Jacob heard Laban’s sons’ words, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.” Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, and said to them, “I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me. If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me. During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ”
Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money. For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”
Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away. So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20 1. And he heard the words. Although Jacob ardently…
1. And he heard the words. Although Jacob ardently desired his own country, and was continually thinking of his return to it; yet his admirable patience appears in this, that he suspends his purpose till a new occasion presents itself. I do not, however, deny, that some imperfection was mixed with this virtue, in that he did not make more haste to return; but that the promise of God was always retained its his mind will shortly appear. In this respect, however, he showed something of human nature, that for the sake of obtaining wealth he postponed his return for six years: for when Laban was perpetually changing his terms, he might justly have bidden him farewell. But that he was detained by force and fear together, we infer from his clandestine flight. Now, at least, he has a sufficient cause for asking his dismissal; because his riches had become grievous and hateful to the sons of Laban: nevertheless he does not dare openly to withdraw himself from their enmity, but is compelled to flee secretly. Yet though his tardiness is in some degree excusable, it was probably connected with indolence; even as the faithful, when they direct their course towards God, often do not pursue it with becoming fervor. Wherefore, whenever the indolence of the flesh retards us, let us learn to fan the ardor of our spirits into a flame. There is no doubt that the Lord corrected the infirmity of his servant, and gently spurred him on as he proceeded in his course. For if Laban had treated him kindly and pleasantly, his mind would have been lulled to sleep; but now he is driven away by adverse looks. So the Lord often better secures the salvation of his people, by subjecting them to the hatred, the envy, and the malevolence of the wicked, than by suffering them to be soothed with bland address. It was far more useful to holy Jacob to have his father-in-law and his sons opposed, than to have them courteously obsequious to his wishes; because their favor might have deprived him of the blessing of God. We also have more than sufficient experience of the power of earthly attractions, and of the ease with which, when they abound, the oblivion of celestial blessings steals over us. Wherefore let us not think it hard to be awakened by the Lord, when we fall into adversity, or receive but little favor from the world; for hatred, threats, disgrace, and slanders, are often more advantageous to us than the applause of all men on every side. Moreover, we must notice the inhumanity of Laban’s sons, who complain throughout as if they had been plundered by Jacob. But sordid and avaricious men labor under the disease of thinking that they are robbed of everything with which they do not gorge themselves. For since their avarice is insatiable, it follows of necessity that the prosperity of others torments them, as if they themselves would be thereby reduced to want. They do not consider whether Jacob acquired this great wealth justly or unjustly; but they are enraged and envious, because they conceive that so much has been abstracted from them. Laban had before confessed, that he had been enriched by the coming of Jacob, and even that he had been blessed by the Lord for Jacob’s sake; but now his sons murmur, and he himself is tortured with grief, to find that Jacob also is made a partaker of the same blessing. Hence we perceive the blindness of avarice which can never be satisfied. Whence also it is called by Paul the root of all evil; because they who desire to swallow up everything must be perfidious, and cruel, and ungrateful, and in every way unjust. Besides, it is to be observed that the sons of Laban, in the impetuosity of their younger years, give vent to their vexation; but the father, like a cunning old fox, is silent, yet betrays his wickedness by his countenance.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 19, 20, 21 The children uttered in words that which the father…
The children uttered in words that which the father dissembled in heart, for the covetous think that whatsoever they cannot snatch, is plucked from them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–21 Gen 31:1 And he heard the words of Laban’s…
Gen 31:1 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.
Ver. l. And he heard the words of Laban’s sons.] These were chips off the old block, as they say; as like the father, as if spit out of his mouth. Avarice made them think, as Sejanus did, Quicquid non acquiritur, damnum; { a} all lost, that fell beside their own lips. As a ship may be overladen with gold and silver, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more: so, covetous men, though they have enough to sink them, yet have they never enough to satisfy them.
Read full note →
Hath he gotten all this glory.] That is, All this wealth, which easily gets glory; and goes therefore joined with it. {Pro 3:16; Pro 8:18} This regina pecunia doth all, and hath all here below, saith Solomon. {Ecc 10:19} Money beareth the mastery, and is the monarch of this world. None so admired, or so soon admitted, as he that is well heeled. The Chaldee word for money, {b} signifies to do some great work. It was commonly said in Greece, that not Philip but his money took their cities. {c} And a certain Grecian coming to Rome, where the honour of a lord was offered unto him, answered -
Oυκ εθελω δομναι, ου θαρ εχω δομεναι.
Allin had a cardinal’s hat there bestowed upon him by the Pope: but because his hat had so thin lining - he wanted wealth, I mean, to support his state - he was commonly called, The starveling cardinal; and nobody cared for him. {d}
{a} Tacitus.
{b} אדרכון, from אדר strong, and כון to prepare.
{c} Oυ Fιλιππος, αλλα το Fιλιππου χρυσιον . - Plut. in Emyl..
{d} Manl., loc. com., p. 441.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21 These riches, which are called glory, Gen 45:13; Psa…
These riches, which are called glory, Gen 45:13; Psa 49:16; Isa 66:12, compared with Isa 60:6, because their possessors use to glory in them, and by them gain glory and esteem from others.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 17 Jacob is here taking up a resolution immediately to…
Jacob is here taking up a resolution immediately to quit his uncle's service, to take what he had and go back to Canaan. This resolution he took up upon a just provocation, by divine direction, and with the advice and consent of his wives.
I. Upon a just provocation; for Laban and his sons had become very cross and ill-natured towards him, so that he could not stay among them with safety or satisfaction.
Read full note →
1. Laban's sons showed their ill-will in what they said, Gen 31:1. It should seem they said it in Jacob's hearing, with a design to vex him. The last chapter began with Rachel's envying Leah; this begins with Laban's sons envying Jacob. Observe, (1.) How greatly they magnify Jacob's prosperity: He has gotten all this glory. And what was this glory that they made so much ado about? It was a parcel of brown sheep and speckled goats (and perhaps the fine colours made them seem more glorious), and some camels and asses, and such like trading; and this was all this glory. Note, Riches are glorious things in the eyes of carnal people, while to all those that are conversant with heavenly things they have no glory in comparison with the glory which excelleth. Men's over-valuing worldly wealth is that fundamental error which is the root of covetousness, envy, and all evil. (2.) How basely they reflect upon Jacob's fidelity, as if what he had he had not gotten honestly: Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. Not all, surely. What had become of those cattle which were committed to the custody of Laban's sons, and sent three days' journey off? Gen 30:35, Gen 30:36. They mean all that was committed to him; but, speaking invidiously, they express themselves thus generally. Note, [1.] Those that are ever so careful to keep a good conscience cannot always be sure of a good name. [2.] This is one of the vanities and vexations which attend outward prosperity, that it makes a man to be envied of his neighbors (Ecc 4:4), and who can stand before envy? Pro 27:4. Whom Heaven blesses hell curses, and all its children on earth.
2. Laban himself said little, but his countenance was not towards Jacob as it used to be; and Jacob could not but take notice of it, Gen 31:2, Gen 31:5. He was but a churl at the best, but now he was more churlish than formerly. Note, Envy is a sin that often appears in the countenance; hence we read of an evil eye, Pro 23:6. Sour looks may do a great deal towards the ruin of peace and love in a family, and the making of those uneasy of whose comfort we ought to be tender. Laban's angry countenance lost him the greatest blessing his family ever had, and justly.
II. By divine direction and under the convoy of a promise: The Lord said unto Jacob, Return, and I will be with thee, Gen 31:3. Though Jacob had met with very hard usage here, yet he would not quit his place till God bade him. He came thither by orders from Heaven, and there he would stay till he was ordered back. Note, It is our duty to set ourselves, and it will be our comfort to see ourselves, under God's guidance, both in our going out and in our coming in. The direction he had from Heaven is more fully related in the account he gives of it to his wives (Gen 31:10-13), where he tells them of a dream he had about the cattle, and the wonderful increase of those of his colour; and how the angel of God, in that dream (for I suppose the dream spoken of Gen 31:10 and that Gen 31:11 to be the same), took notice of the workings of his fancy in his sleep, and instructed him, so that it was not by chance, or by his own policy, that he obtained that great advantage; but, 1. by the providence of God, who had taken notice of the hardships Laban had put upon him, and took this way to recompense him: "For I have seen all the Laban doeth unto thee, and herein I have an eye to that." Note, There is more of equity in the distributions of the divine providence than we are aware of, and by them the injured are recompensed really, though perhaps insensibly. Nor was it only by the justice of providence that Jacob was thus enriched, but, 2. In performance of the promise intimated in what is said Gen 31:13, I am the God of Beth-el, This was the place where the covenant was renewed with him. Note, Worldly prosperity and success are doubly sweet and comfortable when we see them flowing, not from common providence, but from covenant-love, to perform the mercy promised - when we have them from God as the God of Beth-el, from those promises of the life which now is that belong to godliness. Jacob, even when he had this hopeful prospect of growing rich with Laban, must think of returning. When the world begins to smile upon us we must remember it is not our home. Now arise (Gen 31:13) and return, (1.) To thy devotions in Canaan, the solemnities of which had perhaps been much intermitted while he was with Laban. The times of this servitude God had winked at; but now, "Return to the place where thou anointedst the pillar and vowedst the vow. Now that thou beginnest to grow rich it is time to think of an altar and sacrifices again." (2.) To thy comforts in Canaan: Return to the land of thy kindred. He was here among his near kindred; but those only he must look upon as his kindred in the best sense, the kindred he must live and die with, to whom pertained the covenant. Note, The heirs of Canaan must never reckon themselves at home till they come thither, however they may seem to take root here.
III. With the knowledge and consent of his wives. Observe,
1. He sent for Rachel and Leah to him to the field (Gen 31:4), that he might confer with them more privately, or because one would not come to the other's apartment and he would willingly talk with them together, or because he had work to do in the field which he would not leave. Note, Husbands that love their wives will communicate their purposes and intentions to them. Where there is a mutual affection there will be a mutual confidence. And the prudence of the wife should engage the heart of her husband to trust in her, Pro 31:11. Jacob told his wives, (1.) How faithfully he had served their father, Gen 31:6. Note, If others do not do their duty to us, yet we shall have the comfort of having done ours to them. (2.) How unfaithfully their father had dealt with him Gen 31:7. He would never keep to any bargain that he made with him, but, after the first year, still as he saw Providence favour Jacob with the colour agreed on, every half year of the remaining five he changed it for some other colour, which made it ten times; as if he thought not only to deceive Jacob, but the divine Providence, which manifestly smiled upon him. Note, Those that deal honestly are not always honestly dealt with. (3.) How God had owned him notwithstanding. He had protected him from Laban's ill-will: God suffered him not to hurt me. Note, Those that keep close to God shall be kept safely by him. He had also provided plentifully for him, notwithstanding Laban's design to ruin him: God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me, Gen 31:9. Thus the righteous God paid Jacob for his hard service out of Laban's estate; as afterwards he paid the seed of Jacob for their serving the Egyptians, with their spoils. Note, God is not unrighteous to forget his people's work and labour of love, though men be so, Heb 6:10. Providence has ways of making those honest in the event that are not so in their design. Note, further, The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just, Pro 13:22. (4.) He told them of the command God had given him, in a dream, to return to his own country (Gen 31:13), that they might not suspect his resolution to arise from inconstancy, or any disaffection to their country or family, but might see it to proceed from a principle of obedience to his God, and dependence on him.
2. His wives cheerfully consented to his resolution. They also brought forward their grievances, complaining that their father had been not only unkind, but unjust, to them (Gen 31:14-16), that he looked upon them as strangers, and was without natural affection towards them; and, whereas Jacob had looked upon the wealth which God had transferred from Laban to him as his wages, they looked upon it as their portions; so that, both ways, God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters. So then it seemed, (1.) They were weary of their own people and their father's house, and could easily forget them. Note, This good use we should make of the unkind usage we meet with from the world, we should sit the more loose to it, and be willing to leave it and desirous to be at home. (2.) They were willing to go along with their husband, and put themselves with him under the divine direction: Whatsoever God hath said unto thee do. Note, Those wives that ar their husband's meet helps will never be their hindrances in doing that to which God calls them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–21 And he heard the words of Laban's sons,.... That…
And he heard the words of Laban's sons,.... That is, Jacob, as is expressed in the Septuagint and Syriac versions, either with his own ears, overhearing their discourse in their tents, or in the field, or from the report of others, his wives or some of his friends, who thought proper to acquaint him with it; these were the sons of Laban, who had the care of the cattle committed to them, separated by the direction of Jacob, and with the consent of Laban, Gen 30:35,
saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; meaning not precisely all that their father had, for that would have been a downright lie; for what was become of them that were committed to their care? besides, we afterwards read of Laban's shearing his sheep, Gen 31:19; but that all that Jacob had was their father's, and he had taken it away from him, if not by force and stealth, yet by fraud; and so Jacob might fear he would treat him in an ill manner, and therefore began to think it was high time for him to be gone:
Read full note →
and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all the glory; his many servants, numerous cattle, sheep, camels and asses, in which carnal men place all their happiness; or those riches, as the Targum of Jonathan, by which he got the name and glory of a rich man among men: and it was so far true what they say, that it was out of their father's flock that Jacob got all his increase; but then it was according to a covenant that Laban and he entered into, and therefore was obtained in a just and lawful manner.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 9, 16, 19 Jacob was in general, a man of devotion and…
Jacob was in general, a man of devotion and integrity; yet he had more trouble than any of the patriarchs. Here is,
I. His resolution to return, ver. 1-16.
Read full note →
II. His clandestine departure, ver. 17-21.
III. Laban's pursuit of him in displeasure, ver. 22-25.
IV. The hot words that passed between them, ver. 26-42.
V. Their amicable agreement at last, ver. 43-55.
It should seem they said it in Jacob's hearing. The last chapter began with Rachel's envying Leah; this begins with Laban's sons envying Jacob. He has gotten all his glory - And what was this glory? It was a parcel of brown sheep and speckled goats, and some camels and asses. Jacob has taken away all that was our fathers - Not all, sure; what was become of those cattle which were committed to the custody of Laban's sons, and sent three days journey off?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 15, 19, 21 Laban and his sons envy Jacob, 1, 2;
CHAPTER XXXI
Laban and his sons envy Jacob, 1, 2;
Read full note →
on which he is commanded by the Lord to return to his own country, 3.
Having called his wives together, he lays before them a detailed
statement of his situation in reference to their father, 4-5;
the services he had rendered him, 6;
the various attempts made by Laban to defraud him of his hire, 7;
how, by God's providence, his evil designs had been counteracted,
8-12;
and then informs them that he is now called to return to his
own country, 13.
To the proposal of an immediate departure, Leah and Rachel
agree; and strengthen the propriety of the measure by
additional reasons, 14-16;
on which Jacob collects all his family, his flocks and his goods,
and prepares for his departure, 17, 18.
Laban having gone to shear his sheep, Rachel secretes his images, 19.
Jacob and his family, unknown to Laban, take their departure, 20, 21.
On the third day Laban is informed of their flight, 22;
and pursues them to Mount Gilead, 23.
God appears to Laban in a dream, and warns him not to molest Jacob,
24.
He comes up with Jacob at Mount Gilead, 25;
reproaches him with his clandestine departure, 26-29;
and charges him with having stolen his gods, 30.
