Laban

Family: Bethuel's family · Role: brother of Rebekah · First appears: The Wooing Of Rebekah

When Rebekah chose to leave with Eliezer, her brother Laban and their mother gave her their blessing. Six years later, Laban’s wife Adinah gave birth to twin daughters, Leah and Rachel. Laban also had two other daughters, Zilpah and Bilhah, described as handmaids whom his concubines had borne.

When Jacob, Laban’s sister’s son, came to Haran, he agreed to serve seven years to marry Rachel. Laban deceived him at the wedding, giving him Leah instead; after Jacob protested, Laban said, “It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the first-born,” and Jacob agreed to serve seven more years for Rachel. Later, Laban accepted Jacob’s proposed wages of spotted goats and black sheep, though the account says he had repeatedly changed Jacob’s wages and tried to overreach him.

When Jacob left secretly, Laban pursued him, intending to kill him. The archangel Michael warned Laban not to harm Jacob, and Laban confronted him at the mountain of Gilead, accusing him of leaving secretly and taking his gods. Rachel had stolen Laban’s teraphim, which were transformed into drinking vessels during Laban’s search. After their quarrel, Laban and Jacob made a treaty, set up stones as a memorial and boundary, and swore their respective terms. Yet on returning to Haran, Laban sent Esau a message urging him to find Jacob and do as he wished to him; the message was carried by Laban’s son Beor.