Genesis 31:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.

NIV: Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us.

NASB: Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price.

CSB: Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has certainly spent our purchase price.

NLT: He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.

KJV: Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.

NKJV: Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money.

Rachel and Leah are telling Jacob why they will support him in the move away from their father and homeland to travel to live among his people in Canaan. For one thing, they don't believe they have any future inheritance coming from their father.

Now they express that they, too, feel they've been mistreated by Laban. It's not immediately clear why they say that he has treated them as foreigners, though it might mean he was distant or cold to them once they were married to Jacob (Genesis 29:20–28). It's possible they are identifying with Jacob. Their father claimed him as family but then mistreated him as one would a foreigner. In the process, he mistreated his own daughters, as well (Genesis 30:31–43).

On the other hand, it's not hard to understand what the women mean—that their father sold them and devoured their money. Laban used trickery and his daughter's marriages to get 14 years of labor out of Jacob. That was good for Laban, but it also meant withholding money from his own daughters and grandchildren. The two sisters had been married to a man who became an indentured servant, a kind of property, belonging to Laban. In that sense, they were sold into slavery, as well, to their own father. Apparently, any money paid to a father by a bridegroom would customarily be saved and given to the bride in the inheritance when the father died. Jacob's only dowry was his service, so there was no money waiting for Rachel and Leah when their father died. He had already "devoured" it all in using up Jacob's work for him.

Further, Laban's most recent attempt to cheat Jacob meant yet another moment where the interests of Laban's own daughters came second to his greed. Despite Leah and Rachel's intense rivalry (Genesis 30:8), they are in agreement on this issue.

Genesis 31:1–21 describes the events that propel Jacob to sneak away from Laban and head toward his homeland of Canaan. First, he learns that Laban and his sons are dangerously unhappy with him for taking so many of Laban's profits. Then God commands Jacob to go, promising to be with him. After securing the support of his wives, Jacob packs up his large family and property and sneaks away toward Gilead and then home.

Genesis 31 describes Jacob's difficult separation from Laban, his father-in-law, as well as his boss for twenty years. During that time, Jacob was routinely mistreated and cheated by his master. Commanded by God to return to the land of Canaan, Jacob packs up his wives, children, and all of his possessions and leaves without telling Laban. Laban soon catches up with the large company. Laban and Jacob confront each other bitterly. Eventually, though, they make a covenant of separation and peace.

Genesis 30 described the dramatic expansion of Jacob's family and property. Now, after twenty years of working for Laban, the time comes for Jacob to return to his own people. He attempts to sneak away without telling Laban, but Laban soon catches up with him. After bitter confrontations, father and son-in-law make a covenant of separation and peace. Jacob is finally free to begin the next chapter of his life in the Promised Land. First, though, he will need to deal with his brother Esau, whose rage was the main reason Jacob fled in the first place. That encounter is described over the following two chapters.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.