Jacob vindicates himself, and protests his innocence in the
matter of the theft, 31, 32.
Laban makes a general search for his images in Jacob's, Leah's,
Bilhah's, and Zilpah's tents; and not finding them, proceeds to
examine Rachel's, 33.
Rachel, having hidden them among the camel's furniture, sat
upon them, 34;
and making a delicate excuse for not rising up, Laban desists
from farther search, 35.
Jacob, ignorant of Rachel's theft, reproaches Laban for his
suspicions, 36, 37;
enumerates his long and faithful services, his fatigues, and
Laban's injustice, 38-41;
and shows that it was owing to God's goodness alone that he
had any property, 42.
Laban is moderated, and proposes a covenant, 43, 44.
Jacob sets up a stone, and the rest bring stones and make a heap,
which Laban calleth Jegar-Sahadutha, and Jacob Galeed, 45-47.
They make a covenant, and confirm it by an oath, 48-53.
Jacob offers a sacrifice; they eat together; and Laban and his
companions, having lodged in the mount all night, take a friendly
leave of Jacob and his family next morning, and depart, 54, 55.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI
Verse 1. And he heard the words of Laban's sons] The multiplication of Jacob's cattle, and the decrease and degeneracy of those of Laban, were sufficient to arouse the jealousy of Laban's sons. This, with Laban's unfair treatment, and the direction he received from God, determined him to return to his own country.
Hath he gotten all this glory.] All these riches, this wealth, or property. The original word כבד signifies both to be rich and to be heavy; and perhaps for this simple reason, that riches ever bring with them heavy weight and burden of cares and anxieties.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 19 Gen 31:1. He heard the words of Laban’s sons…
Gen 31:1. He heard the words of Laban’s sons — For it seems they spoke them in Jacob’s hearing. The last chapter began with Rachel’s envying Leah; this begins with Laban’s sons envying Jacob. Hath taken away all that was our father’s — Not all, sure: what was become of those cattle which were committed to the custody of Laban’s sons, and sent three days’ journey off? He has gotten all this glory — And what was this glory? It was a parcel of brown sheep, and speckled goats, and some camels and asses. But they meant wealth, which the possessors usually glory in, and whereby they gain much esteem from others.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 - Jacob’s Flight from Haran
- Jacob’s Flight from Haran
19. 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.), “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 1Sa 19:13. Those of full size were probably of wood; the smaller ones may have been of metal. In two passages Jdg 17:1-13; 18; Hos 3:4 they are six times associated with the ephod. This intimates 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 which they were employed for the purposes of divination Gen 30:27; Zec 10:2. The employment of them in the worship of God, which Laban seems to have inherited from his fathers Jos 24:2, is denounced as idolatry 1Sa 15:23; and hence, they are classed with the idols and other abominations put away by Josiah 2Ki 23:24.
Read full note →
47. שׂהדוּתא יגר yegar-śâhădûtā', Jegar-sahadutha, “cairn of witness” in the Aramaic dialect of the old Hebrew or Shemite speech. גלעד gal‛ēd, Gal‘ed; and גלעד gı̂l‛ād, Gil‘ad, “cairn of witness” in Hebrew especially so called (see Gen 11:1-9).
49. מצפה mı̂tspâh, Mizpah, “watch-tower.”
Jacob had now been twenty years in Laban’s service, and was therefore, ninety-six years of age. It has now become manifest that he cannot obtain leave of Laban to return home. He must, therefore, either come off by the high hand, or by secret flight. Jacob has many reasons for preferring the latter course.
Gen 31:1-13
Circumstances at length induce Jacob to propose flight to his wives. His prosperity provokes the envy and slander of Laban’s sons, and Laban himself becomes estranged. The Lord now commands Jacob to return, and promises him his presence to protect him. Jacob now opens his mind fully to Rachel and Leah. Rachel, we observe, is put first. Several new facts come out in his discourse to them. Ye know - Jacob appeals to his wives on this point - “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 concurrence of Laban. Beyond this, which is a fair and acknowledged exception, he has been faithful in keeping the cattle of Laban. “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, he found that Jacob had gained considerably, though he began with nothing, he might change his wages every following half-year, and so actually change 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 hire 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 ineffectual when his wages were changed. Hence, 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 ascribes it rather to the God of nature than to the man of art. The second dream makes allusion 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 recalls to Jacob the pillar and the vow. The angel, then, is Yahweh manifesting himself to human apprehension.
Gen 31:14-19
His wives entirely accord with his view of their father’s selfishness in dealing with his son-in-law, and approve of his intended departure. Jacob makes all the needful preparations for a hasty and secret flight. He avails himself of the occasion when Laban is at a distance probably of three or more days’ journey, shearing his sheep. “Rachel stole the teraphim.” It is not the business of Scripture to acquaint us with the kinds and characteristics of false worship. Hence, we know little of the teraphim, except that they were employed by those who professed to worship the true God. Rachel had a lingering attachment to these objects of her family’s superstitious reverence, and 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.
Gen 31:20-24
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 Frat, 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 Frat. “On the third day.” This shows that Laban’s flocks kept by his sons were still three days’ journey apart from Jacob’s. His brethren - his kindred and dependents. “Seven days’ journey.” On the third day after the arrival of the messenger, Laban might return to the spot whence Jacob had taken his flight. In this case, Jacob would have at least five days of a 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 appears to Laban on behalf of Jacob, and warns him not to harm him. “Not to speak from good to bad” is merely to abstain from language expressing and prefacing violence.
Gen 31:25-32
Laban’s expostulation and Jacob’s reply. What hast thou done? Laban intimates that he would have dismissed him honorably and affectionately, and therefore, that his flight was needless and unkind; and finally charges him with stealing his gods. Jacob gives him to understand that he did not expect fair treatment at his hands, and gives him leave to search for his gods, not knowing that Rachel had taken them.
Gen 31:33-42
After the search for the teraphim has proved vain, Jacob warmly upbraids Laban. “The camel’s saddle.” This was a pack-saddle, in the recesses of which articles might 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; which is admitted by Laban, not perhaps from the fear of ceremonial defilement Lev 15:19-27, as this law was not yet in force, but from respect to his daughter and the conviction that in such circumstances she would not sit upon the teraphim. “My brethren and thy brethren” - their common kindred. Jacob recapitulates his services in feeling terms. “By day the drought;” caused by the heat, which is extreme during the day, while the cold is not less severe in Palestine during the night. “The fear of Isaac” - the God whom Isaac fears. Judged - requited by restraining thee from wrong-doing.
Gen 31:43-47
Laban, now pacified, if not conscience-stricken, proposes a covenant between them. Jacob erects a memorial pillar, around which the clan gather a cairn of stones, which serves by its name for a witness of their compact. “Jegar-sahadutha.” Here is the first decided specimen of Aramaic, as contradistinguished 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.
Gen 31:48-54
The covenant is then completed. And Mizpah. This refers to some prominent cliff from which, as a watch-tower, an extensive view might be obtained. It was in the northern half of Gilead Deu 3:12-13, and is noticed in Jdg 11:29. It is not to be confounded with other places called by the same name. The reference of this name to the present occurrence is explained in these two verses. The names Gilead and Mizpah may have arisen from this transaction, or received a new turn in consequence of its occurrence. 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 rid himself of 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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 8, 12, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 After that six years were expired, and calumnies and…
After that six years were expired, and calumnies and ill-will attended Jacob in Laban’s family, God ordered him to retire, ver. 3. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v4 Jacob’s flight. Laban’s persecution. The covenant between the two…
FOURTH SECTION
Jacob’s flight. Laban’s persecution. The covenant between the two on the mountain of Gilead. Departure.
Read full note →
Gen_31:4 to Gen_32:2
, 4And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock. 5And said unto them, I see [am seeing] your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before: 6but the God [Elohim] of my father hath been with me. And ye3 know that with all my power I have served your father. 7And your father hath deceived4 me, and changed my wages ten times: but God suffered him not to hurt me. 8If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The [symm.: white-footed] ring-streaked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ring-streaked. 9Thus God hath taken away the [acquisitions] cattle of your father, and given them to me. 10And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold [I saw], the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-streaked, speckled, and grizzled.5 11And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. 12And he said, Lift up now thine eyes and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-streaked, speckled, and 13grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban [is doing] doeth unto thee. I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred [birth]. 14And Rachel and Leah answered, and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured6 also our money. 16For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.
, 17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and wives upon camels; 18And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods [his movable property, gain] which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram; for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. 19And Laban went to shear his [to the feast of sheep-shearing] sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images7 [Teraphim, household gods] that were her father’s. 20And Jacob stole away unwares [the heart of] to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 21So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river [Euphrates], and set his face [journey] toward the mount Gilead. 22And it was told 23Laban on the third day, that Jacob was fled. And [Then] he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey: and they overtook him in the mount Gilead. 24And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
25Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren [tented] pitched in the mount of Gilead. 26And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unwares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword [the spoils of war]? 27Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away [given thee a convoy] with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? 28And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons [grandsons], and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. 29It is in the power of my hand8 to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed 30that 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? 31And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said [said to myself], Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me. 32With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him 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. 33And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maid-servants’ tents; but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the images [household gods], and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. 35And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women [female period] is upon me. And he searched [all], but found not the images.
36And 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 so hotly pursued [burned] after me? 37Whereas thou hast searched 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 both. 38This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. 39That which was torn of beasts, I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it [must make satisfaction for it]; 40of 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 departed from mine eyes. 41Thus have I been twenty years in thy house: I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. 42Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction, and the labor [wearisome labor] of my hands, and rebuked [judged] thee yesternight.
43And Laban answered, and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle [herds], and all that thou seest is mine; and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have borne? 44Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant 45[a covenant of peace], 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. 46And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. 47And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha [syriac: heap of witness]: but Jacob called it Galeed [the same in Hebrew]: 48And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and 49 thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed: And Mizpah [watch-tower]; for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. 50If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God, is witness betwixt me and thee. 51And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap [stone heap], and behold this pillar, which I have 52cast [erected] betwixt me and thee; This heap be witness, and this 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. 53The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge [plural] betwixt us. And [But] Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount. 55And 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.
Gen_32:1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And 2when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim [two camps: double camp].
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1. Delitzsch regards the present section as throughout Elohistic; but according to Knobel, Jehovistic portions are inwrought into it, and hence the narrative is here and there broken and disconnected.
2. The present journey of Jacob is evidently in contrast with his previous journey to Mesopotamia; Mahanaim and Peniel form the contrast with Bethel.
3. We make the following division: 1. Jacob’s conference with his wives, Gen_31:4-16; Genesis 2. the flight, Gen_31:17-21; Genesis 3. Laban’s pursuit, Gen_31:22-25; Genesis 4. Laban’s reproof, Gen_31:26-30; Genesis 5. Laban’s search in the tents of Jacob, Gen_31:31-35; Genesis 6. Jacob’s reproof, Gen_31:36-42; Genesis 7. the covenant of peace between the two, Gen_31:43; Gen_31:53; Genesis 8. the covenant meal and the departure, Gen_31:54–ch. Gen_32:2.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Gen_31:4-16. Jacob’s conference with his wives.—Unto his flock.—Under some pretext Jacob had left the flocks of Laban, although it was then the feast of sheep-shearing, and gone to his own flocks (a three days’ journey, and probably in a direction favoring his flight). Hither, to the field, he calls his wives, and Rachel, as the favorite, is called first.—Changed my wages ten times.—The expression ten times is used for frequently, in Num_14:22, and in other passages. [Keil holds that the ten, as the number of completeness, here denotes as often as he could, or as he had opportunity. It is probably the definite for an indefinite.—A. G.]—If he said thus, The ring-streaked.—As Laban deceived Jacob in the matter of Rachel, so now in the arrangement for the last six years, he had in various ways dealt selfishly and unjustly, partly in dividing equally the spotted lambs, according to his own terms, and partly in always assigning to Jacob that particular kind of spotted lambs which had previously been the least fruitful.—And the Angel of God.—Jacob here evidently joins together a circle of night-visions, which he traces up to the Angel of the Lord, as the angel of Elohim, and which run through the whole six years to their close. If Laban imposed a new and unfavorable condition, he saw in a dream that now the flocks should bring forth lambs of that particular color agreed upon, now ring-streaked, now speckled, and now spotted. But the vision was given to comfort him, and indeed, under the image of the variegated rams which served the flocks. This angel of Elohim declares himself to be identical with the God of Bethel, i, e., with Jehovah, who reveals himself at Bethel as exalted above the angels. It is thus his covenant God who has guarded his rights against the injustice of Laban, and prepares this wonderful blessing for him; a fact which does not militate against his use of skill and craft, but places those in a modified and milder light. The conclusion of these visions is, that Jacob must return. [The difference between this narrative and that given in ch.30, is a difference having its ground and explanation in the facts of the case. For obvious reasons Jacob chose here to pass over his own strategy and craft in silence, and brings out into prominence the divine providence and aid to which his prosperity was due. That Jacob resorted to the means he did, is not inconsistent with the objective reality of the dream-vision, but rather confirms it. If he regarded the vision as prophetic of the issue, as he must have done, the means which he used, the arts and cunning, are characteristic of the man, who was not yet weaned from confidence in himself, was not entirely the man of faith. If we regard this vision as occurring at the beginning of the six years’ service, it is entirely natural that Jacob should now connect it so closely with the voice of the same angel commanding him to return to the land of his birth.—A. G.]—Are we not counted of him strangers?—Laban takes the same position towards his daughters as towards Jacob himself. Hence they have nothing more to hope for from him. He had sold them as strangers, i. e., really, as slaves, for the service of Jacob. But this very price, i. e., the blessing resulting from Jacob’s service, he had entirely consumed, i. e., the daughters had received no share of it. Hence it is evident that they speak with an inward alienation from him, although not calling him by name, and that they desired the flight.
