Last Sunday, we arrived in Harran with the exiled Jacob, fleeing Canaan and his brother's wrath. He'd been sent to take shelter and spouse from Uncle Laban. Fourteen years later, he's married both Laban's daughters, Leah and then Rachel (plus Bilhah and Zilpah their handmaids), he's got twelve kids running around, and he's been profoundly humbled in his crafty Aramean ways, because Laban has proven to be quite his match. Rachel's given birth at last to Joseph, and that marks the finish of Jacob's second seven-year shepherding contract. With all the gals as moms, Jacob reckons he should be free to skedaddle. But that's the question: Jacob has been 'serving' Laban (as he says three times in today's first two verses), but does that mean 'working for hire' or 'being a slave' for Laban?1 Jacob now presses Laban on the issue, emphasizing that even if he'd been a slave, it was for a set term, and now it's well past time to manumit him and send him back where he belongs (Genesis 30:25-26).2 God's been faithful in his promise of seed; now it's land time.3 And in demanding Laban sent him away and let him go, Jacob sounds like Moses insisting Pharaoh send Israel forth, set Israel free (Exodus 5:1).4
Pharaoh, of course, gave an outright no in reply (Exodus 5:2). Laban's smoother than that, laying on some thick and buttery flattery, saying he's learned by divination – an occult practice – that his newfound riches are because the LORD has blessed Laban for Jacob's sake (Genesis 30:27). Jacob latches on to that point, agreeing Laban was just average before he showed his face here and now has been blessed with an explosive fortune – Jacob borrows language from God's promises at Bethel (Genesis 28:14). But while Laban's gotten rich, Jacob owns nothing at all.5 The later Law of Moses will say a servant should be set free after six years of service, and he can't go empty, but must be gratefully supplied from his former master's flocks, grain, and wine: “As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him” (Deuteronomy 15:12-14). Jacob drops hints that, with his contract up and Laban rich enough to be satisfied, Laban should supply him sufficiently to support his family on the long walk home.6 But Laban sidesteps all hints, making it obvious that he's never had any intention of letting Jacob go – ever.7 I mean, Jacob's his no-limit credit card from God, and Laban's greed would never return such a treasure. Jacob thought this place was protection, but it's prison – like Pharaoh's Egypt will be later. And as long as this goes on here, Jacob can never become the nation and kingdom he's destined to be.8
So, Laban says, “Specify your wages to me, I will give,” “What shall I give you?” (Genesis 31:28, 31). Like a mafioso, Laban clearly means this as an offer Jacob can't refuse.9 But Jacob remembers the last time Laban said he'd 'give' a 'her' who turned out to be the wrong sister (Genesis 29:19), so, Laban, “you shall not 'give' me anything” (Genesis 31:31).10 But, since Jacob has to become financially independent before he leaves Paddan-aram, he suppresses his anger and outlines terms for a renewed contract. If Laban agrees, Jacob will “pass through all your flock today, removing from there” every sheep or goat that looks a certain way (Genesis 30:32). That way, it's easy to see which are which when Jacob finally collects on his wages: “my righteousness will answer for me” as honest (Genesis 30:33). The list of sheep and goats Jacob specifies sounds convoluted until you know that in his world, almost every goat was dark and every sheep was white, and Jacob picks out the small minority that don't fit the norm: sheep with darker patches of fur, lambs that are all dark, and goats with white flecks or patches.11 What Jacob's saying is, “You know the weird-colored ones that don't quite fit in? I'll go through and claim those; my cut will be the mutts.”
