†. Gen 31:42 . . Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham
and the Fear of Isaac, been with me, you would have sent me away
empty-handed. But God took notice of my plight and the toil of my
hands, and He gave judgment last night.
In Jacob's opinion, Laban stood utterly condemned. For if Jacob's uncle had
been in the right, then God wouldn't have been so anxious to protect Jacob
from harm, but rather would have been inclined to teach him a lesson.
Anyone there that day, who had the slightest conscience at all, must have
looked upon Laban as one would look upon the most crooked, and upon the
most dishonest, unscrupulous, and unthankful of men with utter disgust.
Jacob told it like it was, and no one objected; and no one stood up to speak
in Laban's defense.
†. Gen 31:43a . .Then Laban spoke up and said to Jacob: The
daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the
flocks are my flocks; all that you see is mine.
Oh, give it up already!! Someone really needed to teach that communistic
crumb some principles related to the transfer of property. The girls were no
longer his daughters. They were married women: one flesh with a man who
worked very hard to both earn them and deserve them. The children were
fathered by Jacob, not by Laban. And the flocks were Jacob's by right, not
by loan nor by theft, nor by gift, nor by fraud. They were his honest
compensation; the very wages that Laban himself had agreed upon.
Everything on that mountain pertaining to Jacob was personal property and
Laban had no right to lay claim to any of it. He was just very lucky that
Jacob was not of the kind to show him the business end of a shotgun and
point him north, back the way he came.
When Laban finally had an opportunity to respond to Jacob's outburst, he
couldn't say anything at all by way of denial to Jacob's claims and charges.
Instead; he tried to divert attention away from the embarrassing facts by
changing the subject. Though even himself knew very well he was in the
wrong; a conceited man like Laban just can't bring himself to make public
acknowledgement of his guilt. People like him typically try whatever means
they can muster to shift the blame away from themselves; or at least shift
the attention away from their own culpability to whatever real or imagined
grievances they can find in others.
†. Gen 31:43b . .Yet what can I do now about my daughters or the
children they have borne?
His question was just a smoke screen. Laban as much as said: It would be
contrary to all human sensibilities to do anything to bring grief to my own
flesh and blood. How could you possibly think I am capable of such a thing?
Laban's lack of integrity is almost beyond belief. He followed Jacob for seven
days and at least three hundred miles for the specific purpose of killing him
and taking all the herds and all the people back to Paddan-aram. That
wouldn't have caused his kin grief? --to kill his grandkids' dad, and to
murder Leah's and Rachel's husband?
†. Gen 31:44 . . Come, then, let us make a pact, you and I, that there
may be a witness between you and me.
Instead of murdering Jacob, which was no doubt his original intent, Laban
now proposes a very noble settlement-- a gentleman's non-aggression pact
between himself and Jacob.
†. Gen 31:45-46 . .Thereupon Jacob took a stone and set it up as a
pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen: Gather stones. So they took
stones and made a mound; and they partook of a meal there by the
mound.
Pillars were common in those days as watchers --gods who intervene in the
affairs of men. (cf. Gen 28:22, Dan 4:17)
†. Gen 31:47a . . Laban named it Yegar-sahadutha,
Yegar-sahadutha is Aramaic, Laban's tongue, and means: heap of the
testimony, or cairn of witness.
†. Genesis 31:47b . . but Jacob named it Gal-ed.
Gal-ed is Hebrew and means pretty much the same thing.
†. Gen 31:48-49 . . And Laban declared: This mound is a witness
between you and me this day. That is why it was named Gal-ed; And
[it was called] Mizpah, because he said: May the Lord watch
between you and me, when we are out of sight of each other.
Mizpah means watchtower. Laban wasn't the one who called it Mizpah. It
went on to become known as that because of his pronouncement.
Did Laban mean to imply that Jacob needed watching? For those twenty
years in Laban's employ, what had Jacob ever done on the sly to harm
Laban? Doesn't Jacob's sterling twenty-year employment record count for
anything? But Laban just can't stop himself from denigrating his son-in-law
right up to the bitter end of their association.
†. Gen 31:50 . . If you ill-treat my daughters or take other wives
besides my daughters-- though no one else be about, remember,
God Himself will be witness between you and me.
Had Jacob ever ill treated Rachel and Leah all those years in Laban's
employ? When had the girls ever complained to their dad about Jacob's
behavior? Was it really reasonable to assume he would ever abuse them
some day? No it wasn't. Jacob had always treated the girls with kindness
and consideration, and Laban had neither cause nor reason to think Jacob
would ever do otherwise. This is just bombast; and since when did Laban
ever really care about Rachel and Leah anyway? He sold them like livestock,
and spent their dowries on himself.
Marry other women? Jacob had only wanted one woman in the first place;
but was forced into a bigamous marriage by Laban himself.
Laban intended for the stone pile to be a boundary between himself and
Jacob so that Jacob would not come past it later on for revenge after God
made him strong enough to whup Laban. But that was another evidence of
his poor judgment of Jacob's character. Jacob was definitely not a war-faring
man; anybody could see that. He was just like his dad Isaac; who was also a
peaceable man, satisfied to simply stop the strife between himself and his
enemies. No way would Jacob ever seek revenge. It just wasn't in his nature
to do that. But Laban had a wicked conscience. It wasn't beyond him to
project his own base motives upon others and assume they would do the
very same things he himself would do in their place.
In return, Laban would promise to not go past the marker to cause Jacob
any harm; which he no doubt would if God hadn't intervened to prevent it.
What a hollow covenant. All Laban did that day was put up an appearance of
nobility and try his best to save face in an otherwise very embarrassing
situation. And the meanwhile heaping additional indignities upon Jacob, and
slurring the reputation of a very decent man.
