Genesis 31:14-16

2009.Feb.20 17:00

What You May Lose

Rachel and Leah said to Jacob: There's nothing left for us to inherit from our father. He treats us like foreigners and has even cheated us out of the bride price that should have been ours. Now do whatever God tells you to do. Even the property God took from our father and gave to you really belongs to us and our children.
(Genesis 31:14-16, CEV)

Or, requiem for Laban. Yes, we’ll see some more of Rebekah’s brother before this story is done, but this statement by his daughters is a fitting but terribly disappointing eulogy for a man who really plays such a significant role in the formation story of the people Israel. Like Lot, Laban is both integral to the story and yet easily forgotten. I think the reason that both these men are so easily forgotten is there not the sort of ancestors one really wants to talk about. Like the proverbial trust-fund fool, they have every opportunity and manage to turn out somewhere between mediocre and failure. There not even interesting “bad guys”.

Not only has Laban lost what little respect he previously commanded of his son-in-law, but now his daughters are outright rejecting him (Rachel will take this one step farther later in this narrative). And they have good reason to. When he has noticed them, it’s been (or so appears to me) primarily to use them as a means to keep Jacob around. Now that Laban’s plans to take advantage of Jacob’s success keep backfiring, he probably resents his daughters.

Leah and Rachel also note that their father, whether or not intentionally, has turned over all their inheritance to Jacob anyway. For them, he is both a cheat and a failure. Again, relationships. A number of these folks have been failing at them, but Laban seems to have exceeded even the high standards set by Jacob. Greed seems to be his primary, if not entire, motivator. He has now lost a good chunk of wealth, and is about to lose a large part of his family. Gosh, that sounds like stories we hear all the time, doesn’t it? Greed leads to loses all around is the theme.

Genesis 31:10-13

2009.Feb.13 17:00

Dream No. Two

Read Genesis 31:10-13 | Full Chapter

"In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.' "
(Genesis 31:10-13, NIV)

I think this is Jacob’s second “Yahweh” dream described, although I may not remember that correctly. The first was the Jacob’s Ladder dream. This dream is a bit less dramatic. Jacob sees an illustration of all this business with coloration as the distinguishing element between Laban’s and Jacob’s flocks. Based from this illustration, Yahweh tells Jacob that he is aware of how Laban has been cheating Jacob, or at least trying trying to. Then Yahweh gives Jacob some context about Yahweh himself; he is the God of Bethel, that is, the God of the stairway dream, who reiterated to Jacob his promise to Abraham of many descendants and possession of Palestine. Then Yahweh tells Jacob to return home.

Okay, then. Let’s talk first about continuity. From what I know and that’s not a lot, there’s not much evidence for monotheism prior to Moses (and not strictly even then). But Genesis, while acknowledging that other gods are being worshipped shows a single God, Yahweh–if not known as such at this time–working in the lives of each of the patriarchs, reiterating promises, keeping the family generally in Palestine (for all of what will be four generations, admittedly). That his work has continuity through generations is reassuring in my own life, knowing that his work in me will not fail, regardless of time.

A second theme touched on here is the return to the promised land. It’s never something fun that causes members of Israel or its patriarchs to leave Palestine. Indeed, it’s always something that looks like the opposite of promise. And yet Yahweh’s faithfulness as he brings them back is evident, even in the life of Jesus (Matthew 2:13-23). So, then, as Jacob is now telling his wives, Yahweh has told him that it’s time to return.

Genesis 31:1-9

2009.Feb.06 17:00

Jacob Notices the Obvious

Read Genesis 31:01-09 | Full Chapter

Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, "Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth." And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you." So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, "I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, 'The spotted shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, 'The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
(Genesis 31:01-09, ESV)

Jacob hasn’t been ignorant of his father-in-law’s machinations, but he’s been largely going along with him. If he had expected it to turn too bad to bare, then he had chosen to stick around for as long as possible. But now he becomes aware that Laban and Laban’s sons are not kindly disposed to him. In the case of Laban’s sons, the grumbling is sensible: their father’s wealth is declining and their cousin / brother-in-law is the one doing well. For Laban, it’s a bit more complex, because he had wanted Jacob to stay around; he knew that for whatever reason, Jacob’s presence contributed to his material success. However, now that they’ve engaged in these strange doings over the coloration of the flocks, Jacob is benefitting at Laban’s expense, instead of the lots of both improving.

So, Yahweh goes ahead and intervenes, telling Jacob that the time to return to Palestine has come. This is probably the first time Jacob would be receptive to this idea. After all, the injustices he’s so far suffered have been minimal in comparison to what he fears Esau would like to do to him. Now, with Laban’s sons being potential mortal enemies, it’s the choice between being killed by one person or multiple. Add in God’s suggestion, and Jacob’s choice is made.

Jacob calls Leah and Rachel, his wives, to tell them of his intent to hit the road. But he initially focuses on Laban’s treatment of him. Jacob fails to mention his own actions with the various sticks, which might show some culpability on his part for Laban’s treatment. Instead, he’s now happy to give Yahweh, and not his cunning, all the credit for his increased wealth. How often do we play these sort of games? Anyway, it still bugs me that Jacob has not taken up responsibility for the quality of his relationships.

On the Leah / Rachel drama, it’s interesting that Jacob actually speaks with both of them, and together. It’s also interesting that Rachel is listed first. But maybe there’s an indication that Rachel and Leah at least have put some of their bickering behind them.

