And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and of what was our father's he has acquired all this glory.
After twenty years of shepherding for Laban, Jacob is rich, and Laban's sons say the gain came out of their father's pocket. Their words raise two questions: who really made Jacob rich, and what does that wealth do to his place in Laban's house?
Where the ESV reads "all this wealth," older translations read "all this glory." One writer follows that word to its next use in Genesis.
We have had the word "glory" once before, in Genesis 31:1, where it means wealth. This later place is the first time it means honour and splendour, so again we can see what it pictures. When Christ is revealed in His glory, Israel will be gathered to Him and bow down before Him.
Laban's sons are not inventing figures. The flocks had shifted, and only in one direction.
But God thwarted the covetous man and helped the long-suffering one. The result was plenty on one side and loss on the other. This cut Laban and his sons to the quick, and their connection with Jacob soon ended, to Jacob's relief. But how weak the faith!
Laban had once been glad of the arrangement.
Before this, Laban had recognized that Jacob's presence with him was what made him prosper so much. So he valued Jacob. Now Jacob prospers and Laban's attitude toward him changes to that of resentment.
One writer names what the sons feel, and points to one man in Genesis who was rich yet never drew it.
We move on to Laban's sons (Gen. 31:1), who became envious of Jacob; Laban also became full of ANGER against him, though God did not permit him to show it (Gen. 31:2, 24). It is worth noting that Isaac and Jacob were both envied for their riches. Yet we never find that Abraham was, though he was just as rich — a fact that says a great deal for his character.
The sons credit Jacob's own hands for the wealth. So did Jacob, in his own thinking — and that is the deeper problem.
At last Jacob has reached the limit of his desire by deceit, trickery, and fraud. Through it all, and despite it all, the unseen God has heard the desire of Jacob's heart and given him his fill. Yet in his own thinking Jacob has done it all, with God little known or acknowledged. Jacob's hand, and thought, and fraud have gained it all; all is his.
Had he left the outcome to God, the same result would have arrived with his reputation intact.
If he had rested with confidence in God, and not used the tricks described in the last chapter, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have spoken for him far more convincingly.
The break between the two households was not random. One writer reads a pattern in it.
After all his planning, Jacob has to learn that it is the power of God to which he owes the increase. God has looked on his affliction and his toil, and ordained him a repayment. But his prosperity puts distance between him and Laban, just as spiritual increase separates a person from the world. Then comes the call of God to return to Canaan.
One writer counts the cost in years and wages.
Truly the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in loving-kindness. For the words of Laban's sons, and the looks of Laban himself, revealed their discontent — and no wonder. So the Lord told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and to his relatives. God's providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him of for twenty years.
The complaint also raises the question of who had been doing the work, and one writer weighs both sides.
We must not excuse the way Jacob manipulated things. On the other hand, Laban had been taking unfair advantage of Jacob all the way through. Jacob did the hard work of caring for Laban's flocks for twenty years. Laban had sons who could have helped with this work, but they left the work to the one who could do it well. … Management often thinks it has the right to reap all the benefits that labour produces, because management provided the money at the start. But God takes account of the guilt of management in the oppression of its employees (James 5:4).
- Glory — older translations read "all this glory"; here the word means wealth, and later in Genesis it means honour and splendour.
- Grudge — Laban once valued Jacob as the source of his own prosperity. The same prosperity in Jacob's hands turns that into resentment and envy.
- Giver — Jacob thought his own hand and scheming had gained it all. In fact God repaid in five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him of for twenty.
- Gap — the increase pushes the two households apart, "as spiritual increase separates from the world."
- Go — the friction becomes God's timing: here He calls Jacob back to Canaan and to his relatives.
And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as previously.
Twenty years of service in Haran have made Jacob rich, and the household that once welcomed him now watches him with different eyes. One cold look turns the story. The question is what God is doing behind it.
Older translations say Jacob saw Laban's "countenance" — his face — and it was no longer what it had been. The change follows the flocks. While Jacob's work made Laban rich, Laban valued him.
Jacob had gained all of this through his caring for their father's sheep: now most of the sheep, and the stronger sheep, belonged to Jacob. But Laban had agreed to the arrangement, and they could do nothing about it. Before this, Laban had seen that Jacob's presence with him made him prosper greatly, so he valued Jacob. Now Jacob prospers and Laban's attitude toward him changes to that of resentment.
The cold face is not only Laban's doing. Jacob had once won a blessing by deceiving a father at home; in Haran he lives for twenty years under a man who deceives him.
