Brother Laban

"So it was when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, and said, 'Whose daughter are you? Tell me please, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge?' So she said to him, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah's son, home she bore to Nahor.' Moreover she said to him, 'We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.' Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. And he said, 'Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.' So the young woman ran and told her mother's household these things. Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban and Laban ran out to the man by the well. So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard the word of his sister Rebekah, saying, 'Thus the man spoke to me, that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, 'Come in O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.' (Genesis 24:22-31)

Here we are introduced to Laban, the brother of Rebekah, a man whom we will hear more of further along in our study. There is a portion of scripture here that gives us a strong idea about what it is that motivates Laban:

"So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets.." (v. 30)

Rebekah offers Abraham's servant generous hospitality without ulterior motive; Laban, on the other hand, is motivated by the wealth that he sees displayed in the jewelry that was given to Rebekah.

Laban calls the servant according to the words he heard from Rebekah's telling of her encounter with the servant: "O blessed of the Lord." But there is no reason to believe that Laban knows the "Lord" of whom he speaks. We must remember that Abraham has been pulled out of this land by God, out of his father's home, in order to follow God. That does not indicate that the folks there knew God at all. Certainly, it will be proven further along that Laban worships household idols; which is most likely the custom for all those who live in Haran.

Motivated by hopes of achieving some gain from this servant of a wealthy relative, Laban becomes hospitality itself. Indeed, he will be receiving gifts from this servant soon.

Rebekah stands in sharp contrast to Laban, her brother who is motivated by ill-gotten gain. She is industrious (she is the first woman at the well that day indicating that she is not slack concerning her chores), she is generous and caring, and, for Isaac's sake, the Lord provides a potential wife who is beautiful as well.