Has your life ever taken an unexpec- ted turn? Have you ever made plans only to have them dramatically rearranged? When Jacob fled from his childhood home to Laban’s to escape Esau’s anger, he was only planning to be gone for “a few days” (Gen. 27:44 NASB). Those “few” days had turned into 20 years!

Genesis 31 tells how and why Jacob finally left to return home. The members of Jacob’s extended family did not trust each other. Laban’s sons accused Jacob of stealing from their father (v. 1). Laban cheated Jacob by changing his wages (v. 7). Jacob deceived Laban by not telling him he was running away (v. 20). And Rachel stole the household gods from her father (vv. 19, 32). She clearly did not fully understand what it meant to worship the Lord alone. It would be hard to miss the ineffectiveness of these so-called gods. They are only saved by Rachel hiding them under her saddle, thus rendering them unclean (vv. 34–35).

Meanwhile, Jacob was growing in his reliance upon the Lord. He gave God credit for his increased wealth (vv. 5, 9). He obeyed God’s command to return to his homeland (v. 13). More importantly, God was faithful to Jacob. God did not allow Laban’s attempt to cheat him succeed (vv. 5, 42). When Laban chased after Jacob to catch him, God warned him not to harm Jacob (v. 24). Finally, He allowed Laban and Jacob to come to terms with one another. All along, Laban had been treating Jacob as a slave. We end with Laban making a covenant with Jacob as an equal (vv. 44–54).

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