RACHEL AND HER FATHER' s IMAGES..

The earliest Biblical account of anything connected with magic, is to be found in the history of Rachel, daughter of Laban (grandson of Abram's brother Nahor) the Syrian, younger sister of Leah, and Jacob's first cousin and preferred wife. (Genesis 29)
An Aramaic translation paraphrase the account in this way: "And Rachel stole the images of her father, for the images had murdered a man, who was a first-born son, and, having cut off the man's head, the images embalmed it with salt and spices, and the images wrote divinations upon a plate of gold, and put it under his tongue and placed it against the wall, and it conversed with them, and Laban, the Syrian worshiped it. And Rachel stole the science of her father, that he might not discover Jacob's departure.
The Persian translation gives to the images a name "astrolabes"and implies that they were instruments used for judicial astrology, and that Rachel stole them to prevent her father from discovering their route. At all events the images were means of prediction or divination among believers and unbelievers; they were known among the Egyptians and among Syrians. The images were not objects of religious worship since they do not appear from any other passage of Scripture that Laban was an idolater. The fact that Rachel took them seems, on account of their supposed supernatural powers. There is a not very dissimilar account related in the Book of Judges (chapter 18) of Micah and his images, which seems sufficient to prove that the use of them was not inconsistent with the profession of true religion.
According to the Scripture, Jacob, at the time of the account, fled from his murderous brother Esau, traveling to Haran in Paddan-Aram, in "the land of the Orientals." (Genesis 28)
Rachel, a girl "beautiful in form and beautiful of countenance,"served as a shepherdess for her father Laban the Syrian and she met Jacob at a well near Haran.
Jacob was received into his uncle's household and one month later agreed to serve Laban 7 years in order to marry Rachel, with whom he was now in love. On his wedding night, his uncle substituted Rachel with the older sister Leah. Accused of trickery by Jacob, Laban appealed to local custom as an excuse for his conduct. Jacob agreed to carry out a full marriage week with Leah before receiving Rachel and thereafter to work another 7 years for Laban. Jacob was now ready to depart from Haran, in "the land of the Orientals" but his father-in law prevailed upon him to remain longer, and it was 6 years later that at God's direction, Jacob pulled away. Due to Laban's double-dealing methods, Jacob did not advise him of his departure and both Leah and Rachel were in agreement with him in doing this. Before leaving, Rachel stole her father's images, used for magic purposes.
Abram, the first of the Old Testament Patriarchs, son of Terah was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and was given the name of Abraham, meaning "father of many nations," when God made a Covenant with him, promising that his descendants should inherit Canaan, the "Promised Land." Abram came to believe in one God by reflecting on the nature of the universe.
According to a legend, Abram was told to sell images made by his father Terah, but smashed them as a sign that he would no longer be associated with them. Obeying God's command, he later left Haran, where Terah and his family had settled, taking with him his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot and other members of his family to Canaan. Abraham, Nahor, and Ham, were brothers, and descendants of Terah. Terah's father was also named Nahor and was the son of Serug and descendant of Shem.
Nahor (Abram's brother), married Milcah, Lot's sister, and daughter of his brother Haran, hence niece of Nahor. By Milcah he had 8 sons and by his concubine Reumah he had 4 more sons, totalling 12, some of whom became tribal heads. (Genesis 11, 22) Through his son Beth'Uel, Nahor became grandfather to Laban and Rebekah and great-grandfather of Leah, Rachel, Jacob, and Esau. (Genesis 24, 29; 1 Chron.1) Through his sons Uz, and Buz, Nahor may have also been a forefather of Job and Elibu. (Job1, 32)
The Genesis account of Terah and Abram leaving Ur of the Chaldees does not include Nahor's name in the list of travelers. It does seem, however, that he may have come later, for Abraham's servant came to "the city of Nahor," seeking a wife for Isaac, traveled to Haran, where Terah took up dwelling and died and where Nahor's grandson Laban lived when Jacob went to him. (Genesis 11, 12, 27)
When Jacob parted company from Laban, before leaving, Rachel stole her father's images. Laban later caught up with the group and made known the theft of his images. Jacob, unaware of Rachel's guilt, showed his disapproval of the act itself, decreeing death for the offender if found among his entourage. Laban's search led into Rachel's tent but she avoided exposure, claiming to be indisposed due to her menstrual period, while remaining seated on the saddlebags where the images were. (Genesis 30)  The few details recorded can give a partial picture of Rachel's personality, showing her shrewdness in avoiding detection even to her own husband and partly attributable to her family background. Whatever her weakness, she was dearly loved by Jacob, who, even in old age, viewed her as having been his true loving wife and prized her children over all his other. Laban, then, made a covenant of family peace with Jacob and called on "the god of Abraham and the god of Nahor" to judge between them. To memorialize it, a stone pillar and a heap of stones were set up. Using Hebrew, Jacob called the heap of stones Galeed, meaning "Witness heap." Laban, using an Aramaic or Syrian expression having the same meaning called it Jegar-Sahadutha. (Genesis 31) It was also called "The Watchtower." After bidding his grandchildren and daughters farewell, Laban returned home, and the Scripture makes no further mention of him.
After returning to the land of his fathers  and meeting his brother Esau, Jacob showed his continued preference for Rachel. After dwelling for a time in Succoth, then in Shechem and finally in Bethel, Jacob headed farther South. Somewhere between Bethel and Bethlehem, Rachel gave birth to her 2nd son, and she named him Benoni but Jacob immediately changed the name to Benjamin. She died in childbearing and was buried there, and Jacob erected a pillar to mark the grave. (Genesis 33; 35)
The name Haran (meaning mountaineer) in Northern Mesopotamia embraced the surrounding area. Haran is listed among the nations conquered by the kings of Assyria. (2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37) Also the Assyrian King Sennacherib, trying to intimidate Judean King Hezekiah, boasted about his forefathers' conquest of Haran and other places. Assyrian sources refer to Haran as "Harranu" meaning "road," because of being on the route linking it with cities such as Nineveh, Asshur, Babylon, and Tyre, as well as the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 27)
Rachel's grave site in the territory of Benjamin at Zeizah was still known in Samuel's time, some six centuries later, on regards of the evil desire of the people of Israel in having a king instead of having God as a supreme King. At Jeremiah (chapter 31) Rachel is depicted as weeping over her sons who have been carried into the land of the enemy, her lamentation being heard in Ramah (North of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin). Rachel's being the mother not only of Joseph but also of Benjamin, whose tribe formed part of the Southern kingdom of Judah, make her a fitting symbol of the mothers of all Israel, whose their bringing forth sons now seemed to have been in vain. God's promise, however, was that the exiles would certainly return from the land of the enemy. (Jeremiah 31)