An enlightening insight into both Laban and his daughter Rachel pops out in Genesis 31:19, because “When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.”
When Laban found out he was furious. On catching up with the fleeing Jacob, he demanded to know “why did you steal my gods?” (30). And Jacob respected how important that was to Laban, because in reply he said, “if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live” (32).
So these little carved figurines (of gods or ancestors) were like a lifeline to those who had them. And for several reasons too – the first of which is mentioned in Genesis 30:27, when Laban said he “learned by divination.” So these little household gods were looked to for guidance and insight, like an oracle they could consult. They could ask and get an answer. How they got an answer isn’t mentioned, but to Laban what he understood his little god to be telling him was the absolute truth.
But maybe it’s Rachel who gives the game away as to why these household gods were so important, when she asks in Genesis 31:14, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate?” And her answer to that was stealing her father’s household gods, which suggests that possession of these gods also gave her legal title to Laban’s estate. Those who had the gods got the family property, which Rachel also felt she rightfully deserved (16) – and as a way getting back at her father for treating them all so badly (15).
That being the case, it’s no wonder Laban desperately wanted his household gods back. And especially, as was done back then, these figurines were made out of valuable metals. With all these reasons for having these gods, then, it’s not surprising that people felt a person was worthy of death for stealing them.
In his own household, though, Jacob told everyone to “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you” by turning them in to him, and he then “buried them under the oak at Shechem” (35:2-4). To Jacob there were no other gods – and wisely so, because Zechariah 10:2 states: “Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort.”
Jacob’s experience, however, was with a real God, “who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I’ve gone since” (35:3), which would now become “The definition of a true Israelite”….(next blog)
