SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 6

YHVH’S PROTECTION

A HEAP OF STONES, A SILENT WITNESS

From Genesis 31:26-55

[What do you think you’re doing by running away from us?] Laban demanded when he caught up with Jacob. [Why are you carrying my daughters away like prisoners who have a sword over their heads? Why are you cheating me like this? I wanted to send you away with laughing and singing, with tambourine and lyre. Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and their children good-bye? You have been very foolish. I have the power to hurt you, but the YHVH of your father spoke to me in a dream last night and said that I must be careful not to speak rashly to you. I know that you want to go back to your homeland, but why did you steal my gods?] [I ran away because I was afraid you would force me to leave my wives behind,] Jacob answered. [But if you find your gods with anyone here, that person shall die. Show me and these men who have come with you what I have stolen, and you may take it back.] Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s gods. Laban searched the whole camp, first in Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s, and then the tents of Bilhah and Zilpah, but he couldn’t find his gods. When Laban went into Rachel’s tent, he searched it completely, but his gods were not there. During this time Rachel was sitting on the gods, for she had put them into her camel’s saddle. [I’m sorry that I can’t get up to greet you, father,] Rachel said to Laban, [but as you may know I am having my period.] When Laban had finished searching for the gods, but could not find them, Jacob began to scold him angrily. [What have I done wrong?] he asked. [What crime have I committed that brought you chasing after me. You’ve searched everything I have. Put all that I stole out here for your relatives to see and let them decide who owns it. For twenty years I have worked for you and cared for your flock so well that not one mother goat has lost her unborn kid. I never ate one of your rams nor brought a dead animal to you and asked you to take the loss. No, instead, I took the loss myself! You forced me to bear the loss whenever any animal was stolen. For twenty years, through long hot days and cold nights, I worked for you, often without much sleep. You made me work fourteen years to marry your daughters and six years to earn a flock. Ten times you have changed my wages. You would probably have sent me away empty-handed unless YHVH of Abraham and my father Isaac had been with me. YHVH has seen how hard I have worked and how cruel you have been to me and that is why He scolded you last night.] Then Laban answered, [These are my daughters and grandchildren, and so are the flocks and your other possessions. Since I would never harm my own family, let us make a covenant that will guide us in the way we treat each other.] Jacob set up a stone for a memorial and told his men to gather small stones and pile them into a large heap. Beside this heap of stones they ate together. Laban named it Jegar-sahadutha, which meant [The Heap of Witness] in Aramaic and Jacob named it Galeed, which meant the same thing in Hebrew. [This heap of stones stands as a silent witness between us,] said Laban. Thus, it was also called Mizpah, [The Watch post] or [Watchtower.] [May Adonai watch between us while we are apart,] said Laban. [If you mistreat my daughters, or marry other wives, YHVH will be watching you, even though none of our people may see you. This heap of stones and the stone pillar will stand here as a witness that I will never go beyond it to hurt you and you will never come beyond it to hurt me. May the YHVH of Abraham, Nahor, and their father be our judge.] So, Jacob made a vow by the YHVH of Isaac his father and offered a sacrifice there on the mountain, calling upon his relatives to eat with him. That night they remained together on the mountain. Early the next morning, after Laban arose, he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and gave them his blessing, then returned to his own home.

COMMENTARY

ANIMAL-SHAPED POTTERY

An angry Laban pursued Jacob with a small army. But YHVH warned Laban. He was not to harm his son-in-law. Their meeting was an angry one, but finally they made a mutual promise. Jacob set up a heap of stones that neither would pass to harm or attack the other. YHVH had protected Jacob again. Animals have always fascinated people and have been accepted as a vital part of daily life and even of worship. Animals have even left their influence on vessels, both now and in Bible times. A walk through almost any china shop today will reveal plates, cups, bowls, and many other vessels shaped like animals. Milk pitchers shaped like cats or cows, candy dishes shaped like chickens, platters like turkeys or fish, and a host of other shapes are available. Ancient pottery shops must have had their fair share of animal-shaped vessels, too, for many such vessels have been found by archaeologists. Did these vessels have meaning other than an interest in animals? No one is sure. But we do know that the role of animals in ancient life was somewhat different from what it is today. In ancient Egypt, many of the gods took shape as bulls, cows, cats, frogs, and numerous others. Lions and bulls were held up as symbols of great power and found their way into statues, vessels, gateways, walls, and other art forms. Ancient stories or legends involved animals. In them, the gods not only took on animal shapes, but also had the power to change humans into animals. Mythology is filled with stories of men and women transformed into animals by angry gods. Perhaps then these animal-shaped vessels had more meaning to the ancients than a cat-shaped pitcher would to us. Some may have been associated with worship, or made and used as an act of reverence. Or perhaps ancient potters merely enjoyed seeing a favourite animal as a pitcher!