- 117-
after him, "with his brethren," his anger being further excited by the theft of his
household gods, or "teraphim," which Rachel, unknown, of course, to Jacob, had
taken with her. On the seventh day Laban and his relatives overtook Jacob and his
caravan in Mount Gilead. The consequences might have been terrible, if God had not
interposed to warn Laban in a dream, not to injure nor to hurt Jacob. Being further
foiled in his search after the missing teraphim, through the cunning of his own
daughter, Laban, despite his hypocritical professions of how affectionate their leave-
taking might have been if Jacob had not "stolen away," stood convicted of selfishness
and unkindness. In fact, if the conduct of Jacob, even in his going away, had been far
from straightforward, that of Laban was of the most unprincipled kind. However,
peace was restored between them, and a covenant made, in virtue of which neither
party was to cross for hostile purposes the memorial pillar which they erected, and to
which Laban gave a Chaldee and Jacob a Hebrew name, meaning "the heap of
witness."
Hypocritically as in the mouth of Laban the additional name of Mizpah sounds,
which he gave to this pillar, it is a very significant designation to mark great events in
our lives, especially our alliances and our undertakings. For Mizpah means
"watchtower," and the words which accompanied the giving of this name were:
"Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another."(^)