Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 29:1

The Birth of the Twelve Sons of Jacob – Gen 29:1 to Gen 30:24 gives an account of Jacob coming to the house of Bethuel and marrying Leah and Rachael. This narrative material records the births of all but one of the twelve sons of Jacob. These sons were named according to an event surrounding their births.

Word Study on “Reuben” Strong says the Hebrew name “Reuben” ( ) (H7205) means “see ye a son.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 29:32, “Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.”

Word Study on “Simon” Strong says the Hebrew name “Simon” ( ) (H8095) means “hearing.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 29:33, “Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also.”

Word Study on “Levi” Strong says the Hebrew name “Levi” ( ) (H3878) means “attached.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 29:34, “Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons.”

Word Study on “Judah” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Judah” ( ) (H3063) means “celebrated.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 29:35, “Now I will praise the Lord.”

Word Study on “Dan” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Dan” ( ) (H1835) means “judge.” This name is based upon Rachael’s statement in Gen 30:6, “God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son.”

Word Study on “Naphtali” – Strong says the Hebrew name Naphtali ( ) (H5321) means “my wrestling.” This name is based upon Rachael’s statement in Gen 30:8, “With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.”

Word Study on “Gad” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Gad” ( ) (H1410) means “fortune, troop.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 30:11, “A troop cometh.”

Word Study on “Asher” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Asher” ( ) (H836) means, “happy.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 30:13, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed .”

Word Study on “Issachar” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Issachar” ( ) (H3485) means “there is recompense.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 30:18, “God hath given me my hire , because I have given my maiden to my husband.”

Word Study on “Zebulun” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Zebulun” ( ) (H2074) means “exalted” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 30:20, “God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons.”

Word Study on “Joseph” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Joseph” ( ) (H3130) means “Jehovah has added.” This name is based upon Leah’s statement in Gen 30:23-24, “God hath taken away my reproachThe LORD shall add to me another son.”

Gen 29:4 Comments – Jacob travelled East in search of his uncle named Laban because this is what his mother instructed him to do (Gen 28:2).

Gen 28:2, “Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.”

Gen 29:6 Word Study on “Rachel” – Strong says the Hebrew name “Rachel” ( ) (H7354) means, “ewe.”

Gen 29:12 Comments – In Gen 29:12 Jacob called himself Laban’s brother. However, he was actually Laban’s nephew? This statement is made again in Gen 29:15, “And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother.” In the African culture, it is common to refer to a person who is a dear friend and even a close relative, as your father, mother, brother, or sister. It is a term of endearment, and not just a word of kinship. When extended families move in together, due to loss of parents, the children of the relatives become sons and daughters of uncles and aunts.

Gen 29:13  And 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 he told Laban all these things.

Gen 29:17 Word Study on “tender” Strong says the Hebrew word translated “tender” ( ) (H7390) means, “tender, soft, delicate, weak.” This word is used 16 times in the Old Testament, and is most often translated “tender.” Note other translations of this word:

Deu 20:8, “And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted ? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.”

Deu 28:56, “The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,”

2Sa 3:39 “And I am this day weak , though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.”

2Ch 13:7, “And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.”

Job 41:3, “Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?

Note how other translations differ in their interpretation of this phrase “tender eyed”:

Brenton, “ And the eyes of Lea were weak . But Rachel was beautiful in appearance, and exceedingly fair in countenance.”

DRC, “But Lia was blear eyed : Rachel was well favoured, and of a beautiful countenance.”

HNV, “ Le’ah’s eyes were weak , but Rachel was beautiful and well favored.”

NAB, “ Leah had lovely eyes , but Rachel was well formed and beautiful.”

YLT, “and the eyes of Leah are tender , and Rachel hath been fair of form and fair of appearance.”

Gen 29:17 Comments – Scholars are divided as to the meaning of the phrase “tender eyed.” Some believe it means that Leah’s eyes were unattractive. For example, Keil-Delitzsch notes that “bright eyes, with fire in them, are regarded as the height of beauty in Oriental women,” which he says Leah lacked. [237] A woman’s eyes play a large role in her beauty. If her eyes are poorly shaped, it takes away from her entire physical beauty. Other scholars suggest that her eyes alone were beautiful, while Rachel’s figure was more attractive. Adam Clarke says, “The chief recommendation of Leah was her soft and beautiful eyes; but Rachel was yephath toar, beautiful in her shape, person, mien, and gait, and yephath mareh, beautiful in her countenance.” [238]

[237] C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Pentateuch, vol. 1, in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, trans. James Martin, in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), comments on Genesis 29:15-20.

[238] Adam Clarke, Genesis, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Genesis 29:17.

Gen 29:18 Comments – Adam Clarke notes that Jacob offered seven years of service to Laban because he was destitute and lacked the customary dowry that a young man gives to the bride’s father. [239]

[239] Adam Clarke, Job, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Genesis 29:17.

Gen 29:30 Comments – Leah and Rachel were given to Jacob near the same time period, after the first 7 years of his hired serve under Laban.

Gen 29:31  And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

Gen 29:31 Comments – God gave Leah children because He understood and sympathized with this polygamous relationship that women are forced into in particular cultures. God has compassion on those who are mistreated and have no deliverer. He Himself becomes their deliverer. In this case He delivered Leah from her reproach.

Gen 29:31-35 Comments – Leah’s Bears Four Sons by Jacob – We see Leah, the wife of Jacob, simply wanting her husband’s love. She thought she was winning his love by giving him a multitude of sons, when in fact she was destined to become the mother of six tribes of Israel. She had no idea that a nation was in her womb. Nor did she understand how much more important was her favor with God than her favor with her husband, which she never really received. Leah’s greatness is found in her favor with God who gave her six sons rather than in her favor with Jacob; for there was nothing great about her relationship with her husband. This is what Paul meant in Eph 3:20 when he said that God was able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Eph 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”

As I write these notes, I am sitting in a church service listening to an elderly woman named Irene, who founded an orphanage in the dangerous region of northern Uganda. She is introducing some of her children who lost their parents in war and were raised in this orphanage. They are now healthy and strong, and some of them are going to the university with dreams of becoming a doctor. As a side note, she once testified how she and her husband first traveled to northern Uganda during the hot summer with the dry semiarid desert wind blowing sand in their faces for weeks at a time. She tells how her husband soon left her alone there and married a local native girl. Thus, Irene’s greatness was not found in her relationship with her husband’s love, which failed, but in the orphans that she has loved and cared for through these years.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

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.

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.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Gen 29:1

Then Jacob went on his journey (literally, lifted up his feeta 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 eastliterally, the land of the sons of the east, i.e. Mesopotamia, about 450 miles distant from Beersheba.

Gen 29:2

And he looked (either to discover where he was, or in search of water), and behold a well in the field,not the well at which Eliezer’s caravan halted, which was a well for the village maidens, situated in front of the town, and approached by steps (vide Gen 14:1-24.), 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”. 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”.

Gen 29:3

And thither were all the flecks gathered. “Fifteen minutes later we came to a large well in a valley among the swells, fitted up with troughs and reservoirs, with flocks waiting around”. And they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, find watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place. From the middle of Gen 29:2 the words are parenthetical, the watering of the flocks not having taken place till Rachel had arrived (Gen 29:9) and Jacob had uncovered the well (Gen 29:10).

Gen 29:4

And Jacob said unto them (the shepherds of the three flocks), My brethren (a friendly salutation from one who was himself a shepherd), whence be ye? Anticipating that their reply would reveal his whereabouts. And they said, Of Haran are we. This could scarcely fail to remind Jacob of God’s premise to guide him in his journey.

Gen 29:5

And he said unto them (with the view of discovering his kinsmen), Know ye Laban the son of Nahor?i.e. the grandson, Laban’s father having been Bethuel, who, however, here, as in Gen 14:1-24; retires into the background. And they said, We know him. The language of the shepherds being Chaldaean (vide Gen 31:47), Jacob, who spoke Hebrew, was able to converse with them either because he had learnt Chaldee from his mother (Clericus), or, as is more probable, because the dialects were not then greatly dissimilar (Gosman in Lange).

Gen 29:6

And he said unto them, Is he well? Literally, is there peace to him? meaning not simply bodily health, but all manner of felicity; (LXX.); sanusne est? (Vulgate). Cf. the Christian salutation, tax vobiscum And they said, He is well (literally, peace): and, behold, Rachel“Ewe” (Gesenius)his daughter cometh with the sheep.

Gen 29:7

And he said, Lo, it is yet high day (literally, the day is yet great, i.e. much of it still remains), neither is it time that the cattle should he gathered together (i.e. to shut them up for the night): water ye the sheep, and go and feed thembeing desirous to get the shepherds away from the well that he might meet Rachel alone (Keil, Lange, Murphy), though perhaps his words with as much correctness may be traced to that prudent and industrious habit of mind which afterwards shone forth so conspicuously in himself, and which instinctively caused him to frown upon laziness and inactivity (Starke, Kalisch, Bush).

Gen 29:8

And they said, We cannot,not because of any physical difficulty (Kalisch), since three men could easily have accomplished what Jacob by himself did, but because they had agreed not to do so (Rosenmller, Murphy), but to waituntil all the flocks be gathered together (when the watering was done at once, instead of at so many different times), and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth;more correctly rendered, and (sc. then, i.e. when the flocks are assembled) they (i.e. the shepherds) roll away the stonethen (or, and) we water the sheep. The object of watering the flocks collectively may have been, as above stated, for convenience, or to prevent the well from being opened too frequently, in which case dust might rapidly accumulate within it (Kalisch), or perhaps to secure an equal distribution of the water (Murphy).

Gen 29:9

And while he yet spake with them (literally, he yet speaking with them), Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept themor, she was a shepherdess, the part. being used as a substantive (Gesenius, ‘Lex.,’ sub. nom.).

Gen 29:10

And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother,”the term mother’s brother is not unintentionally repeated three times in this verse to describe with the greatest possible stress that Jacob had met with his own relations, with “his bone and his flesh” (Kalisch)and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother (Jacob from the first takes particular notice of Laban’s flock, perhaps regarding them as a sign of Laban’s wealth. If Laban’s daughter had her attractions for the son of Isaac, so also had Laban’s sheep), that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth (probably disregarding the shepherds’ rule to wait for the gathering of all the flocks, unless, indeed, Rachel’s was the last), and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. The threefold repetition of this phrase does not prove that Jacob acted in all this purely as a cousin (Lange). The phrase is the historian’s, and Jacob had not yet informed Rachel of his name.

Gen 29:11

And Jacob kissed Rachel,in demonstration of his cousinly affection. If Jacob had not yet discovered who he was to the fair shepherdess, his behavior must have filled her with surprise, even allowing for the unaffected simplicity of the times; but the fact that she does not resent his conduct as an undue liberty perhaps suggests that he had first informed her of his relationship to the inmates of Laban’s house (Calvin). On kissing vide Gen 27:26and lifted up his voice, and weptpartly for joy in finding his relatives (cf. Gen 43:30; Gen 45:2, Gen 45:14, Gen 45:15); partly in grateful acknowledgment of God’s kindness in conducting him to his mother’s brother’s house.

Gen 29:12

And Jacob told (or, had told, ut supra) Rachel that he was her father’s brother,as Lot is called Abraham’s brother, though in reality his nephew (Gen 13:8; Gen 14:14, Gen 14:16)and that he was Rebekah’s son (this clause would explain the meaning of the term “brother in the former): and she ran and told her father. Like Rebekah, believing the stranger’s words and running to report them, though, unlike Rebekah, first relating them to her father (cf. Gen 14:1-24 :28).