2. Gen_31:17-21. The Flight.—The circumstance that Jacob, with his wives, was already at the station of his herds, while Laban remained at his own station, three days’ journey distant, keeping the feast of sheep-shearing, favored the flight. Either Laban had not invited Jacob to this feast, which is scarcely probable, since he was usually at this station, or Jacob took the opportunity of leaving, in order to visit his own flocks. As the sheep-shearing lasted several days (1 Samuel 25.) the opportunity was a very favorable one.—And Rachel had stolen.—This feature, however, as also the following, when she denied the theft to her father, reveals a cunning which is far more befitting the daughter of Laban, than the wife of the prudent Jacob.—The images.—Literally Teraphim (see Delitzsch, p. 410, Note 73), Penates, small figures, probably resembling the human form, which were honored as guardians of the household prosperity, and as oracles. But as we must distinguish the symbolic adoration of religious images (statuettes) among ancients, from the true and proper mythological worship, so we must distinguish between a gentler and severe censure of the use of such images upon Shemitic ground. Doubtless the symbolic usage prevailed in the house of Laban and Nahor. It is hardly probable that Rachel intended, by a pious and fanatical theft, to free her father from idolatry (Greg. Naz., Basil), for then she would have thrown the images away. She appears to have stolen them with the superstitious idea that she would prevent her father from consulting them as oracles, and under their guidance, as the pursuer of Jacob, from overtaking and destroying him (Aben Ezra). The supposition of a condition of war, with its necessity and strategy, enters here with apologetic force. This, however, does not exclude the idea, that she attributed to the images a certain magical, though not religious, power (perhaps, as oracles. Chrysostom). The very lowest and most degrading supposition, is that she took the images, often overlaid with silver, or precious metals, from mercenary motives (Peirerius). Jacob himself had at first a lax rather than a strict conscience in regard to these images (see Gen_35:2), but the stricter view prevails since the time of Moses (Exodus 20; Jos_24:2; Jos_24:14 f.) [The derivation of the Heb. word teraphim, always used in the plural, is doubtful. Some derive it from taraph, to rejoice—thus dispensers of good; others from a like root, to inquire—thus they are oracles; and others, as Kurtz and Hofmann, make it another form of Seraphim. They were regarded and used as oracles (Jdg_17:5-6; Eze_21:21; Zec_10:2). They were not idols in the worst sense of the word; and were sometimes used by those who professed the worship of the true God (1Sa_19:13). The tendency was always hurtful, and they were ultimately rooted out from Israel. Laban had lapsed into a more corrupt form of religion, and his daughters had not escaped the infection. We may modify our views of Rachel’s sin, but it cannot be excused or justified (see Keil, “Arch.,” p. 90; Wordsworth, p. 132; Hengstenberg, “Christology;” Haverick’s “Ezek.” 13:47).—A.G.]—And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban.—The explanation κλέπτειν νόον in the sense of “to deceive” (Del., Keil), appears to us incorrect. The expression indeed does not bear the sense which we moderns associate with the words “steal the heart,” and Gen_31:26 seems to indicate that the heart of Laban is the love which this hard-hearted father bears towards his daughters. Rachel, however, seems to have been his favorite. He regarded and treated her not only as a wise but cunning child, and, hence, while he searched carefully everything in all the tents, he did not venture to compel her to arise. The last clause of Gen_31:20, further cannot possibly mean “in that he told him not that he fled.” For who would betray his own flight? We interpret הִגִּיד impersonally, it was not told him.—The Syrian.—“Moses gives this title to Laban because the Syrians were more crafty than other nations.” Jacob, however, surpassed him (Cleric.). Over the river.—The Euphrates.—Toward the mount Gilead.—For the mountains of Gilead see Geographies of Palestine, Bible Dictionaries, Books of Travels, etc. “Knobel understands הַר גִּלְעָד to be the mountain range now known as Gebel Gilad, or Gebel es-Ssalt, and combines מצפה with the present Ssalt. But this assumption leads to the improbable results that Mahanaim, south of Jabbok and Succoth (probably the one on the other side), lay north from Jabbok, and thus Jacob’s line of march would be backwards in a north-westerly direction.” Delitzsch. Delitzsch understands correctly, that it is the northern side of the mountains of Gilead, above the Jabbok, which lay nearest to those coming from Mesopotamia.ְ
3. Gen_31:22-25. Laban’s pursuit.—On the third day.—This is partially explained by the long distance between the two stations.—His brethren with him.—Of the same tribe, kinsmen.—Seven days’ journey.—As Jacob, with his herds, moved slower than Laban, he lost his start of three days in the course of seven days.—And God came to Laban.—A proof that he had still some nobler traits of character.—Either good or bad.—The translation neither good nor bad is not fitting here. Literally from good to bad (Knobel). It presupposes that he was inclined to pass from a hasty greeting of his daughters and their children, to reproaches and invectives.—Now Jacob had pitched his tent.—As soon as he reached the heights of the mountain range, the mount Gilead, he pitched his tent, but here Laban with his retinue overtook him, and tented near by him. The text assumes: 1. That a certain mountain, north of Jabbok, gave its name to the whole range of mountains (just as Galilee, originally designating a small mountain region, gradually extended its significance). 2. That thus we must distinguish between this first mountain in the range of Gilead, and the principal mountain mentioned later.
4. Gen_31:26-30. The words of Laban are characteristic, passionate, idiomatic, exaggerated even to falsehood and hypocrisy, and still at the end there is a word which betrays the man—shows his human nature and kindness. He calls his daughters his heart; their voluntary flight (although he had sold them) an abduction, as if they were captives. He asserts that he had not given any occasion to Jacob to flee, on the contrary, that he would have sent him away with music and mirth. He had not, however, even suffered him to take leave of his daughters and grandsons. These tender utterances are followed at once by haughty threats (Gen_31:29). From his own point of view it seems imprudent to relate the night warning, but his pride and animosity lead him to do it. Jacob should not think that he willingly let him go unpunished, but “the God of your father,” he says, with a bitter heart, has forbidden me. He finally (Gen_31:30) acknowledges in a sarcastic way that Jacob might go, but only to crush him with the burden of his accusation, in which, however, there was a two-fold exaggeration; first, in calling the teraphim his gods, and then, second, in making Jacob the thief. The true sentiment for his children, the fear of God, and, finally, a real indignation at the secrecy of Jacob’s departure, form the core of the speech, which assumes at last the shape of a pointed accusation. There is no trace of self-knowledge or humility.—With mirth.—(See 1Sa_18:6; 2Sa_6:5.) The word שִׂמְחָה is indeed a collective for all that follows, and Delitzsch thinks it probably means dance.—With tabret.—See Winer: “Musical Instruments.” [Also Kitto and Smith.—A. G.].—Thou hast done foolishly.—Thou who art usually so prudent hast here acted foolishly. The reproach of folly carries with it that of immorality.—It is in the power of my hand.—Knobel and Keil [and Jacobus.—A. G.] translate “There is to God my hand,” with reference to Job_12:6; Hab_1:11. Others translate אֵל power (so Rosen., Gesen.), [Wordsworth, Bush, A. G.] and this seems here to be preferable, notwithstanding Knobel’s objection, since Laban immediately says it is Elohim who restrains his hand.
5. Gen_31:31-35. Laban’s search.—Laban’s rash accusation gives Jacob, who knew nothing of the theft of the teraphim, great boldness.—Let him not live.—We must emphasize the finding, otherwise Jacob condemned Rachel to death. “The cunning of Rachel was well planned, for even if Laban had not regarded it as impure and wrong to touch the seat of a woman in this state (see Lev_15:22), how could he have thought it possible that one in this state would sit upon his God.”—Delitzsch. But Keil calls attention to the fact that the view upon which the law (Leviticus 15.) was based, is much older than that statute, and exists among other people. [See also Kurtz: Gesch., vol. i. p. 252; Baehr’s “Sym. of the Mosaic Cultus,” vol. ii. p. 466.—A. G.] For the camel’s furniture or saddle, see Knobel, p. 251.
6. Gen_31:36-42. Jacob’s reproof. He connects it with Laban’s furious pursuit and search. Then he reminds him generally of his harsh treatment, as opposed to his own faithful and self-sacrificing shepherd service for more than twenty years. “The strong feeling and the lofty self-consciousness which utter themselves in his speech, impart to it a rhythmical movement and poetic forms (דָּלַק אַחֲרֵי to pursue ardently; elsewhere only 1Sa_17:53.”) Delitzsch.—And the frost by night.—The cold of the nights corresponds with the heat of the day in the East (Jer_36:30; Psa_121:6).—My sleep.—Which I needed and which belonged to me. He had faithfully guarded the flocks by night. Notwithstanding all this Laban had left him unrewarded, but the God of his fathers had been with him and secured his rights. Both the name of his God, and of his venerable father, must touch the conscience of Laban.—The fear of Isaac.—[Heb: he whom Isaac feared.] The object of his religious fear, and veneration; of his religion, σέβας, σέβασμα.—Rebuked thee yesternight.—This circumstance, which is only incidentally alluded to in the course of Laban’s speech, forms the emphatic close to that of Jacob. Jacob understands the dream-revelation of Laban better than Laban himself.
7. The covenant of peace between the two. Laban is overcome. He alludes boastfully indeed once more to his superior power, but acknowledges that any injury inflicted upon Jacob, the husband and father, would be visited upon his own daughters and their children.—What can I do unto thee.—i.e., in a bad sense. The fact that his daughters and grandsons were henceforth dependent upon Jacob, fills his selfish and ignoble mind with care and solicitude about them; indeed, reminded of the promises to Abraham and Isaac, he is apprehensive that Jacob might some time return from Canaan to Haran as a mighty prince and avenge his wrong. In this view, anticipating some such event, he proposes a covenant of peace, which would have required merely a feast of reconciliation. But the covenant of peace involved not only a well-cemented peace, but a theocratic separation.—Let us make a covenant.—Laban makes the proposal, Jacob assents by entering at once upon its execution. The pillar which Jacob erected, marks the settlement, the peaceful separation; the stones heaped together by his brethren (Laban and his retinue, his kindred) designate the friendly communion, the covenant table. The preliminary eating (Gen_31:46) appears to be distinct from the covenant meal (Gen_31:54), for this common meal continued throughout the day. The Aramaic designation of the stone heap used by Laban, and the Hebraic by Jacob, are explainable on the supposition “that in the fatherland of the patriarchs, Mesopotamia, the Aramaic or Chaldee was used, but in the fatherland of Jacob, Canaan, the Hebrew was spoken, whence it may be inferred that the family of Abraham had acquired the Hebrew tongue from the canaanites (Phœnicians).”—Keil. [But this is a slender foundation upon which to base such a theory. The whole history implies that the two families of Abraham and Nahor down to this time and even later found no difficulty in holding intercourse. They both used the same language, though with some growing dialectic differences. It is just as easy to prove that Laban deviated from the mother tongue as that Jacob did.—A. G.] Knobel regards it an error to derive the name Gilead, which means hard, firm, stony, from the Gal-Ed here used. But proper names are constantly modified as to their significance in popular use, from the original or more remote, to that which is proximate.—And Mizpah, for he said.—Keil concedes that Gen_31:49-50 have the appearance of an interpolation, but not such as to justify any resort to the theory of combination from different sources. But since Laban’s principal concern was for the future of his daughters, we might at least regard the words, And Mizpah, for he said, as a later explanatory interpolation. But there is not sufficient ground even for this, since Galeed and Mizpah are here identical in fact, both referring to the stone heap as well as to the pillar. Laban prays specifically to Jehovah, to watch that Jacob should not afflict his daughters; especially that he should not deprive them of their acquired rights, of being the ancestress of Jehovah’s covenant people. From this hour Jehovah, according to his prayer, looks down from the heights of Gilead, as the representative of his rights, and watches that Jacob should keep his word to his daughters, even when across the Jordan. But now, as the name Gilead has its origin in some old sacred tradition, so has the name Mizpah, also. It is not to be identified with the later cities bearing that name, with the Mizpah of Jephthah (Jdg_11:11; Jdg_11:34), or the Mizpah of Gilead (Jdg_11:29), or Ramoth-Mizpah (Jos_13:26), but must be viewed as the family name which has spread itself through many daughters all over Canaan (Keil, 216).—No man is with us.—i.e., no one but God only can be judge and witness between us, since we are to be so widely separated.—Which I have cast.—He views himself as the originator, and of the highest authority in this covenant.—That I will not pass over.—Here this covenant thought is purely negative, growing out of a suspicious nature, and securing a safeguard against mutual injuries; properly a theocratic separation.—The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor.—The monotheism of Laban seems gliding into dualism; they may judge, or “judge.” He corrects himself by adding the name of the God of their common father, i.e., Terah. From his alien and wavering point of view he seeks for sacredness in the abundance of words. But Jacob swears simply and distinctly by the God whom Isaac feared, and whom even his father-in-law, Laban, should reverence and fear. Laban, indeed, also adheres to the communion with Jacob in his monotheism, and intimates that the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor designate two different religious directions from a common source or ground.
8. Ver. Gen_31:54 to Gen_32:4. The covenant meal, and the departure.—Then Jacob offered Sacrifice.—As Isaac prepared a meal for the envious and ill-disposed Abimelech, so Jacob for Laban, whom even this generosity should now have led to shame and repentance. The following morning they separate from each other. The genial blood-tenderness of Laban, which leads him to kiss both at meeting and parting should not pass unnoticed (see Gen_31:28; Gen_29:13, and the Piel forms). It is a pleasant thing that as a grandfather he first kissed his grandsons. Blessing, he takes his departure.—Met him.—Lit., came, drew near to him, not precisely that they came from an opposite direction. This vision does not relate primarily to the approaching meeting with Esau (Peniel relates to this), but to the dangerous meeting with Laban. As the Angel of God had disclosed to him in vision the divine assistance against his unjust sufferings in Mesopotamia, so now he enjoys a revelation of the protection which God had prepared for him upon Mount Gilead, through his angels (comp. 2Ki_6:17). In this sense he well calls the angels, “God’s host,” and the place in which they met him, double camp. By the side of the visible camp, which he, with Laban and his retainers, had made, God had prepared another, invisible camp, for his protection. It served also to encourage him, in a general way for the approaching meeting with Esau.—Mahanaim.—Later a city on the north of Jabbok (see V Raumer’s “Palestine,” p. 253; Robinson: “Re searches,” vol. iii. 2 app. 166), probably the one now called Mahneh. [For the more, distinct reference of this vision to the meeting with Esau, see KurtzGeschichte, p. 254, who draws an instructive and beautiful parallel between this vision and that at Bethel.—A. G.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Jacob a fugitive even in his journey home. But the God of Bethel protects him now as the God of Mahanaim; and the angels who, as heavenly messengers, moved up and down the ladder at Bethel, now appear, as became the situation, a warlike host, or the army of God. Keil holds that he saw the angels in a waking state, “not inwardly, but without and above himself; but whether with the eye of the body or of the spirit (2Ki_6:17) cannot be decided.” At all events, in the first place he saw an objective revelation of God, with which was connected, in the second place, the vision-power [i.e., eine visionäre stimmung, a power or disposition corresponding to the vision and enabling him to perceive it.—A. G.].
2. The want of candor between Laban and Jacob at Haran leads finally to the violent and passionate outbreak on Mount Gilead. But such outbreaks have ever been the punishment for the want of frankness and candor. The fearful public terrors of war, correspond to the secrecies and blandishments of diplomacy.—The blessing of a genuine and thorough frankness. Moral storms, their danger, and their salutary results.
3. The visions in which Jacob saw how God secured his rights against Laban’s injustice, prove that from his own point of view he saw nothing wrong in the transaction with the parti-colored rods. But those rods are thus seen to be merely a subordinate means. There is no sufficient ground for the conjecture of Keil, that it may be suspected that the dream-vision of Jacob (of the spotted rams) was a mere natural dream (see p. 212). It is evident that the vision-disposition pervades the night-life of Jacob, growing out of his oppressed condition and his unjust sufferings.—Schröder: “But Jacob’s crafty course (Gen_30:37) is not therefore commended by God, as Luther and Calvin have taught. Jacob was still striving to bring about the fulfilment of the divine promise by his own efforts.”
4. The alienation of the daughters of Laban from their father is not commendable, but is explained by his severity. On the other hand, they are bound to their husband in a close and lovely union. For the theft of the teraphim, see the Exegetical notes.
5. It is not a chance that we meet here in the idols of Laban the earliest traces of idolatry in the Old World, although they had doubtless existed elsewhere much earlier and in a grosser form. We can thus see how Polytheism gradually developed itself out of the symbolic image-worship of Monotheism (Rom_1:23). Moreover, the teraphim are estimated entirely from a theocratic point of view. They could be stolen as other household furniture (have eyes but see not). They could be hidden under a camel’s saddle. They are a contemptible nonentity, which can render no assistance.
