Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Genesis 31:22

In the same way that it is difficult to find two more similar stories than the respective exiles of Ya’akov and Moshe,¹⁴⁸See Chapter 3. it is equally difficult to find two more disparate parallels than the roles played in these stories by their respective fathers-in-law.¹⁴⁹For our present purposes, we are assuming that the various names for the man referred to as Moshe’s father-in-law (i.e. Yitro, Re’uel, Chovev) all describe the same person, whom we will, for simplicity’s sake, call Yitro. While this point is a matter of debate and there are those who suggest that the various names refer to different people, most of the relevant citations are, in any case, from sections where the father-in-law is explicitly referred to as Yitro. Whereas Lavan seems to do something disagreeable every step of the way, Yitro does just the opposite, constantly providing help and support to his son-in-law. Ya’akov has to ask to marry one of Lavan’s daughters (Bereshit 29:18),¹⁵⁰Bereshit 29:18. whereas Yitro offers Zipporah to Moshe as his bride (Shemot 2:21).¹⁵¹Shemot 2:21. Not only that, Lavan makes the terms of the marriage agreement almost unbearable (Bereshit 29:26–7);¹⁵²Bereshit 29:26–7. in the case of Moshe, we don’t hear of any formal terms whatsoever. Most significantly, when Ya’akov asks to leave, we see Lavan trying repeatedly to foil his desires (Bereshit 30:25-35; Bereshit 31:22-24).¹⁵³Ibid., 30:25–35, 31:22–24. Regarding Moshe, he is not only given permission but an apparent blessing as well (Shemot 4:18).¹⁵⁴Shemot 4:18. On the one hand, Lavan runs after Ya’akov in what could be understood as an effort to kidnap the wives and the children, whom Lavan describes as his own (Bereshit 31:43).¹⁵⁵Bereshit 31:43. Yitro, on the other hand, runs after Moshe for just the opposite reason – to bring his son-in-law’s children and wife back to him (Shemot 18:1–6).¹⁵⁶Shemot 18:1–6. Finally, when Lavan catches up with Ya’akov, he tries to impose his own religious preferences on his son-in-law, making sure that their non-belligerence pact makes reference to his own god as well as the God of Ya’akov (Bereshit 31:53).¹⁵⁷Bereshit 31:53. In comparison, when Yitro finds Moshe in the desert, he makes the decision to offer sacrifices to his son-in-law’s God alone and to leave sacrifices to his own gods for a more appropriate time.¹⁵⁸Of course Yitro’s sacrificing only to God would be a foregone conclusion if he himself had completely converted to the Jewish faith, as indicated by many rabbinic statements. We will explain later, however, that such a reading doesn’t seem to fit well with the text’s simple meaning, nor does it seem to be a consensus position among the sages. As a result, we will assume that Yitro had not completely left idolatry at this time and that he made a conscious choice to worship only the Israelite God in Moshe’s presence.

Bahya writes. It could be that Jacob left on a Sunday and Laban reached him on the Sabbath. Laban was a gentile and traveled the whole Sabbath.¹²⁰Bahya, Genesis, 31:22.