Jacob continues his journey and arrives in the land of the eastern peoples near Haran. He comes upon a well where three flocks of sheep are lying by, waiting to be watered. A large stone covers the well's mouth. When the flocks have all gathered, the stone is rolled away and the sheep are watered before the stone is replaced. Jacob inquires about the shepherds' origin and Laban, and learns they are from Haran and know of Laban and that he is well. Rachel, Laban's daughter, is arriving with her father's flock. Scholars note the conversation reflects the cultural customs of the time and area.

1. GE ESIS 29 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1
Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the
land of the eastern peoples.
1. Barnes, “Gen_29:1-8
Jacob arrives at the well of Haran. “The land of the sons of the east.” The points of the
heavens were defined by the usage of practical life, and not by the standard of a science
yet unknown. Hence, the east means any quarter toward the sunrising. Haran was about
four degrees east of Beer-sheba, and five and a half degrees north. The distance was
about four hundred and fifty miles, and therefore it would take Jacob fifteen days to
perform the journey at thirty miles a day. If he reached Bethel the first night, he must
have travelled about fifty miles the first day. After this he proceeds on his journey
without any memorable incident. In the neighborhood of Haran he comes upon a well,
by which lay three flocks. This is not the well near Haran where Abraham’s servant met
Rebekah. It is in the pasture grounds at some distance from the town. On its mouth was
a large stone, indicating that water was precious, and that the well was the common
property of the surrounding natives. The custom was to gather the flocks, roll away the
stone, which was too great to be moved by a boy or a female, water the flocks, and
replace the stone. Jacob, on making inquiry, learns that Haran is at hand, that Laban is
well, and that Rachel is drawing nigh with her father’s flocks. Laban is called by Jacob
the son of Nahor, that is, his grandson, with the usual latitude of relative names in
Scripture Gen_28:13. “The day is great.” A great part of it yet remains. It is not yet the
time to shut up the cattle for the night; “water the sheep and go feed them.” Jacob may
have wished to meet with Rachel without presence of the shepherds. “We cannot.” There
was a rule or custom that the flocks must be all assembled before the stone was rolled
away for the purpose of watering the cattle. This may have been required to insure a fair
distribution of the water to all parties, and especially to those who were too weak to roll
away the stone.
2. Clarke, “Then Jacob went on his journey - The original is very remarkable:
And Jacob lifted up his feet, and he traveled unto the land of the children of the east.
There is a certain cheerfulness marked in the original which comports well with the state
of mind into which he had been brought by the vision of the ladder and the promises of
God. He now saw that having God for his protector he had nothing to fear, and therefore
he went on his way rejoicing.
People of the east - The inhabitants of Mesopotamia and the whole country beyond
the Euphrates are called ‫קדם‬ kedem, or easterns, in the sacred writings.

2. 3. Gill, “Then Jacob went on his journey,.... After the above vow at Bethel, and
having had some intimation that what he desired would be granted him; or "he lift up
his feet" (x), which not only shows that he walked afoot, but that he went on his journey
with great cheerfulness; for having such gracious promises made him, that God would be
with him, and keep him, and supply him with all necessaries, and return him again to
the land of Canaan, which made his heart glad; his heart, as the Jewish writers say (y),
lift up his legs, and he walked apace, and with great alacrity:
and came into the land of the people of the east; the land of Mesopotamia or
Syria, which lay to the east of the land of Canaan, see Isa_9:11; hither he came by several
days' journeys.
4. Henry, “All the stages Israel's march to Canaan are distinctly noticed, but no
particular journal is kept of Jacob's expedition further than Beth-el; no, he had no more
such happy nights as he had at Beth-el, no more such visions of the Almighty. That was
intended for a feast; he must not expect it to be his daily bread. But, 1. We are here told
how cheerfully he proceeded in his journey after the sweet communion he had with God
at Beth-el: Then Jacob lifted up his feet; so the margin reads it, Gen_29:1. Then he went
on with cheerfulness and alacrity, not burdened with his cares, nor cramped with his
fears, being assured of God's gracious presence with him. Note, After the visions we have
had of God, and the vows we have made to him in solemn ordinances, we should run the
way of his commandments with enlarged hearts, Heb_12:1. 2. How happily he arrived at
his journey's end. Providence brought him to the very field where his uncle's flocks were
to be watered, and there he met with Rachel, who was to be his wife. Observe, (1.) The
divine Providence is to be acknowledged in all the little circumstances which concur to
make a journey, or other undertaking, comfortable and successful. If, when we are at a
loss, we meet seasonably with those that can direct us - if we meet with a disaster, and
those are at hand that will help us - we must not say that it was by chance, nor that
fortune therein favoured us, but that it was by Providence, and that God therein
favoured us. Our ways are ways of pleasantness, if we continually acknowledge God in
them.
5. Jamison, “Gen_29:1-35. The well of Haran.
Then Jacob went, etc. — Hebrew, “lifted up his feet.” He resumed his way next
morning with a light heart and elastic step after the vision of the ladder; for tokens of the
divine favor tend to quicken the discharge of duty (Neh_8:10).
and came into the land, etc. — Mesopotamia and the whole region beyond the
Euphrates are by the sacred writers designated “the East” (Jdg_6:3; 1Ki_4:30; Job_1:3).
Between the first and the second clause of this verse is included a journey of four
hundred miles.
6. K&D 1-4, “Arrival in Haran, and Reception by Laban. - Being strengthened in
spirit by the nocturnal vision, Jacob proceeded on his journey into “the land of the sons

3. of the East,” by which we are to understand, not so much the Arabian desert, that
reaches to the Euphrates, as Mesopotamia, which lies on the other side of that river. For
there he saw the well in the field (Gen_29:2), by which three flocks were lying, waiting
for the arrival of the other flocks of the place, before they could be watered. The remark
in Gen_29:2, that the stone upon the well's mouth was large (‫ה‬ ָ‫ּל‬‫ד‬ְ without the article is a
predicate), does not mean that the united strength of all the shepherds was required to
roll it away, whereas Jacob rolled it away alone (Gen_29:10); but only that it was not in
the power of every shepherd, much less of a shepherdess like Rachel, to roll it away.
Hence in all probability the agreement that had been formed among them, that they
would water the flocks together. The scene is so thoroughly in harmony with the
customs of the East, both ancient and modern, that the similarity to the one described in
Gen_24:11. is by no means strange (vid., Rob. Pal. i. 301, 304, ii. 351, 357, 371).
Moreover the well was very differently constructed from that at which Abraham's
servant met with Rebekah. There the water was drawn at once from the (open) well and
poured into troughs placed ready for the cattle, as is the case now at most of the wells in
the East; whereas here the well was closed up with a stone, and there is no mention of
pitchers and troughs. The well, therefore, was probably a cistern dug in the ground,
which was covered up or closed with a large stone, and probably so constructed, that
after the stone had been rolled away the flocks could be driven to the edge to drink.
(Note: Like the cistern Bir Beshat, described by Rosen., in the valley of Hebron, or
those which Robinson found in the desert of Judah (Pal. ii. 165), hollowed out in the
great mass of rock, and covered with a large, thick, flat stone, in the middle of which
a round hole had been left, which formed the opening of the cistern, and in many
cases was closed up with a heavy stone, which it would take two or three men to roll
away.)
7. Calvin, “1.Then Jacob went on his journey (62) Moses now relates the arrival of
Jacob in Mesopotamia, and the manner in which he was received by his uncle; and
although the narration may seem superfluous, it yet contains nothing but what is
useful to be known; for he commends the extraordinary strength of Jacob’s faith,
when he says, that he lifted up his feet to come into an unknown land. Again, he
would have us to consider the providence of God, which caused Jacob to fall in with
the shepherds, by whom he was conducted to the home he sought; for this did not
happen accidentally, but he was guided by the hidden hand of God to that place;
and the shepherds, who were to instruct and confirm him respecting all things, were
brought thither at the same time. Therefore, whenever we may wander in
uncertainty through intricate windings, we must contemplate, with eyes of faith, the
secret providence of God which governs us and our affairs, and leads us to
unexpected results.
8. TRAPP, "Genesis 29:1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the
LA Dof 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": [ ehemiah 8:10] it became as oil; wherewith his soul being suppled, he

