Gen 31:54 | KingComments | STEP | Laban points at his daughters and their children and the flocks and calls them all his own. As if he has some love or affection for them. People who are without natural love will emphatically express their love when it serves their interests. It is also completely unjustified, because Jacob worked hard for them and received them as a salary. But a worldly man does not easily renounce his possessions, even if they have been transferred to another. The heart remains attached to it. Laban proposes to make a covenant and Jacob indicates the sign for it. Laban benefits from this covenant, for Jacob it is not necessary. Through this covenant Laban wants to obtain the certainty that Jacob will not return to him. He wants to be redeemed from him forever. He also commits himself never to pass this sign to go to Jacob. The many words Laban uses are a camouflage of his own unreliability. He asks Jacob for things he himself has not lived up to. Laban gives the erected sign – which is a boundary post – a name, and Jacob also gives it a name, each in his own language. Laban gives it the name “Jegar-sahadutha” in Aramaic. Jacob gives it the name “Galeed” in Hebrew. The meaning is the same, ‘heap of the testimony’. Both speak their own language, which is different from each other. The language of the man of the world is different from that of the believer. And Jacob is a believer. Laban gives the heap an extra name. He does this in Hebrew, “Mizpah”, which means ’watchtower’. Here is the boundary drawn, which they will not cross. In yet another way the difference between the man of the world, Laban, and the believer Jacob appears. They both speak of God in their own way ( ). Laban speaks of God as a god who answers his taste and Jacob confesses the true God, Who wants him to answer His taste. We also see that he confesses the true God in the sacrifice he offers ( ). He involves God in this agreement, while he is aware that this agreement can only be made on the basis of the sacrifice. Once again he speaks of God as “the fear of his father Isaac”, that is the God Whom his father Isaac fears, who has never served other gods. It is important to remember that there is only one true God: that is the God Who revealed Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. This is important, among other things, when we come into contact with islam, which also relies on the God of Abraham, but rejects the Son of God.

‏ Genesis 31:54

Covenant Between Jacob and Laban

Laban points at his daughters and their children and the flocks and calls them all his own. As if he has some love or affection for them. People who are without natural love will emphatically express their love when it serves their interests. It is also completely unjustified, because Jacob worked hard for them and received them as a salary. But a worldly man does not easily renounce his possessions, even if they have been transferred to another. The heart remains attached to it.

Laban proposes to make a covenant and Jacob indicates the sign for it. Laban benefits from this covenant, for Jacob it is not necessary. Through this covenant Laban wants to obtain the certainty that Jacob will not return to him. He wants to be redeemed from him forever. He also commits himself never to pass this sign to go to Jacob. The many words Laban uses are a camouflage of his own unreliability. He asks Jacob for things he himself has not lived up to.

Laban gives the erected sign – which is a boundary post – a name, and Jacob also gives it a name, each in his own language. Laban gives it the name “Jegar-sahadutha” in Aramaic. Jacob gives it the name “Galeed” in Hebrew. The meaning is the same, ‘heap of the testimony’. Both speak their own language, which is different from each other. The language of the man of the world is different from that of the believer. And Jacob is a believer. Laban gives the heap an extra name. He does this in Hebrew, “Mizpah”, which means ’watchtower’. Here is the boundary drawn, which they will not cross.

In yet another way the difference between the man of the world, Laban, and the believer Jacob appears. They both speak of God in their own way (Gen 31:53). Laban speaks of God as a god who answers his taste and Jacob confesses the true God, Who wants him to answer His taste. We also see that he confesses the true God in the sacrifice he offers (Gen 31:54). He involves God in this agreement, while he is aware that this agreement can only be made on the basis of the sacrifice.

Once again he speaks of God as “the fear of his father Isaac”, that is the God Whom his father Isaac fears, who has never served other gods. It is important to remember that there is only one true God: that is the God Who revealed Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. This is important, among other things, when we come into contact with islam, which also relies on the God of Abraham, but rejects the Son of God.