14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?15Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.16For 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.”
17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,18and 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.19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
14 Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15 Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.
16 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.”
17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,
18 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.
19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
KJVKing James Version
14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
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.
17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;
18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods 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.
19 And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him: 'Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
15 Are we not accounted by him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our price.
16 For all the riches which God hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.'
17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;
18 and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan.
19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.
Is it always wrong to steal?The Decalogue and its echoes across the Torah, Gospels, and Epistles absolutize the prohibition on stealing, yet Genesis 31:19 reports without condemnation tha…
1 Samuel 19:13(v19)Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes.
Genesis 31:30(v19)Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”
Hosea 3:4(v19)For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and…
Genesis 35:2(v19)Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change…
Ezekiel 21:21(v19)For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and…
Show all 31 cross-references
Genesis 29:15-20(v15)Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?” Laban had…
Genesis 2:24(v14)Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
Genesis 31:32(v19)Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know…
Genesis 31:34(v19)Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them.
Judges 17:4-5(v19)When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a carved…
Judges 18:14-24(v19)Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there is in these houses…
Ruth 4:11(v14)All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like…
Genesis 24:10(v17)The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to…
Genesis 24:61(v17)Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
Genesis 27:1-2(v18)When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to…
Genesis 27:41(v18)Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are…
Genesis 28:21(v18)so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God,
Genesis 29:24(v14)Laban gave Zilpah his servant to his daughter Leah for a servant.
Genesis 29:27-30(v15)Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me for seven more years.” Jacob…
Genesis 29:29(v14)Laban gave Bilhah, his servant, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.
Genesis 30:26(v15)Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.”
Genesis 30:35–31:1(v16)That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that…
Genesis 31:9(v16)Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.
Genesis 31:41(v15)These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you…
Genesis 35:27-29(v18)Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. The days of Isaac…
Exodus 21:7-11(v15)“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. If she doesn’t please her master, who…
Joshua 24:2(v19)Joshua said to all the people, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father…
Judges 18:31(v19)So they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was in Shiloh.
1 Samuel 30:17(v17)David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young…
Nehemiah 5:8(v15)I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your…
Psalms 45:10(v16)Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16, 17, 1914. And Rachel and Leah answered. Here we perceive…
14. And Rachel and Leah answered. Here we perceive that to be fulfilled which Paul teaches, that all things work together for good to the children of God. (Romans 8:28.) For since the wives of Jacob had been unjustly treated by their father, they so far act in opposition to the natural tenderness of their sex, that at the desire of their husband, they become willing to follow him into a distant and unknown region. Therefore, if Jacob is compelled to take many and very bitter draughts of grief, he is now cheered by the most satisfying compensation, that his wives are not separated from him by their attachment to their father’s house: but rather, being overcome by the irksome nature of their sufferings, they earnestly undertake to join him in his flight. “There is nothing,” they say, “which should cause us to remain with our father; for daughters adhere to their fathers, because they are esteemed members of his family; but what a cruel rejection is this, not only that he has passed us off without dowry, but that he has set us to sale, and has devoured the price for which he sold us?” By the word money (Genesis 31:15), I understand the price of sale. For they complain that, at least, they had not received, instead of dowry, the profit which had been unjustly extorted from their husband, but this gain also had been unjustly suppressed by their covetous father. Therefore the particle גם(gam) is inserted, which is used for the purpose of amplification among the Hebrews. For this increased not a little the meanness of Laban, that, as an insatiable whirlpool, he had absorbed the gain acquired by this most dishonorable traffic. And it is to be noted, that they were then devoted to their husband, and were therefore free to depart from their father; especially since they knew that the hand of God was stretched out to them. There is also no doubt, seeing they were persuaded that Jacob was a faithful prophet of God, but that they freely embraced the heavenly oracle from his mouth; for at the close of their reply, they show that they did not so much yield to his wish as to the command of God.
