Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.
Parallel Translations
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Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.
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Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.
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Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Genesis 29:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Judges 6:3 So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.
- Judges 6:33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.
- Hosea 12:12 Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.
- Numbers 23:7 He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.
- Psalms 119:32 I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
- Psalms 119:60 I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments.
- Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.
- 1 Kings 4:30 Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
- Genesis 22:20-23 After these things, Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
- Genesis 24:10 The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
- Genesis 25:20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.
- Genesis 28:5-7 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;” and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram.
- Judges 7:12 The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude.
- Judges 8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the children of the east; for there fell one hundred twenty thousand men who drew sword.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (25 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. Then Jacob went on his journey Moses now…
1. Then Jacob went on his journey Moses now relates the arrival of Jacob in Mesopotamia, and the manner in which he was received by his uncle; and although the narration may seem superfluous, it yet contains nothing but what is useful to be known; for he commends the extraordinary strength of Jacob’s faith, when he says, that he lifted up his feet to come into an unknown land. Again, he would have us to consider the providence of God, which caused Jacob to fall in with the shepherds, by whom he was conducted to the home he sought; for this did not happen accidentally, but he was guided by the hidden hand of God to that place; and the shepherds, who were to instruct and confirm him respecting all things, were brought thither at the same time. Therefore, whenever we may wander in uncertainty through intricate windings, we must contemplate, with eyes of faith, the secret providence of God which governs us and our affairs, and leads us to unexpected results.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, he went forth on his journey.
That is, he went forth on his journey.
Hebrew, to the land of the children of the East.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 29:1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and…
Gen 29:1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.
Ver. 1. Then Jacob went on his journey.] Heb., Lifted up his feet: indefessi cursoris instar ; as it were a generous and manly horse, refreshed with his wait by the way, he went lightly on his long journey. "The joy of the Lord was" Jacob’s "strength": {Neh 8:10} it became as oil; wherewith his soul being suppled, he was made more lithe, nimble, and fit for action. He that is once soaked in this oil, and bathed, with Jacob, in this bath at Bethel, will cheerfully do or suffer aught for God’s sake. Tua praesentia, Domine, Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit , saith one. {a} Gaudebat Crispina cum tenebatur, cum audiebatur, cum damnabatur, cum ducebatur , saith Austin. So did many of the Marian martyrs, as were easy to instance. Bernard gives the reasons: The cross is oiled, {b} saith he; and, by the grace of the Spirit helping our infirmities, it is made, not only light, but sweet; and not only not troublous and terrible, but desirable and delectable. From the delectable orchard of the Leonine prison: so that Italian martyr Algerius dated his letter. {c} Another Dutch martyr, feeling the flame to come to his beard, Ah, said he, what a small pain is this, to be compared to the glory to come! {d} Let us pluck up our feet, pass from strength to strength, and take long and lusty strides toward heaven. It is but a little afore us; and a ready heart rids the way apace.
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{a} Aug. in Psalm cxxxvii.
{b} Crux enim inuncta est ,& c. Crucem multi abominantur, crucem videntes, sed non videntes unctionem . - Bern.
{c} Act. and Mon., fol. 857.
{d} Ibid., fol. 813.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Heb. Jacob lift up his feet; which may note…
Heb. Jacob lift up his feet; which may note either the gesture of his body, that he went on foot; or the temper of his mind, that he went not sadly and unwillingly, drawing his legs after him, as we use to say, but readily and cheerfully, being encouraged by God's word.
The land of the people of the east; which lay eastward from Canaan, as Mesopotamia did.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain All the stages Israel's march to Canaan are distinctly…
All the stages Israel's march to Canaan are distinctly noticed, but no particular journal is kept of Jacob's expedition further than Beth-el; no, he had no more such happy nights as he had at Beth-el, no more such visions of the Almighty. That was intended for a feast; he must not expect it to be his daily bread. But, 1. We are here told how cheerfully he proceeded in his journey after the sweet communion he had with God at Beth-el: Then Jacob lifted up his feet; so the margin reads it, Gen 29:1. Then he went on with cheerfulness and alacrity, not burdened with his cares, nor cramped with his fears, being assured of God's gracious presence with him. Note, After the visions we have had of God, and the vows we have made to him in solemn ordinances, we should run the way of his commandments with enlarged hearts, Heb 12:1. 2. How happily he arrived at his journey's end. Providence brought him to the very field where his uncle's flocks were to be watered, and there he met with Rachel, who was to be his wife. Observe, (1.) The divine Providence is to be acknowledged in all the little circumstances which concur to make a journey, or other undertaking, comfortable and successful. If, when we are at a loss, we meet seasonably with those that can direct us - if we meet with a disaster, and those are at hand that will help us - we must not say that it was by chance, nor that fortune therein favoured us, but that it was by Providence, and that God therein favoured us. Our ways are ways of pleasantness, if we continually acknowledge God in them. (2.) Those that have flocks must look well to them, and be diligent to know their state, Pro 27:23. What is here said of the constant care of the shepherds concerning their sheep (Gen 29:2, Gen 29:3, Gen 29:7, Gen 29:8) may serve to illustrate the tender concern which our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, has for his flock, the church; for he is the good Shepherd, that knows his sheep, and is known of them, Joh 10:14. The stone at the well's mouth, which is so often mentioned here, was either to secure their property in it (for water was scarce, it was not there usus communis aquarum - for every one's use), or it was to save the well from receiving damage from the heat of the sun, or from any spiteful hand, or to prevent the lambs of the flock from being drowned in it. (3.) Separate interests should not take us from joint and mutual help; when all the shepherds came together with their flocks, then, like loving neighbours, at watering-time, they watered their flocks together. (4.) It becomes us to speak civilly and respectfully to strangers. Though Jacob was no courtier, but a plain man, dwelling in tents, and a stranger to compliment, yet he addresses himself very obligingly to the people he met with, and calls them his brethren, Gen 29:4. The law of kindness in the tongue has a commanding power, Pro 31:26. Some think he calls them brethren because they were of the same trade, shepherds like him. Though he was now upon his preferment, he was not ashamed of his occupation. (5.) Those that show respect have usually respect shown to them. As Jacob was civil to these strangers, so he found them civil to him. When he undertook to teach them how to despatch their business (Gen 29:7), they did not bid him meddle with his own concerns and let them alone; but, though he was a stranger, they gave him the reason of their delay, Gen 29:8. Those that are neighbourly and friendly shall have neighbourly and friendly usage.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then Jacob went on his journey,.... After the above…
Then Jacob went on his journey,.... After the above vow at Bethel, and having had some intimation that what he desired would be granted him; or "he lift up his feet" (x), which not only shows that he walked afoot, but that he went on his journey with great cheerfulness; for having such gracious promises made him, that God would be with him, and keep him, and supply him with all necessaries, and return him again to the land of Canaan, which made his heart glad; his heart, as the Jewish writers say (y), lift up his legs, and he walked apace, and with great alacrity:
and came into the land of the people of the east; the land of Mesopotamia or Syria, which lay to the east of the land of Canaan, see Isa 9:11; hither he came by several days' journeys.
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(x) "et levavit pedes suos", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Fagius; "sustulit", Drusius, Schmidt. (y) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 70. fol. 62. 2. Jarchi in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain This chapter gives us an account of God's providences…
This chapter gives us an account of God's providences concerning Jacob, pursuant to the promise made him in the foregoing chapter.
I. How he was brought in safety to his journey's end, and directed to his relations there, who bid him welcome, ver. 1-14.
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II. How he was comfortably disposed of in marriage, ver. 15-30.
III. How his family was built up in the birth of four sons, ver. 31- 35.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Jacob proceeds on his journey, 1.
CHAPTER XXIX
Jacob proceeds on his journey, 1.
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Comes to a well where the flocks of his uncle Laban, as well
as those of several others, were usually watered, 2, 3.
Inquires from the shepherds concerning Laban and his family, 4-6.
While they are conversing about watering the sheep, 7, 8,
Rachel arrives, 9.
He assists her to water her flock, 10;
makes himself known unto her, 11, 12.
She hastens home and communicates the tidings of Jacob's arrival
to her father, 12.
Laban hastens to the well, embraces Jacob, and brings him home, 13.
After a month's stay, Laban proposes to give Jacob wages, 14, 15.
Leah and Rachel described, 16, 17.
Jacob proposes to serve seven years for Rachel, 18.
Laban consents, 19.
When the seven years were fulfilled, Jacob demands his wife, 20, 21.
Laban makes a marriage feast, 22;
and in the evening substitutes Leah for Rachel, to whom he gives
Zilpah for handmaid, 23, 24.
Jacob discovers the fraud, and upbraids Laban, 25.
He excuses himself, 26;
and promises to give him Rachel for another seven years of service,
27.
After abiding a week with Leah, he receives Rachel for wife, to
whom Laban gives Bilhah for handmaid, 28, 29.
Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah, and serves seven years for her,
30.
Leah being despised, the Lord makes her fruitful, while Rachel
continues barren, 31.
Leah bears Reuben, 32,
and Simeon, 33,
and Levi, 34,
and Judah; after which she leaves off bearing, 35.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIX
Verse 1. Then Jacob went on his journey] The original is very remarkable: And Jacob lifted up his feet, and he travelled unto the land of the children of the east. There is a certain cheerfulness marked in the original which comports well with the state of mind into which he had been brought by the vision of the ladder and the promises of God. He now saw that having God for his protector he had nothing to fear, and therefore he went on his way rejoicing.
People of the east.] The inhabitants of Mesopotamia and the whole country beyond the Euphrates are called קדם kedem, or easterns, in the sacred writings.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain - Jacob’s Marriage
- Jacob’s Marriage
6. רחל rāchēl, Rachel, “a ewe.”
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16. לאה lê'âh, Leah, “wearied.”
24. זלפה zı̂lpâh, Zilpah, “drop?”
29. בלהה bı̂lhâh, Bilhah, “timidity.”
32. ראוּבן re'uvbēn, Reuben, “behold a son.” A paronomasia in allusion to the phrase בעניי ראה be‛ānyı̂y rā'âh. Derivatives and compounds, being formed by the common speaker, are sometimes founded upon resemblance in sound, and not always on precise forms of the original sentence which prompted them.
33. שׁמעין shı̂m‛ôn, Shim‘on, “hearing, answer.”
34. לוי lêvı̂y, Levi, “junction, union.”
35. יחוּדה yehûdâh, Jehudah, “praised.”
In this chapter and the following, Jacob grows from a solitary fugitive with a staff in his hand Gen 32:10 to be the father of a large family and the owner of great wealth. He proves himself to be a man of patience and perseverance, and the Lord according to promise is with him.
Gen 29:1-8
Jacob arrives at the well of Haran. “The land of the sons of the east.” The points of the heavens were defined by the usage of practical life, and not by the standard of a science yet unknown. Hence, the east means any quarter toward the sunrising. Haran was about four degrees east of Beer-sheba, and five and a half degrees north. The distance was about four hundred and fifty miles, and therefore it would take Jacob fifteen days to perform the journey at thirty miles a day. If he reached Bethel the first night, he must have travelled about fifty miles the first day. After this he proceeds on his journey without any memorable incident. In the neighborhood of Haran he comes upon a well, by which lay three flocks. This is not the well near Haran where Abraham’s servant met Rebekah. It is in the pasture grounds at some distance from the town. On its mouth was a large stone, indicating that water was precious, and that the well was the common property of the surrounding natives. The custom was to gather the flocks, roll away the stone, which was too great to be moved by a boy or a female, water the flocks, and replace the stone. Jacob, on making inquiry, learns that Haran is at hand, that Laban is well, and that Rachel is drawing nigh with her father’s flocks. Laban is called by Jacob the son of Nahor, that is, his grandson, with the usual latitude of relative names in Scripture Gen 28:13. “The day is great.” A great part of it yet remains. It is not yet the time to shut up the cattle for the night; “water the sheep and go feed them.” Jacob may have wished to meet with Rachel without presence of the shepherds. “We cannot.” There was a rule or custom that the flocks must be all assembled before the stone was rolled away for the purpose of watering the cattle. This may have been required to insure a fair distribution of the water to all parties, and especially to those who were too weak to roll away the stone.
Gen 29:9-14
Jacob’s interview with Rachel, and hospitable reception by Laban. Rachel’s approach awakens all Jacob’s warmth of feeling. He rolls away the stone, waters the sheep, kisses Rachel, and bursts into tears. The remembrance of home and of the relationship of his mother to Rachel overpowers him. He informs Rachel who he is, and she runs to acquaint her father. Laban hastens to welcome his relative to his house. “Surely my bone and my flesh art thou.” This is a description of kinsmanship probably derived from the formation of the woman out of the man Gen 2:23. A month here means the period from new moon to new moon, and consists of twenty-nine or thirty days.
Gen 29:15-20
Jacob serves seven years for Rachel. “What shall thy wages be?” An active, industrious man like Jacob was of great value to Laban. “Two daughters.” Daughters in those countries and times were also objects of value, for which their parents were accustomed to receive considerable presents Gen 24:53. Jacob at present, however, is merely worth his labor. He has apparently nothing else to offer. As he loves Rachel, he offers to serve seven years for her, and is accepted. Isaac loved Rebekah after she was sought and won as a bride for him. Jacob loves Rachel before he makes a proposal of marriage. His attachment is pure and constant, and hence the years of his service seem but days to him. The pleasure of her society both in the business and leisure of life makes the hours pass unnoticed. It is obvious that in those early days the contact of the sexes before marriage was more unrestrained than it afterward became.
Gen 29:21-30
Jacob is betrayed into marrying Leah, and on consenting to serve other seven years obtains Rachel also. He claims his expected reward when due. “Made a feast.” The feast in the house of the bride’s father seems to have lasted seven days, at the close of which the marriage was completed. But the custom seems to have varied according to the circumstances of the bridegroom. Jacob had no house of his own to which to conduct the bride. In the evening: when it was dark. The bride was also closely veiled, so that it was easy for Laban to practise this piece of deceit. “A handmaid.” It was customary to give the bride a handmaid, who became her confidential servant Gen 24:59, Gen 24:61. In the morning Jacob discovers that Laban had overreached him. This is the first retribution Jacob experiences for the deceitful practices of his former days. He expostulates with Laban, who pleads the custom of the country.
It is still the custom not to give the younger in marriage before the older, unless the latter be deformed or in some way defective. It is also not unusual to practise the very same trick that Laban now employed, if the suitor is so simple as to be off his guard. Jacob, however, did not expect this at his relative’s hands, though he had himself taken part in proceedings equally questionable. “Fulfill the week of this.” If this was the second day of the feast celebrating the nuptials of Leah, Laban requests him to Complete the week, and then he will give him Rachel also. If, however, Leah was fraudulently put upon him at the close of the week of feasting, then Laban in these words proposes to give Rachel to Jacob on fulfilling another week of nuptial rejoicing. The latter is in the present instance more likely. In either case the marriage of Rachel is only a week after that of Leah. Rather than lose Rachel altogether, Jacob consents to comply with Laban’s terms.
Rachel was the wife of Jacob’s affections and intentions. The taking of a second wife in the lifetime of the first was contrary to the law of nature, which designed one man for one woman Gen 2:21-25. But the marrying of a sister-in-law was not yet incestuous, because no law had yet been made on the subject. Laban gives a handmaid to each of his daughters. To Rebekah his sister had been given more than one Gen 24:61. Bondslaves had been in existence long before Laban’s time Gen 16:1. “And loved also Rachel more than Leah.” This proves that even Leah was not unloved. At the time of his marriage Jacob was eighty-four years of age; which corresponds to half that age according to the present average of human life.
Gen 29:31-35
Leah bears four sons to Jacob. “The Lord saw.” The eye of the Lord is upon the sufferer. It is remarkable that both the narrator and Leah employ the proper name of God, which makes the performance of promise a prominent feature of his character. This is appropriate in the mouth of Leah, who is the mother of the promised seed. “That Leah was hated” - less loved than Rachel. He therefore recompenses her for the lack of her husband’s affections by giving her children, while Rachel was barren. “Reuben” - behold a son. “The Lord hath looked on my affliction.” Leah had qualities of heart, if not of outward appearance, which commanded esteem. She had learned to acknowledge the Lord in all her ways. “Simon” - answer. She had prayed to the Lord, and this was her answer. “Levi” - union, the reconciler. Her husband could not, according to the prevailing sentiments of those days, fail to be attached to the mother of three sons. “Judah” - praised. Well may she praise the Lord; for this is the ancestor of the promised seed. It is remarkable that the wife of priority, but not of preference, is the mother of the seed in whom all nations are to be blessed. Levi the reconciler is the father of the priestly tribe. Simon is attached to Judah. Reuben retires into the background.
Reuben may have been born when Jacob was still only eighty-four, and consequently Judah was born when Jacob was eighty-seven.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain East. Mesopotamia, where Laban dwelt. (Haydock)
East. Mesopotamia, where Laban dwelt. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Jacob’s wives and children. Jacob and Rachel, Laban’s youngest…
SECOND SECTION
Jacob’s wives and children. Jacob and Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter. First and second treaty with Laban. His involuntary consummation of marriage with Leah. The double marriage. Leah’s sons. Rachel’s dissatisfaction. The strife of the two women. The concubines. Jacob’s blessing of children
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Gen_29:1 to Gen_30:24
1Then Jacob went on his journey [lifted up his feet] and came [fled] into the land of the people [children] of the east [morning]. 2And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it [before him]; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s month. 3And thither were all the flocks gathered: and [then] they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place. 4And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. 5And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. 6And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He Isaiah 7 well: and behold, Rachel [lamb, ewe-lamb] his daughter cometh with the sheep. And [But] he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. 8And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till [then] they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then [and] we water the sheep.
9And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them. 10And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 12And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother [nephew]. And that he was Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father. 13And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And [Then] he told Laban all these things. 14And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.
15And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother [relative], shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be. 16And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah [scarcely, the wearied; still less, the dull, stupid, 17 as Fürst, rather: the pining, yearning, desiring], and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful [as to form] and well favored [as to countenance]. 18And Jacob loved Rachel: and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 19And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee than that I 20should give her to another man: abide with me. And [thus] Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him [were in his eyes] but a few days, for the love he had to her.
21And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 22And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast [wedding 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. 24And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah, Zilpah [Maurer: the dewy—from the trickling, dropping; Fürst: myrrh-juice] 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 thou hast done unto me? did [have] not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? 26And Laban said, It must not be so done [it is not the custom] in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27Fulfil her [wedding] week [the week of this one—fulfil, etc.—is too strong], and we will give thee this also, for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 28And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and [then] he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. 29And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah [Maurer, Fürst: tender. Gesenius: bashful, modest] 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.
31And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated [displeasing] he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. 32And Leah conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Reuben [see there, a son]: for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. 33And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon [schimeon, hearing]. 34And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this£ time [at last] will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi 35[joining, cleaving]. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she said, Now will I praise the Lord: therefore she called his name Judah [praise of God, literally, praised, viz., be Jehovah]; and left bearing.
Gen_30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 2And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, Am I [then] in God’s stead, who hath with held from thee the fruit of the womb? 3And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may [and I shall] also have children 4[be built] by her. And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife. And Jacob went in unto her. 5And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a Song of Solomon 6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me [decreed me my right], and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan [Judge; vindicator]. 7And Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again, and bare Jacob a second Song of Solomon , 8 Rachel said, With great wrestlings [wrestlings of God, Elohim] have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali [my conflict or wrestler]. 9[And] When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave 10her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah, Leah’s maid, bare Jacob a son. 11And Leah said, A 12troop cometh [1 with felicity, good fortune]: and she called his name Gad [fortune]. And Zilpah, Leah’s maid, bare Jacob a second son. 13And Leah said, Happy am I [for my happiness], for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher [blessedness].
14And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes [love-apples] in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. 15And she said unto her Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son’s mandrakes. 16And [as] Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my 17son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. And God [Elohim] hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18And Leah said, God hath given me my hire [wages, reward], because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar [Yisashcar,2 it is the reward]. 19And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 20And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry [presented me with a beautiful present]; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun [dwelling, dwelling together]. 21And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah [judged, justified, judgment].
22And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24And she called his name Joseph [may he add]; and said, The Lord shall add to me another [a second] son.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1. The first half of the history of Jacob’s sojourn in Mesopotamia is a history of his love, his marriages, and his children. Bridal love, in its peculiar splendor of heart and emotion, never appeared so definitely in Genesis, after Adam’s salutation to Eve, as in the present case. With respect to the moral motives, by means of which Jacob became involved in polygamy, notwithstanding his exclusive bridal love, compare the preface p. lxxvi. We may divide the history into the following stages: 1. Jacob’s arrival at the shepherds’ well in Haran (Gen_29:1-8); 2. Jacob’s salutation to Rachel and his reception into Laban’s house (Gen_29:9-14); 3. Jacob’s covenant and service for Rachel and the deception befalling him (Gen_29:15-25). How Jacob, under the divine providence, through the deception practised upon him, became very rich, both in sons and with respect to the future. (Göthe: It has always been proved true, That he whom God deceives, is deceived to his advantage.) 4. His renewed service for Rachel (Gen_29:26-30); 5. The first-born sons of Leah (Gen_29:31-35); 6. Rachel’s dejection and the concubinage of Bilhah, her handmaid (30. Gen_29:1-8); 7. Leah’s emulation, and her handmaid Zilpah (Gen_29:9-13; Genesis 8. Leah’s last children (Gen_29:14-21); 9. Rachel, Joseph’s mother (Gen_29:22-24).
2. Knobel finds here a mixture of Jehovistic representation with the original text. He knows so little what to make of the ancient mode of writing narratives that he remarks upon Gen_29:16-17 : “Moreover the same writer who has spoken of Rachel already (Gen_29:9-12), could not properly introduce the two daughters of Laban, as is done in the present instance.”
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Gen_29:1-8. Jacob’s arrival at the shepherd’s well in Haran.—Then Jacob went on his journey.—This consoling and refreshing manifestation reanimated him, so that he goes cheerfully on his journey. Of course, he must use his feet, his bridal tour differs from that of Eliezer, although he himself is the wooer.—Into the land of the people of the East.—The choice of this expression, no doubt, indicates that from Bethel he gradually turned eastward, and crossing the Jordan and passing through the northern part of Arabia Deserta, he came to Mesopotamia, which is also included here.—He looked, and behold.—He looks around to find out where he is. Wells, however, are not only waymarks in nomadic districts, but also places of gathering for the shepherds.—It was not a well of living water,—at least not Eliezer’s well near Haran,—but a cistern, as is proved from the stone covering it. It seems to have been in the midst of the plain of Haran, and the city itself was not yet in sight.—There were three flocks of sheep lying by it.—Scenes of this description were frequently seen in the ancient Orient, (Gen_24:11, etc.; Exo_2:16, etc.,) and may still be seen today (Robinson: “Researches,” ii. pp. 180, 357, 371; iii. 27, 250). Watering troughs of stone are placed around the well, and the rule is, that he who comes first, waters his flocks first (V. Schubert: “Travels,” ii. p. 453; Burkhardt: “Syria,” p. 128, etc.). Among the Arabian Bedouins the wells belong to separate tribes and families, and strangers are not permitted to use them without presents, i.e. pay (Burkhardt: “Bedouins,” p. 185; Robinson, iii. p. 7; comp. Num_20:17; Num_20:19; Num_21:22). They are, therefore, often the cause of strifes (Gen_26:19, etc.). The Arabians cover them very skilfully, so that they remain concealed from strangers (Diod. Sic., ii. 48, 19, 94). Even now they are covered with a large stone (see Robinson, ii. p. 180). Knobel. Robinson: “Most of the cisterns are covered with a large, thick flat stone, in the centre of which a round hole is cut, which forms the mouth of the cistern. This hole, in many instances, we found covered with a heavy stone, to the removal of which two or three men were requisite.” As to the cisterns (see also Keil, p. 203).—And a great stone.—This does not mean that all the shepherds were to come together, that by their united strength they might roll it away. The shepherds of these three herds must wait for the rest of the shepherds with their herds, because the watering of the herds was common and must take place in due order. The remark, no doubt, indicates, however, that the stone was too heavy to be removed by one of the shepherds. The shepherds also appear to have made the removal of the stone as easy as possible to them.—My Brethren.—A friendly salutation between the shepherds.—Of Haran.—[Haran lay about four hundred and fifty miles northeast from Beer-sheba. It would, therefore, be a journey of fifteen days, if Jacob walked at the rate of thirty miles a day. Murphy.—A. G.] From this it does not follow certainly that the city was far off, still Laban might have had tents on the plains for his shepherds.—Laban, the son of Nahor.—Nahor was his grandfather. Bethuel, his father, here retires into the background, just as in Rebekah’s history.—It is yet high day.—According to Starke, Jacob, as a shepherd, wished to remind these shepherds of their duty. It is obviously the prudent Jacob who acts here. He wishes to remove the shepherds, in order to meet his cousin Rachel, who is approaching, alone (see Keil). He thus assumes that they could water their flocks separately, and afterwards drive again to the pasture.
2. Gen_29:8-14.—Jacob’s salutation to Rachel, and his reception into Laban’s house.—For she kept them.—It is customary among the Arabians of Sinai, that the virgin daughters drive the herds to the pasture (see Burkhardt: “Bedouins,” p. 283). Knobel, Exo_2:16.—And rolled the stone.—The strong impression that the beautiful Rachel made upon her cousin Jacob is manifested in two ways. He thinks himself powerful enough to roll the stone from the mouth of the cistern out of love to her, and disregards the possibility that the trial might fail. At the same time, too, he boldly disregards the common rule of the shepherds present. Rachel’s appearance made him eager, as formerly Rebekah’s appearance even the old Eliezer, when he took out the bracelets before he knew her. The power of beauty is also recognized here upon sacred ground. Tuch thinks that the united exertion of the shepherds would have been necessary, and the narrative, therefore, boasts of a Samson-like strength in Jacob. But there is a difference between Samson-like strength and the heroic power of inspired love. [Perhaps, however, there was mingling with this feeling the joy which naturally springs from finding himself among his kindred, after the long, lonely and dangerous journey through the desert.—A. G.]—Jacob kissed Rachel.—“The three-fold אחי אמו shows that he acted thus as cousin (rolling the stone from the well’s mouth, etc.). As such he was allowed to kiss Rachel openly, as a brother his sister (Son_8:1).” Knobel.—Yet his excitement betrays him even here, since he did not make known his relationship with her until afterwards.—And wept.—Teals of joy, of reanimation after a long oppression and sorrow (Gen_45:15; Gen_46:29). He Wept aloud, with uplifted voice. Brother here equivalent to nephew (Gen_14:16; Gen_24:48).—When Laban heard the tidings.—That Jacob made the whole journey on foot might have caused suspicion in the mind of Laban. But he is susceptible of nobler feelings, as is seen from the subsequent narration (Gen_31:24), although he is generally governed by selfish motives.—And he told Laban.—Surely, the whole cause of his journey, by which he also explained his poor appearance as the son of the rich Isaac. In the view of Keil, he relates only the circumstances mentioned from Gen_29:2-12.—Surely thou art my flesh and my bone.—He recognizes him fully from his appearance and his communication, as his near relative.—The space of a month.—Literally, during some, an indefinite number of days. It was yet uncertain, from day to day, how they would arrange matters.
3. Gen_29:15-25. Jacob’s suit and service for Rachel, and the deception practised upon him.—Tell me what shall thy wages be.—This expression is regarded by Keil already as a mark of Laban’s selfishness, but there is no ground for this view. It is rather to be supposed that Laban wished to open the way for his love suit, which, on account of his poor condition he had not yet ventured to press. We see afterwards, indeed, that Laban willingly gives both his daughters to him. We do not, however, wish to exclude the thought, that in the meantime he may have recognized a skilful and useful shepherd in Jacob, and besides acted from regard to his own interest, especially since he knew that Jacob possessed a great inheritance at home.—The name of the elder was Leah.—It is remarkable, that in the explanation of this name we are mostly inclined to follow derived significations of the word לאה (see Fürst upon this verb).—The word רַךְ used to describe the eyes of Leah, means simply: weak or dull, whence the Arabians have made, moist or blear-eyed. Leah’s eyes were not in keeping with the Oriental idea of beauty, though otherwise she might be a woman greatly blessed. “Eyes which are not clear and lustrous. To the Oriental, but especially to the Arabian, black eyes, full of life and fire, clear and expressive, dark eyes, are considered the principal part of female beauty. Such eyes he loves to compare with those of the Gazelle, (Hamasa, i. p. 557, etc.” Knobel—Rachel, the third renowned beauty in the patriarchal family. If authentic history was not in the way, Leah, as the mother of Judah, and of the Davidic Messianic line, ought to have carried off the prize of beauty after Sarah and Rebekah.—And well favored.—“Beautiful as to her form and beautiful as to her countenance.” Beside the more general designation: beautiful as to her form, the second: beautiful מַרְאֶה must surely have a more definite signification: beautiful as to her countenance, and, indeed, with a reference to her beautiful eyes, which were wanting to Leah. Thus the passage indirectly says that Leah’s form was beautiful.—Serve thee seven years for Rachel.—Instead of wages he desires the daughter, and instead of a service of an indefinite number of days he promises a service of seven years. “Jacob’s service represents the price which, among the Orientals, was usually paid for the wife which was to be won (see Winer, Realw., under marriage). The custom still exists. In Kerek, a man without means, renders service for five or six years (Ritter, Erdkunde, xv. p. 674), and in Hauran, Burkhardt (“Syria,” p. 464), met a young man who had served eight years for his bare support, and then received for a wife the daughter of his master, but must render service still.” Knobel. On the contrary, Keil disputes the certainty of the assumption that the custom selling their daughters to men was general at that time. And we should certainly be nearer the truth in explaining many usages of the present border Asia from patriarchal relations, than to invert everything according to Knobel’s view. Keil holds that Jacob’s seven years of service takes the place of the customary dowry and the presents given to the relatives; but he overlooks the fact that the ideas of buying and presenting (and barter) are not as far apart in the East as with us. Nor can we directly infer the covetousness of Laban from Jacob’s acceptance of the offer, although his ignoble, selfish, narrow-minded conduct, as it is seen afterwards, throws some light also on these Eastern transactions.—It is better that I give her to thee.—“Among all Bedouin Arabians the cousin has the preference to strangers (Burkhardt, “Bedouin,” p. 219), and the Druses in Syria always prefer a relative to a rich stranger (Volney, “Travels,” ii. p. 62). It is generally customary throughout the East, that a man marries his next cousin; he is not compelled to do it, but the right belongs to him exclusively, and she is not allowed to marry any other without his consent. Both relatives, even after their marriage, call each other cousin (Burkhardt, “Bedouins,” p., 91, and “Arabian Proverbs,” p. 274, etc.; Layard, “Nineveh and Babylon,” p. 222; Lane, “Manners and Customs,” i. p. 167). Knobel.—They seemed unto him but a few days.—So far, namely, as that his great love for Rachel made his long service a delight to him; but, on the other hand, it is not said that he did not long for the end of these seven years. Yet he was cheerful and joyful in hope, which is in perfect keeping with Jacob’s character.—A Feast.—Probably Laban intended, at the great nuptial feast which he prepared, to facilitate Jacob’s deception by the great bustle and noise, but then also to arrange things so, that after seven days the wedding might be considered a double wedding. For it is evident that he wishes to bind Jacob as firmly and as long as possible to himself (see Gen_30:27).—Leah, his daughter.—The deception was possible, through the custom, that the bride was led veiled to the bridegroom and the bridal chamber. Laban probably believed, as to the base deception, that he would be excused, because he had already in view the concession of the second daughter to Jacob.—And Laban gave unto her Zilpah.—We cannot certainly infer that he was parsimonious, because he gave but one handmaid to Leah, since he undoubtedly thought already of the dowry of Rachel with a second handmaid. The number of Rebekah’s handmaids is not mentioned (Gen_24:61).—Behold, it was Leah.—[“This is the first retribution Jacob experiences for the deceitful practises of his former days.” He had, through fraud and cunning, secured the place and blessing of Esau,—he, the younger, in the place of the elder; now, by the same deceit, the elder is put upon him in the place of the younger. What a man sows that shall he also reap. Sin is often punished with sin.—A. G.] See Doctrinal and Ethical paragraphs.
4. Gen_29:26-30. His renewed service for Rachel.—It must not be so done.—“The same custom exists among the East Indians (see Manu.: “Statutes,” iii. 160; Rosenm., A. u. “Mod. Orient,” and Von Bohlen, upon this place). Even in the Egypt of to-day, the father sometimes refuses also to give in marriage a younger daughter before an older one (Lane: “Customs and Manners,” i. p. 169).” Knobel. Delitzsch adds the custom in old imperial Germany. This excuse does not justify in the least Laban’s deception, but there was, however, a sting for Jacob in this reply, viz., in the emphasis of the right of the first-born. But Laban’s offer that followed, and in which now truly his ignoble selfishness is manifest, calmed Jacob’s mind.—Fulfil her week.—Lit., make full the week with this one, i.e., the first week after the marriage, which is due to her, since the wedding generally lasted one week (Jdg_14:12; Tob_11:19). [Her week—the week of Leah, to confirm the marriage with her by keeping the usual wedding-feast of seven days. But if Leah was put upon him at the close of the feast of seven days, then it is Rachel’s week, the second feast of seven days which is meant. The marriage with Rachel was only a week after that with Leah. The seven years’ service for her was rendered afterwards.—A. G.]—And we will.—Gen_31:1; Gen_29:23; probably Laban and his sons. Laban also, as Rebekah’s brother, took part in her marriage arrangements.—Rachel his daughter.—Within eight days Jacob therefore held a second wedding, but he fulfilled the service for her afterwards. Laban, therefore, not only deceived Jacob by Leah’s interposition, as Jacob tells him to his face, but he overreached him also in charging him with seven years of service for Leah. Thus Jacob becomes entangled in polygamy, in the theocratic house which he had sought in order to close a theocratic marriage, first by the father and afterwards by the daughters.
5. Gen_29:31-35. The first four sons of Leah.—When the Lord saw.—The birth of Leah’s first four sons is specifically referred to Jehovah’s grace; first, because Jehovah works above all human thoughts, and regards that which is despised and of little account (Leah was the despised one, the one loved less, comparatively the hated one, Deu_21:15); secondly, because among her first four sons were found the natural first-born (Reuben), the legal first-born (Levi), and the Messianic first-born (Judah); even Simeon, like the others, is given by Jehovah in answer to prayer. Jacob’s other sons are referred to Elohim not only by Jacob and Rachel (Gen_30:2; Gen_30:6; Gen_30:8), but also by Leah (Gen_29:18; Gen_29:20), and by the narrator himself (Gen_29:17), for Jacob’s sons in their totality sustain not only a theocratic but also a universal destination.—He opened her womb.—He made her fruitful in children, which should attach her husband to her. But theocratic husbands did not esteem their wives only according to their fruitfulness (see 1 Samuel 1) It is a one-sided view Keil takes when he says: “Jacob’s sinful weakness appears also in his marriage state, because he loved Rachel more than Leah, and the divine reproof appears, because the hated one was blessed with children but Rachel remained barren for a long time.” All we can say is, it was God’s pleasure to show in this way the movements of his providence over the thoughts of men, and to equalize the incongruity between these women.—Reuben.—Lit., Reuben: Behold, a son. Joyful surprise at Jehovah’s compassion. From the inference she makes: now, therefore, my husband will love me, her deep, strong love for Jacob, becomes apparent, which had no doubt, also, induced her to consent to Laban’s deception.—Simeon, her second son, receives his name from her faith in God as a prayer-answering God.—Levi.—The names of the sons are an expression of her enduring powerful experience, as well as of her gradual resignation. After the birth of the first one, she hopes to win, through her son, Jacob’s love in the strictest sense. After the birth of the second she hoped to be put on a footing of equality with Rachel, and to be delivered from her disregard. After the birth of the third one she hoped at least for a constant affection. At the birth of the fourth she looks entirely away from herself to Jehovah.—Judah.—Praised. A verbal noun of the future Hophal from ידה. The literal meaning of the name, therefore, is: “shall be praised,” and may thus be referred to Judah as the one “that is to be praised,” but it may also mean that Jehovah is to be praised on account of him (see Delitzsch, p. 465). [See Rom_2:29. He is a Jew inwardly, whose praise is of God. Wordsworth refers here to the analogies between the patriarchs and apostles.—A. G.]—She left bearing.—Not altogether (see Gen_30:16, etc.), but for a time.
6. Rachel’s dejection, and the connection with Bilhah, her maid (Gen_30:1-8).—And when Rachel saw.—We have no right to conclude, with Keil, from Rachel’s assertion, that she and Jacob were wanting in prayer for children, and thus had not followed Isaac’s example. Even in prayer, patience may be finally shaken in the human sinful heart, if God intends to humble it.—Give me children or else I die, i.e., from dejection; not: my remembrance will be extinguished (Tremell); much less does it mean: I shall commit suicide (Chrysost.). Her vivid language sounds not only irrational but even impious, and therefore she rouses also the anger of Jacob.—Am I in God’s stead.—Lit., instead of God. God alone is the lord over life and death (Deu_32:39; 1Sa_2:6). Rachel’s sad utterance, accompanied by the threat: or else I die, serves for an introduction as well as an excuse of her desperate proposition.—My maid, Bilhah.—The bad example of Hagar continues to operate here, leading into error. The question here was not about an heir of Jacob, but the proud Rachel desired children as her own, at any cost, lest she should stand beside her sister childless. Her jealous love for Jacob is to some extent overbalanced by her jealous pride or envy of her sister, so that she gives to Jacob her maid.—Upon my knees.—Ancient interpreters have explained this in an absurdly literal way. From the fact that children were taken upon the knees, they were recognized either as adopted children (Gen_50:23), or as the fruit of their own bodies (Job_3:12).—That I may also have children by her.—See Gen_16:2.—Dan (judge, one decreeing justice, vindex).—She considered the disgrace of her barrenness by the side of Leah an injustice.—Naphtali.—According to Knobel: wrestler; according to others: my wrestling, or even, the one for whom I wrestled. Delitzsch: the one obtained by wrestling. The LXX place it in the plural: Naphtalim, wrestlings. Fürst regards it as the abbreviated form of Naphtalijah, the wrestling of Jehovah. Against the two last explanations may be urged the deviation from the form Naphtalim, wrestlings; and according to the analogy of Dan, vindicator, the most probable explanation is, my wrestler. As laying the foundation for the name, Rachel says: With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister.—The wrestlings of God could only be in the wrestlings of prayer, as we afterwards see from Jacob’s wrestlings, through which he becomes Israel. Delitzsch, too, explains: These are the wrestlings of prayer, in the assaults and temptations of faith. Hengstenberg: Struggles whose issue bears the character of a divine judgment, but through which the struggle itself is not clearly understood. Knobel: “She was not willing to leave the founding of a people of God to her sister only, but wished also to become an ancestress, as well as Leah.” But how can Rachel speak of a victory over her sister rich in children? Leah has left bearing, while Bilhah, her maid, begins to bear; at the same time, Rachel includes as much as possible in her words in order to overpersuade herself. [She believes that she has overcome.—A. G.] Hence, still, at Joseph’s birth she could say: Now (not before) God has taken away my reproach.
7. Gen_30:9-13. Leah’s emulation, and Zilpah, her maid.—Took Zilpah, her maid.—Leah is still less excusable than Rachel, since she could oppose her own four sons to the two adopted sons of Rachel. But the proud and challenging assertions of Rachel, however, seem to have determined her to a renewed emulation; and Jacob thought that it was due to the equal rights of both to consent to the fourth marriage. That Leah now acts no longer as before, in a pious and humble disposition, the names by which she calls her adopted sons clearly prove.—A troop cometh.—Good fortune. An unnecessary conjecture of the Masorites renders it בָּא גָד, “fortune, victory cometh.”—Asher.—The happy one, or the blessed one.
8. Gen_30:14-21. Leah’s last births.—Call me blessed.—An ancient mode of expression used by happy women from Leah to Mary (Luk_1:48). The preterite expresses the certain future.—And Reuben went.—Reuben, when a little boy (according to Delitzsch five years old; according to Keil only four), brought unto his mother a plant found in the fields, and called דּוּדָאִים, a name which has been rendered in various ways. “The LXX correctly translates, דודאים = μῆλα μανδραγορῶν; דודי (and the kindred לולי) is the Mandragora venalis (high-German: alrûna, alrûn, mandrake; Grimm., ‘Mythol.’ ii. p. 1153, edit, iii.), out of whose small, white and-green flowers, which, according to the Song vii. 14, are harbingers of Spring, there grows in May, or what is equivalent, at the time of the wheat-harvest, yellow, strong, but sweet-smelling apples, of the size of a nutmeg (Arab tuffah ex Saitân, i.e., pomum Satanœ), which in antiquity as well as during the middle ages (see Graesse: ‘Contributions to the literature and traditions of the Middle Ages,’ 1850) were thought to promote fruitfulness and were generally viewed as Aphrodisiacum.” Delitzsch. Hence the fruit was called Dudaim amatoria, Love-apple. Theophrastus tells us that love-potions were prepared from its roots. It was held in such high esteem by them that the goddess of love was called Mandragoritis. All the different travellers to Palestine speak about it (see Knobel, p. 224; Delitzsch, p. 467; Keil, p. 207; Winer: Alraun, Mandrake).—Give me of those mandrakes.—Love-apples. In the transaction between Rachel and Leah concerning the mandrakes, her excited emulation culminated, not, however, as Keil says, as a mutual jealousy as to the affection of their husband, but a jealousy as to the births, otherwise Rachel would not have been obliged to yield, and actually have yielded to Leah the right in question.—And God hearkened unto Leah.—Knobel thinks that the Jehovistic and Elohistic views are here mingled in confusion. The Elohist records of Leah after the ninth verse, that she prayed, and considers her pregnancy an answer to her prayer; the Jehovist, on the contrary, ascribes it to the effect produced by the mandrakes, of which Leah retained a part. Here, therefore, the critical assumption of a biblical book-making culminates. It is obviously the design to bring out into prominence the fact that Leah became pregnant again without mandrakes, and that they were of no avail to Rachel, a fact which Keil renders prominent. Moreover, it could not be the intention of Rachel to prepare from these mandrakes a so-called love-potion for Jacob, but only to attain fruitfulness by their effects upon herself. Just as now, for the same purpose perhaps, unfruitful women visit or are sent to certain watering-places. From this standpoint, truly, the assumed remedy of nature may appear as a premature, eager self-help.—Issachar.—According to the Chethib, יש שכר, there is reward; according to Keil, ישׂא שׂכר, it brings reward, which is less fitting here. Leah, according to Gen_30:18, looked upon Issachar as a reward for her self-denial in allowing her maid to take her place. By this act, also, her strong affection for Jacob seems to betray itself again. But no such struggle is mentioned of Rachel in the interposition of her maid.—Zebulun.—That the children here are altogether named by the mothers, is Jehovistic, as Knobel thinks: “The Elohist assigns the names to the children through the father, and is not fond of etymologies!” It is just as great violence to the words: God hath endued me, etc., to say the name signifies a present, while, according to the words following, it signifies dweller. The name of Zebulun is first formed after the inference which Leah drew from the divine gift or present. זָבַל, to dwell, alludes to the preceding זבד, to make a present; both verbs are ἅπαξ λεγ.—Dinah, is mentioned on account of the history, Genesis 34. Gen_37:35 and Gen_36:7 seem to intimate that he had other daughters, but they are not mentioned further. Dinah is the female Dan. Leah retains her superiority. Hence there is no fuller explanation of the name after the deed of Dinah’s brothers, Genesis 34.
9. Gen_30:22-24. Rachel the mother of Joseph.—And God remembered Rachel.—The expression: he remembered, here also denotes a turning-point after a long trial, as usually, e.g., Gen_8:1. In relation to the removing of unfruitfulness, see 1Sa_1:19.—And God hearkened to her.—She therefore obtained fruitfulness by prayer also.—Joseph.—This name, in the earlier document, as Knobel expresses himself, is called יֹאסֵף, one that takes away, i.e., takes away the reproach, from אסף; and then, in the second document, he shall add, from יסף. Delitzsch also explains: one that takes away. Keil adopts both derivations. The text only allows the latter derivation: he may add. To take away and to add are too strongly opposed to be traced back to one etymological source. Rachel, it is true, might have revealed the sentiments of her heart by the expression: God hath taken away my reproach; but she was not able to give to her own sons names that would have neutralized the significance and force of the names of her adopted sons Dan and Naphtali. That she is indebted to God’s kindness for Joseph, while at the same time she asks Jehovah for another son, and thereupon names Joseph, does not furnish any sufficient occasion for the admission of an addition to the sources of scripture, as Delitzsch assumes. The number of Jacob’s sons, who began with Jehovah, was also closed by Jehovah. For, according to the number of twelve tribes, Israel is Jehovah’s covenant people.
In regard to the fact, however, that Jacob’s children were not born chronologically in the preceding order, compare Delitzsch with reference to Eusebius: Prœparatio Evang., ix. 21, and Astruc.: “Conjectures,” p. 396, and Keil. The first-born, Reuben, was born probably during the first year of the second seven years, and Simeon at the close of the same. All the sons, therefore, were born during the second heptade. Dinah’s birth, no doubt, occurs also during this period, though Keil supposes, from the expression אחר, that she may have been born later. But if we now adopt the chronological succession, Leah would have given birth to seven children in seven years, and even then there was a pause for some time between two of them. The imperfect, with the ו consecutive, however, does not express always a succession of time, but sometimes also it expresses a train of thought. We may suppose, therefore, that Leah gave birth to the first four sons during the first four years. In the meanwhile, however (not after the expiration of the four years), Rachel effected the birth of Dan and Naphtali by Jacob’s connection with Bilhah. This probably induced Leah, perhaps in the fifth year, to emulate her example by means of her handmaid, who in a quick succession gave birth to two sons in the course of the fifth and sixth years. During the sixth and seventh years Leah again became a mother, and a short time after Zebulun, Joseph was born also. According to Delitzsch, Joseph’s birth would occur between that of Issachar and Zebulun. But then the expression Gen_30:25 would not be exact, and the naming of Zebulun by his mother would be without foundation. The last remark also bears against Keil’s view, that Joseph probably was born at the same time with Zebulun, though he also considers it probable that he may have been born later.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The divine revelation, its consolations and its promises, revive the believer, so that he can proceed on his pilgrimage with renewed vigor. An experience similar to that at Bethel Jacob afterwards met with at Peniel (Gen_32:30).
2. Eliezer, acting for Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, found their future brides by the side of wells. These charming descriptions of the East resemble each other, and yet greatly differ in their details. On account of their significance and beauty, they were applied to spiritual relations by the fathers. [See also Wordsworth, who goes fully into all the details of these analogies.—A. G.]
3. Jacob experienced the gracious providence of Jehovah here at the well, through one act after another: Shepherds from Haran; acquaintances of Laban; Rachel’s appearance; the occasion and call to assist her at the moment.
4. Is he well? הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ. Happiness and welfare, according to the oriental, but particularly according to the biblical, view, consists especially in peace, inviolability, both as to outward and inward life.
5. The characters. Laban’s character. That Laban was really a sharer in the theocratic faith, and susceptible of noble and generous sentiment, is evident not only from the manner in which he receives Jacob, but also from the way in which he dismisses him (Gen_31:24; Gen_31:54 ff.). But we also see, how, under the influence surrounding him at home (Gen_31:1), the selfishness in him gradually increased, until it culminated in the base use which he made of his nephew’s necessity and love, and thus, at last, proceeds to practise the grossest deception. Even in this deception, however, we must not overlook the fact that, with a friendly interest in Jacob, he considered it as a pious fraud. He was willing to give both his daughters to Jacob; perhaps, too, he had in his eye Leah’s quiet but vehement affection for Jacob. He so far restrained his selfishness, also, that he permits Jacob to return home with the large possessions that he had acquired while with him. Moreover, he had to overcome the excited spirit of his sons and brethren. The lower standpoint which he occupies is evident from the fact that he himself leads his nephew into a theocratic double-marriage, but perhaps also with the intention of securing to his house, with greater certainty, a full share in the mysterious blessing expected by Abraham, and because he quietly consented that the strife of his daughters should involve Jacob still farther in polygamy.—As to Leah, the narrator has no fault to find, except that her eyes were not as beautiful as those of her sister, but were tender. The vehement, though quiet love for Jacob, as seen on every occasion, no doubt made her also willing to enter into the deception of Jacob by Laban. Besides, she regarded herself certainly as excusable upon higher grounds and motives, just as Thamar, who fanatically married into the house of promise, and that by a guilty course (Genesis 38). Her increasing humility (see Exegesis) causes her to be an object of Jehovah’s peculiar regard, or rather, by this humility, her especial election as ancestress of David and the Messiah becomes evident, and even in her over-zealous strife with her sister, in which the question is about the increase of the patriarchal family, her self-denial is proven by the struggle with which she gives her maid to Jacob, and the kindness with which she gave the mandrakes to her sister. Rachel, on the other hand, possessed not only bright eyes, but also ardent affections. In the fiery and glowing nature of her affection (Gen_30:1), as well as in her cunning (Gen_31:34-35) Rachel is the image of Rebekah, but with these features of character more strongly marked. So also at the end, in the tragical issue of her life. For as Rebekah did not reach the goal and see Jacob again, so Rachel did not attain her aim in sharing with him peacefully and honorably his paternal heritage. In Rachel’s sinful impatience too, there was not wanting also a moral element, for “the pure desire of parents for offspring is the highest degree of virtuous matrimony.” Delitzsch (see p. 465, and the words of Luther there quoted). Keil, without any sufficient reason, places Rachel (p. 206), in religious respects, below Leah. Distinctions of election are not always contrasts of light and darkness. Finally, Jacob here appears clearly as the man of the wrestlings of faith, and as the patriarch of hope. However prudent, it happens to him as to the Œdipus in the Greek tragedy. Œdipus solved the riddle of the sphinx, yet is blind, and remains blind in relation to the riddle of his own life. Laban cheated him, as his sons did afterwards, and he is punished through the same transgression of which he himself was guilty. Jacob is to struggle for everything—for his birthright, his Rachel, his herds, the security of his life, the rest of his old age, and for his grave. But in these struggles he does not come off without many transgressions, from which, however, as God’s elect, he is liberated by severe discipline. He, therefore, is stamped as a man of hope by the divine providence. As a fugitive he goes to Haran, as a fugitive he returns home. Seven years he hopes for Rachel, twenty years he hopes for a return home; to the very evening of his life he is hoping for the recovery of Joseph, his lost son in Sheol; even whilst he is dying upon Egyptian soil, he hopes for a grave in his native country. His Messianic hope, however, in its full development, rises above all these instances, as is evident in the three chief stages in his life of faith: Bethel, Peniel, and the blessing of his sons upon his death-bed. His life differs from that of his father Isaac in this: that with Isaac the quickening experiences fall more in the earlier part of his life, but with Jacob they occur in the latter half; and that Isaac’s life passes on quietly, whilst storms and trials overshadow, in a great measure, the pilgrimage of Jacob. The Messianic suffering, in its typical features, is already seen more plainly in him than in Isaac and Abraham; but the glorious exaltation corresponds also to the deeper humiliation.
6. Jacob’s service for Rachel presents us a picture of bridal love equalled only in the same development and its poetic beauty in the Song of Solomon. It is particularly to be noticed that Jacob, however, was not indifferent to Rachel’s infirmities (Gen_30:2), and even treated Leah with patience and indulgence, though having suffered from her the most mortifying deception.
7. The deception practised by Laban upon Jacob was perfectly fitted, viewed as a divine punishment through human sin, to bring his own sin before his eyes. As he introduced himself as the first-born, by the instigation of his mother, so Leah, the first-born, is introduced to him by his mother’s brother, under the pretence of the appearance of his own Rachel. And this deception Laban even excuses in a sarcastic way, with the custom as to the birthright of the daughters at Haran. Thus Jacob atones for his cunning, and Laban truly must atone for his deception.
8. Leah’s election is founded upon Jehovah’s grace. Without any doubt, however, she was fitted to become the ancestress of the Messianic line, not only by her apparent humility, but also by her innate powers of blessing, as well as by her quiet and true love for Jacob. The fulness of her life becomes apparent in the number and the power of her children; and with these, therefore, a greater strength of the mere natural life predominates. Joseph, on the contrary, the favorite son of the wife loved with a bridal love, is distinguished from his brethren, as the separated (Genesis 49) among them, as a child of a nobler spirit, whilst the import of his life is not as rich for the future as that of Judah.
9. If we would regard the deception and imposition practised upon Jacob as at all endurable, we must assume, on the one hand, Leah’s fanatic and vehement love; on the other, his own perfect illusion. This unconscious error and confusion of nature, seems almost to have been transmitted to Reuben, the first-born (Gen_35:22; Gen_49:21); and therefore, in consequence of his offence, he also lost the birthright. We cannot, however, entirely concur in Luther’s view, which Delitzsch approves, that while there was nothing adulterous in the connection of Jacob and Leah, it was still extra-natural, and in that sense, monstrous. There was undoubtedly an impure and unnatural element in it. But we must bear in mind, as was remarked above, not only Leah’s love, but also Jacob’s self-oblivion, in which the free choice is generally limited and restrained by the blind forces of the night-life, through and in which God works with creative energy. It is the moment in which the man falls back into the hand of God as the creator.
10. The difference between the house at Haran and Isaac’s house at Beer-sheba, appears from this, that Laban, entangled Jacob in polygamy. And even in this case the evil consequences of polygamy appear: envy, jealousy, contention, and an increased sensuality. Nevertheless Jacob’s case is not to be judged according to the later Mosaic law, which prohibited the marrying of two sisters at the same time (Lev_18:18). Calvin, in his decision, makes no distinction between the times and the economies, a fact which Keil justly appeals to, and insists upon as bearing against his harsh judgment (that it was a case of incest) (p. 205).
11. In our narrative we first read of a great and splendid wedding-feast, lasting for seven days. It is therefore not by chance that this splendid wedding-feast was followed by a painful illusion. And, leaving out of view grosser deceptions, how often may Rachel’s image have been changed afterwards into Leah’s form.
12. While the sisterly emulation to surpass each other in obtaining children is tainted with sin, there is yet at the bottom a holy motive for it, faith in the Abrahamic promise consisting in the blessing of theocratic births. Thus also we can explain how the fulness of the twelve tribes proceeded from this emulation.
13. Isaac’s prejudice, that Esau was the chosen one, seems to renew itself somewhat in Jacob’s prejudice that he must gain by Rachel the lawful heir. The more reverent he appears therefore, in being led by the spirit of God, who taught him, notwithstanding all his preference for Joseph, to recognize in Judah the real line of the promise.
14. That the respective mothers themselves here assign the names, is determined by the circumstances. The entire history of the birth of these sons, too, is reflected in their names. Of similar signification are the names: Gad and Asher; Levi and Zebulun; Simeon and Naphtali; Judah and Joseph; Reuben and Benjamin born afterwards; Issachar, Dan and Dinah.
15. The progress of life equalizes and adjusts, to a great extent, the opposition between Jacob’s love for Rachel and his disregard toward Leah, especially by means of the children. At the same time in which he recognizes Leah’s resignation, Rachel’s passionate ill-humor incites him to anger.
16. He shall add; he shall give to me another son. This wish was fulfilled, and was the cause of her death. She died at Benjamin’s birth. How dangerous, destructive, and fatal, the fulfilment of a man’s wishes may be to him, is illustrated by frequent examples in the Scriptures. Sarah wished for a son from Hagar, a source of great grief to her. The desire of Judas to be received among the disciples of Jesus was granted, but just in this position he fell into the deepest corruption. Peter wished to be as near as possible to the Lord in the house of the high priest, but hence his fall. The sons of Zebedee wished for places at the right and left hand of Jesus,—had their wish been fulfilled they would have filled the places of the malefactors on the cross, at the right and left of the Crucified. Rachel’s wish, it is true, was not the only cause of her death, but with a certain triumph the once barren one died in childbirth, just as she was completing the number twelve of Israel’s sons.
17. How important Joseph’s birth was to Jacob is seen from this: that henceforth he thinks of his journey home, although the report looked for from Rebekah tarried long. He was urged to venture a journey home.
18. This history of Jacob’s and Leah’s union sheds a softening light upon even the less happy marriages, which may reconcile us to them, for this unpleasant marriage was the cause of his becoming the father of a numerous posterity; from it, indeed, proceeded the Messianic line; leaving out of view the fact that Leah’s love and humility could not remain without a blessing upon Jacob. The fundamental condition of a normal marriage is doubtless bridal love. We notice in our narrative, however, how wonderfully divine grace may change misfortune, even in such instances, into real good. God is especially interested in marriage connections, because he is thus interested in the coming generations.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See Doctrinal and Ethical paragraphs. Jacob’s wrestlings of faith.—The patriarch of hope.—Jacob’s double flight, from Esau and from Laban.—Rich in fortune and rich in misfortune, in both respects rich in blessing.—Jacob and Rachel, or the consecration of bridal love.—The shepherd and the shepherdess: the same condition.—Jacob’s service for his bride a type of the same service of Christ for the church, his bride.—Rachel and Leah, or God makes a great difference between his children, and yet esteems them alike according to his justice.—The three marriage connections at wells: that of Isaac, of Jacob, and of Moses.—The names of Jacob’s sons, a type of human weakness and divine salvation in his house. (Texts for marriage occasions.)
To Section First, Gen_30:1-8. Starke: Cramer: If God’s command and promise are before us, we can proceed in our undertakings with joy and confidence.—Places where wells are mentioned (see Concordances).—(Jesus, the well of life. The stone, the impotence of human nature, to be removed by faith. Since, according to Gen_31:47, the Chaldæans spoke a different language from that of the inhabitants of Canaan, Jacob probably made himself understood to the people of Haran, because he had learned the Chaldee from his mother (Clericus).—The changing of the language of the patriarchs into the later Hebrew of the Jews.) [There is every reason to believe that these dialects were then so nearly alike that there was no difficulty in passing from one to the other.—A. G.]—Because the word peace embraces both spiritual and natural well-being, the Hebrews used it as a common salutation.
Section Second, Gen_30:9-14. Divine providence was here at work.—(Allegory of the well. How Christ has removed the heavy stone of sin and death. The three herds referred to the three days in which Christ was in the grave! etc. Burmann.)
Gen_30:13. This was necessary in order to remove all suspicion from the mind of Laban, since he still remembered what a numerous retinue had accompanied Eliezer.—As three distinguished patriarchs found their brides at wells (Moses and his Zipporah), just so the Lord Christ presents to himself the church, his spiritual bride, through holy baptism, as the laver in the word.—Schröder: Their first meeting a prophecy of their whole future united life.
Gen_30:11 (Calvin). In a chaste and modest life greater liberties were allowed.—(If any one turn to the true source of wisdom, to the word of God, and to the Saviour revealed therein, he will receive celestial wisdom for his bride. Berl. Bibel.)
Section Third, Gen_30:15-25. Gen_30:20. As a regular servant. A typical intimation of the Messiah, who in the form of a servant, with great and severe toil, obtained his bride.—(Reward of Jacob’s patient waiting, of his faith and his chastity.
Gen_30:18. Virtuous maidens do not attend large, exciting assemblies, to get a husband, but remain at their vocation, and trust in God, who is able to give to them a pious, honorable, and upright husband.—Lange: If the whole difficult service became easy to Jacob from the love he had to Rachel, why should it not be said of God’s children, that it is from love to God that we keep his commandments, etc. (1Jn_5:3).—Bibl. Wirt.: A chaste love is a beautiful thing, by which conjugal love is afterwards more and more strengthened and confirmed.
Gen_30:25. Here Jacob might have understood how it grieved Esau when, for the sake of his birthright, he had practised upon him such cunning and deceit. As he had done unto others, God permitted that he should receive from others.—The crafty Laban wears the image of the world; whoever serves it never receives what he expects; he looks for Rachel, and behold it is Leah (Olear).
Gerlach: From this instance onward (especially) God speaks to Jacob by every occurrence. Laban deceives him, because he thinks that Laban’s (Jacob’s?) service will be profitable to him, and thus he (Laban) loses not only a great part (?) of his herds, but is also obliged to part from his children.—The misery of bigamy: it was therefore expressly forbidden in the law (Lev_18:18) that any one should marry two sisters at the same time, or to favor one wife before the other (Deu_21:17). The seven years of service reminds us perhaps of the later statute among the Israelites, according to which servants were to obtain their freedom during the seventh year (Exo_21:2); Jacob, therefore, as a compensation for the daughters, took upon himself a seven years’ service (slavery).—(The danger of exciting Esau prevented him from bringing the price from his home, even had he entrusted his affair to God.)—Schröder: Space is no obstacle to faith, nor time to hope.—An engagement of long standing, if decreed by God, may become a salutary and beneficial school for a Christian marriage.—Comparisons between the deception practised by Laban upon Jacob, and that which Jacob practised upon Esau: 1. One brother upon another. 2. There the younger instead of the older; here the older, etc. 8. (Roos) He did not know Leah when he was married to her, just as his father knew him not when he blessed him. 4. Leah at the instigation of her father, Jacob at the instigation of his mother.—But he received, notwithstanding his ignorance as to Leah, the wife designed for him by God, who was to become the mother of the Messiah, just as Isaac blessed him unwittingly as the rightful heir of the promise. Ah, in how many errors and follies of men, here and everywhere, do we find God’s inevitable grace and faithfulness intertwined (Roos).
Section Fourth, Gen_30:26-30. Starke: Gen_30:27. It is remarkable that the ancient Jews, at births, marriages, and deaths, observed the seventh day as an holy day (Gen_21:4; Luk_2:21; Gen_50:10; Sir_22:13). From this fact we may conclude that the ancient Hebrews already considered the day of birth and circumcision, the day of marriage, and the day of death, as the three most important ones in life.—(Gen_30:28. Jacob might have asked for a divorce.)—Jacob’s polygamy not caused by sensuality; but did not remain unpunished.—(Burmann: Comparison between the two wives and the Old and New Testament, the two churches to whom the Lord is betrothed. The Old Testament Leah, the wearied, the tender eyed.)—Hall: God often afflicts us through our own friendship (relatives). He often punishes our own sins by the sins of others, before we are aware of it (2Sa_16:22).—Osiander: Oh, what is avarice not capable of?—Hall: God’s children do not easily obtain what they wish for, but must toil hard for it; (German) work for it, tooth and nail.—Schröder: Jacob’s history, in its turning-points, meets with personages who serve to bring out his character more clearly in contrast with theirs; their thoughts bound in the present,—his looking on into the future. Thus Esau and Laban.
Section Fifth, Gen_30:31-35. Starke: Osiander: It is still customary with God to take care of the distressed.—Cramer: God distributes his gifts by parts. Do not despise any one.—Hall: God knows how to weigh to us in similar ways both our gifts of grace and our crosses.—Bibl. Wirt.: There is nothing so bad or so complicated but that God can bring good out of it.—(Signification of the word from which “Judah” is derived: 1. To thank; 2. to commend; 3. to praise; 4. to confess.) From this Judah all Jews received their beautiful name.—Gerlach: Reuben: see a son; in allusion to Raah-Be-Onyi, i.e., he (Jehovah) hath looked upon my affliction.—Schröoder: The mother gives the names, as she does also in Homer.
Section Sixth, Gen_30:1-8. Starke: Bibl. Wirt.: Impatience is the mother of many sins.—Even to the pious in their married life the sun of peace and harmony does not always shine; at times dark clouds of dissension and strife arise. But we must guard in time against such clouds and storms.—We must not try to obtain the divine blessing by unrighteous means.—Schröder: Children are God’s gift. All parents should consider this, and take such care of these divine gifts that when God calls those whom he has entrusted to them, they may render a good account (Valer. Herb.).—In Rachel we meet with envy and jealousy, while in Jehovah there is compassion and grace.
Section Seventh, Gen_30:9-13. Schröder: For all times Israel is warned by the patriarch’s culpable weakness and pliancy in relation to his wives, as well as by the frightful picture of his polygamy. (Israel, it is true, should even in this way learn to distinguish the times, to recognize the workings of divine grace in and over the errors of men, and to rejoice at the progress in his law.)
Section Eighth, Gen_30:14-21. Starke: (Do you ask as to the nature of the Dudaim? some think they are lilies, others that they are berries, but no one knows what they are. Some call them “winter cherries.” Luther.)—The rivalry of the sisters. Thus God punished him because he had taken two wives, even two sisters. Even the holy women were not purely and entirely spiritual.—Schröder: In reference to the maid’s children, God’s name is neither mentioned by Leah nor by the narrator. They were in the strictest sense begotten in a natural way (Hengstenberg). (This is wrong, for in the first place Jacob had nothing to do with the maids in the natural way of mere lust; 2. in that case they would not have been numbered among the blessed seed of Israel. The principal tribes, indeed, did not spring from them.)
Section Ninth, Gen_30:22-24. Starke: Why barrenness was considered by Abraham’s descendants as a sign of the divine curse: 1. It appeared as if they were excluded from the promise of the enlargement of Abraham’s seed; 2. They were without the hope of giving birth to the Messiah; 3. They had no share in God’s universal command: be fruitful and multiply.—Osiander: Our prayers are not to be considered as in vain, if we receive no answer immediately. If we are humbled sufficiently below the cross, then we will be exalted.—Schröder: Luther says respecting Jacob’s wives that they were not moved by mere carnal desire, but looked at the blessing of children with reference to the promised seed.
Footnotes:
[1][Gen_30:11. Lit, with a troop or band.—Lange follows the Sept., Vulg., and the most of the early versions. But whether we follow the Keri, or the Chethib, as in our version, it is better to adhere to the signification, a troop or band. For while Leah uses hereafter the name אֱלֹהִים instead of יְהוָֹה indicating the lower religious state into which she has fallen, through the use of these mere human expedients, we can hardly suppose that she would thus name her child in recognition of the power of a fictitious deity, or avow her faith that her children were the result of mere fortune. Aside from this, Gen_49:19, is decisive.—A. G.
[2][Gen_30:18. Heb. יֵשׁ שָׂכָר, there is a reward—or יִשָּׂא שָׂכָר, he brings reward. A. G.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. Went on his journey — Hebrews, lifted up…
1. Went on his journey — Hebrews, lifted up his feet; the necessary movement of one that walks on a journey.
People of the east — Heb, bene Kedem, or, sons of the east; a name given to the tribes inhabiting an undefined territory east of Palestine, and, as appears from this, including the Syrian desert and Mesopotamia. Comp. Jdg_6:3; Job_1:3; 1Ki_4:30.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. went on his journey] Heb. lifted up his…
1. went on his journey] Heb. lifted up his feet.
the children of the east] A phrase generally used of the nomad Arab tribes to the east of Palestine: see note on Gen_25:6. Cf. Num_23:7; Jdg_6:3. Here it is used for the Aramaeans of Haran, N.E. of Palestine.
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In Hos_12:12 Jacob is said to have “fled into the field of Aram.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Jacob went on his journey.—Heb., Jacob lifted up…
XXIX.
MARRIAGE OF JACOB WITH LEAH AND RACHEL.
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(1) Jacob went on his journey.—Heb., Jacob lifted up his feet, that is, hastened forward. Confirmed in the possession of the birthright by God as well as man, and encouraged by the promise of the Divine presence, and of a safe return home, he casts no wistful glances back, but pursues his journey under the inspiriting influence of hope.
The people of the East.—Usually the Arabians are designated by this phrase, but it here signifies the tribes who inhabited northern Mesopotamia.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain Genesis 27 - 35
Genesis 27 - 35
These chapters present to us the history of Jacob-at least, the principal scenes in that history. The Spirit of God here sets before us the deepest instruction, first, as to God’s purpose of infinite grace; and, secondly, as to the utter worthlessness and depravity of human nature.
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There is a passage in Gen. 25 which I purposely passed over, in order to take if up here, so that we might have the truth in reference to Jacob fully before us "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her: and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." This is referred to in Malachi, where we read, "I have loved you, saith the Lord: yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau." This is again referred to in Rom. 9: "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Thus we have very distinctly before us, God’s eternal purpose, according to the election of grace. There is much involved in this expression. It banishes all human pretension from the scene, and asserts God’s right to act as He will. This is of the very last importance. The creature can enjoy no real blessedness until he is brought to bow his head to sovereign grace. It becomes him so to do, inasmuch as he is a sinner, and, as such, utterly without claim to act or dictate. The great value of finding oneself on this ground is, that it is then no longer a question of what we deserve to get, but simply of what God is pleased to give. The prodigal might talk of being a servant, but he really did not deserve the place of a servant, if it were to be made a question of desert; and, therefore, he had only to take what the father was pleased to give - and that was the very highest place, even the place of fellowship with himself. Thus it must ever be. "Grace all the work shall crown, through everlasting days." Happy for us that it is so. As we go on, day by day, making fresh discoveries of ourselves, we need to have beneath our feet the solid foundation of God’s grace: nothing else could possibly sustain us in our growing self-knowledge. The ruin is hopeless, and therefore the grace must be infinite: and infinite it is, having its source in God Himself, its channel in Christ, and the power of application and enjoyment in the Holy Ghost. The Trinity is brought out in connection with the grace that saves a poor sinner. "Grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." It is only in redemption that this reign of grace could be seen. we may see in creation the reign of wisdom and power; we may see in providence the reign of goodness and long-suffering; but only in redemption do we see the reign of grace, and that, too, on the principle of righteousness.
Now, we have, in the person of Jacob, a most striking exhibition of the power of divine grace; and for this reason, that we have in him a striking exhibition of the power of human nature. In him we see nature in all its obliquity, and therefore we see grace in all its moral beauty and power. From the facts of his remarkable history, it would seem that, before his birth, at his birth, and after his birth, the extraordinary energy of nature was seen. Before his birth, we read, "the children struggled together within her." At his birth, we read, "his hand took hold on Esau’s heel." And, after his birth - yea to the turning point of his history, in Gen. 32, without any exception - his course exhibits nothing but the most unamiable traits of nature; but all this only serves, like a drab background, to throw into relief the grace of Him who condescends to call Himself by the peculiarly touching name, "the God of Jacob" - a name most sweetly expressive of free grace.
Let us now examine the chapters consecutively. Gen. 27 exhibits a most humbling picture of sensuality, deceit, and cunning; and when one thinks of such things in connection with the people of God, it is sad and painful to the very last degree. Yet how true and faithful is the Holy Ghost! He must tell all out. He cannot give us a partial picture. If he gives us a history of man, he must describe man as he is, and not as he is not. So, if He unfolds to us the character and ways of God, He gives us God as He is. And this, we need hardly remark, is exactly what we need. We need the revelation of one perfect in holiness, yet perfect in grace and mercy, who could come down into all the depth of man’s need, his misery and his degradation, and deal with Him there, and raise him up out of it into full, unhindered fellowship with Himself in all the reality of what He is. This is what scripture gives us. God knew what we needed, and He has given it to us, blessed be His name!
And, be it remembered, that in setting before us, in faithful love, all the traits of man’s character, it is simply with a view to magnify the riches of divine grace, and to admonish our souls. It is not, by any means, in order to perpetuate the memory of sins, for ever blotted out from His sight. The blots, the failures, and the errors of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have been perfectly washed away, and they have taken their place amid "the spirits of just men made perfect;" but their history remains, on the page of inspiration, for the display of God’s grace, and for the warning of God’s people in all ages; And, moreover, that we my distinctly see that the blessed God has not been dealing With perfect men and women, but with those of "like passions as we are" that He has been walking and bearing with the same failures, the same infirmities, the same errors, as those over which we mourn every day. This is peculiarly comforting to the heart; and it may well stand in striking contrast with the way in which the great majority of human biographies are written, in "which, for the most part, we find, not the history of men, but of beings devoid of error and infirmity. histories have rather the effect of discouraging than of edifying those who read them. They are rather histories of what men ought to be, than of what they really are, and they are, therefore, useless to us, yea, not only useless, but mischievous.
Nothing can edify save the presentation of God dealing with man as he really is; and this is what the word gives us. The chapter before us illustrates this very fully. Here we find the aged patriarch Isaac, standing, as it were, at the very portal of eternity, the earth and nature fast fading away from his view, yet occupied about "savoury meat," and about to act in direct opposition to the divine counsel, by blessing the elder instead of the younger. Truly this was nature, and nature with its "eyes dim." If Esau had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, Isaac was about to give away the blessing for a mess of venison, How very humiliating!
But God’s purpose must stand, and He will do all His pleasure. Faith knows this; and, in the power of that knowledge, can wait for God’s time. This nature never can do, but must set about gaining its own ends, by its own inventions. These are the two grand points brought out in Jacob’s history - God’s purpose of grace, on the one hand; and on the other, nature plotting and scheming to reach what that purpose would have infallibly brought about, without any plot or scheme at all. This simplifies Jacob’s history amazingly, and not only simplifies it, but heightens the soul’s interest in it also. There is nothing, perhaps, in which we are so lamentably deficient, as in the grace of patient, self-renouncing dependence upon God. Nature will be working in some shape or form, and thus, so far as in it lies, hindering the outshining of divine grace and power. God did not need the aid of such elements as Rebekah’s cunning and Jacob’s gross deceit, in order to accomplish His purpose. He had said, "the elder shall serve the younger." This was enough - enough for faith, but not enough for nature, which must ever adopt its own ways, and know nothing of what it is to wait on God.
Now, nothing can be more truly blessed than the position of hanging in child-like dependence upon God, and being entirely content to wait for His time. True, it will involve trial; but the renewed mind learns some of its deepest lessons, and enjoys some of its sweetest experiences, while waiting on the Lord; and the more pressing the temptation to take ourselves out of His hands, the richer will be the blessing of leaving ourselves there. It is so exceedingly sweet to find ourselves wholly dependent upon one who finds infinite joy in blessing us. It is only those who have tasted, in any little measure, the reality of this wondrous position that can at all appreciate it. The only one who ever occupied it perfectly and uninterruptedly was the Lord Jesus Himself. He was ever dependent upon God, and utterly rejected every proposal of the enemy to be anything else. His language was, "In thee do I put my trust;" and again, "I was cast upon thee from the womb." Hence, when tempted by the devil to make an effort to Satisfy His hunger, His reply was, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When tempted to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, His reply was, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." When tempted to take the kingdoms of the world from the hand of another than God, and by doing homage to another than Him, His reply was, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." In a word, nothing could allure the perfect man from the place of absolute dependence upon God. True, it was God’s purpose to sustain His Son; it was His purpose that He should suddenly come to His temple; it was His purpose to give Him the kingdoms of this world; but this was the very reason why the Lord Jesus would simply and uninterruptedly wait on God for the accomplishment of His purpose, in His own time, and in His own way. He did not set about accomplishing His own ends. He left Himself thoroughly at God’s disposal. He would only eat when God gave Him bread; He would only enter the temple when sent of God; He will ascend the throne when God appoints the time. "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Ps. 110)
This profound subjection of the Son to the Father is admirable beyond expression. Though entirely equal with God, He took, as man, the place of dependence, rejoicing always in the will of the Father; giving thanks even when things seemed to be against Him; doing always the things which pleased the Father; making: it His grand and uvarying object to glorify the Father; and finally, when all was accomplished, when He had perfectly finished the work which the Father had given, He breathed His spirit into the Father’s hand, and His flesh rested in hope of the promised glory and exaltation. Well, therefore, may the inspired apostle say, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
How little Jacob knew, in the opening of his history, of this blessed mind! How little was he prepared to wait for God’s time and God’s way! He much preferred Jacob’s time and Jacob’s way. He thought it much better to arrive at the blessing and the inheritance by all sorts of cunning and deception, than by simple dependence upon and subjection to God, whose electing grace had promised, and whose almighty power and wisdom would assuredly accomplish all for him.
But, oh! how well one knows the opposition of the human heart to all this! Any attitude for it save that of patient waiting upon God. It is almost enough to drive nature to distraction to find itself bereft of all resource but God. This tells us, in language not to be misunderstood, the true character of human nature. In order to know what nature is, I need not travel into those scenes of vice and crime which justly shock all refined moral sense. No; all that is needful is just to try it for a moment in the place of dependence, and see how it will carry itself there. It really knows nothing of God, and therefore cannot trust Him; and herein was the secret of all its misery and moral degradation. It is totally ignorant of the true God, and can therefore be nought else but a ruined and worthless thing. The knowledge of God is the source of life - yea, is itself life; and until a man has life, what is he? or, what can he be?
Now, in Rebekah and Jacob, we see nature taking advantage of nature in Isaac and Esau. It was really this. There was no waiting upon God whatever. Isaac’s eyes were dim, he could therefore be imposed upon, and they set about doing so, instead of looking off to God, who would have entirely frustrated Isaac’s purpose to bless the one whom God would not bless - a purpose? founded in nature, and most unlovely nature, for "Isaac loved Esau," not because he was the first-born, but "because he did eat of his venison." How humiliating!
But we are sure to bring unmixed sorrow upon ourselves, when we take ourselves, our circumstances, or our destinies, out of the hands of God.* Thus it was with Jacob, as we shall see in the sequel. It has been observed by another, that whoever observes Jacob’s life, after he had surreptitiously obtained his father’s blessing, will perceive that he enjoyed very little worldly felicity. His brother purposed to murder him, to avoid which he was forced to flee from his father’s house; his uncle Laban deceived him, as he had deceived his father, and treated him with great rigor; after a servitude of twenty-one years, he was obliged to leave him in a clandestine manner, and not without danger of being brought back or murdered by his enraged brother; no sooner were these fears over, than he experienced the baseness of his son Reuben, in defiling his bed; he had next to bewail the treachery and cruelty of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites; then he had to feel the loss of his beloved wife; he was next imposed upon by his own sons, and had to lament the supposed untimely end of Joseph; and, to complete all, he was forced by famine to go into Egypt, and there died in a strange land. So just, wonderful, and instructive are all the ways of providence."
{*We should ever remember, in a place of trial, that what we want is not a change of circumstances, but victory over self.}
This is a true picture, so far as Jacob was concerned; but it only gives us one side, and that the gloomy side. Blessed be God, there is a bright side, likewise, for God had to do with Jacob; and, in every scene of his life, when Jacob was called to reap the fruits of his own plotting and crookedness, the God of Jacob brought good out of evil, and caused His grace to abound over all the sin and folly of His poor servant. This we shall see as we proceed with his history.
I shall just offer a remark here upon Isaac, Rebekah, and Esau. It is very interesting to observe how, notwithstanding the exhibition of nature’s excessive weakness, in the opening of Genesis 27, Isaac maintains, by faith, the dignity which God had conferred upon him. He blesses with all the consciousness of being endowed with power to bless! He says, "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed.. Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him; and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?" He speaks as one who, by faith, had at his disposal all the treasures of earth. There is no false humility, no taking a low ground by reason of the manifestation of nature. True, he was on the eve of making a grievous mistake - even of moving right athwart the counsel of God; still, he knew God, and took his place accordingly, dispensing blessings in all the dignity and power of faith. "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed." "With corn and wine have I sustained him." It is the proper province of faith to rise above all one’s own failure and the consequences thereof, into the place where God’s grace has set us.
As to Rebekah, she was called to feel all the sad results of her cunning actings. She, no doubt, imagined she was managing matters most skillfully; but, alas! she never saw Jacob again: so much for management! How different it would have been had she left the matter entirely in the hands of God. This is the way in which faith manages, and it is ever a gainer. "Which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?" We gain nothing by our anxiety and planning; we only shut out God, and that is no gain. It is a just judgement from the hand of God to be left to reap the fruits, of our own devices; and I know of few things more sad than to see a child of God so entirely forgetting his proper place and privilege, as to take the management of his affairs into his own hands. The birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, may well be our teachers when we so far forget our position of unqualified dependence upon God.
Then, again, as to Esau, the apostle calls him "a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright," and "afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of change of mind, though he sought it carefully with tears." Thus we learn what a profane person is, viz. one who would like to hold both worlds; one who would like to enjoy the present, without forfeiting his title to the future. This is, by no means, an uncommon case. It expresses to us the mere worldly professor, whose conscience has never felt the action of divine truth, and whose heart has never felt the influence of divine grace.
We are now called to trace Jacob in his movement from under his fathers roof, to view him as a homeless and lonely wanderer on the earth. It is here that God’s special dealings with him commence. Jacob now begins to realise, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his conduct, in reference to Esau; while, at the same time, God is seen rising above all the weakness and folly of His servant, and displaying His own sovereign grace and profound wisdom in His dealings with him. God will accomplish His own purpose, no matter by what instrumentality; But if His child, in impenitence of spirit, and unbelief of heart, will take himself out of His hands, he must expect much sorrowful exercise and painful discipline. Thus it was with Jacob: he might not have had to flee to Haran, had he allowed God to act for him. God would, assuredly, have dealt with Esau, and caused him to find his destined place and portion; and Jacob might have enjoyed that sweet peace which nothing can yield save entire subjection in all things to the hand and counsel of God.
But here is where the excessive feebleness of our hearts is constantly disclosed. We do not lie passive in God’s hand; we will be acting; and, by our acting, we hinder the display of God’s grace and power on our behalf. "Be still and know that I am God," is a precept which nought, save the power of divine grace, can enable one to obey. "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (eggus) Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." What will be the result of this activity? "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall garrison (phrouresei) your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4: 5-7)
However, God graciously overrules our folly and weakness, and while we are called upon to reap the fruits of our unbelieving and impatient ways, He takes occasion from them to teach our hearts still deeper lessons of His own tender grace and perfect wisdom. This, while it, assuredly, affords no warrant whatever for unbelief and impatience, does most wonderfully exhibit the goodness of our God, and comfort the heart even while we may be passing through the painful circumstances consequent upon our failure. God is above all; and, moreover, it is His special prerogative to bring good out of evil; to make the eater yield meat, and the strong yield sweetness; and hence, while it is quite true that Jacob was compelled to be an exile from his father’s roof in consequence of his own restless and deceitful acting, it is equally true that he never could have learnt the meaning of "Bethel" had he been quietly at home. Thus the two sides of the picture are strongly marked in every scene of Jacob’s history. It was when he was driven, by his own folly, from Isaac’s house, that he was led to taste, in some measure, the blessedness and solemnity of "God’s house."
"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. and he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep." Here we find the homeless wanderer just in the very position in which God could meet him, and in which He could unfold His purposes of grace and glory. Nothing could possibly be more expressive of helplessness and nothingness than Jacob’s condition as here set before us. Beneath the open canopy of heaven, with a pillow of stone, in the helpless condition of sleep. Thus it was that the God of Bethel unfolded to Jacob His purposes respecting him and his seed. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."
Here we have, indeed, "grace and glory." The ladder "set on the earth" naturally leads the heart to meditate on the display of God’s grace, in the Person and work of His Son. On the earth it was that the wondrous work was accomplished which forms the basis, the strong and everlasting basis, of all the divine counsels in reference to Israel, the Church, and the world at large. On the earth it was that Jesus lived laboured. and died; that, through His death, He might remove out of the way every obstacle to the accomplishment of the divine purpose of blessing to man.
But "the top of the ladder reached to heaven." It formed the medium of communication between heaven and earth; and "behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it" - striking and beautiful picture of Him by whom God has come down into all the depth of man’s need, and by whom also He has brought man up and set him in His own presence for ever, in the power of divine righteousness! God has made provision for the accomplishment of all His plans, despite of man’s folly and sin; and it is for the everlasting joy of any soul to find itself, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, within the limits of God’s gracious purpose.
The prophet Hosea leads us on to the time when that which was foreshadowed by Jacob’s ladder shall have its full accomplishment. "And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle, out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies; I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." (Hosea 2: 18-23) There is also an expression in the first chapter of John, bearing upon Jacob’s remarkable vision; it is Christ’s word to Nathanael, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (Ver. 51)
Now this vision of Jacob’s is a very blessed disclosure of divine grace to Israel. We have been led to see something of Jacob’s real character, something, too, of his real condition; both were evidently such as to show that it should either be divine grace for him, or nothing. By birth he had no claim; nor yet by character. Esau might put forward some claim on both these grounds; i.e., provided God’s prerogative were set aside; but Jacob had no claim whatsoever; and hence, while Esau could only stand upon the exclusion of God’s prerogative, Jacob could only stand upon the introduction and establishment thereof. Jacob was such a sinner, and so utterly divested of all claim, both by birth and by practice, that he had nothing whatever to rest upon save God’s purpose of pure, free, and sovereign grace. Hence, in the revelation which the Lord makes to His chosen servant, in the passage just quoted, it is a simple record or prediction of what He Himself would yet do. "I am.... I will give.... I will keep .... I will bring..... I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" It was all Himself. There is no condition whatever. No if or but; for when grace acts there can be no such thing. Where there is an if, it cannot possibly be grace. Not that God cannot put man into a position of responsibility, in which He must needs address him with an ’if.’ We know He can; but Jacob asleep on a pillow of stone was not in a position of responsibility, but of the deepest helplessness and need; and therefore he was in a position to receive a revelation of the fullest, richest, and most unconditional grace.
Now, we cannot but own the blessedness of being in such a condition, that we have nothing to rest upon save God Himself; and, moreover, that it is in the most perfect establishment of God’s own character and prerogative that we obtain all our true joy and blessing. According to this principle, it would be an irreparable loss to us to have any ground of our own to stand upon, for in that case, God should address us on the ground of responsibility, and failure would then be inevitable. Jacob was so bad, that none but God Himself could do for him.
And, be it remarked, that it was his failure in the habitual recognition of this that led him into so much sorrow and pressure. God’s revelation of Himself is one thing, and our resting in that revelation is quite another. God shows Himself to Jacob, in infinite grace; but no sooner does Jacob awake out of sleep, than we find him developing his true character, and proving how little he knew, practically, of the blessed One who had just been revealing Himself so marvellously to him. "He was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." His heart was not at home in the presence of God; nor can any heart be so until it has been thoroughly emptied and broken. God is at home, blessed be His name, with a broken heart, and a broken heart at home with Him. But Jacob’s heart was not yet in this condition; nor had he yet learnt to repose, like a little child, in the perfect love of one who could say, "Jacob have I loved." "Perfect love casteth out fear;" but where such love is not known and fully realised, there will always be a measure of uneasiness and perturbation. God’s house and God’s presence are not dreadful to a soul who knows the love of God as expressed in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. such a soul is rather led to say," Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." (Ps. 26: 8) And, again, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." (Ps. 27: 4) and again, "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord." (Ps. 84) When the heart is established in the knowledge of God, it will assuredly love His house, whatever the Character of that house may be, whether it be Bethel, or the temple at Jerusalem, or the Church now composed of all true believers, "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." However, Jacob’s knowledge, both of God and His house, was very shallow, at that point in his history on which we are now dwelling.
We shall have occasion, again, to refer to some principles connected with Bethel; and shall, now, close our meditations upon this chapter, with a brief notice of Jacob’s bargain with God, so truly characteristic of him, and so demonstrative of the truth of the statement with respect to the shallowness of his knowledge of the divine character. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this may that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." Observe, "if God will be with me." Now, the Lord had just said, emphatically, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land," &c. And yet poor Jacob’s heart cannot get beyond an "if" nor, in its thoughts of God’s goodness, can it rise higher than "bread to eat, and raiment put on." Such were the thoughts of one who had just seen the magnificent vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with the Lord standing above, and promising an innumerable seed, and an everlasting possession. Jacob was evidently unable to enter into the reality and fullness of God’s thoughts. He measured God by Himself, and thus utterly failed to apprehend Him. In short, Jacob had not yet verily got to the end of himself; and hence he had not really begun with God.
"Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east." As we have just seen, in Gen. 28 Jacob utterly fails in the apprehension of God’s real character, and meets all the rich grace of Bethel with an "if" and a miserable bargain about food and raiment. We now follow him into a scene of thorough bargain-making. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is no possibility of escaping from this. Jacob had not yet found his true level in the presence of God; and, therefore, God uses circumstances to chasten and break him down.
This is the real secret of much, very much, of our sorrow and trial in the world. Our hearts have never been really broken before the Lord; we have never been self-judged and self-emptied; and hence, again and again, we, as it were, knock our heads against the wall. No one can really enjoy God until he has got to the bottom of self, and for this plain reason, that God has begun the display of Himself at the very point at which the end of flesh is seen. If, therefore, I have not reached the end of my flesh, in the deep and positive experience of my soul, it is morally impossible that I can have anything like a just apprehension of God’s character. But I must, in some way or other, be conducted to the true measure of nature. To accomplish this end, the Lord makes use of various agencies which, no matter what they are, are only effectual when used by Him for the purpose of disclosing, in our view, the true character of all that is in our hearts. How often do we find as in Jacob’s case, that even although the Lord may come near to us, and speak in our ears, yet we do not understand His voice, or take our true place in His presence. "The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not ..... How dreadful is this place!" Jacob learnt nothing by all this, and it, therefore, needed twenty years of terrible schooling, and that, too, in a school marvellously adapted to his flesh; and even that, as we shall see, was not sufficient to break him down.
However, it is remarkable to see how he gets back into an atmosphere so entirely suited to his moral constitution. The bargain-making Jacob, meets with the bargain-making Laban, and they are both seen, as it were, straining every nerve to outwit each other. Nor can we wonder at Laban, for he had never been at Bethel: he had seen no open heaven, with a ladder reaching from thence to earth; he had heard no magnificent promises from the lips of Jehovah, securing to him all the land of Canaan, with a countless seed: no marvel, therefore, that he should exhibit a grasping grovelling spirit; he had no other resource. It is useless to expect from worldly men ought but a worldly spirit, and worldly principles and ways; they have gotten nought superior; and you cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. But to find Jacob, after all he had seen and heard at Bethel, struggling with a man of the world, and endeavouring, by such means, to accumulate property, is peculiarly humbling.
And yet, alas! it is no uncommon thing to find the children of God thus forgetting their high destinies and heavenly inheritance, and descending into the arena with the children of this world, to struggle there for the riches and honours of a perishing, sin-stricken earth. Indeed, to such an extent is this true, in many instances, that it is often hard to trace a single evidence of that principle which St. John tells us "overcometh the world." Looking at Jacob and Laban, and judging of them upon natural principles, it would be hard to trace any difference. One should get behind the scenes, and enter into God’s thoughts about both, in order to see how widely they differed. But it was God that had made them to differ, not Jacob; and so it is now. Difficult as it may be to trace any difference between the children of light and the children of darkness, there is, nevertheless, a very wide difference indeed - a difference founded on the solemn fact that the former are "the vessels of mercy, which God has before prepared unto glory," while the latter are "the vessels of wrath, fitted (not by God, but by sin) to destruction." Rom 9: 22, 23)* This makes a very serious difference. The Jacobs and the Labans differ materially, and have differed, and will differ for ever, though the former may so sadly fail in the realization and practical exhibition of their true character and dignity.
{*It is deeply interesting to the spiritual mind to mark how sedulously the Spirit of God, in Rom. 9 and indeed throughout all scripture, guards against the horrid inference which the human mind draws from the doctrine of God’s election - when He speaks of "vessels of wrath," He simply says, "fitted to destruction." He does not say that God "fitted" them.
Whereas, on the other hand, when He refers to "the vessels of mercy" he says, "whom he had afore prepared unto glory." This is most marked.
If my reader will turn for a moment to Matt 25: 34-41, he will find another striking and beautiful instance of the same thing.
When the king addresses those on His right hand, he says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Verse 34) But when He addresses those on His left, He says, "Depart from me ye cursed." He does not say, "cursed of My Father." And, further, He says, "into everlasting fire, prepared," not for you, but "for the devil and his angels." (Verse 41)
In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared’ a kingdom of glory, and "vessels of mercy’ to inherit that kingdom; but He has not prepared" everlasting fire" for men, but for the "devil and his angels" nor has He fitted the "vessels of wrath," but they have fitted themselves.
The word of God as clearly establishes "election" as it sedulously guards against "reprobation." Everyone who finds himself in heaven will have to thank God for it; and everyone that finds himself in hell will have to thank himself.}
Now, in Jacob’s case, as set forth in the three chapters now before us, all his toiling and working, like his wretched bargain before, is the result of his ignorance of God’s grace, and his inability to put implicit confidence in God’s promise. The man that could say, after a most unqualified promise from God to give him the whole land of Canaan, "IF God will give me food to eat and raiment to put on," could have had but a very faint apprehension of who God was, or what His promise was either; and because of this, we see him seeking to do the best he can for himself. This is always the way when grace is not understood: the principles of grace may be professed, but the real measure of our experience of the power of grace is quite another thing. One would have imagined that Jacob’s vision had told him a tale of grace; but God’s revelation at Bethel, and Jacob’s actings at Haran, are two very different things; yet the latter tell out what was Jacob’s sense of the former. Character and conduct prove the real measure of the soul’s experience and conviction, whatever the profession may be. But Jacob had never yet been brought to measure himself in God’s presence, and therefore he was ignorant of grace, and he proved his ignorance by measuring himself with Laban, and adopting his maxims and ways.
One cannot help remarking the fact that inasmuch as Jacob failed to learn and judge the inherent character of his flesh before God, therefore he was, in the providence of God, led into the very sphere in which that character was fully exhibited in its broadest lines. He was conducted to Haran, the country of Laban and Rebekah, the very school from whence those principles, in which he was such a remarkable adept, had emanated, and where they were taught, exhibited, and maintained. If one wanted to learn what God was, he should go to Bethel; if to learn what man was, he should go to Haran. But Jacob had failed to take in God’s revelation of Himself at Bethel, and he therefore went to Haran, and there showed what he was - and oh, what scrambling and scraping! what shuffling and shifting! There is no holy and elevated confidence in God, no simply looking to and waiting on Him. True, God was with Jacob - for nothing can hinder the outshining of divine grace. Moreover, Jacob in a measure owns God’s presence and faithfulness. Still nothing can be done without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot allow God to settle the question as to his wives and his wages, but seeks to settle all by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn, for example, to Gen. 30: 37-42, and say where he can find a more masterly piece of cunning. It is verily a perfect picture of Jacob. In place of allowing God to multiply "the ringstraked, speckled, and spotted cattle," as be most assuredly could have done, had He been trusted, he sets about securing their multiplication by a piece of policy which could only have found its origin in the mind of a Jacob. So in all his actings, during his twenty years’ sojourn with Laban; and finally, he, most characteristically, "steals away," thus maintaining, in everything, his consistency with himself.
Now, it is in tracing out Jacob’s real character, from stage to stage of his extraordinary history, that one gets a wondrous view of divine grace. None but God could have borne with such an one, as none but God would have taken such an one up. Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in the full intelligence of what he is. It is of the very last importance to understand this feature of grace at one’s first starting; it enables us to bear, with steadiness of heart, the after discoveries of personal vileness, which so frequently shake the confidence and disturb, the peace of the children of God.
Many there are who, at first, fail in the full apprehension of the utter ruin of nature, as looked at in God’s presence, though their hearts have been attracted by the grace of God, and their consciences tranquillised, in some degree, by the application of the blood of Christ. Hence, as they get on in their course, they begin to make deeper discoveries of the evil within, and, being deficient in their apprehensions of God’s grace, and the extent and efficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, they immediately raise a question as to their being children of God at all. Thus they are taken off Christ, and thrown on themselves, and then they either betake themselves to ordinances, in order to keep up their tone of devotion, or else fall back into thorough worldliness and carnality. These are disastrous consequences, and all the result of not having "the heart established in grace."
It is this that renders the study of Jacob’s history so profoundly interesting and eminently useful. No one can read the three chapters now before us, and not be struck at the amazing grace that could take up such an one as Jacob, and not only take him up, but say, after the full discovery of all that was in him, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." (Num. 23: 21) He does not say that iniquity and perverseness were not in him. This would never give the heart confidence - the very thing, above all others, which God desires to give. It could never assure a poor sinner’s heart, to be told that there was no sin in him; for, alas! he knows too well there is; but to be told there is no sin on him, and that, moreover, in God’s sight, on the simple ground of Christ’s perfect sacrifice, must infallibly set his heart and conscience at rest. Had God taken up Esau, we should not have had, by any means, such a blessed display of grace; for this reason, that he does not appear before us in the unamiable light in which we see Jacob. The more man sinks, the more God’s grace rises. As my debt rises, in my estimation, from the fifty pence up to the five hundred, so my sense of grace rises also, my experience of that love which, when we "had nothing to pay, could "frankly forgive" us all. (Luke 7: 42) Well might the apostle say, "it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace: not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." (Heb. 13: 9)
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then Jacob went on his journey (literally, lifted up…
Then Jacob went on his journey (literally, lifted up his feet a graphic description of traveling. Inspired by new hopes, and conscious of loftier aims than when he fled from Beersheba, the lonely furtive departed from Bethel), and came into the land of the people of the east literally, the land of the sons of the east, i.e. Mesopotamia, about 450 miles distant from Beersheba.
Vers. 1-14.
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Jacob at the well of Haran: a romantic adventure.
I JACOB"S MEETING WITH THE SHEPHERDS.
1. The providential discovery. The well in the field with the three flocks of sheep lying by it enabled Jacob to ascertain his whereabouts, and ultimately led to his finding Rachel. God guides the steps of his people without
2. interfering with the ordinary course of nature, simply directing them m the exercise of sense and intelligence; and doubtless Jacob recognized in his, lighting on the Haran well a first installment of that celestial guidance he had been lately promised. Saints should practice the art of discerning the movement of God"s finger in the minutest and commonest events of life.
3. The friendly conversation. Saluting the shepherds as his brethren, i.e. as masters of a common craft, Jacob gathers from their frank communications that he was on the outskirts of Haran, in which his uncle Laban was a prosperous and wealthy citizen, and that his cousin Rachel was on the road to that very well beside which he stood with a flock of her father"s sheep. Great is the virtue of asking questions, especially when they are prefaced with politeness. Seldom anything is lost, but frequently much is gained, by courteous inquiries.
4. The prudent counsel. Observing his friends disposed to indolence, and perhaps desirous of meeting Rachel alone, Jacob recommends them to uncover the well, water their flocks, and drive them off again to pasture, since much of the day yet remained. If it was their advantage he sought, his advice was good; if it was his own interest he served, the stratagem was ingenious. God"s people should be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.
II JACOB"S FIRST SIGHT OF RACHEL.
1. The gallant action. The lovely shepherdess arriving made a deep impression on her cousin"s heart. Springing to his feet, he rolls the stone from the well"s mouth, fills the troughs, and waters Laban"s sheep impelled thereto, shall we say, as much by consideration for the fair girl who attended them as for the rich flock-master who possessed them. Kindly acts proceeding from loving hearts are sometimes largely assisted by the attractions of their recipients.
2. The loving salutation. "And Jacob kissed Rachel." If before explaining who he was, it must have taken her by surprise even in those unconventional times; but it is probable he may have first announced his name, in which case his behavior was only in accordance with the manners of the age. Suitable expressions of, affection to friends beseem both grace and nature.
1. The irrepressible emote. And Jacob lifted up his voice and wept expressive both of joy at finding his relatives, and of gratitude for God"s goodness m grading him to the house of his mother"s brother. Unexpected
2. good and eminent pro vide nces kindle transports of delight in gracious souls.
3. The important communication. "Jacob told Rachel that he was her father"s brother, and that he was Rebekah"s son: and she ran and told her father." Friends, and much more Christians, meeting on life"s journey, should with frankness discover themselves to each other, and give each other hearty welcome.
III JACOB"S INTRODUCTION TO LABAN.
1. The uncles reception of his nephew, "Laban ran to meet his sister s son, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house." Kinship and kindness should ever be allied. Laban"s hospitality to Jacob was grounded on the fact of their relationship. So is Christ"s entertainment of his people based upon the circumstance that they are "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
2. The nephews return to his uncle. Ingenuous confidence told Laban all these things and faithful service. It is implied in ver. 15 that during the month Jacob abode with Laban he served in keeping Laban"s sheep. God"s people should endeavor as far as in them lies to requite the kindnesses of relatives and friends.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Ge 14) but a well in the open field for the use of flocks, and covered at the time of Jacob"s arrival with a huge stoneand, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it. A frequent Oriental scene (cf. Gen_14:11; Exo_2:16) "Who that has traveled much in this country has not often arrived at a well in the heat of the day which was surrounded with numerous flocks of sheep waiting to be watered? I once saw such a scene in the burning plains of Northern Syria. Half-naked, fierce-looking men were drawing up water in leather buckets; flock after flock was brought up, watered, and sent away; and after all the men had ended their work, then several women and girls brought up their flocks, and drew water for them. Thus it was with Jethro"s daughters; and thus, no doubt, it would have been with Rachel if Jacob had not rolled away the stone and watered her sheep" ("Land and Book," p. 589). For out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well"s mouth. "Most of the cisterns are covered with a large thick, flat stone, in the center of which a hole is cut, which forms the mouth of the cistern. This hole, in many instances, we found covered with a heavy stone, to the removal of which two or three men were requisite" (Robinson, 2. p. 180).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into…
Gen_29:1-14
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east
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Jacobs experience on his journey
I.
THAT GODS PRESENCE WITH HIM MADE HIS DUTIES AND HIS TROUBLES LIGHT. He who casts his burden upon the Lord ceases to weary himself, and finds that even labour is rest and pain is sweet.
II. THAT PROVIDENCE WAS STILL HIS GUIDE. All his life through Providence had guided him, but he knew it not as he ought to know. Now, even in the most ordinary and likely events of life he learns to trace the hand of Providence. Providence brings to this spot the very woman who is designed to be the wife of Jacob. Surely he could not fail to see that even through all the strange trials of his journey, and through the most untoward events, the will of God was being accomplished.
III. THAT GODS GRACIOUS DEALINGS WITH HIM CALLED FOR GRATITUDE. Jacob was deeply touched by the kindness of God; and while he embraced Rachel, he lifted up his voice and wept. They were tears started by the remembrance of his faithless misgivings, but they were also tears of joy at the thought that his difficulties were at an end, and that the great object of his mission had been gained. (T. H. Leale.)
Providential guidance
1. Gods gracious appearances to a soul may encourage it to go any whither where God would have them.
2. Encouragements from God and engagements to Him will make a man speed in the way where God calleth.
3. Providence bringeth an obedient soul safely to the place appointed for him.
4. Providence sendeth to every part His servants to raise His Church. The East is not exempted, Abraham from hence, Job in this place were eminent, and now Jacob is sent to it (verse 2). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Jacob, the pilgrim
Rich in distant hopes, but cheerless in his immediate prospects, Jacob left the land of promise. He was a true pilgrim; and his whole life was a wearisome and changeful pilgrimage. The gold of his capacious and lofty mind was to be purified from its strong alloy of dishonesty and cunning in the furnace of misery and toil; his moral education commenced at his departure from the parental house, and after many tribulations only, resulted in that peace of mind which is at once the surest symptom and the choicest reward of true virtue. Jacobs life has always been considered as a type; we see in it, indeed, the eternal image of mans protracted contests, both against the foe in his heart and with his destinies, till at last the internal enemy is either wearied out by his resistance, or expelled by his energy, or reconciled by his sufferings (see on Gen_34:1-4). Among the earliest seeds sowed by Jacob were deceit and craft; and flight and exile were the first fruits of his harvest. While his grandfathers servants had undertaken the journey to the town of Nahor with ten camels laden with all the most precious treasures (Gen_24:10); the offspring of the alliance concluded in consequence of that journey, left his fathers roof, as a poor wanderer, without an friend or an attendant, and without an animal to lighten the fatigues of the way. (M. M.Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence maketh Gods servants to see in due time some characters of their being near their journeys end, and accomplishment of His promise.
2. Things of usual account by some may be made by Providence of special use to comfort others. So the welt, &c., here spoken of Jacob (Gen_29:2).
3. To seek community of good in neighbourhood is the very law of nature. Not each to prevent other.
4. Preservation of public commodities for life and comfort, is that which nature will teach men. It is unnatural to destroy (verse 3-5). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence maketh questions means to the satisfaction of His.
2. Sons are best known by the most eminent of their ancestors.
3. Nahor and his descent, with their way and religion, were known in Syria (Gen_29:5).
4. It is but Natures dictate to inquire of the welfare of related friends.
5. Providence orders peace to others, that with them His servants may have peace.
6. Providence orders meeting of friends and comforts which man cannot project, and doth little think of, Here Jacob meets Rachel (Gen_29:6). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Rachel his daughter cometh
Lessons -
1. Providential meetings may justly occasion providential advice from strangers to others.
2. Time and business should be rationally managed to the improvement of both (Gen_29:7).
3. Ingenuity taketh not amiss occasional advice from strangers.
4. Ingenuous men, if they follow not counsel, will give their reason.
5. Impotency to duty justly may excuse it.
6. Iniquity must not be done to others for private advantage (Gen_29:8). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Gods good hand sendeth the mercy sometimes to His servants while they inquire about it.
2. The eminent in His church God hath called from the lowest condition in the world.
3. It is not unbeseeming the greatest ladies to be found in honest labour. It was not to Rachel. It suits the mother of the Church to be a shepherdess (Gen_29:9). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Discoveries of such as are near in the flesh is enough in nature to move for doing them good.
2. Readiness and pains to show kindness unto friends in the flesh becometh both grace and nature (Gen_29:10). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Self-discovery is proper, when God sends friends to meet at unawares.
2. Ingenuity gladly receiveth the manifestation of near friends in the flesh. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The meeting of Jacob with Rachel and Laban -
I. THE STRANGER AT THE WELL Jacob.
1. The journey ended. Canaan, Bethel, and his fathers house behind him. Mountains, deserts, rivers, and rocky wildernesses between. God had kept Gen_28:20), so far, from wild beasts and robbers, and all perils of the wilderness.
2. He arrives on the confines of civilized life once more; yet knows not how near the end of his journey he is. Finds flocks, and pasturage, and the dwellings of men.
3. Rests by the well side. Knows that it will soon be the meeting-place of men, from the flocks that are gathering round the spot.
4. The shepherds arrive. He converses with them. Finds they are of Haran, the place he is journeying to. Inquires concerning his kindred. Discovers that they are well, and that Rachel, the daughter of Laban, is on the way to water the flock.
II. THE SHEPHERDESS. Rachel.
1. Primitive habits, and pastoral life in the East. The daughters of large land owners, and men of substance, tending sheep.
2. Rachel approaches the well. Finds a stranger sitting near. Knows him not. He has been told who she is.
3. Though weary with his journey, Jacob rises, and rolls the stone away, and waters Rachels flock for her. Rachel doubtless wondering at this unexpected kindness.
4. Jacob, having watered the flock, salutes the shepherdess after the common fashion of the country. A courteous and customary greeting.
5. Jacob weeps tears of joy that he has found the kindred of whom he is in search; and of thankfulness that God has so far guided and blessed him. Rachel wondering.
6. Jacob tells his story. Mentions the name of that Rebekah of whom she had heard, and who years before had gone across the great desert to her distant home.
III. THE WELCOME HOME. The home of Laban.
1. Rachel, full of joyful surprise, hastens forward, and tells the story of the strange traveller to her father.
2. Laban, also surprised, quickly goes to the well to meet him. Salutes him, as Jacob had saluted Rachel, and brings him home. Eastern hospitality.
3. Jacob repeats his story to Laban. Doubtless, while silent about many things, related that the birthright and the blessing were his; and described the vision he had by the way.
4. Laban cordially--because of his relationship especially--invites Jacob to abide with him. Learn:
I. That a good mans steps are ordered of the Lord, and He delighteth in his way.
II. If we commit our way unto the Lord, He will bring it to pass.
III. As Jacob watered Rachels flock, so should we be self-denying and helpful.
IV. Aim, like Rachel, at living a useful life. It was when she was employed in her works of duty that she met with Jacob.
V. Like Jacob, acknowledge God as the giver of all good, and the guide of our life. (Jr. C. Gray.)
We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together
Watering the sheep
A scene in Mesopotamia, beautifully pastoral. A well of water of great value in that region. The fields around about it white with three flocks of sheep lying down waiting for the watering. I hear their bleating coming on the bright air, and the laughter of young men and maidens indulging in rustic repartee. I look off, and I see other flocks of sheep coming, Meanwhile, Jacob, a stranger, on the interesting errand of looking for a wife, comes to the well. A beautiful shepherdess comes to the same well. I see her approaching, followed by her fathers flock of sheep. Jacob accosts the shepherds and asks them why they postpone the slaking of the thirst of these sheep, and why they did not immediately proceed to water them? The shepherds reply to the effect: We are all good neighbours, and as a matter of courtesy we wait until all the sheep of the neighbourhood come up. Besides that, this stone on the wells mouth is somewhat heavy, and several of us take hold of it and push it aside, and then the buckets and the troughs are filled, and the sheep are satisfied. We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the wells mouth; then we water the sheep. Now a great flock of sheep to-day gather around this Gospel well. There are a great many thirsty souls. I wonder why the flocks of all nations do not gather--why so many stay thirsty; and while I am wondering about if, my text breaks forth in the explanation, saying: We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the wells mouth; then we water the sheep. This well of the Gospel is deep enough to put out the burning thirst of the twelve hundred million of the race. Do not let the Church by a spirit of exclusiveness keep the world out. Let down all the bars, swing open all the gates, scatter all the invitations: Whosoever will let him come.
I. You notice that this well of Mesopotamia had a stone on it, which must be removed before the sheep could be watered; and I find on the well of salvation to-day IMPEDIMENTS AND OBSTACLES, which must be removed in order that you may obtain the refreshment and life of this Gospel.
1. In your case the impediment is pride of heart. You cannot bear to come to so democratic a fountain; you do not want to come with so many others. You will have to remove the obstacle of pride, or never find your way to the well. You will have to come as we came, willing to take the water of eternal life in any way, and at any hand, and in any kind of picture, crying out: O Lord Jesus, I am dying of thirst. Give me the water of eternal life, whether in trough or goblet; give me the water of life; I care not in what it comes to me. Away with all your hindrances of pride from the wells mouth.
2. Here is another man who is kept back from this water of life by the stone of an obdurate heart, which lies over the mouth of the well. You have no more feeling upon this subject than if God had vet to do you the first kindness, or you had to do God the first wrong. Seated on His lap all these years, His everlasting arms sheltering you, where is your gratitude? Where is your morning and evening prayer? Where are your consecrated lives? O man, what dost thou with that hard heart? Canst thou not feel one throb of gratitude towards the God who made you, and the Christ who came to redeem you, and the Holy Ghost who has all these years been importuning you?
II. Jacob with a good deal of tug and push took the stone from the wells mouth, so that the flocks might be watered. And I would that this morning my word, blessed of God, might remove the hindrances to your getting up to the Gospel well. Yea, I take it for granted that the work is done, and now like Oriental shepherds, I PROCEED TO WATER THE SHEEP.
1. Come, all ye thirsty! You have an undefined longing in your souls. You tried money-making; that did not satisfy you. You tried office under government; that did not satisfy you. You tried pictures and sculptures, but works of art did not satisfy you. You are as much discontented with this life as the celebrated French author who felt that he could not any longer endure the misfortunes of the world, and who said: At four oclock this afternoon I shall put an end to my own existence. Meanwhile, I must toil on up to that time for the sustenance of my family. And he wrote on his book until the clock struck four, when he folded up his manuscript and, by his own hand, concluded his earthly life. There are men in this house who are perfectly discontented. Unhappy in the past, unhappy to-day, to be unhappy for ever, unless you come to this Gospel-well. This satisfies the soul with a high, deep, all-absorbing, and eternal satisfaction.
2. Come, also, to this Gospel-well, all ye troubled. I do not suppose you have escaped. Compare your view of this life at fifteen years of age with what your view of it is at forty, sixty, or seventy. What a great contrast of opinion! Were you right, then, or are you right now? Two cups placed in your hands, the one a sweet cup, the other a sour cup. A cup of joy and a cup of grief. Which has been the nearest to being full, and out of which have you the more frequently partaken? Oh, you have had trouble, trouble, trouble. God only knows how much you have had. It is a wonder you have been able to live through it. It is a wonder your nervous system has not been shattered, and your brain has not reeled. Trouble, trouble, If I could gather all the griefs, of all sorts, from this great audience, and could put them in one scroll, neither man nor angel could endure the recitation. Well what do you want? Would you like to have your property back again? No, you say, as a Christian man: I was becoming arrogant, and I think that is why the Lord took it away. I dont want to have my property back. Well, would you have your departed friends back again? No, you say: I couldnt take the responsibility of bringing them from a tearless realm to one of tears. I couldnt do it. Well, then, what do you want? A thousand voices in the audience cry out: Comfort, give us comfort. For that reason I have rolled away the stone from the wells mouth. Come, all ye wounded of the flock, pursued of the wolves, come to the fountain where the Lords sick and bereft ones have come. I gather all the promises to-day in a group, and I ask the shepherds to drive their flocks of lambs and sheep up to the sparkling supply. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth., Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Oh, what a great flock of sheep God will gather around the celestial well. No stone on the wells mouth, while the Shepherd waters the sheep. (Dr. Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Gen_29:1. Went on his journey.] Heb. Lifted up his…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_29:1. Went on his journey.] Heb. Lifted up his feet. (See Psa_74:3.) The idea is that he journeyed with alacrity. Rashi, the Jewish commentator, says, “his heart was elated, and his feet felt light.” Came into the land of the people of the East. Mesopotamia, east of Palestine.—
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Gen_29:2. A well in the field.] “This well is apparently not the same as that in Chron. Gen_24:11, etc. It seems to be further from the city, and different in its management. This well is closed by a large stone, which is only removed at the assemblage of the flocks and shepherds in the evening.” Alford.—
Gen_29:5. Laban, the son of Nahor.] He was the son of Bethuel, but, according to the usage of the Heb., he is called the son of Nahor, though only his grandson.—
Gen_29:6. Is he well?] Heb. “(is there) peace to him?” Not only health, but also general welfare and prosperity.—
Gen_29:7. High day.] Heb. “Yet the day is great.” i.e., a great part of the day yet remains. “As it was yet too early to gather the flocks into their stalls for the night, Jacob, who was well versed in pastoral life, was at a loss to account for the fact that they were not watered and turned again to pasture instead of wasting a good part of the day idly about the well. After being watered and allowed to rest themselves awhile in the shade, in the middle of the day (Son_1:7), the flocks were usually turned out again to feed till sunset.” (Bush).—
Gen_29:8. We cannot.] A moral inability is intended. The idea conveyed is that it was not permitted—it was contrary to usage. This commonly understood rule may have been agreed upon in order to secure a fair distribution of the water.—
Gen_29:14. And he abode with him the space of a month. “He remained this length of time before any fixed arrangement was made for wages.” (Jacobus.)—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_29:1-14
JACOB’S EXPERIENCE ON HIS JOURNEY
I. That God’s presence with him made his duties and his troubles light. Jacob had just left Bethel, where the Almighty had granted him so encouraging a vision, and where he devoted himself to God by so remarkable a vow. Many a weary journey still lay between him and the place of his destination. He would have to encounter danger, uncertainty, and fatigue. But now since he has been at Bethel he walks with life and strength renewed. “He lifted up his feet”—proceeded on his journey with feelings of alacity and joy to which he had long been a stranger. The sorrows of the first day’s march are described at length, but the experience of the remainder of this long and wearisome journey is briefly and simply told. The inspired historian dispatches the four hundred miles in a single verse. “Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the East.” He who casts his burden upon the Lord ceases to weary himself, and finds that even labour is rest and pain is sweet.
II. That Providence was still his guide. All his life through Providence had guided him, but he knew it not as he ought to know. Now, even in the most ordinary and likely events of life he learns to trace the hand of Providence. The incidents of this history are simple, and, for the most part, they are such as would have happened to any ordinary traveller. Jacob arrives at a well, a company of shepherds assemble for the purpose of watering their flocks. Jacob enters into conversation with them in the free and unrestrained manner of those early times. He asks them whence they are, and finds that they happen to know Laban, his uncle. They tell him that Rachel, Laban’s daughter, is coming with the sheep. Jacob suggests to the shepherds that it is too early to gather their flocks, probably using this as an excuse that he might meet Rachel alone. Rachel comes up in the meantime, Jacob is struck with her appearance, for she “was beautiful and well favoured.” The purpose of his journey and of all his strange experience is now revealed. Providence brings to this spot the very woman who is designed to be the wife of Jacob. Surely he could not fail to see that even through all the strange trials of his journey, and through the most untoward events, the will of God was being accomplished.
III. That God’s gracious dealings with him called for gratitude. Jacob was deeply touched by the kindness of God; and while he embraced Rachel, he “lifted up his voice and wept.” They were tears started by the remembrance of his faithless misgivings, but they were also tears of joy at the thought that his difficulties were at an end, and that the great object of his mission had been gained. Jacob makes bold to announce himself and his message, for he was confident of the mercy of God and of the strength of His Holy Covenant. (Gen_29:12-13.) He is altogether a changed man now, and gives proof that he had passed through a great spiritual crisis by acknowledging God in all His ways.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_29:1. He went lightly on his long journey. “The joy of the Lord” was Jacob’s “strength.” It became as oil; wherewith his soul being supplied he was made more lithe, nimble, and fit for action. Let us pluck up our feet, pass from strength to strength, and take long and lusty strides towards heaven. It is but a little afore us; and a ready heart rids the way apace.—(Trapp.)
The way before us may be long and wearisome. There may be much to vex and distress us, but if we serve Jacob’s God the consolation of Jacob will be ours. The rest of our journey will be passed over easily, and the history of it may be told in few words—“They went on their journey, and they have entered into the land.”
Gen_29:2-3. This is but a slight indication of all that these early shepherds were to their flocks, for in truth they were very different from what they are among us. The shepherds of that time looked upon their sheep as friends; they shared the same dangers as their sheep, and often risked their lives to procure sustenance for the sheep, and, as ever, danger intensified their mutual affection.—(Robertson.)
Gen_29:4-6. Jacob, on making inquiry, learns that Haran is at hand, that Laban is well, and that Rachel is drawing nigh with her father’s flocks.—(Murphy.)
Gen_29:7-8. We have here a conception given us of the church as a family. All had a right to move the stone from the well, and take water therefrom, at any hour of the day; but they agreed only to open it once a day, and then take sufficient for the wants of the day, otherwise the well would have been left uncovered, for the stone was too heavy to be so frequently moved on and off for everyone separately, and the consequence would have been that the well would have become impure and the water dried up. The family is the type both of the church and nation; and without the concessions, love, and consideration of a family, both church and nation lose their characteristic principles.—(Robertson.)
Gen_29:9-11. Again, it is a unity of variety required to form a church, for so it is in the family; it is not composed of all brothers or all sisters, all parents or all children, but of all four united in their variety. “Surely thou art my bone and my flesh.” (Gen_29:14.) Manifestly here is the sacredness of family ties; Jacob had never seen Rachael before, but when he heard she was the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, he felt drawn to her by a mysterious power, “and Jacob,” we read, “kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.” (Gen_29:11.) Even so are Christians united to Christ and to one another in a spiritual manner.—(Robertson.)
The sight of the daughter of his mother’s brother affected him. The tears shed on this occasion must have arisen from a full heart. We cannot say that the love which he afterwards bore to Rachel did not commence from his first seeing her. But, however that might be, the cause of his weeping was of another kind: it was her being “the daughter of his mother’s brother,” that now affected him. Everything chat revived her memory, even the very flocks of sheep that belonged to her brother, went to his heart. Nor did he wish to be alone with Rachel, but that he might give vent without reserve to these sensations.—(Fuller.)
Gen_29:12-14. Rachel’s eager, cordial reception of him, and the simplicity of her joy in carrying home the news, all remind us of Rebekah in the previous history.—(Jacobus.)
Sudden tidings of good excite the feelings. Such is the joy of salvation when the soul recognises her true relationship to God the Redeemer.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Section 2. (Gen 29:1-35; Gen 30:1-43; Gen 31:1-55.)
Section 2. (Gen 29:1-35; Gen 30:1-43; Gen 31:1-55.)
Increase in the place of humiliation.
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The history at Paddan Aram is harder to read; and the details of its application to Israel’s history as scattered from their land, above all so: and yet it is easy to understand how this should be. During his twenty years of exile, Jacob enjoys no further such revelations of His presence. In the meantime, God deals with him as with one for whom He has purposes of blessing, only to be reached through disciplinary sorrow. He is multiplied through unwelcome Leah and the bond-maids mainly, serving long and with hard labor for wives and flocks. Like his descendants, he is multiplied as the dust, while trampled into it: they, enslaved, trodden down and yet preserved, and merging in the end into wealth and power, witness to the care of that God of Bethel whom yet they know not.
It is a striking thing, in this connection, that it is when Joseph is born that Jacob begins to set his face homeward, although he does not actually start till six years afterward; gaining, however, in wealth continually in the meanwhile; and that his history practically ends with the birth of Benjamin. These two sons of Rachel we must know in their typical significance in order to be able to read aright much -indeed the larger part -of what follows in this book.
Joseph, then, is the one separated from his brethren; having by them been delivered up to death, by them sold to the Gentiles, and coming to power among these, while yet Israel is a stranger to him; having his Gentile wife and children, causing him to forget all his kindred and his father’s house, until a famine in all lands forces them to him who becomes their saviour, and the saviour of the world. Joseph, therefore, represents the Lord as we know Him, and as Israel must know Him, to find their blessing in the last days. The birth of Joseph would seem, thus, to speak typically of the dawn of light for them as to Christ whom they have rejected.
On the other hand, Benjamin, the son of the mother’s sorrow, becoming the son of the father’s right hand, in Jacob’s prophecy of the last days foretold to be the warrior-tribe of the nation, is plainly the type of Christ exalted and in power upon the earth. To a reigning Messiah the nation cling, but they do not see that through the Sufferer alone can they find the Conqueror. Thus the order here; and when the hearts of the remnant in the last days turn to the suffering Christ they have rejected, then it is that their restoration begins, although having to meet many trials, and find in them their needed discipline, as we see in the next section.
The individual application is here, however, the most easily read. It is, indeed, impossible, one would think, to miss the lesson of a retribution which is the holy discipline of God for us, that we may be partakers of His holiness. The measure we mete is meted out to us again: what we sow we reap, and in what is the equity of divine government we find the chastening of a Father’s hand. Jacob receives from a relative the deceit he had practiced on a relative, has to learn painfully the rights of the first-born which he had disregarded, and, instead of the superiority he had sought, becomes a servant for hire. How hard a matter is the breaking of the will in man!
The names of the wives seem quite significant. Rachel, "sheep," is surely the type of the spirit of discipleship which, in its meekness of self-surrender, shows us the opposite of Jacob’s self-seeking temper. But her he must obtain by means of Leah, whose name, "wearied," suggests the tribulation by which patience is wrought out. Nor only so, -for Rachel being barren, and in the despair which comes through unbelief, the bond-maids come into the house, Bilhah, "terror," and Zilpah, "a dropping," as of tears. Then Leah bears again; and the children’s names all the way through speak of blessing; Joseph’s -in whom Rachel is at last fruitful -means "adding," and quite according to his origin, we find in him that martyr-spirit which is, in the Christian, the soldier "virtue," or courage, which the apostle bids us "add to" faith (2Pe 1:5), the secret of all true progress. This we shall see afterward to be the moral of his life. As the fruit of Rachel’s long trial, he shows us the result of waiting upon God; and from the time of his birth, Jacob’s affairs assume another aspect. He begins to look again toward Canaan; and though he tarries six years more, they are years of growing prosperity.
His compact with Laban as to the flocks, and his plans to secure himself a recompense, show still, indeed, that he is Jacob. In these, successful as they are, there seems to be a lesson for him, which he might well take home, and which remains for us a notable one. Plainly, the sheep in presence of the rods seems to show how "the eye affecteth the heart," -how we, and all that comes of us, are moulded by the object that we have before us. So the Lord connects the "eye" and the "master." (Mat 6:19-25.) Our object is what controls us; and in a world like this, how many objects compete for the possession of us! Thus, if our mind be set on things which are above, the characteristics of a "life hid with Christ in God" are developed in us. (Col 3:1-3.) What need have we of concentration and of jealousy over ourselves, lest that in the midst of which we are, gain possession of us!
After all his planning, Jacob has to learn that it is the power of God to which he owes the increase. God has looked upon his affliction and his toil, and ordained him a recompense. But his prosperity alienates Laban from him, as spiritual increase separates from the world. Then comes the call of God to return to Canaan. Laban, who cannot get on with him any more, is yet rendered openly hostile by his withdrawal, -just as the world feels the sting of separation, though there can be no more communion. He follows Jacob; God appears for him and shields him; and Jacob finally departs in peace with a covenant between him and Laban, at Galeed, the "heap of witness."
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Jacob in Mesopotamia with Laban
Jacob in Mesopotamia with Laban
The divine care and blessing promised to Jacob at Bethel (Gen_28:15) are illustrated in the narrative of the sojourn of the patriarch at Haran, which apparently lasted for twenty years (Gen_31:41), after which he returned to the land of promise, blessed with a numerous family, and rich in goods. But equally marked is the severe discipline to which he was subjected in order that the darker features in his character might be purified, and that he might learn to put his reliance, not in unworthy scheming, but in simple faith in the love and blessing of the God of Abraham and Isaac.
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1. The land of the people of the east] a general term for the lands eastward of Palestine, here e.g. Mesopotamia: cp. Job 13.
3. A well often belonged to two or three families. The opening was covered with a heavy stone which could only be moved by the united efforts of the shepherds of their several flocks. By this device it was impossible for one, more than another, to obtain an undue share of the precious water.
4. Haran] see on Gen_11:31.
5. The son of Nahor] rather, 'grandson.' Laban was the son of Bethuel (Gen_28:5).
11. Wept] with joy at finding himself among friends again.
15. What shall thy wages be?] Laban was a covetous man and, as will be seen, took every advantage of Jacob to retain his services.
17. Leah was tendereyed] rather, 'weakeyed,' perhaps from ophthalmia, so common in the East. Leah means 'gazelle,' Rachel, 'ewe.'
18. Jacob had no rich gif ts to offer for Rachel, such as Abraham sent for Rebekah (Gen_24:53). He therefore offered his services. Kitto says that 'personal servitude to the father is still in some places in the East, including to this day Palestine, the price paid by young men who have no other means of providing the payment which a father has always been entitled to expect for his daughter, as compensation for the loss of her domestic services.'
22. A feast] the wedding feast.
23-25. Jacob the deceiver is now the deceived. The bride would be closely veiled (see Gen_24:65), and, it being night, Leah successfully connived at her father's deception.
24. The female slave was a usual part of the bride's dowry.
26. The custom which Laban pleaded was not uncommon. Among the Hindoos it is a law not to give the younger daughter in marriage until the elder is married.
27. Fulfil her week] i.e. celebrate Leah's bridal festivities for the usual seven days: cp. Jdg_14:12.
28. At the end of the seven days Jacob received Rachel as his wife: but he had to serve Laban for her other seven years. Though the blame in the matter rests with Laban rather than Jacob, who must have regarded Rachel as his true wife, we shall see, as in the case of Abraham, the unhappiness and jealousy which too often attended such double unions.
31. Hated] The word means no more than that Jacob preferred Rachel: see Gen_29:30.
32-35. Reuben] 'behold, a son.' But the writer derives the name from Raah beonyi, 'looked on my affliction': see on Gen_4:1. Simeon] 'hearing.' Levi 'joined.' Judah] 'praise.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain and came into the land
and came into the land
Jacob at Haran becomes a sterling illustration, if not type, of the nation descended from him in its present long dispersion. Like Israel, he was:
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(1) Out of the place of blessing Gen 26:3.
(2) without an altar Hos 3:4; Hos 3:5.
(3) gained an evil name Gen 31:1; Rom 2:17-24.
(4) but was under the covenant care of Jehovah Gen 28:13; Gen 28:14; Rom 11:1; Rom 11:25-30.
(5) and was ultimately brought back Gen 31:3; Gen 35:1-4; Eze 37:21-23.
The personal lesson is obvious: while Jacob is not forsaken, he is permitted to reap the shame and sorrow of his self-chosen way.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain CHAPTER 29 Jacob with Laban
CHAPTER 29 Jacob with Laban
1. Jacob’s arrival at Padan-aram (Gen 29:1-14)
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2. His service for Rachel (Gen 29:15-20)
3. Laban’s deception (Gen 29:21-25)
4. Jacob receives Rachel (Gen 29:26-31)
5. Leah’s sons (Gen 29:32-35)
The Lord brought him to Padan-aram, where he was to dwell as an exile for twenty years. During these twenty years Jehovah did not manifest Himself to him, even as Israel dispersed among the nations has no communications from the Lord. His sojourn in Padan-aram produced suffering, the disciplinary dealings of God with him. He reaps in a measure what he had sown. He deceived his father Isaac and now Laban deceives him in different ways, especially by substituting Leah for the beloved Rachel. A week after he received Leah, Rachel was given to him. But though he possessed her, he had to serve seven years for her.
Interesting are the names of the sons of Leah. Reuben (behold a Son!); Simeon (hearing); Levi (joined); Judah (praise). It is the order of the gospel.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Jacob Arrives in Mesopotamia
Jacob Arrives in Mesopotamia
v. 1. Then Jacob went on his journey, literally, he lifted up his feet, that is, he continued on his trip cheerfully, and came in to the land of the people of the East, to Mesopotamia beyond the Euphrates, which lay to the northeast from Canaan. This journey differed somewhat from that of Eliezer, almost a hundred years before, since Jacob, now seventy-seven years old, made the entire distance afoot.
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v. 2. And 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 their flocks; and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth. Knowing that he must be near his destination, Jacob took more careful note of his surroundings and saw this well, or cistern, in the field, with a great stone covering its opening.
v. 3. And thither were all the flocks gathered, there they were driven at stated times during the day; and they, the shepherds, rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place. Water was apparently not too plentiful in the neighborhood, and it was necessary to use the greatest care in keeping the available supply pure.
v. 4. And Jacob said unto them, my brethren, whence be ye? And they said, of Haran are we.
v. 5. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son (in the wider sense, for he was the grandson) of Nahor? And they said, we know him.
v. 6. And he said unto them, Is he well? "Is there peace to him?" And they said, He is well; and, behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh, is even now coming, with the sheep.
v. 7. And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together, for he assumed that the shepherds would immediately afterwards take them to the enclosure or corral for the night; water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. This was not an undue assumption of authority on the part of Jacob, but merely a scheme to remove the shepherds, for naturally he would have preferred to meet his cousin, whom he even now regarded as a probable wife, alone, and not in the presence of the slaves.
v. 8. And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep. Ordinarily, therefore, it took two or more men to roll the stone away from the opening of the cistern, and they had received orders to come together at a stated time, lest there be delay and trouble in the care of the flocks.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the people of the east
the people of the east
This means the people of Paddan Aram, which is a land east of the land of Canaan.
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and, behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there by it
The word "behold" marks the beginning of another event in the larger story. Your language may have a way of doing this.
For out of that well
"For from that well." This phrase marks a change from the story to background information about how the shepherds watered the flocks. (See: Background Information)
they would water
"the shepherds would water" or "those taking care of the sheep would water"
the well's mouth
Here "mouth" is a way of referring to an opening. AT: "the opening of the well" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Jacob
cistern
flocks
ewe
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 29:1–31:55 These chapters tell how God kept his promise…
29:1–31:55 These chapters tell how God kept his promise by abundantly blessing Jacob with family and possessions. God also disciplined Jacob, leaving him to struggle with Laban for many years. Laban was Jacob’s match in deception, and thus a means of correction. • The story of Jacob and Laban parallels Israel’s later sojourn in Egypt. Jacob struggled while serving his uncle but finally emerged with a large family (the founders of the twelve tribes) and great wealth. In Egypt, the Israelites suffered under their oppressors, but they also flourished, becoming a great nation of twelve large tribes and escaping with great riches.
29:1 Jacob hurried on: The Hebrew text says that he “picked up his feet” as if he felt the wind at his back; he continued his journey with fresh enthusiasm. His changed outlook was the direct result of the vision he received at Bethel, a marvelous revelation that God was going to protect and bless him. He now sought the fulfillment of God’s promises to him, not just an escape from Esau. Jacob’s attitude had become positive and magnanimous to the point of being naive and vulnerable.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.