Jabob’s brother in laws now grew jealous of him, as he now grew richer than them, hence the relationships became sour.
God initiated and told Jacob to go back. Again God reminded this “weak” Jacob: I will be with you.
Jacob discussed with his wives and both agreed to follow him.
It was also briefly told, how God helped Jacob in his business regarding the speckled and spotted flocks, that God aided Jacob using genetics knowledge to breed better flocks.
Leah and Rachel’s answer was actually quite sour: their father has sold them – implying the greed of Laban and his cunningness.
Rachel stole his father’s idol statue and Jacob fled quietly.
When Laban found out he pursued them but God warned him in his dream not to disturb Jacob, even careful with his words.
So there were some arguments between Laban and Jacob. Laban protested that Jacob fled and stole his gods statue. Jacob argued back about how cunning and deceitful Laban has been to him …. and for the very first time Jacob mentioned God as FEAR (pakhad). This is the first occurrence in the Bible and not often and it is used 2 times in this chapter. “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. “
The way Laban said to Jacob had the smell of pride – “I have the power to harm you, but God came to me, etc etc… ” Actually if Laban really knew what kind of God he is talking about he would be trembling in fear (pakhad). The fact that he was still concerned about the idols, showing thay he did not believe and honor YHWH. While he did not want to take risk to disobey God’s warning, he did not really believe in Him. What a pity!
I also wonder why Rachel stole the gods. My guess, probably Rachel’s faith in YHWH mixing with her old beliefs also. Unlike Leah who took the faith to “praise” him, and also how they named the children, we can see that Leah is closer to YHWH than Rachel.
So, at the end – Laban could not find the gods and he and Jacob made a pact not to disturb each other. They ate together, gather stones and set a memorial pillar, hence the following names of the place. ( Jegar Sahadutha = to gather, Galeed – memorial heap, Mizpah = in pause.)
Laban’s comment about his daughters are also interesting: he asked Jacob to take care of them and forbid him to take other wives. Did Laban really care for his daughters? The daughters thought that to Laban they were just disposable assets.
Take away: Jacob invoked the word ‘fear’ to show the strength and power of God to protect him against his enemies – so shall we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God who is protecting us.
In Bahasa Indonesia, the word Fear there is translated softer as “Disegani” meaning being revered. I prefer that though
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note: one of my favourite writer Frederick Buechner, wrote one book about Jacob (it is quite rare to find book about Jacob as story), but I could not enjoy the book, because Fred basically used the word FEAR as the name of God in the book, I just cannot read it.
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