Jacob's in-laws are about to turn against him. Jacob is selectively breeding the flocks and herds so that they produce more speckled and spotted animals. The agreement between Jacob and Laban was that all the speckled and spotted animals would go to Jacob as his wages for continuing to stay on after completing fourteen years of service. Jacob is the reason Laban is so wealthy now, because he's managed his estate. But now Jacob is becoming wealthy too and Laban feels cheated by him. Is Jacob wronging Laban? I don't think he's doing anything wrong in making his own profits grow. He probably is spending less time helping Laban to succeed than he did in the past, but Jacob is a man with a huge family to support and he does have to think about the future and how he will provide for them. Something Jacob says in our passage today indicates that the Lord told him how to increase the odds of speckled and spotted animals being born. The Lord has seen how dishonestly Laban has always dealt with Jacob. The Lord knows Laban always will deal dishonestly with Jacob because that's the kind of man Laban is and Laban has no interest in changing. The Lord will soon tell Jacob it's time to head back to Canaan, and when He does Jacob is going to need a good nest egg so he can start his new life with his very large family.
"Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, 'Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all his wealth from what belonged to our father.' And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been." (Genesis 31:1-2) Jacob's fortune got its start from the animals Laban agreed he could have, but Jacob certainly didn't steal anything from their father. They are lying or at least wildly exaggerating when they accuse him of taking "everything" their father owned. For fourteen years Jacob worked for free because Laban cheated and deceived him when agreeing to accept him as a husband for Rachel. During that time Laban prospered exceedingly while Jacob had nothing but room and board and the clothes on his back. If Jacob had left before Laban gave him any animals, he'd have been leaving with nothing but his family. Laban had him trapped until now because Jacob couldn't afford to leave. Laban hasn't been aboveboard with Jacob at any time during their long acquaintance and now he's starting to reap what he's sown and he doesn't like it.
Some scholars believe Laban didn't have any sons until after Jacob came on the scene. Until his own sons were born it's likely Laban intended to make Jacob his heir, so he may have justified his stinginess with Jacob by saying to himself, "When I die someday all this will be his anyway." I think it's quite possible Laban really didn't have sons until after Jacob came into the family since their occupations are as shepherds, according to yesterday's passage. This was a job given to the pre-teen and teenage boys of the family. Now that Laban has sons of his own, I am sure he planned to disinherit Jacob, and these sons are angry that Jacob is more interested in making a living for himself than in continuing to make their father's estate prosper by leaps and bounds. The less their father's profits grow, the less they are going to inherit upon his death. If Jacob had previously been named as heir and has now been discarded, naturally he has to work hard to make his own living. He knows a day is coming when these boys will be men and their father will be old or dead and they will throw him out on his ear. He can't be penniless when that day comes.
Jacob is troubled in his heart. I picture him tossing and turning in bed at night thinking about the hostile family situation he's in. I think he worried a lot about the future. I don't know if he spent some of that time in prayer but I tend to think he did because the Lord tells him what he needs to do. "Then the Lord said to Jacob, 'Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.'" (Genesis 31:3) Jacob must have planned all along to someday go back to Canaan. But he was waiting for the right time. It could be he's counted his money and doesn't think he has enough yet to start a new life. But the Lord informs him that the time to go is now. When the Lord says to step forward, Jacob doesn't have to worry about how it's going to work out. The Lord already knows how He's going to provide for him. All Jacob has to do is obey.
"So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were." (Genesis 31:4) The Bible doesn't explain why Jacob doesn't share his plans with his wives inside the house but I suspect it's because he doesn't want to be overheard. He doesn't know who he can trust and who he can't. The servants might have been instructed by Laban to report to him anything they hear. Jacob meets his wives out in the field with nothing but sheep around them so he can be certain no one is eavesdropping.
"He said to them, 'I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me." (Genesis 31:5-7) Here we learn that even after making an agreement with Jacob about which animals of the flock would be his, Laban has changed the agreement ten times. Originally Jacob was to have all the speckled and spotted animals. Then, as we will see soon, Laban started saying stuff like, "Okay, now only the speckled ones are yours." When the speckled ones reproduced more often he'd change his mind and say, "Now you don't get any more of the speckled ones. You can only have the spotted ones." Laban was always looking out for himself.
Rachel and Leah are aware of the poor character of their father. He's cheated them too. He consigned them to lives of jealousy and discontent by marrying them both to the same man in a dishonest charade. They know he's always been more concerned with his own wealth than with whether his daughters will be properly provided for by their husband. They are listening to what Jacob has to say and are going to be willing to do whatever he asks them to do. He now points out how the Lord protected him in spite of all Laban's attempts to cheat him. "If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me." (Genesis 31:8-9) The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Sometimes when He takes away it's because the person doesn't deserve to have what he has. Laban has gained his wealth by using and mistreating Jacob. The Lord has been steadily taking away from Laban and giving to Jacob because Jacob is more worthy of His blessings.
Jacob reveals to his wives a dream he had about the Lord. "In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'" (Genesis 31:10-13) People may think they're getting away with treating us unfairly, but they aren't hiding anything from God. He sees their mistreatment of us and He will take action in the proper time and in the right way.
Laban has not only disinherited Jacob, but he's disinherited his daughters also. As soon as he got them married off he considered them Jacob's problem. He has no concern for their future whatsoever. "Then Rachel and Leah replied, 'Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.'" (Genesis 31:14-16)
"Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan." (Genesis 31:17-18) In yesterday's passage the Bible told us that with his earnings Jacob has at last accumulated some worldly goods and male and female servants. He packs up his entire household and heads out.
"When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household gods. Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. So he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead." (Genesis 31:19-21) Jacob has a right to leave. He owes Laban nothing at this point and the Lord has instructed him to leave. But he goes about it in a way that puts him on bad terms with his father-in-law. He doesn't go to him and speak to him man to man but flees like he thinks Laban will try to stop him from going home or that Laban will force him to leave with nothing. Rachel, unbeknownst to her husband, steals objects which are probably plated in gold as "payment" for all she's suffered due to her father's greed and dishonesty. Laban will assume Jacob stole them. He will pursue Jacob in the outrage of one who has been robbed and in the indignation of one who was denied the opportunity to say goodbye to his daughters and grandchildren.
Jacob didn't have to leave in this manner. The Lord would have protected him. The Lord would have brought him out from Laban's estate with plenty, just as the Lord will later bring the nation of Israel out of Egypt with plenty. But Jacob flees like a man whose life is in danger. His trust in the Lord is growing, and we know this because he's willing to obey the Lord's instructions to move out now, but he doesn't yet trust the Lord enough to be certain He won't allow Laban to take anything from him when he leaves. I think we can cut Jacob some slack for this. He's lived in the household of a greedy, dishonest man for so long that he wouldn't put anything past Laban. He's so used to having to watch his back all the time that he's stuck in that mindset. He knows the Lord has been watching out for him, but he's on the alert himself all the time. He never knows when and where Laban will cheat him next and he can't yet relax in the promise of the Lord's protection. It's going to take time for Jacob to learn to fully trust the Lord. This is an ongoing lifelong process, for Jacob and for all of us.
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