Genesis 31:33

_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._ Laban went into ... tents. Tents are of two descriptions-the family tent and the single tent. With the patriarchs the latter seems to have been the kind used (see the note at Genesis 18:9-10), especially in traveling, as recommended by its convenience, and formed in the manner described in the passage just referred to. The patriarch had the principal tent, and each of his wives, even the married handmaids and concubines, had their separate tents also. A personal scrutiny was made by Laban, who examined every tent; and having entered Rachel's last, would have infallibly discovered the stolen images, had not Rachel made an appeal to him which prevented further search....

22-35 God can put a bridle in the mouth of wicked men, to restrain their malice, though he do not change their hearts. Though they have no love to God's people, they will pretend to it, and try to make a merit of necessity. Foolish Laban! to call those things his gods which could be stolen! Enemies may steal our goods, but not our God. Here Laban lays to Jacob's charge things that he knew not. Those who commit their cause to God, are not forbidden to plead it themselves with meekness and fear. When we read of Rachel's stealing her father's images, what a scene of iniquity opens! The family of Nahor, who left the idolatrous Chaldees; is this family itself become idolatrous? It is even so. The truth seems to be, that they were like some in after-times, who sware by the Lord and by Malcham, Zephaniah 1:5; and like others in our times, who wish to serve both God and mammon. Great numbers wi...

- Jacob’s Flight from Haran 19. תרפים _t__e__rāpı̂ym_, Teraphim. This word occurs fifteen times in the Old Testament. It appears three times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the Pentateuch. It is always in the plural number. The root does not appear in Biblical Hebrew. It perhaps means “to live well,” intransitively (Gesenius, Roedig.), “to nourish,” transitively (Furst). The teraphim were symbols or representatives of the Deity, as Laban calls them his gods. They seem to have been busts (προτομαί _protomai_, Aquila) of the human form, sometimes as large as life 1 Samuel 19:13. Those of full size were probably of wood; the smaller ones may have been of metal. In two passages...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 31:22, GENESIS 31:23 AND IT WAS TOLD LABAN ON THE THIRD DAY—_i_._e_. the third after Jacob's departure, the distance between the two sheep-stations being a three days' journey (_vide_ Genesis 30:36)—THAT JACOB WAS FLED. AND HE TOOK HIS BRETHREN—_i_._e_._ _his kinsmen, or nearest relations (cf. Genesis 13:8; Genesis 29:15)—WITH HIM, AND PURSUED AFTER HIM (Jacob) s

AND LABAN WENT INTO JACOB'S TENT,.... Into that first where he most suspected they were, being taken not out of value for them, but contempt of them; AND INTO LEAH'S TENT; and not Leah's tent next, whom next to Jacob he might suspect of taking them, out of veneration to them, because her tent lay next: AND INTO THE TWO MAIDSERVANTS' TENTS: Bilhah and Zilpah; or "the" tent of them; for the word is singular, and perhaps they had but one tent for them both, which distinguished them from the principal wives: BUT HE FOUND [THEM] NOT; in neither of these tents: THEN WENT HE OUT OF LEAH'S TENT, AND ENTERED INTO RACHEL'S TENT; which he went into last of all, as least suspecting her, being less addicted to the superstition and idolatry of his family than Leah and the maidservants: Aben Ezra thinks that he was twice in Leah's tent, and at the last time came out of that into Rachel's; and that...

CHAPTER 31 JACOB'S SERVITUDE ENDED AND FLIGHT FROM LABAN _ 1. Laban's behavior and God's commandment (Genesis 31:1)_ 2. The dream vision to return to the land (Genesis 31:11) 3. Jacob's flight (Genesis 31:17) 4. Laban warned (Genesis 31:22) 5. Laban's accusation (Genesis 31:25) 6. Jacob's answer (Genesis 31:31) 7. The covenant between Jacob and Laban ...

GENESIS 31:22 TO GENESIS 32:2. AFTER MUTUAL RECRIMINATIONS, JACOB AND LABAN MAKE A COVENANT TO REFRAIN FROM AGGRESSION ON EACH OTHER'S TERRITORIES. The analysis is uncertain; Gunkel assigns Genesis 31:22; Genesis 31:26; Genesis 31:28_ a_ (to Laban), Genesis 31:32; Genesis 31:36_ b_,...

RACHEL. Repeated by the Figure of speech _Anadiplosis._ Hebrew "tent of Rachel, and Rachel had taken. " FURNITURE. saddle. SEARCHED. felt [with his hands]....

The Pursuit of Laban, &c. 23. _his brethren_ i.e. the men of his kindred and clan, as in Genesis 31:25_; Genesis 31:32_. Jacob is similarly attended; cf. Genesis 31:37_; Genesis 31:46; Genesis 31:54_, Genesis 24:60. _seven days" journey_ The distance from Haran to the land of Gilead for a company with flocks and herds would require a longer time. It is computed to be over 300 miles in a straight line. But we do not need to be ve

AND LABAN WENT, &C.— The LXX here add, _and searched; Laban went and searched into Jacob's tent,_ &c. which Dr. Kennicott defends by a reading from the Samaritan; but the matter is of no consequence, since the passage is perfectly well understood in the Hebrew without this addition; and the conciseness of the Hebrew idiom does not always admit of every explanatory word. Who does not well know, from the context, for what purpose Laban entered into Jacob's, Leah's, and the other tents? not to say that the words at the end of Genesis 31:34 are sufficient for the whole. REFLECTIONS.—We have here, 1. Laban's pursuit. He raises all his family, and pursues the fugitive seven days, and overtakes him at Mount Gilead. _Note;_ When anger and covetousness are roused, what will not men do to gratify them? Even his own flesh and blood are now likely to rue his venge