Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you. The enumeration of the relationship — wives, children, work — is Jacob's accounting of what he has given and what he is owed. The appeal to what Laban knows — you know how much work — is the appeal to the shared history. The application: the honest accounting of a relationship — what has been given, what is owed — is the foundation for the honest negotiation about what comes next.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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