Gen_31:23. The zeal for gods and idols is always fanatical.
6. The speech of Laban, and Jacob’s answer, give us a representation of the original art of speaking among men, just as the speech of Eliezer did. They form at the same time an antithesis between a passionate and exaggerated rhetoric and phraseology on the one hand, and an earnest, grave, religious, and moral oratory on the other hand, exemplified in history in the antithesis of the heathen (not strictly classic) to the theocratic and religious oratory. The contrast between the speeches of Tertullus and Paul Act_24:2) is noticeable here. Laban’s eloquence agrees with his sanguine temperament. It is passionate, exaggerated in its terms, untrue in its exaggeration, and yet not without a germ of true and affectionate sentiment. Analysis of diffuse and wordy speeches a difficult but necessary task of the Christian spirit.
7. Pro_20:22, Rom_12:17, come to us in the place of the example of Jacob; still we are not justified in judging the conduct of Jacob by those utterances of a more developed economy (as Keil does). [This is true in a qualified sense only. The light which men have is of course an important element in our judgment of the character of their acts. But Jacob had, or might have had, light sufficient to know that his conduct was wrong. He might have known certainly that it was his duty, as the heir of faith, to commit his cause unto the Lord.—A. G.]
8. The establishment of peace between Laban and Jacob has evidently, on the part of Laban, the significance and force, that he breaks off the theocratic communion between the descendants of Nahor and Abraham, just as the line of Haran, earlier, was separated in Lot.
9. At all events, the covenant-meal forms a thorough and final conciliation. Laban’s reverence for the God of his fathers, and his love for his daughters and grandsons, present him once more in the most favorable aspect of his character, and thus we take our leave of him. We must notice, however, that before the entrance of Jacob he had made little progress in his business. Close, narrow-hearted views, are as really the cause of the curse, as its fruits.
10. The elevated state and feeling of Jacob, after this departure of Laban, reveals itself in the vision of the hosts of God. Heaven is not merely connected with the saint on the earth (through the ladder); its hosts are warlike hosts, who invisibly guard the saints and defend them, even while upon the earth. Here is the very germ and source of the designation of God as the God of hosts (Zebaoth).
11. There are still, as it appears to us, two striking relations between this narrative and that which follows. Jacob here (Gen_31:32) pronounces judgment of death upon any one of his family who had stolen the images. But now his own Rachel, over whom he had unconsciously pronounced this sentence, dies soon after the images were buried in the earth (see Gen_35:4; Gen_35:18). But when we read afterwards, that Joseph, the wise son of the wise Rachel, describes his cup as his oracle (although only as a pretext), the conjecture is easy, that the mother also valued the images as a means of securing her desires and longings. She even ascribes marvellous results to the mandrakes.
12. The Mount of Gilead a monument and witness of the former connection between Mesopotamia and Canaan.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Contrasts: Jacob’s emigration and return, or the two-fold flight, under the protection of the God of Bethel, and of Mahanaim.—Laban the persecutor: a. of his own; b. of the heir of the promise.—The persecutor: 1. His malicious companions; 2. those who flee from him; 3. his motives.—The word of God to Laban: “Take heed,” etc., in its typical and lasting significance.—The punishments of the want of candor: strife and war.—The two speeches and speakers.—The peaceful departure: 1. Its light side, reconciliation; 2. its dark aspect, separation.
First Section, Gen_31:4-16. Starke: Cramer: The husband should not always take his own way, but sometimes consult with his wife (Sir. 4:35).—It is a grievous thing when children complain before God of the injustice of their parents.—Children should conceal, as far as possible, the faults of their parents.—Lisco: The human means which he used are not commanded by God, but are his own.—Gerlach: Jacob’s conduct, the impatient weakness of faith; still a case of self-defence, not of injustice.—Schröder: A contrast: the face of your father, the God of my father.
Second Section, Gen_31:17-21. Starke: Although Jacob actually begins his journey to the land of Canaan, some suppose that ten years elapse before he comes to Isaac, since he remained some time at Succoth, Sichem, and Bethel (comp. Gen_33:17; Gen_35:6).—The shearing of the sheep was in the East a true feast for the shepherds—an occasion of great joy (see Gen_38:12; 1Sa_25:2; 1Sa_25:8; 1Sa_25:36).
Section Third, Gen_31:22-25. Starke: Josephus. The intervention of the night, and the warning by God in his sleep, kept him from injuring Jacob.—Bibl. Tub.: God sometimes so influences and directs the hearts of enemies that they shall be favorably inclined towards the saints, although they are really embittered against them.—Hall: God makes foolish the enemies of his church, etc.—Whoever is in covenant with God need have no fear of men.—Schröder: Jacob moves under the instant and pressing danger of being plundered, or slain, or of being made a slave with his family and taken to Mesopotamia. Still the promiser (Gen_28:15) fulfils the promise to him. Thus, whatever may oppress us for a time, must at last turn to our salvation (Calvin).
Section Fourth, Gen_31:26-30. Starke: (It is the way of hypocrites when their acts do not prosper, to speak in other tones.)
Gen_31:29. He does not say that he has the right and authority, but that he has the power (comp. Joh_19:10). In this, however, he refutes himself. For if he possessed the power, why does he suffer himself to be terrified and deterred by the warning of God in the dream?—Calwer Handbuch: He cannot cease to threaten.—He would have injured him but dared not.—Schröder: The images are his highest happiness, since to him the presence of the Deity is bound and confined to its symbol.
Section Fifth, Gen_31:31-35. Starke: Cramer: Gen_31:32. A Christian should not be rash and passionate in his answer. Gen_31:35. The woman’s cunning is preëminent (Sir_25:17; Jdg_14:16).—Calwer Handbuch: Gen_31:38. The ewes and the goats in their state were the objects of his special care.—Falsehood follows theft.—Man’s cunning is ready; woman’s inexhaustible and endless (Val. Herberger).
Section Sixth, Gen_31:36-42. Starke: What is included in a shepherd’s faithfulness (Gen_31:38).—Bibl. Wirt.: When one can show that he has been faithful, upright, and diligent, in his office, he can stand up with a clear conscience, and assert his innocence. Cramer: A good conscience and a gracious God give one boldness and consolation.—Schröder: The persecution of Jacob by Laban ends at last in peace, love and blessing.—Thus the brother line in Mesopotamia is excluded after it has reached its destination.
Section Seventh, Gen_31:43-53. Starke: (Different conjectures as to what Laban understood by the God of Nahor, whether the true God or idols).—Cramer: When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (Pro_16:7).—Calwer Handbuch: Laban now turns again and gives way to the natural affections of a father. The circumstances which tended to calm his mind: 1. The seven days’ journey; 2. the divine warning; 3. the mortification resulting from his fruitless search; 4. Jacob’s self-defence and the truth of his reproaches.—His courage and anger gradually give way to fear and anxiety.—Schröder: In the Hebrew, the word “if ” occurs twice, pointing, as we may suppose, to the idea, may God so punish thee.—(Luther: How can this fellow (Laban) so name the thing?)
Eighth Section, Gen_31:55 to Gen_32:2. Starke: Jacob has just escaped the persecutions of his unjust father-in-law, when he began to fear that he should meet a fiercer enemy in his brother Esau. Hence God confirms him in his faith, opens his eyes, etc.—It is the office of the angels to guard the saints. (Two conjectures as to the double camp: one that some of the angels went before Jacob, others followed him; the other that it is the angel camp and the encampment of Jacob.)—(Why the angels are called hosts: 1. From their multitude; 2. their order; 3. their power for the protection of the saints, and the resistance and punishment of the wicked; 4. from their rendering a cheerful obedience as became a warlike host.—Calwer Handbuch: The same as Genesis 28 Probably here as there an inward vision (Psa_34:7).—Schröder: Jacob’s hard service, his departure with wealth, and the persecution of Laban, prefigure the future of Israel in Egypt.—(Val. Herberger.) Whosoever walks in his way, diligent in his pursuits, may at all times say with St. Paul: “He shall never be forsaken.”—The invisible world was disclosed to him, because anxiety and fear fill the visible world.—Luther: The angels. In heaven their office is to sing Glory to God in the Highest; on the earth, to watch, to guide, to war.
[3]Gen_31:6.—The full form of the pronoun, see Green’s Grammar, 71, (2.)—A. G.
[4]Gen_31:7.—הֵתֶל, Hiphil from תָּלַל; see Green’s Grammar, 142, (3.)—A. G.
[5]Gen_31:10.—Heb., Beruddim, spotted with hail. Our word, grizzled, is from the French, grêle, hail, and thus a literal translation of the Hebrew.—A. G.
[6]Gen_31:15.—The Hebrew form, the absolute infinitive after the finite verb, denotes continuance of the action.—He has constantly devoured.—A. G.
[7]Gen_31:19.—תְּרָפִים. The word occurs fifteen times in the Old Testament; three times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the Pentateuch. It is always in the plural. It means, perhaps, to live well, or to nourish. In two passages (Judg. 17. and 18., and Hos_3:4), they are six times associated with the ephod. The use of them in the worship of God, is denounced as idolatry (1Sa_15:23), and hence they are classed with the idols put away by Josiah, 2 Kings 23. Murphy—A. G.
[8]Gen_31:29.—Heb., There is to God my hand.—A. G.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 17, 18, 20 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban--literally, "was not…
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban--literally, "was not the same as yesterday, and the day before," a common Oriental form of speech. The insinuations against Jacob's fidelity by Laban's sons, and the sullen reserve, the churlish conduct, of Laban himself, had made Jacob's situation, in his uncle's establishment, most trying and painful. It is always one of the vexations attendant on worldly prosperity, that it excites the envy of others (Ecc 4:4); and that, however careful a man is to maintain a good conscience, he cannot always reckon on maintaining a good name, in a censorious world. This, Jacob experienced; and it is probable that, like a good man, he had asked direction and relief in prayer.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21 1. Heard the words of Laban’s sons — Either…
1. Heard the words of Laban’s sons — Either overheard with his own ears, or had them reported to him. Perhaps angry words at times passed between them in the fields or by the way. Such success and prosperity as attended all Jacob’s movements would naturally provoke the jealousy of Laban’s sons.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 1. Laban’s sons] See Gen_30:35. It has hitherto been…
1. Laban’s sons] See Gen_30:35. It has hitherto been a contest of wits between Laban and Jacob. Jacob has had the best of it. Laban’s sons are jealous and thoroughly alienated.
glory] R.V. marg. wealth. The Hebrew word kâbôd, usually rendered “honour” or “glory,” has sometimes the meaning of “wealth,” as here and Psa_49:17, “for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him.” Cf. Isa_10:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21 (1) Laban’s sons.—No mention hitherto had been made of…
XXXI.
JACOB’S FLIGHT.—THE PURSUIT OF HIM BY LABAN, AND THEIR RECONCILIATION.
Read full note →
(1) Laban’s sons.—No mention hitherto had been made of Laban having any other children than Leah and Rachel. If his sons were by the same wife, they would be men about fifty-five or sixty years of age. In saying that Jacob had taken “all that was their father’s” they were guilty of exaggeration; for Laban was still rich, and probably, upon the whole, was a gainer by the presence of one so highly gifted as Jacob. Their word “glory” suggests that, enriched by cattle and commerce, Jacob had now become a person of great importance in the eyes of the people of Haran.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Genesis 27 - 35
Genesis 27 - 35
These chapters present to us the history of Jacob-at least, the principal scenes in that history. The Spirit of God here sets before us the deepest instruction, first, as to God’s purpose of infinite grace; and, secondly, as to the utter worthlessness and depravity of human nature.
Read full note →
There is a passage in Gen. 25 which I purposely passed over, in order to take if up here, so that we might have the truth in reference to Jacob fully before us "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her: and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." This is referred to in Malachi, where we read, "I have loved you, saith the Lord: yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau." This is again referred to in Rom. 9: "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Thus we have very distinctly before us, God’s eternal purpose, according to the election of grace. There is much involved in this expression. It banishes all human pretension from the scene, and asserts God’s right to act as He will. This is of the very last importance. The creature can enjoy no real blessedness until he is brought to bow his head to sovereign grace. It becomes him so to do, inasmuch as he is a sinner, and, as such, utterly without claim to act or dictate. The great value of finding oneself on this ground is, that it is then no longer a question of what we deserve to get, but simply of what God is pleased to give. The prodigal might talk of being a servant, but he really did not deserve the place of a servant, if it were to be made a question of desert; and, therefore, he had only to take what the father was pleased to give - and that was the very highest place, even the place of fellowship with himself. Thus it must ever be. "Grace all the work shall crown, through everlasting days." Happy for us that it is so. As we go on, day by day, making fresh discoveries of ourselves, we need to have beneath our feet the solid foundation of God’s grace: nothing else could possibly sustain us in our growing self-knowledge. The ruin is hopeless, and therefore the grace must be infinite: and infinite it is, having its source in God Himself, its channel in Christ, and the power of application and enjoyment in the Holy Ghost. The Trinity is brought out in connection with the grace that saves a poor sinner. "Grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." It is only in redemption that this reign of grace could be seen. we may see in creation the reign of wisdom and power; we may see in providence the reign of goodness and long-suffering; but only in redemption do we see the reign of grace, and that, too, on the principle of righteousness.
Now, we have, in the person of Jacob, a most striking exhibition of the power of divine grace; and for this reason, that we have in him a striking exhibition of the power of human nature. In him we see nature in all its obliquity, and therefore we see grace in all its moral beauty and power. From the facts of his remarkable history, it would seem that, before his birth, at his birth, and after his birth, the extraordinary energy of nature was seen. Before his birth, we read, "the children struggled together within her." At his birth, we read, "his hand took hold on Esau’s heel." And, after his birth - yea to the turning point of his history, in Gen. 32, without any exception - his course exhibits nothing but the most unamiable traits of nature; but all this only serves, like a drab background, to throw into relief the grace of Him who condescends to call Himself by the peculiarly touching name, "the God of Jacob" - a name most sweetly expressive of free grace.
Let us now examine the chapters consecutively. Gen. 27 exhibits a most humbling picture of sensuality, deceit, and cunning; and when one thinks of such things in connection with the people of God, it is sad and painful to the very last degree. Yet how true and faithful is the Holy Ghost! He must tell all out. He cannot give us a partial picture. If he gives us a history of man, he must describe man as he is, and not as he is not. So, if He unfolds to us the character and ways of God, He gives us God as He is. And this, we need hardly remark, is exactly what we need. We need the revelation of one perfect in holiness, yet perfect in grace and mercy, who could come down into all the depth of man’s need, his misery and his degradation, and deal with Him there, and raise him up out of it into full, unhindered fellowship with Himself in all the reality of what He is. This is what scripture gives us. God knew what we needed, and He has given it to us, blessed be His name!
And, be it remembered, that in setting before us, in faithful love, all the traits of man’s character, it is simply with a view to magnify the riches of divine grace, and to admonish our souls. It is not, by any means, in order to perpetuate the memory of sins, for ever blotted out from His sight. The blots, the failures, and the errors of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have been perfectly washed away, and they have taken their place amid "the spirits of just men made perfect;" but their history remains, on the page of inspiration, for the display of God’s grace, and for the warning of God’s people in all ages; And, moreover, that we my distinctly see that the blessed God has not been dealing With perfect men and women, but with those of "like passions as we are" that He has been walking and bearing with the same failures, the same infirmities, the same errors, as those over which we mourn every day. This is peculiarly comforting to the heart; and it may well stand in striking contrast with the way in which the great majority of human biographies are written, in "which, for the most part, we find, not the history of men, but of beings devoid of error and infirmity. histories have rather the effect of discouraging than of edifying those who read them. They are rather histories of what men ought to be, than of what they really are, and they are, therefore, useless to us, yea, not only useless, but mischievous.
