31:1 And he heard the a words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob
hath taken away all that [was] our father's; and of [that]
which [was] our father's hath he gotten all this glory.
(a) The children put in words what the father disguised in
his heart for the covetous think that whatever they
cannot take, is taken from them.
31:5 And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that
it [is] not toward me as before; but the b God of my
father hath been with me.
(b) The God whom my fathers worshipped.
31:9 Thus c God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and
given [them] to me.
(c) This declares that the thing Jacob did before, was by
God's commandment, and not through deceit.
31:13d I [am] the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the
pillar, [and] where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise,
get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of
thy kindred.
(d) This angel was Christ who appeared to Jacob in Bethel:
and by this it appears that he had taught his wives
the fear of God: for he talks as though they knew this
thing.
31:15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath e sold
us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
(e) For they were given to Jacob as payment for his
service, which was a kind of sale.
31:19 And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen
the f images that [were] her father's.
(f) For so the word here signifies, because Laban calls
them gods, (Ge 31:30).
31:29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the g
God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take
thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
(g) He was an idolater and therefore would not acknowledge
the God of Jacob for his God.
31:42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the
h fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst
sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and
the labour of my hands, and rebuked [thee] yesternight.
(h) That is, the God whom Isaac feared and reverenced.
31:44 Now therefore i come thou, let us make a covenant, I and
thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.
(i) His conscience reproved him for his misbehaviour
toward Jacob, and therefore moved him to seek peace.
31:47 And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob called it
k Galeed.
(k) The one named the place in the Syrian tongue, and the
other in the Hebrew tongue.
31:49 And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD l watch between me and
thee, when we are absent one from another.
(l) To punish the trespasser.
31:50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take
[other] m wives beside my daughters, no man [is] with
us; see, God [is] witness betwixt me and thee.
(m) Nature compels him to condemn that vice, to which
through covetousness he forced Jacob.
31:53 The God of Abraham, and the God of n Nahor, the God of
their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the
o fear of his father Isaac.
(n) Behold, how the idolaters mingle the true God with
their false gods.
(o) Meaning, by the true God whom Isaac worshipped.
31:55 And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his
sons and his daughters, and p blessed them: and Laban
departed, and returned unto his place.
(p) We see that there is always some seed of the knowledge
of God in the hearts of the wicked.
