B. Jacob versus Laban: Building a Family (29-31)Jacob arrived in Haran and soon met Rachel at the local watering hole. He was warmly welcomed by Rachel and Laban after he revealed he was Rebekah's son. Jacob stayed with Laban and agreed to work seven years for the right to marry Rachel. On the wedding night he slept with his bride, only to wake up in the morning to find he had consummated the marriage with Leah, Rachel's older sister!Indignant, Jacob confronted his uncle with the deception. Filled with irony Laban replied, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn" (29:26). The motif of birthrights returns. Laban also agreed to allow Jacob to marry Rachel, in return for another seven years of labor. It appears that Jacob, the consummate trickster, had himself been tricked. Though in exile, Jacob prospered. He sired a large family by his two wives and their handmaids, Zilpah and Bilhah. Leah bore him six sons, and when she was past childbearing her maid, Zilpah, served as surrogate mother (remember the surrogacy of Hagar in the Abraham cycle) bearing another two. Rachel was at first barren (remember the barrenness motif of the Abraham cycle), so Bilhah became a surrogate bearing another two sons. Finally, Rachel became pregnant and bore Joseph. Later she had another son, Benjamin, and died in childbirth. Jacob wished to return to Canaan with his family. But Laban sought to retain him because he realized he was being blessed through Jacob (remember the ancestral blessing: "through you all the families of the earth will be blessed"). Jacob bargained with Laban to acquire his own holdings of sheep and goats. By a devious breeding method Jacob increased his flocks to the detriment of Laban's. Tensions mounted until Jacob thought it prudent to leave. Jacob took his family and flocks--and Rachel plundered Laban's household gods.
They departed in the middle of the night. When Laban found out his daughters had left with Jacob he pursued and confronted this Jacob who had "deceived" him (31:20, 26). Jacob and Laban parted ways after making a covenant and setting up a pillar (see kudurru below). The covenant included a pledge that Laban would stop pursuing Jacob and Jacob would not return to Mesopotamia.
Jacob now found himself between a rock and an angry brother. However, he had no choice but to continue on toward Canaan, where he knew Esau would be waiting to greet him.
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