One thing I’ve noticed in life, as that pertains to rich businessmen, is, if they made a billion dollars last year but only 500 million this year, they see that gain as losing a half a billion dollars. For them, the glass is always half empty, never half full! They cannot be content, unless each year’s profits are record profits. This is true also for both Laban and his sons’ perception of their lost wealth during the six years that Jacob was permitted to earn wealth for himself. By Laban’s own admission, he was blessed by the Lord for Jacob’s sake (Genesis 30:27), and before Jacob had come to him, his herds were small, but afterward they became large (Genesis 30:30). So, what happened during the final six years of Jacob’s service?
If one of Laban’s animals got lost, was stolen or had been eaten by another animal, Jacob replaced it with one of his own (Genesis 31:38-39). Laban lost nothing, and, when he didn’t grow as great in wealth as he had in the past, his attitude toward Jacob changed. In fact, he changed Jacobs wages ten times in an effort to turn the tide toward himself (Genesis 31:7, 41). Yet, Laban’s wealth was still greater at the end of those six years than before Jacob began to serve him. Nevertheless, he was jealous of Jacob’s wealth, which had grown at a much faster rate than his own.
There had to have been at least some contact between Jacob and Laban’s family, while Jacob performed his duties. Otherwise, how could Jacob have overheard Laban’s sons discussing among themselves that Jacob had stolen their father’s wealth and glory? Moreover, unless Jacob was indeed guilty of wrong doing, how could he have noticed Laban’s countenance toward him had changed? One simply isn’t aware of such subtleties, unless one is looking for them, vis-à-vis first he overheard Laban’s sons accusing Jacob of theft, and only afterward did he notice Laban’s poor countenance toward him (Genesis 31:1-2). Moreover, there also had to have been times, when Laban’s sons watched the portion of their father’s flocks, which were not close to Jacob, because three days went by, after Jacob left for the Land of Canaan, before Laban found out that Jacob and his family were gone (Genesis 31:22; cp. 30:36).
Therefore, once Jacob understood his position, he may have been praying (cp. Genesis 32:9-12), when the Lord told him to leave Haran and return to his country (Genesis 31:3). Upon learning that he should return to the Land of Canaan, Jacob called for Leah and Rachel, telling them to meet him in the field, and he told them of how he had learned about their father’s present disposition toward him, but God had protected him. Moreover, he also reminded them of how hard he had labored in the service of their father (Genesis 31:4-6).
Finally, he reminded them of how Laban had treated him for the hard labor, with which he had served their father, saying he changed Jacob’s wages ten times over the last six years. Yet, whatever rare colored animals Laban excluded from Jacob’s wage, the Lord caused his herds to yield rare colored births that favored Jacob, according to the instructions given Jacob by the Lord in a dream. So, in the end, no matter what Laban did he couldn’t keep the Lord from blessing Jacob and giving the newborn to Jacob rather than Laban (Genesis 31:7-12).
Finally, Jacob told Leah and Rachel, the Angel of the God had appeared to him in a dream, saying that he had beheld all that Laban had done to Jacob. The Angel identified himself as the God of Bethel, to whom Jacob had made a vow (Genesis 28:11-22), and he told Jacob to arise and leave Haran and return to the land of his kindred (Genesis 31:11-13).
Both Rachel and Leah agreed with Jacob, saying they no longer perceived any benefit for themselves from their father. He had treated them like strangers, worse, as slaves, because he sold them both, each one, for seven years of Jacob’s labor. Had he considered the first seven years of Jacob’s service a dowry, he could have given both his daughters to Jacob for the dowry’s sake, but he required Jacob to serve him a total of fourteen years for both his daughters (Genesis 31:14-15).
Therefore, since whatever money was theirs by right or custom from Jacob’s fourteen years labor, Laban had taken for himself, offering none of the dowry to his daughters. So, Leah and Rachel saw what God had done in causing the rare colored births of Laban’s animals to favor Jacob, and they concluded it to be an inheritance for themselves and their children, as well as Jacob’s wage (Genesis 31:16).
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