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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv15, 19For they were given to Jacob in recompence of…
For they were given to Jacob in recompence of his service, which was a kind of sale.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv14–19Gen 31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said…
Gen 31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, [Is there] yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
Ver. 14. Is there yet any portion,] q.d., We have all we are like to have. In setting forth their father’s ill usage of them, they offend not in some respect - viz., in that they speak the truth. Only herein they were to blame, that they speak the truth with more passion, and with less respect to their father than was fit.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv14, 15, 16, 19We can expect no further benefit from him, but…
We can expect no further benefit from him, but deceit, and oppression, and injury, and therefore are willing to leave him. This was the fruit of his unnatural and unworthy carriage to them, that it did eat out their natural affection to him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v17Here is, I. Jacob's flight from Laban. We may…
Here is, I. Jacob's flight from Laban. We may suppose he had been long considering of it, and casting about in his mind respecting it; but when now, at last, God had given him positive orders to go, he made no delay, nor was he disobedient to the heavenly vision. The first opportunity that offered itself he laid hold of, when Laban was shearing his sheep (Gen 31:19), that part of his flock which was in the hands of his sons three days' journey off. Now, 1. It is certain that it was lawful for Jacob to leave his service suddenly, without giving a quarter's warning. It was not only justified by the particular instructions God gave him, but warranted by the fundamental law of self-preservation, which directs us, when we are in danger, to shift for our own safety, as far as we can do it without wronging our consciences. 2. It was his prudence to steal away unawares to Laban, lest, if Laban had known, he should have hindered him or plundered him. 3. It was honestly done to take no more than his own with him, the cattle of his getting, Gen 31:18. He took what Providence gave him, and was content with that, and would not take the repair of his damages into his own hands. Yet Rachel was not so honest as her husband; she stole her father's images (Gen 31:19) and carried them away with her. The Hebrew calls them teraphiam. Some think they were only little representations of the ancestors of the family, in statues or pictures, which Rachel had a particular fondness for, and was desirous to have with her, now that she was going into another country. It should rather seem that they were images for a religious use, penates, household-gods, either worshipped or consulted as oracles; and we are willing to hope (with bishop Patrick) that she took them away not out of covetousness of the rich metal they were made of, much less for her own use, or out of any superstitious fear lest Laban, by consulting his teraphim, might know which way they had gone (Jacob, no doubt, dwelt with his wives as a man of knowledge, and they were better taught than so), but out of a design hereby to convince her father of the folly of his regard to those as gods which could not secure themselves, Isa 46:1, Isa 46:2.
II. Laban's pursuit of Jacob. Tidings were brought him, on the third day, that Jacob had fled; he immediately raises the whole clan, takes his brethren, that is, the relations of his family, that were all in his interests, and pursues Jacob (as Pharaoh and his Egyptians afterwards pursued the seed of Jacob), to bring him back into bondage again, or with design to strip him of what he had. Seven days' journey he marched in pursuit of him, Gen 31:23. He would not have taken half the pains to have visited his best friends. But the truth is bad men will do more to serve their sinful passions than good men will to serve their just affections, and are more vehement in their anger than in their love. Well, at length Laban, overtook him, and the very night before he came up with him God interposed in the quarrel, rebuked Laban and sheltered Jacob, charging Laban not to speak unto him either good or bad (Gen 31:24), that is, to say nothing against his going on with his journey, for that it proceeded from the Lord. The same Hebraism we have, Gen 24:50. Laban, during his seven day's march, had been full of rage against Jacob, and was now full of hopes that his lust should be satisfied upon him (Exo 15:9); but God comes to him, and with one word ties his hands, though he does not turn his heart. Note, 1. In a dream, and in slumberings upon the bed, God has ways of opening the ears of men, and sealing their instruction, Job 33:15, Job 33:16. Thus he admonishes men by their consciences, in secret whispers, which the man of wisdom will hear and heed. 2. The safety of good men is very much owing to the hold God has of the consciences of bad men and the access he has to them. 3. God sometimes appears wonderfully for the deliverance of his people when they are upon the very brink of ruin. The Jews were saved from Haman's plot when the king's decree drew hear to be put in execution, Est 9:1.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv14–19Are we not accounted of him strangers?.... He had…
Are we not accounted of him strangers?.... He had not treated them as children, nor even as freeborn persons; but as if they were foreigners that he had taken in war, or bought of others; or at least, that they were born bondmaids in his house, and so had a right to sell them as he had:
for he hath sold us; he had sold them to Jacob for fourteen years' service, as if they had been his slaves, instead of giving dowries with them as his children:
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and hath quite devoured also our money; that which he got by the servitude of Jacob, instead of giving it to them as their portion; he spent it on himself and his sons, and there was nothing left for them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv16, 19Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had…
Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had passed over from Laban to him as his wages, they look upon it as their portions; so that both ways God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv15, 19Verse 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?]…
Verse 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?] Rachel and Leah, who well knew the disposition of their father, gave him here his true character. He has treated us as strangers - as slaves whom he had a right to dispose of as he pleased; in consequence, he hath sold us - disposed of us on the mere principle of gaining by the sale.
And hath quite devoured also our money.] Has applied to his own use the profits of the sale, and has allowed us neither portion nor inheritance.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv14, 19Gen 31:14-15. Is there any portion — Any hope…
Gen 31:14-15. Is there any portion — Any hope of benefit; for us in our father’s house? — They both agree in acknowledging that his behaviour had been extremely ungenerous and sordid, even to them, his own children. Are we not counted of him strangers? — Dealt with as strangers, rather than children: for he hath sold us — To thee for fourteen years’ service. And hath quite devoured (wholly converted to his own use) our money — That which in equity was due to us for our portions, and for our husband’s service. Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had transferred from Laban to him as his wages, they look upon it as their portions; so that, both ways, God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv15, 18, 19Eaten up. Laban kept for himself the dowry paid…
Eaten up. Laban kept for himself the dowry paid by Jacob for his wives, though he ought to have allotted it to them, with the addition of something more, in proportion to his immense wealth. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv14, 17, 18Rachel and Leah answered--Having heard his views, they expressed…
Rachel and Leah answered--Having heard his views, they expressed their entire approval; and from grievances of their own, they were fully as desirous of a separation as himself. They display not only conjugal affection, but piety in following the course described--"whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do" [Gen 31:16]. "Those that are really their husbands' helpmeets will never be their hindrances in doing that to which God calls them" [HENRY].