4. 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.
9. COFFMA , "It is interesting that the multiple documents theorists have radically
changed their minds about this chapter, as pointed out by Skinner, now assigning it
differently than formerly, indicating the total lack of any stability in the
THEORIES. Peake commented on this with the conclusion that, "further analysis is
unnecessary!"[1] He nevertheless pointed out what he considered to be the
advantages of the documentary theories, thus:
"If Genesis is a unity, Jacob is sent off to marry at age 77, when Rebekah had put
up with her unwelcome daughters-in-law 37 years. He is actually 84 when he
marries! The documentary analysis saves us from such absurdities."[2]
For the moment, it is conceded that the ages of the persons involved in these events
may appear absurd to some people, but it should be noted that the documentary
theories do absolutely nothing to change that situation. If there ever had been any
documents (which is not supported by any evidence at all); and, even if there had
been an editor or redactor who put it all together just as it appears in Genesis (again
an unproved and unprovable proposition), it is undeniable that such an imaginary
person (whoever he was) gave it to us as we have it. How does that get rid of any
alleged absurdities? Of course, it does nothing of the kind. The Genesis text is all
there is, and the solution of whatever problems may exist must be sought in the true
interpretation of that text.
In the matter of those ages of the participants mentioned above, Morris has this:
In terms of normal aging and life spans today, these figures could be cut almost in
half to correspond to the equivalent situations in our own time.[3] So where is any
problem with the ages? The ancients had no problem with them, and only
unbelievers have any problem with them now. And even if there should be thought
to be a problem, the imaginative, changing, and undependable GUESSES of modern
critics can afford no viable solution.

5. "Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.
And he looked, and, behold, a well in the field, and, lo, three flocks of sheep lying
there by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and the stone upon the wells
mouth was great. And thither were all the flocks gathered; and they rolled the stone
from the wells mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the wells
mouth in its place. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence are ye? And
they said, Of Haran are we. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of
ahor? And they said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is it well with him?
And they said, It is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep."
"Land of the children of the east ..." "This is northern Mesopotamia where Haran is
located."[4]
"The well ..." Willis and other scholars suppose that this could have been the same
well where the servant of Abrahm met Rebekah years earlier.[5] If it was, then some
changes had evidently taken place in it, which, of course, was by no means
impossible. At least, it was in the same vicinity.
"Laban the son of ahor ..." ahor was the father of Bethuel, the father of Laban,
as repeatedly mentioned earlier. Therefore, "son" as used here actually means
grandson.[6] A similar use of "son" was observed in our comments on Genesis 9:24.
It should be noted that the conversation reported here is quite different from the
way a similar conversation would run today. This was due to the fact that the
Hebrews did not have a word that simply meant "yes."
ote that, "The words from the middle of Genesis 29:2 and including Genesis 29:3
are parenthetical, the watering of the flocks not taking place until the arrival of
Rachel, and after Jacob had removed the stone."[7]
That this conversation took place so easily indicates that these diverse branches of
Terah's family spoke Aramaic, the language of Ur of the Chaldees, from which
place Terah and Abraham had migrated.
The situation that appeared here was that of a common watering hole used by a
number of shepherds, the entrance to it being kept by the placement of a heavy
stone. In the evenings, the stone was removed; the flocks were watered in order as
they had arrived; and this had led to some coming early in order to "get in line"
first. It is not necessary to suppose that the "brethren" addressed by Jacob were
grown men, boys having been frequently used for the task of shepherding, as well

6. as, in rare cases women, as evidenced by Rachel's being called a shepherdess.
Morris agreed to this, saying, "The shepherds tending the flocks were apparently
either women or young lads."[8]
Jacob's personal reaction to what he found at the well must have been one of deep
gratitude to God for having speeded him to the very place where he would soon be
in touch with his mother's brother's family. It is well to keep in mind, throughout
this narrative, that God promised to be "with Jacob," and to bless him, for only this
can ACCOU T for some of the things that he successfully did.
10. PETT, "Jacob Meets Come to His Relatives’ Family Tribe and Marries Laban’s
Two Daughters (Genesis 29:1-30). Jacob’s Sons are Born (Genesis 29:31 to Genesis
30:24)
This covenant narrative reflects the fulfilment of Yahweh’s promise of fruitfulness
to Jacob and is based on the covenant significance of the names given to the sons. It
is not just a story. The names reflect their covenant relationship with God.
But it is noteworthy that, in remarkable contrast to Genesis 24, there is no mention
of God until we come to the birth of the sons. It is as though the writer is telling us
that, although God’s purposes came to fruition through it, God was not directly
involved in the chicanery that took place. When Abraham’s servant sought a wife
for Isaac, he went about it prayerfully and waited for God to show His will through
the acts of another CATERI G to the needs of his beasts. Here we have no prayer
and Jacob pre-empts the situation. The contrast could not be more stark.
Then fourteen years pass very quickly with Jacob’s pursuits not worth a mention,
the only point of importance being his two marriages that lead up to the birth of his
sons. It is not so much concerned with the life of Jacob as with the heirs of the
promise. Yahweh first steps in at Genesis 29:31. So the text is firmly based on
covenant records.
Verse 1
Jacob Meets Come to His Relatives’ Family Tribe and Marries Laban’s Two
Daughters (Genesis 29:1-30). Jacob’s Sons are Born (Genesis 29:31 to Genesis 30:24)
This covenant narrative reflects the fulfilment of Yahweh’s promise of fruitfulness
to Jacob and is based on the covenant significance of the names given to the sons. It
is not just a story. The names reflect their covenant relationship with God.
But it is noteworthy that, in remarkable contrast to Genesis 24, there is no mention

7. of God until we come to the birth of the sons. It is as though the writer is telling us
that, although God’s purposes came to fruition through it, God was not directly
involved in the chicanery that took place. When Abraham’s servant sought a wife
for Isaac, he went about it prayerfully and waited for God to show His will through
the acts of another CATERI G to the needs of his beasts. Here we have no prayer
and Jacob pre-empts the situation. The contrast could not be more stark.
Then fourteen years pass very quickly with Jacob’s pursuits not worth a mention,
the only point of importance being his two marriages that lead up to the birth of his
sons. It is not so much concerned with the life of Jacob as with the heirs of the
promise. Yahweh first steps in at Genesis 29:31. So the text is firmly based on
covenant records.
Genesis 29:1
‘Then Jacob went on his way and came to the land of the children of the East.’
“The children of the East.” A general term for people who came from lands to the
East of Canaan. In 1 Kings 4:30 the children of the East are, along with Egypt,
looked on as a source of wisdom (compare Matthew 2:1). This suggests reference to
the peoples of the Mediterranean area. JOB could also be called one of ‘the children
of the East’ ( JOB 13).
But the term is also used of peoples connected with the Amalekites and Midianites
(Judges 6:3; Judges 7:12; Judges 8:10), with Moabites and Ammonites (Ezekiel
25:9-10), where they are probably unidentified groups of nomads banded together
in an alliance (verse 4), and with Kedar (Jeremiah 49:28). It is therefore a term used
to designate conglomerate peoples, without being too specific, with reference to their
direction from Canaan. In this passage the reference is to THE GE ERAL area in
which Haran is situated seen as part of the wider area of ‘Easterners’. (Compare the
use of ‘Westerners’ and ‘Orientals’ today). Consider how the magi also came ‘from
the East’ (Matthew 2:1).
11. CO STABLE, "Verses 1-12
"More than any other book in the OT, Genesis emphasizes the east (see Genesis
3:24; Genesis 4:16; Genesis 10:30; Genesis 11:2; Genesis 13:11; Genesis 25:6 [and
Genesis 29:1]) as a direction of some significance." [ ote: Hamilton, The Book . . .
Chapters 18-50, p. 252.]
Jacob had travelled about 450 miles from Beersheba to Haran (Genesis 29:4). otice
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.

