aww, how sweet...
it's good to see that a good old knock down, drag out fight (aided by some daughterly theft and deceit) can really smooth things out for everybody in the end. that's sweet.
i like (and dislike at the same time) the way the writers of the bible don't really leave out things that cloud the moral direction of the story. (this seems to happen a lot in the old testament, especially in the story of jacob!) so is the point of the story that it's okay to steal from your father? maybe just as long as you're taking things that he worships (i guess when she stole the "gods," they were probably valuable golden idols...that maybe she was going to sell?) other times in scripture, god punishes entire groups of people for valuing something that gives glory to false gods, even if the value is just in the material the stuff is made from.
laban was right. how do you like that? laban got home to find that his entire family had taken all their goats and lambs...and "taken it on the lamb"... (sorry for the bad joke.) on top of that, the things he worshiped - his valuable golden idols - were missing, and he thought they had stolen them. (guess what, buddy. you're right buddy. check under your sweet, younger, more pure and beautiful daughter's hind end, buddy.)
so laban yells, ransacks jacob's camp, finds nothing, gets yelled at (he deserved it, really, for all those years of being a punk to jacob), feels sheepish, changes the subject, and makes a pact that neither of them will hurt the other any more. then they eat and drink together, sleep on it, and part ways in the morning.
very clean ending. almost like an episode of full house:
dj: it's not fair! all my friends get to go to this party!
danny: well i'm not all your friends' parents, deej. i love you, but i can't let you go.
dj: you're right dad, i love you too. i guess i don't have to go to the party.
danny: well when you put it that way, i think you should go. i trust you. thanks for being a great daughter.
dj: you're the best, dad.
i know god reconciles people who would otherwise have too much between them to forgive and forget... and he can do it miraculously fast and painlessly. but if you think somebody stole crap from you, always search everybody.
Created over 4 years ago
