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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 31:36 - 31:42
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Jacob Rebukes Laban
v. 30. And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? The advantage was now entirely on Jacob's side, and he lost no time in making use of it, but called Laban to account for his attitude as well as for all his misdeeds, also in coming after him in such a high-handed way.
v. 37. Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren that they may judge betwixt us both. That the search, undertaken upon suspicion which amounted to a certainty, had yielded absolutely no results made Laban, appear foolish in the eyes of both parties.
v. 38. This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
v. 39. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Rather than go to Laban with a detailed report concerning every loss in the flocks, Jacob voluntarily filled all gaps.
v. 40. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. In the Orient, the intense cold of the night corresponds to the burning heat of the day, just as in the Southwest of our country.
v. 41. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters and six years for thy cattle; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. As one commentator says: The strong feeling and the lofty self-consciousness which utter themselves in his speech impart to it a rhythmical movement and poetic forms. "
v. 42. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, that is, the God whom Isaac feared, the object of his reverence or veneration, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. The service of Jacob in the house of Laban is an example of true faithfulness, which is here throughout contrasted with the selfishness of the older man. A true believer will be diligent, faithful, conscientious, careful not to neglect or to waste aught of the goods entrusted to him, anxious to serve God and his neighbor with the work of his hands.