Commento su Genesi 31:19

לגזז את צאנו TO SHEAR HIS FLOCK which he had given into the charge of his sons at a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob.

AND RACHEL STOLE THE TERAPHIM. Her intention was to wean her father from idol-worship. This is the language of Rashi.
Now it is possible that Laban used the teraphim for idol worship, as he himself said, Why hast thou stolen my gods?¹⁹³Further, Verse 30. But not all teraphim were for the purpose of worship, for how could one find idolatry in the house of our lord David.¹⁹⁴See I Samuel 19:13, where it states that there were teraphim in David’s house. That which the commentators¹⁹⁵R’dak, in his Commentary on the verse here. say seems reasonable, namely, that these are vessels to receive¹⁹⁶“Receive.” According to the Tur, “determine.” a knowledge of the hours, and they divine with them in order to gain knowledge of future events. The word teraphim is derived from the expressions: ‘rephai’ (weak) handed;¹⁹⁷II Samuel 17:2. ‘nirpim’ (idle) ye are, idle.¹⁹⁸Exodus 5:17. They are called “teraphim” in order to hint by their name that their words are like a weak prophecy, usually occurring as a prophecy for many days hence¹⁹⁹Ezekiel 12:27. and turning out to be false, just as the prophets have said, For the teraphim have spoken vanity.²⁰⁰Zechariah 10:2. People of little faith set them up for themselves as gods. They do not seek to know by the glorious name of the Eternal, nor do they offer their prayers to Him. Rather, their deeds are guided by divination revealed to them by the teraphim. Thus it is written, And the man Micah had a house of G-d, and he made an ephod, and teraphim,²⁰¹Judges 17:5. and it is further written there, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of G-d that we may know whether our way which we are going shall be prosperous,²⁰²Ibid., 18:5. for they used to ask of the teraphim. Such also was the case in Israel with the ephod, for, having been accustomed to the sacred ephod²⁰³See Exodus 25:6-12. they made something similar in form, and they would seek guidance of it, believe in its words, and blunder after it. Even in sickness they sought not G-d but only them.²⁰⁴See II Chronicles 16:12. This is the meaning of the verse, And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah; and all Israel went astray after it there; and it became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house,²⁰⁵Judges 8:27. for they turned aside from following the Eternal. Now Laban was a diviner and an enchanter, just as he said, I have divined.²⁰⁶Above, 30:27. His country, too, was ever a land of diviners, as it is written, For they are replenished from the east, and with soothsayers like the Philistines,²⁰⁷Isaiah 2:6. Laban’s city Haran was in the land of the children of the east (above, 29:1). and Balaam the son of Beor the diviner was from his city.²⁰⁸See Numbers 23:7. And this is the meaning of, Why hast thou stolen my gods?¹⁹³Further, Verse 30.

ותגנוב רחל את התרפים, in order that Lavan should not be able to locate the whereabouts of Yaakov and his family. We know from Hoseah 3,4 that Teraphim were credited with supplying such information to people believing in their power. Zecharyah 10,2 also refers to them as speaking, though deceptively. At any rate, they were widely consulted to provide information about the future, information of a supernatural dimension.