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Jacob prepares to return to his homeland and informs his wives about this Gen.31:1–3. And [Jacob] heard the words of the sons of Laban, who said: Jacob took possession of all that our father had, and from our father’s property he made all this wealth. And Jacob saw Laban's face, and behold, it was not the same towards him as it was yesterday and the day before. And the Lord said to Jacob: Return to the land of your fathers and to your homeland; and I will be with you. The new six years of Jacob’s service with Laban enriched the first, but this circumstance aroused the discontent of Laban and his sons: the latter’s reproachful speeches to Jacob and the unfriendly attitude of Laban towards him, “who forgot what he had said before (Gen. 30:27) to Jacob: “For you the Lord has blessed me” (Chronicles, Bes. 57, 609) - create an equally difficult situation for Jacob in Harran, which he previously had in his homeland, and now his thoughts decisively turn to the latter. The divine revelation, which commanded Jacob to return to Canaan, which also rescued him from danger from Laban, just as he was once saved from the hatred of Esau, finally confirms Jacob in the need to return to his homeland. Jacob communicates his intention with extensive motivation (vv. 4–16) to Rachel and Leah and receives their consent. Gen.31:4. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his herd of flocks, Jacob calls his wives to the field so that the decision he communicates is not announced prematurely; Moreover, the beloved Rachel is called before Leah. Jacob found it possible to leave Laban's flocks and be with his own livestock. Gen.31:5–6. and he said to them: I see the face of your father, that it is not the same towards me as it was yesterday and the day before; but the God of my father was with me; you yourself know that I served your father with all my might, Preparing his wives for the decision to leave their father and go to Canaan, Jacob points out: Laban’s changed attitude towards him; on his own conscientiousness and diligence in work and on the Divine assistance, which was manifested in the multiplication of Jacob's flocks and which now calls him to return to Canaan. Jacob calls the Creator of heaven and earth and the God of all the God of his father, perhaps referring to his wives' representation of idol gods (which, according to v. 19, were in Laban's house), or expressing that the God of the universe for him is the God of the promises given to his fathers (cf. Rosemuller, p. 481). Gen.31:7–8. but your father deceived me and changed my reward ten times; but God did not allow him to harm me. When he said that cattle with specks will be your reward, all the cattle were born with specks. And when he said: the motley ones will be your reward, then all the cattle gave birth to motley ones. Jacob points out where Laban’s ill will towards him actually manifested itself: he ten times or even several times - 10 times is used in an indefinite sense, as a round number (for example, in Numbers 14:22; Job 19:3) - changed the conditional reward (this reproach Jacob later makes to Laban himself, v. 41), arbitrarily reducing its size, despite all his zeal James (v. 6). Slav:. “ten lambs” – translation of the Greek. τῶν δέκα ἀμνῶν, erroneous readings, - according to the assumption of the interpreters (Capella, Bohart, etc.) vm. μνῶν (Akhila: ἀριυμούς; Vulg: decem vicibus). Gen.31:9. And God took away [all] the cattle from your father and gave [them] to me. But God did not allow Laban’s arbitrariness to triumph; on the contrary, he handed over most of his livestock to Jacob: Jacob is silent about his own efforts in this direction, although, of course, he does not deny it at all; but he especially notes the heavenly patronage of him despite all Laban’s untruths. Gen.31:11–13. An angel of God said to me in a dream: Jacob! I said: here I am. He said, Lift up your eyes and see: all the goats [and rams] that have risen on the cattle [on goats and sheep] are speckled, speckled, and spotted, for I see everything that Laban does to you; I am God [who appeared to you] in Bethel, where you poured oil on the monument and where you made a vow to Me; now arise, get out of this land and return to the land of your homeland [and I will be with you]. Having pointed out above the fact that the gradual transfer of most of Laban's livestock to Jacob is a matter of God's blessing to the latter, a matter of protecting him from Laban's untruths, Jacob now shows the wives how he was convinced of the divine blessing to him, he speaks of a whole series of dream visions to him, some of which took place at the beginning of his six-year period of service, and others at the end of this period. In the first case, whenever Jacob was saddened by Laban's new untruth, he saw in a