(Deuteronomy 2:26 - 3:11)
Moses continued, "Then Jehovah urged us, 'Resume your journey and cross the Arnon Gorge. I am delivering to you the Amorite, King Sihon of Heshbon, and his country. Commence your invasion and engage his forces in battle. From this day I will put the fear of you into the hearts of all the nations under the sun. They will hear reports of you that will make them tremble with dread terror.'
"From the desert of Kedemoth I dispatched ambassadors to present King Sihon with a message of peace. It said, 'Grant us passage through your country. We will stay on the main route, wandering off neither to the right nor to the left. You may sell us food to eat and water to drink, and we will pay for it. All we ask is safe passage through your land, as was granted to us by the descendants of Esau of Seir and the Moabites of Ar. We wish passage through your land only until we can cross the River Jordan to the land that Jehovah our god is giving to us.'
"But King Sihon of Heshbon would not grant us passage, for your god Jehovah made his spirit stubborn and his heart defiant so that he would fall into your hands, as he has now done. Jehovah told me, 'See, I have already begun to deliver King Sihon and his country into your hands! Now invade and start occupying his land!'
"King Sihon and his entire army came out to do battle with us at Jahaz. But our god Jehovah delivered him into our hands and we defeated him, his sons, and his army. At that time we also captured all his cities and, as a divine offering, consigned to destruction every city, as well as every man, woman, and child. No survivors were spared. But we took for ourselves as spoils of war their livestock and anything of value that we could plunder from their towns. From Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, from the city within the gorge all the way to Gilead, not one town could prevail against us. Our god Jehovah delivered them all into our hands. But you did not invade any of the lands belonging to the Ammonites, neither the territory along the Jabbok River nor the towns of the hill country, that which was forbidden to us by Jehovah our god.
"Next we changed direction and marched up to Bashan. King Og and his entire army came out against us and engaged us in battle at Edrei. But Jehovah said to me, 'Don't be afraid of him, for I am delivering him, his people, and his country into your hands. And will do to him what you did to the Amorite King Sihon who ruled from Heshbon.’
"And Jehovah our god delivered into our hands Og, the King of Bashan, and his people. We killed them all, leaving not a man left alive. At the same time we captured all his cities. Not one of the 60 cities in the region of Argob (part of the kingdom of Og of Bashan) did we fail to take from them. All of these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, and there were a great many unwalled villages as well. We consigned them to complete destruction as a divine offering, as we did with those of King Sihon of Heshbon, every city -- and every man, woman, and child. But all their livestock and the loot plundered from their cities we kept for ourselves. At that time we acquired from these two kings all the Amorite territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon gorges to Mount Hermon." (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians and Senir by the Amorites.)
"We had now conquered all the cities of the plain, the entirety of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities that were part of the kingdom ruled by Og of Bashan." (Og, the king of Bashan, was the last surviving member of the Rephaim. His bed, the frame of which was decorated with iron, was 9 cubits long by 4 cubits wide, according to the generally accepted value of the cubit. It still can be viewed in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)
Notes
1. Moses, in recounting the Israelite victories over the kings Sihon and Og, is revisiting recent history well known to his audience. He is not above bragging quite a bit and takes delight in extolling what we would regard as genocidal atrocities. I should again be mentioned that the rapid conquest of Transjordan by a tribe of nomads who have been wandering about the Sinai for 40 years is spectacular, but not supported at all by history.
2. Moses' promise to King Sihon that his people want only to peaceably pass through the country is nothing if not false and dishonest. He has already been ordered by his god to make war upon Sihon and wrest his country from him, so Moses has no intention of honoring any promise he might make to Sihon. Jehovah incites war between the Israelites and Sihon's kingdom by inducing Sihon to turn down the Israelite request. (Does Jehovah get into people's minds and compel them to make decisions against their best interests?) Then he helps the Israelites win on the battlefield against Sihon and, later, against Og. What he actually does is not described. Is his help on the battlefield merely psychological? Does he put courage into the hearts of one side and cowardly thoughts into the minds of the other? Or does he personally kill members of the opposing army and intervene in personal combats? The Israelites must be indifferent and ineffectual warriors since they can't ever win a battle without Jehovah's aid. In a fair fight, exempt from "divine" intervention, the Israelites are never anything but losers.