Cont.
/
and the Fear of Isaac, been with me, you would have sent me away
empty-handed. But God took notice of my plight and the toil of my
hands, and He gave judgment last night.
In Jacob's opinion, Laban stood utterly condemned. For if Jacob's uncle had
been in the right, then God wouldn't have been so anxious to protect Jacob
from harm, but rather would have been inclined to teach him a lesson.
Anyone there that day, who had the slightest conscience at all, must have
looked upon Laban as one would look upon the most crooked, and upon the
most dishonest, unscrupulous, and unthankful of men with utter disgust.
Jacob told it like it was, and no one objected; and no one stood up to speak
in Laban's defense.
†. Gen 31:43a . .Then Laban spoke up and said to Jacob: The
daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the
flocks are my flocks; all that you see is mine.
Oh, give it up already!! Someone really needed to teach that communistic
crumb some principles related to the transfer of property. The girls were no
longer his daughters. They were married women: one flesh with a man who
worked very hard to both earn them and deserve them. The children were
fathered by Jacob, not by Laban. And the flocks were Jacob's by right, not
by loan nor by theft, nor by gift, nor by fraud. They were his honest
compensation; the very wages that Laban himself had agreed upon.
Everything on that mountain pertaining to Jacob was personal property and
Laban had no right to lay claim to any of it. He was just very lucky that
Jacob was not of the kind to show him the business end of a shotgun and
point him north, back the way he came.
When Laban finally had an opportunity to respond to Jacob's outburst, he
couldn't say anything at all by way of denial to Jacob's claims and charges.
Instead; he tried to divert attention away from the embarrassing facts by
changing the subject. Though even himself knew very well he was in the
wrong; a conceited man like Laban just can't bring himself to make public
acknowledgement of his guilt. People like him typically try whatever means
they can muster to shift the blame away from themselves; or at least shift
the attention away from their own culpability to whatever real or imagined
grievances they can find in others.
†. Gen 31:43b . .Yet what can I do now about my daughters or the
children they have borne?
His question was just a smoke screen. Laban as much as said: It would be
contrary to all human sensibilities to do anything to bring grief to my own
flesh and blood. How could you possibly think I am capable of such a thing?
Laban's lack of integrity is almost beyond belief. He followed Jacob for seven
days and at least three hundred miles for the specific purpose of killing him
and taking all the herds and all the people back to Paddan-aram. That
wouldn't have caused his kin grief? --to kill his grandkids' dad, and to
murder Leah's and Rachel's husband?
†. Gen 31:44 . . Come, then, let us make a pact, you and I, that there
may be a witness between you and me.
Instead of murdering Jacob, which was no doubt his original intent, Laban
now proposes a very noble settlement-- a gentleman's non-aggression pact
between himself and Jacob.
†. Gen 31:45-46 . .Thereupon Jacob took a stone and set it up as a
pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen: Gather stones. So they took
stones and made a mound; and they partook of a meal there by the
mound.
Pillars were common in those days as watchers --gods who intervene in the
affairs of men. (cf. Gen 28:22, Dan 4:17)
†. Gen 31:47a . . Laban named it Yegar-sahadutha,
Yegar-sahadutha is Aramaic, Laban's tongue, and means: heap of the
testimony, or cairn of witness.
†. Genesis 31:47b . . but Jacob named it Gal-ed.
Gal-ed is Hebrew and means pretty much the same thing.
†. Gen 31:48-49 . . And Laban declared: This mound is a witness
between you and me this day. That is why it was named Gal-ed; And
[it was called] Mizpah, because he said: May the Lord watch
between you and me, when we are out of sight of each other.
Mizpah means watchtower. Laban wasn't the one who called it Mizpah. It
went on to become known as that because of his pronouncement.
Did Laban mean to imply that Jacob needed watching? For those twenty
years in Laban's employ, what had Jacob ever done on the sly to harm
Laban? Doesn't Jacob's sterling twenty-year employment record count for
anything? But Laban just can't stop himself from denigrating his son-in-law
right up to the bitter end of their association.
†. Gen 31:50 . . If you ill-treat my daughters or take other wives
besides my daughters-- though no one else be about, remember,
God Himself will be witness between you and me.
Had Jacob ever ill treated Rachel and Leah all those years in Laban's
employ? When had the girls ever complained to their dad about Jacob's
behavior? Was it really reasonable to assume he would ever abuse them
some day? No it wasn't. Jacob had always treated the girls with kindness
and consideration, and Laban had neither cause nor reason to think Jacob
would ever do otherwise. This is just bombast; and since when did Laban
ever really care about Rachel and Leah anyway? He sold them like livestock,
and spent their dowries on himself.
Marry other women? Jacob had only wanted one woman in the first place;
but was forced into a bigamous marriage by Laban himself.
Laban intended for the stone pile to be a boundary between himself and
Jacob so that Jacob would not come past it later on for revenge after God
made him strong enough to whup Laban. But that was another evidence of
his poor judgment of Jacob's character. Jacob was definitely not a war-faring
man; anybody could see that. He was just like his dad Isaac; who was also a
peaceable man, satisfied to simply stop the strife between himself and his
enemies. No way would Jacob ever seek revenge. It just wasn't in his nature
to do that. But Laban had a wicked conscience. It wasn't beyond him to
project his own base motives upon others and assume they would do the
very same things he himself would do in their place.
In return, Laban would promise to not go past the marker to cause Jacob
any harm; which he no doubt would if God hadn't intervened to prevent it.
What a hollow covenant. All Laban did that day was put up an appearance of
nobility and try his best to save face in an otherwise very embarrassing
situation. And the meanwhile heaping additional indignities upon Jacob, and
slurring the reputation of a very decent man.
Cont.
/