Gen 29:13

And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings (literally, heard the hearing, or thing heard, i.e. the report of the arrival) of Jacob his sister’s son,he acted very much as he did ninety-seven years before, when Abraham’s servant came to woo his sister (Gen 14:20, 30)that (literally, and) he ran to meet him, and embraced him,so afterwards Esau did Jacob (Gen 33:4), and Jacob the two sons of Joseph (Gen 48:10)and kissed him, and brought him to his housethus evincing the same kindness and hospitality that had characterized him on the previous occasion. And he (Jacob) told Laban all these thingswhat his mother bad instructed him to say to attest his kinship (Calvin); the things related in the immediate context (Keil); more likely the entire story of his life, and in particular of his exile from home, with its cause and object (Rosenmller, Kalisch, Lange).

Gen 29:14

And Laban said unto him (giving utterance to the impression Jacob’s recital had produced upon his mind), Surely thou art my bone and my fleshi.e. my blood relation (cf. Jdg 9:2; 2Sa 5:1). Laban meant that Jacob had satisfactorily proved himself Rebekah’s son. And he abode with him the space of a monthliterally, a month of days (cf. Gen 41:1; Num 11:20), or a month as regards time, “the second substantive describing the general notion of which the first is a specification” (Kalisch).

HOMILETICS

Gen 29:1-14

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 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.

2. 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.

3. 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 sheepimpelled 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.

3. 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 good and eminent providences kindle transports of delight in gracious souls.

4. 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 uncle‘s 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 nephew‘s return to his uncle. Ingenuous confidence”Jacob told Laban all these things”and faithful service. It is implied in Gen 29:15 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 J.F. MONTGOMERY

Gen 29:1-35

Jacob among his mother’s kindred.

Taught by experience to be patient. His own craft reflected in Laban. Lessons to be learned.

I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TEACHING OF GOD IN THE INNER MAN AND HIS LEADINGS IN PROVIDENCE. Jacob learned what he needed to learndependence, self-humiliation. Saw the evil of selfishness; understood that the Divine purposes must not be identified in our thought with our personal feelings and desires. We must wait on God to know what his will is.

II. THE INDEPENDENCE OF GOD‘S GRACE. The chosen instruments not chosen for their own sake. Often that which displeases us is our special help. Leah, not chosen by Jacob, bore him sons. Rachel, whom he loved, was barren. Even in such mixed soil as these characters the seed of Divine life will grow. Leah gave names to her children which betokened an increasing faith. Jacob’s willingness to serve was a gracious victory over self, preparing him for higher filings. Thwarted man is taught to wait upon God.

III. PRACTICAL LESSONS ON THE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES AND MARRIED LIFE, &c. The misery of all that interferes with the sanctity of affection and its supremacy. The certainty that lack of candor and truthfulness will be fruitful in evil results. The importance of right feeling in sustaining religious character; how difficult, where the relationship is not founded on affection, to maintain truth, purity, and a lofty standard of life. We must try to see disappointments from a higher point of view. God may withhold what we desire, but only to give afterwards a fuller blessing.R.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Gen 29:1. People of the east Mesopotamia, and particularly Haran, lay northward of Beth-el: Babylon, however, lay eastward from both places; and therefore, Mesopotamia being part of the Babylonish dominions, the Babylonians might well be called the people of the east; and Jacob is only said to have gone into a country of which they were the lords and masters. See Bedford’s Scripture Chronology.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

SECOND SECTION

Jacobs wives and children. Jacob and Rachel, Labans youngest daughter. First and second treaty with Laban. His involuntary consummation of marriage with Leah. The double marriage. Leahs sons. Rachels dissatisfaction. The strife of the two women. The concubines. Jacobs blessing of children

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 wells month. 3And thither were all the flocks gathered: and [then] they rolled the stone from the wells mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the wells mouth in his place. 4And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, 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 wells mouth; then [and] we water the sheep.

9And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her fathers sheep: for she kept them. 10And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mothers brother, and the sheep of Laban his mothers brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the wells mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mothers brother. 11And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 12And Jacob told Rachel that he was her fathers brother [nephew]. And that he was Rebekahs son; and she ran and told her father. 13And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sisters son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And [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 Frst, 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 dewyfrom the trickling, dropping; Frst: 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 onefulfil, 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, Frst: 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 Jacobs anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, Am I [then] in Gods 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, Rachels 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, Leahs 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, Leahs 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 sons mandrakes. 15And she said unto her Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my sons mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy sons 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 17sons 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 Jacobs 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 Adams 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. Jacobs arrival at the shepherds well in Haran (Gen 29:1-8); 2. Jacobs salutation to Rachel and his reception into Labans house (Gen 29:9-14); 3. Jacobs 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. (Gthe: 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. Rachels dejection and the concubinage of Bilhah, her handmaid (30. Gen 29:1-8); 7. Leahs emulation, and her handmaid Zilpah (Gen 29:9-13; Genesis 8. Leahs last children (Gen 29:14-21); 9. Rachel, Josephs 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. Jacobs arrival at the shepherds 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 Eliezers 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 Rebekahs 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.Jacobs salutation to Rachel, and his reception into Labans 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. Rachels appearance made him eager, as formerly Rebekahs 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 shows that he acted thus as cousin (rolling the stone from the wells 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. Jacobs 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 Labans 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 (see Frst upon this verb).The word used to describe the eyes of Leah, means simply: weak or dull, whence the Arabians have made, moist or blear-eyed. Leahs 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. KnobelRachel, 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 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 Leahs 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. Jacobs 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 Knobels view. Keil holds that Jacobs 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 Jacobs 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 Jacobs character.A Feast.Probably Laban intended, at the great nuptial feast which he prepared, to facilitate Jacobs 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 Rebekahs 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 Labans deception, but there was, however, a sting for Jacob in this reply, viz., in the emphasis of the right of the first-born. But Labans offer that followed, and in which now truly his ignoble selfishness is manifest, calmed Jacobs 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 weekthe 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 Rachels 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 Rebekahs 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 Leahs 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 Leahs first four sons is specifically referred to Jehovahs 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. Jacobs 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 Jacobs 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: Jacobs 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 Gods 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 Jehovahs 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 Labans 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, Jacobs 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 . 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. Rachels 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 Rachels assertion, that she and Jacob were wanting in prayer for children, and thus had not followed Isaacs 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 Gods stead.Lit., instead of God. God alone is the lord over life and death (Deu 32:39; 1Sa 2:6). Rachels 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. Frst 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 Jacobs 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 Josephs birth she could say: Now (not before) God has taken away my reproach.

7. Gen 30:9-13. Leahs 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 , fortune, victory cometh.Asher.The happy one, or the blessed one.

8. Gen 30:14-21. Leahs 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 , a name which has been rendered in various ways. The LXX correctly translates, = ; (and the kindred ) is the Mandragora venalis (high-German: alrna, alrn, 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 Saitn, i.e., pomum Satan), 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, , there is reward; according to Keil, , 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. , to dwell, alludes to the preceding , to make a present; both verbs are .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 Dinahs 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 , one that takes away, i.e., takes away the reproach, from ; and then, in the second document, he shall add, from . 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 Gods 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 Jacobs sons, who began with Jehovah, was also closed by Jehovah. For, according to the number of twelve tribes, Israel is Jehovahs covenant people.

In regard to the fact, however, that Jacobs children were not born chronologically in the preceding order, compare Delitzsch with reference to Eusebius: Prparatio 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. Dinahs birth, no doubt, occurs also during this period, though Keil supposes, from the expression , 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 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 Jacobs 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, Josephs 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 Keils 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; Rachels appearance; the occasion and call to assist her at the moment.
4. Is he well? . 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. Labans 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 nephews 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 Leahs 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 Jehovahs 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 Rachels 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 dipus in the Greek tragedy. dipus 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 everythingfor 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 Gods 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 Isaacs 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. Jacobs 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 Rachels 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 mothers 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. Leahs election is founded upon Jehovahs 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, Leahs 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 Luthers 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 Leahs love, but also Jacobs 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 Isaacs 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 Jacobs 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 Rachels image have been changed afterwards into Leahs 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. Isaacs prejudice, that Esau was the chosen one, seems to renew itself somewhat in Jacobs 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 Jacobs love for Rachel and his disregard toward Leah, especially by means of the children. At the same time in which he recognizes Leahs resignation, Rachels 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 Benjamins birth. How dangerous, destructive, and fatal, the fulfilment of a mans 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. Rachels 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 Israels sons.

17. How important Josephs 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 Jacobs and Leahs 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 Leahs 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. Jacobs wrestlings of faith.The patriarch of hope.Jacobs 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.Jacobs 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 Jacobs 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 Gods 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 Chaldans 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.Schrder: 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 Jacobs 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 Gods 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 Labans (Jacobs?) 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.)Schrder: 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 Gods 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.)Jacobs 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: Gods children do not easily obtain what they wish for, but must toil hard for it; (German) work for it, tooth and nail.Schrder: Jacobs 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.Schroder: 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.Schrder: Children are Gods 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. Schrder: For all times Israel is warned by the patriarchs 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.Schrder: In reference to the maids children, Gods 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 Abrahams descendants as a sign of the divine curse: 1. It appeared as if they were excluded from the promise of the enlargement of Abrahams seed; 2. They were without the hope of giving birth to the Messiah; 3. They had no share in Gods 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.Schrder: Luther says respecting Jacobs 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 instead of 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. , there is a rewardor , he brings reward. A. G.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

As was before remarked of the faithful, every minute circumstance is recorded by the Holy Ghost, which concerns the church: so is this Chapter, the domestic occurrences of Jacob’s family, occupy more attention than the history of all the world beside, in that period. The sacred historian relates the journey of the Patriarch; his arrival at Haran; his reception by Laban; his servitude; his marriage; his children; these form the principal contents of this chapter.

Gen 29:1

Act 8:39 . Grace in exercise, made Jacob go on his way, like the Ethiopian, rejoicing.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Rachel the Placid

Gen 29

You will meet her type continually in the modern world. Do you not know women who seem to go through life easily?

I. When Rachel is keeping her father’s sheep at the Well of Haran she sees advancing a young man. It is her cousin Jacob. He has come as a fugitive, flying from his brother’s vengeance. Jacob breaks into the red heat of love. He is dazzled by Rachel’s beauty. He makes an offer to Laban for the hand of his younger daughter. He promises to serve him for seven years, and the offer is accepted. The seven years are past, and the happy day is coming. But there are two dissentients to the general joy. The one is Laban, the other is Leah. She has cherished for Jacob a secret and passionate love. The solemn act is completed. What is that face which emerges from the veil. It is not Rachel; it is Leah.

II. We can in a measure explain Jacob’s acquiescence. But Rachel it is her placidness that surprises us. Why does she not protest? Her placidness was appropriate, for two reasons.

( a ) The artist is describing a race and time wherein everything that happens is received as an act of Divine will.

( b ) There was something about this young woman’s religion which would make her not wholly averse to polygamy. She was not altogether emancipated from the belief that in addition to the Almighty God of heaven there were certain subordinate deities allowed to carry out His will on earth. Specially in the regions of the home she sought a sphere for these. So Rachel accepted her ill fortune with a good grace almost with graciousness.

G. Matheson, Representative Women of the Bible, p. 105.

References. XXIX. F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 110. XXX. 1; 48-50. F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 113. XXX. 27. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Common Life Religion, p. 223. XXXI. 3-5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No. 1630. XXXI. 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No. 1267. XXX. 48-50. F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 113.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

In the Service of Laban

Genesis 29-31

The story occupied by Genesis 29-31 represents one of the oft-recurring mysteries of human life. That is to say, in view of what has just taken place, that story seems to be an anti-climax, and is felt to be, in some serious sense, even a disappointment. It is almost impossible to bring the mind from the contemplations upon which it has just been fixed to read such an incident as that which spreads itself over these three chapters. When a man has seen angels, heaven, God: whatever he sees next must be poor and small, wanting in light and pale in colour. It is hardly just to some scenes to come to them from greater visions. By force of contrast they do not get the credit which is fairly due to their smaller dimensions and their simpler beauty. After all, in every sense, it is a long way from heaven to earth. We have first seen Jacob made solemn by a great fear, and ennobled by a surprising revelation; now he has become as he was yesterday and the day before one of ourselves. Yet this is the way through which we are divinely conducted all life through sometimes on the mountain; then swiftly driven down into lonely places; today in great rapture almost in heaven everything there but the body, and tomorrow we shall be writing our names in the dust, eating the bread which stands for a moment between us and death, and be quite common men again. We tell of a great dream, saying what we have seen in the visions of the night, and presently we are sold off into Egyptian slavery; our faces burn when we commune with God upon the mountain-top, and presently we descend to be mocked by Aaron and Miriam; now we are upon Tabor, the mount of transfiguration, where we would gladly build; and behold presently we are sent down to heal the sorrow which is moaning at its base. It is so with Jacob now. After the fulness of light, the quiver of mysterious joy which is half fear, half hope, he must pick up the threads of life and work patiently like a drudge who has never been off the common way. This is so with us. The poetical balance of things would be disturbed when we read this history but for the confirmation of it which is supplied by our own daily experience; we should say the contrast is too sudden, too violent; only one hour has passed, and behold the great transformation has been wrought. As literary readers we would criticise the swiftness of the transition, and ask for more space, and a finer gradation of events; but life is always contradicting criticism, for life will have its own strange way. God will not accept the pathways which we cut for his Providence; he reigns, he is the One Sovereign; there is no measure to be laid upon his scheme of things; we must take its unfoldment as he sends it always holding ourselves ready for gracious surprises, for new changes, for unexpected wonders and heavens. How wondrous the change here! We, who have just been with Jacob in his dream, and have overheard his solemn words, now see him with staff in hand going on his journey, and coming into the land of the people of the east.

Jacob has left home as a deceiver how will he be made to feel that? In a very direct manner: Jacob himself will be deceived, as he had deceived his own father. There is no escape from that rule. Judgment cannot be avoided or evaded, eluded, bribed, or deprived of its terrific but righteous force and claim. Jacob goes out and is himself deceived: the only intelligible way by which he can be taught the wickedness of deceit. Yet how surprised we are when we are made the victims of our own policy. Jacob was amazed when he found that he had been deceived by his kinsfolk. His countenance was a picture; his face was marked all over with signs of amazement that he, of all living creatures, should have been deceived. We do not like to be paid in our own coin; it does not enter into our minds that we have to reap the produce which we have sown. Is it to be supposed that we can do just what we like, and hasten away from the consequences, or escape the penalty due to evil? “Be sure your sin will find you out.” What eyes it has! what keenness of scent! what little need of rest or sleep! The sinner has but twelve hours in the day judgment has twenty-four; it overtakes us in the dark. If we have been vainly thinking that we would sleep and the sin would sleep at the same time, we have miscalculated the operation of forces. Is not Jacob most human when he lifts up his pale, innocent face, and says, “What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?” How soon we forget our own selves. The mark of the supplanter was upon every feature of his face; he was a vagabond on the face of the earth; he had himself run away from the deception of his own father, and behold he says, “What is this thou hast done unto me?” Jacob turned into Daniel! The supplanter on the judicial seat! The beautiful innocence that never put on skins that his hands might be hairy asks Laban however it has come to pass that he, Jacob, of all guileless persons, should be deceived. We understand the mystery: it is part of our own daily life; but how utterly surprising that any of us should be misled, that we should be robbed, that we should be unkindly treated. Is there not a cause? Can you rob others without in turn being robbed? Can you sow bad seed and reap good crops? Can you escape the solemn consequence of events which is now known amongst us and magnified under the holy name of Providence? Is there not a God that judgeth in the earth a mysterious, unmeasurable, sometimes unnameable, Power that seizes us and says, “There is something due to you now”? Then comes the great stroke that almost severs us in twain; then the great blow that stuns us and lays us prostrate on the earth, or then the subtle craftiness that makes fools of us in the twilight, mocks us in the darkness, and leaves us helpless in the morning. We ask, What is this? Poor innocence, sweet guilelessness; how can it be that any Laban should have sunk to such a depth of wickedness as to practise an imposture upon us? How odd that we should have to suffer. How mysterious the ways of Providence. No: how mysterious the ways of man first. There is a mystery in us: that we, who were made to sing God’s praise, and to hold converse with heaven in holy prayer, should have deceived the old, and the blind, and the helpless. That is the ineffable and eternal mystery. “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” “With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” “The Lord hath done unto me as I have done unto others.” It is well; the balance of things is exquisitely kept. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord” not today, or tomorrow, or here, or there according to your fixing and appointing: but God’s word cannot be broken. Is this a shaft shot into the core of some hearts? Is this an awful blow aimed at some self-righteousness? The Lord be blessed! There is a smiting that is followed by healing; there is a cry of contrition which may be followed by a hymn of praise.

Further pursuing the story, you will find that Jacob must be made to feel the strength and agony of natural instincts, and so enter into sympathy with his distressed father. The Lord will complete his educational work in Jacob; the Lord will make him cry bitterly. We do not deceive our fathers for nothing. The Lord will not allow the old man’s heart to be sawn asunder, as it were, by our cruelty, without making us feel some day what sorrow we have wrought. In the far-away land, Jacob speaks about “mine own place, and my country,” saying, “Let me go back to them; nor let me go alone: let me take with me my wives and my children.” Thus God gets hold of us at a thousand points. God creates a great heart-hunger for the old country, the old homestead, the old folks we have left behind, the old associations; and that hunger bites us, gives us mortal pain, and, through that hunger, we are sometimes led to pray. Jacob says, Let me take my wives and my children with me. He is beginning himself now to feel the mystery of the home-feeling. When he perpetrated the deed of supplanting, and accomplished the transfer of the blessing to himself, there was in the view of his selfishness but one man; he seemed to have no one to consider but himself; he could perform an evil deed and flee away without needing family counsel, or without rending family or paternal sensibility on his own part. Now the case is different: now Jacob has struck his social roots deep into the earth: now it is like taking up some well-planted tree to move him. Yet he says, “Let me go.” God thus gets hold of us: he gets hold of us through our little children, through our family interests, through our household circle. We are nailed and bound down by uncontrollable instincts and forces. Again and again these forces renew themselves. Why does not Jacob go away alone? He cannot: there are some murders which even Jacob cannot commit. How is it that even men who can lie, deceive, cheat, rob, and do many wicked things, always fall back from one particular crime which seems to shock them and produce in their minds a feeling of unutterable revulsion? This is the mystery of God. It is imaginatively hard to break all the ten commandments at a stroke: who does not leave just one that he cannot violate? and having left that one which he himself cannot break, how the man wonders that any other human creature can break that particular statute. He prides himself that one is untouched, and has yet upon it the bloom of its honour. In what various ways our hearts are wrung. Could we see a map of all the ways by which men are brought back again to God, we should be amazed at the intricacy, and relations, and crossings of the innumerable lines; here they coincide, there they sharply separate, again they seem to touch; across them run other lines in great surprises of movement, and yet, by some mysterious action, all the lines converge upon the abandoned house of the Father, the discarded altar of the Cross, and all the various voices of life are one in the solemn pathos of the confession and petition for pardon. This is the Lord’s way.

As to the transactions between Jacob and Laban, they must stand without explanation or defence. They amaze us. It would seem impossible for some men to live other than a life of trickery, scheming, and selfish policy. Did we not know it in ourselves, we should resent it on the page of the biographer, or in the verses of the poet. It is a mystery in the moral kingdom beyond all other mysteries of a human kind that men can be perpetrating deeds of evil, can be following policies of self-aggrandisement, can be telling or acting lies, and yet all the time have a certain broad line of religious feeling and aspiration drawing itself through their divided and chaotic life. This is mystery. We need not go into heaven to ask for wonders: we ourselves are living problems; enigmas to which there is no present and satisfactory reply. Jacob was still a swindler; Jacob still divided his week into opportunities for promoting himself and deceiving his mother’s brother. Do not let us become special pleaders on Jacob’s behalf. All I can say can be said under two divisions of thought. First, God spared Jacob: therefore I must not strike; God forbore him, had patience with him, saw something in him that no one else could see. Blessed be God! he is the same with us, or who could live one whole day upon the earth? Were he to mark one iniquity in a thousand, who could ever pray again? or lift up his head in hope? or feel upon his blanched face the warmth of the sun’s bright smile? God sees in every Jacob more than Jacob sees in himself. Second: We may not really know the whole story. Who can tell all a man’s life every word, syllable, and tittle of it? We are all seen in phases, aspects, and partial manifestations, and the reports which are made of us partake very largely of the imperfection of the manifestations which we ourselves make to our fellow-creatures. We do not know all that Jacob did, or all that Laban did. We know in part; the part we do know we do not admire; but we must always fall back upon the circumstance that God spares, and therefore has a reason for the sparing. If the case were so narrow, and little, and puny, as we often make it a criminal and a judge, a felony and destruction why then the whole tragedy of life could be settled in a moment; but in the worst of us there is some faint sparkle of better things which God sees, in the meanest of us there is a soul meant for heaven. Even the man who is basest, who has broken all the commandments, and has been almost sorry there were not more commandments to break, has in him, in God’s sight, some point on which, if not the Divine complacency, the Divine compassion may be fixed. His mercy endureth for ever; his patience is greater than our transgression. Where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more abound like a great billow of the sea rising, heightening, swelling into infiniteness of pathos. On these grounds, then, I rest, viz., the forbearance of God, therefore the possibility of features of a redeeming kind I do not see; and, second, the incompleteness of my knowledge which, when completed, may enable me to judge otherwise. This will be the explanation of the rest of heaven; this will be the mitigation of the judgment day namely, that we shall then see things from God’s own standpoint We shall then see hell as God sees it; we shall then know perfectly according to the measure of our capacity; and whether the issue be darkness outer and unspeakable, or light complete and ineffable, we shall say, “He hath done all things well.”

How bold a book is the Bible. The Bible hides nothing of shame; the Bible is not afraid of words which make the cheek burn; the Bible conceals nothing of moral crippleness, infirmity, or weakness, or evil. The Bible holds everything up in the light. Recognise, at least, the fearless honesty of the book. This is not a gallery of artistic figures; this is no gathering together of dramatic characters painted, arrayed, taught to perform their part aesthetically, without fault and beyond criticism; these are living men and women when they pray, when they sin, when they shout like a host of worshippers, and when they fall down like a host of rebels, or flee like a host of cowards. The Bible paints real characters. God says what is true about every one of us. If there is shame in it, we must feel it: the wrong is ours, not his. No other book could be so dauntless, could paint what we call the defective side of human nature with so bold a hand and yet claim to be the revelation of God. Things, however, must always be looked at in their proper relation and in their right perspective. You may bring some chapters of the Bible so closely to your eyes as to be shocked by their revelations. You say they are not to be read, they are not to be spoken of: they are to be quickly hastened over. Or you yourself can rise by the grace of God to such heroic righteousness as to be able to look upon putrefaction, and blasphemy, and all wickedness, and great hell itself, and name them all without a blush, or without a shudder. Things are what they are in their right relation and proper atmosphere.

