Genesis 31:43

_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...

43._These daughters are my daughters_. Laban begins now to speak in a manner very different from before: he sees that he has no farther ground of contention. Therefore, being convinced, he buries all strife, and glides into placid and amicable discourse. “Why,” he asks, “should I be hostile to thee, when all things between us are common? Shall I rage against my own bowels? For both thy wives and thy children are my own blood; wherefore I ought to be affected towards you, as if you all were part of myself.” (99) He now answers like an honorable man. Whence, then, has this humanity so suddenly sprung up in the breast of him who lately had been hurried onward, without any respect to right or wrong, to ruin Jacob; unless it were, that he knew Jacob to have acted towards him with fidelity, and to have been at length compelled by necessity to adopt the design of departing by stealth? And this...

43-55 Laban could neither justify himself nor condemn Jacob, therefore desires to hear no more of that matter. He is not willing to own himself in fault, as he ought to have done. But he proposes a covenant of friendship between them, to which Jacob readily agrees. A heap of stones was raised, to keep up the memory of the event, writing being then not known or little used. A sacrifice of peace offerings was offered. Peace with God puts true comfort into our peace with our friends. They did eat bread together, partaking of the feast upon the sacrifice. In ancient times covenants of friendship were ratified by the parties eating and drinking together. God is judge between contending parties, and he will judge righteously; whoever do wrong, it is at their peril. They gave a new name to the place, The heap of witness. After this angry parley, they part friends. God is often better to us tha...

- 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 ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO JACOB,.... Not denying the truth of what he had said, nor acknowledging any fault he had been guilty of, or asking forgiveness for it, though he seemed to be convicted in his own conscience of it: [THESE] DAUGHTERS [ARE] MY DAUGHTERS: though thy wives, they are my own flesh and blood, and must be dear to me; so pretending strong natural affections for them: AND [THESE] CHILDREN [ARE] MY CHILDREN; his grandchildren, for whom also he professed great love and affection: AND [THESE] CATTLE [ARE] MY CATTLE; or of my cattle, as the Targum of Jonathan, sprung from them, as indeed they did: AND ALL THAT THOU SEEST [IS] MINE; all this he observed in a bragging way, that it might be thought that he was generous in not insisting upon having it, but giving all back to Jacob again: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which

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_,...

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

PART FORTY-TWO THE STORY OF JACOB: HIS RETURN TO CANAAN (Genesis 31:17 to Genesis 33:20) 1. _The Covenant in Gilead: The Biblical Account_ (Genesis 31:17-55)_._ 17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels; 18 and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father'S. 20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed ove