Nothing can edify save the presentation of God dealing with man as he really is; and this is what the word gives us. The chapter before us illustrates this very fully. Here we find the aged patriarch Isaac, standing, as it were, at the very portal of eternity, the earth and nature fast fading away from his view, yet occupied about "savoury meat," and about to act in direct opposition to the divine counsel, by blessing the elder instead of the younger. Truly this was nature, and nature with its "eyes dim." If Esau had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, Isaac was about to give away the blessing for a mess of venison, How very humiliating!
But God’s purpose must stand, and He will do all His pleasure. Faith knows this; and, in the power of that knowledge, can wait for God’s time. This nature never can do, but must set about gaining its own ends, by its own inventions. These are the two grand points brought out in Jacob’s history - God’s purpose of grace, on the one hand; and on the other, nature plotting and scheming to reach what that purpose would have infallibly brought about, without any plot or scheme at all. This simplifies Jacob’s history amazingly, and not only simplifies it, but heightens the soul’s interest in it also. There is nothing, perhaps, in which we are so lamentably deficient, as in the grace of patient, self-renouncing dependence upon God. Nature will be working in some shape or form, and thus, so far as in it lies, hindering the outshining of divine grace and power. God did not need the aid of such elements as Rebekah’s cunning and Jacob’s gross deceit, in order to accomplish His purpose. He had said, "the elder shall serve the younger." This was enough - enough for faith, but not enough for nature, which must ever adopt its own ways, and know nothing of what it is to wait on God.
Now, nothing can be more truly blessed than the position of hanging in child-like dependence upon God, and being entirely content to wait for His time. True, it will involve trial; but the renewed mind learns some of its deepest lessons, and enjoys some of its sweetest experiences, while waiting on the Lord; and the more pressing the temptation to take ourselves out of His hands, the richer will be the blessing of leaving ourselves there. It is so exceedingly sweet to find ourselves wholly dependent upon one who finds infinite joy in blessing us. It is only those who have tasted, in any little measure, the reality of this wondrous position that can at all appreciate it. The only one who ever occupied it perfectly and uninterruptedly was the Lord Jesus Himself. He was ever dependent upon God, and utterly rejected every proposal of the enemy to be anything else. His language was, "In thee do I put my trust;" and again, "I was cast upon thee from the womb." Hence, when tempted by the devil to make an effort to Satisfy His hunger, His reply was, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When tempted to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, His reply was, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." When tempted to take the kingdoms of the world from the hand of another than God, and by doing homage to another than Him, His reply was, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." In a word, nothing could allure the perfect man from the place of absolute dependence upon God. True, it was God’s purpose to sustain His Son; it was His purpose that He should suddenly come to His temple; it was His purpose to give Him the kingdoms of this world; but this was the very reason why the Lord Jesus would simply and uninterruptedly wait on God for the accomplishment of His purpose, in His own time, and in His own way. He did not set about accomplishing His own ends. He left Himself thoroughly at God’s disposal. He would only eat when God gave Him bread; He would only enter the temple when sent of God; He will ascend the throne when God appoints the time. "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Ps. 110)
This profound subjection of the Son to the Father is admirable beyond expression. Though entirely equal with God, He took, as man, the place of dependence, rejoicing always in the will of the Father; giving thanks even when things seemed to be against Him; doing always the things which pleased the Father; making: it His grand and uvarying object to glorify the Father; and finally, when all was accomplished, when He had perfectly finished the work which the Father had given, He breathed His spirit into the Father’s hand, and His flesh rested in hope of the promised glory and exaltation. Well, therefore, may the inspired apostle say, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
How little Jacob knew, in the opening of his history, of this blessed mind! How little was he prepared to wait for God’s time and God’s way! He much preferred Jacob’s time and Jacob’s way. He thought it much better to arrive at the blessing and the inheritance by all sorts of cunning and deception, than by simple dependence upon and subjection to God, whose electing grace had promised, and whose almighty power and wisdom would assuredly accomplish all for him.
But, oh! how well one knows the opposition of the human heart to all this! Any attitude for it save that of patient waiting upon God. It is almost enough to drive nature to distraction to find itself bereft of all resource but God. This tells us, in language not to be misunderstood, the true character of human nature. In order to know what nature is, I need not travel into those scenes of vice and crime which justly shock all refined moral sense. No; all that is needful is just to try it for a moment in the place of dependence, and see how it will carry itself there. It really knows nothing of God, and therefore cannot trust Him; and herein was the secret of all its misery and moral degradation. It is totally ignorant of the true God, and can therefore be nought else but a ruined and worthless thing. The knowledge of God is the source of life - yea, is itself life; and until a man has life, what is he? or, what can he be?
Now, in Rebekah and Jacob, we see nature taking advantage of nature in Isaac and Esau. It was really this. There was no waiting upon God whatever. Isaac’s eyes were dim, he could therefore be imposed upon, and they set about doing so, instead of looking off to God, who would have entirely frustrated Isaac’s purpose to bless the one whom God would not bless - a purpose? founded in nature, and most unlovely nature, for "Isaac loved Esau," not because he was the first-born, but "because he did eat of his venison." How humiliating!
But we are sure to bring unmixed sorrow upon ourselves, when we take ourselves, our circumstances, or our destinies, out of the hands of God.* Thus it was with Jacob, as we shall see in the sequel. It has been observed by another, that whoever observes Jacob’s life, after he had surreptitiously obtained his father’s blessing, will perceive that he enjoyed very little worldly felicity. His brother purposed to murder him, to avoid which he was forced to flee from his father’s house; his uncle Laban deceived him, as he had deceived his father, and treated him with great rigor; after a servitude of twenty-one years, he was obliged to leave him in a clandestine manner, and not without danger of being brought back or murdered by his enraged brother; no sooner were these fears over, than he experienced the baseness of his son Reuben, in defiling his bed; he had next to bewail the treachery and cruelty of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites; then he had to feel the loss of his beloved wife; he was next imposed upon by his own sons, and had to lament the supposed untimely end of Joseph; and, to complete all, he was forced by famine to go into Egypt, and there died in a strange land. So just, wonderful, and instructive are all the ways of providence."
{*We should ever remember, in a place of trial, that what we want is not a change of circumstances, but victory over self.}
This is a true picture, so far as Jacob was concerned; but it only gives us one side, and that the gloomy side. Blessed be God, there is a bright side, likewise, for God had to do with Jacob; and, in every scene of his life, when Jacob was called to reap the fruits of his own plotting and crookedness, the God of Jacob brought good out of evil, and caused His grace to abound over all the sin and folly of His poor servant. This we shall see as we proceed with his history.
I shall just offer a remark here upon Isaac, Rebekah, and Esau. It is very interesting to observe how, notwithstanding the exhibition of nature’s excessive weakness, in the opening of Genesis 27, Isaac maintains, by faith, the dignity which God had conferred upon him. He blesses with all the consciousness of being endowed with power to bless! He says, "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed.. Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him; and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?" He speaks as one who, by faith, had at his disposal all the treasures of earth. There is no false humility, no taking a low ground by reason of the manifestation of nature. True, he was on the eve of making a grievous mistake - even of moving right athwart the counsel of God; still, he knew God, and took his place accordingly, dispensing blessings in all the dignity and power of faith. "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed." "With corn and wine have I sustained him." It is the proper province of faith to rise above all one’s own failure and the consequences thereof, into the place where God’s grace has set us.
As to Rebekah, she was called to feel all the sad results of her cunning actings. She, no doubt, imagined she was managing matters most skillfully; but, alas! she never saw Jacob again: so much for management! How different it would have been had she left the matter entirely in the hands of God. This is the way in which faith manages, and it is ever a gainer. "Which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?" We gain nothing by our anxiety and planning; we only shut out God, and that is no gain. It is a just judgement from the hand of God to be left to reap the fruits, of our own devices; and I know of few things more sad than to see a child of God so entirely forgetting his proper place and privilege, as to take the management of his affairs into his own hands. The birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, may well be our teachers when we so far forget our position of unqualified dependence upon God.
Then, again, as to Esau, the apostle calls him "a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright," and "afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of change of mind, though he sought it carefully with tears." Thus we learn what a profane person is, viz. one who would like to hold both worlds; one who would like to enjoy the present, without forfeiting his title to the future. This is, by no means, an uncommon case. It expresses to us the mere worldly professor, whose conscience has never felt the action of divine truth, and whose heart has never felt the influence of divine grace.
We are now called to trace Jacob in his movement from under his fathers roof, to view him as a homeless and lonely wanderer on the earth. It is here that God’s special dealings with him commence. Jacob now begins to realise, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his conduct, in reference to Esau; while, at the same time, God is seen rising above all the weakness and folly of His servant, and displaying His own sovereign grace and profound wisdom in His dealings with him. God will accomplish His own purpose, no matter by what instrumentality; But if His child, in impenitence of spirit, and unbelief of heart, will take himself out of His hands, he must expect much sorrowful exercise and painful discipline. Thus it was with Jacob: he might not have had to flee to Haran, had he allowed God to act for him. God would, assuredly, have dealt with Esau, and caused him to find his destined place and portion; and Jacob might have enjoyed that sweet peace which nothing can yield save entire subjection in all things to the hand and counsel of God.
But here is where the excessive feebleness of our hearts is constantly disclosed. We do not lie passive in God’s hand; we will be acting; and, by our acting, we hinder the display of God’s grace and power on our behalf. "Be still and know that I am God," is a precept which nought, save the power of divine grace, can enable one to obey. "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (eggus) Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." What will be the result of this activity? "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall garrison (phrouresei) your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4: 5-7)
However, God graciously overrules our folly and weakness, and while we are called upon to reap the fruits of our unbelieving and impatient ways, He takes occasion from them to teach our hearts still deeper lessons of His own tender grace and perfect wisdom. This, while it, assuredly, affords no warrant whatever for unbelief and impatience, does most wonderfully exhibit the goodness of our God, and comfort the heart even while we may be passing through the painful circumstances consequent upon our failure. God is above all; and, moreover, it is His special prerogative to bring good out of evil; to make the eater yield meat, and the strong yield sweetness; and hence, while it is quite true that Jacob was compelled to be an exile from his father’s roof in consequence of his own restless and deceitful acting, it is equally true that he never could have learnt the meaning of "Bethel" had he been quietly at home. Thus the two sides of the picture are strongly marked in every scene of Jacob’s history. It was when he was driven, by his own folly, from Isaac’s house, that he was led to taste, in some measure, the blessedness and solemnity of "God’s house."
"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. and he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep." Here we find the homeless wanderer just in the very position in which God could meet him, and in which He could unfold His purposes of grace and glory. Nothing could possibly be more expressive of helplessness and nothingness than Jacob’s condition as here set before us. Beneath the open canopy of heaven, with a pillow of stone, in the helpless condition of sleep. Thus it was that the God of Bethel unfolded to Jacob His purposes respecting him and his seed. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."
Here we have, indeed, "grace and glory." The ladder "set on the earth" naturally leads the heart to meditate on the display of God’s grace, in the Person and work of His Son. On the earth it was that the wondrous work was accomplished which forms the basis, the strong and everlasting basis, of all the divine counsels in reference to Israel, the Church, and the world at large. On the earth it was that Jesus lived laboured. and died; that, through His death, He might remove out of the way every obstacle to the accomplishment of the divine purpose of blessing to man.
But "the top of the ladder reached to heaven." It formed the medium of communication between heaven and earth; and "behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it" - striking and beautiful picture of Him by whom God has come down into all the depth of man’s need, and by whom also He has brought man up and set him in His own presence for ever, in the power of divine righteousness! God has made provision for the accomplishment of all His plans, despite of man’s folly and sin; and it is for the everlasting joy of any soul to find itself, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, within the limits of God’s gracious purpose.
The prophet Hosea leads us on to the time when that which was foreshadowed by Jacob’s ladder shall have its full accomplishment. "And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle, out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies; I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." (Hosea 2: 18-23) There is also an expression in the first chapter of John, bearing upon Jacob’s remarkable vision; it is Christ’s word to Nathanael, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (Ver. 51)
Now this vision of Jacob’s is a very blessed disclosure of divine grace to Israel. We have been led to see something of Jacob’s real character, something, too, of his real condition; both were evidently such as to show that it should either be divine grace for him, or nothing. By birth he had no claim; nor yet by character. Esau might put forward some claim on both these grounds; i.e., provided God’s prerogative were set aside; but Jacob had no claim whatsoever; and hence, while Esau could only stand upon the exclusion of God’s prerogative, Jacob could only stand upon the introduction and establishment thereof. Jacob was such a sinner, and so utterly divested of all claim, both by birth and by practice, that he had nothing whatever to rest upon save God’s purpose of pure, free, and sovereign grace. Hence, in the revelation which the Lord makes to His chosen servant, in the passage just quoted, it is a simple record or prediction of what He Himself would yet do. "I am.... I will give.... I will keep .... I will bring..... I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" It was all Himself. There is no condition whatever. No if or but; for when grace acts there can be no such thing. Where there is an if, it cannot possibly be grace. Not that God cannot put man into a position of responsibility, in which He must needs address him with an ’if.’ We know He can; but Jacob asleep on a pillow of stone was not in a position of responsibility, but of the deepest helplessness and need; and therefore he was in a position to receive a revelation of the fullest, richest, and most unconditional grace.
Now, we cannot but own the blessedness of being in such a condition, that we have nothing to rest upon save God Himself; and, moreover, that it is in the most perfect establishment of God’s own character and prerogative that we obtain all our true joy and blessing. According to this principle, it would be an irreparable loss to us to have any ground of our own to stand upon, for in that case, God should address us on the ground of responsibility, and failure would then be inevitable. Jacob was so bad, that none but God Himself could do for him.
And, be it remarked, that it was his failure in the habitual recognition of this that led him into so much sorrow and pressure. God’s revelation of Himself is one thing, and our resting in that revelation is quite another. God shows Himself to Jacob, in infinite grace; but no sooner does Jacob awake out of sleep, than we find him developing his true character, and proving how little he knew, practically, of the blessed One who had just been revealing Himself so marvellously to him. "He was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." His heart was not at home in the presence of God; nor can any heart be so until it has been thoroughly emptied and broken. God is at home, blessed be His name, with a broken heart, and a broken heart at home with Him. But Jacob’s heart was not yet in this condition; nor had he yet learnt to repose, like a little child, in the perfect love of one who could say, "Jacob have I loved." "Perfect love casteth out fear;" but where such love is not known and fully realised, there will always be a measure of uneasiness and perturbation. God’s house and God’s presence are not dreadful to a soul who knows the love of God as expressed in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. such a soul is rather led to say," Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." (Ps. 26: 8) And, again, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." (Ps. 27: 4) and again, "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord." (Ps. 84) When the heart is established in the knowledge of God, it will assuredly love His house, whatever the Character of that house may be, whether it be Bethel, or the temple at Jerusalem, or the Church now composed of all true believers, "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." However, Jacob’s knowledge, both of God and His house, was very shallow, at that point in his history on which we are now dwelling.