Jacob was a man of faith, but he failed in spiritual life, and he comes under the Lord's discipline so that he might bear more fruit, and better fruit. He had cheated at home, so he suffered abroad, most of all at the hands of his mother's brother. He bore Laban's hardhearted wrongs patiently, and that shows he bowed to God.
This repayment has a purpose. It is not cold justice.
Surely no one can miss the lesson of this repayment. It is God's holy discipline for us, so that we may share His holiness. The measure we use is measured back to us. What we sow we reap. And in the fairness of God's government we find the correction of a Father's hand. Jacob receives from a relative the deceit he had practiced on a relative.
Jacob's wealth came partly from his own clever schemes with the breeding of the flocks. What did those schemes cost him?
The sons of Laban saw that Jacob had stripped their father of much of his flocks, and Laban himself began to look on him with disfavour. The situation became critical, and the Lord Himself stepped in to end it… Seeing this, we would reflect that if Jacob had rested in God with confidence, and had not used the tricks described in the last chapter, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have spoken for him far more convincingly.
The cold look is not a disaster. It is a signal. Right after Jacob saw that face and heard Laban's sons, God told him to go home.
Truly the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness. The words of Laban's sons and the looks of Laban himself showed their discontent — and no wonder. So the Lord told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and to his relatives. In about five or six years, God's providence paid Jacob the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years.
The pattern reaches past Jacob and Laban. Blessing itself creates distance.
After all his planning, Jacob has to learn that he owes his increase to the power of God… But his prosperity turns Laban against him, just as spiritual growth separates one from the world. Then comes the call of God to return to Canaan.
A settled, pleasant life can take the place God should have. He does not leave it that way.
Everything may be going along smoothly and pleasantly. Our property is safe. Our business is doing well. Our children and servants behave nicely, our home is comfortable, our health is excellent — everything, in short, just as we would like it. How easily we then mistake the peace that rests on such circumstances for the peace that flows from the known presence of Christ. The Lord knows this. So He steps in, in one way or another, and stirs up the nest.
- Cause. Laban valued Jacob while Jacob's work made him rich. When the flocks passed to Jacob, that welcome turned to resentment.
- Discipline. The deceiver at home became the deceived abroad. God measured back to Jacob the measure he had used — a Father's correction, not mere payback.
- Gain, badly won. God would have given the same increase without Jacob's schemes. Then his righteousness would have spoken for him far more convincingly.
- Signal. The moment the faces turned cold, God's word came: return to the land of your fathers. Hostility became the door out.
- Pattern. Increase separates. When we nestle down in comfortable circumstances instead of in Christ, God stirs the nest.
And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
Twenty years with Laban have left Jacob rich, but the household has turned against him: Laban's sons are muttering, and Laban's face has changed. At this moment God speaks, and He tells Jacob to go home — with the promise that He Himself will go with him.
The timing matters. Jacob had heard nothing from God through all his years with Laban.
The twenty years had expired. Laban's hatred and the hatred of his sons had increased. When the crisis had been reached the voice of Jehovah was heard. "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you." This is the first time Jehovah spoke since the vision at Bethel.
Before the voice came, the situation had become impossible. Jacob's growing flocks were the very thing that turned his relatives against him.
After all his planning, Jacob has to learn that it is the power of God to which he owes the increase. God has looked on his affliction and his toil, and appointed him a reward. But his prosperity turns Laban away from him, as spiritual increase separates from the world. Then comes the call of God to return to Canaan.
Jacob did not have to find his own way out.
The situation became critical, and the Lord Himself intervened to end it. Back to his own land and kindred he was to go.
Jacob's recent dealings with Laban had been far from honest. What is striking here is what God does not say.
While Scripture has plainly exposed what Jacob was doing, the Lord does not reprove him for this: Jacob knew that his actions were wrong, since they were not the fruit of faith. The Lord therefore left him to fight that matter out with his own conscience. But God repeats His promise to Jacob, that He will be with him. Such is the sovereign goodness of God toward His servants in spite of their failing ways.
God names a place and a people: the land of his fathers, and his kindred. Jacob later proves selective about the second half.
So Jacob is all things to all men, hoping somehow to gain something for himself. He is willing enough to return to the land of his kindred, but not to his kindred as God had said. For between him and them stood the place of sacrifice and obedience to God.
The words "I will be with you" arrive at a point where Jacob has everything he had once wanted and nothing left to chase.
At last Jacob had reached the limit of his desire. He had got for himself much cattle, maidservants, menservants, camels and donkeys, and so for the moment he had no further object before him. Then Jehovah presents Himself to Jacob as the only worthy object, the true satisfying portion, saying, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you."