To Laban, this sounds like an unbelievable bargain.12 Typically, a hired shepherd might claim anywhere from 8 to 20 percent of the lambs and kids born while they tend a flock. Jacob's proposal, under any natural condition, should add up to a lot less, while still keeping things fair and proportional.13 So naturally, Laban agrees right off the bat (Genesis 30:34). Jacob said he'd go through and remove the misfits from the flock, and sure enough, we read that “he removed that day the he-goats that were striped and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every dark one among the lambs, and he gave them into the hand of his sons” (Genesis 30:35). But only now do we realize that the 'he' who did it wasn't Jacob, as it was supposed to be, but Laban cleaning out the supply; he turned them over to his sons and put a three-day journey between them to ensure Jacob can't get his hands on them (Genesis 30:36).14 Even when getting a great deal, Laban chooses to put Jacob at a further disadvantage, making sure he has barely any breeding stock that fit his needs.15 Laban really is “set on cheating Jacob at every turn.”16
So here's Jacob, left alone with the rest of Laban's flock. What's he to do? Well, I bet none of us would come up with what he does next. He goes and gathers fresh sticks from three kinds of trees, peels strips of bark off to expose the inner sapwood, and presents them where he takes his flocks to drink water, but only when it's their mating season; then, when they've seen the sticks coloring their reflection different patterns, and they mate, the little lambs and kids they bear come out multi-colored (Genesis 30:37-39). This is... really weird. It's like when Rachel thought mandrakes would make her fertile – that was folk-medicine. This sounds like folk-wisdom that says a baby's looks depend on whatever the mom was looking at during conception – as people used to think.17
So is this just a silly story for people who didn't know better? Well, you'd think so, before you see all the puns. Genesis names the three species of tree Jacob uses: poplar, almond, and chestnut. But the word for 'almond' is luz, as in, the old name of the city that's now to be Bethel (Genesis 28:19). The word for the 'chestnut' or 'plane' tree sounds like 'smooth' or 'shrewd.' And the word for 'poplar'? It sounds a lot like the name 'Laban.' In fact, when Jacob exposes the 'white' inside each rod, he exposes 'the laban,' because 'Laban' means 'white.'18 Just like Jacob outsmarted Esau the Red with a red stew, he aims to outfox Laban the White by the white of this wood.19
Again, all very primitive and weird. But it's not supposed to make real sense – yet.20 Not until we read the next chapter, and hear Jacob describe another dream, a sequel to Bethel. During that first mating season, when Jacob was at a loss what to do, he looked up and saw multi-colored he-goats mounting the flock – literally, 'ascending on' the flock, like angels on a ladder to heaven (Genesis 31:10; 28:12).21 The Angel of the LORD called Jacob, as he had to Grandpa Abraham on the mountain; so Jacob answered the same way, “Here I am,” and got an explanation that this dream was God's answer to “all that Laban is doing to you” (Genesis 31:11-12). And the angel used the present tense because Laban was still at it. Just as Pharaoh gave ten nos to Moses' demand for Israel's release, so Laban “has mocked me and changed my wages ten times,” testifies Jacob (Genesis 31:6). Over and over, Laban would revise their agreement to only patchy ones or only spotty ones. No matter which way Laban tried to cheat, though, the flock kept bearing whatever Jacob would get (Genesis 31:8). “Thus God has delivered the livestock” of Laban, as he'd deliver Israel, “and has given them to me” (Genesis 31:9).22
Jacob set up the sticks as a symbolic sign, “not of his own devising, but with grace from on high inspiring his mind,”23 “not relying on them, but awaiting God's assistance.”24 Jacob contributed everything he did know about selective breeding practices, carefully applying this sign to the healthier, more robust animals while leaving Laban the feebler ones (Genesis 30:40-42).25 Now, just as Laban's wealth has “burst out” to abundance through Jacob's blessing (Genesis 30:30), Jacob's own wealth “burst forth very much” so that he could barter his sheep and goats to get “large flocks and maidservants and manservants and camels and donkeys” (Genesis 30:43), just as Grandpa got all those years ago (Genesis 12:16). God “made abundant the fruit of [Jacob's] works, stood by him against the greed of his defrauders, and enriched him” (Wisdom 10:10-11). And Jacob confesses, it wasn't he who outsmarted Laban, but the Lord (Genesis 31:5-6).26
Six years go by. Jacob's getting richer and richer. His brothers-in-law are understandably resentful – that's their expected inheritance he's chipping away at. “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has made all this glory!” they complain (Genesis 31:1). That's obviously an exaggeration; ancient readers knew Jacob was enriched “not from a division but from an increase in the flock.”27 But Jacob heard his brothers-in-law; he also “saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not with him as heretofore” (Genesis 31:2). Laban's “sons' words deranged his mind and made him forget” how Jacob had been the means of his blessing in the first place,28 so that now “Laban and his sons were jealous of Jacob.”29 Then the LORD speaks again: “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you” (Genesis 31:3). It sounds so much like God's first words to Abram, “Go from your land and your kindred and your father's house” (Genesis 12:1). This will be the same journey, but it's taking Jacob back to his family, back to his homeland.
