Later when Jacob had fled with his household and Laban had pursued him angrily, there was a confrontation in which Jacob apparently spoke his mind for the first time in two decades. It is the most we are told that Jacob ever spoke on any one occasion. It had been bottled up in him for twenty years.
Laban was stunned by this speech, but he reacted with mere bluster. He said that the daughters, children, and flock were all his. What an obvious lie, but it is significant that he did not dispute Jacob’s claims to be self-sacrificing, upright, and industrious.
Now there is a third principle that contributed to Jacob’s prosperity. In Jacob’s impassioned speech before Laban in Genesis 31, Jacob trusted God for his prosperity and this of course is the most important of the principals and points.