Jacob obeys at once — but the way he leaves shows how little the promise had steadied him.
At last Laban's sons murmur, and their father's face is no longer toward Jacob as before. Then Jehovah tells him to return to the land of his fathers. He makes up his mind at once. He gives a touching explanation to Rachel and Leah, and then sets out in secret. He did so because he had no confidence in God with a clear conscience — the kind that frees a man from fear. The unseen hand of God was there; but the power and the honour of God could not righteously be found in such a course.
- Crisis — The word came when Jacob's position had become impossible. God did not ease the trouble; He ended it.
- Call — Jacob's prosperity drove Laban away from him. Only then came the call back to Canaan. The discomfort was the preparation.
- Clemency — God says nothing about Jacob's wrongdoing. He leaves that to Jacob's own conscience and renews His promise instead — sovereign goodness toward a failing servant.
- Company — Jacob had reached the limit of his desires. God then offered Himself as the one satisfying portion.
- Compliance — Jacob made up his mind at once. Yet he slipped away in secret, obeying God's word without resting in His promise.
And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the fields to his flock,
Twenty years after fleeing home, Jacob is a wealthy man in Laban's service, but the mood around him has turned. God has told him to go home, and his first move is to send for his two wives — out in the open country, away from the house.
Jacob does not call this meeting because he decided to leave. He calls it because God has spoken:
At last Laban's sons murmur, and their father's face is no longer friendly toward Jacob as before. So Jehovah tells him to return to the land of his fathers. He makes up his mind at once. He gives a touching explanation to Rachel and Leah, and sets out secretly.
Jacob had God's word behind him, yet he acted like a man with something to hide:
Jacob was also too timid to act openly, but, encouraged from above, he calls Rachel and Leah to a meeting. He could truly say this: if Laban showed ill will, the God of his father was with him. And if Laban had tried to cheat him, God did not let him come to harm.
The same writer names what was missing:
He did not have the confidence in God, with a clear conscience, that sets a man free from fear.
Jacob could have told Rachel and Leah to get on the camels. Instead he lays out the case: Laban's changed attitude, his own hard service, and wages altered again and again:
Jacob therefore sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him where he was with the flock, and set before them the facts about Laban's changed attitude (v. 5). He does defend himself in the whole matter: it would have been better if he had not done so. However, it was true that he had served Laban with great diligence. Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times.
The story Jacob tells in the field is true as far as it goes. What he leaves out is his own share in the affair:
So he says that God had taken Laban's flocks and given them to Jacob. He does not tell them about his own trickery in the matter: evidently he had been able to hide this from everyone except the Lord.
Another writer draws the lesson from the gap. The flocks had multiplied because God arranged it, not because Jacob's methods worked — which means the schemes were never needed:
We are now allowed to see how God had intervened and caused the agreement about the spotted and speckled cattle to work in his favour. In the light of this, our reflection would be this. If he had rested in confidence in God, and had not used the schemes described in the last chapter, God would have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have answered for him far more convincingly.
Kelly puts the repayment in figures:
Divine providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages that Laban had defrauded him of for twenty years.
Jacob's report includes the name God used of Himself:
This name, "the God of Bethel," is of very real importance, for it means "God of the house of God." Jacob had been concerned about his own house, allowing the claims of God's house to wait. But the increase of Jacob's house had not produced peace and happiness in all his relationships. It was time that he learned that true contentment is only found in connection with God's house, where God's interests come first.
The meeting works. The two women need no persuading, because their father had lost any hold on them:
Rachel and Leah were fully ready to move at once. They realised there was nothing to tie them to their father. One thing they remembered: their father had sold his daughters and made himself rich by the sale. So they had become almost strangers to their own father… But Rachel and Leah have good advice for Jacob: "Do whatever God has said to you" (v. 16).
- God speaks first. The meeting in the field is a response, not an idea of Jacob's. God told him to return to his father's land, and named Himself the God of Bethel, the God of His own house.
- God pays. Laban cheated Jacob of wages for twenty years. God paid it all back in five or six.
- Fear chose the field. Jacob had God's word, but not the clear conscience that removes fear. So he met his wives away from the house and slipped away in secret.
- Half the story. He tells Rachel and Leah the truth about Laban and about God. He leaves out his own scheming, hidden from everyone except the Lord.
- The schemes were needless. If Jacob had trusted God, the same outcome would have come. His integrity would then have spoken for him far better.
and said to them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as previously; but the God of my father has been with me.
Jacob calls his two wives out to the field where he is with the flock. He tells them what he has seen: Laban's face has turned against him, yet God has stayed with him. Two facts stand side by side: a man's favour withdrawn, God's favour unchanged. But is Jacob telling his wives the whole story?
The change Jacob reads in Laban's expression is not an isolated moment. It comes with the muttering of Laban's sons, and it arrives at the same time as a word from God telling him to go home. One writer puts the two side by side, and notes that God had already settled the money side:
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and full of steadfast love. Laban's sons complained, and Laban's own face showed his discontent — and no wonder. So the LORD told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, to his own relatives. God's providence paid Jacob in five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty. They wanted to get rid of Jacob, but would not say so. After all, what did Laban own before Jacob came?
Jacob's claim is true. But God being with him is not the same as God approving what he had been doing in those years:
How grand a word this is. Even though Jacob was not living as he should (and he knew it), the Lord said, "I am with you." Can the Lord go with a believer on a wrong course? Well, He did not say He approved of the way Jacob was living. Yet He still said, "I am with you" — and He was with Jacob. Later, Jacob treated Laban badly far too many times, but the Lord blessed him anyway.
Jacob's speech to Rachel and Leah is a case for the defence. Everything he says about Laban is accurate; the gap is in what he does not mention:
So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come out to him where he was with the flock. He told them the facts about Laban's changed attitude. He does defend himself in the whole matter: it would have been better if he had not done so. However, it was true that he had served Laban with great diligence... He does not tell them about his own trickery. He had managed to hide that from everyone except the Lord.
Jacob had left home after deceiving his father. One writer reads his years with Laban as the same coin handed back to him:
No doubt he often had to suffer from Laban's deceit. But was this not a reminder of his own deceit? He is deceived about his wife, about his wages, about everything. But how had he treated his father — not to mention his brother? Deceit must meet deceit under the hand of God, who repays. Do not wonder too much at the story of Jacob. Bless with all your heart the God who cares for His servant. After Jacob had suffered a while, God made him prosper — slowly, but surely.
If God had been with him all along, as he tells his wives, the years of clever bargaining were not needed. One writer traces that scheming back to its root:
All his hard work and scheming, like his miserable bargain before, comes from not knowing God's grace. He could not put full confidence in God's promise... You would have thought that Jacob's vision had told him a story of grace. But what God showed him at Bethel and what Jacob did at Haran are two very different things. What he did at Haran shows what he had made of what God said. How a person lives is the real measure of what he has experienced and believes, whatever he may claim.
One writer sees Jacob's twenty years abroad as a picture of his descendants living among the nations. He was resented and mistreated, and yet he grew rich:
When the crisis came, the LORD spoke. "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred; and I will be with you." This is the first time the LORD spoke since the vision at Bethel... What comfort it must have been to hear "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you." The Lord watched over Jacob. Laban hated him, and still Jacob prospered. So Israel, scattered among the nations and hated by them, increases and prospers.
The God who tells him to leave names Himself by the place where Jacob first met Him:
God called him back to the land of promise. In doing so He revealed Himself as "the God of Bethel," reminding Jacob of the pillar he anointed and the vow he made. God brought him back to the beginning of his direct dealings with Him. This is always God's way with His people. We may wander away, but we have to come back to the original spot we departed from. The point of departure proves to be the place of recovery.
- The face. Laban's changed expression and his sons' complaints mark the end of Jacob's time in that house. God's word to leave arrives at that very moment.
- The presence. "The God of my father has been with me" is true, yet God saying I am with you was never the same as God approving Jacob's methods.
- The silence. Jacob tells his wives everything Laban did to him, but nothing of his own trickery. He hid that from everyone except the Lord.
- The discipline. The man who deceived his father was then deceived about his wife, his wages, and everything else. Deceit met deceit — and God still cared for him and made him prosper.
- The return. God calls him back as "the God of Bethel." The place where we first met God is the place where He restores us.
And you know that with all my power I have served your father.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And your father has mocked me, and has changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Jacob stands in the fields with Rachel and Leah, telling them why the family must leave Haran: his father-in-law kept changing the deal, and God kept stopping the damage. If God was protecting him, why did he have to endure twenty years of it?
The complaint is about a contract that never stayed still.
Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times. When he saw that Jacob was doing very well out of one bargain, he would change the terms of his wages. Then the sheep would breed in a different way, and again it worked to Jacob's advantage.
Jacob repeats this charge later, to Laban's face. Laban never denies it, and that silence counts as proof.
He states that Laban had changed his wages ten times (v. 41). This must have been true, or Laban would have denied it. It does show the manipulating character of Laban. He was every bit as skilled at this trickery as Jacob.
Jacob had tricked his brother. What came back to him had the same shape.
Jacob had tricked his brother, and Laban treated him in the same way. Laban gave him Leah as his wife instead of Rachel, though he had Rachel, the one he loved, later on. He had not learned to trust God. He used clever tricks to increase what he owned, and he received the same treatment in return: his wages changed "ten times." But God was watching over him, and told him to return to the land of his fathers.
Knowing he was under that correcting hand changed how Jacob lived in Laban's house.
While he was living in the Syrian's house, Jacob knew that he was under the mighty hand of God for correction, and he behaved that way. He did not defend himself when he was blamed. He did not fight for his rights when he was wronged and treated unfairly.
The second half of the verse is the point of the whole speech. Laban held all the power and still could not make Jacob lose. When the repayment came, it came fast.
In about five or six years God's providence paid Jacob the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years… He could truly say that if Laban showed him ill will, the God of his father was with him. And if Laban tried to cheat him, God did not let him come to harm.
This reversal is described as an act of justice, not merely a lucky turn in the livestock market.
Laban's greedy wish to profit from Jacob's strange bargain made the self-absorbed master poor instead, while the servant he had long cheated grew richer and richer… It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go, to pay back the wrongdoer and repay the one who had suffered… Notice too how fitting such a dealing from God was toward the one patriarch who pictures the chosen people more than any other. They took their name from him. Their ups and downs were like his own — endless changes of fortune, failures and humiliations, to be turned at the end, through God's mercy, into everlasting blessing.
Jacob's complaint tells only half the story. He had tricks of his own with Laban's flocks, and a dream from God took the credit for the growing herds away from those tricks.
By Jacob's own complaint, Laban changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by clever tricks with the breeding of Laban's cattle. Laban's sons complained that he had taken away everything that belonged to their father. So the contest went on until God stepped in again through a dream. God showed Jacob that it was He, and not Jacob's schemes, who had moved the cattle from Laban to him. And He called Jacob out of the whole unpleasant business, back to Canaan.
The grievance was real. It still settled nothing about Jacob's own conduct.
Jacob said that Laban had changed his wages ten times. If that was true, it was a serious provocation. But relying on God would have kept him from actions that are also open to question.
- Watched. Laban rewrote the deal ten times. Every time Jacob gained, the terms changed — and God saw each change.
- Warned. Jacob had tricked his brother; now Laban tricked him. The correction fitted the man, and Jacob took the wrongs without defending himself.
- Shielded. Laban held every advantage and still could not harm Jacob. God stood between them.
- Repaid. In about five years God gave back what twenty years of fraud had taken. The cheat grew poor; the cheated servant grew rich.
- Corrected. The provocation was real, but it did not excuse Jacob's own tricks. Trusting God would have brought the same result with clean hands.
If he said thus; The speckled shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore speckled; and if he said thus The ringstraked shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore ringstraked.
Here Jacob tells his wives, Rachel and Leah, about twenty years of work for their father, Laban. A pattern kept repeating. Whatever colour Laban named as Jacob's pay, the flocks bore that colour — so who was running this arrangement?
This was one round in a wage deal that kept changing. Jacob's own count of the changes shows what lay behind them.
Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times. When he saw that Jacob was gaining greatly by one bargain, he would change the terms of his wages. Then the sheep would bear in another way to Jacob's advantage. So he says that God had taken Laban's flocks and given them to Jacob.
Jacob had been underpaid for twenty years. Notice how quickly God settled that debt.
Truly the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness… God in His providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years… Jacob could truly say that if Laban showed ill-will, the God of his father was with him. And if Laban had sought to cheat him, God did not allow him to be hurt.
Jacob had his own tricks for shaping what the flocks bore. A dream later in this chapter points to a different cause.
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle… So the contest went on until God stepped in again through a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, not Jacob's schemes, that caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
God was the one at work. So Jacob's tricks were not only unneeded. They cost him the clear case he could have had.
We are now allowed to see how God had stepped in. He caused the agreement about the spotted and speckled cattle to work in Jacob's favour. This makes us reflect. If Jacob had rested with confidence in God, and not used the devices described in the last chapter, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have answered for him in a much more convincing way.
Jacob's speech to his wives is honest about Laban and silent about himself.
He does not tell them about his own trickery. It seems he had been able to hide it from everyone except the Lord.
Jacob was the wronged party here. Yet one writer sees his years with Laban as a measured return of what Jacob had handed out to others.
He is now a stranger and a servant for hire. Laban cheats him and pushes his own gain — a relative of his, and in character close kin too. You cannot mistake the payback all the way through: the measure Jacob handed out to another comes back to him. But you also cannot miss that in the way it is dealt out, God is speaking to the heart and conscience of the wanderer. There is fairness in God's government, but also the chastening of a holy love.
This leaves a practical question. When may we fall back on plans of our own?
From all this we may draw a practical conclusion. We have no need nor right to fall back on plans of our own, as though we could help God to achieve His purpose. If, on the other hand, God instructs us by His word to act, it is our duty and our wisdom to do as He says. Jacob asserted that Laban had changed his wages ten times. If that was true, it was great provocation. But relying on God would have saved him from actions that were also open to question.
- Changed — Laban rewrote the deal every time Jacob gained by it. Jacob counted ten changes in twenty years.
- Reversed — Whatever colour Laban named, the flocks bore. God turned each new term into Jacob's gain, and paid in five or six years what Laban had withheld for twenty.
- Not the tricks — The dream later in the chapter names the cause: God, not Jacob's breeding schemes. His tricks were never needed.
- Half the story — Jacob tells his wives about Laban's cheating and says nothing about his own. He hid it from everyone except the Lord.
- Chastening — What Jacob had measured out to others came back to him through Laban. That is fairness in God's government, and also a holy love speaking to his conscience.
And God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given [them] to me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it came to pass at the time of the ardour of the flocks, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams that leaped upon the flocks were ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
Jacob had worked twenty years for Laban, and the two men were now at odds over the flocks. Here Jacob tells his wives what he saw in a dream at breeding time, and the dream answers one question: who was building his wealth — his own tricks, or God?
The dream comes when Jacob's position with Laban has become impossible. It also breaks a long silence from God.
The twenty years had expired. Laban's hatred and the hatred of his sons had increased. When the crisis came, Jehovah spoke. "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred; and I will be with you." This is the first time Jehovah spoke since the vision at Bethel. Jacob then laid the matter before his wives and told them of a dream in which the angel of the Lord had spoken to him. What comfort it must have been for him to hear "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you."
One of the words in Jacob's list, "mottled" in the ESV, appears as "grisled" in older translations. A Bible dictionary gives its meaning:
Grey colour, or mixed with grey. Gen. 31:10; Zech. 6:3, 6.
Jacob had used tricks of his own to influence how the flocks bred. The dream tells him something else was at work.
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle. According to the complaint of Laban's sons he had "taken away all that was our father's." The contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He showed Jacob that it was He, and not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
If God was already at work in the flocks, Jacob's tricks added nothing.
He speaks of a dream in which he saw the goats mating in the way that would benefit him. He also speaks of the angel of God saying that it was God who had caused the animals to bear in a way that was to Jacob's advantage. This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this. He tells him that He has seen all that Laban was doing to him.
Laban had cheated Jacob for twenty years. The flocks in the dream settled that account.
Truly Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness. The words of Laban's sons and the looks of Laban himself showed their discontent — and no wonder. So Jehovah told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and to his kindred. In some five or six years God's providence paid Jacob the wages that Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years.
Jacob says the angel of God spoke to him in this dream. One writer argues that this "angel" was the Son of God, appearing before He came as man.
It is true that the one who appears is often called "the Angel of the Lord," "Angel of the Covenant," or simply "Angel." But the Hebrew word "malach" carries a double sense, like its Greek equivalent: angel and messenger. Jacob uses the word in his review of God's dealings. "The Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys" (Gen. 48:16). This would undoubtedly include the incidents of Bethel (Gen. 28:13), of Haran (Gen. 31:10), of Peniel (Gen. 32:35), of Beersheba (Gen. 41:1). Would the patriarch at such a moment call on a mere angel to bless his grandsons? None but the Son of God could redeem.
The voice in the dream names Bethel, where Jacob's story with God had started twenty years before.
Years passed — twenty long and eventful years. They were years of trial and testing, in which Jacob went through many ups and downs, changes, and varied trials. But the God of Bethel watched over His poor servant. He appeared to him while he was under pressure and said, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your kindred."
- Crisis — Twenty years of work end in a quarrel with Laban's family. God breaks a long silence and speaks.
- Sight — The marked goats in the dream show Jacob that God was moving the flocks to him, not his own tricks.
- Correction — God would have blessed him anyway. The scheming was never needed.
- Justice — "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you." Providence repaid in five or six years what fraud had withheld for twenty.
- Call — The speaker names Himself the God of Bethel and sends Jacob home. The God of the journey's start still watches at its end.
And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, Here am I.
Jacob is telling Rachel and Leah why they must leave for Canaan. He traces the decision back to a night when God called him by name in a dream. Two questions sit inside his account. Who is this "angel of God" who speaks as God? And why did the message come after twenty years with Laban?
The speaker does not stay anonymous. He goes on to say, "I am the God of Bethel." Commentators read the word "angel" here as a veil over God's own presence, not as a created messenger. Years later Jacob asked that same Angel to bless Joseph's sons.
Scripture uses the word as a veiled representation of God's presence, as in Genesis 31:11-13. "The angel of God" spoke to Jacob saying, "I am the God of Bethel." Jacob, when blessing the sons of Joseph, said, "The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys." ... Most believe that it was the second person of the Trinity who appeared as a man in the Old Testament.
Jacob was in the middle of a running contest of wits with Laban. God chose the one moment when a busy man cannot argue back or walk away.
God is invisible. So He speaks to man in ways that do not show Him in person, but in ways that wake up man's serious attention. Man may not realise it is God speaking to him. Yet God often speaks "in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men." At such a time God has a captive audience, whether man wants to listen or not.
Jacob had been using tricks of his own around the breeding of Laban's flocks. The dream told him who was behind the whole thing.
Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle. According to the complaint of Laban's sons, he had "taken all that was our father's." So the contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, and not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called Jacob out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
That leaves Jacob's cleverness looking not clever but unnecessary.
He speaks of a dream in which he saw the goats mating in the way that would benefit him. He also speaks of the angel of God showing him that it was God who had caused the animals to bear to Jacob's advantage. This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this.
His report to Rachel and Leah is true as far as it goes. But one part of the story never reaches them.
Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times. When he saw Jacob gaining a lot by one bargain, he would change the terms of his wages. Then the sheep would bear in another way to Jacob's advantage. So he says that God had taken Laban's flocks and given them to Jacob. He does not tell them of his own trickery. It seems he had been able to hide it from everyone except the Lord.
The dream is not a rebuke. God calls Jacob by name, hears his answer, and then settles the account Laban had kept open for twenty years.
Truly Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness. The words of Laban's sons, and the looks of Laban himself, revealed their discontent — and no wonder. So Jehovah told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers and his relatives. God's providence paid Jacob in about five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years. ... But He had worked to repay the servant for his relative's injustice. And He reminded forgetful Jacob of Bethel, telling him to leave and return to the land of his family.
- Who speaks. The "angel of God" here is not a created messenger. He is God Himself in veiled form, for He says, "I am the God of Bethel."
- How He speaks. God used a dream, where He has a captive audience — a man who cannot argue back, walk away, or stay busy.
- What He says. The flocks multiplied by God's hand, not by Jacob's tricks. The scheming was never needed, for God would bless him anyway.
- What Jacob hides. He tells his wives the true half: God gave him the flocks. He leaves out his own trickery, hidden from everyone but the Lord.
- What God does anyway. He repays in five or six years the wages Laban withheld for twenty. He calls a forgetful man back to Bethel. Mercy, not scolding, moves the story on.
And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see all the rams that leap upon the flock are ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.
Jacob's twenty years with Laban are falling apart. In a dream God tells him to lift up his eyes and look at the flocks, then says He has seen everything Laban has done to him.
Jacob had built his herds by his own tricks with the breeding of Laban's flocks. The dream tells him none of that was necessary.
He speaks of a dream in which he saw the goats mating in the way that would benefit him. He also speaks of the angel of God, who spoke to show that it was God who had caused the animals to bear in a way that was to Jacob's advantage. This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this.
The dream also ended a long contest of tricks between Jacob and Laban.
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle... So the contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
God had not spoken to Jacob since Bethel. Now Jacob repeats these words to his wives as he explains why they must leave.
The twenty years had expired. Laban's hatred and the hatred of his sons had increased... This is the first time the Lord spoke since the vision at Bethel. Jacob then laid the matter before his wives and told them about a dream in which the angel of the Lord had spoken to him. What comfort it must have been for him to hear, "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you." The Lord watched over Jacob, and though Laban hated him, Jacob prospered. So Israel in the dispersion, hated by the Gentiles, increases and prospers.
God's seeing was not passive. The flocks changing hands were a settlement of accounts.
God's providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years... He could truly say that if Laban showed ill-will, the God of his father was with him; and that if Laban tried to cheat him, God did not let him be harmed.
The previous verse calls this speaker "the angel of God." Yet He goes on to say, "I am the God of Bethel." Commentators see more here than a created messenger with a message.
The term is used for the mysterious representation of the divine presence, as in Genesis 31:11-13. "The angel of God" spoke to Jacob saying, "I am the God of Bethel."... It is generally believed that it was the second Person in the Trinity who appeared as a man in the Old Testament.