Say no more, God; Jacob's on it. But who will go with him? Will Leah? Will Rachel? Will the kids, now ages six through twelve? Going with Jacob would mean leaving the only home they've ever known – a feat of faith second only to that of Sarah and Rebekah. So Jacob calls just Rachel and Leah to the field with his flock, a perfect pretext to speak without risk of eavesdroppers; and Jacob anxiously unpacks the situation and tries to carefully convince them to join him (Genesis 31:4).30 He contrasts his dedicated service with Laban's mockery and cheating, and the turned-away “face of your father” with the faithful “God of my father” (Genesis 31:4-6). He narrates the dream that set their prosperity in motion, glorifying God for saving him from Laban's plans of evil (Genesis 31:7-12). Finally, he expands on the divine message calling him back home so he can at last make good the vow he vowed to “the God of Bethel” (Genesis 31:13). Thus spake Jacob. But the question on his mind is how these bitterly feuding, headache-inducing wives of his – the daughters of Laban, who grew up bouncing on Laban's knee and snuggling in Laban's arms to banish their nightmares – will take all this.
Surprisingly, Jacob's got nothing to worry about. For the first time since we met them, Rachel and Leah “speak in unison.”31 We hear nothing further about a rivalry between them. They raise three points (Genesis 31:14-16). First, their father sold them to Jacob like livestock for his wages, and, what's more, instead of providing them a dowry out of the bride-price of Jacob's lengthy and lucrative service, Laban “indeed devoured our silver” greedily for himself.32 Second, Laban's cheating their husband inflicts the same insecurity on them as him; they feel like outsiders, knowing their dad doesn't have their backs. And third, they expect no future inheritance from him. They reckon God's enrichment of Jacob was God's way of giving it “to us and to our children,” rather than to Laban. So, the sister-wives tell Jacob, they renounce Laban-loyalty and throw in their lot with him and the God of his father; “now then, whatever God as said to you, do” (Genesis 31:16).
Jacob's clan is now as united as Israel preparing the first Passover (cf. Exodus 12:27-28). Taking advantage of the absence of Laban and his men who are off shearing their sheep, a big spring undertaking (Genesis 31:19),33 Jacob collects everything he'd accumulated, emphasizing it was all rightfully and lawfully his (Genesis 31:18).34 As Israel plundered the Egyptians of the Egyptians' own free will, so Jacob and his family have profited off of Laban. Where Jacob arrived on foot, he leads away his children and wives on camels (Genesis 31:17). And his destination is “to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan” (Genesis 31:18) – the first time either word's been mentioned since the LORD introduced himself at Bethel in Canaan as “the God of Isaac” (Genesis 28:13).
But, speaking of plunder, Genesis now mentions two thefts.35 First, we read that “Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's” (Genesis 31:19). Most likely, teraphim were small statues that played a role in domestic religion.36 It was common in many societies to have, not just the big public temples, but also at-home worship of gods both big and small, even low-level deities specific to the family. Ancient Aramean families worshipped the clan ancestor.37 So these figurines were probably set up in Laban's household shrine, and he likely used the teraphim in his rituals of divination (cf. Ezekiel 21:21; Zechariah 10:2).38 Why Rachel took them is anybody's guess. Is she so superstitious she clings to her dad's religion even as she leaves him?39 Or is she the opposite, so pious she's trying to free him from his own idolatry?40 Is she acting out of spite, stealing what's dearest to him as payback for his theft of her monogamy?41 Is she taking precautions to keep him from divining their path of escape?42 Are the teraphim hostages, a bargaining chip to play if they get caught?43 Or is she consciously trying to ignite the chain of events we'll soon be reading about, with an eye to Jacob's own good?44
We'll have to wait and see. But that's only the first theft. There's another like unto it. We read next that “Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he intended to flee” (Genesis 31:20). Ambitious Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel” with flattery (2 Samuel 15:6); Jacob steals Laban's heart with secrecy and mistrust. When Rebekah first sent Jacob off, she bade him “arise, flee to my brother Laban in Harran” (Genesis 27:43). Now those words are written in reverse, rewinding his move: “Jacob fled... and he arose, and he crossed the River” (Genesis 31:21). Passing over like Israel at the sea, Jacob begins ushering family, flocks, and followers toward the hilly plateau of Gilead east of Jordan. At last, their exodus is begun!
But with an exodus, there's bound to be trouble coming. In Moses' day, “when the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,” he so resented the loss of Israel's service that he “took his army” and chariots and “he pursued the people of Israel” until he “overtook” them at the sea (Exodus 14:5-9). Those are exactly the verbs Genesis uses here: it was “told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,” so “he took his brethren with him and pursued after him,” pressing closely until finally “Laban overtook Jacob” (Genesis 31:22-25).45 The Bible could not hint any harder that Laban is a Pharaoh figure here, with the same fury burning in his blood.
It's a long chase – Gilead is hundreds of miles from Harran, and later retellings suggest Laban hunted Jacob for nearly two whole months.46 However long it was, when we reach a stop, Jacob's people and Laban's people are encamped on opposing hillsides in Gilead, facing each other like armies poised for battle (Genesis 31:25).47 But something happens. Like Abimelech in Abraham's day (Genesis 20:3), Laban has a dream at night where he meets, not his own gods, but the LORD. The message is simple enough even for Laban: As Jacob 'kept' Laban's flocks and was himself being 'kept' by God, so Laban had best 'keep' himself, “lest you speak to Jacob, from good to bad” (Genesis 31:24). It reminds us how Laban and his dad saw the clear will of the LORD when Abraham's steward came to get Rebekah (Genesis 24:50); God's saying he should see Jacob's liberty as an equally clear manifestation of providence, and should submit to it in peace as above his pay grade.48
Despite the warning, Laban confronts his runaway son-in-law, as if prosecuting a lawsuit against him. “What have you done?” Laban opens (Genesis 31:26), using the same words Jacob spoke in protest when Laban put Leah in Rachel's place (Genesis 29:25). First, Laban protests that Jacob was presumptuous and unjust in fleeing Laban's house secretly. Had Jacob let him know he was going, Laban would of course have been more than fine with it, and would've thrown a great farewell party for him and the girls (Genesis 31:27); but, as it is, Jacob's dishonored Laban by preventing him from kissing his daughters and grandkids goodbye (Genesis 31:28). Or so Laban claims. Everything we've read leads us to doubt Laban would've done any such thing.
Laban's second claim is more serious. “You have driven away my daughters like captives of the sword!” Laban cries (Genesis 31:26). His contention, his assumption, is that Jacob is an abusive husband, having forced Leah and Rachel away like prisoners of war, separating them unwillingly from their home by threats of violence, and treating them like livestock to be driven to and fro. That's awfully rich, coming from the dad who named his daughters after livestock and sold them like livestock. In fact, we already know what Laban's pride won't let him imagine: that Rachel and Leah were fully on-board with ditching him. But Laban makes this accusation to manipulatively play on Jacob's sympathies, father to father.49
Laban interrupts his indictment to throw his muscle around. “It is in the power of my hand to do you evil!” he crows, and the only reason he doesn't is that dream from “the God of your father” (Genesis 31:29). Both times, the 'you' Laban uses is plural. He's not just threatening Jacob. He's boasting that he and his brethren could hurt and abuse Jacob and all those with him, including his little sons by Leah and Rachel. What a great grandpa. In the same speech, Laban subtly taunts Jacob, saying condescendingly that he understands Jacob's motive is that “you longed longingly for the house of your father” (Genesis 31:30). He's sneering at Jacob as a daddy's boy, a pun who, even well past middle age, isn't really a full-grown man able to make it in the world.50
He sandwiches all this between two charges of stealing. At the start, he accuses Jacob of having “stolen my heart,” indeed, of having “stolen (away from) me” (Genesis 31:26-27). But Laban saves the heaviest charge for last. All this rest he'd overlook, “but why did you steal my gods?” (Genesis 31:30). He means the teraphim – they were gods to him, and now they're gone. Stealing the sacred was a very serious crime, a capital offense.51
