That sign came with the birth of his son, Joseph. Jacob believed that Joseph's descendants would ultimately triumph over Esau's – his own brother, with whom he was not on the best of terms – and he declared, "Now I need not fear Esau or his legions!"
Around this time, Jacob received another nudge in the right direction. Rebekah, Jacob's mother, sent her nurse, Deborah, along with two of Isaac’s servants, urging him to return home. His fourteen years of service to Laban were up! So, Jacob approached Laban with a request: "Give me my wives and my children, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country, for my mother has sent messengers unto me, bidding me to return to my father's house."
Laban, ever the smooth talker, responded, "O that I might find favor in thine eyes! By a sign it was made known unto me that God blesseth me for thy sake." What Laban really cared about, as Ginzberg tells us, was the treasure he’d found the day Jacob arrived – he saw it as proof of Jacob's good influence. And, truthfully, Jacob had brought blessings to Laban's house. As the text indicates, a pestilence had ceased with Jacob's arrival, and Laban had sons born to him during Jacob's stay.
The deal they struck was that Jacob would receive the speckled and spotted goats, and the black sheep. Laban, thinking he was being clever, agreed. "Behold, I would it might be according to thy word," he said. But Laban, described in Legends of the Jews as an "arch-villain," suspected Jacob of trickery, projecting his own deceitful nature onto him.
Here's where it gets interesting. Laban, true to form, couldn’t keep his word. The Zohar tells us he changed their agreement no less than a hundred times! But even with Laban’s constant changes, he couldn’t thwart the divine plan. Despite a three-day separation between their flocks, angels, according to tradition, intervened to bring Laban's sheep to Jacob, and Jacob's flocks thrived.
Laban had given Jacob only the weak and sickly animals, but under Jacob's care, they produced offspring so exceptional that people paid top dollar for them. Jacob didn't even need to use tricks like peeling rods to influence the breeding; he simply spoke, and the flocks bore according to his desire. This wasn't just luck, though. The text emphasizes that every faithful laborer is rewarded by God in this world, regardless of what awaits them in the next. Jacob had arrived with nothing, and now, Ginzberg writes, he was leaving with herds numbering six hundred thousand!
Unsurprisingly, Laban and his sons grew envious. Their faces betrayed their resentment. Then, as we read, the Lord spoke to Jacob: "Thy father-in-law's countenance is not toward thee as beforetime, and yet thou tarriest with him? Do thou rather return unto the land of thy fathers, and there I will let My Shekinah (the Divine Presence) rest upon thee, for I cannot permit the Shekinah to reside outside of the Holy Land." (The Shekinah, by the way, is the divine presence.)
So, Jacob acted swiftly. He sent Naphtali to summon Rachel and Leah to a secret meeting in the field. His wives agreed to return home. Jacob, without informing Laban, packed up his belongings and prepared to leave. Laban was away shearing his sheep, offering Jacob the perfect opportunity.
But there's one more twist: Rachel stole her father's teraphim (household idols). We learn that these weren't your average figurines. According to the text, they were made by killing a firstborn son, salting and anointing his head, and placing a tablet inscribed with "the Name" (presumably, a divine name) under his tongue. This head, placed in a house with lit candles, would then answer questions posed to it, all thanks to the power of the Name. Rachel hid the teraphim on her camel and they left.
What does this story tell us? It's a reminder that divine providence often works in mysterious ways. Jacob's journey was fraught with challenges, deceit, and envy. Yet, through it all, he remained faithful, and ultimately, he was rewarded. It makes you wonder: what "Laban" are we dealing with in our own lives, and what "homeland" are we striving to reach?
Jacob had only been waiting for Joseph to be born to begin preparations for his journey home. The holy spirit had revealed to him that the house of Joseph would work the destruction of the house of Esau, and, therefore, Jacob exclaimed at the birth of Joseph, "Now I need not fear Esau or his legions." About this time, Rebekah sent her nurse Deborah, the daughter of Uz, accompanied by two of Isaac's servants, to Jacob, to urge him to return to his father's house, now that his fourteen years of service had come to an end. Then Jacob approached Laban, and spoke, "Give me my wives and my children, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country, for my mother has sent messengers unto me, bidding me to return to my father's house." Laban answered, saying, "O that I might find favor in thine eyes! By a sign it was made known unto me that God blesseth me for thy sake." What Laban had in mind was the treasure he had found on the day Jacob came to him, and he considered that a token of his beneficent powers. Indeed, God had wrought many a thing in the house of Laban that testified to the blessings spread abroad by the pious. Shortly before Jacob came, a pest had broken out among Laban's cattle, and with his arrival it ceased. And Laban had had no son, but during Jacob's sojourn in Haran sons were born unto him. All the hire he asked in return for his labor and for the blessings he had brought Laban was the speckled and spotted among the goats of his herd, and the black among the sheep. Laban assented to his conditions, saying, "Behold, I would it might be according to thy word." The arch-villain Laban, whose tongue wagged in all directions, and who made all sorts of promises that were never kept, judged others by himself, and therefore suspected Jacob of wanting to deceive him. And yet, in the end, it was Laban himself who broke his word. No less than a hundred times he changed the agreement between them. Nevertheless his unrighteous conduct was of no avail. Though a three days' journey had been set betwixt Laban's flocks and Jacob's, the angels were wont to bring the sheep belonging to Laban down to Jacob's sheep, and Jacob's droves grew constantly larger and better. Laban had given only the feeble and sick to Jacob, yet the young of the flock, raised under Jacob's tendance, were so excellent in quality that people bought them at a heavy price. And Jacob had no need to resort to the peeled rods. He had but to speak, and the flocks bare according to his desire. What Laban deserved was utter ruin, for having permitted the pious Jacob to work for him without hire, and after his wages had been changed ten times, and ten times Laban had tried to overreach him, God rewarded him in this way. But his good luck with the flocks was only what Jacob deserved. Every faithful laborer is rewarded by God in this world, quite regardless of what awaits him in the world to come. With empty hands Jacob had come to Laban, and he left him with herds numbering six hundred thousand. Their increase had been marvellous, an increase that will be equalled only in the Messianic time. The wealth and good fortune of Jacob called forth the envy of Laban and his sons, and they could not hide their vexation in their intercourse with him. And the Lord said unto Jacob, "Thy father-in-law's countenance is not toward thee as beforetime, and yet thou tarriest with him? Do thou rather return unto the land of thy fathers, and there I will let My Shekinah rest upon thee, for I cannot permit the Shekinah to reside outside of the Holy Land." Immediately Jacob sent the fleet messenger Naphtali to Rachel and Leah to summon them to a consultation, and he chose as the place of meeting the open field, where none could overhear what was said. His two wives approved the plan of returning to his home, and Jacob resolved at once to go away with all his substance, without as much as acquainting Laban with his intention. Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and so Jacob could execute his plan without delay. That her father might not learn about their flight from his teraphim, Rachel stole them, and she took them and concealed them upon the camel upon which she sat, and she went on. And this is the manner they used to make the images: They took a man who was the first-born, slew him and took the hair off his head, then salted the head, and anointed it with oil, then they wrote "the Name" upon a small tablet of copper or gold, and placed it under his tongue. The head with the tablet under the tongue was then put in a house where lights were lighted before it, and at the time when they bowed down to it, it spoke to them on all matters that they asked of it, and that was due to the power of the Name which was written upon it.