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 1915. Counted of him strangers — Rachel and Leah…
15. Counted of him strangers — Rachel and Leah both readily sympathize with their husband as against their father, and look upon Laban’s dealings as narrow, unfatherly, and unworthy of him. The last twenty years had largely alienated them from their father’s house.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv14, 15, 1914. Is there yet] i.e. “we have no reason…
14. Is there yet] i.e. “we have no reason any longer to expect.” Leah and Rachel had both been alienated from their father by his disregard of their feelings and by his mean grasping policy.
portion or inheritance] A proverbial phrase: see 2Sa_20:1; 1Ki_12:16.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 19(15) He hath sold us.—There is a marked asperity…
(15) He hath sold us.—There is a marked asperity towards their father in the answer of Jacob’s wives, and not only the petted Rachel but the neglected Leah joins in it. Now, though his sale of them to Jacob had been more open than Oriental good manners usually allowed, and though he seems to have acted meanly in giving no portion with them, yet these were old sores, long since healed and forgiven. Laban must have been stingy, grasping, and over-reaching in recent times, to have kept the memory of old wrongs so fresh in the minds of his daughters.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv14, 17, 19And Rachel and Leah (vide on ver. 4) answered…
And Rachel and Leah (vide on ver. 4) answered and said unto him (Kalisch overdoes his attempt to blacken Jacob"s character and whitewash Laban"s when he says that Rachel and Leah were so entirely under their husband s influence that they spoke about their father with severity and boldness bordering on disrespect." It rather seems to speak badly for Laban that his daughters eventually rose in protest against his heartless cruelty and insatiable greed), Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father"s house? The interrogative particle indicates a spirited inquiry, to which a negative response is anticipated cf. Gen_30:2; vide Ewald, "Hebrews Synt.," Kalisch obviously regards it as preposterous that Rachel and Leah should have expected anything, since "married daughters in the East never had any such claim where there were sons." But Laban had not treated Jacob"s wives even as daughters. Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us (however much they loved Jacob they could not but resent the mercenary meanness of Laban, by which they, the free-born daughters of a chieftain, had been sold as common serfs), and hath quits devoured also our money literally, and hath eaten up, yes, even eating up, our money, the inf. abs., lwOa; after the finite verb, expressing the continuance (Keil) and intensity (Kalisch) of the action (vide Ewald, "Hebrews Synt.," For yKi is by some interpreters rendered but (Jarchi), so that (Keil), indeed (Kalisch), though there is no sufficient reason for departing from the usual meaning "for" (Rosenmall the riches which God hath taken from our father, thus Rachel and Leah also recognize the hand of God (Elohim) in Jacob"s unusual prosperitythat is ours, and our children"s (Rachel and Leah mean to say that what Jacob had acquired by his six years of service with their father was no more than would have naturally belonged to him had they obtained their portions at the first): now then, Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. It is clear that, equally with himself, they were prepared for breaking off connection with their father Laban.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv14, 17Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us…
Gen_31:14
Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our fathers house
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Inheritance for us
So asked Rachel and Leah of Jacob.
And we see how suggestive these historical touches in Old Testament story are, when vitalized by the spirit of the gospel. We think at once of the Saviour, who is the open door to the great Fathers house. There are multitudes who have lost their portions, and some are very sad and weary. Prodigal meets prodigal, and recounts the story of the painful way. Ruins always touch us with sadness; and human hearts get ruinous in so much less time than stone walls do!
I. THE CRY IS PERSONAL. Men do not ask, Is there hope for the lost--the profligate, the vile? but, Is there hope for me? The soldier lying wounded in the battle-field thinks of the home harvest-fields far away, and the soul amid its wounds and woes whispers, I will arise and go to my Father. There is a home-returning way for me!
II. THE CRY IS ANXIOUS. Is there yet? Once the soul was ready to surmise there might be! But is there now? when sin has consolidated into habit, when the door has been shut so often in the marred face of the Man of Sorrows! My sin is ever before me, is the great cry of conscience. We sympathize with human anxiety. We watch with moistened eyes the widow who asks, Is there yet a table in the wilderness for me and my little ones? In reply to the yet, let us answer, Though thy sins be as scarlet, He shall make them white as wool; He shall blot out thy transgressions as a cloud, and thine iniquities as a thick cloud; He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
III. THE CRY IS CHILDLIKE. My Fathers house! For we are, in one sense, all of us Gods offspring. True, we have lost likeness to Him and peace with Him; and only by faith can we become the spiritual sons of God. But there is memory of the lost estate in every heart. Man was made for God, and He is the only home of the soul. God gave us our earthly homes and relationships, to be parables of that great central truth. No word thrills us like home; no picture on Academy walls touches us like Proviss interiors. And this is natural. For let home be dark or deserted, let the dove of peace leave that, let those sweet sanctities be desecrated, and no outside joys, no travels, no pursuits can make compensation! And to know the value of a home, you must lose one.
