Gen. 31:38-5538This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. 39That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. 40Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. 41Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. 42Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. 43And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have born? 44Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. 45And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 46And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. 47And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. 48And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; 49And Mizpah; for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. 50If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. 51And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; 52This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. 53The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount. 55And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place. (Genesis 31:38‑55)
WHEN LABAN failed to find the images he claimed were stolen from him, Jacob (unaware of Rachel’s theft) allowed his long-silent emotions to find expression and he spoke out concerning the long and hard years of faithful service he had given Laban. He told of his suffering loss for Laban’s sake and protecting his flocks in the heat of the day and the frost at night, concluding: “Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.” v. 42.
With God’s warnings still fresh in his ears, Laban could go no further against his son-in-law. Nor could he deny the truth of Jacob’s complaint. “And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children... and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have borne? Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.” vv. 43,44.
A heap of stones was erected, to which a variety of names was given, one of which was Mizpah, meaning: “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.” The heap of stones was then proclaimed a beacon, past which neither Laban nor Jacob would trespass to do harm to the I other.
When these expressions between the two men were completed, and all the men, women and children witness thereto, Jacob prepared and offered a sacrifice, through which whether fully aware of it, or not, he rose to a new height. According to the normal order of things, it would be the elder of the two men who would make this provision and the younger would take a retiring place. But Jacob moved in where the older man failed and was not reproved for doing so.
This scene reminds us of Abram’s experience at the well of Beer-sheba, where he made a covenant with Abimelech, and of Isaac’s similar experience with the same king, when those who had been in conflict with one another covenanted to separate peaceably. If Laban yielded where he might have shown power, Jacob yielded where he might have held bitterness and resentment and his was the more gracious act of the two. It marked a point of progress in his strange and willful walk.
The covenant made, the sacrifice offered, food and rest provided for those from Haran, the following morning marked the final separation of these two companies. “And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.”
v. 55. It was necessary for Jacob to have done with all that Laban represented before he could receive God’s full blessings, but it should not be forgotten that Rachel still held on to her father’s idols. Jacob was to find them a hindrance to his progress before he finally got rid of them.
ML-11/13/1966