פירוש על בראשית 30:27

נחשתי I HAVE DIVINED — He was a diviner. “I have discovered by my art of divination that through you a blessing has come to me. When you first came here I had no sons” — for it is said (29:6) “And, behold, Rachel his daughter is coming with the flock”: is it possible if he had sons that he would have let his daughter go among the shepherds ? — now, however, he had sons, as it is said (31:1) “And he heard the words of Laban’s sons”.

‘NICHASHTI’ I HAVE OBSERVED THE SIGNS AND THE ETERNAL HATH BLESSED ME FOR THY SAKE. That is, “on account of you and your merit for you are a righteous man.” The word nichashti means “I have tested,” and every form of nichesh connotes testing. And some say¹⁵²Ibn Ezra. that Laban was a diviner with teraphim.¹⁵³See Ramban further, 31:19.
Jacob, however, said, And the Eternal hath blessed thee ‘leragli’ (since my coming),¹⁵⁴Verse 30 here. but, in a humble manner, he did not want to say “for my sake.” Thus, he said leragli, meaning that “from the time I set my foot in your house, you have been blessed.”

אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך, if you love me at all, as would be appropriate for people of the same flesh and blood. It is not proper for you to abandon me at this stage. Why would he term Yaakov’s leaving for his own home as abandoning Lavan? נחשתי, I am absolutely convinced that my good fortune during the last 14 years commenced with your arrival at my doorstep. As the Talmud Berachot 42 puts it:תכף לתלמיד חכם ברכה, attaching oneself to a Torah scholar and playing host to him results in the host receiving Divine blessings. [the Talmud quotes our verse as its source. Ed.]

נחשתי, I have divined, i.e. I have gone to magicians, mediums, etc., to find confirmation that your stay with me was the cause of my good fortune during the last 14 years. As a result, I want that you stay with me some more time.

נחשתי ויברכני, “I have myself come to feel that the Lord has blessed me on your account.” The expression נחש usually implies that the knowledge one has acquired is empirical, the result of experimentation. Lavan had made all kinds of experiments to determine to what he owed his good fortune during the 14 years that Yaakov had been with him. Another explanation is that he used his “teraphim,” his oracles, to determine this, and even those indicated that Lavan’s new found wealth was due to Yaakov’s presence. It is interesting that later on in verse 30 Yaakov does not attribute Lavan’s wealth to his presence but to לרגלי, from the day I came, i.e. not because of anything I did. Yaakov was a model of modesty.

Is it possible that he had sons and would send his daughter...? You might ask: Perhaps he had younger boys [who were too young to be sent]? The answer is: If so, he would have sent Bilhah or Zilpah, who were from a concubine, rather than Rochel who was his daughter from his true wife. If he had no sons, it is understandable to send Rochel, for then she will inherit him. [According to the laws of inheritance] daughters from a true wife come before daughters from a concubine. Consequently, she would surely guard [his flock] well. But if he had sons, she would not inherit any property, as sons come before daughters according to the laws of inheritance. Were that the case, he would not have sent Rochel. Perforce, he had no sons at all. (Mahara’i)

Laban möchte ihn gerne behalten, und am liebsten wie bisher für die bloße Kost. Er spricht daher wie der echte verschmitzte "fromme" Schurke. Er gesteht nicht, dass er ihn nur seiner tüchtigen Leistungen willen behalten möchte; solche konkrete Dinge, fühlt er, muss man bezahlen, und, sobald man sie gar gelobt hat, gut bezahlen. Er spricht daher ungemein"fromm" — (und wie noch heute diejenigen, die alle wahre Frömmigkeit abgestreift, einen abergläubigen Zipfel ergreifen, und meinen, ניחוש, Aberglauben haben, sei "fromm" sein — ): ich lasse dich nicht gerne fort — es hat das eigentlich keinen wirklichen Grund, allein ich habe ein ניחוש daran, es kommt mir fast so vor, als ob "ד׳", der Gott, dem du dienest, mich um deinetwillen, weil du ein so frommer Mann bist, gesegnet hat. Darum möchte ich gar zu gern einen solchen frommen Mann nicht von mir lassen. — Er hatte gehofft, der "fromme" Mann würde sich dadurch geschmeichelt fühlen und sich zum Verbleiben bereit erklären. Da Jakob aber schwieg, sah er die Notwendigkeit ein, doch mit etwas Materiellem herauszurücken. "Bestimme du den Lohn, ich will ihn gerne geben." Darauf Jakob: Du weißt es ganz wohl klar und deutlich, brauchst nicht erst zu einer "Ahnung" deine Zuflucht zu nehmen, was ich dir geleistet und was ich zu "deinem Segen" beigetragen; brauchst nicht zu vermuten, dass Gott dich בגללי, um meinetwillen, sondern weißt es, dass er dich לרגלי, nach meinem Gange, nach dem wie ich Hand und Fuß tüchtig in deinem Dienst gerührt, gesegnet hat. Nicht meine Frömmigkeit, sondern meinen Fleiß hat Gott dir gesegnet — und nun — wann soll ich einmal anfangen mit dieser fleißigen Arbeitskraft auch etwas für mein Haus zu schaffen?

Ad-noy has blessed you with my coming. Lavan attributed his prosperity to Yaakov’s fortune whereas Yaakov insisted it was due to his effort. But one way or another, it was true that Hashem had blessed Lavan with his coming.

נחשתי: siehe Jeschurun VIII. S. 436.

נחשתי, “I have learned by divination;” Lavan owned household idols. Seeing that this was so, he consulted with sorcerers.

נחשתי ויברכני, “I consulted with them and have found that I have been blessed since your having come to me.” Rashi explains this as follows: until you came here I have only had daughters. This is why he had to send out his daughters to tend his flocks. Surely, if he had had sons he would not have sent out daughters to tend the flocks. One could understand the line: כי רועה היא in 29,9 to mean: “instead of them;” the boys. Maybe his sons were too young to be sent out tending sheep.