Genesis 31:20–32
[20] And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. [21] He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
[22] When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, [23] he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. [24] But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
I want you to first notice that Laban doesn’t pursue Jacob alone. He gathers his kinsmen and sets out after Jacob. That’s a small, but important detail that tells us this wasn’t simply a family disagreement. Laban viewed this as a serious conflict. The text never explicitly says violence in coming. But I think it carries that tension.
A kinsmen would have been a clan members or a relative of Laban. So, these would have been men who stood with Laban. And these men would have been gathered for the purpose of protecting Laban, or to help Laban enforce his will, or to serve as an eye witness for a dispute.
So, Laban has gathered his kinsmen, and they’re determined to catch up to Jacob and overtake Jacob. But, as they are in hot pursuit, notice that God intervenes. Before Laban reaches Jacob, God reaches Laban. In the shadows of the night, God is actively working on Jacob’s behalf.
Remember what God said back in verse 3, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
So, we’re seeing (once again) God’s faithfulness playing out here! If God says he will do something, he will do it! If he tells Jacob he will be with Jacob, then he will be with Jacob! If God ever makes a promise to his people, you can bank on that promise coming to fruition!
God is by definition faithful! God is always working to carry out his promises, even when we can’t see him working. As Jacob is fleeing, he’s helpless. And as Laban is pursuing, God steps in and intervenes.
In the cool of the night, God warned Laban, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
I love this! When everyone is asleep, God is awake. When everyone in inactive, God is active.
Listen to what the Psalmist says in Psalm 121:3-4, “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber or sleep.”
Church, please understand and rest in this the fact that God never sleeps! When you lay your head on your pillow at night, God is keeping you! While Jacob sleeps in his tent, God is keeping him. Before Laban reached Jacob, God reached Laban.
[25] And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. [26] And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? [27] Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? [28] And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. [29] It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ [30] And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
Notice the irony of Laban’s words here! It’s as if Laban has no clue that he’s been treating Jacob so badly. He acts as though he would have gladly thrown a farewell celebration with songs, tambourines, and lyres. He’s presenting himself as a loving father who simply wanted one last embrace with his daughters and grandchildren.
But that's not entirely true, is it?
It’s as if Laban has forgotten that Jacob had previously come to him requesting his permission to return home. It’s as if Laban has forgotten that he didn’t allow Jacob to leave. It’s as if he has overlooked the fact that he had consistently deceived Jacob. It’s as if he has overlooked the fact that he has changed Jacob’s wages over and over over the past few years.
The deceiver is claiming to be deceived. The trickster is claiming to be tricked. The manipulator is claiming to be manipulated. The culprit is claiming to be the victim.
But, Laban’s accusations aren’t rooted in truth; they’re built on a distortion of truth. Laban has fabricated the truth in order to pull on the heart strings of those around him. Leah and Rachel weren’t dragged away as prisoners of war. They willingly chose to leave with Jacob because they themselves had concluded that their father had treated them unjustly.
Laban is doing what we’re often tempted to do! He’s seeking to minimize his own failures by magnifying the failures of someone else. He’s painting himself as the innocent victim while quietly ignoring the ways he’s sinned against others. Laban isn't simply telling a different version of events. He's constructing a narrative that makes him appear righteous while portraying Jacob as the villain. And if we're honest, our hearts can be tempted to do the very same thing. Pride forces us to approach everything in a manner that makes us look better than we actually are.
In what ways can you be tempted to portray yourself better than you actually are?
Now, the longer Laban talks, the more his heart’s desires are revealed. More than Laban was upset that he didn’t get to hug his grandchildren goodbye, he was upset that his gods were gone. He’s upset with the fact that his gods are missing.
So…
[31] Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. [32] Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
Jacob is honest with Laban, revealing the state of his heart. He fled because he was afraid that Laban would take his daughters from him by force. And I don’t know if this fear is irrational or not. In fact, it seems warranted. Just think about everything Laban has done up until this point in time. He’s consistently deceived Jacob, manipulated Jacob, exploited Jacob.
So, it’s not hard to understand why Jacob expected the worst. After all, God himself came to Laban in a dream and gave him direct instructions not to do anything to him. Therefore, God’s intervention suggests Jacob’s fear is rational.
But, I also want you to see Jacob’s innocence here! Laban believes all of the evidence points to Jacob stealing his gods, but the truth is that Jacob hasn’t touched them. Jacob is essentially saying, “Search everything I have. If I have anything that belongs to you, take it. If I have your idols, kill me.”
Those are bold words, words that are rooted in innocence! In Jacob’s mind, he has nothing to hide! The once deceiver has nothing to hide because he hasn’t touched anything!
But, then Moses allows us the peak behind the curtain of a truth that even Jacob didn’t know. “Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.”
Genesis 31:33–55
[33] So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. [34] Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. [35] And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.
Now, as a man who is really good at making anything awkward. Let’s get awkward for a moment.
The “way of the women” is a reference to Rachel’s menstrual cycle. And during this time of the month, throughout the Old Testament, women would have been seen as unclean.
Now, just to be clear! In the Old Testament law, you would find both a moral cleanness and a ceremonial cleanness. It’s important to distinguish between the two. Moral cleanliness had to do with sin and guilt before God; ceremonial uncleanness had to do with ritual purity. Unlike moral cleanness, being ceremonially unclean didn’t mean you had sinned. It simply meant that you were temporarily unable to participate in Israel’s worship until they had been ceremonially cleansed according to God’s law.
Well, later in the law, we see that a person could become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body (Numbers 19:11), through certain skin diseases (Leviticus 13–14), after an emission of semen (Leviticus 15:16–18), through childbirth (Leviticus 12), or during a woman’s menstrual cycle (Leviticus 15:19–24). According to the law, anyone or anything that touched a woman on her menstrual cycle would be deemed unclean.
