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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMatthew Poole Commentary - Genesis 31:19 - 31:19
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Quest. 1. What were those teraphim or images?
Answ. They were images made in the shape of men, 1Sa_19:13,16, which the Gentiles worshipped as subordinate gods, Gen_31:30,32, to which they committed the protection of their families, 1Sa_19:13, which they used to consult about secret or future things, and from which they received answers about them, Eze_21:21 Zec_10:2. Of these see more Jud_17:5 18:14,17, &c.; Hos_3:4. And these idols Laban worshipped together with the true God.
Quest. 2. Why did Rachel steal them?
Answ. Partly, lest her father by consulting them should discover their flight, and the course which they took; and partly, because she seemed yet to retain a superstitious conceit of them, as may be gathered from Gen_35:2. Others, because they were pretty and precious things, made of silver and gold, which she took as a part of what was due to her, both as his daughter, and for her husband’s service. Others, that she might remove so great an occasion of her father’s idolatry, and show him the vanity of such gods as might be stolen away.