3. Og, always portrayed as a giant, was a mythic figure who had a colorful life outside the Bible. Here the author claims that Og is the last surviving member of the Rephaim, a race of giants. This is contradicted by other books of the Bible where giants such as Goliath appear hundreds of years later. A bed used by Og apparently existed and was on display at Rabbah at the time Deuteronomy was written. (One would think this would be any time during the 8th to 6th Centuries BC.) This sounds like one of those dubious tourist attractions like Merlin's Cave or the Spear of Longinus. It should be kept in mind that the reference to Og's stature does not appear in Moses' speech, but in the author's commentary upon it.
4. Some have translated the "bed of Og" as a sarcophagus. That few sarcophagi are decorated with iron militates against this interpretation. The only reason for mentioning the bed is to illustrate the giant stature of Og. The size of a sarcophagus would not necessarily indicate the size of its occupant. One would conclude that only a bed of iron could support him. While bedsteads, even ones of bronze, were not unknown at that time, one could not have been made of iron, for it was impossible in ancient times to cast such a large object in that metal. Besides, the Iron Age had not yet begun, and the forging and casting of iron was unknown before 1200 BC. (Iron bedsteads weren't made until the 18th Century, and by the 1840's had become quite popular.) Accepting that the bed existed and constructed centuries after Og, small decorations in worked iron might have been appliqued to a bed frame of wood. This, as well as its size, would have made it worthy of note. Otherwise, the account is merely fanciful.
5. The bed of Og at 9 by 4 cubits would be 13 1/2 by 6 feet, a cubit being a foot and a half. This would furnish quite a lot of leg room even for the tallest man who ever lived, Robert Wadlow, the Alton Giant, who was just under 9 feet tall. Giants rarely live a normal life span -- and the Israelites made sure that Og didn't either, if he indeed was a giant. (Unless you accept the myth that Og was a survivor of the Flood.) But the Bible asserts that Og was from a race of giants and that, therefore, his great stature was, for him and his race, normal. The Watusi of central Africa might be considered a race of giants, but the average height of adult males is only 6 feet, 6 inches. There is no anthropological evidence that any race of humans achieved the stature attributed to Og and the Rephaim. The largest species of Gigantopithicus may have stood 10 feet tall, but it was an ape and not a man, and it went extinct 100,000 years ago. --- Of course maybe Og was only 7 feet or so, but made a gigantic bed to delude people into believing he was even taller. Self-aggrandizement was certainly not uncommon among the ancients, for we have seen a great deal of it in the biblical accounts of the Israelites.
6. The Arnon River, now known as Wadi Mujib, flows from the east into the Dead Sea at about its mid point north and south. Its banks form spectacular gorges. Also east of the middle of the Dead Sea was Kedemoth, which would become the easternmost city of Reubenite territory. It was just east of Sihon’s kingdom and Heshbon and just north of the Arnon. Jahaz is south of Heshbon. Aroer, a Moabite city, was on the north bank of the Arnon River, 10 miles from its mouth. The Jabbok River, now called the Zarqua, flows southwest into the River Jordan 20 miles north of the Dead Sea. It forms a significant watershed with a wide river valley. (Sadly it is now horribly polluted.) Gilead is the northern region east of the Jordan, south of Bashan, the Golan Heights. Edrei is in the eastern part of Bashan. Argob, also called Lajat and Trachonitis, is an area of raised, craggy rock 20 by 30 miles in eastern Bashan. It is noted for its 60 walled cities. The massive construction of the architecture gave raise to the belief that it was built by giants. Mount Hermon, actually consisting of three peaks and rising as high as 9000 feet, is situated in the northernmost part of the Golan Heights in territory still occupied by modern Syria, but on the Lebanese border. Rabbah, the Ammonite capital, was located well to the east, near the border of the Arabian desert but also near the Jabbok River. It was destroyed in the 6th Century BC, but was later rebuilt in Hellenistic times and renamed Philadelphia.
Showing posts with label Gilead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gilead. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Inheritance of Land by Women
(Book of Numbers: 36:1 - 36:13)
The clan chiefs of Gilead, descendants of Makir son of Mannasseh, the son of Joseph, presented Moses and the clan chiefs of Israel with a petition. In it, they said, "When Jehovah ordered our leader to divide the inherited land by lot, he specified that the inheritance our late brother Zelophedad be willed to his daughters. However, if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they are marrying. The total area of land granted to our tribe will thus be decreased. When the Year of Jubilee comes, their land will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they now belong and will be subjected from the inheritance belonging to our ancestral tribe."
In accordance with Jehovah's commands, Moses gave this judgment to the Israelites, "The point made by these descendants from the tribe of Joseph is quite correct. This is what Jehovah has to say about the daughters of Zelophedad, 'Let them marry whomever they think best, but let them be members of their father's clan and tribe, so that no inheritance of land may be transferred from one tribe to another. All Israelites must preserve the inheritances they have received from their ancestral tribes. A daughter from any tribe of Israel who receives an inheritance must marry within her father's clan and tribe, so that all Israelites will continue to possess in entirety the land that is their ancestral inheritance. No inheritance may be transferred from one tribe to another; each tribe must retain the land it has inherited.'"
The daughters of Zelophedad complied with the command Jehovah gave Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophedad, all married first cousins, sons of their father's brothers. They thus married into the clans of the tribe of Manasseh, Joseph's son, so that their inheritance of land remained in their father's clan and tribe.
These are the commands and regulations given to the Israelites through Moses when they were encamped on the plains of Moab by the River Jordan across from Jericho.
Notes
1. In the possession and inheritance of property, it is obvious that personal rights are trumped by tribal rights. Land, given to the tribes by Jehovah, must, under no conditions, leave the tribe; the integrity of Jehovah's division of land scheme must be preserved. The scheme, under the aegis of divine ordination, allows for stable tribal borders and, in theory, at least, prevents any squabbling over land among individual Israelite tribes.
2. That Zelophedad's daughters would have chosen to marry outside their clan, let alone their tribe, seems unlikely. It was expected at this time that mates would be chosen from within the clan or extended family. The Israelites were nothing if not inbred. Moses married a Midianite, technically a Hebrew, but not an Israelite and certainly not a Levite, and even he was subjected to considerable censure for doing so.
3. In most societies the daughter joins the family of her husband and adopts his tribal identity or nationality. Her property becomes his. Only in modern times has a married woman been allowed to own property independent of her husband. Land inherited by a woman would naturally be thought of as going out of the family. Even today, it is the same. For instance, if the Jones Ranch is inherited by daughter who marries a man named Smith, the property is no longer in the hands of a Jones. Even if it is still called the Jones Ranch, it is now owned by Smiths. It’s not the same. There is not, nor perhaps ever can be, complete gender equality in regard to inheritance.
4. Interesting that Jehovah did not foresee this contingency when he first pontificated about female inheritance. The Omniscient One must write law based upon complaints, as would a common law judge.
The clan chiefs of Gilead, descendants of Makir son of Mannasseh, the son of Joseph, presented Moses and the clan chiefs of Israel with a petition. In it, they said, "When Jehovah ordered our leader to divide the inherited land by lot, he specified that the inheritance our late brother Zelophedad be willed to his daughters. However, if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they are marrying. The total area of land granted to our tribe will thus be decreased. When the Year of Jubilee comes, their land will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they now belong and will be subjected from the inheritance belonging to our ancestral tribe."
