Genesis 31:35

_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._ Let it not displease my lord. The Hebrews, instead of addressing a person of dignity in the second person singular, thou and thee, said, "my lord" (Numbers 12:11; 1 Kings 17:18; 2 Samuel 14:9). FOR THE CUSTOM OF WOMEN IS UPON ME. She availed herself of a notion which seems to have obtained in patriarchal times, and which was afterward enacted in the Mosaic Code as a law, that a woman in the alleged circumstances was unclean, and communicated a taint to everything with which she came into contact. It was a mere pretex

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...

Verse Genesis 31:35. _THE CUSTOM OF WOMEN IS UPON ME._] This she knew must be a satisfactory reason to her father; for if the teraphim were used to any religious purpose, and they seem to have been used in this way, as Laban calls them his _gods_, he therefore could not suspect that a woman in such a situation, whose touch was considered as defiling, would have sat upon articles that were either the objects of his adoration, or used for any sacred purpose. The stratagem succeeded to her wish, and Laban departed without suspicion. It seems very natural to suppose that Rachel did believe that by the use of these teraphim Laban could find out their flight, and the direction they took, and therefore she stole them; and having stolen them she was afraid to acknowledge the theft, and probably might think that they might be of some use to herself. Therefore, for these reasons, she brou...

- 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 SHE SAID TO HER FATHER,.... As he approached nearer to her, having searched her tent all over: LET IT NOT DISPLEASE MY LORD THAT I CANNOT RISE UP BEFORE THEE: she addresses him with great honour and respect; calling him her lord, being her father, though an unkind one, and entreats him not to be displeased that she did not rise up and yield that obeisance to him which was due from her to a father: FOR THE CUSTOM OF WOMEN [IS] UPON ME; her menstrues; which before the law of Moses were reckoned a pollution, and such persons were not to be touched or come near unto, and everything they sat upon was unclean, and not to be touched also; Leviticus 15:19; AND HE SEARCHED; all about her, and around her; but did not oblige her to get up, nor could he imagine that ever the images could be under her in such circumstances:...

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_,...

MY LORD. Hebrew the eyes of my lord. Figure of speech _Prosopopoeia._ App-6. CUSTOM. Laban's deceit begets deceit....

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