Laban the Loser

 

Say to those who have an anxious heart, Be strong, fear not! Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you (Isaiah 35: 4)

 

Common perception is that Jacob suffered and slogged under a cunning Laban, remained underpaid and finally fled from his presence penniless, after a prolonged period of betrayal spanning 14 years. This is yet another misplaced belief from Biblical history which warrants immediate correction.

Jacob vs Laban

Jacob was a covenantal man by nature. While Esau preferred a bowl of red stew to his birthright, Jacob judged its supreme significance and grabbed it. When his mother shared a devious scheme to grab the blessings of Isaac, he responded to her and took hold of it. When Isaac his father instructed him to find a wife from the plains of Aram (Paddan-aram) he travelled all the way from Canaan to meet his mother’s brother Laban only to be in the covenant. Though his impulsive conduct landed him in various trials throughout his life, yet God was with him at every stage because of his great reverence for the Abrahamic covenant. Whereas Laban was a very worldly, money minded Aramean landlord. In today’s world he could pass for a covetous stock trader or a greedy land banker. He wanted to dominate his times by amassing a great deal of livestock which was then considered a great asset. Every word he spelt out, every turn he took had a hidden motive of creating wealth for himself.

When Laban heard about Jacob’s arrival first time he ran to embrace him, kiss him and greet him flamboyantly, “Surely, you are my bone and my flesh”. After an arduous journey from Canaan to Aram, there was nothing else Jacob wanted to hear.  A month later Laban even insisted that he should not serve him for nothing. Jacob agreed to serve him seven years for Rachel his younger daughter whom he loved. Laban responded to Jacob with an affected warmth, “It is better for me to give her to you than to anyone else”.  Jacob misjudged the real man behind these courtesies. The assumed hospitality that Laban displayed early on had a bearing on Jacob’s decision to work long many years for him and Laban was too willing to take full advantage of Jacob’s love for Rachel.    

Betrayals

As the seven years wore on quickly for Jacob, he approached Laban for his wife. With an air of affirmation, Laban threw a grand feast. Jacob could not judge the intentions behind the suddenness and the grandness of the feast. The air was full of mirth and laughter. Aramean musicians played out fresh tunes from the lyer. Tambourines and drums set the crowd on dancing.  Laban carefully executed his plan now. He placed the less charming Leah the elder daughter in Jacob’s room in the cover of the darkness amid the loud drumbeats of the feast. In the morning shocked and betrayed, Jacob said to Laban, “did I not serve you for Rachel, why did you deceive me”? Laban wanted to avoid the struggle of having to find a bride for his less charming elder daughter and he knew well that Jacob would wait ages for Rachel. So Laban replied craftily, “In this country, we do not give the younger before the firstborn. Complete one more week and I would give you Rachel in return for serving me another seven years”. So Laban even traded his own daughters to avail the efficient services of Jacob.

Twenty years passed by. They were years of toil and turmoil for Jacob. He had faithfully served Laban. No ewes and goats had miscarried, he bore the loss of flock torn by the wild beasts, heat of the day had consumed him and the cold of the night made him sleepless. He gathered himself and approached Laban seeking permission to return to his homeland. Laban refused to let him go. He said, “by divination I have learnt that God blessed me because of you”. This reveals that Laban would use any mediums for his own success.

Then Laban threw a surprise by asking Jacob to confirm his wages. Jacob responded sharply here. “For you had little before I came and it has increased abundantly and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household”? Yes Jacob was penniless with nothing to claim even after two decades of hard service to Laban.  

 “What should I give you?” Laban asked him as though he was never unwilling to pay wages. Jacob made a clever suggestion here guided by the Divine Providence that the speckled and spotted cattle along with black lamb could be his wages. We would want to believe here that Jacob chose a distinguishable livestock as his wage to eliminate any disputes there on. Laban agreed to these terms and conditions. Before sundown Laban transported all the spotted and speckled cattle to a place at a distance of three days journey and put them in charge of his sons forcing Jacob to tend the rest of the flock.  Jacob was yet again betrayed. However that turned out to be Laban’s final chance to betray a child a God.

Divine Wealth Transfer

As soon as Laban fixed spotted as the wage, all the healthy flock bore spotted. When he fixed the striped as the wage all the healthy flock bore striped. Thus the feebler became Laban’s and the stronger became Jacob’s. Here the Bible says, thus Jacob increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants, male servants, camels and donkeys (Gen 30:43).

Jacob flourished instantly by this divine wealth transfer that God instituted. Jacob inherited a healthy livestock leaving a feeble flock with Laban. Soon he became the object of envy of Laban’s house hold. His sons began to abuse him for robbing the wealth. Even Laban began to disregard him due to his soaring wealth. Then the Lord reminded Jacob that the time was right for him to return to the covenantal land. Jacob instantly called for Rachel and Leah into the field. He told them about Laban’s attitude of disregard and God’s faithfulness towards him. “Your father has cheated me several times, yet God did not allow him to harm me. Thus God has taken away all the livestock of your father and given them to me (Gen 31:9)”. Jacob was faithful enough to acknowledge God’s faithfulness here. Even the daughters confirmed in the heat of the field that their father has forgotten them in his greedy pursuit for wealth.

Jacob made for the promised land with all his family and livestock at once right from the field. He crossed over Euphrates river aiming towards the hill country of Gilead. On receiving this news, Laban gathered his kinsmen and pursued them for seven days. But God in a dream warned Laban not to harm him. The pursuant Laban however overtook Jacob in the hill country of Gilead.

In the cool of the evening, when the wind blew cold air over them, they were engaged in a heated verbal battle where Jacob dominated the man who ill-treated him for two decades. Then Laban began his words, “why did you run away like this? I would have sent you back after throwing a feast for your farewell. You did not allow me to kiss my children good bye?”. Jacob could easily read through his craftiness. He berated Laban with his replies. “What is my sin that you pursue me? For twenty years I have looked after your flock. You have changed my wages ten times. If God had not been on my side, you would have sent me empty handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

Laban for once was submissive. He was left with no choice but to mellow down. An emotional politeness came into his language. “These daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks and all that you see is mine.” Laban said vaingloriously. After a seven days journey, he realized that he was losing his daughters to a foreign land. Fear began to take charge of a mighty man of Mesopotamia.

Early morning an emotional Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and daughters, the final kiss of his life and blessed them. He refrained from kissing Jacob. Then Laban departed and returned home (Gen 31:35). Tears would have rolled down his cheeks as he bade them goodbye and no length of time would have succeeded in drying those tears.

Laban’s return journey

The return journey would have been highly reflective for Laban. It would have taken him longer than seven days as sorrow would have hung dearly on his heart. He had lost everything he amassed, his entire family and the livestock. He would never see his daughters ever again. He lost Jacob the source of all his blessings forever. His methods of divination finally had failed him. Betrayals had led to a state of deprival. Changing wages of Jacob had cost him the entire healthy livestock. His sons have no experience of tending flock. He knew he was returning to a silent home where the feeble stock would bleat mildly and there would be no grandchildren around to throw a pebble at them.  

Little did Laban know that he was cheating on a person who was in the Abrahamic covenant. Little did he know that he was double-dealing with the head of the twelve tribes of Israel’s covenantal history. Little did he know that he was fighting God, when he fought with a child of God.

Laban remains one of the worst losers of all time for attempting to cheat a child of God in the human history. The feud between the crafty Laban and a covenantal Jacob serves a big lesson for generations to learn how our faithful God establishes justice for his beloved children and his recompense for the people of the kingdom in a crooked and fallen world.

Author – Prakash T John