Genesis 31 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Genesis 31:1-21

1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, ‘Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.’ 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude towards him was not what it had been.

3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’

4 So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5 He said to them, ‘I see that your father’s attitude towards me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, “The speckled ones will be your wages,” then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, “The streaked ones will be your wages,” then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9 So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.

10 ‘In the 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. 11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, “Jacob.” I answered, “Here I am.” 12 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. 13 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.”’

14 Then Rachel and Leah replied, ‘Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? 15 Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. 16 Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.’

17 Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18 and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. 20 Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21 So he fled with all he had, crossed the River Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

A. Find Out:

1. What changes come to Jacob’s attention? v.1,2
2. What did the Lord tell him? v.3,13
3. What did Jacob say Laban had done? v.7
4. To whom did Jacob attribute his success? v.8,9
5. What did Rachel & Leah feel about his suggestion? v.14-16
6. How did they do wrong as they left? v.19,20

B. Think:

1. How again, in today’s reading, is Laban portrayed?
2. How did the Lord identify Himself to Jacob?
3. How would you describe Jacob’s position by this time?

C. Comment:

Jacob hears that Laban is getting upset at his success. It becomes clear that Laban has been changing the rules to start claiming whichever sheep are breeding most strongly. Every time, however, the Lord blessed Jacob and the other sheep flourished. It is almost a competition between the Lord and Laban to see if Jacob can be blessed.

Eventually the Lord speaks to Jacob and tells him that it is time to return home, so Jacob calls his two wives and shares with them his feelings and what God has said. They both side with him and so it is decided they will all return to Jacob’s home. Unfortunately, at this point their unbelief creeps in and they, not being convinced of the Lord’s protection, decide to go without telling Laban. Not only that, but Rachel also foolishly takes her father’s idols. Jacob is rich and powerful, and the Lord is with him. What has he got to be afraid of, and yet he leaves in a way that is bound to cause upset. Rachel has all she needs, so why steal? How silly of them both!

D. Application?

1. Do we know the Lord’s presence with us, that brings blessing to all that we do?
2. Do we trust in His presence with us, so that we don’t have to be devious with other people?
3. Today declare, that with God’s grace, you will be open & honest in all your dealings with others.

Passage: Genesis 31:22-35

22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

25 Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. 27 Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so that I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? 28 You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. 29 I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father 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?’

31 Jacob answered Laban, ‘I was afraid, because I thought 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. 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 searched 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; I’m having my period.’ So he searched but could not find the household gods.

A. Find Out:    

1. How long did Laban chase Jacob? v.23
2. How did the Lord intervene? v.24
3. What was Laban’s first complaint? v.26-28
4. What was his second complaint? v.30
5. What was Jacob’s response to the 1st complaint? v.31
6. What was his response to the 2nd complaint? v.32

B. Think:

1. What do we learn again about Laban from this passage?
2. What does it show about Jacob?
3. What does it show us about the Lord?

C. Comment:

Laban is understandably upset at Jacob’s sudden departure and so goes in hot pursuit of him. After a week’s travel he catches up with him and presents his complaints: you took my daughters, you left in secret and what is more, my gods (idols) have been taken. Jacob confesses his fear of Laban but denies any knowledge of Laban’s gods. At that point there might well have been violence if the Lord had not already intervened by speaking to Laban the night before in a dream. Although Laban does not know the Lord, he understands who it is that has spoken to him in his dream, and this encounter has taken some of the steam out of him.

As, with Jacob’s willing consent, he searches for his gods, Laban is prevented from finding them by the devious plea of his daughter, that she feels weak and unable to get up. The crafty man is outsmarted by his crafty daughter. Again and again with this family we see guile, deceit and self-interest coming out in all of them. Gradually though, something different seems to be emerging in Jacob, perhaps as a result of the Lord’s presence with him. Yes, the Lord is there in the midst of this crafty bunch, changing His man!

D. Application?

Again today, challenge your own heart: do you seek to get your own way by clever words or cunning action, or are you open, transparent and totally honest, trusting fully in the Lord.

Passage: Genesis 31:36-55

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 and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.

38 ‘I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39 I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 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 and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night 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, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.’

45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 He said to his relatives, ‘Gather some stones.’ So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48 Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between you and me today.’ That is why it was called Galeed. 49 It was also called Mizpah, because he said, ‘May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 50 If you ill-treat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.’

51 Laban also said to Jacob, ‘Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. 53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.’

So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. 54 He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.

55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.

A. Find Out:

1. How long had Jacob been with Laban? v.38
2. What did Jacob say he had done? v.38-40
3. How did he say Laban had treated him? v.41,42
4. What did Laban suggest? v.44
5. What would the stones do? v.48,52
6. What did Laban call on Jacob to do? v.50

B. Think:

1. How does Jacob show “righteous indignation”?
2. How is the Lord involved?
3. How does Laban speak untruth? How does he avoid loosing face?

C. Comment:

When Laban fails to find his gods Jacob feels in a strong position to express indignation and challenge Laban over his past behaviour in front of the rest of the family. He reminds Laban that God has looked after him in the face of Laban’s unfair rule-changing. Laban, in the face of this tirade, belatedly claims everything that Jacob has belongs to him which, of course, is not true because Jacob earned it through their agreements over the past twenty years. There is an expression about “when thieves fall out…” and here we have these two twisters pointing fingers at each other. They are as bad as each other!

Eventually they agree on a mutually protecting covenant. Laban demands that Jacob look after his daughters and also that neither of them would pass that point again to harm the other. This they agree to and the heap of stones is made to establish a reminder of what had taken place there. It also acts as a boundary marker for them both. They both take an oath, each one expressing something of their limited understanding of the Lord: Laban by the God of their ancestors, but Jacob by the God who had revealed more of Himself to Isaac, which generated fear (awesome respect).

D. Application?

1. Do we have a clear understanding of the Lord who has revealed Himself in history through His word.
2. Worship this Holy God today.