‘And Jacob was extremely angry and berated Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What have I done wrong? What is my sin that you hotly pursued after me? In your feeling about among all my things what have you found of all your household possessions? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers that they may judge between us two. This twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your she-goats have not cast their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. What was torn of beasts I did not bring to you, I bore the loss of it. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. I was thus. In the day drought consumed me, and by night the frost. And my sleep fled from my eyes. I have been in your house these twenty years. I served you fourteen for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac had been with me surely you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labour of my hands and rebuked you yesternight.” '
Having watched his possessions being mauled by Laban without result Jacob is very angry and makes clear his grievances in front of the leaders of the confederacy. Laban is necessarily on the defensive. He has been proved ‘wrong'. He has failed to justify his charge of theft.
Jacob's arguments are:
1) Laban has failed to prove the charge of theft as the remainder have witnessed.
2) Jacob had paid well for what he has, both in wives and flocks and herds, by long and faithful service in which he endured much hardship. The hardship of the shepherd's life is well depicted. Indeed Laban had demanded recompense for any failure to the full and constantly changed the terms of the contract, yet Jacob bore with it. Animals taken by wild beasts did not normally need to be accounted for (Exodus 22:10-14).
3) He has not taken advantage of his position. While as shepherd he had the right to eat of the flock he has not taken the fat rams. And he has tended the ewes at birth so that there was no failure in the birth process. This may suggest that not all shepherds were so fastidious.
4) Nevertheless when he left Laban would have sent him away with nothing apart from his own personal possessions and would still do so were it not for God's intervention.
5 God has passed judgment on the situation, having seen what he has put up with and the price he paid, and has justified Jacob.
These arguments were important. The remaining confederacy leaders (mainly Laban's sons and relatives) need to be aware of the justice of his position, for the fact was that he had still absconded from the confederation of tribes with his possessions as Laban now argues.
“The God (Elohim) of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac.” Each patriarch had his own description of Yahweh. To Abraham he was ‘the God', the Almighty (El Shaddai), because of what he had done for him and promised to him, to Isaac he was ‘the Fear', the One to be held in awe. Isaac never forgot his rare experiences of the manifested presence of God. (The alternative translation ‘kinsman' has been suggested which would emphasise his close relationship with his God). To Jacob He was ‘the Mighty One' (49:24), possibly partly because of this incident. He had protected Jacob when he was defenceless. We can compare with this how easily Abraham can see Yahweh as El Elyon (14:22) which demonstrates that Yahweh can be given different titles.