IV. THE CRY IS ANSWERED. Yes! in many parables, in many promises, in deeds of love and sacrifice. Faith leads all along the way, from justification to glory. But it were wrong to conceive of the inheritance as all future. Heaven does begin on earth, because the heavenly principles, purposes, and pleasures may be ours now. CONCLUSION. We close with the remembrance that there is welcome for us, room for us, reward for us. Have you ever stood outside a flower-show in the summer-time, and seen carriage after carriage drive up, with rustling silks and dazzling liveries and crested panels, pride and pomp entering in; and then caught the wistful face of a poor child at the gate, with another child in her arms, shut out from seeing Gods beautiful flowers? The poor, the blind, the maim, the halt, the prodigals of every type are welcome. What, does He want me? does He wait for me? has He asked for me? (W. M. Statham, M. A.)
A worldly-spirited reply
We have seen some things in the history of these women which have induced us to hope well of them, notwithstanding their many failings; but though in this case it was their duty to comply with the desire of their husband, and to own the hand of God in what had taken place between their father and him; yet there is something in their manner of expressing themselves that looks more like the spirit of the world, than the spirit which is of God. A right spirit would have taught them to remember that Laban, whatever was his conduct, was still their father. They might have felt it impossible to vindicate him; but they should not have expatiated on his faults in such a manner as to take pleasure in exposing them. Such conduct was but too much like that of Ham towards his father. And as to their acknowledging the hand of God in giving their fathers 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. The ease, however, with which all men can discern what is just and equitable towards themselves, renders the love of ourselves a proper standard for the love of others, and will sooner or later stop the mouth of every sinner. Even those who have no written revelation have this Divine law engraven on their consciences: they can judge with the nicest accuracy what is justice to them, and therefore cannot plead ignorance of what is justice from them to others. (A. Fuller.)
Lessons
1. It becometh wives, especially in good families, to listen unto advice of husbands from God.
2. God can make them that disagree in a family sweetly to concur to do His work.
3. It is unnatural for children to find no portions in their fathers house, when they abound.
4. Such brands of cruelty are left upon unnatural fathers by the Spirit (Gen_31:14).
5. It is cruel for fathers to use their children as slaves and make merchandize of them.
6. It is savage for parents to consume the substance of children for whom they should provide.
7. Such unnatural dealings, in Gods justice, alienate hearts of children from parents (Gen_31:15).
8. It is fit to consider how God recompenseth cruelties of unnatural parents in depriving them of their children.
9. What God giveth to parents and children may be justly owned by them.
10. Good women will be free and helpful to their husbands to go and do whatever is the will of God unto them (Gen_31:16). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v17Jacob Flees and is Pursued by Laban
Jacob Flees and is Pursued by Laban
v. 17. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;
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v. 18. and he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. Jacob’s plans had evidently been laid and all arrangements made with great care even before he summoned his wives for the conference which decided in favor of immediate flight. The text repeatedly emphasizes the fact that all the wealth in cattle and goods which Jacob had collected and took along with him on his flight was such as he had honestly gotten.
v. 19. And Laban went to shear his sheep; and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s. The fact that Laban, with his sons, was keeping the feast of sheep-shearing, which lasted several days, gave Jacob the opportunity which he had sought, for Laban would never have permitted him to go in peace. There is no wrong in fleeing from a tyrant and seeking a place where one may live in peace and security and tend to the works of his calling without interference. That Rachel, although a believer in the true God, stole the images, the small household gods of her father, probably because she feared that Laban might consult them as oracles, shows that she was not yet entirely free from heathen superstition.
v. 20. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban, the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. Jacob took the opportunity to remove himself and his goods without the knowledge of Laban, 2Sa 15:6, neither was the fact told to the older man.
v. 21. So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the Mount Gilead. He forded the Euphrates, and then turned directly southwest toward Mount Gilead, on the farther side of the Jarmuk River, southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
v. 22. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
v. 23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. Jacob had a start of three days, but he was hampered by his large herds, whereas Laban, with his tribesmen, could travel very rapidly. Still Jacob had made excellent time in the ten days of his journey.
v. 24. And God came to Laban, the Syrian, a name used to distinguish him from the members of God’s own people, in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Literally, Laban should, in speaking to Jacob, not pass from good to bad, from a hasty greeting of his daughters and their children to reproaches and other indications of anger. The power of the enemies of God, so far as His children are concerned, is limited by God’s permission.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv14, 17, 19Rachel and Leah answered and said to him
Rachel and Leah answered and said to him
This does not mean they talked at the same time. It emphasizes they agreed with each other.
Read full note →
Is there any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
Rachel and Leah use a question to emphasize that there is nothing left for their father to give. AT: "There is absolutely nothing left for us to inherit from our father!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Are we not treated by him as foreigners?
