Unless God Had Been With Me
Genesis 31:17-55
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image …” (Exo. 20:2-4). So begins the Ten Commandments which the Lord gave to Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai. Although this commandment had not yet been engraved on stone, Jacob must have known it well. His grandfather Abraham had abandoned false gods and idolatry in the land of Mesopotamia years before. Isaac, his father, had always worshiped and served the LORD, Yahweh, the only the one true God in Canaan, the land that God had promised to him and his descendants.
Jacob had been exiled from that land of promise for 20 years, while he served his uncle Laban in Paddan-Aram. As we saw last time, Circumstances strongly suggested that it was time for Jacob to return to the land of promise (Gen. 31:1-2), and by divine revelation God commanded Jacob to do just that (Gen. 31:3) much like God had called Abraham to leave that place many years before (Gen. 12:1-3). Jacob persuaded his wives that this was God’s will for them (Gen. 31:4-13), and they agreed to his plan to escape the selfishness and greed of their father Laban (Gen. 31:14-16).
Jacob is seeking to obey the LORD and separate himself from Laban, who is a picture of the world without the LORD. This story will demonstrate the foolishness of idolatry and the need for believers to separate from the world. It will also demonstrate the protective hand of God in spite of the shortcomings and sin of his people.
There are parallels between Jacob’s situation and that of Moses’ first readers. Just as God protected Jacob in his departure from Haran to return to Canaan, so He had protected the nation Israel in its departure from Egypt to return to Canaan. Israel, like Rachel, will be prone to idolatry. They will be inclined to return to Egypt, their place of bondage. Moses is showing Israel (and us) the shear foolishness of idolatry and the clear break they must make with the world.
Jacob escapes from Haran (Gen. 31:17-21)
Jacob, in obedience to the LORD, leaves Haran for Canaan:
17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.
Jacob hastily packed up all of their goods and left for home. It does not appear to be accidental that he departed at a time when Laban was busily occupied in shearing his flock. Leaving without any warning, Jacob reasoned, was the way to depart without any resistance from Laban, who Jacob had learned not to trust. Moses let’s us in on something that Jacob does not know, that Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols.
This is the first use of the word “idols” or “images” (תְּרָפִים, tᵊrāp̄îm)[1] in the Bible. Why would Rachel steal her father’s idols? Is possible that Rachel, although she called on the name of Yahweh, Jacob’s God, she still mixed idolatry with her worship of the Lord? Perhaps she didn’t want to go to a strange new land without covering all her bases.
Also, as Steven Cole relates, “the Nuzi tablets, discovered in that region, dating from about 400 years after Jacob, indicate that the possessor of the father’s household idols was the heir to his estate. By stealing the idols, Rachel may have been trying to secure the inheritance which she felt her father had wrongfully taken from her (Gen. 31:14). This would explain Laban’s anger over the matter and Jacob’s extreme penalty for the culprit.”[2]
When Jacob fled Haran, he set his sights on the hill country of Gilead, east of Canaan (Gen. 31:21).
Next we see,
Laban pursues and confronts Jacob (Gen. 31:22-30)
22 And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.” 25 So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
Arriving home from the shearing, Laban discovered that Jacob was gone, Rachel and Leah were gone, his grandchildren were gone, all Jacob’s vast holdings, which he had planned to seize, were gone, and his household gods were gone. Laban was beside himself with fury. He gathered together sufficient force to make short work of Jacob and lashed his mounts in pursuit of the fugitives.[3] It took the hard-charging Laban just a week to catch up with Jacob who had already traveled about 300 miles. But before Laban could confront Jacob, the LORD confronted Laban. God warned Laban, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad” (31:24, 29). This is a Hebrew expression communicated to Laban, “Don’t use either flattery or threats to try to persuade Jacob to return” (cf. Gen. 24:50).[4]
Laban’s angry speech to Jacob demonstrates Laban’s bias (Gen. 31:25-28), bitterness (Gen. 31:29), and blindness (Gen. 31:30).[5]
26 And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? 27 Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? 28 And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing. 29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ 30 And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
Every sentence in Laban’s complaint reveals his hypocrisy. Laban says to Jacob, “What have you done … ?” echoing Jacob’s words to Laban when he substituted Leah for Rachel (Gen. 29:25). Laban accuses Jacob of carrying away his daughters like “captives taken with the sword,” but Laban had held his daughters and Jacob captive and at this time threatens force (Gen. 31:14-16). Laban accuses Jacob of deceiving him, but Laban made a habit of deceiving Jacob. Laban claims that he would have sent Jacob away with a party, but the last party Laban threw for Jacob resulted in Jacob serving Laban for an additional seven years (Gen. 29:22). He complains that Jacob did not allow him to kiss his family, but Laban viewed his daughters more as commodities than loved ones. He accuses Jacob of acting foolishly, but Laban is the one who is beginning to look foolish.[6]
Finally, Laban gets to the real bone of contention in Genesis 31:30, “but why did you steal my gods?” This was the bottom line. This was the reason for the hot pursuit with a company of men to back him up. “If Jacob got away with his gods, he could someday return and make a claim to his estate. This could not be tolerated.”[7]
Jacob’s defense and Laban’s search (Gen. 31:31-35)
31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, “Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ 32 With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 33 And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them.35 And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the household idols.
Here Jacob responded to the accusations that he stole Laban’s daughters and stole the idols. First, Jacob says he left with his wives without telling Laban for fear that Laban would take his daughters “by force.” Second, Jacob knows he didn’t take the idols and invites Laban to search his belongings. Jacob is so certain that Laban won’t find the idols that he invokes the death penalty for anyone found in possession of the idols.
Moses informs us that Jacob was unaware that Rachel had stolen the idols. Both Jacob and Laban, the masters of deceit, are deceived by Rachel. The tension builds as Laban rifles through Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent and the tents of the two maids. Finally, he enters Rachel’s tent. Only now are we informed where Rachel had been keeping the idols. She had put them in the saddle of her camel and was sitting on them. The search through Rachel’s tent is reported as being more painstaking. Laban “felt” through everything.
Rachel remains seated on the saddle, concealing the idols and claiming that she can’t get up because “the manner of women is with me.” The story makes a laughingstock of Laban’s “gods.” First, they are stolen. Second, they are impotent to make themselves known. Third they are desecrated by being sat on by a woman in her time of uncleanness. Three times the narrator tells us that Laban “did not find” the idols. Laban comes off as utterly foolish, his gods as utterly impotent.
John Phillips says this about Laban’s idols:
“My gods!” cried Laban. Gods indeed! Mighty gods! Gods that could be stolen! Gods that could be packed up like old pots and pans and stuffed into a bag! Gods that could be bounced and jostled over three hundred miles without word or whimper! Gods that could influence wind and weather, it was believed, yet gods that could not even cry out to the deluded man, “Here we are, Laban, on our heads in Rachel’s saddlebag!” “My gods,” the deluded Laban cried with the voice of the true God yet ringing in his soul.[8]
By the way, do you know what happened to the household gods, the idols? They ended up with all the other idols of the household and were buried by Jacob like garbage by the oak tree at Shechem (Gen. 35:2-4).
Contrast this with the God of Jacob. Yahweh can’t be stolen, for there is no image of Him to steal (Exo. 20:4). He makes Himself known, both in judgment and in salvation (Exo. 6:7). People “find” Him when they “search” for Him with all their hearts (Jer. 29:13). No matter how men and women respond to Him, He remains holy.[9]
Jacob rebukes Laban (Gen. 31:36-42)
Jacob, feeling vindicated by Laban’s dream and by his failure to find the idols unload twenty years of pent up frustration on Laban.
36 Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? 37 Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. 39 That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. 41 Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
First, Jacob says, Laban’s accusation that he stole the idols has been proved false (Gen. 31:36-37). Second, Jacob recounts his meticulous and above-and-beyond service in Laban’s behalf (Gen. 31:38-39). Third, Jacob tells how he bore tremendous physical burdens in caring for Laban’s flock (Gen. 31:40). Fourth, Laban changed Jacob’s wages. Jacob says, in so many words, “You’re the one who has stolen from me” (Gen. 31:41).
