NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 69
Genesis 31:50 | 73
31:27 e Ex 15:20
f Ge 4:21
31:28 g ver 55
31:29 h ver 7 i ver 53
31:30 j ver 19;
Jdg 18:24
31:32 k Ge 44:9
31:34 l ver 37; Ge 44:12
31:35 m Ex 20:12;
Lev 19:3, 32
31:37 n ver 23
31:39 o Ex 22:13
31:41 p Ge 29:30
q ver 7
31:42 r ver 5; Ex 3:15;
s
1Ch 12:17 ver 53;
Isa 8:13 t Ps 124:1-2
u Ge 29:32
31:44 v Ge 21:27;
w
26:28 Jos 24:27
31:45 x Ge 28:18
31:49 y Jdg 11:29;
1Sa 7:5‑6
31:50 z Jer 29:23; 42:5
you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels e and harps? f 28 You didn’t even let
me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. g You have done a foolish thing. 29 I
have the power to harm you; h but last night the God of your father i said to me, ‘Be careful
not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 Now you have gone off because you
longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods? j ”
31 Jacob answered Laban, “I was a
fraid, because I t hought you would take your daughters
away from me by force. 32 But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not
live. k In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours
here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female
servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.
34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and
was sitting on them. Laban s earched l through everything in the tent but found nothing.
35 Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your
presence; m I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods.
36 Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How
have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have searched through all my
goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your
relatives n and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.
38 “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your s heep and g
oats have not miscarried,
nor have I eaten rams from your f locks. 39 I did not b
ring you animals torn by wild b
easts; I
bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or
night. o 40 This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night,
and sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I
worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters p and six years for your f locks, and you
changed my wages ten times. q 42 If the God of my father, r the God of Abraham and the Fear of
Isaac, s had not been with me, t you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God
has seen my hardship and the toil of my h
ands, u and last n
ight he rebuked you.”
43 Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children,
and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these
daughters of mine, or about the children they have
borne? 44 Come now, l et’s make a covenant, v you
and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.” w
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. x
46 He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So
they took s tones and p
iled them in a heap, and they
ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar Saha
dutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. a
48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between
you and me today.” That is why it was c alled Galeed.
49 It was also called Mizpah, b y because he said, “May
the Lord keep watch between you and me when
we are away from each other. 50 If you mistreat
my daughters or if you take any wives besides my
daughters, even though no one is with us, remem
ber that God is a witness z between you and me.”
Household gods similar to those Rachel stole (Gen 31:19).
Z. Radovan/www.BibleLandPictures.com
31:29 the God of your father said to me. La-
ban himself has his own gods (v. 30), for he
accuses Jacob of stealing them.
31:32 that person shall not live. Unwittingly,
Jacob’s response to Laban places Rachel’s
life in danger. Members of this dysfunctional
family act both deceptively and secretly.
31:34 camel’s saddle. Rachel prevents Laban
from finding his household gods by sitting on
them. Rachel’s actions suggest that she does
not revere these gods.
31:36 – 42 Jacob turns on Laban, stressing
both his innocence and the hardships that he
endured in shepherding Laban’s flocks.
31:42 the God of Abraham and the Fear of
Isaac. Using two different names to refer to
the one deity, Jacob attributes his prosper-
a 47 The Aramaic Jegar Sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean
witness heap. b 49 Mizpah means watchtower.
ity to God. Perhaps Jacob designates God as
“the Fear of Isaac” in order to subdue Laban.
In contrast to Laban, who has lost his own
gods, Jacob speaks of the need to respect
the God who has guarded him. Jacob possi-
bly alludes to how God’s presence with Abra-
ham and Isaac caused others to respect them
(21:22 – 34; 26:26 – 33; cf. 20:11).
31:43 All you see is mine. Although Laban
is reluctant to drop his claim of ownership,
he proposes that the two men “make a cov-
enant” (v. 44), committing them to live in har-
mony with each other.
31:44 covenant. The Hebrew word could
equally be translated “treaty” (see 21:32).
31:45 – 49 The report of how they ratify the
treaty concentrates on the element of wit-
nesses. In anci ent Near Eastern treaties
the witnesses were usually deities; Jacob’s
stone pillar and his relatives’ heap of stones
probably reflect this practice. Jacob’s single
stone reflects his monotheistic outlook and
contrasts with the polytheistic religion of his
relatives (see Josh 24:2).
31:47 Jegar Sahadutha . . . Galeed. The names
associated with the treaty highlight the motif
of witnesses (see NIV text note). The narrator
may emphasize this because the two parties
to the treaty will live about 400 miles (645
kilometers) apart.
31:49 Mizpah. This later becomes the name
of a town in Gilead associated especially with
the judge Jephthah (Judg 11:29).