GENESIS 31
43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? 44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.” 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed] 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore, he named it Galeed, 49 and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. 50 If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.” 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So, Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, 54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. 55Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.
– Genesis 31:43-55
GENESIS 31 COVENANT BETWEEN JACOB & LABAN
We witness Laban’s character in this covenant he proposed to Jacob. According to Matthew Henry’s commentary it is common for bad men, when they are disappointed in their malicious projects to pretend that they designed nothing but what was kind and fair. When they can’t do the mischief they intended, they want to be thought of that they ever did intend it. When they haven’t done what they should have done, they come off with the excuse that they would have done it. Laban’s sly and evil heart shows that he is of the world and have no integrity. How he pursued Jacob as if he was a criminal speaks of such evil heart. According to Barnhouse, the pillar of Mizpah meant “If you come over on my side of this line, the pact is void and I will kill you. The covenant breaker would need God to take care of him because the other would shoot to kill.” As you can see, this covenant is one sided because it was almost a threat for Jacob that he doesn’t cross over that line.
REFLECTION
- How do you think God dealt with Laban after this pursuit and covenant he made with Jacob despite his warning to him not to speak anything good or bad to him?