8. "True to his character, Jacob proceeds arrogantly, questioning the shepherds'
carefree behavior (Genesis 29:7). For all the criticism one might level at Jacob's
conduct, he was no slacker in his labor ethic (Genesis 31:6; Genesis 31:38-41)."
[ ote: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 462.]
The well was probably a cistern that had a mouth with a large circumference
(Genesis 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 (Genesis
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. [ ote:
Bush, 2:116-17.]
Jacob wept for joy (Genesis 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 (Genesis 24:24; Genesis 24:26), but here Jacob flexed his muscle, proving his
capacity to serve Laban's house." [ ote: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 463.]
"This scene [Genesis 29:1-14] is chiefly about God's providence versus Jacob's
prayerlessness ..." [ ote: Waltke, Genesis, p. 402.]
The suggestion of some interpreters that Laban adopted Jacob as his son is
questionable. [ ote: See John Van Seters, "Jacob's Marriages and Ancient ear
East Customs: A Reexamination," Harvard Theological Review 62:4 (October
1969):377-95.]
12. MEYER, JACOB IN LABAN’S 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 Jacob’s 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

9. 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.
13. PULPIT 1-14, "I. JACOB'S MEETI G 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, LIGHTI G 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 sheep—impelled thereto, shall we say, as much
by consideration for the fair girl who attended them as for the rich flock-master
who possessed them. Kindly acts proceeding from loving hearts are sometimes
largely assisted by the attractions of their recipients.
2. The loving salutation. "And Jacob kissed Rachel." If before explaining who he
was, it must have taken her by surprise even in those unconventional times; but it is
probable he may have first announced his name, in which case his behavior was
only in accordance with the manners of the age. Suitable expressions of, affection to

10. 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 I TRODUCTIO TO LABA .
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 Genesis 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.
14. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Genesis 29:1-14
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east
Jacob’s experience on his journey
I. THAT GOD’S PRESENCE WITH HIM MADE HIS DUTIES AND HIS TROUBLES
LIGHT. He who casts his burden upon the Lord ceases to weary himself, and finds that
even labour is rest and pain is sweet.
II. THAT PROVIDENCE WAS STILL HIS GUIDE. All his life through Providence had
guided him, but he knew it not as he ought to know. Now, even in the most ordinary and
likely events of life he learns to trace the hand of Providence. Providence brings to this
spot the very woman who is designed to be the wife of Jacob. Surely he could not fail to
see that even through all the strange trials of his journey, and through the most
untoward events, the will of God was being accomplished.
III. THAT GOD’S GRACIOUS DEALINGS WITH HIM CALLED FOR GRATITUDE.
Jacob was deeply touched by the kindness of God; and while he embraced Rachel, he “
lifted up his voice and wept.” They were tears started by the remembrance of his

11. faithless misgivings, but they were also tears of joy at the thought that his difficulties
were at an end, and that the great object of his mission had been gained. (T. H. Leale.)
Providential guidance
1. God’s gracious appearances to a soul may encourage it to go any whither where
God would have them.
2. Encouragements from God and engagements to Him will make a man speed in the
way where God calleth.
3. Providence bringeth an obedient soul safely to the place appointed for him.
4. Providence sendeth to every part His servants to raise His Church. The East is not
exempted, Abraham from hence, Job in this place were eminent, and now Jacob is
sent to it (verse 2). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Jacob, the pilgrim
Rich in distant hopes, but cheerless in his immediate prospects, Jacob left the land of
promise. He was a true pilgrim; and his whole life was a wearisome and changeful
pilgrimage. The gold of his capacious and lofty mind was to be purified from its strong
alloy of dishonesty and cunning in the furnace of misery and toil; his moral education
commenced at his departure from the parental house, and after many tribulations only,
resulted in that peace of mind which is at once the surest symptom and the choicest
reward of true virtue. Jacob’s life has always been considered as a type; we see in it,
indeed, the eternal image of man’s protracted contests, both against the foe in his heart
and with his destinies, till at last the internal enemy is either wearied out by his
resistance, or expelled by his energy, or reconciled by his sufferings (see on Gen_34:1-4).
Among the earliest seeds sowed by Jacob were deceit and craft; and flight and exile were
the first fruits of his harvest. While his grandfather’s servants had undertaken the
journey to the town of Nahor with ten camels laden with all the most precious treasures
(Gen_24:10); the offspring of the alliance concluded in consequence of that journey, left
his father’s roof, as a poor wanderer, without an friend or an attendant, and without an
animal to lighten the fatigues of the way. (M. M.Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence maketh God’s servants to see in due time some characters of their
being near their journey’s end, and accomplishment of His promise.
2. Things of usual account by some may be made by Providence of special use to
comfort others. So the welt, &c., here spoken of Jacob (Gen_29:2).
3. To seek community of good in neighbourhood is the very law of nature. Not each
to prevent other.
4. Preservation of public commodities for life and comfort, is that which nature will
teach men. It is unnatural to destroy (verse 3-5). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

12. Lessons
1. Providence maketh questions means to the satisfaction of His.
2. Sons are best known by the most eminent of their ancestors.
3. Nahor and his descent, with their way and religion, were known in Syria (Gen_
29:5).
4. It is but Nature’s dictate to inquire of the welfare of related friends.
5. Providence orders peace to others, that with them His servants may have peace.
6. Providence orders meeting of friends and comforts which man cannot project, and
doth little think of, Here Jacob meets Rachel (Gen_29:6). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Rachel his daughter cometh
Lessons -
1. Providential meetings may justly occasion providential advice from strangers to
others.
2. Time and business should be rationally managed to the improvement of both
(Gen_29:7).
3. Ingenuity taketh not amiss occasional advice from strangers.
4. Ingenuous men, if they follow not counsel, will give their reason.
5. Impotency to duty justly may excuse it.
6. Iniquity must not be done to others for private advantage (Gen_29:8). (G.
Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. God’s good hand sendeth the mercy sometimes to His servants while they inquire
about it.
2. The eminent in His church God hath called from the lowest condition in the
world.
3. It is not unbeseeming the greatest ladies to be found in honest labour. It was not
to Rachel. It suits the mother of the Church to be a shepherdess (Gen_29:9). (G.
Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Discoveries of such as are near in the flesh is enough in nature to move for doing
them good.
2. Readiness and pains to show kindness unto friends in the flesh becometh both
grace and nature (Gen_29:10). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

