The Sons of Isaac(95)
Also she was terrified to think of setting out on such a long journey with no household gods. She had seen her father consulting them and then throwing the colored stones when he had difficult decisions to make. She could not imagine how anyone could have a moment of peace with no household gods to protect them.
She quickly bundled them into a basket and covered it with some loaves of bread. She set the basket on her head and started to hurry out the door. She paused for a moment before leaving, to look around the familiar courtyard for the last time. It held no happy memories. Instead she could remember vividly the night she was to have been married to Jacob. She had been dressed and ready with all the love and pent-up excitement that had been building since the day she had met him at the well. She was the pretty one he obviously loved. How cruel of her father to keep her locked away while Leah took her place.
She steadied the basket on her head as she thought how glad she would be to leave all these sad memories behind. In the doorway she stopped and looked at the good luck charm fastened to the lintel. She remembered her father putting great store by touching it as he left for the market or field. He gave it credit for many of the good things that came his way.
She reached up and tugged at it until it came free, then quickly slid it into the basket under the bread. Laban had stolen her wedding night, and she would rob him of his good fortune. She did not want the old goat-man god or the ugly horned images of Sin, the local god. They were too big to carry or to conceal. But she had just the place for her collection of small images, in a pocket she had devised in the straw filling of her riding saddle. The images would fit in it nicely, and no one would be the wiser until they were miles from Haran.
* * *
As it turned out they had been gone three days before the revelers at the shearing missed them. Jokes and sly remarks had been made about Jacob and his sons, who they assumed must be late in rounding up their extensive flock. They could hardly wait to confront him and divide his flock among themselves.
When three days had passed and Jacob had not come with his family and flocks, Laban grew suspicious. He sent several of his sons back to Jacob’s house in the city to question his daughters. The sons found the courtyard empty with only a few tools leaning against the far wall. The house itself was dark and silent.
“They left just before the shearing festival,” an old woman told them.
It took a few more days to determine just what had happened. Laban came hurrying home and consulted with his sons. They all speculated as to where Jacob would take such a large, unwieldy family.
Finally when Laban discovered the small fertility teraphim and the good luck image from his door gone, he realized this was no short trip. “They have obviously left to go back to Jacob’s family in Canaan,” he said.
“What can we do?” his sons asked.
“We’ll go after them. Jacob can’t sneak off like this with my daughters and their children. And what an insult for him to steal my good luck images.”
“They can’t have gotten far,” one of his sons said. “They have children and large flocks.”
In less than a day they were mounted and ready to ride.
By asking questions as they went, they were able to follow the trail exactly, with few mistakes. They rode down along the Balikh River, crossed the Euphrates, and when they reached the Gilead mountains, they knew that within a day or two they would catch up with Jacob’s more cumbersome band.
As they traveled, Laban spent most of his time gloating over the way he would punish Jacob. His eyes glistened and his mouth twisted into an ugly grimace as he swore to deal out severe punishments to him. His whole entourage began to fear the worst. They knew Laban as a man who had a fine-tuned temper and would tolerate no insubordination.
How surprised they were when they finally caught up with Jacob to find Laban strangely ready to make peace. “I had a dream last night,” he told Jacob. “The God of your father appeared to me and warned me not to harm you. However, why did you have to steal my lucky idols?”
Jacob’s face grew red, and he clenched his fists in frustration. He had never had any dealings with Laban’s idols, and he resented being accused of stealing them. Without hesitation he pronounced a great curse on anyone who might have taken the idols, saying, “Whoever has taken them, let him die.”
Then he gave permission for Laban to search everyone and every place. “Search the camp,” he said, “and if you find them with anyone, they will surely die.”
Laban sent his men in every direction while he himself checked his daughters and their children. When he came to Rachel, she very cleverly insisted she could not rise from the camel’s saddle because it was that time of the month.