Genesis 31:17-21

2009.Feb.27 17:00

Trickery

Read Genesis 31:17-21 | Full Chapter

Then Jacob, his wives, and his children got on camels and left for the home of his father Isaac in Canaan. Jacob took all of the flocks, herds, and other property that he had gotten in northern Syria. Before Rachel left, she stole the household idols while Laban was out shearing his sheep. Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean by not saying that he intended to leave. When Jacob crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the hill country of Gilead, he took with him everything he owned.
(Genesis 31:17-21, CEV)

The main point here is that Jacob, Rachel, Laban, Zilpah, Bilhah and their children, along with Jacob’s flock, herds, property and–I assume–servants, head out to return to Palestine. After the probably twenty-plus years that Jacob has been away. But as their leaving, two “little”, what you might call “tricks” happen. I’ll look at them in reverse order of their presentation in the passage.

Jacob “[tricks] Laban the Aramean” by not letting Laban know of his plans to leave. This strikes me as sensible, with reservations. After all, Laban’s sons are considering killing Jacob and Laban himself is obviously going to upset by this permanent loss of animals he was at least trying to claim as his own, not to mention of Jacob’s work in what appears to have been more or less managing Laban’s economic affairs, particularly related to these same animals. In other words, Laban will probably have mixed emotions about Jacob’s departure, and Jacob is reasonable to think Laban or his sons might react violently. On the other hand, this secretive departure is not going to make Laban more kindly disposed. Unfortunately, there’s probably not a good answer for how Jacob should have handled his leaving. The problems to be resolved have been allowed to exist far too long. Both Laban and Jacob are culpable.

The second is that Rachel steals the household idols. In my previous article, I noted that Rachel was going to take her rejection of Laban one step farther and it is to this theft I refer. There’s a whole lot of ways this could be interpreted and ten thousand discussions about it, but one way I see it is as Rachel’s rejection of Laban and his home as the center and source of the family. For Rachel, Jacob is now the leader of the extended family (or maybe Isaac), not Laban.

It’s of course interesting to see one of the matriarchs of Israel leaving town with idols in her luggage, but then, it’s not clear that Rachel is a worshipper of Yahweh, or even that she knows much about him. In her eyes at this point, Yahweh may be just the god of Isaac and Abraham, perhaps a god restricted to Palestine. That is to say, I don’t think that aspect of the story is particularly important.

One last element I want to comment on is that Rachel does not tell Jacob about this theft. This will create yet another uncomfortable situation later on, but it also suggests to me that Rachel doesn’t have anyone she really trusts. Jacob, despite his professions of love for her, does not appear to have earned her trust. Considering that her time with Jacob has been contemplated by the anger and dissension between her and Leah, and Jacob’s sort of fights with Laban, it’s hard to see how their relationship could have had the chance to really strengthen.