Jacob and Laban Make Peace

God Blesses and Recreates

God Blesses Jacob and Rachel

Genesis 31:43-50 The Message

43-44 Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”
45 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.
46-47 Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).
48-50 Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”

For Reflection

So Jacob and Labab buried the hatchet and raised the stones.  After all the greed, and treachery, they resolve a covenant. They mark the truce with a monument as a witness of their new beginning. No grudges held; no blame assigned. The Covenant is sealed and protected by God.

Pray

Pray so that you can bury your conflicts and over the resting place raise a monument to peace.  To those with whom you war make peace and erect a lifetime of reconciliation as a living prayer to our creator.

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