Context No. 3970 of 4322 · Genesis

Genesis 31:14-19: in context

14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money. 16For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.” 17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 18and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.

God has told Jacob to leave Laban and return to his own land, and when Jacob explains this to his wives Rachel and Leah, they respond with wholehearted agreement: whatever God has said to you, do. They are ready to leave their father's house and follow God's direction for their family, trusting the word God had given Jacob.

It is a good moment of united obedience: whatever God has said, do. But a shadow falls across the scene in the very next detail: as they leave, Rachel secretly steals her father's household idols and takes them along. Even as the family sets out in obedience to the true God, Rachel carries the old gods with her, an emblem of a heart not yet fully surrendered. There is both a good example and a caution here. The wives' readiness to obey God's word is a model of the response God looks for. And Rachel's hidden idols are a caution against the way we can set out to follow God while secretly clinging to the old things we should have left behind. It is possible to obey God outwardly while carrying along idols in the heart.

Am I ready to obey whatever God has said, and in following him have I truly left the old idols behind, or am I secretly carrying along, like Rachel, things I should have surrendered?

Sources

Genesis 31:16: "Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."
Genesis 31:19: "Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's."
Genesis 35:2: "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments."