Genesis
31:25 ¶ Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now
Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in
the mount of Gilead. 26 And Laban said
to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and
carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? 27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and
steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away
with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? 28 And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and
my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. 29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt:
but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed
that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. 30 And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone,
because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou
stolen my gods? 31 And Jacob answered
and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest
take by force thy daughters from me. 32
With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our
brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob
knew not that Rachel had stolen them. 33
And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two
maidservants’ tents; but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah’s tent,
and entered into Rachel’s tent. 34 Now
Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat
upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. 35 And she said to her father, Let it not
displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is
upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.
Having
caught up with Jacob, Laban confronts him. Laban accuses Jacob of running off
with HIS daughters like captives taken in war. He makes it sound like he would
have been okay with their leaving and would have thrown them a party. A tabret is a musical instrument. See the
context? The same word is translated in some places as a timbrel. This is like a tambourine today. Jacob has denied Laban
the privilege of kissing his children and grandchildren goodbye, Laban
complains. Then, while he admits that he has the power to hurt Jacob,
presumably to kill him, take his goods, and return his daughters and grandchildren
to his control, that the God of Jacob’s father warned him not to do so, as we
have seen.
In
verse 30, Laban brings up the accusation that Jacob has stolen his household
gods, the images that Rachel had
stolen as per verse 19. These gods, these idols, as I noted before, were
particular to Laban’s family worship and their theft was a great wrong done to
him, in the context of the culture of the ancient world. This is how degenerate
the ancient world had become since the time of Noah, worship perhaps brought
with his wife or children from the pre-Flood world, perhaps.
Jacob
replies, justifying his actions based on his fear of Laban, and acknowledging
the severity of the crime of stealing Laban’s household gods and not knowing
that it was Rachel who stole them, and promises that whomever stole them will
die.
He
tells Laban that anything he finds that belongs to him, to take it. Laban does
a search but cannot find the images. Rachel has hidden them in the equipment on
which she sits, which belongs on her camel. She is sitting on that in the tent.
She makes the excuse that she cannot get up because she is in her monthly
period. This excuse is accepted and, of course, no one would have suspected
that one of Laban’s daughters stole the family images. A woman in the ancient
world, when married, left her family worship and that would mean the family
images, as well. She was to embrace fully the religion of her husband’s family
although she had no part in its inheritance except through her eldest son.
Rachel, like many Christians today, cannot let go of the idols in which they
place their trust.
It
is interesting to note how God does not often punish his people as they deserve
as He moves them along in His will. For instance, here the idolatry involved in
household gods, clearly against everything that is pronounced in God’s ministry
of reconciling mankind to Himself and creating a peculiar, special people for
Himself, does not result in Rachel’s immediate destruction. Again, in other
places where although we know that God’s plan was for one man and one woman to
unite in matrimony for life men create a culture where multiple wives flourish
and concubines are not uncommon. And yet, God focuses on His plan and not
always on our sin as we think He should. Human beings are an unstable substance
to work with but God’s ultimate will cannot be thwarted. We should not want to
sin but we should be grateful for His mercy in not giving us what our sin
deserves. See Job 11:6 when Zophar unjustly accuses Job of sin and Psalm 103:6-18.
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