We shall have occasion, again, to refer to some principles connected with Bethel; and shall, now, close our meditations upon this chapter, with a brief notice of Jacob’s bargain with God, so truly characteristic of him, and so demonstrative of the truth of the statement with respect to the shallowness of his knowledge of the divine character. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this may that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." Observe, "if God will be with me." Now, the Lord had just said, emphatically, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land," &c. And yet poor Jacob’s heart cannot get beyond an "if" nor, in its thoughts of God’s goodness, can it rise higher than "bread to eat, and raiment put on." Such were the thoughts of one who had just seen the magnificent vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with the Lord standing above, and promising an innumerable seed, and an everlasting possession. Jacob was evidently unable to enter into the reality and fullness of God’s thoughts. He measured God by Himself, and thus utterly failed to apprehend Him. In short, Jacob had not yet verily got to the end of himself; and hence he had not really begun with God.
"Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east." As we have just seen, in Gen. 28 Jacob utterly fails in the apprehension of God’s real character, and meets all the rich grace of Bethel with an "if" and a miserable bargain about food and raiment. We now follow him into a scene of thorough bargain-making. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is no possibility of escaping from this. Jacob had not yet found his true level in the presence of God; and, therefore, God uses circumstances to chasten and break him down.
This is the real secret of much, very much, of our sorrow and trial in the world. Our hearts have never been really broken before the Lord; we have never been self-judged and self-emptied; and hence, again and again, we, as it were, knock our heads against the wall. No one can really enjoy God until he has got to the bottom of self, and for this plain reason, that God has begun the display of Himself at the very point at which the end of flesh is seen. If, therefore, I have not reached the end of my flesh, in the deep and positive experience of my soul, it is morally impossible that I can have anything like a just apprehension of God’s character. But I must, in some way or other, be conducted to the true measure of nature. To accomplish this end, the Lord makes use of various agencies which, no matter what they are, are only effectual when used by Him for the purpose of disclosing, in our view, the true character of all that is in our hearts. How often do we find as in Jacob’s case, that even although the Lord may come near to us, and speak in our ears, yet we do not understand His voice, or take our true place in His presence. "The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not ..... How dreadful is this place!" Jacob learnt nothing by all this, and it, therefore, needed twenty years of terrible schooling, and that, too, in a school marvellously adapted to his flesh; and even that, as we shall see, was not sufficient to break him down.
However, it is remarkable to see how he gets back into an atmosphere so entirely suited to his moral constitution. The bargain-making Jacob, meets with the bargain-making Laban, and they are both seen, as it were, straining every nerve to outwit each other. Nor can we wonder at Laban, for he had never been at Bethel: he had seen no open heaven, with a ladder reaching from thence to earth; he had heard no magnificent promises from the lips of Jehovah, securing to him all the land of Canaan, with a countless seed: no marvel, therefore, that he should exhibit a grasping grovelling spirit; he had no other resource. It is useless to expect from worldly men ought but a worldly spirit, and worldly principles and ways; they have gotten nought superior; and you cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. But to find Jacob, after all he had seen and heard at Bethel, struggling with a man of the world, and endeavouring, by such means, to accumulate property, is peculiarly humbling.
And yet, alas! it is no uncommon thing to find the children of God thus forgetting their high destinies and heavenly inheritance, and descending into the arena with the children of this world, to struggle there for the riches and honours of a perishing, sin-stricken earth. Indeed, to such an extent is this true, in many instances, that it is often hard to trace a single evidence of that principle which St. John tells us "overcometh the world." Looking at Jacob and Laban, and judging of them upon natural principles, it would be hard to trace any difference. One should get behind the scenes, and enter into God’s thoughts about both, in order to see how widely they differed. But it was God that had made them to differ, not Jacob; and so it is now. Difficult as it may be to trace any difference between the children of light and the children of darkness, there is, nevertheless, a very wide difference indeed - a difference founded on the solemn fact that the former are "the vessels of mercy, which God has before prepared unto glory," while the latter are "the vessels of wrath, fitted (not by God, but by sin) to destruction." Rom 9: 22, 23)* This makes a very serious difference. The Jacobs and the Labans differ materially, and have differed, and will differ for ever, though the former may so sadly fail in the realization and practical exhibition of their true character and dignity.
{*It is deeply interesting to the spiritual mind to mark how sedulously the Spirit of God, in Rom. 9 and indeed throughout all scripture, guards against the horrid inference which the human mind draws from the doctrine of God’s election - when He speaks of "vessels of wrath," He simply says, "fitted to destruction." He does not say that God "fitted" them.
Whereas, on the other hand, when He refers to "the vessels of mercy" he says, "whom he had afore prepared unto glory." This is most marked.
If my reader will turn for a moment to Matt 25: 34-41, he will find another striking and beautiful instance of the same thing.
When the king addresses those on His right hand, he says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Verse 34) But when He addresses those on His left, He says, "Depart from me ye cursed." He does not say, "cursed of My Father." And, further, He says, "into everlasting fire, prepared," not for you, but "for the devil and his angels." (Verse 41)
In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared’ a kingdom of glory, and "vessels of mercy’ to inherit that kingdom; but He has not prepared" everlasting fire" for men, but for the "devil and his angels" nor has He fitted the "vessels of wrath," but they have fitted themselves.
The word of God as clearly establishes "election" as it sedulously guards against "reprobation." Everyone who finds himself in heaven will have to thank God for it; and everyone that finds himself in hell will have to thank himself.}
Now, in Jacob’s case, as set forth in the three chapters now before us, all his toiling and working, like his wretched bargain before, is the result of his ignorance of God’s grace, and his inability to put implicit confidence in God’s promise. The man that could say, after a most unqualified promise from God to give him the whole land of Canaan, "IF God will give me food to eat and raiment to put on," could have had but a very faint apprehension of who God was, or what His promise was either; and because of this, we see him seeking to do the best he can for himself. This is always the way when grace is not understood: the principles of grace may be professed, but the real measure of our experience of the power of grace is quite another thing. One would have imagined that Jacob’s vision had told him a tale of grace; but God’s revelation at Bethel, and Jacob’s actings at Haran, are two very different things; yet the latter tell out what was Jacob’s sense of the former. Character and conduct prove the real measure of the soul’s experience and conviction, whatever the profession may be. But Jacob had never yet been brought to measure himself in God’s presence, and therefore he was ignorant of grace, and he proved his ignorance by measuring himself with Laban, and adopting his maxims and ways.
One cannot help remarking the fact that inasmuch as Jacob failed to learn and judge the inherent character of his flesh before God, therefore he was, in the providence of God, led into the very sphere in which that character was fully exhibited in its broadest lines. He was conducted to Haran, the country of Laban and Rebekah, the very school from whence those principles, in which he was such a remarkable adept, had emanated, and where they were taught, exhibited, and maintained. If one wanted to learn what God was, he should go to Bethel; if to learn what man was, he should go to Haran. But Jacob had failed to take in God’s revelation of Himself at Bethel, and he therefore went to Haran, and there showed what he was - and oh, what scrambling and scraping! what shuffling and shifting! There is no holy and elevated confidence in God, no simply looking to and waiting on Him. True, God was with Jacob - for nothing can hinder the outshining of divine grace. Moreover, Jacob in a measure owns God’s presence and faithfulness. Still nothing can be done without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot allow God to settle the question as to his wives and his wages, but seeks to settle all by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn, for example, to Gen. 30: 37-42, and say where he can find a more masterly piece of cunning. It is verily a perfect picture of Jacob. In place of allowing God to multiply "the ringstraked, speckled, and spotted cattle," as be most assuredly could have done, had He been trusted, he sets about securing their multiplication by a piece of policy which could only have found its origin in the mind of a Jacob. So in all his actings, during his twenty years’ sojourn with Laban; and finally, he, most characteristically, "steals away," thus maintaining, in everything, his consistency with himself.
Now, it is in tracing out Jacob’s real character, from stage to stage of his extraordinary history, that one gets a wondrous view of divine grace. None but God could have borne with such an one, as none but God would have taken such an one up. Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in the full intelligence of what he is. It is of the very last importance to understand this feature of grace at one’s first starting; it enables us to bear, with steadiness of heart, the after discoveries of personal vileness, which so frequently shake the confidence and disturb, the peace of the children of God.
Many there are who, at first, fail in the full apprehension of the utter ruin of nature, as looked at in God’s presence, though their hearts have been attracted by the grace of God, and their consciences tranquillised, in some degree, by the application of the blood of Christ. Hence, as they get on in their course, they begin to make deeper discoveries of the evil within, and, being deficient in their apprehensions of God’s grace, and the extent and efficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, they immediately raise a question as to their being children of God at all. Thus they are taken off Christ, and thrown on themselves, and then they either betake themselves to ordinances, in order to keep up their tone of devotion, or else fall back into thorough worldliness and carnality. These are disastrous consequences, and all the result of not having "the heart established in grace."
It is this that renders the study of Jacob’s history so profoundly interesting and eminently useful. No one can read the three chapters now before us, and not be struck at the amazing grace that could take up such an one as Jacob, and not only take him up, but say, after the full discovery of all that was in him, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." (Num. 23: 21) He does not say that iniquity and perverseness were not in him. This would never give the heart confidence - the very thing, above all others, which God desires to give. It could never assure a poor sinner’s heart, to be told that there was no sin in him; for, alas! he knows too well there is; but to be told there is no sin on him, and that, moreover, in God’s sight, on the simple ground of Christ’s perfect sacrifice, must infallibly set his heart and conscience at rest. Had God taken up Esau, we should not have had, by any means, such a blessed display of grace; for this reason, that he does not appear before us in the unamiable light in which we see Jacob. The more man sinks, the more God’s grace rises. As my debt rises, in my estimation, from the fifty pence up to the five hundred, so my sense of grace rises also, my experience of that love which, when we "had nothing to pay, could "frankly forgive" us all. (Luke 7: 42) Well might the apostle say, "it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace: not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." (Heb. 13: 9)
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21 And he Jacob had now served twenty years with…
And he Jacob had now served twenty years with Laban, and must accordingly have been in his ninety-seventh or seventy-seventh year (Gen_27:1) heard the words of Laban"s sons, who were not at this time only small youths about fourteen years of ago (Delitzsch), since they were capable of being entrusted with their father"s flocks. (Gen_30:35) saying (probably in a conversation which had been over. heard by Jacob), Jacob hath taken away (by fraud is what they meant, an opinion in which Kalisch agrees; but it is not quite certain that Jacob was guilty of dishonesty in acting as he did) all that was our father"s; this was a manifest exaggeration; sed hoe morbo laborant sordidi et nimium tenaces, ut sibi ereptum esse putent quicquid non ingurgitant (Calvin) and of that which was our father"s hath he gotten (literally, made, in the sense of acquiring, as in Gen_12:5; 1Sa_14:48) all this glory. dwObK (from dbK to be heavy, hence to be great in the sense of honored, and also to be abundant) signifies either glory, splendor, renown, doxa (LXX), as in Job_14:21; or, what seems the preferable meaning here, wealth, riches, facultates (Vulgate) as Psa_49:13; Nah_2:10. The two ideas appear to be combined rov 2Co_4:17; ba doxhv (cf. Wordsworth, in loco).
Vers. 1-21.
Read full note →
Jacob"s flight from Laban.
I THE HOMEWARD DESIRE. The longing to revisit Canaan, which six years previously Laban"s exactions and Joseph"s birth (Gen_30:25) had combined to inspire within the heart of Jacob, returned upon him with an intensity that could no longer be resisted. Accelerated in its vehemence partly by the interposed delay to which it had been subjected, partly by his further acquaintance with the meanness and craft of his uncle, and partly by his own rapidly- accumulating wealth, it was now brought to a head by
1. The calumnious remarks of Labans sons. Inheriting the sordid and avaricious nature of their parent, they were filled with envy at the remarkable prosperity which had attended Jacob during the past six years. If good men are sometimes "envious at the foolish," it is not surprising that wicked men should occasionally begrudge the success of saints. Then from sinful desires they passed to wicked thoughts, accusing Jacob of having by superior craft out-maneuvered their designing father, and appropriated the flocks and herds that ought to have been his; which, however, was a manifest exaggeration, since Jacob bad not taken away all their father"s "glory," and an unjustifiable calumny, since it was not Jacob"s stratagem, but God"s blessing, that had multiplied the parti-colored flocks. And lastly, from wicked thoughts they advanced to evil words, not only accusing Jacob in their minds, but openly vilifying him with their tongues, adding to the sin of private slander that of public defamation conduct which the word of God severely reprehends. (Pro_30:10; Tit_3:2; Jam_4:11)
1. The manifest displeasure of Laban. During the fourteen years that Jacob kept the flocks for Rachel and Leah, Laban regarded him with e vide nt satisfaction; not perhaps for his own sake, but for the unprecedented increase in his (Laban"s) pastoral wealth which had taken place under Jacob"s fostering care. He was even disposed to be somewhat pious so long as the flocks and herds continued multiplying. (Gen_30:27) But now, when at the end of six years the relative positions of himself and Jacob are reversed, when Jacob is the rich man and he, comparatively speaking at least, the poor one, not only does his piety towards God disappear, but his civility towards man does not remain. There are many Labans in the Church, whose religion is but the shadow that waits upon the sun of their prosperity, and many Labans in the world, whose amiability towards others is only the reflection of their complacent feeling towards themselves.
2. The explicit command of God. Twenty years before, at Bethel, God had promised to bring Jacob back again to Canaan, and now he issues formal instructions to his servant to return. As really, though not as visibly and directly, God orders the footsteps of all his children. (Psa_32:8 Psa_37:23) If it is well not to run before God"s pro vide nce, as Jacob would have done had he returned to Canaan at the end of the fourteenth year, it is also well not to lag behind when that pro vide nce has been clearly made known. The assurance given to Jacob of guidance on his homeward journey is extended to all who, in their daily goings forth, obey the Divine instructions and follow the Divine leadings.
II THE CONFERENCE IN THE FIELD.
1. The explanation of Jacob. Three con- trusts complete the sum of Jacob"s announcements to his wives. First, between the growing displeasure of Laban their father and the manifest favor of the Elohim of his father (ver. 5); second, between the unwearied duplicity of their father, notwithstanding Jacob"s arduous service, and the ever-watchful protection of God against his injurious designs (vers. 6, 7); and third, between the diminishing herds of Laban and the multiplying flocks of himself, Jacob, both of which were traceable to Divine interposition (vers. 8, 10, 12). After enlarging on these contrasts, he informs them of the Divinely-given order to return (ver. 13).
2. The answer of Rachel and Leah. Acknowledging the mean and avaricious spirit of their father, who had not only sold them as slaves, but unjustly deprived them of the portions to which, as the daughters of a chieftain, they were entitled (vers. 14, 15), they first confess that Jacob"s wealth was nothing more than it would have been had they been honorably dowered at the first; second, recognize the hand of God in thus punishing their father and restoring to their husband what was practically his; and, third, encourage him to yield complete and prompt obedience to the Divine commandment (ver. 16).
III THE HASTY DEPARTURE. In this there were four things discernible.
1. Faith. In setting his face towards Canaan he was acting in obedience to Divine instructions; and respect unto God"s commandments is an essential characteristic of living faith.
