Good and Evil. Tov and Ra.
In the Hebrew:
– Genesis 2: Tov AND Ra.
– Genesis 24: Ra OR Tov.
– Genesis 31: FROM Tov TO Ra.
– Genesis 50: You intended Ra; God intended Tov.
Perhaps this is the whole story.
Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Genesis 31:24 (NIV)
What’s fascinating about this passage is that the “good or bad” is the same “tov” and “ra” from the garden. It points to the deception of the serpent re: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Laban is called “the Aramean,” which we already know refers to his trickery.
but your father has cheated me, changing my wages time and again. God, however, would not let him do me harm.
Genesis 31:7 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)
The cheating and wage-changing was bad, but not “harm,” according to Jacob. Harm here is “ra’a,” or “do evil.” It’s the same “ra” from the tree in the garden.
and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.
Genesis 19:7 (NIV)“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
Genesis 19:9 (NIV)
This same “do evil” is first introduced with the men of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I suspect it’s meant to suggest a corrupting kind of harm – the kind that spreads, like abusers creating abusers.