• Key
Verses
|-1-
|-2-
|-3-
|-4-
|-5-
|-6-
|-7-
|-8-
|-9-
|-10-
|-11-
|-12-
|-13-
|-14-
|-15-
|-16-
|-17-
|-18-
|-19-
|-20-
|-21-
|-22-
|-23-
|-24-
|-25-
|-26-
|-27-
|-28-
|-29-
|-30-
|-31-
|-32-
|-33-
|-34-
|-35-
|-36-
|-37-
|-38-
|-39-
|-40-
|-41-
|-42-
|-43-
|-44-
|-45-
|-46-
|-47-
|-48-
|-49-
|-50-
|-51-
|-52-
|-53-
|-54-
|-55-|
Genesis
31:1-21.
ENVY OF LABAN AND SONS.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 1. he heard the words of
Laban's sons--It must have been from rumor that
Jacob got knowledge of the invidious reflections cast
upon him by his cousins; for they were separated at the
distance of three days' journey.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 2. And Jacob beheld the
countenance of Laban--literally, "was not the same
as yesterday, and the day before," a common Oriental
form of speech. The insinuations against Jacob's
fidelity by Laban's sons, and the sullen reserve, the
churlish conduct, of Laban himself, had made Jacob's
situation, in his uncle's establishment, most trying and
painful. It is always one of the vexations attendant on
worldly prosperity, that it excites the envy of others
(Ec
4:4); and that, however careful a man is to maintain
a good conscience, he cannot always reckon on
maintaining a good name, in a censorious world. This,
Jacob experienced; and it is probable that, like a good
man, he had asked direction and relief in prayer.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 3. the Lord said
. . . Return unto the land of thy
fathers--Notwithstanding the ill usage he had
received, Jacob might not have deemed himself at liberty
to quit his present sphere, under the impulse of
passionate fretfulness and discontent. Having been
conducted to Haran by God (Ge
28:15) and having got a promise that the same
heavenly Guardian would bring him again into the land of
Canaan, he might have thought he ought not to leave it,
without being clearly persuaded as to the path of duty.
So ought we to set the Lord before us, and to
acknowledge Him in all our ways, our journeys, our
settlements, and plans in life.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 4. Jacob sent and called
Rachel and Leah--His wives and family were in their
usual residence. Whether he wished them to be present at
the festivities of sheep shearing, as some think; or,
because he could not leave his flock, he called them
both to come to him, in order that, having resolved on
immediate departure, he might communicate his
intentions. Rachel and Leah only were called, for the
other two wives, being secondary and still in a state of
servitude, were not entitled to be taken into account.
Jacob acted the part of a dutiful husband in telling
them his plans; for husbands that love their wives
should consult with them and trust in them (Pr
31:11).
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 6. ye know that
. . . I have served your father--Having
stated his strong grounds of dissatisfaction with their
father's conduct and the ill requital he had got for all
his faithful services, he informed them of the blessing
of God that had made him rich notwithstanding Laban's
design to ruin him; and finally, of the command from God
he had received to return to his own country, that they
might not accuse him of caprice, or disaffection to
their family; but be convinced, that in resolving to
depart, he acted from a principle of religious
obedience.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 14. Rachel and Leah
answered--Having heard his views, they expressed
their entire approval; and from grievances of their own,
they were fully as desirous of a separation as himself.
They display not only conjugal affection, but piety in
following the course described--"whatsoever God hath
said unto thee, do" [Ge
31:16]. "Those that are really their husbands'
helpmeets will never be their hindrances in doing that
to which God calls them" [HENRY].
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 17. Then Jacob rose
up--Little time is spent by pastoral people in
removing. The striking down the tents and poles and
stowing them among their other baggage; the putting
their wives and children in houdas like cradles,
on the backs of camels, or in panniers on asses; and the
ranging of the various parts of the flock under the
respective shepherds; all this is a short process. A
plain that is covered in the morning with a long array
of tents and with browsing flocks, may, in a few hours,
appear so desolate that not a vestige of the encampment
remains, except the holes in which the tent poles had
been fixed.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 18. he carried the cattle of
his getting--that is, his own and nothing more. He
did not indemnify himself for his many losses by
carrying off any thing of Laban's, but was content with
what Providence had given him. Some may think that due
notice should have been given; but when a man feels
himself in danger--the law of self-preservation
prescribes the duty of immediate flight, if it can be
done consistently with conscience.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 20. Jacob stole away--The
result showed the prudence and necessity of departing
secretly; otherwise, Laban might have detained him by
violence or artifice.
Genesis
31:22-55.
LABAN PURSUES JACOB--THEIR COVENANT AT
GILEAD.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 22-24. it was told Laban on
the third day--No sooner did the news reach Laban
than he set out in pursuit, and he being not encumbered,
advanced rapidly; whereas Jacob, with a young family and
numerous flocks, had to march slowly, so that he
overtook the fugitives after seven days' journey as they
lay encamped on the brow of mount Gilead, an extensive
range of hills forming the eastern boundary of Canaan.
Being accompanied by a number of his people, he might
have used violence had he not been divinely warned in a
dream to give no interruption to his nephew's journey.
How striking and sudden a change! For several days he
had been full of rage, and was now in eager anticipation
that his vengeance would be fully wreaked, when lo! his
hands are tied by invisible power (Ps
76:10). He did not dare to touch Jacob, but there
was a war of words.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 26-30. Laban said
. . . What hast thou done?--Not a word is
said of the charge (Ge
31:1). His reproaches were of a different kind. His
first charge was for depriving him of the satisfaction
of giving Jacob and his family the usual salutations at
parting. In the East it is customary, when any are
setting out to a great distance, for their relatives and
friends to accompany them a considerable way with music
and valedictory songs. Considering the past conduct of
Laban, his complaint on this ground was hypocritical
cant. But his second charge was a grave one--the
carrying off his gods--Hebrew, "teraphim," small
images of human figures, used not as idols or objects of
worship, but as talismans, for superstitious
purposes.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 31, 32. Jacob said,
. . . With whomsoever thou findest thy gods
let him not live--Conscious of his own innocence and
little suspecting the misdeed of his favorite wife,
Jacob boldly challenged a search and denounced the
heaviest penalty on the culprit. A personal scrutiny was
made by Laban, who examined every tent [Ge
31:33]; and having entered Rachel's last, he would
have infallibly discovered the stolen images had not
Rachel made an appeal to him which prevented further
search [Ge
31:34, 35].
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 34. Rachel had taken the
images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat
upon them--The common pack saddle is often used as a
seat or a cushion, against which a person squatted on
the floor may lean.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 36, 37. Jacob was
wroth--Recrimination on his part was natural in the
circumstances, and, as usual, when passion is high, the
charges took a wide range. He rapidly enumerated his
grievances for twenty years and in a tone of
unrestrained severity described the niggard character
and vexatious exactions of his uncle, together with the
hardships of various kinds he had patiently
endured.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 38. The rams of thy flock
have I not eaten--Eastern people seldom kill the
females for food except they are barren.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 39. That which was torn of
beasts I brought not unto thee--The shepherds are
strictly responsible for losses in the flock, unless
they can prove these were occasioned by wild
beasts.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 40. in the day the drought
. . . and the frost by night--The
temperature changes often in twenty-four hours from the
greatest extremes of heat and cold, most trying to the
shepherd who has to keep watch by his flocks. Much
allowance must be made for Jacob. Great and
long-continued provocations ruffle the mildest and most
disciplined tempers. It is difficult to "be angry and
sin not" [Eph
4:26]. But these two relatives, after having given
utterance to their pent-up feelings, came at length to a
mutual understanding, or rather, God influenced Laban to
make reconciliation with his injured nephew (Pr
16:7).
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 44. Come thou, let us make a
covenant--The way in which this covenant was
ratified was by a heap of stones being laid in a
circular pile, to serve as seats, and in the center of
this circle a large one was set up perpendicularly for
an altar. It is probable that a sacrifice was first
offered, and then that the feast of reconciliation was
partaken of by both parties seated on the stones around
it. To this day heaps of stones, which have been used as
memorials, are found abundantly in the region where this
transaction took place.
• JFB Top â € ¢
SRB
AC
OU
COG
Verse 52. This heap be
witness--Objects of nature were frequently thus
spoken of. But over and above, there was a solemn appeal
to God; and it is observable that there was a marked
difference in the religious sentiments of the two. Laban
spake of the God of Abraham and Nahor, their common
ancestors; but Jacob, knowing that idolatry had crept in
among that branch of the family, swore by the "fear of
his father Isaac." They who have one God should have one
heart: they who are agreed in religion should endeavor
to agree in everything else.
----- A WORK IN PROGRESS
NOTE: If your reference search placed you here it is indication that there are no Outline References for your search on this page. To return . . . click the link on the Key above ~ Or
CLICK 
- Genesis 31:1.
• Key
• JFB Top
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic
edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible
Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown
Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely
used and distributed.
Bibliography
Information
Jamieson, Robert,
D.D. "Commentary on Genesis 31". "Commentary Critical and
Explanatory
on the Whole Bible".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/jfb/view.cgi?book=ge&chapter=31>.
1871.
|
