It doesn’t appear as though there was any love lost between Jacob and Laban. Laban had always perceived Jacob as nothing more than a servant, a means to enrich himself, but he never permitted Jacob to accumulate any wealth for himself and his family. Therefore, Laban saw Jacob as his own servant, whose talents made him rich, and Laban wished to keep his son-in-law under his hand, as a servant. As for Jacob, he served Laban with all his strength, only to find he was betrayed in the end (Genesis 29:25). Although Jacob was visibly upset with Laban over his marriage to Leah instead of Rachel, I don’t believe Laban had ever seen Jacob really angry, until their meeting at Mt. Gilead. Six years earlier Jacob wished to leave Laban to return to the Land of Canaan and his father, because he had no wealth accumulated for the fourteen years he had spent in Laban’s employ. All those years were spent for the right to marry his daughters. Other than food to eat, he wasn’t given a wage for his services. So, given the context of his history with Laban, it doesn’t appear there was room for an emotional attachment or any context of friendship with his father-in-law.
After Laban had searched Jacob’s camp and found nothing that would point to him having stolen Laban’s gods, Jacob expressed his anger (H2734) toward his father-in-law (Genesis 31:36). Jacob’s anger was similar to the anger or displeasure (H2734) Laban had displayed against him, while searching Jacob’s possessions (cp. Genesis 31:35). In the Land of Canaan, Jacob forced Laban to see his son-in-law as an equal, not as the servant, which is how he was perceived in Haran, and this, perhaps, surprised Laban.
Jacob challenged Laban to set before him the gods, he accused him of stealing. What was the result of his search? Put that before him for all to see, both Laban’s company and Jacob’s family and servants. Where were Laban’s gods that he searched for among Jacob’s things? What was the result of such a hot pursuit, that he had overtaken Jacob and his family in less than two weeks, after they had been gone for seven days (Genesis 31:37)?
After Laban’s apparent silence over Jacob’s protest of his father-in-law’s distrust, Jacob rehearsed for him his faithful service of the past 20 years. First of all, not once had Jacob eaten any of his female livestock, sheep, goats or rams, because that would have been unwise, in that it was the females who produced more wealth for him. Not only so, but neither had they any stillbirths, nor were they torn by beasts, nor were any stolen by day, when it might be seen nor by night, when the theft was unawares, that Jacob had not replaced the lost with one from his own livestock (Genesis 31:38-39). Moreover, if he hadn’t so replaced what was lost, it would have been required of him by Laban, himself.
Furthermore, Jacob continued to describe his service by day, when he endured the thirst brought by the scorching heat and the bitter cold by night. He endured periods of insomnia without complaint, as he served him fourteen years for his daughters. Finally, he served Laban for six years, during which time he was at last permitted to accumulate some wealth for himself and his family, but even then, Laban had changed his wages ten times, because he believed Jacob’s wealth grew to be too much (Genesis 31:40-41).
Jacob concluded by accusing Laban of wanting to take back all that he had earned, including his wives and their children, and sent Jacob away empty for all his years of faithful service. Surely, this would have been his lot had not Jacob’s God intervened on his behalf and warned Laban in a dream just before he overtook him at Mt. Gilead (Genesis 31:42)!
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