Genesis 31:30

Gen 31:30 And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?

Ver. 30. Why hast thou stolen my gods?] Goodly gods that could not save themselves from the thief! See Jer 10:5; Jer 10:11; Jer 10:15. But Jacob, a just man, is here made a thief of. The best must look to be blasted; "as deceivers, and yet true". {2Co 6:8} Wicked men’s "throats are open sepulchres," {Psa 5:9} wherein the good names of God’s innocent ones too oft lie buried: their breath, as fire, shall devour them, saith the prophet. {Isa 33:11} Joseph suffered as a dishonest person; Elisha, as a troubler of the state; Jeremiah, as a traitor; Luther, as the trumpet of rebellion. {a} Nay, in one of his Epistles to Spalatinus, Prorsus Satan est Lutherus, saith he; sed Christus vivit et regnat, Amen. He adds his Amen to it; so little was he moved at it. He had learned, and so must we, to pass through "good and evil report," with Paul. {2Co 6:8} Epiphanius saith, somewhere, that the Jews give out that St Paul turned Christian for spite, because he could not obtain the high priest’s daughter in marriage. We are made "the filth of the world, the sweepings of all things," {περιψηματα; 1Co 4:13} saith St Paul of himself and his companions; who yet were the very "glory of Jesus Christ". {2Co 8:23} Phagius reports the story of an Egyptian who said, The Christians were a company of most filthy lecherous people. And for the keeping of the Sabbath, he saith, they had a disease upon them, and were therefore fain to rest the seventh day.

{a} Tuba rebellionis.

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.

Gen 31:30. Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? — Foolish man! to call those his gods that could be stolen! Could he expect protection from them that could neither resist nor discover their invaders? Happy are they who have the Lord for their God. Enemies may steal our goods, but not our God.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? The second head of accusation which is alleged against Jacob is, that he had not departed through love to his country, nor for any just and probable cause; but that, in fact, he was implicated in an act of robbery. Heavy and disgraceful charge, of which Jacob was far from being guilty! But we learn hence, that no one can live so innocently in the world, but he must sometimes bear undeserved reproach and marks of infamy. Whenever this may happen to us, let that precious promise sustain us, that the Lord, in his own time, will bring forth our innocence as the morning light. (Psalm 37:6.) For by this artifice Satan attempts to seduce us from the practice of well-doing, when, without any fault of ours, we are traduced by false calumnies. And since the world is ungrateful, it often makes the very worst return for acts of kindness. Some, indeed, are found, who, with heroic magnanimity, despise unfavourable reports, because they esteem the testimony of a good conscience more highly than depraved popular opinion. But it behoves the faithful to look to God, that their conscience may never fail them. We see that Laban calls his gods תרפים(teraphim,) not because he thought the Deity was enclosed within them; but because he worshipped these images in honor of the gods. Or rather, because, when he was about to pay homage to God, he turned himself to those images. At this day, by the sole difference of a word, the Papists think they skilfully effect their escape, because they do not attribute to idols the name of gods. But the subterfuge is frivolous, since in reality they are altogether alike; for they pour forth before pictures or statues whatever honor they acknowledge to be due to the one God. To the ancient idolaters the pretext was not wanting, that by a metonymy they styled those images gods, which were formed for the sake of representing God.

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.

30. though thou wouldest needs be gone] Lit. “thou art actually gone.”

my gods] “My Elohim, or god,” here in the sense of the figures of the household gods, as in Jdg_18:24, and possibly in Exo_21:6; Exo_22:7-8; Exo_32:1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live,.... This is the answer to his last question, as what goes before is to his first: Jacob knew nothing of their being taken away by any, and thought himself safe in saying what he did, being confident that no one with him could ever take them; but it was too rashly spoken by him, giving leave to Laban to put to death the person with whom they should be found, or imprecating death on him by the hand of God; "may he not live", but die, die immediately or before his time, as the Targum of Jonathan: hence the Jewish writers (m) observe, that Rachel died in giving birth in consequence of this imprecation, but without any foundation:

before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee: not only his gods, but any of his goods or cattle, whatsoever he could find in his tents, or in his flocks, that were his property, he was welcome to take; and this he declared before the men that Laban brought with him, whom he also calls his brethren, being his kinsfolks and neighbours; and these he appeals to as witnesses of his honesty, integrity, and fair dealing; being conscious to himself that he had took nothing but what was his own:

for Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them; the images or gods; or he would have been more careful of his expression, in love and tenderness to his most beloved wife.

(m) Jarchi in loc. Pirke Eliezer, c. 36.

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

Laban could not be so senseless as to take those for true gods which could be stolen away; but he called them gods, because they were the means or representations whereby he worshipped his gods.

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

30. My gods — This theft he finally charges as the most aggravating thing of all.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? - Foolish man! to call those his gods that could be stolen! Could he expect protection from them that could neither resist nor discover their invaders? Happy are they who have the Lord for their God. Enemies may steal our goods, but not our God.

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

"And now thou art gone (for, if thou art gone), because thou longedst after thy father's house, why hast thou stolen my gods?" The meaning is this: even if thy secret departure can be explained, thy stealing of my gods cannot.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

נכספתה means THOU DIDST LONG—It occurs many times in Scripture: (Psalms 89:3) “My soul yearneth (נכספה) yea, pineth”; (Job 14:15) “Thou wouldst have a desire (תכסוף) to the work of hands”.

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.

Now you have gone. You must have run off in this manner because you so yearned for your father’s house.

But why did you steal. Your yearning for your father’s house was no justification for stealing my gods.

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

ועתה...נכסף נכספתה, as per Onkelos, i.e. “even if you felt an overwhelming urge.” The word נכסוף with the vowel cholem is an infinitive mode in the passive conjugation, similar to Samuel I 20,21 נשאול נשאל.

אלוהי, he called his Teraphim “my gods,” as he and his kind of people relied on them just as we rely on the true G’d.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.