Going Home

"And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not towards him as before. And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me, and it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled and grisled. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: and I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from the land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our fathers house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us and hath quite devoured also our money. 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. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; 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. And Laban went to shear this sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 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." (Genesis 31:1-21)

Jacob and his herds are three days apart from Laban's sons. Laban is residing in the same vicinity as Jacob, as are also Leah and Rachel and all of Jacob's children and servants. But Laban's sons are three days away, and yet rumors have reached Jacob and Laban's camp that Laban's sons are grumbling over the inequity they perceive to be happening in that Jacob's herds of speckled, ringstraked (striped) and grisled cattle (goats and sheep) are far outnumbering Laban's solid colored cattle. It is and will always be the way of the world that whenever one person is blessed, there will always be someone who will be envious and resentful of that person, even to the point of falsely accusing them of acquiring the blessing by dishonorable means.

But, in truth, Jacob has done nothing dishonorable here. Instead. The LORD has shown Jacob wisdom in a dream, showing him that there are more cattle to be had that are not solid in color, most likely because God Himself will see to it that this will be the case in Jacob's favor. And so, when Jacob strikes a bargain with Laban, he does have the upper hand in the bargain because he knows what will be, but still Laban agrees to it and so there is no reason for Laban to now become suspicious of Jacob or angry that Jacob has done better than him. After all, Jacob has served Laban for twenty years now; and served him with all that he had within him to do so.

But this dream now brings us back to the last passage of scripture (in the previous posting) in which Jacob has placed striped rods in front of the watering troughs and that as the cattle conceive at that spot, the resulting cattle born are ringstraked. Jacob does not tell Rachel and Leah that God instructed him to do this. So why did Jacob do it? Was he again helping God along with what God had already told him would surely happen?

And yet, Jacob is obedient to get up and go when God tells him to. And we see that Jacob determined to go probably only AFTER the dream, for without the dream having occurred, Jacob would not have known to ask for the ringstraked and speckled cattle. So, it appears that Jacob is hearing the LORD's words to him, and being obedient to them.

And what about Rachel? Why would she steal her father's household images? The Hebrew word here is teraphiym. Some scholars believe that these were not used for worship; while others believe that they are. It is not clear to us why she took them. Was it the rich metal they were made of? Was it because she trusted in them to help see them safely off? Was it that she wanted to take from her father something that was more precious to her than she herself, or her sister Leah, had been? We aren't told why she took them. But the only dishonorable act here is on the part of Rachel, certainly not Jacob.

Yet, in spite of Rachel's actions, God will protect Jacob and his family, as we will see in the next posting.

It is while Laban has returned to help his sons shear sheep (three days away) that Jacob, Leah, and Rachel tear down their tents and make their escape, in fear of Laban turning violent against Jacob or finding some way to prevent, once more, Jacob's leaving.

But Laban will follow them.