It seemed that Lavan wo uld never willingly let Yaakov leave. There was only one solution. Yaakov would have to sneak away when Lavan wasn't looking.
His chance finally came when Lavan was away on a three-day trip. Yaakov gathered his four wives, eleven sons and one daughter, and all of their possessions, and secretly fled Lavan's house.
Rachel saw a golden opportunity to do something she had wanted to do for a long time-rid her father's house of idols! So she took them and hid them under the saddle of her camel.
When Lavan returned home and found out that Yaakov, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpa, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Dan, Naftali, Yissachar, Zevulun, Gad, Asher, Yosef, and Dinah had all run off... he was furious! He was fuming! He was boiling MAD!
He ran out and chased after them-and caught up with them as they made their way out of town.
"Why did you run away? And WHY did you steal my idols?!" he demanded.
Yaakov had no idea what on earth he was talking about when he mentioned the idols, so he gave permission for Lavan to search everywhere. Rachel stayed seated up on her camel, so Lavan never discovered the idols she had stashed under the saddle.
"Lavan," Yaakov exclaimed, "this is ridiculous! I worked for you in good faith for 20 years. You've been cheating me all along. Enough already! Let us go in peace!"
Lavan thought for a moment. He couldn't really argue with anything Yaakov had said. So Lavan replied, "You know what? You're 100% right. I will let you go in peace, and let's make it official. Let's agree that neither one of us will ever harm the other-and also our children, and our children's children."
