The Gate of Heaven (26 page)

“Well, at least he does his work,” Laban mumbled. His two sons stared at him, and he found that his lips were so numb he had to pronounce his words carefully to keep them from being slurred. “He knows a lot about animals. More than any man I ever saw. You have to admit the herds have grown.”

“Yes, they've grown, but what good is that going to do us?” Lomach said bitterly. “For all we know he's selling off the best of them to other people.”

“There's no way he could do that,” Laban protested.

“Why not? He's out there by himself most of the time. A herd comes through. He sells them twenty goats. How would we know the difference?”

“You're right, brother. We've got to start keeping a closer count.” He turned to his father and leaned forward, his small eyes shining with the wine he had consumed. “Have you heard talk about his leaving?”

Laban was startled. “What are you talking about? He's not leaving!”

“Yes, he is.” Lomach nodded stubbornly. “And he'll take the best of the animals with him.”

“We'd stop him,” Benzar said indignantly. “They're ours—all of them.”

“Look here,” Laban said. “Jacob's not going to leave.”

“That's what you think,” Benzar spat out. “And when he does he'll take the best of all we have unless we do something.”

The three men talked on, their voices growing louder. The other customers were accustomed to the three arguing. Their visits usually ended up in a fight between the two younger men.

Finally Laban said, “Something will have to be done. We can't let him leave here with our cattle.” He got up and said, “I'll talk to him about it.”

“You can't bargain with him. He's a deceiver—tricky as a fox!”

“I'm a little bit tricky myself.” Laban grinned crookedly. “Don't worry, sons. I'll see to this business myself!”

Jacob called a family council, consisting of his wives, Leah and Rachel, and his two concubines, Zilpah and Bilhah, and his older sons—they were still young but he thought it time they started learning about family affairs. He wanted to explain his plans about leaving. “I've talked about this for some time, but if we go now, we'll have to leave with only the clothes on our backs.”

“You've worked so many years,” Leah said. “Some of the herds are rightfully yours.”

“You know how your father is, Leah.” Jacob shrugged. “He's not giving anything away.”

“Then you'll have to make some sort of deal with him.”

“That's why I called you all together. Your father has talked to me about the future.”

“That's the first time he's ever done that, isn't it?” Rachel asked, her eyes fixed on Jacob. “What did he say?”

“I think he's afraid I'm going to cheat him.” Jacob grinned sourly. “He's the one who's been cheating me all these years. But it's what I've been waiting for.”

“What are you going to do?” Zilpah demanded.

“I've been thinking about a plan, and I'm going to see to it that in a couple of years, we'll have enough livestock of our own to leave here.”

“What sort of plan?” Leah, the practical one, asked.

“I've got to make it sound like Laban's getting the best of the deal. I've given this a lot of thought, and here's what I'm going to propose to him….”

“I don't
owe
you anything, Jacob,” Laban argued. “I gave you your two wives and their two handmaids and dowries.”

Jacob had expected this reaction from Laban. He knew the old man would give nothing away, but he had planned carefully. “You know I deserve more than that. I've worked for you for years, Laban.”

After a heated argument, Laban finally said, “All right. I'll give you twenty head of sheep and twenty goats and twenty cattle.”

“Any overseer would get more than that,” Jacob said firmly. “You would have had to give any man that's done what I've done at least a tenth of the herd and the pick of them too. And I have to remind you, Laban, that most of your wealth has come because I've brought it to you. So make up your mind to it. You're going to have to give more than a few head of cattle.”

This was actually the second meeting the two had had. The first one had ended in a shouting match, but both men knew that some agreement had to be made. Laban was terrified that his son-in-law might cheat him, and Jacob played on this fear by threatening more than once to simply walk out without due warning.

Finally Jacob said, “Laban, my God wants me to leave here eventually, and He will be hard on anyone who doesn't treat me fairly.”

This troubled Laban greatly, for he was terrified of gods—those that he prayed to himself, but perhaps even more the great God of Jacob. He knew the history of Abraham and Isaac well and was convinced that their God was strong. “Now, wait a minute,” he said. “I'm not trying to cheat you. I just don't want you to take more than what is right.”

“All right. I'm going to make you an offer, and it will be my final one. If you don't take it, I am leaving.”

“You're going to cheat me!” Laban protested.

“Listen to me, old man. I want to take only the animals that are streaked and spotted. Those are the least valuable ones, as you well know. Their wool and hides bring practically nothing at the market.”

“You want all of those?”

“Yes, and I'll leave you all of the pure animals.”

Laban's eyes narrowed. It seemed too good to be true, and he thought hard, trying to find some flaw with Jacob's proposal. It was true enough that the darker animals did not produce the best wool and there were fewer of them. He took a deep breath and, seeing the determination on Jacob's face, said, “All right. That will be our agreement. All the pure animals are mine, and all those that are marked or streaked or speckled will be yours.”

“Agreed,” Jacob said at once. The two did not shake hands, but Jacob was insistent on making the agreement known to everyone. He took the old man into town before the elders, and a scribe wrote it all down and made copies on pieces of sheepskin.

Laban held on to his copy, but his eyes were on his son-in-law. “Remember, the pure animals are all mine.”

“Exactly right, and those that are marked with spots or streaks are mine.”

“It sounds like such an awful deal, Jacob,” Rachel said. She had gathered with Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah again as Jacob had explained what he had done.

“It is a bad deal. You gave away the best of the livestock,” Leah groaned.

“That's what Laban thinks.” Jacob was smiling. He began to laugh and walked back and forth.

“Have you lost your mind?” Leah demanded. “You agree to work for the worst of the beasts and you're laughing?”

“Listen. What Laban doesn't know—and what
you
don't know—is that these streaked beasts, the brown ones and spotted ones, are far heartier than those that are pure white. I don't know why it is, but the white animals are much quicker to fall prey to disease. And I'll tell you something else,” he said. “The brindled animals drop twins more often than not, and almost all of their offspring are female. That means more animals, more wool, more cheese. And the hair of all these mottled goats, why, it's different. It makes a much stronger weave than pure white.”

The four women listened as Jacob went on about the future. Finally he said, “It's going to take a little while. I want to leave here with all of the animals I can. But in a year, or perhaps two, we'll have a herd as large as we can handle. In the meantime, start collecting things. When we leave here we're going to take the best we can with us. All of the oil, the grain, the wine, the tools. I'll keep my eyes open for herdsmen who'll leave this place with us.”

“Well, I'm ready,” Leah said, shaking her head. “We'll never get ahead the way we've been going.”

“It will be very good, husband,” Rachel said. “I'm proud of you.”

“It's going to take a few miracles, but in a couple of years we'll be back in Canaan with my parents.” He did not mention Esau, pushing away any thought of his brother. “I'll be home again after all these years!”

The world of Dinah and Joseph was unbounded by time, or so it seemed to them. Day followed day, and week followed week, and as the weeks turned into months, they were only vaguely aware of the stirrings within the family. They had both picked up, as children will, on the “secret” that one day they would depart from this place. But time meant little to them, and when they were told it would not be for many months, they threw themselves into the activities around them.

The family of Jacob had divided itself into two separate groups. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah were older and did the things that older boys enjoyed. They worked, they hunted, they went on expeditions—usually keeping to themselves and having little to do with the rest of Jacob's sons.

It was the younger children that mostly made up the world for Joseph and Dinah. Dan was the leader and Naphtali his lieutenant. Gad and Asher were headstrong and made difficult playmates, so Joseph, Dinah, Issachar, and Zebulun spent much of their time together. Being the only girl, Dinah was the one who instigated most of the games that the group occupied themselves with.

Dinah was a marvel to everyone, making up games and stories and songs without effort. It was Dinah who would make up some fabulous story and people it with her brothers. Sometimes one of them would be a monster, another would be a bird. Whatever came out of her head she wanted to act out, and her brothers usually went along with her ideas.

Joseph, although the youngest of all, was almost as imaginative as his sister. He threw himself into the games with all of his energy and added his own refinements to the dramas the children enacted.

Being the youngest, Dinah and Joseph were spoiled—no great secret to either the family or the servants. Quite often Dinah would forget or rebel against the tasks that Leah set for her. One of her jobs was to feed the goat they were keeping in a pen for a feast. She got so involved once in her games that the poor animal suffered with no food or water. Leah had discovered this and had come out to where Joseph and Dinah were playing with Zebulun and Issachar. Leah grabbed Dinah by the arm and screamed at her, “You didn't feed the goat!”

Dinah tried to pull away, but Leah was too strong. The girl was dragged screaming until Leah pulled the branch off of a tree and thrashed her, leaving stripes on her legs.

Finally Leah laid one last hard blow on the girl and said, “Now, you forget again and see what punishment you'll get next time!”

The three boys had watched in awe as Dinah had screamed and fought with her mother. There was no passivity in this girl! Any one of the three boys would have submitted—indeed, they had received thrashings by the elders without resistance—but not Dinah. They watched as she ran off, and Joseph turned and said, “She's going to tell Father.”