Homilies on Genesis 46–67

Homily 57

HOMILY 57 "Now, after Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, 'Send me on my way so that I may make for my country and my native place.'''l ODAY [494] we must give you, dearly beloved, what was left over yesterday so that you may come to discover both the care God showed to Jacob and the godly attitude of the good man, and so imitate the man's virtue.2 I mean, it was not without purpose that the grace of the Spirit caused these stories to be recorded; rather, it was to stir us to imitation and emulation of virtuous men.3 You see, whenever we hear of one person's endurance, of another's self-control, of a third person's prompt hospitality, of the great virtue ofeach of them, and the way each of them shone out and proved conspicuous, we are moved to a like zeal. (2) So, come now, let us today take up what remains of the story of the good man and bring the treatment of it to a close. '}\fter Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, 'Send me on my way so that [495] I may make for my country and my native place. Let me have my wives and children, for whom I was in your service:"4 Notice the very proper dispositions of the good man in recognizing God's active favor in his regard and yet adopting no superior attitude towards Laban, but, rather, saying with great meekness, "'Send me on my way so I. Cen 30.25. 2. Chrysostom accentuates the man's virtue-although in fact the previous homily and the verses it commented on dealt largely with the two women, Rachel and Leah. 3. Again, Chrysostom's choice of words, deliberate or habitual, shows his sexist attitudes. This passage also illustrates another frequent feature of his homilies-the appreciation of the Scriptures as hagiography, or moral significance in particular. 4. Cen 30.25-26. 133 134 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM that I may depart:" Nothing is really more efficacious than meekness and nothing more powerful than it. See at any rate how, by a disarming use of meekness, he also brought Laban to reply to him with great deference: "Laban replied to him;' the text goes on, remember, '''If I have found favor in your sight, and the omens do not deceive me, God has blessed me in your coming. Name your wage to me, and I will pay."'5 I am not unaware, he is saying, that in the wake of your coming I enjoyed favor from God more richly. So, since I recognize the kindness done me in your coming, nominate any wage you care to mention, and I will readily pay it. (3) Consider what a great thing meekness is, and don't pass idly by these words; instead, keep in mind that the good man had made no mention of this nor looked for any payment for his trouble, but had said only this, "'Let me have my wives and children, for whom I was in your service, so that I may depart;" and yet the other man, out of respect for the good man's great meekness, replied, Tell me what wage you want to be paid by me, and I will cheerfully pay it. After all, were not his wives and children in his company? So why did he say, '''Let me have my wives and children'''? He was giving him due respect and displaying in every circumstance his typical behavior, and wishing as well to take his leave without hindrance. Notice, at any rate, from these words how he won Laban over to the extent of promising to pay a wage and to leave the decision to him. (4) So what did the good man reply? Observe once again the extraordinary degree of his meekness in proving to be not so demanding and burdensome to Laban. Instead, what? Once more he makes him a witness of his own good attitude and of the benevolence exercised by him in all that time with regard to his condition of servitude. "'You are aware;" he said, "'of my service to you and the numbers of your cattle that were in my care. In fact, I found them few in number, and they have grown into a vast herd; the Lord has blessed you in my coming . So isn't it high time for me to build...