13. Lessons
1. Self-discovery is proper, when God sends friends to meet at unawares.
2. Ingenuity gladly receiveth the manifestation of near friends in the flesh. (G.
Hughes, B. D.)
The meeting of Jacob with Rachel and Laban -
I. THE STRANGER AT THE WELL Jacob.
1. The journey ended. Canaan, Bethel, and his father’s house behind him. Mountains,
deserts, rivers, and rocky wildernesses between. God had kept Gen_28:20), so far,
from wild beasts and robbers, and all “ perils of the wilderness.”
2. He arrives on the confines of civilized life once more; yet knows not how near the
end of his journey he is. Finds flocks, and pasturage, and the dwellings of men.
3. Rests by the well side. Knows that it will soon be the meeting-place of men, from
the flocks that are gathering round the spot.
4. The shepherds arrive. He converses with them. Finds they are of Haran, the place
he is journeying to. Inquires concerning his kindred. Discovers that they are well,
and that Rachel, the daughter of Laban, is on the way to water the flock.
II. THE SHEPHERDESS. Rachel.
1. Primitive habits, and pastoral life in the East. The daughters of large land owners,
and men of substance, tending sheep.
2. Rachel approaches the well. Finds a stranger sitting near. Knows him not. He has
been told who she is.
3. Though weary with his journey, Jacob rises, and rolls the stone away, and waters
Rachel’s flock for her. Rachel doubtless wondering at this unexpected kindness.
4. Jacob, having watered the flock, salutes the shepherdess after the common
fashion of the country. A courteous and customary greeting.
5. Jacob weeps tears of joy that he has found the kindred of whom he is in search;
and of thankfulness that God has so far guided and blessed him. Rachel wondering.
6. Jacob tells his story. Mentions the name of that Rebekah of whom she had heard,
and who years before had gone across the great desert to her distant home.
III. THE WELCOME HOME. The home of Laban.
1. Rachel, full of joyful surprise, hastens forward, and tells the story of the strange
traveller to her father.
2. Laban, also surprised, quickly goes to the well to meet him. Salutes him, as Jacob
had saluted Rachel, and brings him home. Eastern hospitality.
3. Jacob repeats his story to Laban. Doubtless, while silent about many things,
related that the birthright and the blessing were his; and described the vision he had
by the way.
4. Laban cordially—because of his relationship especially—invites Jacob to abide

14. with him. Learn:
I. That a good man’s steps are ordered of the Lord, and He delighteth in his way.
II. If we commit our way unto the Lord, He will bring it to pass.
III. As Jacob watered Rachel’s flock, so should we be self-denying and helpful.
IV. Aim, like Rachel, at living a useful life. It was when she was employed in her works
of duty that she met with Jacob.
V. Like Jacob, acknowledge God as the giver of all good, and the guide of our life. (Jr. C.
Gray.)
We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together
Watering the sheep
A scene in Mesopotamia, beautifully pastoral. A well of water of great value in that
region. The fields around about it white with three flocks of sheep lying down waiting for
the watering. I hear their bleating coming on the bright air, and the laughter of young
men and maidens indulging in rustic repartee. I look off, and I see other flocks of sheep
coming, Meanwhile, Jacob, a stranger, on the interesting errand of looking for a wife,
comes to the well. A beautiful shepherdess comes to the same well. I see her
approaching, followed by her father’s flock of sheep. Jacob accosts the shepherds and
asks them why they postpone the slaking of the thirst of these sheep, and why they did
not immediately proceed to water them? The shepherds reply to the effect: “We are all
good neighbours, and as a matter of courtesy we wait until all the sheep of the
neighbourhood come up. Besides that, this stone on the well’s mouth is somewhat
heavy, and several of us take hold of it and push it aside, and then the buckets and the
troughs are filled, and the sheep are satisfied. We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered
together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”
Now a great flock of sheep to-day gather around this Gospel well. There are a great many
thirsty souls. I wonder why the flocks of all nations do not gather—why so many stay
thirsty; and while I am wondering about if, my text breaks forth in the explanation,
saying: “ We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone
from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.” This well of the Gospel is deep enough
to put out the burning thirst of the twelve hundred million of the race. Do not let the
Church by a spirit of exclusiveness keep the world out. Let down all the bars, swing open
all the gates, scatter all the invitations: “Whosoever will let him come.”
I. You notice that this well of Mesopotamia had a stone on it, which must be removed
before the sheep could be watered; and I find on the well of salvation to-day
IMPEDIMENTS AND OBSTACLES, which must be removed in order that you may
obtain the refreshment and life of this Gospel.
1. In your case the impediment is pride of heart. You cannot bear to come to so
democratic a fountain; you do not want to come with so many others. You will have
to remove the obstacle of pride, or never find your way to the well. You will have to
come as we came, willing to take the water of eternal life in any way, and at any hand,
and in any kind of picture, crying out: “O Lord Jesus, I am dying of thirst. Give me
the water of eternal life, whether in trough or goblet; give me the water of life; I care
not in what it comes to me.” Away with all your hindrances of pride from the well’s
mouth.

15. 2. Here is another man who is kept back from this water of life by the stone of an
obdurate heart, which lies over the mouth of the well. You have no more feeling upon
this subject than if God had vet to do you the first kindness, or you had to do God the
first wrong. Seated on His lap all these years, His everlasting arms sheltering you,
where is your gratitude? Where is your morning and evening prayer? Where are your
consecrated lives? O man, what dost thou with that hard heart? Canst thou not feel
one throb of gratitude towards the God who made you, and the Christ who came to
redeem you, and the Holy Ghost who has all these years been importuning you?
II. Jacob with a good deal of tug and push took the stone from the well’s mouth, so that
the flocks might be watered. And I would that this morning my word, blessed of God,
might remove the hindrances to your getting up to the Gospel well. Yea, I take it for
granted that the work is done, and now like Oriental shepherds, I PROCEED TO WATER
THE SHEEP.
1. Come, all ye thirsty! You have an undefined longing in your souls. You tried
money-making; that did not satisfy you. You tried office under government; that did
not satisfy you. You tried pictures and sculptures, but works of art did not satisfy
you. You are as much discontented with this life as the celebrated French author who
felt that he could not any longer endure the misfortunes of the world, and who said:
“At four o’clock this afternoon I shall put an end to my own existence. Meanwhile, I
must toil on up to that time for the sustenance of my family.” And he wrote on his
book until the clock struck four, when he folded up his manuscript and, by his own
hand, concluded his earthly life. There are men in this house who are perfectly
discontented. Unhappy in the past, unhappy to-day, to be unhappy for ever, unless
you come to this Gospel-well. This satisfies the soul with a high, deep, all-absorbing,
and eternal satisfaction.
2. Come, also, to this Gospel-well, all ye troubled. I do not suppose you have
escaped. Compare your view of this life at fifteen years of age with what your view of
it is at forty, sixty, or seventy. What a great contrast of opinion! Were you right, then,
or are you right now? Two cups placed in your hands, the one a sweet cup, the other
a sour cup. A cup of joy and a cup of grief. Which has been the nearest to being full,
and out of which have you the more frequently partaken? Oh, you have had trouble,
trouble, trouble. God only knows how much you have had. It is a wonder you have
been able to live through it. It is a wonder your nervous system has not been
shattered, and your brain has not reeled. Trouble, trouble, If I could gather all the
griefs, of all sorts, from this great audience, and could put them in one scroll, neither
man nor angel could endure the recitation. Well what do you want? Would you like
to have your property back again? “No,” you say, as a Christian man: “I was
becoming arrogant, and I think that is why the Lord took it away. I don’t want to
have my property back.” Well, would you have your departed friends back again?
“No,” you say: “I couldn’t take the responsibility of bringing them from a tearless
realm to one of tears. I couldn’t do it.” Well, then, what do you want? A thousand
voices in the audience cry out: “Comfort, give us comfort.” For that reason I have
rolled away the stone from the well’s mouth. Come, all ye wounded of the flock,
pursued of the wolves, come to the fountain where the Lord’s sick and bereft ones
have come. I gather all the promises to-day in a group, and I ask the shepherds to
drive their flocks of lambs and sheep up to the sparkling supply. “Behold, happy is
the man whom God correcteth.”, “Though He cause grief, yet will He have
compassion.” “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him
out of them all.” “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Oh, what a great flock of sheep God will gather around the celestial well. No stone on

16. the well’s mouth, while the Shepherd waters the sheep. (Dr. Talmage.)
2
There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of
sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered
from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well
was large.
1. Clarke, “Three flocks of sheep - ‫צאן‬ tson, small cattle, such as sheep, goats, etc.;
See note on Gen_12:16. Sheep, in a healthy state, seldom drink in cold and
comparatively cold countries: but it was probably different in hot climates. The three
flocks, if flocks and not shepherds be meant, which were lying now at the well, did not
belong to Laban, but to three other chiefs; for Laban’s flock was yet to come, under the
care of Rachel, Gen_29:6.
2. Gill, “And he looked, and behold a well in the field,.... Near Haran; he might
purposely look out for a well, as knowing that there people frequently came for water for
their families, or shepherds to water their flocks, of whom he might get intelligence
concerning Laban's family, and where they dwelt; or he might lookout for this particular
well, where his grandfather's servant had met with his mother Rebekah, of which he had
been informed, and very probably had some directions how to find it: of this well; see
Gill on Gen_24:11; to which may be added what another traveller says (z), there is in this
city (Orpha, the same with Haran) a fountain, which both Jews, Armenians, and Turks,
reported unto us was Jacob's well, and that here he served his uncle Laban: near
Alexandretta is a fine well, called Jacob's well, and its water is excellent; not far from
which the Greeks say are the remains of Laban's house (a):
and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; in order to be watered, when
it should be opened:
for out of that well they watered the flocks; the shepherds:
and a great stone was upon the well's mouth; so that until that was rolled off,
they could not be watered, which was the reason of their lying by it: this stone was laid
upon it, partly to keep the water from flowing out, and being wasted, that there might be
a sufficiency for the flocks; and partly to keep the water pure and clean, that it might be
wholesome for the flocks, as well as entire for the use of those that had a property in it.

17. 3. Henry, “Those that have flocks must look well to them, and be diligent to know their
state, Pro_27:23. What is here said of the constant care of the shepherds concerning
their sheep (Gen_29:2, Gen_29:3, Gen_29:7, Gen_29:8) may serve to illustrate the
tender concern which our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, has for his flock,
the church; for he is the good Shepherd, that knows his sheep, and is known of them,
Joh_10:14. The stone at the well's mouth, which is so often mentioned here, was either
to secure their property in it (for water was scarce, it was not there usus communis
aquarum - for every one's use), or it was to save the well from receiving damage from
the heat of the sun, or from any spiteful hand, or to prevent the lambs of the flock from
being drowned in it. (3.) Separate interests should not take us from joint and mutual
help; when all the shepherds came together with their flocks, then, like loving
neighbours, at watering-time, they watered their flocks together.
4. Jamison, “And he looked, etc. — As he approached the place of his destination,
he, according to custom, repaired to the well adjoining the town where he would obtain
an easy introduction to his relatives.
5. HAWKER, “A well of water was considered a great treasure in those hot eastern
countries. Hence Jesus is often spoken of under that similitude. Isa_32:2; Joh_4:14;
Joh_7:37.
6. TRAPP, “Genesis 29:2 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 the
flocks: and a great stone [was] upon the well’s mouth.
Ver. 2. Three flocks of sheep lying by it.] Semblably Christ, the chief Shepherd,
"feeds" and "leads his flock to the lively fountains of waters"; [Revelation 7:16-17
Psalms 23:2] commanding his under shepherds, the ministers, to roll away the stone,
by opening the promises, that his sheep may drink "water with joy out of those wells
of salvation". [Isaiah 12:3]
7. ELLICOTT, "A great stone was upon the well’s mouth.—The region round
Haran, though fertile, is very dry, and the chief use of the stone was to prevent the
well from being choked with sand. As the proper translation is the stone upon the
well’s mouth was great, it would also serve to prevent the well from being used,
except at fixed times; for it probably required the strength of two or three men
(comp. Robinson, Bibl. Res. ii. 180) to remove it; nor does the language of Genesis
29:10 necessarily imply that Jacob rolled it away without the aid of others. Besides
this, the stone may have marked that the well was private property: for, as we have
seen in the ACCOU T of the covenants of Abraham and Isaac with Abimelech, no
possession was morevalued than that of wells. And as we find the shepherds all
waiting for Rachel, and that immediately on her arrival the stone is rolled away, and
her sheep watered first, while the rest, though they had been there long before her,
yet have to bide their time till her wants are supplied, it is probable that Laban had
at least a first claim upon its enjoyment. o such courtesy was shown to the
daughters of Jethro (Exodus 2:17).

18. PULPIT, "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 Genesis 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 stone—and, lo,
there were three flocks of sheep lying by it. A frequent Oriental scene (cf. Genesis
14:11; Exodus 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
orthern 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".
3
When all the flocks were gathered there, the
shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's
mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return
the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
1. Clarke, “All the flocks - Instead of ‫העדרים‬ hadarim, flocks, the Samaritan reads
haroim, shepherds; for which reading Houbigant strongly contends, as well in this verse
as in Gen_29:8. It certainly cannot be said that all the flocks rolled the stone from the
well’s mouth, and watered the sheep: and yet so it appears to read if we prefer the
common Hebrew text to the Samaritan. It is probable that the same reading was
originally that of the second verse also.
And put the stone again upon the well’s mouth - It is very likely that the stone
was a large one, which was necessary to prevent ill-minded individuals from either
disturbing the water, or filling up the well; hence a great stone was provided, which
required the joint exertions of several shepherds to remove it; and hence those who
arrived first waited till all the others were come up, that they might water their
respective flocks in concert.

19. 2. Gill, “And thither were all the flocks gathered,.... The three above mentioned,
Gen_29:2,
and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep; that
is, when they watered the sheep, they used to roll away the stone from the mouth of the
well in order to do it; for as yet the flocks, now lying by it, had not been watered, as
appears from Gen_29:7,
and put a stone upon the well's mouth in this place; this they were wont to do
every time they watered the flocks.
3. Jamison, “thither were all the flocks gathered; and a stone, etc. — In
Arabia, owing to the shifting sands and in other places, owing to the strong evaporation,
the mouth of a well is generally covered, especially when it is private property. Over
many is laid a broad, thick, flat stone, with a round hole cut in the middle, forming the
mouth of the cistern. This hole is covered with a heavy stone which it would require two
or three men to roll away. Such was the description of the well at Haran.
4. TRAPP, “Ver. 3. And they put the stone again upon the well’s mouth.] To keep
the waters clean and filth free. The Turks had procured some traitor in Scodra,
where Scanderbeg ruled, to poison the town well. (a) The Pope hath endeavoured
the like, by pouring out his deadly poison "upon the rivers and fountains of water"
(the Scriptures) "that they might become blood". [Revelation 16:4] Witness that
heathenish decree of the Council of Trent; equalising, if not preferring, the
Apocrypha to the canonical Scripture; the vulgar translation to the original;
traditions to Holy Writ; and affirming that the Holy Ghost himseff is not to be
heard, though he bring never so plain Scripture for himself; nisi accedat meretricis
purpuratae effrons interpretatio , saith a learned doctor, unless the Pope may
interpret it. (b) Horrible blasphemy! Had not God’s servants need to see to the
cleansing of this well, and the keeping IT FREE from the tramplings and
defilements of this foul beast? The Council of Constance comes in with a on-
obstante against Christ’s institution, withholding the cup from the sacrament. (c)
Before that the gospel was corrected, amended, and expounded, say the Canonists,
there were many things permitted (as priests’ marriage); which now, since the time
is come that all things are made perfect, are clearly abolished and taken away.
When the Hussites denied to admit any doctrine that could not be proved by the
Holy Scriptures, the Council of Basil answered them, by Cardinal Cusanus, that the
Scriptures were not of the essence of the Church, but of the well being of it only;
that the Word of God was so much the better taught the people, by how much it had
less of the Scriptures in it; that the Scripture was to be interpreted according to the
current rite of the Church; (d) qua mutante sententiam, mutetur et Dei iudicium .
Can any hear this, and his ears not tingle? This was then the Pope’s express: for in
Popish councils, the bishops and others have no more to do, but simply, inclinato

