Jacob and Laban, son-in-law and father-in-law, were pretty well matched: each of them a schemer, neither trusting the other. Laban had tricked Jacob out of 14 years of labor as the bride-price when Jacob wanted to marry Rachel (29:18-30). There was ongoing maneuvering between the two, as each man tried to keep the best lambs from the flock for himself (30:25-43).

When Jacob decided to leave and return to his father’s house, he timed it so that he got a head start of a couple of days (31:17-22); but Laban and his sons, traveling light, were able to catch up. Laban was quite angry, but God had spoken to him in a dream, warning him not to take any action against Jacob (31:23-24).

<A brief note about chronology>

After the two men got through yelling at each other, they made a covenant. The words they used are sometimes known as the Mizpah Blessing: in the words of the King James Version, they say, “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from the other” (Genesis 31:49).

That might sound like a pretty encouraging word to share with one another; but it is actually an indication of the profound distrust between the two of them. It means, “I can’t be sure that you will do what’s right, unless I am watching you at every moment: and when we’re not with each other, I can’t watch you. But God is watching you, so you’d better behave.”

* * * * *

We frequently think others need you watching them, O Lord, and yet act as though we don’t ourselves need any watching. Yet we are all sly, in our own ways: cutting ourselves slack that we would not want others to have. Teach us again, Lord, that we all need your grace.

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