In accordance with Jehovah's commands, Moses gave this judgment to the Israelites, "The point made by these descendants from the tribe of Joseph is quite correct. This is what Jehovah has to say about the daughters of Zelophedad, 'Let them marry whomever they think best, but let them be members of their father's clan and tribe, so that no inheritance of land may be transferred from one tribe to another. All Israelites must preserve the inheritances they have received from their ancestral tribes. A daughter from any tribe of Israel who receives an inheritance must marry within her father's clan and tribe, so that all Israelites will continue to possess in entirety the land that is their ancestral inheritance. No inheritance may be transferred from one tribe to another; each tribe must retain the land it has inherited.'"
The daughters of Zelophedad complied with the command Jehovah gave Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophedad, all married first cousins, sons of their father's brothers. They thus married into the clans of the tribe of Manasseh, Joseph's son, so that their inheritance of land remained in their father's clan and tribe.
These are the commands and regulations given to the Israelites through Moses when they were encamped on the plains of Moab by the River Jordan across from Jericho.
Notes
1. In the possession and inheritance of property, it is obvious that personal rights are trumped by tribal rights. Land, given to the tribes by Jehovah, must, under no conditions, leave the tribe; the integrity of Jehovah's division of land scheme must be preserved. The scheme, under the aegis of divine ordination, allows for stable tribal borders and, in theory, at least, prevents any squabbling over land among individual Israelite tribes.
2. That Zelophedad's daughters would have chosen to marry outside their clan, let alone their tribe, seems unlikely. It was expected at this time that mates would be chosen from within the clan or extended family. The Israelites were nothing if not inbred. Moses married a Midianite, technically a Hebrew, but not an Israelite and certainly not a Levite, and even he was subjected to considerable censure for doing so.
3. In most societies the daughter joins the family of her husband and adopts his tribal identity or nationality. Her property becomes his. Only in modern times has a married woman been allowed to own property independent of her husband. Land inherited by a woman would naturally be thought of as going out of the family. Even today, it is the same. For instance, if the Jones Ranch is inherited by daughter who marries a man named Smith, the property is no longer in the hands of a Jones. Even if it is still called the Jones Ranch, it is now owned by Smiths. It’s not the same. There is not, nor perhaps ever can be, complete gender equality in regard to inheritance.
4. Interesting that Jehovah did not foresee this contingency when he first pontificated about female inheritance. The Omniscient One must write law based upon complaints, as would a common law judge.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The History of Jacob, Part Four
(Genesis 31:19 - 31:55)
When Laban was away from home shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father's idols.
Not disclosing to his father-in-law that he was leaving, Jacob departed in haste with all his possessions. Crossing the Euphrates River, he headed toward the hills of Gilead. It was three days before Laban learned of Jacob's flight, but, with a party of men, Laban took up pursuit and, in seven days time, caught up with Jacob at Gilead.
Jehovah visited Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Take care that you do not deal too harshly with Jacob."
Jacob had pitched his tent in the hills of Gilead and when Laban and his men arrived, they camped at the same place. Laban demanded of Jacob, "Why have you done this without informing me, absconding with my daughters as if they were captives of war? Why did you leave in secret, stealing away without telling me, when I might have celebrated your departure with music and mirth, with harp and timbrel? You did not even let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren farewell! You have acted most rashly. It's in my power to punish you for your actions, but the god of your father spoke to me in a dream last night and warned me against dealing too harshly with you. --- Even if you were homesick and longed to go back to your father's house, why did you have to steal my idols?"
Jacob replied, "I left without telling you because I was afraid you'd take your daughters away from me by force. As for the charge of theft, if you find your idols with anyone here, that person will pay for it with their life. Go ahead, search, and if you find anything belonging to you, take it." (Jacob said this not knowing it was Rachel who had stolen the idols).