Jacob's stammering reply is clearly on the defensive. He excuses his hasty and furtive flight by claiming he had a reasonable fear that, far from a party, Laban would've “kidnapped your daughters from me” (Genesis 31:31) – a stronger, more violent word than just 'steal.'52 But Jacob bypasses the rest to get to the closing shocker, which threw Jacob for a loop because he has no clue Rachel took the teraphim. Rashly, Jacob sentences the culprit to death – “anyone with whom you find your 'gods' shall not live” – but challenges Laban to back up his charge and “discern” whatever's his (Genesis 31:32), as Jacob's father failed to do years before (Genesis 27:23).53
Dramatic tension heightens as Laban searches Jacob's camp, tent by tent, until reaching Rachel's, where we know the teraphim really are (Genesis 31:33). But it turns out that Rachel's stowed them inside her boxy camel saddle and is sitting on them (Genesis 31:34). To keep her father from checking it, she claims she can't get up because “the way of women is upon me” – i.e., her menstrual period (Genesis 31:35). So, avoiding the saddle, her father “felt all about the tent, but he did not find” (Genesis 31:34), just as Jacob's blind father “felt” the disguised Jacob but didn't find the truth (Genesis 27:22-23).54 Despite the powerlessness of women in her culture to 'stand up' to a man, Rachel uses her womanhood itself to covertly undercut his power, denigrate and defile his 'gods,' and call him to abandon his path of anger (Genesis 31:35).55
When Laban comes out, Jacob calls this the last straw. “For the first time, he stands up to Laban face-to-face and as an equal.”56 The Bible says that “Jacob became angry and strove with Laban” (Genesis 31:36), filing a countersuit for malicious prosecution. Laban has severely insulted Jacob by rifling through all his things, and all his wives' and sons' things, for nothing. “What is my offense, what is my sin, that you have pursued after me?” Jacob asks; “you've felt through all my goods; what have you found of all the goods of your house? Set it here, before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us two!” (Genesis 31:36-37). Jacob demands Laban produce the evidence to back up his accusation that Jacob's a thief of anything, much less of Laban's pretended 'gods.' But Laban has nothing to show the court. By Sumerian law, making an accusation and producing no evidence meant the accuser would suffer the same penalty the defendant would have if convicted;57 in Babylon, if the owner of lost property accused somebody of theft but couldn't produce evidence, “he is a liar, he has indeed spread malicious charges, he shall be killed.”58 Laban's in hot water.
As Laban hems and haws, Jacob presses on, unleashing two decades full of grievances. Jacob shames Laban by reminding him what a good and faithful shepherd Jacob's been as he “fed, guarded, toiled, and kept watch over the sheep of Laban.”59 He persevered twenty years through dry heat in daytime and biting cold in the sleepless nights (Genesis 31:40). He so tended the ewes and she-goats that none miscarried their young. Even where shepherds were permitted a ram now and then to butcher for meat, Jacob never availed himself of that privilege (Genesis 31:38). Even though shepherds weren't accountable for livestock killed by wild beasts, Jacob assumed the loss, and when animals were stolen, Laban required it from Jacob in defiance of the law (Genesis 31:39).60
In the face of such faithfulness, Laban not only exceeded his lawful rights but constantly cheated Jacob of his rightful wages, a fact with which Jacob at last confronts his wicked boss. Had it been up to Laban, Jacob would still have empty pockets; Laban would've tossed him aside like garbage (Genesis 31:41-42). Jacob finally, cathartically, “exposes Laban's repeated treachery and lies,” from start to finish.61 And the only reason Laban didn't destroy Jacob was because “the God of my father – the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac! – was with me” amidst the trial. Using exodus language, Jacob exclaims that “my affliction and the toil of my palms God has seen – and he judged you last night!” (Genesis 31:42). Laban's dream itself delivers the verdict!
By the time Jacob concludes his countersuit, Laban clearly hasn't a leg to stand on. Laban's gods are on the back of a milk carton; but the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, is living and decisive. Divine justice has now delivered faithful Jacob from Laban's shrewd schemes, from Laban's cruel, conning, cheating cunning. So what's Laban to do? Throw a tantrum, that's what. “The daughters are my daughters! And the sons are my sons! And the flocks are my flocks! And all that you see is mine!” he howls, stamping his feet (Genesis 31:43), betraying his own admission that the LORD had blessed him for Jacob's sake and by Jacob's service.62
At this point, even Laban's brethren can see he's pathetic. This is no wise man. It's delusional for Laban to lay claim, as patriarch, to owning Leah and Rachel, and Reuben through Joseph, and all the sheep and all the goats, and all the camels and all the donkeys, and all the maidservants and all the manservants. Laban's claim over all these is “empty rhetoric” untethered from reality.63 Laban is a cheap pretender, a “deluded scoundrel,” forever rewriting history to his liking, unashamed to contradict himself.64
Now he's visibly a blustering buffoon “who has lost all credibility.”65 He knows, deep down, that “my brethren and your brethren” would never sustain his assertion; but he's got to convince himself he's being magnanimous while effectively forfeiting, since he doesn't have the courage to admit his own defeat.66 Ah, “what can I do this day for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne?” (Genesis 31:43). He speaks as if his deepest desire were to benefit Rachel, Leah, and his grandkids – despite all evidence to the contrary. So, he tells Jacob, “come now, let us cut a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you” (Genesis 31:44). For the first time, Laban is forced to deal with Jacob as an equal, as a clan head in his own right.
Jacob gives no verbal answer; he sets up a standing-stone (Genesis 31:45), like he did at Bethel (Genesis 28:18) – they were quite popular with Arameans, too.67 Jacob bids his brethren to form other stones into a mound, and Laban and Jacob each name it 'Heap of Witness' in their respective languages, Aramaic and Hebrew (Genesis 31:46-47), for which we've been prepared by Aramaic expressions already in the story.68 This pillar and this heap – which, though we just watched Jacob set them up, Laban delusionally claims he erected – will mark a boundary neither may cross by raid or invasion (Genesis 31:51-52).69 To guarantee the treaty, Laban calls on two gods – the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor; Jacob, increasingly ignoring Laban, swears by “the Fear of his father Isaac” (Genesis 31:53).70 They're now defined as representing two separate peoples with different languages, different gods, different places to call home; there'll be no more fetching brides from Harran.71
In the end, it's Jacob – now asserting himself as patriarch in his own right – who sacrifices the sacrifice and who calls everyone to share in the covenant meal he hosts (Genesis 31:54). When morning comes, Laban kisses his daughters and grandkids, blesses them, and is sent off to return to “his own place” (Genesis 31:55). The Laban chapter has reached its end. Through this time in Paddan-aram, Jacob “has struggled, he has suffered, he has endured, and he has come out much the stronger and better for it” – not by his own wits, but by God's grace.72 Jacob and his family are free and clear to move to the Promised Land, while Laban has been forced to concede that the LORD is a living God who watches over the oppressed whom he has chosen (Genesis 31:49-50).
Jacob's now secured the northeastern edge of the land; the boundary between Israel and Aram will run through Gilead. The Book of the Kings will tell us often about wars between Israel and Aram over Gilead (1 Kings 22:1-4), until “the LORD gave Israel a savior so that they escaped from the hand of Aram” (2 Kings 13:5). But in time, the northern kingdom of Israel will make common cause with Aram against the southern kingdom of Judah. This alliance defies the covenant of Jacob and Laban, as Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel join forces “to wage war on Jerusalem” (2 Kings 16:5). The prophet Isaiah was sent to the fearful king Ahaz with a sign: “Hear then, O House of David!... Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:13-14). We, of course, know the deeper meaning of the sign, but it was given first in the setting of the vengeance of the sons of Laban. When all was hidden, God was watching (Genesis 31:49).
We're approaching our great celebration of this sign coming to pass, of God being with us more intimately then he was with Jacob even, for he takes on our flesh and our blood, born a descendant of Jacob – and of Laban, by Leah. And these things written in Genesis are for our instruction, when we grasp them spiritually. For Jacob is at pains to show himself faithful in shepherding the flock, and in that he points forward to the Good Shepherd. “I am the Good Shepherd,” says Jesus. “I know my own, and my own know me..., and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-16). Early Christians, as they read Genesis, remarked that “Jacob served Laban for the spotted and speckled sheep, and Christ served, even to the servitude of the cross, for men of different colors and features from every nationality, redeeming them by his blood and the mystery of his cross.”73 The three kinds of branches were understood to either prophesy Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension,74 or to be a symbol of the Holy Trinity, since the fruitfulness of the Christian flock comes from seeing in the baptismal waters the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).75
So then who is Laban, from whom the flock is claimed? Early Christians, reading Genesis mystically, took him as signifying none other than the devil.76 Who else wrathfully pursues God's people, as Laban did Jacob, than “the devil [who] has come down to you in great wrath” (Revelation 12:12)? Who better blends flattery, deceit, insult, and accusation, as Laban did, than “the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), who “has been sinning from the beginning” (1 John 3:8)? Many, alas, have been “captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26), as Jacob was lured into Laban's clutches in Haran.
When Laban catches up to Jacob in Gilead, Laban searches diligently through all that is Jacob's, certainly that he's going to find something that's his own, since “whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). But, as St. Ambrose (celebrated today) wrote, “Laban searched and found nothing that was his. How happy is the man in whom the Enemy has found nothing that he can call his own!”77 “Give no opportunity to the devil,” advises the Apostle (Ephesians 4:27), and “do not be outwitted by Satan [and] his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:11), but rather “escape from the snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2:26) and “stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11), as Jacob did against Laban.
Jacob was assailed with all of Laban's most devilishly beguiling words, his fiercest accusations, his deceptive misrepresentations – Laban tried his hardest to manipulate Jacob, as the devil does us. But when Laban's search came up empty, because Rachel had buried the idols in their shame, Jacob grew confident and spoke in God's name against his accuser, turning the tables back. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). He did just that. Laban was forced to seek a truce and distance. It was Jacob who set up the pillar and the heap of stones. It was Jacob who gave it its lasting name. It was Jacob who swore to the true God. It was Jacob who served the meaty meal on the mountain. And we, when the devil flees, may feast on the mountain, sharing the hallowed bread and wine from Christ's hands in the name of the Lord. We may reclaim our identity, for so long obscured by sin and the world, and be called back to the blessing of Abraham, away from our spiritual Aram.
I'll close with the words of St. Caesarius: “May the divine mercy grant that our Adversary may find nothing of his works in us! For if he finds nothing of his own, he will not be able to keep us or recall us from eternal life. Therefore, dearly beloved, let us look at the treasury of our conscience, let us examine the secret places of our heart, and if we find nothing there which belongs to the devil, let us rejoice and thank God.... However, if we recognize something of the devil's works or cunning in our souls, let us hasten to cast it out and get rid of it as deadly poison. Then, when the devil wants to ensnare us and can find nothing which belongs to him, he will depart in confusion,” to his own damned place – and we, to the God who's been with us all along.78 Amen.
1 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 147; Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 164-165.
2 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 211.
3 Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 270-271.
4 James Chukwuma Okoye, Genesis 12-50: A Narrative-Theological Commentary (Cascade Books, 2020), 240.
5 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 416-417; Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 272.
6 John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 481-483.
7 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.309, in Loeb Classical Library 242:149.
8 Philip H. Kern, Jacob's Story as Christian Scripture (Cascade Books, 2021), 66.
9 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 337.
10 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 170.
11 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 231; Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 272.
12 R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Press, 2010), 241.
13 Philip H. Kern, Jacob's Story as Christian Scripture (Cascade Books, 2021), 66-67.
14 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 148; John E. Anderson, Jacob and the Divine Trickster: A Theology of Deception and YHWH's Fidelity to the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 110.
15 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 419; Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2003), 337; Philip H. Kern, Jacob's Story as Christian Scripture (Cascade Books, 2021), 68.
16 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 274.