20. capite , to say Placet to that which in the Pope’s name is propounded to them: as
nothing was resolved by the Trent fathers, but all in Rome: whence grew that
blasphemous proverb, which I abhor to relate. (e) This council was that sea, upon
which the second angel poured out his vial, [Revelation 16:3] and it became as the
blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in that sea. Cavete .
5. COKE, "Genesis 29:3. Thither were all the flocks gathered— Houbigant, instead
of ‫כלאּהעדרים‬ (cal-hangadarim) all the flocks, would read after the Samaritan version
‫כלאּהרעים‬ (cal-haroim) all the shepherds, both here and in the eighth verse. And it
must be allowed that the alteration seems very just. It is said, Genesis 29:2 that there
were THREE flocks, with which all the flocks, in this verse, do not seem to agree;
not to say that they rolled refers to the flocks, according to the common reading.
Houbigant confirms the reading of the Samaritan version by other reasons; and,
after him, we may properly translate, and thither were all the shepherds gathered,
i.e.. to this well, with their flocks, at noon; and as there was a great stone laid over
the well's mouth to preserve the water pure and clean, they waited for each other by
joint consent, and then removed the stone. This whole event, as well as that recorded
in ch. 24: affords us a fine picture of the primitive ages, and of that pastoral life
which the sons and daughters of the greatest personages did not disdain. See Song of
Solomon 1:6-7.
Kennicott espouses the reading above given by Houbigant. He observes further, that
though the Samaritan text, and the Greek and Arabic versions, read shepherds,
instead of flocks, in the eighth verse; and though the Samaritan and Arabic copies
read also shepherds in verse the third, yet this passage is not clear of all its
difficulties. The third verse, as translated with the correction before mentioned, tells
us, that (when Jacob first came into the field and saw the well) all the shepherds
were there gathered together, and watered the sheep, and replaced the stone upon
the well's mouth. But the eighth verse tells us, that the shepherds were not yet
assembled together; and therefore those who were present could not uncover the
well, and water their own flocks separately.
The true method of reconciling these two verses is as follows:—The third verse
speaks only of the custom of the shepherds assembling at that well and watering
their flocks all together; a sense this which the words most naturally admit; for all
the words in the third verse, though preter, have a future signification, on account
of the conversive particle prefixed to every one of them; and therefore, as futures,
cannot express a past assembly or action. But, being frequentative, and implying the
continuance and custom of doing a thing, (the known signification of Hebrew future
tenses,) they remarkably express this sense: And there (at this well) all the
shepherds usually met together, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and
watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth. Consequently,

21. when Jacob would have the shepherds then present to water their sheep, they might
well answer, We cannot, until all the shepherds be gathered together, and roll the
stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep.
But then, if these shepherds, who were before supposed to be assembled at the third
verse, were not assembled, and if that verse be expressive only of the custom of their
assembling, shall we not be thought to destroy the whole advantage of the
Samaritan reading? For, it will be said, if the third verse does not express shepherds
so assembled, no preceding verse expresses the presence of any shepherds. This
difficulty, however formidable at first sight, may be satisfactorily removed. We have
seen that the word is ‫הרעים‬ shepherds, in the third and eighth verses; now, let the
second verse be read in the same manner, and the beauty and propriety of the
passage is complete.
1. Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.
2. And he looked, and behold, a well in the field; and lo, three shepherds were lying
by it; for out of that well they watered their flocks: and a great stone was upon the
well's mouth.
3. (And there all the shepherds usually met together, and rolled the stone from the
well's mouth, and watered the sheep; and put the stone again, upon the well's
mouth, in its place.)
4. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence are ye? And they said, We are of
Haran, &c.
7. And 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 feed them.
8. And they said, We cannot, until all the shepherds shall be gathered together, and
roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep.

22. 4
Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are
you from?" "We're from Haran," they replied.
1. Clarke, “My brethren, whence be ye? - The language of Laban and his family
was Chaldee and not Hebrew; (see Gen_31:47); but from the names which Leah gave to
her children we see that the two languages had many words in common, and therefore
Jacob and the shepherds might understand each other with little difficulty. It is possible
also that Jacob might have learned the Chaldee or Aramitish language from his mother,
as this was his mother’s tongue.
2. Gill, “And Jacob said unto them,.... To the shepherds, though not expressly
mentioned; it cannot be imagined he spoke to the flocks, but to the keepers of them:
my brethren, whence be ye? a kind and affable way of speaking, used even to
strangers, since all men are brethren by nature; or might be used by Jacob, because they
were of the same occupation with himself, shepherds, asking them of what city they
were, and from whence they came? and which being answered, would lead on to a
conversation, which was what he wanted:
and they said, of Haran are we; the very place he was bound for, and was sent unto,
Gen_27:43.
3. Henry, “It becomes us to speak civilly and respectfully to strangers. Though Jacob
was no courtier, but a plain man, dwelling in tents, and a stranger to compliment, yet he
addresses himself very obligingly to the people he met with, and calls them his brethren,
Gen_29:4. The law of kindness in the tongue has a commanding power, Pro_31:26.
Some think he calls them brethren because they were of the same trade, shepherds like
him. Though he was now upon his preferment, he was not ashamed of his occupation.
(5.) Those that show respect have usually respect shown to them. As Jacob was civil to
these strangers, so he found them civil to him. When he undertook to teach them how to
despatch their business (Gen_29:7), they did not bid him meddle with his own concerns
and let them alone; but, though he was a stranger, they gave him the reason of their
delay, Gen_29:8. Those that are neighbourly and friendly shall have neighbourly and
friendly usage.
4. Jamison, “Jacob said, My brethren — Finding from the shepherds who were
reposing there with flocks and who all belonged to Haran, that his relatives in Haran
were well and that one of the family was shortly expected, he enquired why they were
idling the best part of the day there instead of watering their flocks and sending them
back to pasture.

23. 5. Calvin, “4.My brethren, whence be ye? The great frankness of that age appears in
this manner of meeting together; for, though the fraternal name is often abused by
dishonest and wicked men, it is yet not to be doubted that friendly intercourse was
then more faithfully cultivated than it is now. This was the reason why Jacob salutes
unknown men as brethren, undoubtedly according to received custom. Frugality
also is apparent, in that Rachel sometimes pays attention to the flock; for, since
Laban abounds with servants, how does it happen that he employs his own daughter
in a vile and sordid service, except that it was deemed disgraceful to educate
children in idleness, softness, and indulgence? Whereas, on the contrary, at this day,
since ambition, pride, and refinement, have rendered manners effeminate, the care
of domestic concerns is held in such contempt, that women, for the most part, are
ashamed of their proper office. It followed, from the same purity of manners which
has been mentioned, that Jacob ventured so unceremoniously to kiss his cousin; for
much greater liberty was allowed in their chaste and modest mode of living. (63) In
our times, impurity and ungovernable lusts are the cause why not only kisses are
suspected, but even looks are dreaded; and not unjustly, since the world is filled
with every kind of corruption, and such perfidy prevails, that the intercourse
between men and women is seldom conducted with modesty: (64) wherefore, that
ancient simplicity ought to cause us deeply to mourn; so that this vile corruption
into which the world has fallen may be distasteful to us, and that the contagion of it
may not affect us and our families. The order of events, however, is inverted in the
narration of Moses; for Jacob did not kiss Rachel till he had informed her that he
was her relative. Hence also his weeping; for, partly through joy, partly through the
memory of his father’s house, and through natural affection, he burst into tears.
6. TRAPP, "Ver. 4. And Jacob said.] These petty passages are recorded, when the
acts of mighty monarchs are unmentioned; to show God’s dear respect to his poor
servants. The lion and eagle were not offered in sacrifice as the lamb and dove were.
Mr Fox being asked, whether he knew such an honest poor man, answered, I
remember him well: I tell you, I forget lords and ladies, to remember such. So doth
God.
5
He said to them, "Do you know Laban, ahor's
grandson?" "Yes, we know him," they answered1.
Clarke, “Laban the son of Nahor - Son is here put for grandson, for Laban was
the son of Bethuel the son of Nahor.