Laban went into the tent of Jacob, then that of Leah and those of the two maidservants who were Jacob’s other wives. He found nothing. When he entered Rachel's tent, she adroitly hid the idols under the camel's saddle and sat on it, so while the tent was thoroughly searched, nothing could be found. She excused herself by saying "Don't be offended, sir, if I'm not able to rise and greet you, but -- well, for me it's that time of the month." And so Laban's search was in vain.
Jacob was peeved and chewed out Laban: "What is my crime? What is my offense, that you chase after me so hotly and rummage through my possessions? What stolen treasures have you found here? Bring them out and let’s see them. Let your people and my people judge between us. Have I not worked for you for twenty years? Your ewes and nanny goats weren’t barren, were they? I never ate the rams of your flock, did I? When stock was preyed upon by wild animals, I never told you, but bore the cost myself. And for animals that were stolen, either by day or night, you made me pay for them. I toiled through the scorching days and the frosty nights, often deprived of sleep. That's how it's been the past twenty years in your employ. I served you fourteen years for your daughters and another six for your flocks, and you changed my wages a dozen times. If it weren't for the god of my father Abraham and your fear of Isaac, you probably would have sent me away a pauper. But my god has witnessed my travails and the work I have done, and he rebuked you last night."
Laban responded, "The daughters and their children, the flocks, everything you see is mine. What more can I do for my daughters and grandchildren? --- Let's settle things between you and me and make an agreement. And let’s find something to commemorate it!"
Jacob found a stone to set up as a monument. He ordered his men, "Fetch some stones!" and they collected more stones and piled them up to make a cairn. They shared a meal beneath the cairn, which Laban called Jegar Sahadutha, but which Jacob called Gilead, each using the words of their own language.
Laban declared, "This stone cairn will stand from this day as a witness to our mutual agreement." (Therefore it was called Gilead, meaning "witness pile," and also Mizpah, meaning "watch tower.") "Jehovah will watch us and hold us accountable after we have parted. If you mistreat my daughters, or submit them to the authority of other wives, no man may witness it, but Jehovah will know what’s going on.” He continued, "Look at this stone, this cairn -- this will be reminder to us. I shall not pass by it to do harm to you, nor shall you pass by it to do harm to me. May the god of Abraham and Nahor and their forefathers see that justice is done!”
Jacob thus solemnly swore by the god of his father Isaac. He made a sacrifice in the hills and held a feast for his family and his household. They ate and stayed the night there.
Laban rose at daybreak, kissed his daughters and grandchildren, blessed them, and then returned home.
Notes
1. While Laban is away from the house, Rachel sneaks in and steals Laban's idols, that is, the statues, sculptures, images, or whatever of household gods. A belief in minor spirits or beings that protected and served a home and family was widespread in ancient times, if not in later times. The Romans had their lares and penates, who were accorded shrines in the house and offered sacrifices. (The later belief in patron saints, who, in fact, are minor gods save in name, is similar.) It is surprising that Laban, a Jehovist, would have kept and worshiped idols, but perhaps it should not be, given the near universality of the custom at the time. It is difficult to say exactly what the idols would have looked like, a human-like statue or bust of stone or wood, probably, although there is some opinion that the idols could have been actual human skulls or mummified heads. In any case, they were small enough to be concealed under a camel saddle. Household gods were presumed not only to have the power to protect the home and to bring good fortune to the family, but to function as oracles. Why Rachel stole the idols is an interesting question. Religious opinion is that she did so to cure Laban of his idolatry. There is no reason to assume this, and if that were the case, why wouldn't she destroy the idols instead? It is more likely that Rachel either wanted to get back at her father by taking something of great value away from him, or she felt that in journeying to a new home the family gods should accompany her, since the continuation of the family line she saw as resting with her.
2. True to form for a members of the Abraham clan, Rachel practices deceit, stealing the idols belonging to her father and effectively hiding them when he searches for them. Meanwhile, Laban and Jacob continue to play their competitive games with each other, even though they call a truce. Both men are disingenuous, insincere, and hypocritical. Jacob vents about how diligently he labored for Laban and how difficult he was to work for, but he neglects to mention how he tricked his boss out of his livestock.
