Dishonest Laban

Laban was a wealthy shepherd, yet he was dishonest.

A dishonest businessman, in other words.  That's the bottom line.

We see Laban from Genesis 29 through 31, as Jacob goes off to see him.  It is a long tale of deceit and dishonesty, yet Jacob, son of Isaac, took it all in stride and knew God would watch over him and make sure no harm came to him.

Jacob falls in love with Laban's daughter Rachel.  Jacob agrees to work for Laban for seven years in order to marry Rachel.  What follows is a twisted story of Jacob fathering children for both Rachel and also to her sister Leah, something Laban had a hand in.

When Rachel gave birth to her son Joseph, Jacob told Laban that he was to return home.  Laban asks what he wishes in wages, and Jacob informs him that he'll take all of the livestock and is spotted or striped or speckled.  Laban then has all of the spotted and striped and speckled livestock removed, deceiving and tricking Jacob out of any livestock.

But Jacob had plans of his own, and I won't give all of the details here, but in the end Jacob ended up with plenty of livestock of his own--spotted, striped, and speckled.  He then flees.  Laban finds out about Jacob leaving with an immense flock and pursues him.

In the end, Laban and Jacob come to an agreement and Laban does no harm to Jacob--this is mostly due to God appearing before him in a dream and said not to harm Jacob.