2. Love. In determining "to go to Isaac his father" he was actuated by a true spirit of filial piety.
3. Wisdom. In stealing away unawares to Laban, while Laban was pro vide ntially detained at the sheep-shearing, there was commendable prudence, which, if possible, a good man should never lack.
4. Sin. Not indeed on Jacob"s part, but on that of Rachel, who, taking advantage of her father"s absence, carried off his Penates or household images.
Learn
1. That the love of country and friends is deeply implanted in the human breast.
2. That it is a great trial for worldly men to see good fortune go past their doors.
3. That the love of money, or the greed of gain, is the root of every kind of evil.
4. That the promises of God, however long delayed, are certain of fulfillment.
5. That loving husbands should consult their wives in all important steps in life.
6. That daughters should avoid speaking ill of parents, even should those parents deserve it.
7. That wives should always study to encourage their husbands in doing God"s will.
8. That those who flee from oppression should seek for safety in paths of God"s appointing.
9. That thriving and prosperous sons should not forget their parents in old age.
10. That daughters should not steal from their fathers, even to the extent of pilfering worthless images.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 13, 14, 17 And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the…
Gen_31:1-12
And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers
Read full note →
Jacobs departure for Canaan
I.
IT WAS HASTENED BY PERSECUTION.
II. IT WAS PROMPTED BY A SENSE OF OFFENDED JUSTICE.
III. IT WAS AT THE COMMAND OF GOD.
IV. IT ILLUSTRATES THE IMPERFECTIONS AS WELL AS THE VIRTUES OF JACOBS CHARACTER. (T. H. Leale.)
The stirring-up of the nest
Jacob was becoming too contented in that strange land. Like Ulysses and his crews, he was in danger of forgetting the land of his birth; the tents of his father; and the promises of which he was the heir. He was fast losing the pilgrim-spirit, and settled into a citizen of that far country. His mean and crafty arts to increase his wealth were honeycombing his spirit, and eating out his nobler nature, prostituting it to the meanest ends. His wives, infected with the idolatry of their fathers house, were in danger of corrupting the minds of his children; and how then would fare the holy seed, destined to give the world the messages of God? It was evident that his nest must be broken up in Haran; that he must be driven back into the pilgrim-life--to become a stranger and a sojourner, as his fathers were. And this was another step nearer the moment when he became an Israel, a prince with God.
I. THE SUMMONS TO DEPART. Whether there was voice audible to the outward ear I cannot tell; but there was certainly the uprising of a strong impulse within his heart. Sometimes on a sultry summer day we suddenly feel the breeze fanning our faces, and we say that the wind is rising; but we know not whence it comes, or whither it goes: so does the Spirit of God frequently visit us with strong and holy impulses. There is a Divine restlessness; a noble discontent; a hunger created in the heart, which will not be satisfied with the husks on which the swine feed. We cannot always understand ourselves; but it is the Lord saying to us, Arise and depart; for this is not your rest.
II. THE TENACITY OF CIRCUMSTANCES. When the pilgrim-spirit essays to obey the voice of God, the house is always filled with neighbours to dissuade from the rash resolve. As Christian ran, some mocked; others threatened; and some cried after him to return. There was something of this in Jacobs case. The bird-lime clung closely to him, as he began to plume his wings for his homeward flight. He was evidently afraid that his wives would hinder his return. It would have been natural if they had. Was it likely that they would at once consent to his proposal to tear them from their kindred and land? This fear may have greatly hindered Jacob. He at least thought it necessary to fortify himself with a quiverful of arguments, in order to carry his point. In those arguments we catch another glimpse of his cowardly and crafty nature. They are a strange medley of lies and cant and truth. He might have saved himself from all this, if he had only trusted God to roll away the stones from the path of obedience. For God had been at work before him; and had prepared their hearts, so that they at once assented to his plan, saying: We have no further ties to home; now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do? If we would only go forward in simple obedience, we should find that there would be no need for our diplomacy; He would go before us, making the crooked straight, and the rough smooth. In the endeavours of Laban to retain Jacob, we have a vivid picture of the eager energy with which the world would retain us, when we are about to turn away from it for ever. It pursues us, with all its allies, for seven days and more (Gen_31:23). It asks us why we are not content to abide with it (Gen_31:27). It professes its willingness to make our religion palatable, by mingling with it its own tabret and dance (Gen_31:27). It appeals to our feelings, and asks us not to be too cruel (Gen_31:28). It threatens us (Gen_31:29). It jeers us with our sudden compunction, after so many years of contentment with its company (Gen_31:30). It reproaches us with our inconsistency in making so much of our God, and yet harbouring some cunning sin. Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? (Gen_31:30). All, friends, how sad it is, when we, who profess so much, give occasion to our foes to sneer, because of the secret idols which they know we carry with us!
III. THE DIVINE CARE. Well might Jacob have thrilled with joy, as he said to his wives, The God of my father has been with me. When God is for us, and with us, who can be against us? Blessed is he who is environed by God, and for whom God fights. He must be more than a conqueror. So Jacob found it; and, at the end of his encounter with Laban, he was able to repeat his assurance, that the God of his father had been with him (Gen_31:42). (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
Jacob and Laban
I. JACOBS ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION AT HARAN.
1. Gods revelations of Himself, of His love and purposes, are incentives to action and encouragements to duty.
2. Notice the similarity and difference between Eliezers arrival at Haran and reception by Laban, and Jacobs.
(1) Both met the object of their quest as well.
(2) Laban welcomed Eliezer because of his presents, and sent Rebekah away with him. He welcomed Jacob as a kinsman, but, with keen foresight that he should not be a loser, practically enslaved the heir of Isaac.
II. THE LESSONS OF JACOBS SERVITUDE AND PROSPERITY AT HARAN
1. Even a wise custom is no justification of untruth or deceit (Gen_29:26).
2. There is a law of retribution and of compensation in life. Jacobs love for Rachel sweetened his servitude.
3. The danger of taking narrow views of life.
4. Faith is proved by patience rather than by retaliation (Gen_30:37-43).
5. The faithfulness of God is irrespective of mans desert.
III. JACOBS FLIGHT FROM HARAN, LABANS PURSUIT OF HIM, AND THE COVENANT WITH WHICH THEY SEPARATED.
1. Mutual distrust produces estrangement.
2. Suspicion leads to angry accusation and recrimination.
3. The use and misuse of solemn words (Gen_31:47-48). (A. F.Joscelyne, B. A.)
Lessons
1. Prosperity usually draweth on envy to the best of men.
2. It is no rare thing that the saints of God should hear ill of evil men for their best doings.
3. Slanderous tongues are usually to be found in the houses of the wicked.
4. Children are the natural heirs of parents corruptions; Labans sons have Labans heart.
5. Covetousness is discontented at any good that passeth unto others.
6. Heat of wicked youth is apt to break forth into railing upon the most upright.
7. Covetous, envious spirits transfer the blessing of God on His to base reproaches (Gen_31:1)
8. Old subtle sinners keep their tongues and vent their hatred in their looks.
9. As God changeth His providences from one to another, so the wicked change their carriages.
10. It is Christian prudence to observe the discontented and angry faces of wicked rulers.
11. Carnal respects from the wicked to the righteous are but momentary (Gen_31:2).
12. God sometimes useth the unjust carriages of wicked men to move His saints unto respect of Him.
13. God calleth His saints at last in His set time out of bondage to the wicked.
14. Gods call alone warrants souls as to leaving of their stations.
15. Gods gracious presence is ever with them, who are obedient to His call (Gen_31:3). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Gods call will put men upon honest endeavours to accomplish it.
2. It beseems godly husbands to communicate Gods will to their wives about household affairs.
3. Prudence imparts counsel in fittest places.
4. Sedulity in mens calling will not suffer them to lose time (Gen_31:4). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Just occasions of moving place may be urged by husbands to wives for their concurrence to and comfort in it.
2. Real and undeserved disrespects from men are justly to be complained of, though fathers.
3. The gracious presence of God with His innocent ones is enough to counterpoise the frowns of men.
4. It is rational to leave fathers with their unjust frowns, and follow God with His smiles (Gen_31:5). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. No fraud, lying, or deceit, come amiss to covetous worldly spirits for their own ends.
2. Multiplied falsehoods and oppressions are usual with wicked men, to oppress the innocent and to help themselves.
3. The greatest service is of no account with wicked worldly men.
4. Safe are those faithful ones who are taken into Gods charge.
5. Men may invent many ways to hurt the righteous, but God giveth them not up to their hand (Gen_31:7).
6. Gods power and justice turneth the very purposes of the wicked to His saints good and their evil.
7. The subtlety of man can never prevent the power and wisdom of God (Gen_31:8). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence orders the best seasons of comforting His servants against their fears.
2. Saints must take their comforts in the way wherein God will impart them. In dreams, if God will.
3. The saints have real proof of Gods care of them, and goodness in suiting to them their consolations (Gen_31:10).
4. God alone is the comforter of His people.
5. God calls by name to poor souls, in application of comfort, to prepare them thereunto.
6. Gods servants answer at His call to receive His consolations (Gen_31:11).
7. God showeth His afflicted ones the way of His consolations for their support.
8. Gods observation of the oppressions of men cannot but stir Him up to work His saints relief (Gen_31:12). (G. Hughes, B. D. )
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Gen_31:7. Changed my wages ten times.] Probably to be…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_31:7. Changed my wages ten times.] Probably to be understood as a round number, meaning any number of times—as often as he could. The expression “ten times” is used for frequently, in Num_14:22, and in other passages.—
Read full note →
Gen_31:11. The Angel of God.] This is, as elsewhere, the angel or messenger who speaks in the person of God himself. (Gen_31:13).
Gen_31:19. Images.] Heb. 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 teraphim were symbols or representatives of the deity. They seem to have been busts of the human form, sometimes as large as life. (1Sa_19:13.) The employment of them in the worship of God which Laban seems to have inherited from his fathers (Jos_24:2), is denounced as idolatry (1Sa_15:23); and hence they are classed with the idols and other abominations put away by Josiah. (2Ki_23:24.) (Murphy.)—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_31:1-21
JACOB’S DEPARTURE FOR CANAAN
I. It was hastened by persecution. Laban’s sons began to envy the prosperity of Jacob. They are sure that his riches have come out of their father’s estate, and suggest that he has employed unfair means. (Gen_31:1.) Such is that spirit of envy which cannot bear to see another thrive. Laban was also of the same mind as his sons, and his conduct towards Jacob had become quite altered. (Gen_31:2.) Jacob foresaw the coming storm of persecution, and made up his mind to avoid it by flight.
II. It was prompted by a sense of offended justice. Jacob consults with his wives upon the situation of his affairs, complains of their father’s unjust treatment and of his changed manner towards himself. He had served their father faithfully for many years, and yet he had often been deceived and defrauded in the matter of wages. (Gen_31:17.) Laban had agreed to a bargain, and now is displeased at the result. Jacob ascribes his prosperity, not to himself alone, but to God. (Gen_31:9.) His wives agree that Jacob’s cause is just. They confess that their father had treated them shamefully. They were little better than slaves. (Gen_31:14-16.) These continued acts of injustice could be tolerated no longer. Jacob’s righteous soul must rise up against this unjust oppression and shake it off.
III. It was at the command of God. There were prudential reasons why Jacob should suddenly quit the service of his uncle, but he justifies his conduct by alleging that he was acting by the express command of God. (Gen_31:13.) The Lord was making good his old promise “to be with Jacob, and keep him in all places whither he went.” The time arrives when the word of God becomes to us more than a general promise or command, when it summons us to some special duty. Jacob’s way was now plain, as he had clear divine direction. By this command of God it was intended to make Jacob feel that he was but a stranger and pilgrim here, and that this world was not his rest. Trials are sent to us so that we may not make this world our home. They are to us the voice of God telling us that here “we have no continuing city.”
IV. It illustrates the imperfections as well as the virtues of Jacob’s character. It was right in Jacob to avoid persecution by flight, to feel keenly the injustice done to him, and above all to obey the command of God that he should return to his kindred. But in carrying out these high principles of duty, Jacob reveals the inherent faults of his character. He “stole away unawares.” (Gen_31:20.) He practises his wily arts, as of old, pretending all the while as if he would remain, when he knew that he had arranged for sudden flight. The assertion of his own rights was, regarded in itself, noble, and yet it is marred by deceit. God’s commandment is good, but man’s obedience is marked by many flaws.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_31:1. How often what a man hears said of him determines his course in life! This was probably a report to him of what his cousins had said, as they were three days’ journey distant. They were dissatisfied with Jacob’s large share of the flocks, and no wonder. He had gotten so much of their father’s property, and all with nothing of his own to start with, that they are incensed, and intimate that there must be the overreaching of Jacob in it all.—(Jacobus.)
All this glory. That is, all this wealth, which easily begets glory; and goes, therefore, joined with it. (Pro_3:16; Pro_8:18.) This regina pecunia doth all, and hath all, here below, saith Solomon, (Ecc_10:19.) Money beareth the mastery, and is the monarch of this world.—(Trapp.)
Gen_31:2. As the wicked have no peace with God, so the godly have no peace with men; for if they prosper not they are despised, if they prosper they are envied.—(Bp. Hall.)
He said little, for shame, but thought the more, and could not so conceal his discontent, but that it appeared in his lowering looks. And this was plain to Jacob by his countenance, which had been friendly, smooth, and smiling, but now he was cloudy, sad, spiteful. The young men could not hold or hide what was in their heart, but blurted it out and spake their minds freely. This old fox held his tongue, but could not keep his countenance.—(Trapp.)
Gen_31:3. Like a watchful friend at his right hand, the Lord observes his treatment, and warns him to depart. In all our removals it becomes us to act as that we may hope for the Divine presence and blessing to attend us; else, though we may flee from one trouble, we shall fall into many, and be less able to endure them.—(Fuller.)
Laban’s frowns were a grief to Jacob; the Lord calls upon him, therefore, to look homeward. Let the world’s affronts, and the change of men’s countenances, drive us to Him who changeth not; and mind us of heaven where is a perpetual serenity and sweetness.—(Trapp.)
To the godly, all the changes and afflictions of life are Divine calls to the true home of their souls.
Gen_31:4. He called his wives, the daughters of Laban, and explained to them the whole case, and appeals to their knowledge of the facts, and declares the favour of God towards him. Observe—
(1.) The case is clear for his return when God so commands.
(2.) He shows himself to be a kind and faithful husband.—(Jacobus.)
He sends for his wives into the field, where he might converse with them freely on the subject, without danger of being overheard. Had they been servants, it would have been sufficient to have imparted to them his will; but, being wives, they require a different treatment. There is an authority which Scripture and nature give the man over the woman; but everyone who deserves the name of a man will exercise it with a gentleness and kindness that shall render it pleasant rather than burdensome. He will consult with her as a friend, and satisfy her by giving the reasons of his conduct. Thus did Jacob to both his wives, who by such conduct forgot the differences between themselves, and cheerfully cast in their lot with him.—(Fuller.)
Gen_31:5. This is the world’s wages. All Jacob’s good service is now forgotten. Do an unthankful person nineteen kindnesses, unless you add the twentieth all is lost. “Very rarely grateful men are found,” saith Cicero. “No one writes a benefit in the calendar,” saith Seneca.—(Trapp.)