3. Laban and Jacob have different names for the cairn that was erected, indicating that they must have used different languages. Laban would have spoken some Mesopotamian language, probably Akkadian, while Jacob would have adopted as a first language that of the Canaanites with whom he lived. It is also very likely that he, like Abraham and probably Isaac, spoke more than one language. In the text, Laban is speaking Aramaic and Jacob, Hebrew. Actually, Hebrew, a composite of the Semitic languages of Mesopotamia and Canaan with influences of Egyptian, considered a Hamitic tongue, was still developing. And Aramaic, later to be the language of Aram, where Laban lived, would not emerge as a separate language for hundreds of years. (It would be the predominant language of the Holy Land in New Testament times.) It is understandable that the 6th Century B.C. compilers of Genesis would not be conversant with this linguistic history.
4. In the agreement at Gilead we see the beginning of the concept of a god who observes man’s behavior, rewarding the good, punishing the bad, and administering divine justice. What man does in secret, unbeknownst to other men, is known to the deity, and this becomes a deterrent to immoral behavior.
5. Gilead is a mountainous area east of the River Jordan in the northwest part of the modern country of Jordan, north of the ancient regions of Moab and Ammon.
When Laban was away from home shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father's idols.
Not disclosing to his father-in-law that he was leaving, Jacob departed in haste with all his possessions. Crossing the Euphrates River, he headed toward the hills of Gilead. It was three days before Laban learned of Jacob's flight, but, with a party of men, Laban took up pursuit and, in seven days time, caught up with Jacob at Gilead.
Jehovah visited Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Take care that you do not deal too harshly with Jacob."
Jacob had pitched his tent in the hills of Gilead and when Laban and his men arrived, they camped at the same place. Laban demanded of Jacob, "Why have you done this without informing me, absconding with my daughters as if they were captives of war? Why did you leave in secret, stealing away without telling me, when I might have celebrated your departure with music and mirth, with harp and timbrel? You did not even let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren farewell! You have acted most rashly. It's in my power to punish you for your actions, but the god of your father spoke to me in a dream last night and warned me against dealing too harshly with you. --- Even if you were homesick and longed to go back to your father's house, why did you have to steal my idols?"
Jacob replied, "I left without telling you because I was afraid you'd take your daughters away from me by force. As for the charge of theft, if you find your idols with anyone here, that person will pay for it with their life. Go ahead, search, and if you find anything belonging to you, take it." (Jacob said this not knowing it was Rachel who had stolen the idols).
Laban went into the tent of Jacob, then that of Leah and those of the two maidservants who were Jacob’s other wives. He found nothing. When he entered Rachel's tent, she adroitly hid the idols under the camel's saddle and sat on it, so while the tent was thoroughly searched, nothing could be found. She excused herself by saying "Don't be offended, sir, if I'm not able to rise and greet you, but -- well, for me it's that time of the month." And so Laban's search was in vain.
Jacob was peeved and chewed out Laban: "What is my crime? What is my offense, that you chase after me so hotly and rummage through my possessions? What stolen treasures have you found here? Bring them out and let’s see them. Let your people and my people judge between us. Have I not worked for you for twenty years? Your ewes and nanny goats weren’t barren, were they? I never ate the rams of your flock, did I? When stock was preyed upon by wild animals, I never told you, but bore the cost myself. And for animals that were stolen, either by day or night, you made me pay for them. I toiled through the scorching days and the frosty nights, often deprived of sleep. That's how it's been the past twenty years in your employ. I served you fourteen years for your daughters and another six for your flocks, and you changed my wages a dozen times. If it weren't for the god of my father Abraham and your fear of Isaac, you probably would have sent me away a pauper. But my god has witnessed my travails and the work I have done, and he rebuked you last night."
Laban responded, "The daughters and their children, the flocks, everything you see is mine. What more can I do for my daughters and grandchildren? --- Let's settle things between you and me and make an agreement. And let’s find something to commemorate it!"
