Genesis 31:33-35

"And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the teraphim."

This deception is a lulu! For sheer ingenuity and daring, it is the equivalent of any other related in this fantastic Book of Genesis. The claim of Rachel that, "The manner of women is upon me," was her manner of saying that she was menstruating, a condition that, in ancient times, was believed to make women "unclean," thus defiling anything that they touched. To Laban, this meant that it would have been unthinkable that Rachel in such a condition would have come near his sacred images, much less SIT on them! Thus, we have a double reflection on Laban's "gods," being both stolen and defiled by contact with Rachel!

The practical result of this futile search was that of loosing Jacob's tongue. After twenty years of inhibited resentment, he found in this opportunity the occasion to say some things to Laban that sorely needed saying.