Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.
Comment: What we read leaves areas that we have to fill in from our experiences of life. Laban saw what Jacob was achieving with his trimmed poles and thought that he could get the upper hand by changing what each of them should get. But still Jacob was the winner. Laban’s sons were very much a part of all this for when eventually Jacob left he would take his flocks with him. They thought that their grumbling was behind Jacob’s back but he got to know what was being said and being planned. His wives were Laban’s daughters. He had to known would they side with him and escape the long and dangerous trek back to what was now ‘his’ area, or flee back to their powerful daddy?
Prayer: We cannot escape choices, Father. Help me to choose aright.
As I read it! 