They use a question to show their anger about how their father treats them. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Our father treats us like a foreign women instead of daughters!" (See: Rhetorical Question and Active or Passive)
For he has sold us
This can be made more explicit. AT: "He has sold us for his own gain" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
has also completely devoured our money
Laban completely using up the money that he should have given to his daughters is spoken of as if he were a wild beast that ate the money as if it were food. AT: "he completely used up our money" (See: Metaphor)
are now ours and our children's
"belongs to us and to our children"
Now then
Here "Now" does not mean "at this moment," but is used to draw attention to the important point that follows.
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv14, 17, 1931:14-16 The women responded immediately that they would go…
31:14-16 The women responded immediately that they would go with Jacob because God had blessed him. They were very willing to leave Laban, who had squandered their wealth (the property that would have provided for them). They knew that what God had given to Jacob would also be theirs.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17, 19 14. And Rachel and Leah answered. Here we perceive…
14. And Rachel and Leah answered. Here we perceive that to be fulfilled which Paul teaches, that all things work together for good to the children of God. (Romans 8:28.) For since the wives of Jacob had been unjustly treated by their father, they so far act in opposition to the natural tenderness of their sex, that at the desire of their husband, they become willing to follow him into a distant and unknown region. Therefore, if Jacob is compelled to take many and very bitter draughts of grief, he is now cheered by the most satisfying compensation, that his wives are not separated from him by their attachment to their father’s house: but rather, being overcome by the irksome nature of their sufferings, they earnestly undertake to join him in his flight. “There is nothing,” they say, “which should cause us to remain with our father; for daughters adhere to their fathers, because they are esteemed members of his family; but what a cruel rejection is this, not only that he has passed us off without dowry, but that he has set us to sale, and has devoured the price for which he sold us?” By the word money (Genesis 31:15), I understand the price of sale. For they complain that, at least, they had not received, instead of dowry, the profit which had been unjustly extorted from their husband, but this gain also had been unjustly suppressed by their covetous father. Therefore the particle גם(gam) is inserted, which is used for the purpose of amplification among the Hebrews. For this increased not a little the meanness of Laban, that, as an insatiable whirlpool, he had absorbed the gain acquired by this most dishonorable traffic. And it is to be noted, that they were then devoted to their husband, and were therefore free to depart from their father; especially since they knew that the hand of God was stretched out to them. There is also no doubt, seeing they were persuaded that Jacob was a faithful prophet of God, but that they freely embraced the heavenly oracle from his mouth; for at the close of their reply, they show that they did not so much yield to his wish as to the command of God.
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 vv15, 19 For they were given to Jacob in recompence of…
For they were given to Jacob in recompence of his service, which was a kind of sale.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–19 Gen 31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said…
Gen 31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, [Is there] yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
Ver. 14. Is there yet any portion,] q.d., We have all we are like to have. In setting forth their father’s ill usage of them, they offend not in some respect - viz., in that they speak the truth. Only herein they were to blame, that they speak the truth with more passion, and with less respect to their father than was fit.
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 vv14, 15, 16, 19 We can expect no further benefit from him, but…
We can expect no further benefit from him, but deceit, and oppression, and injury, and therefore are willing to leave him. This was the fruit of his unnatural and unworthy carriage to them, that it did eat out their natural affection to him.
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 v17 Here is, I. Jacob's flight from Laban. We may…
Here is, I. Jacob's flight from Laban. We may suppose he had been long considering of it, and casting about in his mind respecting it; but when now, at last, God had given him positive orders to go, he made no delay, nor was he disobedient to the heavenly vision. The first opportunity that offered itself he laid hold of, when Laban was shearing his sheep (Gen 31:19), that part of his flock which was in the hands of his sons three days' journey off. Now, 1. It is certain that it was lawful for Jacob to leave his service suddenly, without giving a quarter's warning. It was not only justified by the particular instructions God gave him, but warranted by the fundamental law of self-preservation, which directs us, when we are in danger, to shift for our own safety, as far as we can do it without wronging our consciences. 2. It was his prudence to steal away unawares to Laban, lest, if Laban had known, he should have hindered him or plundered him. 3. It was honestly done to take no more than his own with him, the cattle of his getting, Gen 31:18. He took what Providence gave him, and was content with that, and would not take the repair of his damages into his own hands. Yet Rachel was not so honest as her husband; she stole her father's images (Gen 31:19) and carried them away with her. The Hebrew calls them teraphiam. Some think they were only little representations of the ancestors of the family, in statues or pictures, which Rachel had a particular fondness for, and was desirous to have with her, now that she was going into another country. It should rather seem that they were images for a religious use, penates, household-gods, either worshipped or consulted as oracles; and we are willing to hope (with bishop Patrick) that she took them away not out of covetousness of the rich metal they were made of, much less for her own use, or out of any superstitious fear lest Laban, by consulting his teraphim, might know which way they had gone (Jacob, no doubt, dwelt with his wives as a man of knowledge, and they were better taught than so), but out of a design hereby to convince her father of the folly of his regard to those as gods which could not secure themselves, Isa 46:1, Isa 46:2.
II. Laban's pursuit of Jacob. Tidings were brought him, on the third day, that Jacob had fled; he immediately raises the whole clan, takes his brethren, that is, the relations of his family, that were all in his interests, and pursues Jacob (as Pharaoh and his Egyptians afterwards pursued the seed of Jacob), to bring him back into bondage again, or with design to strip him of what he had. Seven days' journey he marched in pursuit of him, Gen 31:23. He would not have taken half the pains to have visited his best friends. But the truth is bad men will do more to serve their sinful passions than good men will to serve their just affections, and are more vehement in their anger than in their love. Well, at length Laban, overtook him, and the very night before he came up with him God interposed in the quarrel, rebuked Laban and sheltered Jacob, charging Laban not to speak unto him either good or bad (Gen 31:24), that is, to say nothing against his going on with his journey, for that it proceeded from the Lord. The same Hebraism we have, Gen 24:50. Laban, during his seven day's march, had been full of rage against Jacob, and was now full of hopes that his lust should be satisfied upon him (Exo 15:9); but God comes to him, and with one word ties his hands, though he does not turn his heart. Note, 1. In a dream, and in slumberings upon the bed, God has ways of opening the ears of men, and sealing their instruction, Job 33:15, Job 33:16. Thus he admonishes men by their consciences, in secret whispers, which the man of wisdom will hear and heed. 2. The safety of good men is very much owing to the hold God has of the consciences of bad men and the access he has to them. 3. God sometimes appears wonderfully for the deliverance of his people when they are upon the very brink of ruin. The Jews were saved from Haman's plot when the king's decree drew hear to be put in execution, Est 9:1.
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 vv14–19 Are we not accounted of him strangers?.... He had…
Are we not accounted of him strangers?.... He had not treated them as children, nor even as freeborn persons; but as if they were foreigners that he had taken in war, or bought of others; or at least, that they were born bondmaids in his house, and so had a right to sell them as he had:
for he hath sold us; he had sold them to Jacob for fourteen years' service, as if they had been his slaves, instead of giving dowries with them as his children:
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and hath quite devoured also our money; that which he got by the servitude of Jacob, instead of giving it to them as their portion; he spent it on himself and his sons, and there was nothing left for them.
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 vv16, 19 Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had…
Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had passed over from Laban to him as his wages, they look upon it as their portions; so that both ways God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv15, 19 Verse 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?]…
Verse 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?] Rachel and Leah, who well knew the disposition of their father, gave him here his true character. He has treated us as strangers - as slaves whom he had a right to dispose of as he pleased; in consequence, he hath sold us - disposed of us on the mere principle of gaining by the sale.
And hath quite devoured also our money.] Has applied to his own use the profits of the sale, and has allowed us neither portion nor inheritance.
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 vv14, 19 Gen 31:14-15. Is there any portion — Any hope…
Gen 31:14-15. Is there any portion — Any hope of benefit; for us in our father’s house? — They both agree in acknowledging that his behaviour had been extremely ungenerous and sordid, even to them, his own children. Are we not counted of him strangers? — Dealt with as strangers, rather than children: for he hath sold us — To thee for fourteen years’ service. And hath quite devoured (wholly converted to his own use) our money — That which in equity was due to us for our portions, and for our husband’s service. Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had transferred from Laban to him as his wages, they look upon it as their portions; so that, both ways, God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15, 18, 19 Eaten up. Laban kept for himself the dowry paid…
Eaten up. Laban kept for himself the dowry paid by Jacob for his wives, though he ought to have allotted it to them, with the addition of something more, in proportion to his immense wealth. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv14, 17, 18 Rachel and Leah answered--Having heard his views, they expressed…
Rachel and Leah answered--Having heard his views, they expressed their entire approval; and from grievances of their own, they were fully as desirous of a separation as himself. They display not only conjugal affection, but piety in following the course described--"whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do" [Gen 31:16]. "Those that are really their husbands' helpmeets will never be their hindrances in doing that to which God calls them" [HENRY].
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 vv15, 17, 19 15. Counted of him strangers — Rachel and Leah…
15. Counted of him strangers — Rachel and Leah both readily sympathize with their husband as against their father, and look upon Laban’s dealings as narrow, unfatherly, and unworthy of him. The last twenty years had largely alienated them from their father’s house.
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 vv14, 15, 19 14. Is there yet] i.e. “we have no reason…
14. Is there yet] i.e. “we have no reason any longer to expect.” Leah and Rachel had both been alienated from their father by his disregard of their feelings and by his mean grasping policy.
portion or inheritance] A proverbial phrase: see 2Sa_20:1; 1Ki_12:16.
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 vv15, 17, 19 (15) He hath sold us.—There is a marked asperity…
(15) He hath sold us.—There is a marked asperity towards their father in the answer of Jacob’s wives, and not only the petted Rachel but the neglected Leah joins in it. Now, though his sale of them to Jacob had been more open than Oriental good manners usually allowed, and though he seems to have acted meanly in giving no portion with them, yet these were old sores, long since healed and forgiven. Laban must have been stingy, grasping, and over-reaching in recent times, to have kept the memory of old wrongs so fresh in the minds of his daughters.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14, 17, 19 And Rachel and Leah (vide on ver. 4) answered…
And Rachel and Leah (vide on ver. 4) answered and said unto him (Kalisch overdoes his attempt to blacken Jacob"s character and whitewash Laban"s when he says that Rachel and Leah were so entirely under their husband s influence that they spoke about their father with severity and boldness bordering on disrespect." It rather seems to speak badly for Laban that his daughters eventually rose in protest against his heartless cruelty and insatiable greed), Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father"s house? The interrogative particle indicates a spirited inquiry, to which a negative response is anticipated cf. Gen_30:2; vide Ewald, "Hebrews Synt.," Kalisch obviously regards it as preposterous that Rachel and Leah should have expected anything, since "married daughters in the East never had any such claim where there were sons." But Laban had not treated Jacob"s wives even as daughters. Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us (however much they loved Jacob they could not but resent the mercenary meanness of Laban, by which they, the free-born daughters of a chieftain, had been sold as common serfs), and hath quits devoured also our money literally, and hath eaten up, yes, even eating up, our money, the inf. abs., lwOa; after the finite verb, expressing the continuance (Keil) and intensity (Kalisch) of the action (vide Ewald, "Hebrews Synt.," For yKi is by some interpreters rendered but (Jarchi), so that (Keil), indeed (Kalisch), though there is no sufficient reason for departing from the usual meaning "for" (Rosenmall the riches which God hath taken from our father, thus Rachel and Leah also recognize the hand of God (Elohim) in Jacob"s unusual prosperitythat is ours, and our children"s (Rachel and Leah mean to say that what Jacob had acquired by his six years of service with their father was no more than would have naturally belonged to him had they obtained their portions at the first): now then, Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. It is clear that, equally with himself, they were prepared for breaking off connection with their father Laban.
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 vv14, 17 Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us…
Gen_31:14
Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our fathers house
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Inheritance for us
So asked Rachel and Leah of Jacob.
And we see how suggestive these historical touches in Old Testament story are, when vitalized by the spirit of the gospel. We think at once of the Saviour, who is the open door to the great Fathers house. There are multitudes who have lost their portions, and some are very sad and weary. Prodigal meets prodigal, and recounts the story of the painful way. Ruins always touch us with sadness; and human hearts get ruinous in so much less time than stone walls do!
I. THE CRY IS PERSONAL. Men do not ask, Is there hope for the lost--the profligate, the vile? but, Is there hope for me? The soldier lying wounded in the battle-field thinks of the home harvest-fields far away, and the soul amid its wounds and woes whispers, I will arise and go to my Father. There is a home-returning way for me!
II. THE CRY IS ANXIOUS. Is there yet? Once the soul was ready to surmise there might be! But is there now? when sin has consolidated into habit, when the door has been shut so often in the marred face of the Man of Sorrows! My sin is ever before me, is the great cry of conscience. We sympathize with human anxiety. We watch with moistened eyes the widow who asks, Is there yet a table in the wilderness for me and my little ones? In reply to the yet, let us answer, Though thy sins be as scarlet, He shall make them white as wool; He shall blot out thy transgressions as a cloud, and thine iniquities as a thick cloud; He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
III. THE CRY IS CHILDLIKE. My Fathers house! For we are, in one sense, all of us Gods offspring. True, we have lost likeness to Him and peace with Him; and only by faith can we become the spiritual sons of God. But there is memory of the lost estate in every heart. Man was made for God, and He is the only home of the soul. God gave us our earthly homes and relationships, to be parables of that great central truth. No word thrills us like home; no picture on Academy walls touches us like Proviss interiors. And this is natural. For let home be dark or deserted, let the dove of peace leave that, let those sweet sanctities be desecrated, and no outside joys, no travels, no pursuits can make compensation! And to know the value of a home, you must lose one.
IV. THE CRY IS ANSWERED. Yes! in many parables, in many promises, in deeds of love and sacrifice. Faith leads all along the way, from justification to glory. But it were wrong to conceive of the inheritance as all future. Heaven does begin on earth, because the heavenly principles, purposes, and pleasures may be ours now. CONCLUSION. We close with the remembrance that there is welcome for us, room for us, reward for us. Have you ever stood outside a flower-show in the summer-time, and seen carriage after carriage drive up, with rustling silks and dazzling liveries and crested panels, pride and pomp entering in; and then caught the wistful face of a poor child at the gate, with another child in her arms, shut out from seeing Gods beautiful flowers? The poor, the blind, the maim, the halt, the prodigals of every type are welcome. What, does He want me? does He wait for me? has He asked for me? (W. M. Statham, M. A.)