So we return to our starting-point Life is varied sometimes a dream all light, sometimes a vision of blue heavens; a great cloudless day, or a night burning with innumerable stars lamps of an unseen sanctuary; sometimes a transfiguration, sometimes a holy ecstasy, sometimes a vale of tears a place of weeping, a desert of sand, a sea all storm; sometimes extraordinary all but supernatural, without one trace of commonness or familiarity upon it; and then servitude, sheep-tending, field-culture, monotony: rising in the morning, going the daily round, retiring at night weary, eating the bread of industry, and sleeping the sleep of honesty a commonplace, dull, pendulum-life. So be it It is not mine to choose my life: let me resign the disposal of the lot into the hand of God, saying, “Lord, if it be mine to dream on the way to Padan-aram, and to build a Bethel in unexpected places, blessed be thy name! Or if it be mine to be a common herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit; if it be mine to be a hewer of wood or a drawer of water, thy will be done; if thou dost mean me to be a flying angel, thy will be done; if thou dost lay me upon a bed of suffering and say, ‘By patience learn the mystery of my purpose,’ thy will, my God, not mine be done.” To say all this under such circumstances is to touch the very acme and sublimity of grace.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXVII

JACOB’S CONVERSION AND LIFE IN HARAN

Gen 28:10-31:55

Now we come to an important event in Jacob’s life, his leaving home to be absent many years, and his conversion. How different his leaving from old Eliezer’s! Eliezer went openly, with a large train and many handsome presents. Jacob had to slip off, without money, an exile and afoot. From this time on the man’s individuality will come out. This chapter gives an account of his conversion, the great event of his life, Gen 28:10-18 . That dream was God’s method of communicating with this lonely man. The ladder in that dream, according to John’s Gospel, represents Jesus Christ, the connecting stairway between earth and heaven, upon which angels descend to earth and ascend to heaven. In that dream Jacob saw a grand sight for any man. Earth and heaven had been separated by sin with earth’s inhabitants under a curse. By grace that chasm was spanned by the coming of the Redeemer. Upon that stairway angels come to earth and carry back their reports. Jesus said (Joh 1 ), “Hereafter you shall see the angels of heaven ascending and descending upon the Son of man,” showing that he fulfilled the type of Jacob’s ladder. Dr. Richard Fuller has a marvelous sermon on Jacob’s ladder. He was the great orator of the Southern Baptist pulpit, tall, finely formed, handsome, his voice as a silver bell, and as sweet in its melody as the whisper of an Aeolian harp. It is said that no man could interest a crowd following Dr. Fuller in a speech. He is the only man, other than Dr. J. L. Burrows who has preached the Convention Sermon more than once in the Southern Baptist Convention. People were carried away by the man and his personality. He was one of the few rich men who are called a man of great intellectuality. Read his sermon on Jacob’s ladder, and also the one on “The Cross of Christ.”

Jacob awakened from his sleep and said, “Surely Jehovah is in this place,” and he called the name of that place Bethel. “And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way 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, and Jehovah shall be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” There is the evidence of his conversion, his keen sense of divine presence and realization of the import of divine communication, his recognition, as if for the first time in his hitherto unworthy life, of his relations to God and the fixed purpose that came into his heart from that time on to serve God, and to honor God with the firstfruits. Here we come to the second mention of tithing before the giving of the law on Sinai. We have seen before that Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek. This man is changed from this time on. He does not lose his shrewd business sense, but he is godly and prayerful and believes that wherever he goes God is with him. That is the secret of a religious life. The conviction that there is a direct connection between earth and heaven, and that every angel in heaven, to the extent of his power, is pledged to the companionship and protection of every child of God, and that Jesus Christ is the connecting link between earth and heaven, and that through sickness and health, good and evil report, God will be with his people, is a sure basis of a good life. That consciousness brings out the purpose, “I will serve and honour God with everything that I have.” I remember, while sitting in the back end of a wagon, I read this passage to my wife. The circumstances were these: At the close of the War Between the States, though crippled with wounds, and bankrupt, I voluntarily assumed an antebellum debt of $4,000, not legally my own, and had finally paid all by selling everything I bad but wife and baby, and was moving to a church on the promise of $500 a year. I said, “Now, wife, here is a time to settle our financial relation to God. We haven’t got a thing, and we are sure to fail if he is not honored by us, and if he is honored we will succeed. Let us enter into a covenant right here that whatever happens we will give God one-tenth of every cent that we ever make.” We did from that time on. I have long since passed that limit. For many years I have been giving one-fifth, and some years two-fifths. So here was the event that changed this man’s life. What matters it that he was banished from home and alone, without friends and without money? If God’ was his portion he was rich no matter how poor. If God was with him he had company, no matter how lonely. If God was for him, who could be against him?

The rest of this chapter we devote to Jacob’s life in Haran (Genesis 29-31:55), a period of twenty years. He enters tliat country afoot, with nothing but the clothes he had on and the staff in his hand. He comes out an exceedingly rich man, very much married, with twelve children. Another son was born later. The lesson commences with telling how he arrived at Haran and stopped at the well, perhaps the same at which old Eliezer stopped when he went after a bride for Isaac. Here he meets Rachel, the one woman throughout his life he was to love. She was a little girl about ten or twelve years old, or she would not have bad charge of the flock by herself. But in Oriental countries a girl of twelve is equal in maturity to a girl of seventeen here. It was a case of love at first sight. He never loved another woman while he lived. After they were made known to each other (v. II), “And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.” My first question is, Why did he weep after kissing that girl? I leave that for you to find out. When Brother Truett and his wife were here, looking toward each other just about like Jacob and Rachel, and we were passing over this, I gave that same question. Some of the class answered, “He wept because he had not commenced that work sooner.” And one ill-natured young preacher said, “He wept because Rachel had been eating onions.” But Brother Truett’s wife gave the true answer. See who of you will give it.

The next remark is on the Gen 29:14 : “And Laban, the father of Rachel, said unto him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him a month of days,” i.e. he stayed as a guest for a full month. A guest must not stay too long. So naturally Laban raised the question of something to do, and said to Jacob, “Because thou art my brother,” which means kinsman, “shouldst thou, therefore, serve me for nothing? Tell me what shall be thy wages.” Laban proposes a business transaction. Look at it. Jacob says, referring to the two girls Leah, the elder, was not beautiful and her eyes were weak, but Rachael was beautiful of form and countenance “I will serve thee seven years for thy younger daughter. It was the custom for the bridegroom to give presents, and in the Orient today a man in a measure purchases his wife. But Jacob had nothing to give, but he was to serve seven years without other wages. Young men of the present day think if they serve for a girl thirty days that it is a great tax on them, and they begin to think how much they have paid for ice cream, streetcar fare, buggy rides, theater tickets, etc., and begin to bring matters to a focus. They have not the love that Jacob had. And his proposition was accepted. Next, Gen 29:20 , “And Jacob served for Rachel seven years, and they were in his eyes but a few days for the love he had for her.” There is a remarkable proof of the genuineness of his love. This is one of the most illustrious cases of deep, personal, lifelong attachment that we have any historical account of, and has become proverbial: “Serve seven years for Rachel.” At the end of the seven years he claimed the fulfillment of the contract. Now this young man who had practiced the deception upon his old, blind father, has a deception practiced upon him. Laban is very tricky and unscrupulous. All that crowd up there are shrewd traders and sharp bargainers. Whoever deals with them has to keep both eyes open, and not sleep in the day, and not sleep very sound at any time in the night. They are that way till this day. The manner of consummating the marriage, the betrothal of which had lasted seven years, is very simple: In a formal way the father veils the girl and at night turns her over to the bridegroom. That ends the ceremony. I have seen a letter today from a judge who occupies his seat for the first time, and he says one of the first acts of his administration was to marry a couple and he tells of the ceremony, too simple to repeat, but it does not make much difference about the form, the fact that the transfer has been made and accepted establishes the validity.

Here comes a general question, What ill-natured English poet, in order to illustrate what he calls the disillusions that follow marriage said, “With Rachel we lie down at night; in the morning, behold it is Leah”? I don’t agree with him at all. There have been thousands and thousands of marriages where there was not only no disillusion after the marriage was consummated, but an ever-deepening, lifelong attachment. I expect if some woman had written a couplet she would have put it: “With George Washington we lie down at night, and in the morning, lo I it is Benedict Arnold.” It sounds smart, but you ought not to have any respect for any man who reflects upon the sanctity of the marriage relation. I knew a couple who married early, the man about twenty-three, and the girl about eighteen. After twenty-five years had passed the man said, “I have not been anywhere in the world that she has not been with me. Even when I go hunting, fishing, traveling, she is with me. And there has never been an hour since I married her that I had not rather be with her than with anybody else in the world.” And the woman said the same thing. I think that kind of testimony is much better than the English poet’s testimony.

Jacob was very indignant at the cheat perpetrated upon him. He did not love Leah, and he did not want her at all. The explanation that Laban made is so thin that it won’t hold water. It is not true that in the East you cannot marry the younger until the older is disposed of. Laban then said, “As soon as the week of wedding festivities is over, I will let you have Rachel, provided you will serve seven more years. You can take her at the end of the week, but you take her on a credit until you have served the seven years.” Jacob made that trade. Fourteen years of hard work! I want you to think of that whenever you think of the bad things Jacob did; think also of the good points in the man.

Now we come to the evils of polygamy forced upon Jacob. He never wanted but one woman, but this trickery of his uncle gave him two, and the jealousy of these two wives fastened upon him two more; so that there were two wives and two concubines. For quite a while the strife between the two wives goes on. What kind of a home do you suppose that was? Among the Mormons they do sometimes give a separate house to each wife, but others put a dozen in the same house. Jealousy is certain to develop and cause conflict among the children. A struggle between these two wives is manifested in the names given to the children. Leah, in these seven years, bore Jacob seven children, six sons and one daughter. Rachel bore one son, Joseph, and afterward another. The two maidservants bore two each. That makes twelve sons. I will call the names out in the order in which they were born. Reuben, Leah’s firstborn, means “See, a son.” It expresses her pride, that Jacob’s firstborn was a son, and not a daughter. Simeon, her second, means “a hearing”: that she asked God, as the love of her husband had not come when Reuben was born as she supposed, to send her another child, but Jacob still did not love her. Levi, her third, means “a Joiner”; “Now I will be joined to my husband.” But he did not join them. Judah, her fourth, means “praise”; “Praise Jehovah for the blessing that has come upon me, now that I have borne four sons to my husband.” When Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, bore a son, Rachel named him Dan, meaning “a judge”; “God has judged my side of the case.” When Naphtali, the second son, was born to her handmaid, Rachel names him “wrestling.” She had wrestled in prayer to God for still additional hold on the husband. Then Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, bore a son and he is named Gad. The literal Hebrew means “good fortune,” but when we come to interpret it in chapter 49, it means “7 troop,” i.e., four sons have already been born on the Leah side and here is another. That means there is going to be a troop of them. Her next son is named Asher, which means “happy” happy in getting the advantage of Rachel. Then Leah herself bears another son, Issachar, which means “reward.” Her next son, Zebulun, means “dwelling.” “I have borne six sons to my husband. Surely he will dwell with me.” When her daughter was born she named her Dinah, which means “vindication”: “God is vindicating my side of the marriage relation.” At that time Rachel bore her first child and she named him Joseph, “May he add, as I now have a start.” Later on, Rachel’s last son is born, and dying she names him Benoni, “the child of my anguish.” But the husband steps in and for the first time gets to name one of the children. He names him Benjamin, “the child of my right hand.” These are the twelve names bestowed on the sons. When we come to the dying blessing that Jacob pronounces in chapter 49 upon all of the children, we will see some additions to the names and the characteristics there brought out. These titles come from what the mothers thought of the twelve children at the time they were born, but the names from chapter 49 come from the developments of character in the boys themselves. In Deu 33 , where Moses pronounces the blessing on the twelve tribes, calling them by their names, he leaves out one of the twelve altogether, and brings in new titles not based upon what was in the mother’s mind, nor upon the characteristics of the twelve sons, but upon the characteristics of the tribes descended from the sons. In Rev 12 , we will come upon another list of them, where the reference is not at all to the reasons heretofore expressed in their names but to the later tribal characteristics. As we pass along I, will ask you to compare these four lists of the children of Jacob. You know we have four lists of the twelve apostles, and sometimes different names for the same person. Yet more particularly will I call your attention to the birthright man. Reuben, the firstborn, is entitled to the right of primogeniture. You will find out later how he loses it, and how the several elements of the right of primogeniture are distributed among three other sons of Jacob. At the end of the fourteen years Jacob claimed the fulfillment of his contract. Up to this time he had not made anything, except the wife that he wanted. He has a large family, no money or property, but rich in this family. A young man of the present time, encumbered with twelve children in fourteen years of married life, would think himself pretty much hampered, particularly if he had no bank account, cotton field, or big salary. Now the question comes up about a new contract. God had marvelously blessed Laban on account of Jacob. Jacob had attended to his business so well, being competent from habits of earlier life to which I called your attention in a previous chapter, that Laban did not want to lose Jacob. Jacob makes another proposition: “You shall not pay me any salary, but I propose that we leave it for divine providence to designate how much I ought to get. Most of the sheep are white, brown, or black, an unmixed colour. I propose that my part shall be the speckled, striped or ringstreaked.” Laban looked over his flocks and found only a little sprinkle in all the multitudes not having a solid color. So he accepted the proposition. He was a very shrewd old man. Before the contract goes into effect he moves every one that is already ring-streaked, striped, or speckled, three days’ journey from Jacob, and puts them in the hands of his sons and says to Jacob, “We will start even.” Jacob said nothing, but God was with him, and we have here presented in the history how Jacob got rich, and the expedients that he resorted to in order that the flocks might bear striped, speckled, and ring-streaked. And we learn how God intervened that Jacob, who had been working fourteen years and had been cheated, might have compensation. Through Jacob’s expedient, and particularly through divine providence, Jacob’s flocks increased. Old Laban looked on and it puzzled him. Laban’s children looked on and it puzzled them. The pure white and solid colors began to get fewer and fewer. Jacob’s flock began to multiply beyond all human calculation. What follows? Laban’s sons begin to talk about it: “This stranger has come up here. He did not have a thing when he came to our house. He is managing this business and getting all of our father’s property. After a while there won’t be anything to divide between us.” Laban heard the boys talking and he agreed with them. When he would pass Jacob he would look at him sideways and would not speak to him. Jacob saw a storm was brewing. God came to him in a vision and said, “Return to thy native land. It is time to go, twenty years have passed.” Jacob did not know how his wives would stand on the matter. So he sent for them to come out to the field. He would not talk to them about it at the house. He stated the case fairly: how badly he had been treated, and wanted to know if the wives would stand by him and would go with him. They told him they would, and he might have known it. A man need never be afraid, if he is a good husband, of her not standing by him. Everybody else in the world may go back on him, but a good wife will be true. Laban was away on a three days’ journey, so they decided to strike out without letting him know. And to add to it, Rachel went into Laban’s house and stole his teraphim, little images of idolatry and divination. Just as Demetrius, the silversmith at Ephesus, made little models of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, so they could tie them around their necks or put them in their pockets and carry them around with them. Wherever they felt like worshiping, they could bow down before this little trinket, or as they now tie crosses around their necks, or when they get up they bow down before that cross or little image of the virgin Mary. Now, the question comes up, Why did Rachel steal the teraphim? That is what I want you to answer. I have my own opinion, but I don’t want to force it on you now. One may answer that she was herself at heart an idolater, at least in part. Now, you may adopt that, if you want to, for your answer. It is not mine. They started at a good time. Laban was gone to that other flock, and they knew he would not be back for three days and that they would have three days the start. So they crossed the Euphrates and set out with many servants, cattle, sheep, goats, and quite a sprinkling of children and only four wives. It was a pretty big caravan. I don’t know just which way Jacob went. He may have gone down to Damascus, and from Damascus to Gilead.

Three days passed before Laban heard of it. He cornea home after shearing his sheep and wanted to find his little gods, but he could not find them. Then he went out to look for his interests in that other herd, and lo, Jacob was gone. So he rallied a party, a flying column, without women or children, flocks, or other hindrances, on swift dromedaries, or horses suppose dromedaries and at the end of seven days he caught them near the mountains of Gilead. But the night before he caught up with them old Laban had an experience that he had never had before in his life. In that night Almighty God in a vision comes to him and says, “Laban, don’t you speak either good or evil to Jacob. Keep your hands of.” Unquestionably that is the only thing that prevented the killing of Jacob and taking the wives and children and that property God’s divine intervention. It sobered Laban very much. They had a meeting, and it was one of the most touching incidents in human history. Why some novelist has not brought it out I don’t know. Old Laban said, “You have stolen my goods, my cattle, my teraphim.” Jacob knew nothing about these little gods and denied it, and said he had carried off only what was his own. Now comes Jacob’s speech which I would like for you to be able to memorize. “And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two. These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten. That which was torn of the beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes. These twenty years have I been in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.” Old Laban could not say a word to that. The promise that God had made to Jacob that he would be with him had been literally fulfilled. Laban then proposes that a covenant be made between them. They erected and consecrated a pillar, that Laban’s crowd should never pass that pillar toward the Holy Land to do evil to Jacob, and Jacob’s crowd could never pass that pillar going to Laban’s country to do evil to him.

Now open wide your eyes and ears: “And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha; but Jacob called it Galeed.” The first is Aramaic, and the second word is Hebrew, and they mean exactly the same thing. Dr. Joseph Parker of England has preached a great sermon on the text entitled “Logomachy,” i.e., strife about words. “And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day,” and he called it Mizpah. Here I am going to tell you a fragment of a very touching story. In the first year of the war, just before a young man had started to the army, he paid very pointed attention to a lady, and they became engaged. During the war, the man, in passing the time in absence and with new faces, changed his feelings. His first letters were very loving and glowing. Then they began to lose the glow and diminish in length, and at last he quit writing. One evening just before a terrible battle in which many were killed, I was standing by the side of this man when one of the men who had been on a furlough brought a letter and handed it to him. He looked at the letter and said, “Pshaw! that is from that bothersome woman.” He opened it and there wasn’t a thing in it except a piece of colored paper, and on it was written in capital letters: “Mizpah, THE LORD WITNESSETH BETWEEN ME AND THEE.”

He turned white as he looked at it. This woman knew the Bible story and knew that, where a covenant had been made in the name of God and God’s name brought in, whoever violated that covenant not only wronged a human being but was guilty of sin toward God. His hand shook as he looked at it. He told me about it, and I said, “If you are a man, you go right to your tent and send her a humble, penitent letter.” He said, “I won’t do it.” And I said, “Then watch out. That woman has quit appealing to you. She has appealed to God. Mizpah, the Lord witness between me and thee.” He says, “I reckon I can take care of myself.” The next day we went into battle. He was shot through the heart and fell on me. That saved my life. When the battle was over I went back and found him thoroughly dead, and in going through his pockets to send home to his family, I found that piece of paper and through the center of the word “Mizpah” the Yankee bullet had gone right into his heart.

My reason for calling your attention to this is that he is a profane person who is irreverent toward God in anything. He is profane in the East who breaks an oath, and it is counted an everlasting degradation. Whenever you agree to anything in the name of God, you bring God in as a witness. Then you do what is said in another Old Testament book, “When I swear to my hurt, I will keep my word.” Stick to your word. Notice when Jacob meets Laban it is diamond cut diamond, but when Jacob meets Esau, it is rapier meeting hammer.

QUESTIONS 1. What was the great event of Jacob’s life?

2. State the time, place, and circumstances of his conversion.

3. What New Testament passage explains Jacob’s ladder and who preached a great sermon on it?

4. What melting hymn was suggested by this incident?

5. What name did Jacob give to the place of his conversion, and why?

6. What vow did he make?

7. What was the evidence of his conversion?

8. What is the secret of a successful, religious life?

9. What do we find here which was mentioned in the Bible only once before this, and what is the author’s belief respecting that teaching?

10. How long was Jacob in Haran?

11. Contrast his condition when he went in with his condition when he came out.

12. Describe the meeting of Jacob and Rachel.

13. Why did Jacob weep after he kissed Rachel?

14, How did Jacob get Rachel and what evidence that he loved her?

15. What proverb based on this incident?

16. How was the law of lex talionis exemplified in Jacob’s case?

17. What do you think of the English poet’s testimony referred to?

18. Was Laban’s explanation to Jacob plausible and what good points of Jacob here comes out?

19. State some of the evils of polygamy.

20. Who were Jacob’s children by Leah? Rachel? Bilhah? Zilpah?

21. What the meaning of their names?

22. From what were these names derived?

23. What four lists of these names do we have in the Bible?

24. What was Jacob’s condition, at the end of fourteen years?

25. What business contract did he now make with Laban and what do you think of the way he executed his part?

26. How did Jacob get away from Laban and why did Rachel steal Laban’s teraphim?

27. How did Jacob get the start of Laban and where did Laban over-take him?

28. What kept Laban from killing Jacob?

29. What charge did Laban bring against Jacob?

30. What was Jacob’s reply?

31. Cite the passage that shows the hardness of Jacob’s life in Haran.

32. How was it finally settled?

33. What is the meaning of Mizpah and what illustration of this is given by the author?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

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.

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.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 29:1-3

1Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east. 2He looked, and saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large. 3When all the flocks were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.

Gen 29:1 “Then Jacob went on his journey” This phrase is translated literally “lifted up his feet” (BDB 669 and 919). This is the only place that this unique idiom occurs in the OT. It seems to show something of the excitement and purpose that Jacob felt after his meeting with God at Bethel.

“and came to the land of the sons of the east” In Jdg 6:3; Jdg 6:33 this seems to refer to an Arabian tribe (cf. Job 1:3; Isa 11:14; Eze 25:4; Eze 25:10). However, here it seems to refer to the inhabitants of Haran (cf. Jer 49:28). Possibly, it refers to the northern Arabian tribes between Bethel and Haran that Jacob might encounter.

Gen 29:2 “He looked, and saw a well in the field” The journey is completely omitted and in Gen 29:2 Jacob finds himself close to Haran, but not certain of his exact location. Wells were the place to meet the local folk. The presence of God is obvious in this “by chance” encounter. Haran is the context for chapters 29-31.

“Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large” This was common in this culture and was (1) to stop evaporation; (2) keep the water clean; or (3) for the purpose of security (unauthorized use).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

went, &c. = lifted up his feet. Hebrew. Idiom, App-6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east. And he looked, behold there was a well in the field, and, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth. And all of the flocks were gathered together here: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well’s mouth in this place. And Jacob said unto the young people that were there, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, We’re from Haran. And he said unto them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, Sure, we know him. And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, Sure: and, look, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep ( Gen 29:1-6 ).

So God had His hand upon Jacob, had guided him to the place of Haran and actually at that very moment, Rachel his cousin was coming with her father’s sheep.

Now this well had this big rock over it and they would gather at the well to water their sheep. Well, here it was in the early afternoon and these people were already there. But the rock was so big. Evidently it took a lot of them to move the rock. And so they have to wait till the whole group came, but yet they had sort of a process where first come, first served. And so they’d come early and just sort of lie around and let the sheep lie there while they were waiting to get enough people to move the rock so that they could water it. And then they would wait until all the flocks that were gathered in turn and each one being watered, and then they would roll the rock back over the well.

So Jacob is talking to them, perhaps cannot understand why they’d just be there so early or being sort of lazy really in their job of watching their sheep and is talking to them, “Where are you from?” “We’re from Haran”. “Do you know Laban?” “Yeah, we know him and in fact there comes his daughter right now”.

And he said, Hey, it’s high it’s still early afternoon, really about noontime. It’s yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water the sheep, and then go out and feed them ( Gen 29:7 ).

Hey, you shouldn’t be just sitting around here at this time of the day. Go ahead and water your sheep and then take them out to the pasture, you know. It’s too early to have them just standing around here.

And they said, We cannot, until all of the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; and then we water the sheep. And while he was yet talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them. And 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 ( Gen 29:8-10 ).

Probably just showing off a little bit his strength. You know it took a whole group of them to roll that stone back but when you’ve got incentive, it’s amazing what you can do. And so Jacob went up by himself and rolled the stone back.

And so then Jacob [overcome with emotion] kissed Rachel, and lifted up her voice, and wept ( Gen 29:11 ).

She probably thought, “Who in the world is this”, you know. He is doing these marvelous feats of strength; now kissing me and crying.

And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, he was Rebekah’s son: and she ran and told her father. And 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 he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him for the space of a month. And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother, should you serve me for nothing? tell me, what should your wages be ( Gen 29:12-15 )?

Notice Laban is allowing Jacob to set his own wages.

And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah was tender eyed ( Gen 29:16-17 );

Some believe that that means she was blue-eyed. Her eyes were not the real deep dark brown which were considered the strong, stronger eyes.

but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. And Jacob loved Rachel ( Gen 29:17-18 );

Sort of a love at first sight.

and he said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter ( Gen 29:18 ).

Now it was a custom in those days for a man to pay a dowry for a wife. And in those cultures today, it is still a cultural thing to pay a dowry. Now what a dowry actually amounts to is alimony in advance. In case you’re not treating your wife right and she has to leave you, rather than being destitute, the dowry is to be saved for the wife. It’s actually for her and for her future. In case you put her away, in case you divorce her, she has enough to get along on. The dowry was used for that. It was actually alimony in advance and it was the responsibility of the father to keep that for the wife for the future in case something didn’t work out in the marriage. It was then to take care of her and to provide for her.

Now Jacob didn’t-he came out off from home with nothing. All he had was his walking stick. So he had no dowry. But he was so in love with Rachel, he was willing to become a slave for seven years in order that his seven years of service might become a dowry.

Now in reality, in those seven years that he served Laban for Rachel, because God so blessed Jacob and Jacob’s service, that Laban was increased with wealth and goods, that which came to Laban by Jacob’s service should have been set aside as the dowry for the daughter. But Jacob didn’t do that. I mean, Laban didn’t do that. He just, you know, used it for himself and did not really set up a true dowry for his daughters. And so Jacob made the deal. “I’ll serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel”.

And Laban said, It is better that I give her to you, than I should give her to another man: [go ahead and] abide with me. And Jacob served for seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him just like a few days, because he had such great love for her. And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her ( Gen 29:19-21 ).

It’s sort of the seven years but Laban still just didn’t turn her over. I mean, Jacob had to ask for her.

And Laban gathered together all of the men of the place, and he made a great feast ( Gen 29:22 ).

Because actually they would celebrate for about seven days, the wedding feast would last that long. They’d gather together, have big feasting and big parties and all.

And so it came to pass in the evening ( Gen 29:23 ),

It was dark.

he took Leah his daughter ( Gen 29:23 ),

And of course, they were heavily veiled.

and he brought her to him; and he went in unto her. And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for a handmaid. And it came to pass, in the morning [when Jacob saw his new bride], that it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? I served you for Rachel. Why have you beguiled me? And Laban said, It’s the custom of the country, that we’re not to give the younger before the firstborn. So fulfil her week ( Gen 29:23-27 ).

In other words, the week wedding thing, go ahead and serve you know fulfill her week, sort of the honeymoon,

and then I’ll give you the other daughter and you will serve me yet another seven years ( Gen 29:27 ).

Now I am certain that in this Jacob could not help but remember the deception that he had pulled upon his dad disguising as his brother. “As a man soweth, so shall he also reap” ( Gal 6:7 ). And this is a classic example. He had disguised himself as his brother, had deceived his father. Had gone in and received the blessing. And now the old switch-a-roo is pulled on him. And his father-in-law does much the same for him. He serves for seven years, created dowry, and the old man switches daughters.

A lot of questions are unanswered: Where was Rachel? You know, I wonder if they had to whisk her away by force. And what was Leah’s mental attitude in this whole thing? I mean, surely she knew that in the morning when he wakes up and sees that it’s me, you know, it must have been tough on her as he made love to her that night realizing that he was thinking that he was making love to her younger sister and all. And it wasn’t easy; I wouldn’t suppose for this whole situation and no doubt created a lot of tensions for the time.

But Jacob was a good sport through it all. I mean, that you have to confess. You know, what would you have done? You know, had the switch-a-roo been pulled on you like that. And it could be that it was because of his own past that he was such a good sport and so understanding about the whole thing. But the old man just-Now if that were the custom then Laban should have told him the custom back at the beginning of the seven years. He should have said, “Well, that’s fine, son, but we got a custom here”. But he’s figuring to, you know, to squeeze out from Jacob everything he can.

Now Jacob is a good sport in that he goes on to serve another seven years for Rachel so that Leah would not feel less in his eyes. In other words, had he been making the deal for Leah in the beginning, he probably wouldn’t have said seven years ’cause he really wasn’t interested in her. But Jacob consenting to go on for another seven years and there isn’t really too much about Jacob’s explosion or anger or anything else but he’s pretty even and cool through the whole thing. Much more than I think I would be under the similar circumstances.

So Jacob went along with it. Spent the honeymoon with her,

and then he gave him Rachel as a wife also ( Gen 29:28 ).

In other words, he didn’t have to wait a full seven years to get Rachel. He received Rachel the next week but still he then was obligated to serve another seven years to form her dowry.

And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid. And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served yet another seven years ( Gen 29:29-30 ).

Now here we find the case of polygamy but even as we read of it, we see the difficulties that exist in a polygamous relationship as there begin to develop jealousies and rivalries and so forth among the wives.

Several years ago in a Sociology class at Orange Coast College, the professor of the class asked if we could see any advantage to polygamy. And of course, I was an older student in the class; most of them were young and unmarried. And they couldn’t see any advantages in polygamy but I raised my hand and said, “Well, I can see some advantages in polygamy”. I mean, I actually can foresee there could be some advantages in polygamy. You marry a wife that’s a real sharp secretary, you send her out to make the living and you know, you get enough of them working, you can just kick back and just enjoy it. But though I can see some advantages or possible advantages to polygamy, I can also see enough disadvantages that I would be discouraged from ever trying to have such a relationship.

And so we find that here there is really no strong biblical injunction against it. It was something that was accepted in that culture at that time. And of course, it came to its maximum under Solomon. But by the time we come to the New Testament and the purposes of God are more clearly defined, when the church is developed, polygamy is definitely prohibited. And those who were to be the overseers of the church were to be husbands of one wife and keeping their homes. And this was still in a time in which mistresses and courtesans and so forth were widely accepted in the Grecian culture and in the Roman culture.

So problems did develop; jealousies and all, Rachel, whom he loved more than Leah; yet, even in that you have a difficult situation. That it’s going to create hurt feelings. That’s going to create difficult living.

but Rachel was barren. But Leah conceived, and she bore a son, and she called his name [look, a son]: for she said, The LORD hath looked upon my affliction ( Gen 29:31-32 );

She sees that he doesn’t love me so much as he loves my sister. So look, a son.

now therefore my husband will love me ( Gen 29:32 ).

Isn’t that rather pathetic? She senses a lack of love from Jacob and she’s hoping now that I’ve born him a son, now will he love me? And reaching out for love. As I say, it’s just the tragic by-product of this polygamous relationship.

And she conceived again, and bore another son; and she said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated ( Gen 29:33 ),

And that word “hated” should not be taken literally; I was loved less. He didn’t really hate her but he didn’t love her as much as he loved Rachel.

he hath therefore given me this son: and so she called his name Hearing ( Gen 29:33 ).

Which the Lord has heard me so she called his name, I’ve been heard or hearing.

And she conceived again, bore another son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have had three sons for him: and so she called his name Joined. And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Praise; and she left off bearing ( Gen 29:34-35 ).

So the names of the boys were actually indicative of her desires to be accepted, to be loved, and they probably were born within a year of each other.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Pursuing his journey after his experience at Luz, now called Beth-el, Jacob came into “the land of the children of the east.” Here the next twenty years of his life were to be spent, during which he amassed his wealth. As presently he himself said, he went out carrying only his staff: “With my staff I passed over this Jordan” (Gen 32:10). When he returned, he was wealthy, as his words, again interpreted by the time and place, reveal, “. . . and now I am become two companies.”

At this point the story of his dealings with Laban commences. On the human side it is a fascinating account of the conflict of two strong, astute men. There is really little to admire in the methods of either. However, of the two, as we shall see, Laban was the more to be despised. Here, too, we have the beginning of the story of the one great human love in the life of Jacob, the story of his meeting with and eventual winning of Rachel. There is no doubt that it is a pure love story, and all the subsequent history shows how dear to the heart of Jacob was this woman of pastoral life, the shepherdess of her father’s sheep.

Laban met Jacob with effusive greetings, and, with the shrewdness that characterized him, there can be no doubt he saw how much he might gain from the services of Jacob. This accounts for the readiness with which he promised him Rachel to wife. The true nature of the man, however, was clearly manifested in the brutal deceit he practiced on Jacob at the end of the seven years. Love, however, is stronger than all opposition and Jacob served Laban another seven years for Rachel. It may be pointed out that he did not wait those seven years, for they were united at once. Nevertheless, he carried out the terms of the bargain.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Jacob in Labans Home

Gen 29:1-20

Well might Jacob lift up his feet! See margin. When we are sure of God we receive strength that enables us to run with patience the race that is set before us. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and we have a special claim on His guidance in our matrimonial alliances-the most solemn and momentous step of all. There were many good qualities in Rachel, fitting her to be a good wife. Her humility and industry, her patience under the oppression of the unmannerly shepherds, her haste to share her joy with her father-all these elicited Jacobs love. What a touch of old-world and new-world poetry is in those words of Gen 29:20! Where Love is queen time is too short, labor never hard, distance never long, sacrifice unheard of! Oh, that we so loved our Lord, that for the missionary toiling through long years, and the invalid condemned to a life of pain, affliction might appear light and but for a moment.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 29 Jacob with Laban

1. Jacobs arrival at Padan-aram (Gen 29:1-14)

2. His service for Rachel (Gen 29:15-20)

3. Labans deception (Gen 29:21-25)

4. Jacob receives Rachel (Gen 29:26-31)

5. Leahs 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.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

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:

(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.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Jacob: Psa 119:32, Psa 119:60, Ecc 9:7

went on his journey: Heb. lifted up his feet

came: Gen 22:20-23, Gen 24:10, Gen 25:20, Gen 28:5-7, Num 23:7, Jdg 6:3, Jdg 6:33, Jdg 7:12, Jdg 8:10, 1Ki 4:30, Hos 12:12

people: Heb. children

east: The district of Mesopotamia, and the whole country beyond the Euphrates, are called Kedem, or the East, in the Sacred Writings.

Reciprocal: Gen 28:2 – Padanaram Gen 46:8 – the names Job 1:3 – of the east Eze 25:4 – of the east

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Section 2. (Gen 29:1-35; Gen 30:1-43; Gen 31:1-55.)

Increase in the place of humiliation.

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.”

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

JACOB AND LABAN

THEIR FIRST MEETING (Gen 29:1-14)

Jacobs journey to Haran, his mothers country, was first to the north and then the east, re-traversing the original course of his grandfather Abraham. As he nears its termination; his attention is attracted by the shepherds with their flocks around a well, whose mouth is covered with a stone. Inquiry reveals that they belong to Haran, and are acquainted with his uncle Laban. Rachel, his daughter and the keeper of his sheep, will be there presently, for her they are waiting, since their custom is not to remove the stone or water the flocks till all are gathered. Rachel appears, and it is a case of love at first sight on Jacobs part, if one may judge by his action in rolling the stone from the well and watering her sheep, to say nothing of the kiss he bestows upon her. As another observes, the morals of these simple folk were good, and the estimation in which they held the honor of women was high, for a young and beautiful girl like Rachel might expose herself to the hazards of pastoral life without risk. But among the ancient Greeks it was the custom for daughters of princes to perform this office, and even today among the Arabs unmarried women expose themselves without harm to the same class of dangers. The personal habits of people make a great difference in their national customs.

