What does Genesis 31:38 mean?
Jacob is finally expressing all of his frustration to Laban, laying out exactly how his father-in-law has mistreated him for the last twenty years. This mistreatment was so obvious, and so abusive, that even Laban's daughters—locked in a bitter rivalry with each other (Genesis 30:8)—agreed that their father cared nothing for them, in comparison to his greed (Genesis 31:14–16). After mocking Laban for not finding the house idols he claimed Jacob had stolen (Genesis 31:30), Jacob now turns to older complaints from their history together.First, during Jacob's two decades of faithful and diligent service as a manager of Laban's flocks of sheep and goats, there were no miscarriages as new animals were born. Laban benefitted from Jacob's skill and the Lord's blessing on Jacob, as Laban himself admitted (Genesis 30:27).
In addition, Jacob refused to eat the full-grown rams. In other words, he didn't dip into his father-in-law's profits by skimming animals for food. Jacob had a long track record of honest and exemplary service, which made Laban's seemingly false accusation about the stolen idols even harder to take.