Genesis 31:35
And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.
She excused herself from rising before her father by saying the monthly custom was upon her, while she sat upon the household idols she had stolen, and though he searched eagerly he did not find them. The objects she took were gods made for worship, graven images of the kind forbidden by the second commandment against making and worshiping images. Her stealing of them shows the principle of the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, was known before the law was given at Sinai. Laban, Jacob and Rachel already knew that law long before Sinai, for Jacob counted stealing so sinful that the thief should not live, and Rachel took the idols because she knew her father's idolatry violated the first and second commandments. Jacob and his household knew this theft and idolatry made them unclean in God's sight and unfit to come to His altar in true worship while strange gods were among them, which Jacob later confronted by commanding them to put away the strange gods in their hands.
Narrative Context and Meaning
The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's sojourn with Laban in Syria and his departure from Syria for Palestine. It belongs with his marriages to Leah and Rachel and his leaving Syria for Palestine. It stands where the deceiver is deceived and Jacob sets his face homeward.
The verse stands in the record of Jacob through whom the promise given to Abraham and passed to Isaac comes down through the family line of the promised Seed. It stands in Jacob's unsatisfactory experience, rooted in earlier failure, in family division caused by aged Isaac's overfond affection for Esau and Rebekah's stronger sympathy for her neglected child Jacob, in her keeping the material importance of the Seed before Jacob without the fullest appreciation of the spiritual blessing, and in Jacob's material overreaching that fits his name supplanter, an experience God in mercy will change. Jacob's case, with Genesis 31 as part of it, shows that polygamy brought great unhappiness into the families where it was practiced.
The custom of women upon her means she was menstruating, given as her excuse for not rising up before her father to greet him and for remaining seated while he searched. She had hidden the household images she had taken, and he searched but did not find them. His searching shows how strongly he wanted them.
The verse falls within Jacob's troubled experiences in which his selfish plotting brings suffering and his own overreaching is met with overreaching.
Commandments Known Before Sinai
Laban's stolen gods were images taken by Rachel and hidden from him while he searched, and the search that found nothing showed how strongly he wanted them. They were gods made for worship, idols possessed even among the patriarchs, examples of graven images worshipped in violation of the second commandment against making and worshiping images. They were graven images of the kind forbidden by the words, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, and their presence proves that idolatry by graven images existed before Sinai as transgression of God's law.
Rachel had stolen the household images, and Laban searched for them but did not find them, showing that the principle of the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, was known before the law was given at Sinai. Laban, Jacob and Rachel already knew that commandment long before Sinai, for Jacob regarded stealing as so sinful that the thief should not live. He invited Laban to search and to take what was his, because he did not know that Rachel had stolen the images. Rachel stole away Laban's idols because she definitely knew his idolatry violated the first and second commandments against having other gods and making and worshiping images, and alongside other early Genesis examples her concealment of the household gods by giving her father an excuse to remain seated while he searched is evidence that knowledge of the principles of the Ten Commandments existed before the law was proclaimed at Sinai.
Jacob and his household knew this theft and idolatry violated God's commands and made them unclean in the sight of God and unfit to come to the altar of God in true worship while the strange gods were among them. It was the same idolatry Jacob later confronted when he commanded his household to put away the strange gods that were among them and in their hands. Jacob later recognized that he should have promptly destroyed the idols she concealed, whose presence in his household allowed idolatrous worship and threatened his family's faithfulness to God.
Warnings and Spiritual Lessons
The episode belongs to Jacob's long stay with Laban in Syria, his marriages to Leah and Rachel, and his departure from Syria toward Palestine, and it displays divine care for Jacob even amid his selfishness and unfaithfulness. It is the story in which the deceiver is himself deceived and then turns his face homeward, and it teaches prompt readiness to follow divine leading. It stands among Jacob's troubled experiences where selfish scheming yields suffering and where his own overreaching is answered by overreaching from others, showing that providence may appear slow yet retribution arrives sooner or later.
Rachel remained seated before her father on the plea that the customary condition of women was upon her, so that Laban searched and failed to find the household images she had concealed. Jacob's vow that whoever held the images should die sprang from overconfident trust in Rachel's goodness, and the outcome warns against rash speech. Rachel took the images because she knew the true God and desired that her father no longer worship idols, while Laban's eager search revealed how strongly he clung to them.