24. 2. Gill, “And he said unto them, know ye Laban the son of Nahor?.... He was
the son of Bethuel, and grandson of Nahor; grandsons being called the sons of their
grandfather; and Nahor might be more known than Bethuel, Haran being Nahor's city,
Gen_24:10; and not Bethuel his mother's father, but Laban her brother is inquired after;
perhaps Bethuel was dead, and Laban was the head of the family, and well known, and it
was to him he was sent:
and they said, we know him; perfectly well; he lives in our city, and is our
neighbour.
3. K&D, "Genesis 29:5-14
Jacob asked the shepherds where they lived; from which it is probable that the well
was not situated, like that in Gen_24:11, in the immediate neighbourhood of the town of
Haran; and when they said they were from Haran, he inquired after Laban, the son, i.e.,
the descendant, of Nahor, and how he was (‫ּו‬‫ל‬ ‫ּום‬‫ל‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫:ה‬ is he well?; and received the reply,
“Well; and behold Rachel, his daughter, is just coming (‫ה‬ፎ ָ particip.) with the flock.”
When Jacob thereupon told the shepherds to water the flocks and feed them again, for
the day was still “great,” - i.e., it wanted a long while to the evening, and was not yet time
to drive them in (to the folds to rest for the night) - he certainly only wanted to get the
shepherds away from the well, that he might meet with his cousin alone. But as Rachel
came up in the meantime, he was so carried away by the feelings of relationship, possibly
by a certain love at first sight, that he rolled the stone away from the well, watered her
flock, and after kissing her, introduced himself with tears of joyous emotion as her
cousin ( ָ‫יה‬ ִ‫ב‬ፎ ‫י‬ ִ‫ח‬ ֲ‫,א‬ brother, i.e., relation of her father) and Rebekah's son. What the other
shepherds thought of all this, is passed over as indifferent to the purpose of the
narrative, and the friendly reception of Jacob by Laban is related immediately
afterwards. When Jacob had told Laban “all these things,” - i.e., hardly “the cause of his
journey, and the things which had happened to him in relation to the birthright”
(Rosenmüller), but simply the things mentioned in Gen_29:2-12 - Laban acknowledged
him as his relative: “Yes, thou art my bone and my flesh” (cf. Gen_2:23 and Jdg_9:2);
and thereby eo ipso ensured him an abode in his house.
6
Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is,"
they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with
the sheep."

25. 1. Clarke, “Is he well? - ‫לו‬ ‫השלום‬ hashalom lo? Is there peace to him? Peace among
the Hebrews signified all kinds of prosperity. Is he a prosperous man in his family and in
his property? And they said, He is well, ‫שלום‬ shalom, he prospers.
Rachel - cometh with the sheep - ‫רחל‬ rachel (the ch sounded strongly guttural)
signifies a sheep or ewe; and she probably had her name from her fondness for these
animals.
2. Gill, “And he said unto them, is he well?.... In good health, he and his family, or
"is peace unto him" (b); does he enjoy prosperity and happiness? for this word was used
in the eastern nations, and still is, for all kind of felicity:
and they said, he is well; or has peace; he and his family are in good health, enjoying
all the comforts and blessings of life:
and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep; at that very instant
she was coming out of the city with her father's flock of sheep, to water them at the well;
an instance of great humility, diligence, and simplicity; this was very providential to
Jacob.
3. TRAPP, “Ver. 6. And, behold, Rachel his daughter.] ote, that our least and
ordinary actions are ordered and directed by God; as athanael’s being under the
fig tree, [John 1:48] &c. Birds flying seem to fly at liberty, yet are guided by an
overruling hand of Heaven: so are our thoughts, affections, actions. Sic curat Deus
universos, quasi singulos; sic singulos, quasi solos , saith Augustine, Rachel, by a
divine providence, meets Jacob at the well: so doth the Church (that shepherdess,
Song of Solomon 1:7-8) meet Christ in his ordinances. [Psalms 23:2-3]
4. COKE, "Genesis 29:6. Is he well?— In the margin of our Bibles it is, Is there
peace to him? which is agreeable to the Hebrew. Peace, with them, was a word
comprehensive of all happiness; hence used in salutation, See Luke 10:5; Luke
24:36. John 20:19. Pax (peace) is sometimes used in the same sense by the Latins;*
and very frequently ειρηνη, (peace) in the ew Testament.† Rachel, in the Hebrew,
signifies a sheep. It was common with the ancients, who held all rural employments
in great honour, to take their names from the animals they tended: thus at Rome
there were the families of the Porcii, Ovilii, Caprilii, Equitii, Tauri, &c. Rachel can
scarce be supposed to have been alone in her attendance upon the flocks; some of
her father's servants, no doubt, accompanied her.
*——"Tu munera supplex Trende, petens pacem." VIRG. Georg. IV. v. 534. "Thou
suppliant offer gifts, and sue for peace." WARTO . † Grace and peace is the usual
apostolical blessing.

26. 7
"Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time
for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and
take them back to pasture."
1. Clarke, “It is yet high day - The day is but about half run; neither is it time that
the cattle should be gathered together - it is surely not time yet to put them into the
folds; give them therefore water, and take them again to pasture.
2. Gill, “And he said, lo, it is yet high day,.... Noonday, when the sun is highest; at
which time in those hot countries flocks used to be made to lie down in shady places,
and by still waters, to which the allusion is in Psa_23:2; or however the sun was still up
very high, and there was a great deal of the day yet to come; for so the phrase is, "yet the
day is great" or "much" (c), a long time still untonight:
neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together; off of the
pastures, to be had home, and put into folds, which was usually done in the evening:
water ye the sheep, and go and feed them; give them water out of the well to
drink, and then lead them out the pastures, and let them feed until the night is coming
on: this he said not in an authoritative way, or in a surly ill natured manner, and as
reproving them for their slothfulness; but kindly and gently giving his advice, who was a
shepherd himself, and knew what was proper to be done; and this appears by the
shepherds taking in good part what he said, and returning a civil answer.
3. HAWKER, “How sweetly is the Lord Jesus represented under the similitude of a
shepherd! Joh_10:1-18. And how delightfully is the church represented as his flock.
Son_1:7. Rachael’s name signifies a sheep.
4. TRAPP, “Ver. 7. either is it time, &c.] Time is a precious commodity, and must
be thriftily husbanded. The common complaint is, We want time: but the truth is,
we do not so much want, as waste it, as the heathen observed: (a) which they that
do, are wastefullest prodigals: for, of all other possessions, two may be had together;
but two moments of time cannot be possessed together. This made the philosopher
so parsimonious of time: ullus mihi per otium exit dies - I cannot afford to cast
away a day; pattem noctium studiis vindico - part of the night I take for my studies.
So did Charles the Great; and after him, Charles the Fifth, who, when at any time in

