaction or received a new significance because of it. 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 distance himself from 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.
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