GENESIS 31: Separation Covenant

After being in Haran for twenty years Jacob decided to go back to the Promised Land. Due to the difficult relationship he had with Laban, his father-in-law, he decided to leave without telling anyone.  However, as soon as his father-in-law found out he went after them. When he reached them Laban strongly rebuked and falsely accused him. Jacob stood up for himself.

Jacob had conducted himself as an honest hard worker during all the time he worked for Laban.

(Genesis 31:36-42)  Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, "What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?  (37)  For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.  (38)  These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.  (39)  What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.  (40)  There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.  (41)  These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.  (42)  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night."  

Even though he sneaked out, Jacob did not take anything that did not belong to him. Even then, Laban was not willing to recognize that everything Jacob had was his own. He had the notion that because he was the patriarch, everything belonged to him.

(Genesis 31:43)  Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? 

Laban suggested a covenant with Jacob. He begins by reminding Jacob that his wives are Laban’s daughters, and therefore so are their children, and that all the wealth he has accumulated comes from Laban’s flocks. With this, Laban was saying that Jacob was a part of “his clan”.  Laban therefore offered to make a covenant, not an agreement among equals, but a covenant between a lord and his subject. We must understand that in Canaan’s tribal setting, anyone who was not part of a tribe was left vulnerable to any attack or raid. In other words, Laban was offering Jacob his protection if he was willing to submit to his clan.

SEPARATION COVENANT

Jacob agreed to make a covenant, but not the one his father-in-law was offering. Jacob wanted a “separation covenant”.

Jacob erected two signs: a stone (as a monument) and a heap.

1.   A MONUMENT (Hebrew matstsêbâh) is a sign of a covenant.

2.   A HEAP (Hebrew Gal avanim) is a pile of stones, which is a symbol of destruction. It is what is left when a building is destroyed. It also represents the limits of a property, that is, the border line between one territory and the next.

(Genesis 31:44-50)  Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me."  (45)  So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.  (46)  And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.  (47)  Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.  (48)  Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." Therefore he named it Galeed,  (49)  and Mizpah, for he said, "The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight.  (50)  If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me." 

The peace covenant Laban and Jacob made was not an alliance, to live together in harmony, but an agreement to respect each other while living apart.

(Genesis 31:51-54)  Then Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me.  (52)  This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.  (53)  The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,  (54)  and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. 

With this agreement, Jacob did not form a tie with Laban, but quite the opposite… he dissolved the union they had in the past. In other words, Jacob “divorced” from Laban’s clan.

HEAP OF WITNESS

The heap of stones was to be a sign of the border line that was not to be passed over. This border line represents the separation of the House of Jacob from the family of Nahor, Bethuel and Laban.

Each of them called the place of the covenant with a different name.

(Genesis 31:47-48)  Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.  (48)  Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." Therefore he named it Galeed, 

Jegar Sahaduta        =    Aramaic, heap of witness

Galeed                       =    Hebrew, heap of witness

Both words have the same meaning, but are from two different laguages: Aramaic, from Haran and Hebrew, from Israel.

The pile of stones therefore marks a FRONTIER, and it is to have a different meaning depending on which side you are. Even though both names have the same meaning, they are seen from a different perspective. On one side is Laban’s clan and Haran, on the other is Jacob and the House of Israel.

A COMMANDMENT IS OBEYED

This is a very important stage in the history of Israel. This is when Abraham’s family finally obeys an original command:

(Genesis 12:1)  Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

We must remember that the Patriarchs had considered their kindred living in Haran as their “family”. They considered Haran as a place of refuge when they were in trouble and also as a source of wives for their children.

Both Abraham and Isaac kept ties that bound them to their kindred. However, a final separation resulted from Jacob’s decision. After spending twenty years with them, the separation is sealed with the covenant between Jacob and Laban. From that moment on any link between them is cut off. The heap of stones (Gal) serves as a witness of this “divorce”, and marks a physical frontier between the families.

Here is the last time the family of Nahor and Laban is mentioned in the Bible. After cutting off their family roots, the House of Jacob is born, which would later be called the House of Israel.

EACH WENT HIS OWN WAY

The last verse in this chapter and the first verse in the following, emphasize the separation between both family lines.

* LABAN

(Genesis 31:55)   Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

* JACOB

(Genesis 32:1-2)  Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.  (2)  And when Jacob saw them he said, "This is GOD'S CAMP!" So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Both men were standing on the same mount, but each descended from it in an opposite direction. After the separation covenant, each went to his own place. They never saw each other again.