Jacob found a stone to set up as a monument. He ordered his men, "Fetch some stones!" and they collected more stones and piled them up to make a cairn. They shared a meal beneath the cairn, which Laban called Jegar Sahadutha, but which Jacob called Gilead, each using the words of their own language.
Laban declared, "This stone cairn will stand from this day as a witness to our mutual agreement." (Therefore it was called Gilead, meaning "witness pile," and also Mizpah, meaning "watch tower.") "Jehovah will watch us and hold us accountable after we have parted. If you mistreat my daughters, or submit them to the authority of other wives, no man may witness it, but Jehovah will know what’s going on.” He continued, "Look at this stone, this cairn -- this will be reminder to us. I shall not pass by it to do harm to you, nor shall you pass by it to do harm to me. May the god of Abraham and Nahor and their forefathers see that justice is done!”
Jacob thus solemnly swore by the god of his father Isaac. He made a sacrifice in the hills and held a feast for his family and his household. They ate and stayed the night there.
Laban rose at daybreak, kissed his daughters and grandchildren, blessed them, and then returned home.
Notes
1. While Laban is away from the house, Rachel sneaks in and steals Laban's idols, that is, the statues, sculptures, images, or whatever of household gods. A belief in minor spirits or beings that protected and served a home and family was widespread in ancient times, if not in later times. The Romans had their lares and penates, who were accorded shrines in the house and offered sacrifices. (The later belief in patron saints, who, in fact, are minor gods save in name, is similar.) It is surprising that Laban, a Jehovist, would have kept and worshiped idols, but perhaps it should not be, given the near universality of the custom at the time. It is difficult to say exactly what the idols would have looked like, a human-like statue or bust of stone or wood, probably, although there is some opinion that the idols could have been actual human skulls or mummified heads. In any case, they were small enough to be concealed under a camel saddle. Household gods were presumed not only to have the power to protect the home and to bring good fortune to the family, but to function as oracles. Why Rachel stole the idols is an interesting question. Religious opinion is that she did so to cure Laban of his idolatry. There is no reason to assume this, and if that were the case, why wouldn't she destroy the idols instead? It is more likely that Rachel either wanted to get back at her father by taking something of great value away from him, or she felt that in journeying to a new home the family gods should accompany her, since the continuation of the family line she saw as resting with her.
2. True to form for a members of the Abraham clan, Rachel practices deceit, stealing the idols belonging to her father and effectively hiding them when he searches for them. Meanwhile, Laban and Jacob continue to play their competitive games with each other, even though they call a truce. Both men are disingenuous, insincere, and hypocritical. Jacob vents about how diligently he labored for Laban and how difficult he was to work for, but he neglects to mention how he tricked his boss out of his livestock.
3. Laban and Jacob have different names for the cairn that was erected, indicating that they must have used different languages. Laban would have spoken some Mesopotamian language, probably Akkadian, while Jacob would have adopted as a first language that of the Canaanites with whom he lived. It is also very likely that he, like Abraham and probably Isaac, spoke more than one language. In the text, Laban is speaking Aramaic and Jacob, Hebrew. Actually, Hebrew, a composite of the Semitic languages of Mesopotamia and Canaan with influences of Egyptian, considered a Hamitic tongue, was still developing. And Aramaic, later to be the language of Aram, where Laban lived, would not emerge as a separate language for hundreds of years. (It would be the predominant language of the Holy Land in New Testament times.) It is understandable that the 6th Century B.C. compilers of Genesis would not be conversant with this linguistic history.
4. In the agreement at Gilead we see the beginning of the concept of a god who observes man’s behavior, rewarding the good, punishing the bad, and administering divine justice. What man does in secret, unbeknownst to other men, is known to the deity, and this becomes a deterrent to immoral behavior.
5. Gilead is a mountainous area east of the River Jordan in the northwest part of the modern country of Jordan, north of the ancient regions of Moab and Ammon.
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