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.