Genesis 31: 38-42: “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. 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. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. 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. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.”
Jacob was, understandably, angry with Laban because he thought that Laban was trying to make a fight when he had no reason to fight. He still didn’t know about the household gods that Rachel had stolen so he was angry with Laban and gave him a piece of his mind. He told Laban about all the hard work that he had done to enrich Laban and how he had borne all the losses that Laban suffered during that entire period. He worked for Laban for twenty years even though he had only agreed to work for fourteen years for his two daughters. This meant that Laban owed Jacob for six years of hard work. Laban was a cheat and had tricked Jacob ten times by changing the wages that they had agreed about. However, God was watching over Jacob and Laban wasn’t able to defraud him entirely. At the same time God was working in Jacob’s life to bring him to his knees so that he would be willing to trust God and not his own ability to trick and deceive. God allowed Jacob to experience the fruit of his own weaknesses so that Jacob would finally come to place where he trusted God and not in his own ability to trick. He still had some lessons to learn but, at least, he realised that God was on his side and working for his good.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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