Then Jacob gets to the climax of his speech in Genesis 31:42, “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
The “Fear of Isaac” is a unique title for the Lord, evoking the worship that the LORD deserves. It also reminds us of Jacob’s encounter with the Lord at Bethel, where Jacob “was afraid” and said, “How awesome is this place!” (The word translated “awesome” stems from the verb translated “was afraid.” Gen. 28:17). Laban’s “fear” of the Lord has prevented him harming Jacob. In surveying 20 years of affliction in Haran, Jacob says that God has seen him and acted on his behalf. He recognizes and confesses the Lord’s faithfulness to the promise of Bethel to be with him (Gen. 28:15).
Finally we see,
Laban and Jacob make a treaty (Gen. 31:43-55)
Laban had nothing to say to Jacob’s charges. He knew only too well how much he really owed to Jacob. Instead, makes an empty claim to his extended family. Then, like the old hypocrite he was, he proposed that he and Jacob should make a covenant.
43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? 44 Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.” 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, 49 also Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. 50 If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us–see, God is witness between you and me!” 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53 The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. 55 And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
The covenant was really a treaty of non-aggression. I remember as a teenager we used Genesis 31:49 as a parting benediction in MYF, our youth group, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.” But this verse is not a blessing for friends who are parting. It is a statement of the mutual distrust of enemies. They are calling on God to be a witness and to punish the man who violates the treaty.
Although Laban calls on Yahweh to be the witness, it doesn’t mean that Laban has suddenly become a believer in the one true God. The Lord is just one of Laban’s pantheon. In Gensis 31:53, he invokes “The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father.” But their father was an idolater who didn’t worship the true God (Josh. 24:2). So Laban, the polytheist, is just covering all his bases, invoking all the relevant gods.
Contrast this with Jacob. He didn’t go along with Laban’s invocation and swear by all Laban’s gods (which included the living God). Instead, he swore “by the Fear of his father Isaac” (Gen. 31:53, cf. Gen. 31:42). This is Yahweh, the LORD, whom Isaac had always worshipped. So Jacob separated himself from Laban’s polytheism and affirmed that he will fear the LORD alone. Jacob is reverencing God as the only Lord of his life.
Steven Cole points out that this is the key to living in this world without being of it.[10] Peter urges us to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts” (1 Pet. 3:15 NASB). We don’t use God plus whatever other gods we want to add. No, we submit to Christ in everything, to please Him in every thought, word, and deed, and to die to self.
Did you find yourself relating to someone in this story? Some of you may be like Laban, using God as long as He helps you prosper, but never really committing to Him as Lord. Like Laban, “Self” is really your God, and you need to turn from your self and sin. It is idolatry. You need to submit to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He is the one who died for you on the cross, taking the penalty of death that you deserved. God then raised Jesus from the dead and He gives eternal life and forgiveness of sins to everyone who believes in Him. Trust in Christ alone.
Some may be like Rachel: You may know the true God, but you’re carrying your idols from the old life with you. It’s kind of hard to tell whether you’re in Christ or in the world. Make a decisive break with the world today and get rid of the things in your life that you know are not pleasing to God.
Others may be like Jacob: You’re seeking to obey God and separate yourself from the ways of the world.[11] You know that God is with you, protecting you. But you also know you need to keep growing in your fear of the LORD and in your walk with Him. God’s not giving up on you even though you sometimes fail in your walk of faith. Keep trusting Him daily. Take up your cross and follow Him. Once again, turn your eyes upon Jesus.
_______________________________________________________________
[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/gen/31/1/t_conc_31019
[2] Steven Cole, Between A Rock and A Hard Place (Genesis 31:17-55), https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-57-between-rock-and-hard-place-genesis-3117-55
[3] Phillips, John. 2009. Exploring Genesis: An Expository Commentary. The John Phillips Commentary Series. Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.
[4] Cole.
[5] Phillips.
[6] Scott Grant, PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORKPLACE, https://cdn.pbc.org/Main_Service/2005/01/01/4874.html
[7] Bob Deffinbaugh, The Difference Between Legality and Morality (Genesis 31:17-55), https://bible.org/seriespage/difference-between-legality-and-morality-genesis-3117-55
[8] Phillips.
[9] Grant.
[10] Cole.
[11] Cole.
