Commentary for Genesis 31:52

אם אני THAT I WILL NOT — Here the word אם is used in the sense of אשר “that”, as (Genesis 24:33) “until that (אם) I have spoken my words”.

עד...אם אני, the expression אם אני and אם אתה in this verse must be understood as if the Torah had written שאני and שאתה, “that I,“ “that you.” We find the word אם used in that sense in Genesis 24,19 עד אם כלו לשתות, “until they have finished drinking,” as we pointed out there.

עד הגל הזה, “this pile of stones is a witness, etc.” This is why Bileam (re-incarnate of Lavan) had his foot squeezed against the wall by the she-ass when he was on the way to curse the descendants of Yaakov, the “wall” described in Numbers The “wall” is a euphemism for this pile of stones, Bileam, being the re-incarnate of Lavan. [this may account for the fact that when Bileam arrived at Balak he was limping. Ed.]

עד הגל הזה ועדה המצבה, “both the mound and the monument are to serve as witness, etc.” After Lavan had already said in verse 50 that G’d is a witness, etc., why did Lavan have to repeat here “This mound or monument is a witness?” Lavan did so only in order to make both heaven and earth his witness. We find that the prophet Samuel did something similar when he made the Jewish people take an oath (Samuel I 12,5 and again in verse 6 of that chapter) when he said to them: “the Lord is witness and His anointed is witness, etc.”

Here אם is used to mean “that”... I.e., אם [in its usual meaning of “if”] implies uncertainty. But here it cannot be explained so. Thus Rashi explains, “Here, אם is used to mean ‘that’.” It comes in place of [the prefix] ש, as if it said ועדה המצבה שאני לא אעבור.

עד הגל הזה, “this stone heap (plus the monument mentioned in the same verse) is to serve as two witnesses;” they fastened a sword to this monument as a symbol; this is why Bileam was struck both by a sword as well as by becoming lame, when his leg was squeezed against a stonewall by his she-ass, Numbers 22,25. Bileam is identified as Lavan, same as kushan rishatayim (according to the Zohar on Chayey Sarah page 126.) We find something similar in the case of a young man who became betrothed to a young lady and swore an oath to her not to marry another woman in addition to her. As proof of his sincerity he gave her a polecat and a cistern After a year, he married another woman who bore him two children. One of his children was fatally injured by a polecat, the other drowned in a cistern. In other words, each one of his children was killed by one of his witnesses to the oath he had broken. (Compare Talmud, tractate Taanit, folio 8, and Rashi’s commentary on that paragraph.) We can also find an allusion to this in the wording of Deuteronomy 17,7: יד העדים תהיה בו בראשונה, “the hand of the witnesses shall be the first upon him, etc.”

אם אני לא אעבור עליך, “I will not cross this stonepile with hostile intent against you. Lavan undertakes not to join anyone bent on attacking Yaakov in return for Yaakov’s promise not to do this in the event that he will be attacked.

לרעה FOR EVIL — For evil you may not pass, but for trading purposes (as e. g., with a caravan) you may pass (Genesis Rabbah 74:16).

אני, the word is spelled with the vowel kametz although it does not signify a comma or other interruption of the subject matter under discussion. It is to be understood as in Psalms 89,28 in אף אני-בכור אתנהו, “I will even consider him as a firstborn.” The long vowel kametz lends emphasis to the word. So it does in our verse, and so it does in Genesis 27,34 ברכני גן אני אבי, “bless me also father!” Esau pleaded: “I too need a blessing.”

אם אני לא אעבור אליך את הגל הזה ואם אתה לא תעבור אלי את הגל הזה ואת המצבה הזאת לרעה. “that I will not pass this pile of stones and neither will you pass this monument with hostile intent.” According to Ibn Ezra the words את הגל הזה are not to be taken literally, but are a symbol for the agreement confirmed by both Yaakov and Lavan when they erected the pile of stones and ate a sacrificial meal together to seal the covenant. The word אם here has the same meaning as the word אשר, “that.” The word תעבור, too, does not refer to walking past an imaginary line, but is a euphemism for action, i.e. hostile action. Other commentators see in the verse a mutual promise to cross this symbolic boundary in order to come to the assistance of the other party when this is called for. It is a boundary only to prevent hostile invasion of the other party’s realm. Still other commentators believe that Lavan did not want to say something offensive, negative, hence he couched it in a manner that describes it as an inactivity, although the final word לרעה strictly speaking, only makes sense if the opening words had been אם אעבור, instead of to אם לא אעבור. Still another opinion understands the negative opening as a hint that Lavan agrees that when either one of them is in difficulties which the other party can save him from, that in such a situation it is, of course, in order to cross this new boundary between their respective realms. This would be in line with other agreements called ברית, alliance, when either party promises the other to assist them when the need arises.

ואת המצבה הזאת, which you have erected as a witness and sign of the covenant between you and me. Yaakov had erected the monument, whereas both had he and Lavan had combined to set up the pile of stones described as גל. This is why he mentioned the מצבה when saying to Yaakov ואם אתה, we must wonder altogether that Lavan was now prepared to make his peace with Yaakov, having obtained nothing in return for his pursuit. The fact is that although he had boasted that he possessed the power to harm Yaakov, he had realised that Yaakov’s G’d not only had assisted him in the past, but had given him, Lavan personally, notice not even to harass Yaakov. This is why now he begged for a peace agreement, as had Avimelech when be asked for such an agreement from Yitzchok after first having expelled him from Gerar. Avimelech had also acknowledged in front of his general that they had convinced themselves that G’d was on the side of Yitzchok (26,28)