Genesis 31:26-30 - Exposition

And Laban (assuming a tone of injured innocence) said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, —literally, and (meaning, in that) thou hast stolen my heart ( vide supra , Genesis 31:20 ; and cf. Genesis 31:27 )— and carried away ( vide Genesis 31:18 ) my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? Literally, as captives of the sword , i . e . invitis parentibus (Rosenmüller); language which, if not hypocritical on Laban's part, was certainly hyperbolical, since he had already evinced the strength of his parental affection by selling his daughters to Jacob; and besides, so far as it concerned either Jacob or his wives, it was quite untrue, Rachel and Leah having voluntarily accompanied their husband in his flight. Wherefore didst thou floe away secretly,— literally, wherefore didst thou hide thyself to flee away; חָבַא (niph.), with an inf. following, corresponding to the similar construction in Greek of λανθάνειν with a part, and being correctly rendered in English by an adverb— and steal away from me (literally, and steal me , ut supra); and didst not tell me, that I might (literally, and I would ) have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, —in Oriental countries those about to make a long journey are still sent away cantionibus et musicorum instrumentorum concentu (Rosenmüller)— with tabret ,—the toph was a drum or timbrel, consisting of a wooden circle covered with membrane, and furnished with brass bells (like the modern tambourine), which Oriental women beat when dancing (cf. Exodus 15:20 ; 11:34 ; Jeremiah 31:4 )— and with harp ! For a description of the kinnor see Genesis 4:21 . And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons ( i . e . the children of Leah and Rachel) and my daughters ! It is perhaps judging Laban too severely to pronounce this complete hypocrisy and cant (Alford, Bush, Candlish, Gerlach), but equally wide of the truth is it to see in Laban's conduct nothing but generosity of feeling (Kalisch); probably there was a mixture of both paternal affection and crafty dissimulation (Delitzsch). Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. The charge of folly in Old Testament Scriptures commonly carries with it an imputation of wrong-doing (cf. 1 Samuel 13:13 ; 2 Samuel 14:10 ). It is in the power of my hand —so the phrase יָדִי יֶשׁ־לְאֵל (cf. Deuteronomy 28:32 ; Nehemiah 5:5 ; Micah 2:1 ) is rendered by competent authorities (Gesenius, Furst, Rosenmüller, Kalisch, Murphy, et alii ), with which agree laxly, ἡ χειρ μου ( LXX .), and valet manus men (Vulgate), though the translation "My hand is for God," i . e . my hand serves me as God (cf. Job 12:6 ; Hebrews 1:11 ), is by some preferred (Keil, Knobel, Jacobus)— to do you hurt: but the God of your father— the use of this expression can be rightly regarded neither as a proof of Elohistic authorship (Tuch, Bleek, Colenso, Davidson) nor as a sign of Laban's spiritual degeneracy (Hengstenberg, Wordsworth), since it is practically equivalent to Jehovah ( vide Genesis 28:13 ), but is probably to be viewed as a play upon the sound and sense of the preceding clause, as thus:—"It is in the El of my hand to do you evil, but the Elohim of your father spake to me." Another instance of this play upon the sound and sense is to be found in Genesis 4:19 , Genesis 4:20 —"Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's; and Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Syrian"— spake unto me yester night, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob —literally, guard or keep thee for thyself (the pleon, pron. being added ut supra , Genesis 4:24 ) from speaking with Jacob— either good or bad ( vide on Genesis 4:24 ). And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone (literally, going thou didst go— thou hast indeed gone), because thou sore longedst after thy father's house (literally, because desiring thou didst desire . The verb כָּסַף , to be pale (whence כֶּסֶף , silver, so called from its pale color), expresses the idea of pining away and languishing through strong inward longing), yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? Laban had probably gone to consult his teraphim and so discovered their loss. Augustine calls attention to this as the first Scripture reference to heathen gods, and Calvin probably supplies the right explanation of the sense in which they were so styled by Laban, non quia deitatem illie putaret esse inclusam, sed quia in honorem deorum imagines illas colebat; vel potius quod Deo sacra facturus, vertebat se ad illas imagines (of. Exodus 32:4 ; 1 Kings 12:28 ). "This complaint of Laban, that his "gods were stolen, showeth the vanity of such idolatry" (Ainsworth). Cf. 6:31 ; 16:24 ; Jeremiah 10:5 , Jeremiah 10:11 , Jeremiah 10:15 .