17 Jerome of Stridon, Hebrew Questions on Genesis 30:32-33, in C. T. R. Hayward, Saint Jerome's Hebrew Questions on Genesis (Clarendon Press, 1995), 67; Augustine of Hippo, Questions on the Heptateuch 1.93, in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century I/14:50.
18 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 212; John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 485.
19 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 173; Philip H. Kern, Jacob's Story as Christian Scripture (Cascade Books, 2021), 69.
20 John E. Anderson, Jacob and the Divine Trickster: A Theology of Deception and YHWH's Fidelity to the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 112.
21 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 187-188.
22 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 89.
23 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 57.7, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:136.
24 Theodoret of Cyrus, Questions on Genesis 90, in Library of Early Christianity 1:175.
25 Daniel Hillel, The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures (Columbia University Press, 2006), 72.
26 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 148.
27 Ambrose of Milan, On His Brother Satyrus 2.100, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 22:242.
28 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 57.9, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:137.
29 Jubilees 28:30, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:111.
30 Elie Assis, Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel (Eisenbrauns, 2016), 48.
31 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 234.
32 Shaul Bar, Daily Life of the Patriarchs: The Way It Was (Peter Lang, 2015), 39.
33 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 216.
34 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 195.
35 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 435.
36 James Chukwuma Okoye, Genesis 12-50: A Narrative-Theological Commentary (Cascade Books, 2020), 244.
37 Edward Lipinski, The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion (Peeters, 2000), 605.
38 Shaul Bar, Daily Life of the Patriarchs: The Way It Was (Peter Lang, 2015), 177; Jonathan Yogev, The Rephaim: Sons of the Gods (Brill, 2021), 169.
39 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 57.17, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:141.
40 Theodoret of Cyrus, Questions on Genesis 91, in Library of Early Christianity 1:177-179; Genesis Rabbah 74.5, in Harry Freedman, ed., Midrash Rabbah (Soncino Press, 1983), 2:679.
41 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 235.
42 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 149; John E. Anderson, Jacob and the Divine Trickster: A Theology of Deception and YHWH's Fidelity to the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 107.
43 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.311, in Loeb Classical Library 242:151.
44 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 348.
45 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 89-90.
46 Jubilees 29:5, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:111.
47 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 217.
48 John E. Anderson, Jacob and the Divine Trickster: A Theology of Deception and YHWH's Fidelity to the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 126-127; John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 498.
49 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 438.
50 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 344.
51 Laws of Hammurabi §6, in Writings from the Ancient World 6:82.
52 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 218.
53 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 238.
54 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 150-151; Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 201.
55 Matthew R. Schlimm, From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 151.
56 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 439.
57 Laws of Lipit-Ishtar §17, in Writings from the Ancient World 6:29.
58 Laws of Hammurabi §11, in Writings from the Ancient World 6:83-84.
59 Aphrahat, Demonstrations 10.1, in Moran 'Eth'o 23:217.
60 Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2003), 337-338; Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 279-280.
61 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 347.
62 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 29.4.3, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:179.
63 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 220.
64 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 432, 436.
65 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob Cycle (Gen. 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 203.
66 John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 501.
67 Edward Lipinski, The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion (Peeters, 2000), 599-602.
68 Cian Power, The Significance of Linguistic Diversity in the Hebrew Bible: Language and Boundaries of Self and Other (Mohr Siebeck, 2023), 139-142.
69 Kenneth A. Kitchen and Paul J. N. Lawrence, Treaty, Law, and Covenant in the Ancient Near East (Harassowitz Verlag, 2012), 3:73-74.
70 Shaul Bar, Daily Life of the Patriarchs: The Way It Was (Peter Lang, 2015), 80.
71 Elis Assis, Identity in Conflict: The Struggle between Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel (Eisenbrauns, 2016), 50; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 349-350.
72 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 442.
73 Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 134.5, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 6:356.
74 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 5.1.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:235.
75 Ambrose of Milan, Jacob and the Happy Life 2.4 §19, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:157.
76 Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 88.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 47:36.
77 Ambrose of Milan, Jacob and the Happy Life 2.5 §24, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:160.
78 Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 88.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 47:36.
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