concubine; to his wife he goes openly, but to his concubine he repairs with stealth. Similarly, God appears to non-Jews only at night, as says, "And God came to Balaam at night," and says, "And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night." The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer taught that Laban took all the men of his city, mighty men, and pursued after Jacob, seeking to slay him. Then the angel Michael descended, and drew his sword behind Laban, seeking to slay him. Michael told Laban (as reported in ): "Do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad." Rabbi Johanan taught in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai that all the favors that the wicked do for the righteous are in fact evil for the righteous. For in , God told Laban, "Take heed to yourself that you speak not to Jacob either good or evil." Rabbi Johanan observed that one can understand why God would direct Laban not to speak evil to Jacob, but asked why God would direct him not to say anything good. From here Rabbi Johanan inferred that even if Laban had tried to speak good to Jacob, it would have resulted in bad for Jacob. Rabbi Aibu taught that when Laban's grandchildren heard Laban ask in , "Why have you stolen my gods?" they exclaimed that they were ashamed that in his old age their grandfather could say that these idols were his gods. A Midrash taught that Rachel's death ensued because Jacob told Laban in , "With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live." The Midrash thus taught that Jacob's words were (in the words of Ecclesiastes ) "like an error that proceeds from a ruler." Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name may have drawn on for the proposition that Laban tried to destroy Jacob. Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name read to say, "The blessing of the destroyer (, ) came upon me," and interpreted "The blessing of the destroyer (, )" to allude to Laban the Syrian. Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name thus read to say, "An Aramean (Laban) sought to destroy (, ) my father (Jacob)." (Thus Laban sought to destroy Jacob by, perhaps among other things, cheating Jacob out of payment for his work, as Jacob recounted in . This interpretation thus reads , , as a transitive verb.) Rabbi Berekiah and