Genesis 31:32, commentary and pictures

Jacob answered Laban's charge of stealing his household gods by denying the theft, inviting him to search before their kinsmen and take back anything of his, and declaring that whoever was found with the gods should not live, without knowing that Rachel had taken them. Rachel had stolen her father's images because she knew something of the true God and knew his idolatry broke the commands against other gods and image worship, and she wanted to take his idols away from him. Laban kept and worshiped other gods in transgression of the first commandment, even though he had acknowledged the true God, recognized that God's blessing had come to him through Jacob, and had just been warned by God not to harm Jacob. His having other gods, and Jacob's declaring the thief worthy of death, prove that the first commandment against other gods, the second against making and worshiping images, and the eighth, Thou shalt not steal, were known and binding long before Sinai. Jacob spoke rashly from overconfidence that Rachel was innocent, and his severe judgment put her in danger, teaching not to speak hastily or pronounce severe judgments without knowing the facts.

Narrative Context and Sense

Jacob answered Laban's accusation of stealing his household gods by denying the theft, by calling for a search before their brethren so that anything belonging to Laban could be discerned and taken back, and by declaring that the one with whom the gods were found should not live, not knowing that Rachel herself had taken them. He spoke in confident assurance of the innocence of his company, unaware that the stolen images were hidden among his own household.

Rachel had taken her father's images because she knew something of the true God and understood that his idolatry violated the commands against having other gods and against making and worshiping images, and she therefore wanted to take his idols away from him. Her act showed definite knowledge that such worship was sin against the first and second commandments.

Laban possessed and worshiped other gods in transgression of the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. He did so even though he had acknowledged the true God, had recognized that God's blessing had come to him through Jacob, and had just been warned by God in person not to harm or touch Jacob. His holding of strange gods while confessing the true God as the source of blessing exposed the breach of the command in the patriarchal age.

The incident belongs to Jacob's visit to Laban his mother's brother, his marriages to Leah and Rachel in which he who had deceived his father was himself deceived, his sojourn in Syria, and his departure for Palestine. It stands within the family line through which the promised Seed was to come from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob, and it shows that Abraham's kindred worshiped false gods. The account displays God's care and special providence over Jacob notwithstanding his selfishness and unfaithfulness, sets the deceiver now being deceived and setting his face homeward, and teaches readiness to obey God's leading.

Commandments Known Before Sinai

Genesis 31:30-32 stands as a witness to the moral law, the Ten Commandments, in Genesis, proving that the principles of the commandments were understood among the early patriarchs long before Sinai. Jacob treated stealing as a known moral wrong when, not knowing Rachel had stolen Laban's gods, he condemned the theft and declared the thief should not live. His declaration proves that taking another's property was recognized as a serious wrong and that the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, was known and binding in the patriarchal age. Unaware Rachel had taken the household gods, he regarded stealing as so sinful that the thief should not live, called for Laban to search before their brethren and take back anything found, and thereby showed he and Laban understood the prohibition against theft. The same sentence proves the law against stealing was given and well known before it was spoken on Sinai.

Theft was understood as sin worthy of death, a capital offense. That standard was later repeated by Jacob's sons when accused of stealing Joseph's silver cup. Because breaking the tenth commandment by coveting comes before breaking the eighth by stealing, the knowledge that theft deserved death also proves the principle of the tenth commandment against coveting was known before Sinai.

Laban's having other gods proves the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, was in force, known, and broken before Sinai. He possessed and worshiped other gods in transgression of that commandment even though he had acknowledged the true God, recognized that God's blessing had come to him through Jacob, and had just been warned by God not to harm Jacob. Rachel's theft and the household's awareness show the second commandment against making and worshiping images was also known, for Rachel definitely knew her father's idolatry was sin against the first and second commandments and took the images because she knew something of the true God and did not want her father to worship idols. Jacob and his household afterward knew those commands had been broken and knew they were unclean in the sight of God and unfit to come to God's altar in true worship while the strange gods remained among them, until the gods were put away. This proves men in those early days were carefully instructed in moral law, commanded to worship God alone, and forbidden to have other gods or to make and worship images.

Warnings and Applications

Jacob pronounced a death sentence upon whoever had taken the images because he was too confident that Rachel was innocent, speaking hastily and severely without knowing the facts. He did not know that Rachel herself had taken them, and his rash declaration therefore brought danger upon her. The lesson is not to speak hastily or to make severe judgments without knowing the facts.

The sentence belongs to the reckoning in which Jacob suffered the consequences of his own deceitful ways, the overreacher and supplanter being himself overreached and deceived as he set his face homeward. It stands in the account of his visit to his mother's brother, his being deceived as he had deceived his father, his sojourn in Syria and his leaving for Palestine, which shows God's care over him notwithstanding his selfishness and unfaithfulness. That care was special providence over the progenitors of the promised Seed, and it teaches readiness to obey God's leading.

His experience in this period was unsatisfactory, of the kind where better earlier experience would have spared him much of his later trouble within the family line through which the Seed was to come from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. He later recognized that he had allowed Rachel to keep the stolen idols instead of promptly destroying them, so that false gods remained in his camp and idolatry was permitted in his household.