Genesis 31:39

_AND JACOB WAS WROTH, AND CHODE WITH LABAN: AND JACOB ANSWERED AND SAID TO LABAN, WHAT IS MY TRESPASS? WHAT IS MY SIN, THAT THOU HAST SO HOTLY PURSUED AFTER ME?_ Jacob answered and said to Laban. The use of the word "answered," as in this instance, is a Hebrew idiom, and peculiar to the Hebrew mode of conception, in reference to something prior as the occasion of speaking. The words, though in the form of question, are an answer to Laban's injurious, and so far as Jacob was concerned, unfounded, suspicions. Recrimination on his part was natural in the circumstances, and, as usual, when passion is high, the charges took a wide range. He rapidly enumerated his grievances for 20 years, and in a tone of unrestrained severity described the niggard character and vexatious exactions of his uncle, together with the hardships of various kinds he had patiently endured. Verse 38. THE RAMS ... HAVE...

36-42 If Jacob were willingly consumed with heat in the day, and frost by night, to become the son-in-law of Laban, what should we refuse to endure, to become the sons of God? Jacob speaks of God as the God of his father; he thought himself unworthy to be regarded, but was beloved for his father's sake. He calls him the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac; for Abraham was dead, and gone to that world where perfect love casts out fear; but Isaac was yet alive, sanctifying the Lord in his heart, as his fear and his dread....

Verse Genesis 31:39. _THAT WHICH WAS TORN - OF MY HAND DIDST THOU REQUIRE IT_] This more particularly marks the covetous and rigorous disposition of Laban; for the law of God required that what had been torn by beasts the shepherd should not be obliged to make good, Exodus 22:10; Exodus 22:13. And it is very likely that this law was in force from the earliest times....

- 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

THAT WHICH WAS TORN [OF BEASTS] I BROUGHT NOT UNTO THEE,.... To show what had befallen it; that so it might appear he had one the less to account for to him: I BORE THE LOSS OF IT; took it upon himself, as if it had been somewhat blameworthy in him, as the word used signifies; and so made satisfaction for it; which, how he did, when he had no wages, is difficult to say: he might have some perquisites allowed him by Laban, though he had no settled salary; or he might lay himself under obligation to make it good whenever it was in his power, as follows: OF MINE HAND DIDST THOU REQUIRE IT, [WHETHER] STOLEN BY DAY, OR STOLEN BY NIGHT; whether by men or beasts; or by men in the daytime, and by beasts in the night, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem distinguish: Laban was so rigorous and unjust as to require the restoration of them, or an equivalent for them at the hand of Jacob; all w...

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 HAND. Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of the Part), hand put for "me". Compare Genesis 31:29....

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