Genesis 31:16

Gen 31:16 For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that [is] ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

Ver. 16. For all the riches, &c.] Here they speak the truth; but offend, (1.) In that they utter it passionately, and with perturbation of spirit; (2.) In that they seem somewhat to obscure God’s blessing; as though it were but their due, as daughters. In dealing with those that have done us wrong, it is hard not to offend, either in the matter or manner of our expressions.

Now then, whatsoever God hath said, &c.] Thus they prefer a husband to a father. So did Michal, though there was no great store of religion in her. And so nature had taught that "daughter of women" to do, Dan 11:17. Antiochus the Great gave Cleopatra, his daughter, to Ptolemy Epiphanes, thinking to use her as an instrument to destroy him. But she, contrary to his expectation, clave to her husband.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. For all the riches which God has taken from our father. Rachel and Leah confirm the speech of Jacob; but yet in a profane and common manner, not with a lively and pure sense of religion. For they only make a passing allusion to the fact, that God, in pity to his servant, had deigned to honor him with peculiar favor; and in the meantime, insist upon a reason of little solidity, that what they were carrying away was justly their due, because a part of the inheritance pertained to them. They do not argue that the riches they possessed were theirs, because they had been justly acquired by the labor of their husband; but because they themselves ought not to have been defrauded of their dowry, and now deprived of their lawful inheritance. For this reason they mention also their children with themselves, as having sprung from the blood of Laban. By this method they not only obscure the blessing of God, but indulge themselves in greater license than is right. They also form a mean estimate of their husband’s labors, in boasting that the fruit of those labors proceeded from themselves. Wherefore we are, by no means, to seek hence a precedent for the way in which each is to defend his own right, or to attempt the recovery of it, when it has been unjustly wrested from him.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Then Jacob rose up,.... And went with them to Laban's house, where his children were, as is plain from Rachel's theft, Gen 31:19,

and set his sons and his wives upon camels; which were his own, see Gen 30:43; creatures fit for travelling; on these he set his wives, Rachel and Leah, and his concubine wives, Bilhah and Zilpah; for these went with him, as appears from Gen 33:6; and "his sons", or rather "his children": for they were not all sons, there was one daughter, and they were all young; his eldest son Reuben could not be much more than twelve years of age, and his youngest son Joseph about six.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is ours; not only by God’s special gift, but by the natural right which children have to a share in his estate, and upon the account of thy faitithful and laborious service.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whereas Jacob looked upon the wealth which God had passed over from Laban to him as his wages, they look upon it as their portions; so that both ways God forced Laban to pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

כי כל העשר FOR ALL THE RICHES — The word כי here means but; as much as to say: of our father’s property we have nothing at all; but what The Holy One, blessed be He, has taken away from our father, that is ours.

הציל means separated (or taken away). Similarly all forms from the Hiphil of this root occuring in Scripture (usually translated by “to deliver”, “to rescue“) mean taking away, for one who rescues a person takes him away from the misfortune or from the enemy.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

bAll the wealth that Elokim rescued. We do not expect to receive from him anything other than what Hashem has already rescued.

Now. Now that he has accepted the slander about you and may use it to justify stealing whatever you have.

Whatever Hashem has said, do it. There is no need for you to seek further permission.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.