LABAN. – Rebecca (v.) Jacob (v.). He lived with his Haran (v.), in Mesopotamia, where Abraham too had stopped for some time (Gen. 11:31). He kindly received Abraham’s servant Eliezer, who had come to seek a bride for Isaac among the members of the same Thareite family, and willingly gave his consent, together with his father Bethuel, to Rebecca’s marriage to Abraham’s son (ibid. 24). Later he gave shelter to his nephew Jacob, who took refuge with his uncle for 20 years (ibid. 29–31) in order to escape the anger of his brother Esau and at the same time seek a bride among his own relatives.
Having come to know Jacob’s probity and diligence, L. promised to give him his daughter Rachel (v.) in marriage, on condition that he work for him for seven years: a service that could be regarded as equivalent to the price of the dowry (mōhar) which, according to custom, the suitor was obliged to pay to the father of the betrothed (cf. DB, II, col. 1495 ff.). But at the agreed time, on the evening of the wedding banquet, L. craftily substituted his elder daughter Leah (v.) for Rachel; because of a defect in her eyes, she was not equally pleasing to Jacob. After a week, Jacob also obtained the bride he preferred, Rachel, for whom he had to undertake to serve his crafty uncle for another seven years. Once this period had elapsed, L., who owed the rapid increase of his fortune to Jacob’s diligence, wished to keep him with him still longer, concluding an agreement that placed his nephew and son-in-law in a position to establish a property of his own through his work. The agreement was this: Jacob would remain to tend L.’s flock; the sheep and goats subsequently born would be divided between the two: Jacob would receive those with black fleece, and L. the others. But since Jacob, through his shrewd industry, soon became the owner of a large number of animals, he aroused the jealousy of his grasping uncle, who ten times in six years attempted to alter the terms of the contract, but in vain. Finally, in order to avoid disputes between the two families, he fled secretly with his wives Rachel and Leah, who likewise had complaints against their father’s avarice, taking away the flocks that belonged to him. L., informed of his departure after three days, pursued him and overtook him in Gilead. Besides settling personal and economic matters, he intended to recover his tērāphim (superstitious objects of idolatrous worship), which Rachel had stolen without her husband’s knowledge. But he failed to find them, because Rachel had cleverly hidden them.
After uncle and nephew had exchanged mutual reproaches, they finally came to an understanding and concluded a pact of friendship in a solemn ceremony. On that occasion a monument was erected, namely, a cairn of stones (to which L. gave the Aramaic name jēghar dāhdhūthā, or “cairn of testimony,” and Jacob the name used in the land of Canaan, Gal'ēdh, or “cairn of witness”); a sacrifice was offered upon it, followed by the sacrificial banquet in which the relatives took part. As a seal of the alliance, L. invoked the “God of Abraham and the God of Nahor,” while Jacob replied by swearing by “Him who was held by Isaac,” his father (Gen. 31:43–54). Whereas Jacob invokes only the God of Abraham and Isaac, that is, the one true God, L. also names the God of Nahor: this suggests that he, like his ancestor Nahor (cf. Ios. 24:2), was tainted by polytheism, which also appears to be confirmed by the episode of the tērāphim. When the ceremony was completed, L. parted from Jacob and returned to Haran.