TOLIS TOrOVS TOO OECJV, JOSeph. Antby. 19.
8) of her father. The mere possession of Teraphim, which the Jews at no time consistently condemned (cf. Judg. xvii., xviii., passim ; I Sam. xix. 13 ; Hos. iii. 4), does not prove Laban to have been an idolater ; but that he must have been so appears with some probability from xxxi. 53 (` the gods of Nahor') and from the expression ,1,1,;m), nichash thi, xxx. 27 ; A. V., I hare learnt by expe rience,' but properly, I have divined' or learnt by an augury' (cf. xliv. 15 ; Kings xx. 33), shew ing that he was addicted to pagan superstitions. Learning the flight of Jacob, which naturally roused his htdignation, Laban started in pursuit (A. V., on the third day,' but Joseph. /. c., /La ilybpap iiiav), and overtaking him on the seventh day, appears to have intended either to punish or to bring him back by force. From this course he was diverted by a dream, and contented himself with a demand for his stolen property, and an impetuous yet high-toned rebuke of Jacob's clandestine depar ture. In the scene of stormy recrimination which
followed upon his failure to find the stolen house hold-gods, the forbearance and generosity are mostly on the side of Laban, who, conscious that he had not treated his nephew well, and that he had set the first fatal example of deceit, reminds him of the close ties between them, and proposes a sacred reconciliation, testified by the cairn and pillar, which Jacob, in Hebrew, called Gilead, and Laban, in Chaldee, called Jagar-sahadutha. After this Laban kissed and blessed his daughters and their children, and departed. He is not again mentioned or alluded to. lie was not free from the cunning and cupidity which too frequently dis grace the character of the Oriental nomad ; but his character has been drawn in colours wholly unwar ranted by the Scriptural history ; and if we com pare his conduct with that of his nephew and son in-law, it has nothing to lose by the contrast and everything to gain.—F. W. F.