The sons from Leah, Rachel, and the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah would be the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. After the birth of Joseph, Rachel’s first child and Jacob’s eleventh, Jacob asked Laban to send him back to his homeland. Laban asked Jacob to remain, telling him to name his wages. Jacob requested only the specked and spotted sheep and goats from all Laban’s flocks that he tended, to make flocks of his own. It is unclear how or why it worked, but Jacob put striped branches in front of the flocks when they mated, and it resulted in specked and spotted offspring that he could claim for himself. Jacob did this only with the strong animals so that his flocks grew strong while Laban had weak flocks (Genesis 30:31–43).
Jacob recognized that Laban and Laban’s sons’ attitude toward him had changed. It was then that God commanded Jacob to return to the land of his fathers accompanied by His promise, “And I will be with you” (Genesis 31:3). Jacob left Haran, taking with him his wives and children and all the vast flocks he had accumulated. When Laban learned that Jacob left, he pursued him. But God told Laban in a dream to “be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad” (Genesis 31:24). Laban did ask Jacob why he’d left secretly and spoke of his power to harm Jacob were it not for God’s warning.
Laban also accused Jacob of stealing his household idols. Continuing the legacy of deception, Rachel who had taken the idols unbeknownst to Jacob, concealed them from her father during his search.
Laban and Jacob eventually parted company. Laban made a covenant with Jacob not to invade one another’s lands.