Jacob's years with Laban were not an accident. His own deceit had been met with deceit.
He was cheated about his wife. He was wronged over his wages. He was a wanderer from his father's house and a slave to Laban. All this came from acting in a deceitful way, instead of leaving it to God to fulfil the blessing. In all of it we see real discipline because of evil.
Yet God also kept reminding Jacob of Bethel, the place where He had blessed him.
God blessed Jacob at Bethel through His abundant grace. In later years Jacob needed reminding of this. Again and again God made him feel that he really had been blessed like this. When Laban dealt harshly with him, the angel of God said to him in a dream, "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me: now arise, get out from this land and return to the land of your relatives."
- God sees. One line — "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you" — comforted a man cheated for twenty years. God had been counting every one of them.
- God gives. The dream showed Jacob that the flocks came from God's hand, not from his own tricks. He never needed them.
- God repays. What Laban withheld across twenty years, God restored in five or six, and would not let Laban do Jacob harm.
- God reminds. The speaker calls Himself the God of Bethel. That took Jacob back to the pillar he had anointed and the vow he had made.
- God calls home. Seeing, giving, repaying and reminding all end in one command — leave this land and go back. Discipline for past deceit never cancelled the blessing; it drove Jacob toward it.
I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me. Now arise, depart out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred.
After twenty years with Laban, God speaks to Jacob and names Himself from an old memory: the night at Bethel. Why does God tie His name to that place, and why is an old vow the signal to move now?
The words come from "the angel of God" in a dream (v. 11), yet the speaker calls Himself God. Commentators point to other places in Genesis where an angel speaks as God Himself.
The title is used to picture God's own presence, as in Genesis 31:11-13. "The angel of God" spoke to Jacob and said, "I am the God of Bethel." … Most believe it was the second person of the Trinity who appeared as a man in the Old Testament.
Bethel means "house of God." So the name sets God's house against the house Jacob had been busy building for himself.
This name, "the God of Bethel," matters a great deal, because it means "God of the house of God." Jacob had been concerned about his own house (Genesis 30:30). He had let the claims of God's house wait. But the increase of Jacob's house had not produced peace and happiness in all his relationships. It was time for him to learn that true contentment is only found in connection with God's house, where God's interests come first. God also remembered Jacob's vow (Genesis 28:20-22), though He only mentions it without comment.
God's reminder points to what Jacob did at that place, not just to the place itself.
Oil was constantly used in anointing or setting apart persons, places and objects. A striking case is that anointing of the pillar at Bethel by Jacob (Genesis 28:18; Genesis 31:13), where he set apart the place as "the house of God," a kind of anticipation of the tabernacle.
Twenty years had passed, and Jacob had said nothing more about the promise he made that night. God had not dropped it. One writer answers the objection that holding a man to his own words is harsh:
God had not forgotten the original terms, and He would not let His servant forget them. Is this legality? No; it is the display of divine love and faithfulness. God loved Jacob, and He would not allow him to settle for less than the old standard. He watched over the state of His servant's heart with jealous care. He would not let it stay below the Bethel mark, so He gently reminds him with those touching and meaningful words, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow." This was the sweet expression of God's unchanging love. It showed that He counted on Jacob remembering the scenes at Bethel.
God ties the order to leave Laban's land to a memory, not to a new revelation. One writer sees a pattern here in God's dealings with His people.
In calling him back to the land of promise, God revealed Himself to him as "the God of Bethel," reminding him of the pillar he anointed and the vow that he made. So God called him back to the beginning of his direct dealings with Him. This is always God's way with His people. We may wander away, but we have to come back to the original spot from which we departed. The point of departure proves to be the place of recovery.
The message arrives while Laban is treating Jacob badly. God's first word is that He has seen it (v. 12); His second is who He is.
When Laban dealt harshly with him, the angel of God said to him in a dream, "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel." … And so we are often told to consider Him, and to remember Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Like Jacob, we should count the God of Bethel as our God. Bethel is the place we should visit, to think about His marvellous grace, and how richly and fully He has blessed us.
- Bethel — the name means "house of God." So this title sets God's own house against the house Jacob was busy building for himself.
- Remembered — Jacob made that vow twenty years earlier. God brought it up Himself, without a word of comment.
- Love — the reminder is not legal pressure. It is love and faithfulness. God would not let His servant settle below the Bethel mark.
- Return — the call to leave Laban comes with the memory, because the point of departure proves to be the place of recovery.
- Ours — the pattern carries over: remember the One who loved us, and treat the God of Bethel as our God.