BRAGADAYJAH 108

Still not knowing what was going on or what Laban was searching for, Jacob became very upset, as anyone would, and decided to let Laban have a piece of his mind, so Jacob addressed him. “ Come now Laban, what is my wrongdoing, what is my sin against you? You chased after me as if I were a thief; you have turned my belongings up side down, and what have you found? If I have stolen from you, then you must have found it; so place it here before me and my men and you and your men, and let them judge me whether I am a thief or not.” When Laban did not respond, Laban continued to lay out his indictment against Laban. “Twenty years have I served you; I looked steadfastly after your sheep and your goats, and your flocks, and when they had young ones, I looked after them also, and any of your flocks which were injured or stolen by animals I bore the loss myself. Thus, I served you summer and winter, by night and by day; and many a sleepless night have I had.” “Twenty years I served you, fourteen of those years were my wages for your two daughters; and I need not remind you how that came about; and after those fourteen years I was forced to serve you another six years and even so you changed the terms of our agreement, and cheated me out of my wages ten times. And even now, were it not for the fear of God of my fathers, of Abraham and Isaac, you would have sent me away empty handed. But God has seen my affliction and my labor, and that is why he intervened and warned you in your dream the other night regarding me.” Laban knew that every word spoken by Jacob was the truth; and he knew he could not deny the severity of the allegations made against him, nor the justice of Jacob’s claim; so he said, “Come now, your wives are my daughters; and their children are my children, even the cattle that you have belong to me. So what can I do unto you and unto them? I tell you what I will do, I will make a covenant of peace with you, and let it be a witness between us.” So that day did Jacob built a pillar of stones and he called the name of the place, Galeed; but Laban called it Jegarsahadusah; and they sat there and ate bread together that day. More