Anstey shows that Jacob was seventy-seven years of age at this time. Rachels enthusiasm in carrying the news to her father reminds us of her aunt, Rebekah, at an earlier time. Though Jacob calls himself her fathers brother, we know after the oriental fashion he means his nephew. What a talk they had around the family hearth as he rehearsed the story of the mother he loved so truly since she left her home long before! A month has passed before they settle down again to prosaic things (Gen 29:14).

THEIR FIRST CONTRACT (Gen 29:15-35; Gen 30:1-24)

The seven years Jacob serves for Rachel are a heavy burden in one sense, but a light one in another. But how he is deceived at the end of it, when he begins to reap what he had sown! All this is part of Gods plan for his conviction, conversion, sanctification, and preparation for His great purpose on behalf of Israel and the whole world later on. Happily Jacob is not obliged to wait another seven years before marrying Rachel, but receives that part of his compensation in advance (Gen 29:27-28).

One cannot read this story without being impressed with the use God made of the envy of these sisters for building up the house of Jacob and of Israel. We meet some indelicate things here, but we should remember that these histories were written not from our point of view but in the style of the people of the past. It is desirable to become familiar with the names of Jacobs twelve sons, since they become so prominent in the history of Israel and the world. Notice who was the mother of Levi and of Judah, and also of Joseph (Gen 29:24-35; Gen 30:24). The polygamy and concubinage spoken of are not only contrary to the Gospel, but not to be regarded as approved of God at any time (Mal 2:14-15; Mat 19:3-9), but in accordance with the customs of those times. Notably, Isaac seems to have remained monogamous.

THEIR SECOND CONTRACT (Gen 30:25-43; Gen 31:1-16)

As one reads the story of this section he feels little sympathy for Laban, who deserved the punishment he received, but wonders at Jacobs smartness until he reads his explanation (Gen 31:4-13), and learns that God interposed on his behalf, and prompted him in what he did. This is in fulfillment of the original promise of blessing and cursing, which was carried out in the later history of Israel, and will be very markedly fulfilled at the end of this age and throughout the millennium. There is a divine reason why the Jew of today holds the money bags of the world, and why he is such a factor in our commercial centers.

Oh, you treacherous and crafty Laban, type of the Gentile oppressor of Israel in all time, do you think you can circumvent Jehovah by removing all the speckled goats and black sheep from your flocks that Jacob may have none (Gen 30:34-36)? Place three days journey between yourself and Jacob, but leave Jacob to God, and he will ask no more (Gen 31:5)!

It is interesting that Jacob has the sympathy of his wives in the issue between him and their father, and that they support him in his purpose to return to his own land. What was the inspiration and the encouragement of this purpose (Gen 31:13)?

THEIR SEPARATION (Gen 31:17-55)

What advantage of Laban did Jacob take at this juncture (Gen 31:19-20)? What shows Jacobs wives to have been idolaters at this time? How does this further indicate the divine patience and long-suffering? How does it indicate that God has a purpose of grace He is seeking in the earth independent of the conscious and willing cooperation of His creatures?

Look on the map and determine what river Jacob crossed going from Haran into Gilead (a distance of probably 350 miles). How does God interpose for Jacob (Gen 31:24)? Where have we seen a similar revelation of God to a heathen? Do you think Laban was sincere in Gen 31:27? What teaching do we obtain of the responsibilities and hardships of the shepherds life in Gen 31:38-40? Notice Jacobs testimony to Gods great favor to him (Gen 31:42), and the distinction of faith in Jacobs oath as compared with that of Laban.

It is desirable to add that the names which Laban and Jacob gave to the locality of their covenant means the same thing in the Aramaic and Hebrew tongues, the heap of witness, while Mizpah means the watch tower.

How does the conclusion of this story illustrate Pro 16:7?

QUESTIONS

1.Rehearse the story of Jacob from the time of leaving home until he met Laban.

2.Try to recall the story he would have to tell Laban.

3.Give the substance of the references to Malachi and Matthew.

4.Of what is Laban a type in all the generations?

5.Memorize Pro 16:7, with chapter and verse.

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

The Deceiver Is Deceived

When Jacob came to a well in a field in northern Mesopotamia, he inquired where he was. He learned he was near Haran and soon met Rachel, his uncle Laban’s daughter, who was coming to the well to water her father’s sheep. Jacob rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and helped her water the sheep. He then tearfully identified himself as Rebekah’s son. Laban ran to meet him and brought him to his house. They were after all flesh and blood kin ( Gen 29:1-14 ).

Laban did not plan to take unfair advantage of a relative, so he asked Jacob what wages he would like to be paid. Because he loved the beautiful Rachel, Jacob asked to work for her hand in marriage. Laban agreed seven years of service would pay for that honor. At the end of seven years, which seemed but a few days to Jacob because of his love, he asked Laban to fulfill the bargain. Laban prepared a feast for the wedding.

However, instead of Rachel, he brought the soft eyed Leah to Jacob that night. The one who had deceived his father by disguising himself as his brother now was deceived into accepting the wrong sister as his wife (compare Num 32:23 ; Gal 6:7 ). When Jacob realized the deception which had taken place, he protested to his father-in-law. Laban explained it was their custom for the older to be married first. He promised to give him Rachel at the end of the week’s marriage celebration was completed. Of course, he also required seven more years of service for her hand in marriage. Naturally, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah ( Gen 29:15-30 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Gen 29:1. Jacob went on his journey. Our version fails here to express the lively sense of the Hebrew, as in most versions. Levabit pedes; he tripped along with light feet, being now assured that all the promised righteousness would in due course fall to his lot.

Gen 29:6. Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. Such was the state of primitive society. Exercise brought the boon of health, strength, and long life. Why should our daughters be nuns in their fathers house? But alas, in London, and many large towns, it is not in the power of parents to procure proper exercise for daughters; the needle not requiring strength, leaves the half-fainting artist with but little strength. Laban could safely trust his daughters among the shepherds, who were probably aged and married men, and either his own or his kinsmens servants.

Gen 29:10. Jacob rolled the stone from the wells mouth. There were three flocks, and consequently three shepherds; yet Jacob was stronger than the three. Rachel, as well as the daughters of Jethro, assisted in keeping her fathers flocks; but Laban does not appear to have increased very much in riches.

Gen 29:11. Kissed Rachel, because she was his cousin, and he had never seen her before. He wept, because God had so far succeeded his way. In these tears of softening joy, he felt something speaking within, that God would henceforth crown his life with every good.

Gen 29:18. I will serve thee seven years. The rich men of the earth indulged themselves in polygamy. Hence the father of a virgin prudently required a dowry of the man to whom he gave her, that in case of being despised on his marrying another woman, he might secure her maintenance by the dowry; but the dowry so deposited was always reserved for the children. Jacob being poor, offers a full servitude instead of money.

Gen 29:21. Give me my wife. The seven years being completed, he demanded Rachel on the ground of right. And he wished to receive her conformably to the laws and usuages of families, with the consent of her father, and the good wishes of the public; three grand points in constituting the validity of marriage.

Gen 29:25. In the morning behold it was Leah! A fine ado, no doubt, and which nothing could compromise but the promise of Rachel. Laban believed in the covenant of God confirmed to Jacob, and had predetermined to force his eldest daughter on so auspicious a man, and prince of his fathers house. For this purpose he instructed her in the part she was to act, and having induced her to comply with the design, he the more easily imposed on Jacob by means of the veil which virgins wore. Gen 24:65. Laban acted a base and treacherous part, but tried to excuse himself on the ground of custom; but that did not satisfy the disappointed lover, who had paid a severe dowry of servitude for his wife, because Laban should have urged that law, if he had meant to urge it, at the time of the covenant; not after the nuptial benedictions had been pronounced on the bride. Thus Jacob, who had deceived his own father, was now deceived by his father-in-law!

Gen 29:27. Fulfil her week. The marriage festivals usually continued a whole week. Jdg 14:10; Jdg 14:12; Jdg 14:17. The law of affinity in marriage was not yet revealed. In the early progress of society there was often a necessity for the near of kin to marry. Jacob thinking the world partially under Gods displeasure for idolatry, thought himself entitled to the liberty allowed in the family of Adam and Noah, but it filled his house with discord.

Gen 29:28. He gave him Rachel. It appears from the number of children Jacob had at the end of twenty years, that he married Rachel immediately after the week of feasting was expired.

Gen 29:29. Bilhah. The dotal maid was the property of the bride. See Genesis 16. 24.

Gen 29:30. He loved Rachel more than Leah; which in Gen 29:33 is called hated. Why then allow of polygamy at all, seeing a man can love but one woman, as a wife should be loved. Yet these patriarchs were reckoned models of purity in their age. They touched not the dotal maid till the lawful wife had done bearing. No man in Europe can draw inferences of polygamy or concubinage from it, for the nations are now very populous. In primitive society no brother would allow his sister to be treated as a harlot.

Gen 29:32. Leahcalled his name Reuben, variously rendered, Behold my son; son of vision, or of providence.

Gen 29:33. She called his name Simeon, that is, hearing, or joyful hearing.

REFLECTIONS.

What a series of calamities befel poor Jacob! They began in his youth, and continued to old age; but were mixed with many mercies. On a review of providence it would seem in some sort a general law, that all men highly honoured of God should be greatly tried. Perhaps he sees that our soaring vanity needs to be checked by a constant cross.

Amidst all his afflictions we see a superintending providence every moment extending its watchful eye over our patriarch. How seasonable and consolatory were the dream, and the promises made to him at Bethel. How opportune and pleasing was the meeting with Rachel in the field, and how deep the impression which heaven made in that interview on Jacobs heart. Let us ever learn to rely on the promised care of the Almighty: he is watchful on all occasions to promote our happiness.

If Jacob served fourteen years with pleasure for Rachel, and thought himself more than paid in the boon of a favourite wife, what should ministers do for the glory of God, and the Redeemer of the world. Is there any cross we should decline, any labour we should reckon hard, or any treatment we should think severe, if we may obtain the conversion of sinners, and the approbation of our Master?

Was Laban wicked and sordid to violate his faith with Jacob, and require a double servitude for his daughters beauty? With what greater pleasure then should we serve the Father of spirits, who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and of great compassion.But at the same time let all parents learn to keep faith with their children; for family vices are a sort of sins the most difficult to purge.

If it was not Leahs lot to be the favourite wife, she had a gratifying compensation in being singularly happy as a mother; nor was it a small diminution of Rachels beauty, that she was barren. Thus it is that providence has attempered society together, often as St. Paul observes, putting honour on the more uncomely parts, that every one may have cause to be humble, and cause to rejoice before the Lord. Let no good man therefore be discouraged. The God of Israel ever lives to help him out of all his troubles.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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.

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)

Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Gen 29:1-30. Jacob Serves Seven Years for Rachel. Laban Substitutes Leah and Secures Fourteen Years Service in Exchange for the Two.Apart from bits of P (Gen 29:24; Gen 29:28 b, Gen 29:29) the section belongs to JE. Analysis is very uncertain. Probably Gen 29:1 is from E, Gen 29:2-14 from J. Opinions differ as to Gen 29:15-30; for our purpose further analysis is unnecessary.

