The first question in the Old Covenant comes from God, seeking man: “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). The first question in the New Covenant text comes from man, seeking God: “Where is he born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2). Both questions uncover evidence of a broken relationship, which, even when repairs are made afterward through judgment, evidence of decay sprouts up in the hearts of men. Men, thinking themselves wise, foolishly made images of their impressions of God, which they could hold, perhaps in an effort to remind themselves of him, because they find it so difficult to keep him in their thoughts and hearts (Romans 1:21-23). So, when Laban lost his gods, the scene in Genesis 31:33-35 would be very amusing, if it weren’t so terribly tragic. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been chosen by God to rebuild that broken relationship with him, while at the same time the reader is given an image, if you will, of man’s fruitless struggle to know and understand God without walking with him and obeying him.
Laban’s gods were missing! What should he do? What could he do? He accused Jacob of stealing them (Genesis 31:30)! Imagine! What good are gods that had no power to keep a man from stealing them from those who worshiped them? Of course, one could say, these folks didn’t believe the images were actually gods anymore than we would mistake a picture of our loved one is in fact the one we love. While this is, indeed, true, we miss something in the comparison, because, if someone stole a picture of my wife or one of my daughters, I would think he was ignorant and ill mannered, but I would never desire his life, because of the theft (cp. Genesis 31:32), and, as I’ve mentioned in my previous study, the Code of Hammurabi (see #6), which is the law that both Laban and Jacob obeyed, required the life of the one who stole away the gods of another. Therefore, the comparison of an image of a god and a modern picture of a loved one can hardly be used here.
According to the word of God, the term god refers to an authority. God is not the name of the Lord, whom we worship today. It is a term like king or president etc. The term represents one who has been placed in authority over others. Psalm 82 begins with: “God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods.” The theme has to do with men in authority (gods), who were taking bribes to judge against the innocent and in favor of the wicked (Psalm 82:1-4). The word of God refers to these men of authority as gods (Psalm 82:6). Scripture also says that our God is the God of gods (Deuteronomy 10:17; Joshua 22:22; Psalm 136:2; Daniel 2:47; 11:36). This doesn’t mean God is the God of Zeus or Jupiter. He is the God of men in authority who rule as representatives of him (cp. John 19:11).
In the context of Laban searching for his lost gods, it is entirely possible that these images represented great men of authority among Laban’s fathers, perhaps Tarah (Genesis 11:27-32) or Noah or Shem. He believed these images had power to help him in directing his family and business affairs. He believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cp. Genesis 24:50), but he had no understanding of walking with him or obeying him. That understanding had become lost with the receiving of images (Romans 1:21-23, 28). So, Laban’s search for his lost gods is pathetic, in that the very images themselves represent his lost relationship with the Lord, his God.
So, beginning with Jacob’s tent, then going to the tents of the handmaidens, from them to Leah’s, and finally Laban came to Rachel’s tent, and it was she who had stolen his gods (Genesis 31:33; cp verse-19). Rachel sat on her camel’s saddle, which had pockets, in which she had hidden the images. She greeted her father, asking him to excuse her remaining seated, because she was in a state of discomfort due to her being in the midst of her menstrual cycle (Genesis 31:34-35), so not wishing to disturb her to search the saddle, Laban found nothing.
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