Comentario sobre Génesis 31:24

מטוב עד רע EITHER GOOD OR EVIL — why should he not speak good? Because all the good that the wicked do to the righteous is evil in the opinion of the righteous (Yevamot 103b).

LABAN THE ARAMEAN. The intent of this is to relate that even though he was an Aramean, and the people of his place used teraphim and were soothsayers like the Philistines,²¹⁵Isaiah 2:6. yet the prophetic dream came to him in honor of the righteous one [Jacob]. Similarly, And Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean:²¹⁶Verse 20 here. [the epithet “Aramean” is mentioned in order to indicate that] even though Laban was the Aramean, the diviner and owner of teraphim, [he was still outwitted by Jacob].

Guard yourself that you do not speak. You are forbidden even to speak!

ויבא, just as G’d had communicated with Avimelech in honour of Yitzchok, so He now communicated with Lavan in honour of Yaakov.

אל לבן הארמי, “to Lavan from Aram.” The reason this detail-with which we are already familiar- was mentioned here, was to emphasize that although Lavan, as an Aramite like the other members of his town, was an idolater, G’d appeared to him in a dream for the sake of the righteous Yaakov..

All that is considered good by the wicked is bad as regards to the righteous. [Accordingly,] it seems that the verse means: Do not speak with Yaakov that which is good for you, that he should return with you to Charan, since for him that is bad — for as long as Yaakov associates with a wicked person, the Divine Presence will not rest upon him.

Immer kehrt das Epitheton "der Aramäer" wieder. Nicht vor Laban, vor dem Aramäer, vor der personifizierten Selbstsucht, die in ihm steckte, war Jakob geflohen, und von ihr drohte ihm Übles. מטוב עד רע, es sei Gutes oder Böses. Labans Güte war immer eine List, und Gutes oder Böses heißt: es sei mit List oder Gewalt.

ויבא אלוקים אל לבן, G-d came (in a dream) to Lavan;

EITHER GOOD OR BAD. [Why should he not speak good?] Because all the good that the wicked do is looked upon by the righteous as bad. This is Rashi’s language. But the plain meaning thereof is as follow: “Take heed that you speak not to Jacob and promise to treat him well if he will return with you from his journey, or lest you threaten to do him evil if he will not come with you, for it is I Who commanded him to return to his land.”

Either good. Do not try to lure Yaakov into returning with offers of benefits. Or evil. And do not threaten him.

פן תדבר, that you dare not speak. Do not start a quarrel with him planning to do harm to him as a result. Not only must you not harm him physically, but you must not even inflict verbal abuse on him. The correct meaning of the words פן תדבר is: “not to speak harshly.” Constructions with the prefix פן also occur in Genesis 3,3 as a warning, on pain of death, not to eat from the tree of knowledge, or in Genesis 24,6 פן תשיב את בני שמה not to bring Yitzchok back to Padan Aram.

מטוב עד רע, “either good or evil (threats).” When wicked people do you favours, “טוב”, such favours are tainted because they originate with the wicked. Sooner or later, something רע, “evil,” will happen as a consequence of such a “favour.” According to Nachmanides, G’d did not permit Lavan to try and convince him to come back with him, in return for favourable conditions which he would provide for him. Neither was he allowed to try and frighten Yaakov by warning him of what he would do to him if he did not come back.

מטוב עד רע, though you may think that if you deprive Yaakov only of a small fraction of his wealth that from your vantage point you are doing him a favour by allowing him to retain most of it, or that you plan to rob him of most of it, something which even you realise as an evil thing to do, seeing you want to punish him for leaving you without having taken his leave from you.