Genesis 31:14 Daily Devotional & Meaning – Is There Any Inheritance for Us?

Daily Verses Everyday! Day 191

“And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?”

Rachel and Leah’s answer is powerful because for once, these two sisters speak with one voice. Their lives have been marked by rivalry, pain, comparison, jealousy, and competition for Jacob’s affection. Leah was unloved and longed to be seen. Rachel was loved but barren for a season and longed to have children. Their father’s deception helped create much of that pain. Laban used Leah, deceived Jacob, wounded Rachel, and turned marriage into a transaction that served his own interests.

But here, Rachel and Leah are united.

They ask, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?” In other words, “What do we still have here? What future is left for us in our father’s household? Has our father preserved anything for us, or has he used everything for himself?”

This question reveals how deeply Laban had failed as a father. A father was supposed to protect, provide, bless, and preserve an inheritance for his household. Yet Rachel and Leah recognize that Laban has not treated them as daughters to be cherished. He has treated them as assets to be spent. He used them in his dealings with Jacob, gained years of labor through them, and then acted as if the benefit belonged only to himself.

Their words show that they understand more than Jacob may have expected. Jacob has explained how Laban changed his wages and how God saw the injustice. Now Rachel and Leah answer from their own experience. They know what it means to be wronged by Laban too. Jacob was not the only one used by him. His wives had also suffered under their father’s selfishness.

This matters because sometimes a person’s sin affects more people than they realize. Laban’s greed did not only hurt Jacob. It hurt his daughters. It damaged their relationships. It created years of tension inside Jacob’s household. It turned what should have been a joyful marriage into a painful struggle. Sin rarely stays contained. When a father, leader, employer, or authority figure acts selfishly, the damage spreads through the people under his care.

Rachel and Leah’s question also reveals that they no longer see their future in Laban’s house. They are not saying, “Let us stay, because our father still has something for us.” They are saying the opposite. They recognize that whatever inheritance they might have hoped for has already been consumed. There is no portion left for them there. Their father’s house no longer represents security, blessing, or belonging.

That is a sad thing.

A father’s house should have been a place of covering. It should have been a place where daughters knew they were valued. But Rachel and Leah feel like outsiders in the very house where they were born. This prepares the way for what they say in the next verse, that they are counted by him as strangers. Their question in verse 14 already carries that pain. They are saying, “There is nothing left for us here.”

This is another example of how Laban’s character is being exposed. Earlier, he seemed friendly when Jacob first arrived. He welcomed him as family. He said, “Surely thou art my bone and my flesh” in Genesis 29:14. But over time, the truth came out. Laban’s words sounded warm, but his actions were calculating. He used family language while acting with selfish motives.

Scripture often warns about this kind of injustice. Proverbs 20:23 says, “Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good.” Laban lived with false balances. He changed wages. He manipulated agreements. He used people while pretending to honor them. But God sees false balances, whether they are in business, family, or leadership.

Rachel and Leah’s words also connect to the broader biblical concern for inheritance. In Scripture, inheritance was not merely money. It represented belonging, family identity, future provision, and covenant continuity. To have a portion was to have a recognized place. When Rachel and Leah ask if there is any portion or inheritance left for them, they are asking whether they still have any honored place in their father’s household.

Their conclusion is that they do not.

This is painful, but it also becomes freeing. Once they recognize that Laban’s house no longer holds their future, they are able to follow Jacob as God calls him to return to the land of promise. Sometimes clarity comes when a person finally sees that the place they have been clinging to cannot give them what only God can provide. Rachel and Leah are not merely leaving a location. They are leaving the false hope that Laban’s house will ever become what it should have been.

This does not mean leaving family is easy. It does not mean the pain disappears. But it does mean they are beginning to see the truth. Their future is not with the father who used them. Their future is with the God who has been guiding Jacob.

There is something beautiful here. God’s command to Jacob is now confirmed through his wives. Jacob heard from God, but Rachel and Leah’s response shows that they are ready to go. They do not resist him. They do not defend Laban. They do not say, “Maybe our father will change.” They recognize that God’s direction makes sense because they have seen Laban’s character for themselves.

This unity matters. A household cannot move forward well when husband and wife are divided over the direction. Jacob is being called to leave, but Rachel and Leah must also be willing to leave. Their answer shows that God is not only working in Jacob. He is also working in them. He is loosening their attachment to Laban’s house and preparing them for the journey ahead.

This reminds us that when God leads a family into a new season, He often works on more than one heart at the same time. Jacob needed courage to obey. Rachel and Leah needed clarity to leave. God provided both. He spoke to Jacob through the dream, and He allowed Rachel and Leah to see the emptiness of remaining under Laban’s control.

Their words also remind us that earthly inheritance can fail. Parents can fail. Families can fail. Systems can fail. People who should protect may exploit. People who should bless may take. People who should love may use. But God’s inheritance does not fail.

Psalm 16:5 says, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.” That verse gives a deeper answer to Rachel and Leah’s question. They may have no secure portion in Laban’s house, but God Himself can become their portion. Laban may have consumed what should have been preserved for them, but God is able to give them a future beyond what their father withheld.

This is one of the great comforts of Scripture. Human unfairness cannot exhaust divine provision. A person can be deprived by others and still not be abandoned by God. A family member may fail to give what was right, but God is able to lead His people into a greater inheritance than the one they lost.

This points forward to the believer’s inheritance in Christ. First Peter 1:4 speaks of “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” Earthly inheritances can be wasted, stolen, withheld, or corrupted. Laban can consume a portion that should have belonged to his daughters. But the inheritance God gives cannot be touched by human greed. It is incorruptible. It does not fade. It is reserved by God Himself.

Rachel and Leah’s question also exposes the sorrow of being valued only for what someone can gain from you. Laban did not truly honor them as daughters. He saw how their marriages could benefit him. That is a painful reality many people understand. Some people are loved only when they are useful. They are welcomed only when they benefit someone else. They are praised only when they produce something another person wants.

But God does not love His people that way. God does not merely use people and discard them. He sees, calls, protects, provides, and remembers. Jacob has already heard God say, “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” Now Rachel and Leah are revealing that Laban’s treatment of them has also been seen. The God who saw Jacob’s labor also saw the daughters’ loss.

This should warn every parent and every leader. The people under our care are not possessions. Children are not tools for our ambition. Workers are not machines for our profit. Family members are not resources to be spent for our advantage. God sees how people are treated, especially by those who had the responsibility to protect them.

Laban had gained much through Jacob’s labor and through his daughters’ marriages, but he had lost the trust of his own household. That is a sobering exchange. A person can gain wealth and lose honor. A person can increase possessions and lose relationship. A person can win the transaction and lose the heart of their family.

Rachel and Leah’s question shows that this is exactly what happened. They are not grieving the loss of an inheritance as much as they are recognizing the truth of their situation. Laban has already taken what he wanted. There is nothing left for them to hope for in his house.

Yet this painful realization becomes part of God’s deliverance. God is separating Jacob’s household from Laban’s household. He is moving them away from manipulation and toward promise. The same God who called Abraham out of his country and kindred is now calling Jacob to return to the land of promise. Rachel and Leah must leave behind the house of their father, but they are not leaving without God.

Their question, then, is not only a complaint. It is a turning point. It marks the moment where Rachel and Leah agree that the old attachment is broken. There is no portion there. There is no inheritance there. There is no future there. If God is calling Jacob to go, then they are ready to go with him.

This verse reminds us that God can bring unity out of pain. Rachel and Leah had lived as rivals, but Laban’s injustice and God’s calling bring them into agreement. They both see the truth. They both understand the loss. They both recognize that staying would not restore what their father had failed to give.

And in that agreement, the family begins to move toward obedience.

Sometimes God’s direction becomes clearer when we finally stop expecting from people what they have repeatedly shown they will not give. Rachel and Leah could have kept hoping that Laban would act like a faithful father, preserve their portion, and honor them as daughters. But his actions had already answered that hope. Their future would not be secured by Laban’s fairness. It would be secured by God’s faithfulness.

So this verse stands as both sorrow and hope. It is sorrow because two daughters realize their father has not protected their portion. It is hope because they are no longer bound to the illusion that his house is their security. God is calling them forward, and though Laban has failed them, the Lord has not.

Rachel and Leah may have no inheritance left in their father’s house, but they are about to walk with the household through whom God’s covenant promises will continue. Laban’s house could not give them what they needed, but God’s promise would carry them farther than Laban’s inheritance ever could.

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If you would like to explore Genesis in a sustained, verse-by-verse way with space to reflect, journal, and trace how these foundational truths unfold through Scripture the Verse by Verse book expands these reflections into a unified reading experience. The book gathers these meditations into a structured journey through Genesis, designed to help readers linger in the text and engage God’s Word more deeply over time.

Continue on with Genesis 31:15.

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