ותגנב רחל את התרפים אשר לאביה; she stole them in order that he would reconsider his actions, saying to himself that any deity which allows itself to be stolen surely cannot be much good to anyone. The same argument had been used by Yoash who told his father that if his deity, the baal, was really capable of avenging himself, he should do so himself instead of letting his human worshipper become his defender. (Judges 6,31) Similar arguments are reflected in Ezekiel 28,9 where the prophet predicts the downfall of the King of Tzor (Tyre) who had declared himself a god. He ridicules this “god” as saying to his murderer: “I am a god!” (quoted by Rabbeinu Bachya).

הבנות בנותי והבנים בני והצאן צאני, Lavan deliberately bent the truth when he said: “and the sons are mine.” A grandfather cannot say of his grandchildren by his daughters that they belong to him. What our sages meant when they said that “grandchildren are like children (Yevamot 62) referred only to the grandsons who are sons of sons, not to grandsons who are children of one’s daughters. He also twisted the truth when he said that the flocks (of Yaakov) were his (Lavan’s) flocks. He had first given them to Yaakov as compensation for his labour. Lavan was similarly legally wrong when he added: וכל אשר אתה רואה לי הוא, “all that you (Yaakov) see is really mine.” This is what Yaakov had in mind when said to him in verse 37: “when you checked out and rummaged in all of my things, what did you find that belonged to you?” Lavan had not replied to this. The entire situation reminds one of what ben Haddad had said to Achav King of Israel, (Kings I 20,3) “your silver and gold are mine, your wives and children who are good are mine.” Achav had replied (verse 7) that Ben Haddad’s words revealed that he was bent on doing harm and did not have a legal argument to support his claim. Lavan also had no legal claim so that he was forced to reply to Yaakov’s challenge “why did you chase after me?” “I came to see my daughters, who are my daughters.”