01 Gen-31 Yada Yada

#TorahLawofMoses #YadaYadaPauses #G

For reading purposes: Gen-31

Setting

Who:

Author: Moses
Audience: Israel
Characters and People Groups:
- Jacob
- Laban
- Leah
- Rachel
- sons of Laban
- children (of Jacob)
Symbolic Roles:
- Deceiver: Laban
- Deceived: Jacob
- Savior: God (of Jacob)

What:

Main Storyline: Jacob hears Laban’s sons complain and sees Laban’s face changed toward him; God commands Jacob to return to the land of his fathers; Jacob tells Rachel and Leah in the field; they agree; Jacob flees with all he has; Rachel steals the teraphim; Laban pursues and overtakes Jacob in the mountains of Gilead; God warns Laban in a dream; Laban searches but finds no teraphim; Jacob rebukes Laban; they make a covenant at Mizpah; Laban departs.

When:

Date Authored: circa 1446–1406 BC
Date takes place: circa 1739 BC

Where:

Padan-aram (Haran region, modern Harran, Turkey)
Gilead (mountains of Gilead, modern northwest Jordan)
Mizpah (Galeed/Mizpah of Gilead, modern Jal`ad, Jordan)

Genesis 31 Gen-31

← Genesis 30 | Genesis | Genesis 32 →

Jacob heard
- Laban's sons' words, saying,
  - "Jacob has taken away
    - all that was our father's.
  - He has obtained
    - all this wealth
      - from that which was our father's."
Jacob saw the expression
- on Laban's face,
  - and, behold, it ^[1]was not toward him as before.

Sounds like a replay of what happened with Isaac (Isaac's son ... father's face toward him ... )

Yahweh said
- to Jacob,
  - "Return
    - to the land
      - of your fathers,
    - and to your relatives,
  - and I will be with you." Jacobiac
- Jacob
  - sent and called
    - Rachel and Leah
      - to the field to his flock,
  - and said to them,
    - "I see the expression
      - on your father's face,
        
        that it is not toward me as before;
    - but the God
      - of my father
        
        has been with me.
    - You know that
      - I have served
        
        your father
        
        with all of my strength.
      - Your father //Laban//
        
        has deceived me^[2], ^[3]
        
        and changed my wages ten times,
      - but God
        
        didn't allow him
        
        to hurt me.
        
        If he said,
        
        'The speckled will be your wages,'
        
        then all the flock bore speckled.
        
        If he said, 'The streaked will be your wages,'
        
        then all the flock bore streaked.
        
        Thus God
        
        has taken away
        
        your father's livestock,
        
        and ^[4]given them to me.
        
        During mating season,
        
        I lifted up my eyes,
        
        and saw in a dream,
        
        and behold, the male goats
        
        which leaped on the flock
        
        were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.
        
        The angel of God said //elohim malakh Messenger//
        
        to me
        
        in the dream,
        
        'Jacob,'
        
        and I said, 'Here I am.'
        
        He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled,
        
        for I have seen all that Laban does to you.
        
        I am the God of Bethel,
        
        where you anointed a pillar,
        
        where ^[5]you vowed a vow to me.
        
        Now arise,
        
        get out from this land,
        
        and return to the land
        
        of your birth.'"
  - Rachel and Leah answered him,
    - "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
    - Aren't we considered as foreigners by him?
      - For he has sold us,
      - and has also used up our money.
      - For all the riches which God has taken away from our father
        
        are ours and our children's.
      - Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."
  - Then Jacob
    - rose up,
    - and set his sons and his wives on the camels,
    - and he took away all his livestock,
    - and all his possessions which he had gathered,
      - including the livestock which he had gained
        
        in Paddan Aram,
    - to go to Isaac
      - his father,
      - to the land of Canaan.

Cultural norms at that time: Daughters could inherit only if adopted as “sons” or via dowry. Otherwise, they were “sold” into marriage. Daughters typically received movable dowry (jewelry, slaves, livestock) from father, but Laban kept Jacob’s wages as de facto bride-price compensation.

Now Laban had gone
- to shear his sheep;
- and ^[6]Rachel
  - stole the teraphim
    - that were her father's.

Possession of household gods (ilu/teraphim) could legitimize a secondary heir’s claim to estate if the primary heir was absent or disputed.

Jacob ^[7]deceived
- Laban
  - the Syrian,
  - in that he didn't tell him
    - that he was running away.
  - So he fled
    - with all that he had.
  - He rose up, passed over the River,
  - and set his face
    - toward the mountain of Gilead.

deceived - tricked - literal meaning: “stole the heart/mind of Laban” Idiomatic Hebrew for deceiving someone by concealing intentions. Laban never directly accuses Jacob of deception — only of leaving secretly (Gen 31:27).

Laban was told
- on the third day ^[8]
  - that Jacob had fled.
- He //Laban//
  - took his relatives with him,
  - and pursued him
    - seven days' journey. ^[9]
    - He overtook him in the ^[10]mountain of Gilead. Gilead
God came to
- Laban
  - the Syrian
  - in a dream
    - of the night,
  - and said to him,
    - "Be careful
      - that you don't speak
        
        to Jacob
        
        either good or bad."
Laban caught up
- with Jacob.
- Now Jacob had
  - ^[11]pitched his tent
    - in the mountain,
- and Laban
  - with his relatives
  - encamped in the mountain
    - of Gilead.
- Laban said
  - to Jacob,
    - "What have you done,
      - that you have deceived me,
        
        and carried away
        
        my daughters
        
        like captives of the sword?
    - Why did you flee secretly,
      - and deceive me,
      - and didn't tell me,
        
        that I might have
        
        sent you away
        
        with mirth
        
        and with songs,
        
        with tambourine
        
        and with harp;
      - and didn't allow me
        
        to kiss
        
        my sons
        
        and my daughters?
      - Now have you done foolishly.
    - It is in the power of my hand to hurt you,
      - but the God
        
        of your father
      - spoke to me last night, saying,
        
        'Be careful that you don't
        
        speak to Jacob
        
        either good or bad.'
    - Now, you want to be gone,
      - because you greatly longed for your father's house,
        
        but why have you stolen my gods?"

Pitched his tent by a mountain - image of Moses coming down after the calf incident and pitching his tent outside the camp comes to mind.

- Jacob answered
  - Laban,
    - "Because I was afraid, for I said,
      - 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.'
    - Anyone you find your gods with
      - shall not live.
      - Before our relatives,
        
        discern what is yours with me,
        
        and take it."
      - For Jacob didn't know
        
        that Rachel
        
        had stolen them.
  - Laban went
    - into Jacob's tent,
    - into Leah's tent,
    - and into the tent of the two female servants;
      - but he didn't find them.
    - He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.
      - Now Rachel had taken the teraphim,
        
        put them in the camel's saddle,
        
        and sat on them.
    - Laban felt around all the tent,
      - but didn't find them.
    - She //Rachel// said
      - to her father,
        
        "Don't let my lord be angry
        
        that I can't rise up before you;
        
        for^[12] I'm having my period."
        
        He searched, but didn't find the teraphim.
- Jacob was angry, and argued
  - with Laban.
  - Jacob answered Laban,
    - "What is my trespass?
      - What is my sin,
        
        that you have hotly pursued me?
    - Now that you have felt around
      - in all my stuff,
      - what have you found of all your household stuff?
        
        Set it here
        
        before my relatives
        
        and your relatives,
        
        that they may judge between us two.
    - "These twenty years ^[13]
      - I have been with you.
        
        Your ewes
        
        and your female goats
        
        have not cast their young,
        
        and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.
        
        That which was torn of animals,
        
        I didn't bring to you.
        
        I bore its loss.
        
        Of my hand you required it,
        
        whether stolen by day
        
        or stolen by night.
        
        This was my situation:
        
        in the day the drought consumed me,
        
        and the frost by night;
        
        and my sleep fled from my eyes.
    - These twenty years
      - I have been in your house.
        
        I served you
        
        fourteen years
        
        for your two daughters,
        
        and six years
        
        for your flock,
        
        and you have changed
        
        my wages ten times.
    - Unless the God
      - of my father,
      - the God of Abraham,
      - and the fear of Isaac,
        
        had been with me,
        
        surely now you would have sent me away empty.
      - God has seen
        
        my ^[14]affliction
        
        and the labor
        
        of my hands,
        
        and rebuked you last night."
- Laban answered
  - Jacob,
    - "The daughters
      - are my daughters,
    - the children
      - are my children,
    - the flocks
      - are my flocks,
    - and all that you see
      - is mine!
    - What can I do today
      - to these my daughters,
      - or to their children
        
        whom they have borne?
  - Now come,
    - let's make a covenant,
      - you and I.
    - Let it be for a witness
      - between me and you."
    - Jacob took a stone,
    - and set it up for a pillar.
- Jacob said
  - to his relatives,
    - "Gather stones."
    - They took stones,
      - and made a heap.
    - They ate there by the heap.
- Laban called it
  - Jegar Sahadutha, //Heap of Witness in Aramaic//
    - but Jacob called it
      - Galeed. //Heap of Witness in Hebrew//
- Laban said,
  - "This heap is witness
    - between me and you today."
      - Therefore it was named
        