Genesis 30:37-43

2009.Jan.30 17:00

The Wealth of Jacob

Read Genesis 30:37-43 | Full Chapter

But Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white in the rods. Then he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred and conceived when they came to drink, The flocks bred and conceived in sight of the rods and brought forth lambs and kids streaked, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and [as he had done with the peeled rods] he also set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark in the [new] flock of Laban; and he put his own droves by themselves and did not let them breed with Laban's flock. And whenever the stronger animals were breeding, Jacob laid the rods in the watering troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed and conceive among the rods. But when the sheep and goats were feeble, he omitted putting the rods there; so the feebler animals were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Thus the man increased and became exceedingly rich, and had many sheep and goats, and maidservants, menservants, camels, and donkeys.
(Genesis 30:37-43, AMP)

So, let’s consider Jacob’s wealth. Because, it’s not clear whether he’s wealthy at the beginning of this passage, but he clearly becomes so. Certainly, from what I know about the sociology of polygamy (admittedly not a lot), having four wives is a sign of at least a high status within such societies. And by the end of the passage, we see him “[becoming] exceedingly rich,” with servants and a great deal of livestock, which I imagine are the main things one can measure wealth by in what appears to be a still largely nomadic society. (Incidentally, I’ve been reading a book on the history of Israel lately, and the author notes that camels probably weren’t in use during this time; maybe later I’ll update this with an actual quote).

The Biblical description of how he achieves this wealth, despite Laban’s schemes, is to me one of the weirder passages in the Bible. It’s also one of those passages that I think demonstrates that Yahweh’s intent with scriptute was not to present a scientific treatise, something which a surprising number of my fellow Christians seem to claim. But I digress.

The narrative indicates the Jacob used branches to influence the coloration of the offspring during breeding season. Since the contract specifies that Jacob’s and Laban’s flocks be distinguished by coloration, and since Laban has previously removed those of Jacob’s group prior to that agreement going into effect, and given a lack of specific knowledge of heredity and genetics, well, I guess I can’t blame Jacob for trying. And it works. This could be a miracle; it could be the author’s way of shortening a more drawn out and complex circumstance. Regardless, it presents some interesting food for thought.

A possible lesson from this, and one which I’m believe is wrong, is the idea that it’s okay to cheat when you’ve been cheated. But, then, is Jacob cheating? It’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t. Is this deception or cunning? Or is cunning just a word for deception we like? Etc. One of the difficulties with reading the pre-Mosaic accounts is that morality is at times unclear. Particularly as regards Jacob.

But he does build wealth, fat lot of good it will do him in time (as a forthcoming famine will render it largely irrelevant). And yet his relationship with his father-in-law/uncle is not getting any better. So, then, is this a story of greed, its destructive effect on relationships and ultimate insufficiency? Yes, Jacob counters a bad circumstance through an amazing plan, one which not only is unexpected but also rather stupid, at least given modern science (which is capable of stupid on its own, admittedly). But it’s perhaps more interesting that his acknowledgment of Yahweh, God of his fathers, has become pretty much exclusively lip service at this point. It is on his own cunning that Jacob relies.

So, what else? Not only does Jacob’s messing with the sticks benefit him, it directly hurts Laban, for whom Jacob designates the weaker animals. Maybe it’s illustrative of the need to consider the small print. Given the importance of Covenant in later Israel, it’s not surprising to find a contract and how both parties try to mold it to their own advantage. Israel’s history (like that of humanity in general) has abundant instances of that nation trying to sidestep her agreements with Yahweh. And, as for both Jacob and Laban, the immediate results seem beneficial.

Genesis 30:31-36

2009.Jan.23 17:00

What Jacob Wants

Read Genesis 30:31-36 | Full Chapter

[Laban] said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything, if you will do this one thing for me [of which I am about to tell you], and I will again feed and take care of your flock. Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted animal and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. So later when the matter of my wages is brought before you, my fair dealing will be evident and answer for me. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the sheep, if found with me, shall be counted as stolen. And Laban said, Good; let it be done as you say. But that same day [Laban] removed the he-goats that were streaked and spotted and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every black lamb, and put them in charge of his sons. And he set [a distance of] three days' journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob was then left in care of the rest of Laban's flock.
(Genesis 30:31-36, AMP)

Jacob’s request is in some ways an acknowledgement that both he and Laban play the game of deceit. The idea is that as long as Jacob is caring for Laban’s flocks, if Jacob has any animals of his own, it would be easy for either party to make conflicting claims. Since Jacob is asking for a portion of Laban’s flock in payment for his continued service, this issue must be addressed. Jacob’s proposal is that they be divided by color.

How much does Jacob understand about heredity? And how much does Laban? Those could be particularly relevant questions if one were trying to decide who is practicing the most deceit. Fortunately, I consider that a moot point, instead caring more about this issue of mutual faithlessness. In either case, the idea is probably that sheep and goats with a particular type of goat will tend to have offspring of the same; in addition, coloration is something easy to distinguish. Laban agrees to the wages and to the policy of determining which animal belongs to which owner.

That is, he agrees in theory. Laban, in order to minimize his loss, sends the speckled and spotted and so forth and has his sons take care of them. That is, he removes them from the flock under Jacob’s care so that Jacob cannot take them as his wages. Jerk. But then, it is probably Jacob anticipates his uncle’s action; he’d be rather a fool not to expect something of the kind.

So, where are we? There’s a lot of ugly crap between Jacob and Laban. Neither is innocent, although in their relationship, Laban seems to be the more willing to take advantage of his relative. The tables will, of course, turn, for better or worse. For the whole family, it’s for worse. Laban will ultimately be hurt by his deceptive acts, just a Jacob will feel the pain of the lies practiced by his sons. In fact, from the birth of Jacob through his arrival in Egypt, there’s a ton of lying going on. And the running thread through all those lies is that someone always gets hurt. Not a surprise, mind you, but worth the notice.

And, of course, a lot of it has to do with money. Although some is plain old jealousy.

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