dream the fulfillment of his desire; An angel of God pointed out to him that the sheep and goats that would be born would be of the exact colors that according to condition belonged to Jacob. God, seeing Laban’s injustice towards him, protected Jacob’s well-being with His creative power and, it is assumed, forgave him for his not always legal actions in the fight against Laban’s selfishness. In Art. 13 already speaks of Jacob’s recent vision, in which the Angel of the Lord, reminding Jacob of the vision he once had in Bethel and the vow he made there, commands him to return to his homeland. Transl. LXX (Slavic and Russian) adds the promise of God to always be with Jacob. With this whole story, Jacob means to convince his wives to go with him to Canaan. Characteristic is the designation of the Angel of God by the name of God and his identification with Jehovah, who appeared to Jacob in Bethel on the way to Mesopotamia (Gen. 28:12–13). “Calling the One who appeared above as an Angel, now shows that He is also God, because He himself says: “I am God, who appeared to you” on the way. He saw Angels ascending and descending along the stairs, and the Lord establishing himself at the top of it. He was called here Angel and God - God by nature, but an Angel, but we know that the one who appeared was not the Father, but the only begotten Son... and the Angel of the great council” (Blessed Theodoret, answer to question 90). In blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob calls (Gen. 48:15–16) this Angel of Jehovah, the Son of God before His incarnation, the Angel of Deliverance. Gen.31:14–16. Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Do we still have a share and inheritance in our father’s house?” Doesn't he consider us to be strangers? for he sold us and ate even our money; therefore, all the [possessions and] wealth that God took from our father are ours and our children’s; So do everything that God has told you. The answer of Rachel and Leah, remarkable for the unanimity in this case of long-time rivals, firstly, states that nothing binds them to the house of Laban, therefore, there are no obstacles on their part to the eviction of Jacob and his family from Haran to Canaan (v. 14); secondly, it contains a bitter and fair complaint about the greed and heartlessness of their father, who (like Jacob) considered them as slaves, without leaving behind them their vein - the price of Jacob’s 14-year service for them; meanwhile, obviously, the custom of the time and country required precisely this use of the marriage vein (v. 15); thirdly, it contains complete justification for all Jacob’s activities in acquiring property, which Rachel and Leah consider an integral part of them and their children (v. 16), and together with complete agreement to follow Jacob. Jacob with all his family and all his property, secretly from Laban, moves to Canaan Gen.31:17–19. And Jacob arose and set his children and his wives on camels, and he took with him all his cattle and all his wealth that he had acquired, his own cattle that he had acquired in Mesopotamia, [and all that was his] to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. And as Laban went to shear his cattle, Now Jacob hastily prepares his family, livestock and all his property and, taking advantage of the absence of Laban, who is at the sheep-shearing festival, which lasted several days (1 Samuel 25:2, etc.), immediately sets off with his entire caravan. The time, judging by the sheep-shearing festival, was spring, the most convenient for traveling in hot countries. then Rachel stole the idols that her father had. The teraphim, which Rachel stole from her father, were a kind of penates, household gods (cf. v. 30), used to question the future: they had the figure of a man (1 Sam. 19:13). It is possible that the teraphim were mentioned in Joshua's speech about the gods served by the forefathers of the Jewish people (Joshua 24:2). But it is more likely to see superstition in the reported case and in teraphim - a kind of talismans. Rachel kidnapped them, perhaps in order to deprive Laban of the opportunity to find out which way Jacob went; or Laban’s teraphim attracted Rachel’s attention due to the high cost of their material. The Midrash (Beresch. r. Par. 74, s. 363) says that Rachel did this in order to free her father from his superstition. The blessed one had the same opinion about Rachel’s action. Theodoret: “Some say that Rachel stole the idols out of favor for them. But I assume the opposite, namely, that she abducted with the intention of freeing my father from superstition” (answer to question 91). St. John Chrysostom understands Rachel’s action differently and almost more accurately: “the daughters still adhered to their father’s custom and had great respect for idols” (Demons 57, 613). Gen.31:20–23. Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean because he did not inform him that he was leaving. And he left with everything he had; and he stood up and crossed the river and went to Mount Gilead. On the third day they told Laban [the Aramean] that Jacob had gone away. Then he took his [sons and] relatives with him, and pursued him for seven days, and overtook him on Mount Gilead. Jacob “stole the heart of Laban the Aramean” (according to the Hebrew text; the Greeks and Slavs do not have such a phrase, v. 20) - a play on words (cf. v. 19); the meaning of the expression is determined by the second half of the verse: he left secretly, taking his own daughters (cf. v. 26). The name Laban “Aramaean” (glorified “Sirin”) here and below (24 v.) has the purpose, as the Cleric notes, not to determine Laban’s fatherland, but to note the morals of this man, since the Syrians from ancient times were considered the most cunning and crafty of all peoples; Jacob outwitted the most cunning (Rosenmuller, p. 487). Jacob crossed the river, i.e. Euphrates, and headed southwest - to Mount Gilead. The last name here (v. 21) is used proleptically, 5 since, according to v. 47, only Jacob gave this name to the mountain. The place where Laban caught up with Jacob 10 days after his escape: for 3 days the latter did not yet know about Jacob’s escape, v. 22, and 7 days he pursued him to Mount Gilead, v. 23. Later, as you know, the entire country beyond Jordan was called Gilead, and was divided into northern and southern parts by the stream Jabbok. In this case, of course, probably the northernmost part of the territory, closest to Mesopotamia, and not the current Jelaad on Jabbok: Jacob could not reach here in 10 days, given the slowness of his caravan (cf. Gen. 33:13). On the same mountain, perhaps on different hills, Jacob and his family and Laban with his relatives and companions are encamped in special camps (v. 25). Laban pursues him, catches up with him, intending to take revenge on his son-in-law, but, admonished from above, reconciles himself with what has happened and concludes, before the final separation from his son-in-law, daughters and grandchildren, a friendly alliance with Jacob Gen.31:24. And God came to Laban the Aramean at night in a dream and said to him: Beware, do not say good or bad to Jacob. Protecting the inviolability of his chosen one, God (called here by the general name Elohim, and not by the special theocratic name Jehovah) appears in a dream to the pagan Laban to warn him against violence against Jacob, as he had previously appeared to Abimelech for the sake of Abraham (Gen. 20:3). The Midrash sees the difference between these theophany and those that were awarded to members of the chosen people in that the first happened only in a dream (cf. Job 4:13–16, Beresch. r. Par. LXXIV, s. 361–462), but it also happened vice versa: cf. a vision to Jacob (Gen. 28:11–16) and a revelation to Balaam (Num. 23–24). It would be more accurate to say: the first theophany belong to the field of the general providence of God, the latter have a theoretical and soteriological imprint; the former are associated with the Old Testament idea of ​​Elohim, the God of nature, the latter with the idea of ​​Jehovah, the God of salvation. In any case, the fact that the Syrian Laban was honored with theophany indicates that there was a good disposition in his soul. Gen.31:25–28. And Laban caught up with Jacob; Jacob pitched his tent on the mountain, and Laban and his relatives pitched on Mount Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob: What have you done? Why did you deceive me and take my daughters away as captives with weapons? Why did you run away secretly and hide from me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and songs, with a tambourine and a harp; you did not even allow me to kiss my grandchildren and my daughters; you did it recklessly. Laban’s speech, breathing with impetuous passion, contains, however, some favorable features for Laban’s personality: firstly, a rather tender, apparently, affection for his daughters and grandchildren: he calls the former his heart (see Hebrew text: “you have stolen my heart”) and is indignant that Jacob took them away as prisoners of war (v. 26), not giving Laban the opportunity to see off his daughters and grandchildren with the triumph and music usual in East during meetings and farewells (cf. 1 Samuel 18.6; Judges 11:34); (toph - a percussion musical instrument, "tympanum" - a kind of tambourine, kinnor - a stringed instrument, harp or harp), and even depriving Laban of the pleasure of kissing his grandchildren (vv. 27-28). To the latter, according to the Midrash, Jacob remarked: you can do this even now, - Laban did this at parting (v. 55); secondly, Laban’s fear of God and obedience to the command of God (v. 29): “God’s command tamed his ardor, curbed his rage, and he treats Jacob with meekness and, as it were, fatherly love” (John Chrysostom, 57, 616–617). Gen.31:29–30. There is power in my hand to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me yesterday and said: Beware, do not say anything good or bad to Jacob. But even if you left, because you impatiently wanted to be in your father’s house, why did you steal my gods? But Laban soon moves on to a threat and finally to an accusation of stealing the teraphim, which he here calls gods. Thus, Laban’s reverence for the true God was overshadowed by crude pagan superstition, and his love for children was overshadowed by selfishness and vindictiveness. Gen.31:31–32. Jacob answered Laban and said: I was afraid, for I wondered if you would take your daughters [and all that is mine] from me. [And Jacob said:] Whoever you find your gods with will not live; In front of our relatives, find out what [is yours] I have, and take it for yourself. [But he did not learn anything from him.] Jacob did not know that Rachel [his wife] had stolen them. In his apology, Jacob first briefly and meekly responds to Laban’s reproach for secretly moving away from him: he feared that Laban, who was not disposed towards him, would keep Jacob’s wives and children with him, as he had previously deprived him of his rightful reward. To the second accusation - of kidnapping the teraphim - Jacob responds with a proposal to conduct a general search in his camp, precisely in the presence of witnesses from among Laban’s companions. At the same time, in case the teraphim were found by Laban in Jacob’s camp, he pronounces – by the right of the patriarch and head of the family (Gen. 9:25, 27:12) – a curse on the culprit (he did not know about the kidnapping of Rachel); according to the Midrash, it was a rash word - Rachel stole the teraphim and died (Beresch. r. Par. 74, s. 362). Gen.31:34–35. Rachel took the idols and placed them under the camel's saddle and sat on them. And Laban searched the whole tent; but didn't find it. She said to her father: Let not my lord be angry that I cannot stand before you, for I have an ordinary woman’s woman. And [Lavan] searched [throughout the whole tent], but found no idols. Laban searches the tents of Jacob and all his wives (who had separate tents). The cunning and resourcefulness of the culprit of all this, Rachel, was that, knowing the ancient custom, known to other peoples, and in the legislation of Moses raised to the level of a mandatory law (Lev. 15:19-20) - a woman is unclean during menstruation, and every touch to her defiles - Rachel hid the teraphim under a camel's saddle, and she herself she sat on everything in the confidence that Laban would not dare to search her as soon as she told him about her state of uncleanness. What is remarkable is the deep reverence with which the daughter addresses her father (vv. 35), although neither Rachel nor Leah considered Laban’s attitude towards them and Jacob to be normal and fair (vv. 15–16). Gen.31:36–40. Jacob became angry and got into an argument with Laban. And Jacob began to speak and said to Laban: What is my guilt, what is my sin, that you persecute me? You examined all the things [in my house], what did you find out of all the things in your house? show it here before my relatives and before your relatives; let them judge between both of us. Behold, I have been with you for twenty years; your sheep and your goats did not throw out; I have not eaten the rams of your flock; I did not bring to you what was torn to pieces by the beast, it was my loss; You exacted from me whether something was lost during the day or at night; I languished from the heat during the day, and from the cold at night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. Now that Laban’s search has led to nothing, Jacob, inclined, perhaps, to see Laban’s suspicion as slander against himself, expresses with all his energy the feelings of deep bitterness against Laban that fill him - both for this last accusation (vv. 36-37), and for all Laban’s untruths in relation to Jacob throughout his twenty-year service to Laban, a service that was most thorough and often required self-sacrifice, with an extremely callous attitude Lavana. Tempted by the experience of shepherd life, Jacob clearly depicts the unattractive features of his shepherd life with Laban, and together with shepherdism in general. It was the shepherd's duty to ensure that pregnant sheep and goats were not aborted; At the same time, Jacob did not allow himself, like other shepherds, to take for food at least occasionally a lamb from the owner’s flock (v. 38). On the contrary, Laban mercilessly seeks compensation for every lost animal, even if the loss occurs not during the day, when the fear of the herd is more favorable, but also at night, when the shepherd’s