        Galeed
        
        and Mizpah, //Watchpost, lookout place, God’s watchful eye in Hebrew//
        
        for he said, "Yahweh watch
        
        between me and you,
        
        when we are absent
        
        one from another.
        
        If you
        
        afflict my daughters,
        
        or if you take wives
        
        in addition to my daughters,
        
        no man is with us //even if no man sees//;
        
        behold, God is witness
        
        between me and you."
  - Laban said
    - to Jacob,
      - "See this heap,
      - and see the pillar,
        
        which I have set
        
        between me and you.
      - May this heap be a witness,
      - and the pillar be a witness,
        
        that I will not pass over this heap
        
        to you,
        
        and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar
        
        to me,
        
        for harm.
      - The God
        
        of Abraham,
        
        and the God of Nahor //Abrahams father//,
        
        the God of their father,
        
        judge between us."
  - Then Jacob
    - swore by the fear of his father,
      - Isaac.
  - Jacob offered a sacrifice
    - in the mountain,
    - and called his relatives
      - to eat bread.
    - They ate bread,
      - and stayed all night
        
        in the mountain.
- Early in the morning,
  - Laban
    - rose up,
    - and kissed his sons
    - and his daughters,
    - and blessed them.
    - Laban departed and returned to his place.

← Genesis 30 | Genesis | Genesis 32 →

Connections

Repeated Words:

came (5)
day (5)
father (10)
flock (7)
God (11)
hand (6)

Genesis 28:10–22
Genesis 29:1–30
Genesis 30:25–43
Genesis 32:1–32
Hosea 12:12

Idiom "countenance…not toward him as before” – facial expression changed, showing disfavor ↩︎
Unrighteous Laban deceived Jacob ↩︎
Punishment Jacob was deceived by Laban just as he deceived Esau ↩︎
Blessing Jacob was given livestock ↩︎
Jacobiac Jacob vowed a vow to YHWH ↩︎
Unrighteous Rachel stole from her father ↩︎
Idiom deceived - tricked - literal meaning: “stole the heart/mind of Laban” Idiomatic Hebrew for deceiving someone by concealing intentions ↩︎
03 DAY - Laban was told Jacob fled on the third day ↩︎
07 DAY - Labon pursued Jacob for seven days. ↩︎
Mountain Mountain of Gilead ↩︎
Mountain Jacobpitched his tent in the mountain ↩︎
Idiom “custom of women is upon me” – menstrual period ↩︎
20 YEARS - Jacob was with Laban for 20 years. ↩︎
Favor YHWH saw Jacob affliction and the labor of his hands, and rebuked Laban ↩︎

Setting

Who:

What:

When:

Where:

Genesis 31 Gen-31

Sounds like a replay of what happened with Isaac (Isaac's son ... father's face toward him ... )

Cultural norms at that time: Daughters could inherit only if adopted as “sons” or via dowry. Otherwise, they were “sold” into marriage. Daughters typically received movable dowry (jewelry, slaves, livestock) from father, but Laban kept Jacob’s wages as de facto bride-price compensation.

Old Babylonian contracts: If father gave no dowry, daughters could claim a share at his death—but rare in practice.

Possession of household gods (ilu/teraphim) could legitimize a secondary heir’s claim to estate if the primary heir was absent or disputed.

Husband could relocate wife/children without consent if bride-price paid.

deceived - tricked - literal meaning: “stole the heart/mind of Laban” Idiomatic Hebrew for deceiving someone by concealing intentions. Laban never directly accuses Jacob of deception — only of leaving secretly (Gen 31:27).

Pitched his tent by a mountain - image of Moses coming down after the calf incident and pitching his tent outside the camp comes to mind.

Connections

Repeated Words:

Related Scriptures: