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Jacob has now been with Laban for twenty years (31:41). God has blessed him: “the man became exceedingly prosperous” (30:43). But Laban's sons grumble that Jacob has taken their father's wealth, and Laban's face “was not favorable toward him as before” (31:1-2). God speaks. “Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you’” (31:3). It is the same promise God made at Bethel: “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (28:15). Jacob explains. Jacob calls Rachel and Leah into the field and tells them, “your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me” (31:7). “Ten times” means again and again. Then he tells them about a dream in which God said, “I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel” (31:12-13). The sisters agree. Rachel and Leah say their father treated them like strangers and spent the money paid for them (31:14-15). For once the two sisters speak with one voice: “whatever God has said to you, do it” (31:16).
“Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels” (31:17). He takes all the livestock he gained in Padan Aram “to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan” (31:18). Two thefts. While Laban is away shearing sheep, “Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father's” (31:19). And “Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban” (31:20). The Hebrew literally says Jacob “stole the heart” of Laban, which means he deceived him. Both Rachel and Jacob act dishonestly. The family God is protecting is not perfect. The chase. Laban hears on the third day and chases Jacob for seven days, catching up in the mountains of Gilead (31:22-23). God steps in. “But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad’” (31:24). Laban admits it later: “It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night” (31:29). The idols. When Laban searches for his idols, Rachel hides them in her camel's saddle and sits on them, and he does not find them (31:33-35). Those idols will appear again, buried at Shechem (35:4).
When Laban finds nothing, Jacob's anger pours out: “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?” (31:36). Twenty years of hard work. “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock” (31:38). When wild animals killed a sheep, Jacob paid for it himself (31:39). “In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes” (31:40). He served fourteen years for Laban's daughters and six for his flock (31:41). God saw. Jacob ends by giving God the credit: “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night” (31:42). What it means. Jacob was not perfect, and he had tricked people himself. But he had worked faithfully, and he was treated unfairly. God saw it. Paul says, “whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23). Even when people do not notice or are unfair, God sees.
Laban insists that everything is his: “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock” (31:43). But he cannot take them, so he proposes a covenant (31:44). Stones of witness. Jacob sets up a stone as a pillar, and the family gathers stones into a heap, and they eat a meal on it (31:45-46). Laban names it in his language, Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob in Hebrew, Galeed. Both mean “heap of witness” (31:47). Mizpah. It is also called Mizpah, “watchtower,” “because he said, ‘May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another’” (31:49). This is not a sweet goodbye. It is a warning. Laban is saying, “God will see if you mistreat my daughters, even if no one else is there” (31:50). A boundary. The heap marks a line neither man will cross “for harm” (31:52). Jacob swears “by the Fear of his father Isaac,” offers a sacrifice and shares a meal (31:53-54). A goodbye. “Early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them” (31:55). After all the unfairness, the story ends with a grandfather kissing his grandchildren goodbye.
Everyone did wrong. Laban cheated Jacob again and again. Jacob slipped away without telling the truth. Rachel stole her father's idols. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Walls cannot fix hearts. The heap at Mizpah stopped Jacob and Laban from hurting each other, but it could not make them trust or love each other. Rules and boundaries can hold back harm, but they cannot change a heart. Only God can give a new heart, and He does it through Jesus.
Jesus, treated unfairly. Jesus never cheated anyone, yet He was treated more unfairly than anyone. “When He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:23-24). He died for our sins and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Walls broken down. The heap at Mizpah was a wall between two families. Jesus does the opposite: “He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14).
Our response. We trust Jesus for forgiveness. When people are unfair to us, we remember that God sees, and we do not take revenge: “Repay no one evil for evil” (Romans 12:17). And we put away lying and “speak truth” (Ephesians 4:25). We can keep working hard and doing right, because God sees, and one day He will put everything right.
Jacob said these words to his uncle Laban after twenty years of hard work. Laban had cheated him again and again, changing his pay whenever he felt like it. Jacob had worked in the heat of the day and the cold of the night. Nobody seemed to notice how hard he worked or how unfairly he was treated. But Jacob knew someone had noticed. “Affliction” means trouble and suffering. “The labor of my hands” means his hard work. God saw both. God sees when you are treated unfairly at school or at home. He sees when you work hard and nobody says thank you. He even sees what nobody else knows about. The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). That means you do not have to get even with people who are unfair to you. God sees, and He will make things right. And it means you can keep working hard and doing right, because God sees that too.
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