Genesis 31

Laban was clearly not a good man. He was deceitful towards Jacob. He was unkind to his daughters. Having to trick someone into marrying Leah must have been dreadfully hard for Leah to go through. It was as if Laban was saying nobody would choose to marry you, so I will force someone to unexpectedly. How hard must it have been for Rachel on her wedding to find out that he dad would not allow her to marry the man she loves, but rather her sister instead? I am not too sure it was difficult for Jacob, Rachel, and Leah to leave Laban behind emotionally. But knowing what kind of man Laban was, they sneak off because Jacob just knew he would try to pull something.

Rachel stole the household idol from her father's house. To be fair, this is before the 10 Commandments makes it clear that it is wrong, but we can already see the making of a big problem that will plague the Israelites for years, idolatry. It is a problem that still exists for many Christians today, just in a different form (not statues but other forms of idolatry). Rachel may have taken the idol for one of 2 reasons. 1. Idols were sometimes used to try to consult to gain wisdom, so maybe by taking the idol she was hoping that it would help them not be found. 2. The household idol was part of the family inheritance and had significant value- perhaps she took the idol because she felt like her father owed her for his trickery and his stealing of labor from Jacob.