Laban [Lā'ban]—white or glorious. The son of Bethuel and grandson of Nahor. Laban was the brother of Rebekah and father of Rachel and Leah. He lived in Padan-aram (Gen. 24:29, 50; 27:43; 28:2, 5).

The transactions between Laban and Jacob are well known, and speak of cunning on both sides. After twenty years Laban was reluctant to part with Jacob, whose presence was an assurance of divine blessing. “In character Laban is not pleasing,” says T. A. Moxon, “and seems to reflect in an exaggerated form the more repulsive traits in the character of his nephew, Jacob: yet he shows signs of generous impulses on more than one occasion, and especially at the final parting with Jacob.”