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“But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the LORD has blessed me because of you.””Genesis 30:27 AMP
“But while Laban went to shear his flocks, Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father,” Genesis 31:19 TLV
They were kin, Laban and Rebekah; siblings to be precise. And in some ways, their characters were similar – creatively pulling off the great switcharoo in their households; in ways that disenfranchised another. We remember Rebekah helped Jacob trick his dad for a blessing, and Jacob in turn got tricked by Laban for his bride (in the Caribbean, we often say every unfair game plays twice, and it is very clear that Jacob the trickster got tricked).
Those of us who are familiar with the larger narrative may recall that Rebekah consulted a medium-seer to get spiritual wisdom during her pregnancy. What we see therefore is a pattern of spirituality in their background. The challenge, rather the unsettling bit is that their spirituality might not have been grounded in worship of YHWH.
In the first text, although Laban acknowledges the God Jacob serves, some versions noted Laban openly practiced divination. This seems to be confirmed in the second text when Rachel steals his idols.
Perhaps, like me, many of you are tempted to judge and dismiss Laban for his selfishness. And, if I were to be honest, I’d confess to still be biased against him. But generally when we meet a character in the biblical message; it is expected that we learn from them. The good and the bad. With that, we ask ourselves what idols have we stored in our lives?
They may be as easy to identify as Laban’s; or little idiosyncrasies that govern our actions. Remembering that an idol is an object of worship, it may be the perfect time to examine ourselves – have we other gods reigning that need to be removed? If yes, what are we going to do about it?
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
