And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.
It wasn’t exactly great before, so I can only imagine what is going on now…
“Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
Jacob was going to leave earlier with nothing but his family. Since he stayed, though, he has accumulated a great amount of wealth(because of God), but it’s finally time to go ahead and move on.
“You know that I’ve worked for you father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times…So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.”
Laban tried to cheat me, and got out-played. There’s nothing left for you here, so come with me as I leave go back home.
…Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
Why? Does Rachel want these gods to have for herself? To sell? Just to annoy Laban? Well, I don’t know, but it’s possible she was simply taking them so that Laban wouldn’t be able to use them. He did learn by ‘divination’ that God was blessing Jacob, so there is at least the possibility that they do have some sort of power(there are plenty of demonic powers and whatnot, especially when dealing with fortune-telling stuff). Maybe Rachel takes them in the hopes that Laban won’t be able to use their help to learn which way Jacob is heading. Or maybe she’s just trying to take them so that he won’t have them to worship anymore. Or maybe she just wants to sell them. Whatever the case, she takes them.
Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away.
Ah-ha! More trickery! Wait till he’s busy, then make a break for it! And again we see that instead of sitting down and trying to talk things out, Jacob thinks his best plan is to simply try to outsmart and outmaneuver his ‘opponent.’
“Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
No curses allowed, but no blessings either. It’s time for Jacob to be split off from Laban, and the less connecting them the better. Also, God has plenty of blessing for Jacob, and doesn’t need Laban trying to add to it. Because by now we know Laban well enough to see that if he could, he might very possibly give Jacob his ‘blessing,’ and then take all the credit for everything.
“You’ve deceived me…Why did you run off secretly and deceive me?”
“I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.”
You tricked me! Why would you do such a terrible thing to poor innocent and unsuspecting me? Ha. This whole relationship is built entirely on trickery, deceit, and trying to outdo each other, which is probably a very good reason for some of these trust issues we have here.
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed.
I’ve got a trump card – God. That’s why I came out ahead, and why you are going to leave me alone.
“All you see is mine. Yet what can I do…”
After everything, Laban just needs to get the last word in. It’s really all mine. That work you did doesn’t really cover it. I kept changing your wages to try to keep it fair, but you kept cheating somehow. You don’t deserve any of it. But, since I can’t do anything about it, let’s just make a deal to leave each other alone. I won’t go on your side, and you don’t come on my side.
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