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.
Now, what is interesting is the use of that word "fear," because in both cases, verses 42 and 53, the word "Fear" is actually put in place of God. In other words, the Fear of Isaac was God, but God had it written in the way (He inspired Jacob, I am sure) He inspired Jacob to use what was Isaac's outstanding characteristic. It was the fear of God. Who was the fear of God? It was Abraham's God, but expressed in Isaac's life by his fear. And so I am sure that in Abraham's family, and Isaac's family, and now in Jacob's family, what they are doing is expressing Isaac's outstanding characteristic. He feared God.
Now here the speaker is Jacob, and he says a number of things about Isaac as he is talking to Laban.
That is what Isaac feared. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and on and on it goes. Isaac feared God. It is brought up again in Genesis 31.
Meaning the God of Isaac.