A worldly-spirited reply
We have seen some things in the history of these women which have induced us to hope well of them, notwithstanding their many failings; but though in this case it was their duty to comply with the desire of their husband, and to own the hand of God in what had taken place between their father and him; yet there is something in their manner of expressing themselves that looks more like the spirit of the world, than the spirit which is of God. A right spirit would have taught them to remember that Laban, whatever was his conduct, was still their father. They might have felt it impossible to vindicate him; but they should not have expatiated on his faults in such a manner as to take pleasure in exposing them. Such conduct was but too much like that of Ham towards his father. And as to their acknowledging the hand of God in giving their fathers 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. The ease, however, with which all men can discern what is just and equitable towards themselves, renders the love of ourselves a proper standard for the love of others, and will sooner or later stop the mouth of every sinner. Even those who have no written revelation have this Divine law engraven on their consciences: they can judge with the nicest accuracy what is justice to them, and therefore cannot plead ignorance of what is justice from them to others. (A. Fuller.)
Lessons
1. It becometh wives, especially in good families, to listen unto advice of husbands from God.
2. God can make them that disagree in a family sweetly to concur to do His work.
3. It is unnatural for children to find no portions in their fathers house, when they abound.
4. Such brands of cruelty are left upon unnatural fathers by the Spirit (Gen_31:14).
5. It is cruel for fathers to use their children as slaves and make merchandize of them.
6. It is savage for parents to consume the substance of children for whom they should provide.
7. Such unnatural dealings, in Gods justice, alienate hearts of children from parents (Gen_31:15).
8. It is fit to consider how God recompenseth cruelties of unnatural parents in depriving them of their children.
9. What God giveth to parents and children may be justly owned by them.
10. Good women will be free and helpful to their husbands to go and do whatever is the will of God unto them (Gen_31:16). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v17 Jacob Flees and is Pursued by Laban
Jacob Flees and is Pursued by Laban
v. 17. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;
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v. 18. and he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. Jacob’s plans had evidently been laid and all arrangements made with great care even before he summoned his wives for the conference which decided in favor of immediate flight. The text repeatedly emphasizes the fact that all the wealth in cattle and goods which Jacob had collected and took along with him on his flight was such as he had honestly gotten.
v. 19. And Laban went to shear his sheep; and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s. The fact that Laban, with his sons, was keeping the feast of sheep-shearing, which lasted several days, gave Jacob the opportunity which he had sought, for Laban would never have permitted him to go in peace. There is no wrong in fleeing from a tyrant and seeking a place where one may live in peace and security and tend to the works of his calling without interference. That Rachel, although a believer in the true God, stole the images, the small household gods of her father, probably because she feared that Laban might consult them as oracles, shows that she was not yet entirely free from heathen superstition.
v. 20. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban, the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. Jacob took the opportunity to remove himself and his goods without the knowledge of Laban, 2Sa 15:6, neither was the fact told to the older man.
v. 21. So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the Mount Gilead. He forded the Euphrates, and then turned directly southwest toward Mount Gilead, on the farther side of the Jarmuk River, southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
v. 22. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
v. 23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. Jacob had a start of three days, but he was hampered by his large herds, whereas Laban, with his tribesmen, could travel very rapidly. Still Jacob had made excellent time in the ten days of his journey.
v. 24. And God came to Laban, the Syrian, a name used to distinguish him from the members of God’s own people, in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Literally, Laban should, in speaking to Jacob, not pass from good to bad, from a hasty greeting of his daughters and their children to reproaches and other indications of anger. The power of the enemies of God, so far as His children are concerned, is limited by God’s 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 vv14, 17, 19 Rachel and Leah answered and said to him
Rachel and Leah answered and said to him
This does not mean they talked at the same time. It emphasizes they agreed with each other.
Read full note →
Is there any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
Rachel and Leah use a question to emphasize that there is nothing left for their father to give. AT: "There is absolutely nothing left for us to inherit from our father!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Are we not treated by him as foreigners?
They use a question to show their anger about how their father treats them. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Our father treats us like a foreign women instead of daughters!" (See: Rhetorical Question and Active or Passive)
For he has sold us
This can be made more explicit. AT: "He has sold us for his own gain" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
has also completely devoured our money
Laban completely using up the money that he should have given to his daughters is spoken of as if he were a wild beast that ate the money as if it were food. AT: "he completely used up our money" (See: Metaphor)
are now ours and our children's
"belongs to us and to our children"
Now then
Here "Now" does not mean "at this moment," but is used to draw attention to the important point that follows.
whatever God has said to you, do it
"do all that God has told you"
translationWords
Rachel
Leah
inherit
alien
devour
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 vv14, 17, 19 31:14-16 The women responded immediately that they would go…
31:14-16 The women responded immediately that they would go with Jacob because God had blessed him. They were very willing to leave Laban, who had squandered their wealth (the property that would have provided for them). They knew that what God had given to Jacob would also be theirs.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.