Sunday, March 13, 2011

Compassionate Brother (part 2)


After Jacob’s dream, he moves on to “the land of the eastern people” (29:1b).  There, at a well, he meets up with a woman named Rachel (his cousin), the daughter of his uncle Laban.  In this, he has come into contact with the very family to whom he had set out to join himself, according to his mother’s wishes.  The plan that Jacob’s mother had devised included Jacob living with her brother “for a little while until your brother’s rage subsides” (27:44).  According to her, he was to “Stay there until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him” (27:45a).  Rebekah concluded her plan with “I’ll send someone to bring you back from there” (27:45b).  However, the final part of the plan never came to pass.  When Jacob finally does return, it is said that he does so because “The Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives.  I will be with  you” (31:3).

When Jacob approaches Laban’s house, he is greeted enthusiastically.  We find that Laban “rushed out to meet him.  He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house,” where “Jacob told Laban how he was related to him” (29:13b).  This greeting by Laban was preceded by the fact that “When Jacob explained to Rachel that he was a relative of her father and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father” (29:12).  With this information, coupled with previous information on offer about Laban, neither the reader or the hearer are left to wonder at the welcome on offer to Jacob. 

Yes, this is not the first time that we have met Laban in the Genesis narrative.  He is there when the servant of Abraham was sent out to find a wife for Isaac, he came to the house of Bethuel, Abraham’s kin.  The first person that he met, not unlike would be the case with Jacob, was the woman (Rebekah) that would become the bride to one of the patriarch’s of God’s people.  Indeed, Abraham’s servant exclaims that “The Lord has led me to the house of my master’s relatives!” (24:27b)  When we learn that “The young woman ran and told her mother’s household all about these things” (24:28), the author also points out the fact that “Rebekah had a brother named Laban” (24:29a), and that “Laban rushed out to meet the man at the spring” (24:29b).  We find out that he was motivated to such action “When he saw the bracelets on his sister’s wrists and the nose ring” (24:30a).  It seems that Laban has a penchant for “rushing.”  Here, the rushing is obviously connected to the fact that the bracelets and the nose ring were composed of a significant amount of gold (24:22).  We cannot imagine Laban, in a time in which women were treated as little more than chattel property to be used in the pursuit of honor and wealth and children, thinking that accepting this stranger (connected to a relative) into their home could possibly be a bad thing. 

Upon settling in, Abraham’s servant, presenting the reason why he is there and building his case as to why it would be worthwhile to effectively sell him Rebekah so that she could become the wife of Abraham’s son Isaac, informs Bethuel, Laban, and the remainder of the household that he is “the servant of Abraham” (24:34).  He adds that “The Lord has richly blessed my master and he has become very wealthy.  The Lord has give him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.  My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him when she was old, and my master has given him everything he owns” (24:35-36).  Clearly, this is an impressive sales pitch.  This will provide enrichment for Bethuel and his household.  The response, which is said to be provided by both Laban and Bethuel (24:50), is “This is the Lord’s doing.  Our wishes are of no concern.  Rebekah stands here before you.  Take her and go so that she may become the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord has decided” (24:50b-51).  In what was the obviously hoped for response from Abraham’s servant, Laban and Bethuel watched as “he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.  Then he brought out gold, silver jewelry, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah.  He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and to her mother” (24:52b-53).    

We take all this into consideration when Laban rushes out to meet Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, son of his sister Rebekah, and son of the one to whom the extraordinarily wealthy Abraham has given “everything he owns.”  Presumably, with the family’s marital history (an important and weighty precedent in that day), Jacob’s arrival prompts Laban to feel as if more riches might very well be coming the way of his household, so he makes it a point to offer Jacob a grand welcome.          

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