Jacob comes in his journey to a well, and finds three flocks waiting to be watered. It was the custom when all the flocks were gathered, for the stone to be rolled from the wells mouth and replaced after watering. Jacob has discovered that the place is Haran, and that Laban is well known to the shepherds, when Labans daughter Rachel is seen approaching with her sheep. Fretting at the waste of time, he remonstrates with the shepherds for waiting; much of the day is still before them, let them water the sheep that they may go on grazing. That, they explain, would violate their custom. Meanwhile Rachel comes up, and Jacob, single-handed, removes the immense stone and waters her flock (cf. Exo 2:16-21), the shepherds not interfering with a stranger capable of such a feat. Then he kissed his cousin, burst into tears, and, when his emotions had calmed down, disclosed his identity. Rachel ran back (Gen 24:28) and told her father, who with characteristic effusiveness (Gen 24:29-31), ran to welcome his nephew, and, having heard his story, accepted him as his kinsman. After the lapse of a month, during which Jacob had made himself useful (Gen 29:15), and Laban had detected and measured his love for Rachel, Laban offers him a situation and inquires his terms. Jacob wanted Rachel, but he had no bride-price with which to buy her. He offers accordingly seven years service. This Laban accepts, congratulating himself on getting so strong and efficient a servant without pay, but professing that he would prefer Jacob to any other son-in-law. It was, in fact, and is still customary, for the first cousin to have the first claim; cf. Great is the perfection of the next-of-kin marriage, quoted from the Dinkart ix. 385 by J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, p. 337. The seven years pass, for the deeply-enamoured Jacob, like a few days, a picture of romantic love as rare in the OT as it is exquisite. At the end of the period, Jacob claims his bride. The drinking-feast was held in celebration of the wedding, the bride was brought to Jacob veiled at night; only in the morning does he learn the bitter truth that Laban had foisted on him his elder daughter, the unattractive, weak-eyed Leah, in place of the lovely Rachel with flashing eyes. The smooth swindler has his excuse ready; custom forbade the younger daughter to be wedded first, a custom studiously concealed from Jacob. He relies on the injured bridegroom to make the best of it, to create no scandal by repudiating Leah, and breaking up the feast; besides, he shall have Rachel after all when the week of Leahs festivities is over, only, of course, he must serve another seven years for her. Jacob acquiesceswhat else could he do? At all costs he must have Rachel, and at the end of the week he attains his desire, and takes up once more the drudgery of service without payment. Whether he felt he had been paid in his own coin we cannot say.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

JACOB MEETS RACHEL AND LABAN

After many days of travel Jacob came to the land of his relatives. He could not phone to find his directions to their home, nor did he have any street and house number, but it did not take long for him to contact them. A well was of course the most likely place to meet people. Three flocks of sheep were nearby, waiting to be watered, which they could not until a huge stone was removed from the mouth of the well (v.2). The stone was evidently necessary to prevent humans or animals from accidentally falling into the well. Their practice was to wait until all the flocks were gathered together, then the shepherds would roll the stone away, the flocks would be watered and the stone would be returned to its place.

Jacob finds through questioning the shepherds that he has come to the right place, for their home was at Haran. They knew Laban also, and that he was well (vs.5-6). More than this, at the very moment Laban’s daughter Rachel was coming with her flock of sheep to the well.

However, Jacob was puzzled that the shepherds were still waiting to water their flock, but they tell him that they were unable to do this until there were enough shepherds present to roll the stone from the well’s mouth. When all were gathered then they would do this and water the sheep. There is a picture in this of men waiting for the time of universal blessing, which will take place in the millennial age.

Then Rachel arrives with her father’s sheep (v.9). When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother, and the sheep of his mother’s brother, he was moved with amazing strength, rolling the stone away by himself (v.10). How striking a lesson is this that the energy of faith and love is able to remove great obstacles and bring blessing before the time of “the restitution of all things.” This is what is seen in the present “dispensation of the grace of God.” The Lord Jesus, in pure love and devotion to God, has shown the strength of that love toward the church, His espoused bride, and toward the sheep of God’s flock (another type of the church) in the great sacrifice of Himself, in His resurrection power, and in already having “raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). Thus the church has been marvelously blessed before the time of the universal blessing in the world, and the living water of the word of God has become most precious to her.

The warmth of family affection then predominates the scene as Jacob kissed Rachel, weeping for joy, telling her that he is the son of Rebekah, her father’s sister. Of course they had never met, but family ties can be remarkably strong in spite of this. Rachel left the sheep and ran to tell her father the good news of a relative from a far country (v.12). Laban also ran to meet Jacob and embraced and kissed him. Thus he welcomed him into his home as his own “bone and flesh” (v.14). How good it would have been if this attitude had continued throughout their relationship! But when they parted 20 years later, the atmosphere was hostile rather than congenial (vs.31:25-55).

BARGAINING FOR A WIFE

They had been one month together, with Jacob evidently working for his uncle, when Laban, realizing that Jacob should have wages for his service, asked what Jacob would like for wages. Jacob’s character as a bargainer again comes strongly to the fore on this occasion. Laban had an older daughter than Rachel, but she was not so attractive. Jacob was drawn only to Rachel and offered to work for Laban for seven years in order to earn Rachel as his wife (v.18). Laban agreed to this, evidently conveniently forgetting that his sister Rebekah had been given to Isaac immediately when the servant of Abraham brought his message (ch.24:57-61). There was no bargaining then, no suggestion that her father would virtually sell her to Isaac, but simply a willing decision on her part.

Rachel did not belong to Laban, and both Jacob and Laban were totally wrong in placing a mercenary value on a wife. When the Lord created a woman for Adam, He gave her to him as a gift by grace, and grace should always predominate in the sacred relationship of marriage. However, Jacob was willing to work for all this seven years because of his ardent love for Rachel. In fact, the time seemed to him very short in compassion to the prospect of having her as wife. When the time was fulfilled he asked now that Rachel should be given to him (v.21).

Laban therefore made a marriage feast for them. We may wonder what part Rachel had in the feast, and if she thought she was to be married to Jacob. If so, the shock to her would be as great as that to Jacob. When evening came (and of course darkness with only very dim light at best) Laban had Leah go to share Jacob’s bed with him, and Jacob had no suspicion of this until the morning (vs.21-25). Possibly he had drunk to much wine at the feast, but he was certainly not prepared for such unprincipled deception as this practiced by a near relative.

When Jacob faced Laban with his deception in giving him Leah instead of Rachel, Laban coolly answered him that in his country the younger must not be married before the elder daughter. Certainly honesty would have at least informed Jacob of this at the time the agreement was made seven years earlier! It may be that Laban made up this policy in his own mind and considered it adopted by his own country! For surely if it had been the usual custom, Jacob would have heard of it before seven years. But Laban knew that the best way to get Jacob to continue working for him was to do just what he did; so he told Jacob that he could work another seven years for Rachel. What could Jacob do? He still had his heart set on Rachel, so he simply submitted to this unjust treatment, and eventually got her also as a wife.

However, the deception of his uncle might well have reminded Jacob that he himself had before deceived a relative, his own father. Such things have a way of recoiling, under the governing hand of God. It is a striking fact that those who form the character of deceivers will very likely be deceived themselves (2Ti 3:13). In this case too Jacob painfully learned the rights of as firstborn, which he had ignored in the case of his brother Esau.

There is a serious spiritual lesson for us in the history of Jacob’s two wives. Rachel (meaning “sheep”) is typical of the lovely state of soul in humble submission to God that believers would like to attain. She was the desire of Jacob’s heart. But in struggling to get Rachel, he only got Leah, meaning “wearied.” For Leah is a picture of what I really am, not what I desire to be. there was conflict between the two. I may try hard to make myself different, only to find myself “stuck” with what I really am, as Jacob was “stuck” with Leah! This is the struggle of Rom 7:1-25, where “I” is seen fighting against “I.”

CHILDREN BORN TO LEAH

It was Leah who bore children, while Rachel remained fruitless for a long time. So that it is the hated “I” that seems to predominate in the experience of a believer who really wants to be what he thinks he should be. Leah bore four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah (vs.31-35), while Rachel remained childless. It is good to consider that in spite of Jacob’s dislike for Leah, he never made a suggestion of resorting to people’s present day practice of putting away his wife. In fact, he kept her longer than Rachel, who died in childbirth and was buried on the way to Ephrath (ch.35:19), before Jacob came to his father at Mamre. We are not told of Leah’s death, but Jacob says he buried her at Mamre (ch.49:30-32).

Thus the proper experience of the believer is that he keeps the fact of what he is longer than he keeps the desire to attain a high spiritual state. In fact, when Rachel died she gave place to Benjamin (meaning “son of my right hand”), a type of Christ in exaltation. Thus, when the Lord Jesus takes the place of my desire for a better spiritual life, it is not hard for me to give up that desire for I have title to forget myself and find everything in Christ Jesus my Lord. I remain just what I am, but I have a perfect Object, and actually it is only through enjoying Him as my Object that I can have any proper state of soul.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

29:1 Then Jacob {a} went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.

(a) Or, “lifted up his feet”.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

7. Jacob’s marriages and Laban’s deception 29:1-30

The long account of Jacob’s relationship with Laban (chs. 29-31) is the centerpiece of the Jacob story (chs. 25-35). It is a story within a story, and it too has a chiastic structure. At its center is the account of the birth of Jacob’s sons, the forefathers of the tribes of Israel (Gen 29:31-35).

Jacob met Rachel at the well and watered the flocks in spite of opposition against doing so. His love for her led him to serve Laban for seven years to obtain her as his wife. Laban deceived Jacob into marrying Leah, the first-born, so Jacob had to work another seven years for Rachel.

"In Laban Jacob met his match and his means of discipline." [Note: Kidner, p. 159.]

"Jacob is now in the greatest of all schools, that of experience, and there are many lessons to learn. These three chapters (xxix-xxxi.) cover forty years [sic, probably twenty years] of his life, and are the record of a large part of his training." [Note: Thomas, p. 269. Cf. Exodus 2:16-21.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

"More than any other book in the OT, Genesis emphasizes the east (see Gen 3:24; Gen 4:16; Gen 10:30; Gen 11:2; Gen 13:11; Gen 25:6 [and Gen 29:1]) as a direction of some significance." [Note: Hamilton, The Book . . . Chapters 18-50, p. 252.]

Jacob had travelled about 450 miles from Beersheba to Haran (Gen 29:4). Notice the absence of prayer for divine guidance to the woman of God’s choosing, which dominates the story of Abraham’s servant’s visit to the same area for the same purpose (ch. 22). Also, Jacob arrived alone on foot whereas Abraham’s servant came with a well-laden camel train.

"True to his character, Jacob proceeds arrogantly, questioning the shepherds’ carefree behavior (Gen 29:7). For all the criticism one might level at Jacob’s conduct, he was no slacker in his labor ethic (Gen 31:6; Gen 31:38-41)." [Note: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 462.]

The well was probably a cistern that had a mouth with a large circumference (Gen 29:8). A very large stone that required several men to remove it evidently covered it. After someone moved the stone, the flocks would gather around the edge of the well to drink. The well from which Rebekah drew water for Eliezer (Gen 24:16) may have been a different kind.

The male shepherds may have been unable to roll the stone away because the well belonged to Laban; their inability may have been moral rather than physical. [Note: Bush, 2:116-17.]

Jacob wept for joy (Gen 29:11), but he did not praise God. He had ended his journey, was now in the right place, and had met the right person, he thought. This is one of the few places in Scripture that we read of a man kissing a woman. Jacob apparently acted solely on the basis of Rachel’s physical attractiveness.

"When Abraham’s servant had discovered Rebekah’s identity, he worshiped the Lord (Gen 24:24; Gen 24:26), but here Jacob flexed his muscle, proving his capacity to serve Laban’s house." [Note: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 463.]

"This scene [Gen 29:1-14] is chiefly about God’s providence versus Jacob’s prayerlessness . . ." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 402.]

The suggestion of some interpreters that Laban adopted Jacob as his son is questionable. [Note: See John Van Seters, "Jacob’s Marriages and Ancient Near East Customs: A Reexamination," Harvard Theological Review 62:4 (October 1969):377-95.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)