vigilance naturally weakens (v. 39). Added to the difficult moral conditions of Laban’s service were the physical inconveniences of a shepherd’s life: an extremely sharp change between the highest heat during the day and unbearable cold at night. According to travelers, throughout Western Asia even now, especially in the spring and autumn months, the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures is approximately the same as in a temperate climate - between summer and winter. The contrast between the heat of the day and the cold of the night is often found in the Bible (Jer. 36:30). “Sleep... fled from Jacob’s eyes” - due to his special concern for the integrity of the flock. “Do you see the vigilance of the shepherd? Do you see the intense effort? (John Chrysostom, 57, 620). Gen.31:42. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had not been with me, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my misfortune and the labor of my hands and interceded for me yesterday. Jacob’s careful and even selfless attitude towards the duties of his shepherd’s service was not, however, given a fair assessment by Laban: on the contrary, he was not averse to reducing Jacob’s wages in every possible way (cf. v. 7). And, according to Jacob’s conviction, only God’s care for Laban’s good, obvious to Laban, kept him from completely depriving Jacob of all his acquired property. “Since God knows with what great zeal I performed your service and what kind of labors I endured... then, looking at this, He, as a man-loving Lord, yesterday exposed you and turned away from me the unjust and unreasonable attempts on your part” (John Chrysostom, 57, 621). In contrast to the polytheistic beliefs of Laban (v. 30, cf. 53), Jacob (as in his speech to his wives, v. 5) confesses the God of the universe as the God of his father and grandfather, and uses parallel expressions: “The God of Abraham” and “the fear of Isaac.” The last expression represents metonymy, denoting the object of Isaac's fear, i.e. God; this name is applied to God by the prophet Isaiah (Is. 8:13). “Isaac called fear piety, i.e. fear of God; because Isaac carried the fear of God in his soul” (Blessed Theodoret, question 92). The feeling of fear and reverence for God, integral to religion in general and the Old Testament primarily, is acquired by Isaac, apparently, in a special sense - in the sense of indicating Isaac’s individual characteristics. According to the rabbis, this name meant either that Isaac, when sacrificing him, experienced a particularly strong degree of fear of God, or that Isaac, as still living, inevitably experienced a feeling of fear of God, and Jacob could not say about his still living father: “The God of Isaac” (cf. N. Grotii, Annotat. in V. T., 1.1, p. 39: non dicit Deus Isaaci, quia vivebat adhuc Isaac). Gen.31:43–44. And Laban answered and said to Jacob: The daughters are my daughters; children are my children; the cattle are my cattle, and everything that you see is mine: can I do anything with my daughters and with their children who are born of them? Now you and I will make a covenant, and this will be a testimony between you and me. [At this Jacob said to him: Behold, there is no one with us; look, God is a witness between me and you.] Convinced by Jacob's passionate, and rightly so, reproaches, Laban, not without tenderness for his daughters and grandchildren, assures his son-in-law that he has no bad intentions regarding his own family, Jacob, and as a pledge of friendliness offers to conclude a mutual alliance, the essence and content of which are indicated below, v. 50 and 52: on the part of Jacob, it was an obligation to treat Laban’s daughters kindly and not to multiply wives beyond the available number (v. 50) and on the part of both, Jacob and Laban, this union was a guarantee that neither one nor the other would cross the border they set - the hill - with goals hostile to each other. Gen.31:45–46. And Jacob took the stone and set it up as a monument. And Jacob said to his relatives, “Pick up stones.” They took stones and made a hill, and ate [and drank] there on the hill. [And Laban said to him: This hill is a witness today between me and you.] The outward expression or monumental consolidation of the union, common in the ancient East during contracts, is a stone stele (pillar) jointly erected by both parties (according to the pillar erected by Jacob at Bethel, Gen. 28:18). To consolidate the union, a meal is arranged on the newly erected hill (cf. Gen. 26:30; Josh. 9:14–15). Gen.31:47. And Laban called him Jegar-Sagadutha; and Jacob called it Gilead. Both Jacob and Laban point to the witness of the union in the hill (cf. Josh. 4:3, 21–22, 22:11, 26–27, 34, 13:27). But Jacob uses two Hebrew words: Gal - hell, and Laban, corresponding in meaning are Syriac or Aramaic: Yegar - Sagaduta, from here we learn that already in the third generation of the ancestors of the Jewish people, the language they began to speak in Canaan (the homeland of Jacob) was a dialectically different language from the Aramaic or Chaldean language spoken in the homeland of Abraham. Consequently, the biblical Hebrew language was adopted by the biblical patriarchs from the native inhabitants of Canaan and Phoenicia. Gen.31:49. also: Mitzpah, because Laban said: may the Lord watch over me and over you when we hide from each other; Another name given to the place where the union between Jacob and Laban was concluded is “Mitzpah” (in the LXX: Mizpah), that is, the guard, because, says Laban, after our parting, God alone will be the guardian, the guardian of the fidelity of our mutual obligations under the present union; He will also be the sole judge of the treacherous side (Vulg: Intucatur et judicet Dominus inter nos quando recesserimus a nobis). Subsequently, in the East Jordanian part of the Holy Land, Mizpah or Mizpah of Gilead (Judges 11:29) in the tribe of Gad (Joshua 11:3, 8, 13:26) was known, which differed from Mizpah of the West Jordan Benjamin (Judges 20:1, 21:1). The name Gilead subsequently became the name of an entire country, from the borders of Moab to the stream of Hieromax in the north (cf. Deut. 3:13, 34:1, etc.). Gen.31:50–52. If you treat my daughters badly, or if you take wives other than my daughters, then, although there is no man between us [who would see], but look, God is a witness between me and you. And Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this hill, and here is the monument that I have set between you and me; this hill is a witness, and this monument is a witness, that neither I will cross this hill to you, nor you will cross this hill and this monument to me, for evil; Expressing the conditions and essence of the union, Laban sees the guarantee of fidelity and inviolability solely in God, whom he swears to protect the integrity of the obligations he offers and to punish the treacherous side. Jacob could upset his family by taking other wives, except Leah and Rachel with their slaves - Jacob's concubines, and in this case it was natural to expect a deterioration in the situation of both Leah and Rachel; in addition, Laban is afraid that Jacob will return to Mesopotamia in order to take revenge on him: he, therefore, demands that Jacob never cross the “witness hill” for hostile purposes; Trade and generally peaceful relations here were naturally assumed to be possible (cf. 1 Kings 20:34). Laban's agreement with Jacob in its last part is more of an international contract than a personal union. Gen.31:53. Let the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father. Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. The final act of union - the oath in the name of God - is performed differently in Laban and Jacob: in the former in a polytheistic sense, in the latter in a purely monotheistic, theocratic sense. However, having mentioned the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor as two different gods, Laban then seemed to correct himself, using the expression “God of their father.” “The Fear of Isaac” cf. Art. 42. Gen.31:54. And Jacob slaughtered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his relatives to eat bread; and they ate bread [and drank] and slept on the mountain. The Jewish interpreter interprets: “slaughtered animals for a feast.” Jacob's meal together with Laban and his companions is spoken of both here and above in v. 46. ​​Indeed, the Hebrew verb zabach has, in addition to a special sacrificial meaning, and in general - to slaughter (1 Kings 28:24; 1 Kings 19:21), and zebach - not only a sacrifice (usually a peace offering), but also a meal in general (Prov. 17:1; Ezek. 39:17). That we are not talking about sacrifice here, Jewish interpreters deduce from the fact that the entire reconciliation of Jacob with Laban is insincerity. In a similar incident in the life of Isaac - during the union with Abimelech - only a feast took place (Gen. 26:30). But, of course, Jacob could also bring the actual sacrifice, a thanksgiving one or, as it is later called in the Law of Moses, a peaceful one - zebah shlamim - (Lev. 6:12): what Moses legitimized could have previously lived in the custom and liturgical practice of the people. Gen.31:55. And Laban rose early in the morning and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. And Laban went and returned to his place. Laban pays the last tribute of his kindred tenderness to the family of Jacob and, having kissed his grandchildren and daughters, returns to his place, according to the Midrash - to his idols (Beresch. r. par. 74, s. 365). proleptically - suggesting a hidden meaning that is still inaccessible to outsiders. You might be interested in: