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Genesis 31 tells how Rachel stole her father’s household idols when leaving Laban. Judges 18 replays the scene to discredit the cult at Dan, casting the Danite thieves as a worse version of the matriarch’s secret theft.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 31:19
Hebrew Bible
18 He took away all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac. 19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father. 20 Jacob also deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving.
Judges 18:17
Hebrew Bible
16 Meanwhile the 600 Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate. 17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the 600 fully armed men. 18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
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Notes and References
... About Rachel it is said, "Rachel stole her father’s household idols [teraphim]" (Genesis 31:19), while about the Danites we read, "[They] took the sculptured image . . . and the household idols [teraphim]" (Judges 18:17). In both stories the robbed individuals set out in pursuit of the thieves: "[Laban] caught up to him in the hill country of Gilead" (Genesis 31:23); "[Micah’s men] caught up to the Danites" (Judges 18:22); both verses include the rarely used root d-b-q, "catch up." The victims complain to the robbers: Laban asks, "But why did you steal my gods?" (Genesis 31:30), and Micah complains: "The gods that I made, you have taken" (Judges 18:24). The comparison presents the Danites in a harsher light than Rachel. While the matriarch did what she did in secret, after Laban left to shear his sheep, the Danites steal in broad daylight, for all to see. ...
Shinan, Avigdor and Yair Zakovitch
From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends
(pp. 122-123) The Jewish Publication Society, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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