Komentarz do Rodzaju 31:50

בנתי....בנתי The word is written twice, referring once to Leah and Rachel and the second time to the handmaids, because Bilhah and Zilpah were also his daughters from a concubine (Genesis Rabbah 74:13).

ראה אלוקים עד, look that G’d will punish you if you do not treat my daughters properly, seeing He is a witness The whole line may be understood as analogous to Leviticus 5,21, ומעלה מעל בה', where the trespass against G’d is considered as something that only G’d is aware of, there being no human witnesses at hand to testify against the sinner. G’d is always the third party when two people have a disagreement, seeing He knows the true facts of the situation.

אם תענה את בנותי, if you will deprive them of any of their needs, the ones stipulated as the obligation of a husband towards his wives, or even if you do not treat them with the respect due to them. According to our sages in Yuma 77 the words אם תענה refer to denial of marital relations, whereas the words אם תקח, refer to Yaaov marrying additional wives, competitors to the existing ones.

אם תענה את בנותי, “if you were to maltreat my daughters;” Lavan refers to the possibility of Yaakov forcing marital intercourse on his daughters against their will. If he were to argue that in the event of their refusing him he would marry additional wives, he would consider this as if his daughters had been denied their legitimate entitlement to their marital rights.

אם תענה את בנתי IF THOU SHALT AFFLICT MY DAUGHTERS by refusing them thy companionship (Yoma 77b).

אין איש עמנו, a peculiar statement seeing there were plenty of people present at the time. What Lavan meant was that there would be a time when none of the people who now witnessed the covenant would be available to testify if a dispute concerning whether its terms had been kept erupted. Now that Yaakov returned home there was no one to remind him or even to report on observance or non-observance of the terms of the covenant. This is why Lavan invoked G’d as being the witness if the terms of the covenant were broken. He was to be the guarantor. [It is interesting to observe that in spite of Lavan being an idolater he always accepted that the G’d of Avraham was the One to Whom Yaakov owed allegiance, and according to Whose rules Yaakov had to conduct himself. This was not hypocrisy on his part. Ed.]

אין איש עמנו, even though this understanding is private, not having been confirmed by witnesses, he calls upon G-d as his witness it.