Jacob Serves Laban

Jacob was sent by his mother to Mesopotamia to marry the daughter of her brother Laban. Isaac allowed the marriage because he deferred to his wife’s wishes. So Jacob traveled through the land of Canaan; and because he hated the people of that country, he would not lodge with any of them, but slept in the open air, laying his head on a heap of stones he had gathered. At that time he saw in his sleep a vision standing beside him. He seemed to see a ladder that reached from the earth to heaven, and figures coming down the ladder who seemed more excellent than human; and last of all God himself stood above it, plainly visible to him. God called him by name and spoke to him in these words: “Jacob, it is not right for you, the son of a good father and the grandson of one who won a great name for his outstanding virtue, to be downcast at your present circumstances. You should hope for better times, for with my help you will have a great abundance of all good things. It was I who brought Abraham here out of Mesopotamia when he was driven out by his relatives, and I made your father a happy man; nor will I give a smaller share of happiness to you. So take courage, and go on with this journey of yours under my guidance, for the marriage you are setting out so eagerly to make will take place. You will have children of good character, and their number will be beyond counting. They will leave what they have to still more numerous descendants. To them and to their descendants I give the rule of this land, and their descendants will fill the whole earth and sea, as far as the sun looks down on them. Do not fear any danger, and do not be afraid of the many hardships you must go through; for by my providence I will guide you in what you are to do, now and still more in the time to come.” Such were the predictions God made to Jacob. He was overjoyed at what he had seen and heard, and he poured oil on the stones, because it was on them that the prediction of such great benefits had been made. He also made a vow that he would offer sacrifices on them if he gained a livelihood and came back safely, and that if he did come back in such a condition, he would give God a tenth of what he had gained. He also judged the place worthy of honor and named it Bethel, which in Greek means “the House of God.”

So he went on with his journey to Mesopotamia, and at last came to Haran. In the outskirts he met shepherds, grown boys and young women, sitting around a well, and he stayed with them, since he wanted water to drink. Falling into conversation with them, he asked whether they knew a man named Laban, and whether he was still alive. They all said they knew him, for he was not so unimportant a person as to be unknown to any of them; that his daughter grazed her father’s flock along with them; and that indeed they were surprised she had not come yet, “for from her you could learn more exactly whatever you want to know about that family.” While they were saying this, the girl arrived, along with the other shepherds who came down with her. They pointed Jacob out to her and told her that he was a stranger who had come to ask about her father’s affairs. Delighted at Jacob’s coming, as children are, she asked him who he was, where he had come from, and what he needed that had brought him there. She also wished it might be in their power to supply what he had come for.

But Jacob was quite overcome, not by their kinship, nor by the affection that might arise from it, but by love for the girl and amazement at her beauty, which was in such bloom as few women of that time could rival. Then he said, “There is a relationship between me and you and your father older than either your birth or mine, if you are Laban’s daughter. For Abraham was the son of Terah, and so were Haran and Nahor; and Bethuel your grandfather was the son of the last of these, Nahor. Isaac my father was the son of Abraham and of Sarah, who was the daughter of Haran. But there is a closer and more recent bond of kinship between us, for my mother Rebekah is sister to Laban your father, by the same father and mother. So you and I are first cousins. And now I have come to greet you all, and to renew the family tie that belongs to us.” At the mention of Rebekah the girl wept, as young people often do, and that out of love for her father, and she embraced Jacob; for she had heard about Rebekah from her father and knew that her parents loved to hear her named. When she had greeted him, she said that he brought the most welcome and greatest pleasure to her father and all their family, for her father was always mentioning his mother and always thinking of her, and of her alone; “and this,” she said, “will make you count for as much in his eyes as any good fortune whatever.” Then she told him to go to her father, following her while she led him to him, and not to rob him of such a pleasure by staying away from him any longer. [a]

When she had said this, she brought him to Laban. Once his uncle had acknowledged him, he felt safe, being among friends, and his unexpected arrival gave them great pleasure. A little later Laban told him that he could not put into words the joy he felt at his coming; but still he asked him the reason for it, and why he had left his aged mother and father when they needed him to look after them; and he said he would give him all the help he needed. Then Jacob told him the whole reason for his journey. He said that Isaac had two sons who were twins, himself and Esau; that Esau, having missed his father’s prayers, which by their mother’s wisdom had been made for Jacob, was seeking to kill him, since he had been deprived of the kingdom that was to be given him by God and of the blessings their father had prayed for; and that this was why he had come here, as his mother had told him to do. “For we are all kin to one another,” he said, “but our mother values an alliance with your family more than one with the families of that country. So I look on you and God as the supporters of my travels, and I think myself safe in my present circumstances.” [b]

Laban promised to treat him with great kindness, both for the sake of their ancestors and especially for his mother’s sake; he would show his kindness to her, he said, even in her absence, by taking care of him. He assured him he would make him head shepherd of his flock and give him enough authority for the task; and when he wished to return to his parents, he would send him back with gifts, and in as honorable a way as their close relationship called for. Jacob was glad to hear this. He said he would gladly stay with him and take on any kind of labor to please him, but he asked for Rachel as his wife as the reward for that labor. He valued her for other reasons, but also because she had been the means of his coming to Laban; and he said it was love for the girl that drove him to make this proposal. Laban was well pleased with the agreement and consented to give him the girl, since he did not hope to find a better son-in-law. He said he would do it if Jacob would stay with him for some time, for he did not want to send his daughter to live among the Canaanites; he regretted the marriage alliance he had already made there by marrying off his sister. When Jacob had consented to this, he agreed to stay seven years; for he had resolved to serve his father-in-law that many years, so that, having given proof of his virtue, it might be better known what kind of man he was. [c]

Laban accepted the proposal, and when the time was over, he held the wedding feast. When night came, without Jacob noticing, he put his other daughter into bed with him, who was older than Rachel and not good-looking. Jacob slept with her that night, being both the worse for wine and in the dark. But when day came, he realized what had been done to him, and he reproached Laban for his unfair dealing. Laban asked pardon for the necessity that had forced him to act as he did: he had not given him Leah out of any ill intent, but because he was overcome by another, greater necessity. Nothing, he said, would prevent Jacob from marrying Rachel even so; when he had served another seven years, he would give him the one he loved. Jacob submitted to this condition, for his love for the girl would not let him do otherwise; and when another seven years had passed, he took Rachel as his wife.

Each of the sisters had a maidservant, a gift from their father: Zilpah was maidservant to Leah, and Bilhah to Rachel. They were by no means slaves, but they were still subject to their mistresses. Leah was deeply troubled by her husband’s love for her sister, and she expected to be valued more if she bore him children. So she prayed to God continually. When she had borne a son, and her husband was better reconciled to her because of it, she named her son Reuben, because God had had mercy on her by giving her a son; for that is what the name means. Some time later she bore three more sons: Simeon, a name meaning that God had listened to her prayer; then Levi, the confirmer of their bond; and after him Judah, which means thanksgiving. [e]

But Rachel, afraid that her sister’s fruitfulness would leave her a smaller share of Jacob’s affection, put her maidservant Bilhah into bed with him, and by her Jacob had Dan, a name one might translate into Greek as “a divine judgment”; and after him Naphtali, “contrived,” as it were, since Rachel had schemed to counter her sister’s fruitfulness. Leah answered in the same way, using a counter-stratagem against her sister’s: she put her own maidservant into bed with him. So Jacob had a son by Zilpah named Gad, which may be translated “fortune,” and after him Asher, which may be rendered “a happy man,” because he added to Leah’s glory.

Now Reuben, Leah’s eldest son, brought mandrake fruit to his mother. When Rachel saw it, she asked her to give her the fruit, for she longed to eat it. Leah refused, and told her to be content with having deprived her of the regard she ought to have had from her husband. To soften her sister’s anger, Rachel said she would yield her husband to her, and he would sleep with her that evening. Leah accepted the favor, and Jacob slept with Leah by Rachel’s favor. She then bore these sons: Issachar, meaning “one born by hire,” and Zebulun, “one born as a pledge of goodwill toward her”; and a daughter, Dinah. Some time later Rachel had a son named Joseph, which signified that another would be added to him.

