Genesis 31:34
Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.
Rachel had taken her father's household images, hidden them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them, so that when Laban searched through the tent he could not find them. Those images were physical graven gods kept for idolatrous worship. Keeping them in Laban's house and in Jacob's household broke the commandments to have no other gods and to make no graven image, bow to it, or serve it. Because this took place long before Sinai, it shows that God's law against image-worship and stealing was already known and binding in substance in the patriarchal age. Rachel took them because she knew the true God and did not want her father to worship idols, yet the incident remains evidence that false gods and idolatrous worship lingered among Abraham's kindred and in Jacob's family.
Narrative and Setting
Rachel had taken Laban's household images that she had stolen from him and put them in the camel's furniture or saddle, and she sat upon them and hid them beneath her while Laban searched all the tent but did not find them. She concealed them in the camel's furniture where she sat as Laban searched the tent without finding them.
The images were Laban's household gods, physical graven images fashioned with a graving tool and objects of idolatrous worship.
The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's sojourn with Laban, his mother's brother, including his marriages to Leah and Rachel and his troubled experiences there, and his leaving Syria for Palestine to go homeward. It is part of the continuing story of Abraham and his family and of God's special providences over the progenitors of the promised Seed, with Jacob's checkered and unsatisfactory experiences in which his overreaching and supplanting met overreaching in return. It belongs to the account of the deceiver deceived when Jacob set his face homeward.
Idolatry and Pre-Sinai Law
Laban's gods were household idols, physical graven images fashioned with a graving tool and objects of idolatrous worship, the very kind forbidden by the second commandment not to make graven images nor bow down to them nor serve them. Rachel had taken those images and concealed them in the camel's furniture or saddle, sitting upon them while Laban searched all the tent without finding them. Their existence in Laban's house and then in Jacob's household was transgression of that commandment against images. That transgression involved the first commandment to have no other gods as well as the second commandment concerning images.
The incident is evidence of idolatry among Abraham's kindred, showing that false gods remained in Jacob's family and camp and that idolatrous worship was practiced there. Rachel took the images because she knew the true God and understood that Laban's idolatry violated the first and second commandments, not wanting her father to worship idols. This therefore shows that some people knew Jehovah's law against image worship.
Because this happened long before Sinai, it proves that God's law against images and against stealing was already given, known, and binding in substance in the patriarchal age before Moses, with the principle of the second commandment concerning the worship of images known before the law was proclaimed at Sinai. The hiding of the household images while Laban searched for them was idolatry in Jacob's household, breaking God's command against images. People thus knew about idolatry before the law was given at Sinai.
Warnings and Applications
Rachel's hiding of her father's images in the camel's furniture and sitting upon them while Laban searched the tent without finding them exposes the danger of Jacob's rash declaration that whoever had the images should die, for he had too much confidence in Rachel's goodness. The whole history is that of the deceiver deceived: as Jacob had deceived his father to obtain the blessing and had practiced overreaching and supplanting, so he was deceived in his marriage to Leah and Rachel and met overreaching in return during his sojourn with Laban his mother's brother and his leaving Syria for Palestine. God's providence, though seemingly slow, brings retribution sooner or later, so that Jacob's selfish plottings brought consequent suffering through troubled and checkered, unsatisfactory experiences.
At the same time the account shows God's care over His servant notwithstanding selfishness and unfaithfulness, in special providences over the progenitors of the promised Seed. Belonging to the account of the deceiver deceived when Jacob set his face homeward, it teaches readiness always to obey God's leading. It belongs to the continuing story of Abraham and his family showing the gradual development of faith, the defects of Isaac and his two sons, and Jacob's victory that made him Israel, prevailer with God.
As part of the account of Jacob's family it stands as an example of the unhappiness associated with polygamy. Jacob later recognized that he had failed to destroy these stolen and concealed objects that could lead his household into idolatry, while false gods remained in Israel's camp and idolatrous worship was practiced in his family.