Today's Daily Bread

A TENSE CONFRONTATION

Date : Tuesday, July 01, 2025
Passage : Genesis 31:31~55
Keyverse : 44  
31
Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.
32
But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.
33
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.
34
Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.
35
Rachel said to her father, "Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period." So he searched but could not find the household gods.
36
Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. "What is my crime?" he asked Laban. "How have I wronged you that you hunt me down?
37
Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.
38
"I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.
39
I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night.
40
This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
41
It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.
42
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you."
43
Laban answered Jacob, "The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?
44
Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us."
45
So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46
He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47
Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
48
Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Galeed.
49
It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.
50
If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me."
51
Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me.
52
This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me.
53
May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.
54
He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.
55
Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
Prompted by God, Jacob had left Laban and headed back to his father with all his family and possessions that he had accumulated over 20 years. Laban’s relationship with Jacob had not been the best at the time, so Jacob left secretly, afraid Laban would hinder him from leaving with his family. But, despite a 3-day head start, Laban caught up with Jacob and confronted him.

Then, Laban accused Jacob of stealing his household gods. (Jacob did not know that Rachel had indeed stolen them.) After Laban failed to find them among Jacob’s possessions, Jacob shared his own grievances about being mistreated over the years by Laban.

The air was tense as accusations flared. But God helped to turn the heated situation into a peace treaty between the two of them. When we fear God, we can confront others with respect for life and find reconciliation and peace.

Prayer: Lord, we live in a polarized society where it is hard to understand each other. May you be with us to be peacemakers even in difficult situations.
One Word: Blessed are the peacemakers