Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 31:23

"And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days` journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead." — Genesis 31:23 (ASV)

His brethren. —As Jacob, who had no relatives with him except his sons, applies this term in Genesis 31:46 to his followers, it is probably an honorable way of describing retainers, who were freemen and of a higher class than manservants.

Seven days’ journey. —The route chosen by Jacob was apparently the more easterly one, past Tadmor, and through the Hauran, leaving Damascus to the west. The hill, which subsequently was called Mount Gilead, lay to the south of the Jabbok; but as Mahanaim, reached some days after the meeting with Laban, is to the north of that river, the word Gilead was evidently applied to the whole of the region of chalk cliffs on the east of the Jordan.

This is made certain by the fact that Laban overtook Jacob in seven days. But as the distance from Haran to the most northerly part of this country (afterwards assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh) was fully three hundred miles, it would require hard riding on the part of Laban and his brethren to enable them to overtake Jacob, even on the borders of this region. There is no difficulty about Jacob’s movements.

His flocks were pastured at such a remote distance from Haran that it would be easy for him to send them in detachments to the ford of the Euphrates, about sixty or seventy miles away. He would make all the arrangements with his four elder sons and trusty servants, probably even seeing them across the ford himself. He would then return to Haran to fetch his wives and younger children only when all preparations were well advanced. Finally, when Laban goes to a distant place in another direction for his sheep-shearing, Jacob sets his sons and his wives upon camels, and follows with the utmost speed.

They would have remained quietly at Haran until the last moment to avoid suspicion, and, except for Leah’s four elder sons, the rest would have been too young to be of much use. When Jacob, with his wives, overtook the cattle, they would probably not travel more than ten or twelve miles a day. However, three days passed before Laban learned what had taken place, and at least a couple of days must have been spent returning to Haran and preparing for the pursuit. Thus, Jacob had reached Canaanite ground—a matter of very considerable importance—before his father-in-law overtook him.