All this time, twenty years, Jacob grazed the flocks of his father-in-law Laban. After that he asked his father-in-law’s leave to take his wives and go home; and when his father-in-law would not give it, he planned to do it secretly. So he sounded out his wives on what they thought of the journey, and they seemed glad and approved of it. Rachel took with her the images of the gods which, by the laws of their country, they used to worship there, and ran away together with her sister. The children of both, the maidservants with their sons, and whatever possessions they had went along with them. Jacob also drove off half the livestock, without letting Laban know beforehand. The reason Rachel took the images of the gods, although Jacob had taught her to despise the worship of such gods, was this: if they were pursued and caught by her father, she could turn to these images to obtain his pardon.

Laban learned a day later that Jacob and his daughters had gone, and he was much disturbed. He set out after them with a band of men, and on the seventh day he overtook them and found them resting on a certain hill. Then indeed he did not interfere with them, since it was evening. But God stood by him in a dream and warned him to receive his son-in-law and his daughters peaceably, and not to venture anything rash, or in anger against them, but to make a treaty with Jacob; and he told him that if he despised their small number and attacked them as an enemy, God himself would help them. Having been warned in this way by God, Laban called Jacob to him the next day to negotiate with him, and told him what dream he had seen. Relying on that, Jacob came to him confidently, and Laban began to accuse him, saying that he had taken him in when he was poor and in want of everything, and had given him plenty of all he had. “I joined my daughters to you in marriage,” he said, “and supposed your kindness to me would be greater than before. But you have had no regard for your mother’s kinship with me, nor for the family tie just formed between us, nor for the wives you have married, nor for the children whose grandfather I am. You have treated me as an enemy, driving off my livestock, persuading my daughters to run away from their father, and carrying home those sacred images of my fathers, which my forefathers worshiped and which I myself have honored with the same worship they paid them. In short, things that not even men at war have done to their enemies, you have done, though you are my relative, my sister’s son, and the husband of my daughters; though I treated you as my guest, and you ate at my table.” When Laban had said this, Jacob made his defense. He said he was not the only person in whom God had planted love for his native country, but that God had made it natural to all people; so it was only reasonable that after so long a time he should go back to it. “But as to the plunder you accuse me of driving off, if anyone else were the judge, you would be found in the wrong. Instead of the thanks I ought to have had from you for both keeping your livestock and increasing it, how can you be unjustly angry with me because I have taken a small portion of it and have it with me? And as to your daughters, notice that it is not through any wicked scheming of mine that they follow me on my way home, but from the rightful affection wives naturally have for their husbands. So they are following not so much me as their own children.” So much of his defense he made to clear himself of having acted unjustly. To it he added his own complaint and charge against Laban, saying, “Though I was your sister’s son, and you had given me your daughters in marriage, you have worn me out with your harsh orders, and kept me under them for twenty years. What was required for my marrying your daughters, hard as it was, I admit was bearable. But what was laid on me after those marriages was worse: such things as even an enemy would have run away rather than endure.” For Laban certainly had treated Jacob very badly. When he saw that God was helping Jacob in everything he wanted, he promised him that of the young animals to be born, he should have sometimes those that were white and sometimes those that were black. But when the animals that fell to Jacob’s share proved numerous, he did not keep faith with him, but said he would give them to him the next year, because he envied him the size of his possessions. He promised him as before, because he thought such an increase was not to be expected; but when it turned out to be fact, he cheated him. [h]

As for the sacred images, Jacob told him to search for them. When Laban accepted the offer, Rachel, who had been told of it, put the images into the saddle of the camel she rode and sat on it, saying that her monthly period kept her from getting up. So Laban stopped searching any further, not supposing that his daughter in that condition would go near those images. Then he made a treaty with Jacob and bound it with oaths, that he would bear him no ill will for what had happened; and Jacob made a like treaty, and promised to love Laban’s daughters. These treaties they confirmed with oaths as well, which they swore on certain hills, where they set up a pillar in the form of an altar. That is why the hill is called Gilead, and why they call that land the land of Gilead to this day. When they had feasted after making the treaty, Laban went home. [j]