Now, obviously the law hadn’t been given in Genesis 31. So, Rachel and Laban weren’t thinking in terms of ceremonial uncleanness as Israel would have later on. But, there would have certainly been a cultural understanding that she was unclean and that she shouldn’t be disturbed (as we see by Laban’s response).
Now, there are differing opinions here regarding whether or not Rachel was telling the truth. It could be one of two things here. It could be that Rachel is lying to Laban. It could be that she knew that if she said it was her period then Laban would have left her alone, and thus he wouldn’t be able to find Laban’s hidden gods. Or, it could also be that she’s telling the truth, and that she is cleverly using this time of the month to her advantage.
In the end, though, I’m not sure if that’s Moses’ primary concern here. And I’m not sure if there’s anything in the text that specifically alludes to one over the other. But, regardless of which is true, I think Moses is intentionally seeking to contrast Laban’s god’s with Jacob’s God.
This small detail is intended to make a mockery of Laban’s gods! Laban’s gods could be stolen; Jacob’s couldn’t. Laban’s gods could be hidden; Jacob’s God appeared to his enemies in the hidden part of the night. Laban’s gods were helplessly concealed beneath a camel’s saddle; Jacob’s God sat on the throne, and he was speaking, warning, protecting, and accomplishing his will without anyone frustrating his purposes! While Laban’s gods became more and more defiled by every drop of Rachel’s blood, Jacob’s God sat on his holy throne. Laban’s gods were small, Jacob’s God is big! Laban’s gods was helpless, Jacob’s God is the divine helper. Laban’s gods are defiled, Jacob’s God is holy.
So, Laban doesn’t press Rachel. He believers her, and he doesn’t make her get up. Therefore, he doesn’t find the missing gods. This leads to Jacob becoming livid!
Look at verse 36.
[36] Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? [37] For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. [38] These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. [39] What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. [40] There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. [41] 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 have changed my wages ten times. [42] If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”
So, we’re able to catch a glimpse behind the scenes of what life was like for Jacob over these years. He’s been working hard and honestly. And as he’s been working hard and honestly, he’s been taken advantage of by Laban. Yet, despite being taken advantage of, he’s quietly kept his head down and worked! He’s been dependent upon the LORD’s provision over the years. If it hadn’t been for the LORD taking care of Jacob over these years, Laban would have certainly sent him away empty handed.
So, Jacob here is publicly highlighting his own innocence along with the hypocrisy of Laban. Laban has portrayed himself to be a man of innocence, but that’s the farthest thing from the truth! And now all of Laban’s wrongdoings have been brought to light, along with Jacob’s innocence and God’s faithfulness.
[43] Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? [44] Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.”
Like, what a statement of arrogance from Laban here! Laban is speaking as though Jacob’s wives, Jacob’s children, and even the flocks that God had graciously and fairly given to Jacob belong to him. The arrogance and delusion of Laban is profound! He’s self-centered and delusional, consumed with only his own interest. Pride has thwarted the way he views all of life, and he’s begun to believe that everything belongs to him. He’s begun to believe that the whole world revolves around him.
Church, pride clouds our judgment. Like with Laban it distorts our reality. It convinces us that we’re right, even when we’re wrong. It blinds us to the pain we’ve caused others. Pride forces us to think through life simply through the lens of ourselves, and no one else.
But, for the sake of peace, Jacob is willing to negotiate with Laban here and enter into a covenant with him.
[45] So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. [46] And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. [47] Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. [48] Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, [49] and Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. [50] If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
Again, the irony of Laban’s words are thick here because his standard of morality is all over the place. The man who seemingly has no sense of morality all of a sudden has become a guardian of moral purity. The man who has taken advantage of his daughters his entire life is now warning Jacob not to mistreat his daughters. The man who duped Jacob into marrying multiple of his daughters is now preventing Jacob from marrying other women.
Now, none of these things are a bad thing, of course! It’s just ironic that these commands are coming from Laban. He condemns in others what he’s willing to tolerate in his own life! You can’t marry any other women besides the four women who I have allowed you to marry!
That’s what hypocrisy does! Hypocrisy is a willingness to move the goal post for others and not ourselves. It’s you saying “doing as I say and not as I do.”
[51] Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. [52] This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. [53] The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, [54] and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.
[55] Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.
As we bring this to a close, I want us to land the plane on the gospel. As we see here in Genesis 31, conflict was present between Jacob and Laban. Hostility existed between these two men. But, out of this hostility, a covenant of peace was made. And in connection with that covenant, a sacrifice was offered. And after that sacrifice, they sat down together and shared a meal, a meal centered around bread.
Church, this small moment in the story points to a greater reality. Like with Laban and Jacob, there was conflict between us (sinful man) and God (a holy God).
Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have a little bit of Laban in us. We are all a little hypocritical, egotistical, and self-centered sinners. But, God pursued us. And God made a way for us to have peace with him.
Listen to Paul’s words in Ephesians 2!
“God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… …and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… We were once separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world…[13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14] For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility [15] by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16] and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. [17] And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [18] For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…”
So, church, as we work through the book of Genesis, I hope we are able to see how God is a God of peace. And I hope we see how the peace he brought Jacob and Laban was a small shadow to the greater peace he brought us today.
Jacob and Laban’s peace lasted their lifetime. But, the peace Christ purchased lasts for eternity. Jacob offered a sacrifice, and then they shared bread together. Jesus became the once for all sacrifice for sin! And because he became that sacrifice, we are invited to his table! We don’t simply have a ceasefire with God. We have peace with God, fellowship with God, a seat at his table.