SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 5

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From Genesis 31:1-25

Before long, Laban’s sons began to complain about Jacob. [He is getting richer while our father is getting poorer,] they grumbled. Jacob also saw that Laban was not as warm and friendly toward him as he had once been. One day YHVH said to Jacob, [Go home to your family in the land of your ancestors and I will go with you.] Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where he watched the flocks. [Your father doesn’t like me anymore,] said Jacob. [YHVH knows this and spoke to me, telling me what we should do. You realize how faithfully I have served your father, although he has often cheated me and has changed my wages ten times. But YHVH has never let him hurt me. If your father said that the spotted animals would be my wages, then the flock bore spotted young. But if he changed my wages to all the striped animals, then the flock bore striped young. This was YHVH’s way of taking your father’s animals and giving them to me. During the mating season, I dreamed that the male goats that mated were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the Angel of Adonai spoke to me in a dream and told me to mate these goats with Laban’s white goats so they would produce striped, spotted, and mottled young for my flock. ‘I have seen what Laban has done to you,’ YHVH told me. ‘I am the YHVH who spoke to you at Bethel, where you anointed the stone pillar and made a vow to Me. You must leave this land now and return to the land where you were born.’] Rachel and Leah agreed with Jacob. [Is there anything for us to inherit from our father?] they asked. [He treats us as foreigners, selling us and then using the money himself. All that YHVH helped you get from our father really belongs to us and to our children. Therefore, you should do whatever YHVH has told you.] Jacob waited for the right time, when Laban was away shearing his sheep. Then he put his wives and children on camels and left for the land of Canaan where his father Isaac lived. He carried with him the possessions which he had acquired in Padan-aram and drove his cattle before him. Unknown to Jacob, Rachel stole her father’s household gods and took them with her. Jacob and his caravan slipped away quietly without telling Laban, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed toward the hill country of Gilead. On the third day after Jacob left, someone told Laban what had happened. Laban immediately gathered some men of the family and pursued Jacob for seven days, finally catching up with him in the hill country of Gilead. YHVH appeared to Laban in a dream that night. [Be careful what you say to Jacob,] YHVH warned. [You must not say anything good or bad to him.] The next day Laban reached the place where Jacob had set up camp in the hill country of Gilead. Laban and his men set up their camp nearby.

COMMENTARY

RULES OF INHERITANCE

Jacob’s destiny lay in Canaan. After fourteen years in Haran, he planned to return. But his father-in-law, Laban, whose wealth had increased with Jacob in charge of his flocks, bargained with Jacob to make him stay. YHVH turned the bargain in Jacob’s favour. Six years later when Jacob and his wives and children finally did mount camels to slip away to the Promised Land, most of Laban’s wealth was theirs! In ancient Israel, the oldest son possessed the birthright. Because he was the first son born, he inherited twice as much as each younger brother upon his father’s death. Each brother in the family received a share; the oldest received two shares. Since there was no such thing as a written will, the birthright was passed to the oldest son with the father’s special blessing. Once the blessing was given, it could not be taken back. But if the son disobeyed his father any time before he died, the birthright could be taken away from him and given to someone else. For this reason and others, the father often gave this blessing shortly before he expected his death. The holder of the birthright could sell his position of honour or even give it away, but most chose to keep and respect it. The oldest son not only inherited goods and property, he also inherited the position of family leadership. He became responsible for the welfare of the family, including his widowed mother and unmarried sisters, and he supervised the family property. According to Israelite custom, a man’s sons, not his daughters, inherited his goods. Even though the male in the family might be several years younger than his sisters, he received the inheritance and the females received nothing. He became responsible for them as part of his inheritance. Only if there were no males could the daughters receive the inheritance. But then they were required to marry within their own tribe so that the property would not be lost. Often this marriage was to a cousin or some other relative. If a man died without either sons or daughters, his inheritance passed to his brothers. It was not uncommon for such a brother to marry the dead man’s widow. If he had no living brothers, the inheritance went to his uncles on his father’s side of the family. If that was not possible for any reason, then the inheritance passed to the closest living male relative. The widow did not receive any part of her husband’s property and possessions. She had absolutely no resources of her own. In spite of this, she was not neglected. Part of the inheritance was the responsibility for the widow’s welfare. In most cases, this meant one of her grown sons cared for her. If a man had children by more than one woman, the question of inheritance became somewhat complicated. The father had to decide before his death whether he wanted to accept the children of a slave woman as his legal heirs. Jacob decided to give equal portions both to his sons by the slave women and to the sons born to his legal wives.