It is wisely ordered that the countenance shall, in most cases, be an index to the heart; else there would be much more deception in the world than there is. Sullen silence is often less tolerable than contention itself, because the latter, painful as it is, affords opportunity for mutual explanation. But while Jacob had to complain of Laban’s cloudy countenance, he could add, “The God of my father hath been with me.” The smiles of God are the best support under the frowns of men. If we walk in the light of His countenance we need not fear what man can do unto us.—(Bush.)
Gen_31:6-7. How often men reprove in others the very wrong of which they are guilty themselves. Often God punishes sin in kind, allowing the deceiver to be deceived.—(Jacobus.)
Laban, the churl, the richer he grew by him, the harder he was to him; like children with mouthfuls and handfuls, who will yet rather spoil all, than part with any. It is the love, not the lack of money that makes men churls.—(Trapp).
Gen_31:8-10. Jacob, we are to remember, left his hire 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 ineffectual when his wages were changed. Hence he says, God took the cattle and gave them to me. (Murphy).
Gen_31:11-13. When at Bethel, the Lord said, I am Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. He might have said the same now; but it was His pleasure to direct the attention of His servant to the last, and to him the most interesting of His manifestations. By giving him hold of the last link in the chain, he would be in possession of the whole. In directing Jacob’s thoughts to the vision at Bethel, the Lord reminds him of those solemn acts of his own, by which he had at that time devoted himself. It is not only necessary that we be reminded of God’s promises for our support in troubles, but of our own solemn engagements, so that in all our movements we may keep the end in view for which we live. The object of the vow was, that Jehovah should be his God; and whenever he should return, that stone should be God’s house. And now that the Lord commands him to return, He reminds him of his vow. He must not go to Canaan with a view to promote his own temporal interest, but to introduce the knowledge and worship of the true God. This was the great end which Jehovah had in view in all that he did for Abraham’s posterity, and they must never lose sight of it.—(Fuller.)
Gen_31:14. By “portion” is to be understood such voluntary gifts and presents as he might be induced to make to them; and by “inheritance,” that to which they might expect to succeed by law or common usage.—(Bush.)
Gen_31:15. Instead of dealing with us as daughters, disposing of us with honourable dowries, he has bargained us away like slaves, and applied the proceeds to his own use, instead of bestowing any portion of it upon us.
The “selling” was Laban’s compact with Jacob for fourteen years’ service. As this service was in lieu of a dowry, which would naturally have accrued to the wives as a right, they jointly complain of being excluded from all participation in the avails of it. Their crimination of their father is not to be reckoned a breach of filial reverence, for they are not traducing him in the presence of strangers, but merely stating the reason which justified them to their own consciences in leaving him.—(Bush.)
Gen_31:16. As to their acknowledging the hand of God in giving their father’s riches to their husband, this is no more than is often seen in the most selfish characters, who can easily admire the Divine providence when it goes in their favour.—(Fuller.)
Gen_31:17-18. The people in the East prepare for an entire removal with great expedition. In a quarter of the time which it would take a poor family in England to get the furniture of a single room ready for removal, the tents of a large encampment will have been struck, and, together with all the movables and provisions, packed away upon the backs of camels, mules, or asses; and the whole party will be on its way, leaving, to use an expression of their own, not a halter nor a rag behind.—(Bush.)
Gen_31:19-21. It is not the business of Scripture to acquaint us with the kinds and characteristics of false worship. Hence we know little of the teraphim, except they were employed by those who professed to worship the true God. Rachel had a lingering attachment to these objects of her family’s superstitious reverence, and 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.
It is hardly probable that Rachel intended, by a pious and fanatical theft, to free her father from idolatry, for then she would have thrown the images away. She appears to have stolen them with the superstitious idea that she would prevent her father from consulting them as oracles, and under their guidance from overtaking and destroying Jacob. She attributed to the images a certain magical, though not religious, power (perhaps as oracles). The very lowest and most degrading supposition is that she took the images, often overlaid with silver, or precious metals, from mercenary motives. Jacob himself had at first a low rather than a strict conscience in regard to these images (Ch. Gen_35:2), but the stricter view prevails since the time of Moses. (Exodus 20; Jos_24:2; Jos_24:14.) The tendency was always hurtful, and they were ultimately rooted out from Israel. Laban had lapsed into a more corrupt form of religion, and his daughters had not escaped the infection.—(Lange.)
It is not a chance that we meet here in the idols of Laban the earliest traces of idolatry in the Old World, although they had doubtless existed elsewhere much earlier and in a proper form. We can see how Polytheism gradually developed itself out of the symbolic image worship of Monotheism. (Rom_1:23.) Moreover, the teraphim are estimated entirely from a theocratic point of view. They could be stolen as other household furniture (have eyes but see not). They could be hidden under a camel’s saddle. They are a contemptible nonentity, which can render no assistance. The zeal for gods and idols is always fanatical.—(Lange.)
The teraphim were used for two reasons: first for the purposes of divination and fortune telling; but secondly for the deeper reason of the inseparable tendency in human nature to worship God under a form. Wherein lay the guilt of this? Not in worshipping God under a form, for we cannot worship Him otherwise; but in this—that the form was necessarily inadequate and false, and therefore gave a false conception of God. There are but two forms in which we, as Christians, are allowed to worship God; to worship Him through the universe, and through the humanity of Jesus Christ.—(Robertson.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Jacob's Return from Haran
Jacob's Return from Haran
4-13. Jacob attributes his prosperity to God's favour.
Read full note →
14-16. Rachel and Leah point out that their father had no claim on them, since Jacob had won them by his services, and Laban had given them no share in the profits he had made through their husband's labours. They agree to leave their home.
19. The images] Heb. teraphim. These were figures of metal, wood, or clay of varying sizes, apparently in human form. They probably answered to the 'Lares and Penates,' or household gods of the Romans, which were supposed to ward off danger from the home and to bring luck. This would explain Rachel's reason for stealing them. Laban speaks of them as 'my gods' in Gen_31:30. There is an, interesting reference to them in 1Sa_19:13, 1Sa_19:16. From Eze_21:21; RV it is clear they were connected with magic and soothsaying. It has been suggested that in some cases the teraphim were mummied human heads, perhaps of ancestors, and were consulted in some way as an oracle. Whatever they were, it is not probable that their possession by the Jews interfered seriously with belief in and worship of God, though we find their use rightly denounced as superstitious. The following passages refer to the teraphim: Jdg_17:5; 1Sa_15:23; RV 2Ki_23:24; RV Hos_3:4; Zec_10:2 RV. Payne Smith remarks on 'the tendency of uneducated minds, even when their religion is in the main true, to add to it some superstitions, especially in the way of fashioning for themselves some lower mediator.'
21. The river] the Euphrates. Gilead] Hebrew territory E. of the Jordan.
24. Either good or bad] cp. Gen_24:50. God warns Laban to restrain his feelings.
27. Tabret] i.e. 'tambourine.'
30. My gods] see on Gen_31:19.
34. The camel's furniture] a sort of palanquin or basket-seat bound upon the camel.
40. Frost by night] Hot as the days are in the East, it often becomes very cold when the sun goes down.
42. The fear of Isaac] the God whom Isaac feared and reverenced.
43–52. Laban and Jacob conclude a covenant of friendship. 'The narrative.. is disconnected, and full of duplications, and is certainly the result of a union of several sources' (D.). The main features are the erection of a great stone as a memorial pillar by Jacob, and the collection of a heap of stones on which the covenant meal was held: cp. Gen_26:30. The cairn of stones and pillar were erected as witnesses to Jacob's promise that he would not ill-treat Laban's daughters, and to an agreement pledging both Jacob and Laban to regard Mt. Gilead as a boundary which neither must cross with hostile motives. The narrative was of special interest in after times as the original settlement of the border between Israel and Syria (represented by Jacob and Laban).
47. Jegar-sahadutha. Galeed] We have here the popular etymology of the name Gilead. Both words in the text mean 'heap of witness,' the former being Aramaic, the latter Hebrew. The double designation is due to the fact that the place is regarded as a boundary between Syria and Israel. It may be remarked here that Hebrew is but one branch of a great family of languages spoken in Western Asia between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, to which the general name of Semitic is applied. This is usually divided into (1) the South Semitic, which includes Arabic, classical and modern, and Ethiopie; and (2) the North Semitic. The latter again comprises three main branches, viz. (a) Assyrian-Babylonian in the East, the language of the cuneiform inscriptions; (b) Aramaic, in the northern parts of Mesopotamia and Syria; it is to this dialect, incorrectly styled Chaldee, that the first name in the text belongs, and in it certain parts of Ezra and Daniel are written. From Isa_36:11 we gather that it was used as the diplomatic language in the 8th cent. b.c.; and it ultimately took the place of Hebrew as the language of Palestine. The language of the Jewish Targums is a form of Aramaic, and so too is Syriac. The third branch of the North Semitic language is (c) the Canaanitic, which comprises Hebrew, and closely connected with it, Phœnician or Punic. From this table it appears that Abraham coming from the East would find in Canaan a dialect very closely akin to that with which he was familiar, and that he (or his descendants) adopted it. In all probability his native dialect was Aramaic, spoken at Haran in Mesopotamia. Or he may have spoken the language of Assyria, which, as the Tel el A marna tablets show, was the official language of communication between Palestine and Egypt in the 15th cent. b.c.
49. Mizpah] 'Outlook place.'
54. Did eat bread] in token of friendship.
55. It is pleasant to read of this happy ending to years of strife.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 See note, (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
See note, (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 31 Jacob’s Servitude Ended and Flight from Laban
CHAPTER 31 Jacob’s Servitude Ended and Flight from Laban
1. Laban’s behavior and God’s commandment (Gen 31:1-10)
Read full note →
2. The dream vision to return to the land (Gen 31:11-16)
3. Jacob’s flight (Gen 31:17-21)
4. Laban warned (Gen 31:22-24)
5. Laban’s accusation (Gen 31:25-30)
6. Jacob’s answer (Gen 31:31-42)
7. The covenant between Jacob and Laban (Gen 31:43-55)
The twenty years had expired. Laban’s hatred and the hatred of his sons had increased. When the crisis had been reached the voice of Jehovah was heard. “Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.” This is the first time Jehovah spoke since the vision at Bethel. Jacob then laid the matter before his wives and relates a dream in which the angel of the Lord had spoken to him. What comfort it must have been for him to hear “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” The Lord watched over Jacob and though Laban hated him Jacob prospered. So Israel in the dispersion, hated by the Gentiles, increases and prospers.
Rachel and Leah consented to flee and Jacob departs with his great wealth, his cattle and his goods. Soon Laban pursued and overtook Jacob. God warned the Syrian to beware how he treated Jacob. It seems that the main reason of the pursuit was the teraphim (household gods) which Rachel had stolen and which Laban wanted to recover. Idolatry was practiced in the household of Laban, though he used the name of Jehovah (Gen 31:49). The dialogue between Jacob and Laban is intensely interesting.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 17 The Plan to Flee
The Plan to Flee
v. 1. 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. That was the voice of envy, which begrudged Jacob the obvious blessing of God, incidentally revealing a very ugly suspicion, as is customary in such cases.
Read full note →
v. 2. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. Laban no longer concealed his selfishness and covetousness, with the resulting ill will against Jacob.
v. 3. And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. Canaan was the land of Jacob’s fathers, Gen 17:8; Gen 26:3; there lived his nearest relatives. The Lord therefore not only bade him return, but also assured him of His protection.
v. 4. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,
v. 5. and said unto them, I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before. Yesterday and the day before, in the first years of Jacob’s service, the gain which Jacob brought him had caused Laban to be kind enough, but now envy had taken possession of his heart also, together with covetousness. But the God of my father hath been with me; the God whom Isaac, his father, had worshiped, who had revealed Himself in mercy and with the promise of His blessing upon Jacob.
v. 6. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. As Jacob had emphasized his faithfulness over against Laban, Gen 30:30-33, so he could truthfully point to it in the presence of Laban’s daughters, his wives.
v. 7. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times. This puts another ugly blot upon Laban’s character, for as the contract was made, Gen 30:34, no changes were looked for. Yet Laban had frequently and in an arbitrary manner altered its provisions in favor of himself. But God suffered him not to hurt me, neither in body nor in goods.
v. 8. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled; and if he said thus, The ring-straked (banded) shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ring-straked. When Laban noted that his cattle were bearing in favor of Jacob, according to the original contract, he changed the stipulation from time to time, making it ever more difficult for Jacob to gain, since the provisions were narrowed more with every new agreement.
v. 9. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. Jacob thus confesses and acknowledges with thankfulness that it was the Lord who had watched over his interests, turned the evil intention in his favor, and multiplied that part of the flock which was set apart for his wages.
v. 10. And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-straked, speckled, and grisled (dappled). It was, accordingly, the dispensation of God which had governed the increase of Jacob’s flocks, without which even the keenest business sagacity would have availed him nothing.
v. 11. And the Angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob; and I said, Here am I. This is again the Angel of the Lord in a special sense, Jehovah, the Son of God, as He often revealed Himself to His children in the Old Testament.
v. 12. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-straked, speckled, and grisled; for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Apparently Jacob had had a number of visions in the course of the six years, the Lord indicating to him that He was looking out for his interests, but the climax had come in the recent dream.
v. 13. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto Me. The Angel of the Lord was identical with the God of Bethel, with the God who revealed Himself at Bethel as exalted above the angels. Jacob had confessed his faith in the true God both by consecrating the place at Bethel and by making his earnest vow. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. Jacob thus urged not only the envy and injustice of Laban, but the direct command of God as well, for their immediate flight.
v. 14. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Laban’s treatment of his daughters made it appear that he was glad to get rid of them.
v. 15. Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. Laban’s conduct toward his daughters made it seem that he considered them sold to Jacob for the fourteen years’ service. And not only that, but the very price, the very money that their services were worth to him, he retained for himself; he devoured their very substance, wherein they received no share.
v. 16. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours and our children’s; now, then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. Laban is an example of a covetous, hard-hearted, and tyrannical man, who has only his own advantage in mind and considers no one else’s rights. It is from people of this stamp that pious, faithful men are obliged to endure much suffering. But God watches over His children and will permit no harm to strike them without His permission.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19 This word is used here to mark a break…
Now
This word is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here the author starts to tell a new part of the story.
Read full note →
Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, that they said
"Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying"
Jacob has taken away all that was our father's
Laban's sons were exaggerating because they were angry. AT: "Everything that Jacob has taken belonged to our father" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
Jacob saw the look on Laban's face. He saw that his attitude toward him had changed
These two sentences mean basically the same thing. The second explains the look that Jacob saw on Laban's face. AT: "Jacob noticed that Laban was no longer pleased with him" (See: Parallelism)
your fathers
"your father Isaac and your grandfather Abraham"
translationWords
Jacob
Laban
possess
Yahweh
ancestor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4, 14, 17, 19, 21 31:1-21 Jacob’s return journey precipitated a confrontation with Laban…
31:1-21 Jacob’s return journey precipitated a confrontation with Laban that set a permanent boundary between Israel (Jacob) and Aram (Laban). God kept his word to Jacob by prospering him in Paddan-aram and protecting him on his journey home.
31:1-2 The animosity of Laban’s sons against Jacob grew because his flocks were multiplying faster than Laban’s. They were jealous of God’s blessing on Jacob and afraid that he would completely overrun them.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.