CHAPTER 29

(1760 B.C.)

JACOB MEETS RACHEL

¹Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east (this journey would last for some twenty years).

²And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the wells mouth.

³And there were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the wells mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the wells mouth in his place.

⁴And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, from where are you? And they said, Of Haran are we.

⁵And he said unto them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him (Laban is Jacobs mothers brother).

⁶And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter comes with the sheep (this is the first mention of Rachel in the Bible; she will figure very prominently in the great Plan of God, being the mother of both Joseph and Benjamin; she was the ancestress of three of the great Tribes of Israel, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, the latter two being the sons of Joseph).

⁷And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water you the sheep, and go and feed them.

⁸And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the wells mouth; then we water the sheep (the reason probably was that Laban owned the well, and the other flocks could not be watered until Rachel first of all had watered her flock).

⁹And while he (Jacob) yet spoke with them, Rachel came with her fathers sheep: for she kept them (we readily see the Hand of the Lord working in this situation regarding the meeting of Jacob with Rachel).

¹⁰And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mothers brother, and the sheep of Laban his mothers brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the wells mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mothers brother (three times the Holy Spirit has Moses, when writing this account, to repeat the term, his mothers brother; it is not done unintentionally; the idea is, Jacob has met with his own relations, with his bone and his flesh).

¹¹And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept (the Patriarch is overcome with emotion, and I think mostly at the joy of seeing the Hand of God working in his life).

¹²And Jacob told Rachel that he was her fathers brother, and that he was Rebekahs son: and she ran and told her father (Jacob was actually the nephew of Laban).

¹³And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sisters son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he (Jacob) told Laban all these things (Laban would no doubt have been well over 100 years of age at this time, possibly even as much as 120; Laban did now almost exactly what he had done those many years before, when he was told by Rebekah his sister of Eliezer [24:29]).

¹⁴And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month (after this, he went out and obtained his own place).

LABAN

¹⁵And Laban said unto Jacob, Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall your wages be? (Jacob the dealer meets now with Laban the dealer, and they are both seen, as it were, straining every nerve to outwit each other.)

¹⁶And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favored.

¹⁸And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter (Jacob is now about to begin to reap the bitter fruit of his sin).

¹⁹And Laban said, It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.

²⁰And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her (it is a popular mistake to suppose that Jacob did not marry Rachel till the end of the seven years, or even the second seven years; every evidence is that he took her immediately for his wife, and then served the time allotted).

JACOB AND LEAH

²¹And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her (his days being fulfilled simply means that the contract had been agreed upon, that he was to serve Laban seven years for Rachel; this is proven by Verse 30).

²²And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

²³And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her (when Leah went in to Jacob, she no doubt was wearing a veil and, as well, the room was probably dark; Jacob thought it was Rachel).

²⁴And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.

²⁵And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this you have done unto me? did I not serve (agree) with you for Rachel? wherefore then have you beguiled me? (The deception that Jacob practiced upon Isaac cost him at least 14 years of servitude.)

²⁶And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn (this was a custom that Laban had concocted on his own; there is no evidence of such in that part of the world).

²⁷Fulfill her week (serve me seven years for Leah), and we will give you this also for the service (give him Rachel) which you shall serve with me yet seven other years.

RACHEL

²⁸And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week (he agreed to the transaction of seven more years, making a total of fourteen): and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.

²⁹And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

³⁰And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years (in all of this we find that the Lord is chastising Jacob; the Lord doesnt actually punish his children, but He definitely does chastise his children; chastisement is designed to teach us something, while punishment contains no instruction, only hurt; Jacob is being chastised; he seems to recognize this, and accept it).

LEAHS CHILDREN

³¹And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated (the word hated here means loved less), he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren (there is no indication that Jacob mistreated Leah, but there is indication that Rachel did; the Lord saw all of this and, as a result, He made Leah fruitful and, at the same time, He made Rachel barren; in fact, Leah was the ancestress of both David and our Lord; and there could have been no greater honor than that! We should allow this to be a lesson to us, in that the Lord sees everything, and acts accordingly).

³²And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben (the name actually means, See, a son): for she said, Surely the LORD has looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me (Leah was not to blame in all of this situation, so Rachel, her sister, shouldnt have taken the situation out on her; as noted, the Lord didnt take kindly to what was happening).

³³And she conceived again, and bore a son; and said, Because the LORD has heard I was hated, He has therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon (his name means hearing; she is functioning from the position that the Lord has heard her petition).

³⁴And she conceived again, and bore a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi (his name means joined).

³⁵And she conceived again, and bore a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing. (Judah means praise. So, in these four sons we have a symbol of the entirety of the Plan of Redemption. The son is born, it hears the Gospel, it is joined to the Lord, and it praises the Lord. But, as we shall see in the next Chapter, it doesnt end here.)