27. the field against the enemy, spent what hours he could spare in the study of the
mathematics. He had, for that purpose, as his instructor, Turrianus of Cremona
ever with him. As if he had been of Cato’s mind, (b) that great men must be able to
give good account, non minus otii, quam negotii ; no less of their leisure, than of
their labour. His constant custom was, saith Cicero, (c) to call to mind, at evening,
what thing soever he had seen, read, or done, that day. King Alfred, that reigned
here (Anno Dom. 872), is said to have cast the natural day into three parts: eight
hours he spent in praying, study, and writing; eight in the service of his body; eight
in the affairs of state. Which spaces (having then no other engine for it) he measured
by a great wax LIGHT, divided into so many parts; receiving notice by the keeper
thereof, as the various hours passed in the burning.
5. COFFMA , "It is absolutely untenable to suppose that the shepherds thus
admonished by Jacob could have been grown men. The language here would never
have been addressed to grown men, being clearly beyond what any stranger would
have uttered. Their being juveniles prompted Jacob to rebuke them, in essence, for
not getting on with feeding the flock, especially since it was about high noon, or at
least a long while still until nightfall. Also, the admitted inability of these boys to
remove the stone indicates the same thing.
"Jacob rolled away the stone ..." It is preposterous the way some interpreters refer
to this as a "superhuman" task, inspired by "love at first sight," etc. othing here
even suggests that this feat was anything that was very difficult for Jacob. Of
course, some critics would like to make this event some kind of a "miraculous
event" imagined in the folklore of the Hebrews.
Certainly, there is no problem here that is not solved completely by the fact that
Jacob was indeed a very strong man. But there have been strong men in all ages and
all countries. In ew England, there is the story of Ethan Allen Crawford, seven-
foot giant son of old Abel Crawford, for whom Crawford otch, ew Hampshire, is
named, his family having received the otch as a GRA T from the state because he
fulfilled the conditions for its acquisitions by being the first one to ride a horse to the
area. This he did by hoisting a horse over a 12-foot ledge, saddle and all! He also
carried a 400-pound kettle over a mile, crossing the Ammonoosuc River on a log. He
also carried a 300-pound bear two miles to place it in his private zoo! He carried an
injured woman down Mount Washington, and rode a horse up that peak when he
was 75 years old! (He was a veteran of The War of 1812).
Besides, the text makes nothing special about this act. Peake's allegation that,
"Jacob, single-handed, removes the immense stone,"[9] is nothing but an "addition
to the word of God." othing in the Bible forbids the conclusion, that, if Jacob
needed help, he would have procured it from the lads he had just addressed. We
agree with Adam Clarke that, "It is not likely that he did it by himself."[10] o
matter which way one understands the text here, there is absolutely no problem

28. with it. It is a characteristic of language in all ages and countries that men are said
to DO whatever they initiate and take the lead in accomplishing.
"Kissed Rachel ... lifted up his voice and wept ..." These were tears of joy, for the
realization that at last Jacob had reached his destination and that God had blessed
him all the way. Rachel, of course, made haste to tell her father of the arrival of this
kinsman. Jacob seems to have been left in charge of the sheep.
"Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother ..." Here again we have an
example of the Hebrew usage of the word "brother" in the extended sense of
relative. The ew English Bible renders "friend" here, and "kinsman" in Genesis
29:12 and Genesis 29:15.[11] The words "son," "brother," and SEED" in Genesis
are all used with multiple denotations.
6. COKE, "Genesis 29:7. It is yet high day, &c.— Jacob inquires why these
shepherds delayed to water their flocks, when much of the day yet remained for
them to feed in, if now watered; when it was much too soon to gather them together,
or to fold them for the night. To which they reply, Genesis 29:8 that they could not
yet water them; that is, they could not in equity: (ch. Genesis 34:14. Genesis 44:26.
Matthew 9:15.) not that they were unable to roll away the stone; but it was contrary
to the rules of the place, as it had been agreed that no one should uncover the well
and disturb the waters, till all the shepherds with their flocks were assembled
together to the common place of watering.
7. PULPIT, "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 them—being
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).
8
"We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are

29. gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the
mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep."
1. Clarke, “We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together - It is a rule
that the stone shall not be removed till all the shepherds and the flocks which have a
right to this well be gathered together; then, and not before, we may water the sheep. See
note on Gen_29:3.
2. Gill, “And they said, we cannot,.... That is, water the sheep; either because the
stone was a great one, as Jarchi observes, and therefore used to be removed by the joint
strength of all the shepherds when they came together, though Jacob rolled it away of
himself afterwards; but this is imputed to his great strength: or rather it was a custom
that obtained among them, or an agreement made between them, that the stone should
not be removed from the mouth of the well, and any flock watered:
until all the flocks be gathered together; and therefore they could not fairly and
rightly do it, without violating the law and custom among them:
and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; that is, the shepherds of the
several flocks:
then we water the sheep; and not till then.
3. Jamison, “They said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered — In order
to prevent the consequences of too frequent exposure in places where water is scarce, the
well is not only covered, but it is customary to have all the flocks collected round it
before the covering is removed in presence of the owner or one of his representatives;
and it was for this reason that those who were reposing at the well of Haran with the
three flocks were waiting the arrival of Rachel.
4. PETT, “The answer was that it was because the stone could not be moved. This
may have been because there were not enough men there to move the stone. Most of
the keepers of the sheep were probably women. Alternately it may have been
because it was part of the agreement in respect of the private well that the stone not
be removed until all were present. But we are probably intended to get the idea of
the diligence of Jacob compared with the dilatoriness of the shepherds.
5. PULPIT, "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 (Rosenmüller, Murphy), but to wait—
until 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 stone—then (or, and) we water the sheep. The

30. 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).
9
While he was still talking with them, Rachel came
with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
1. Barnes, “Gen_29:9-14
Jacob’s interview with Rachel, and hospitable reception by Laban. Rachel’s approach
awakens all Jacob’s warmth of feeling. He rolls away the stone, waters the sheep, kisses
Rachel, and bursts into tears. The remembrance of home and of the relationship of his
mother to Rachel overpowers him. He informs Rachel who he is, and she runs to
acquaint her father. Laban hastens to welcome his relative to his house. “Surely my bone
and my flesh art thou.” This is a description of kinsmanship probably derived from the
formation of the woman out of the man Gen_2:23. A month here means the period from
new moon to new moon, and consists of twenty-nine or thirty days.
2. Clarke, “Rachel came with her father’s sheep - So we find that young women
were not kept concealed in the house till the time they were married, which is the
common gloss put on ‫עלמה‬ almah, a virgin, one concealed. Nor was it beneath the dignity
of the daughters of the most opulent chiefs to carry water from the well, as in the case of
Rebekah; or tend sheep, as in the case of Rachel. The chief property in those times
consisted in flocks: and who so proper to take care of them as those who were interested
in their safety and increase? Honest labor, far from being a discredit, is an honor both to
high and low. The king himself is served by the field; and without it, and the labor
necessary for its cultivation, all ranks must perish. Let every son, let every daughter,
learn that it is no discredit to be employed, whenever it may be necessary, in the meanest
offices, by which the interests of the family may be honestly promoted.
3. Gill, “And while he yet spake with them,.... While Jacob was thus discoursing
with the shepherds:
Rachel came with her father's sheep; to water them at the well. She was within
sight when Jacob first addressed the shepherds, but now she was come to the well, or
near it, with the sheep before her:

31. for she kept them: or "she was the shepherdess" (d); the chief one; she might have
servants under her to do some parts of the office of a shepherd, not so fit for her to do; it
may be Laban's sons, for some he had, Gen_31:1; were not as yet grown up, and Leah,
the eldest daughter, having tender eyes, could not bear the open air, and light of the sun,
nor so well look after the straying sheep; and therefore the flock was committed to the
care of Rachel the younger daughter, whose name signifies a sheep. The Jews say (e),
that the hand of God was upon Laban's flock, and there were but few left, so that he put
away his shepherds, and what remained be put before his daughter Rachel, see Gen_
30:30; and some ascribe it to his covetousness that he did this; but there is no need to
suggest anything of that kind; for keeping sheep in those times and countries was a very
honourable employment, and not below the sons and daughters of great personages, and
still is so accounted. Dr. Shaw (f) says it is customary, even to this day, for the children
of the greatest Emir to attend their flocks; the same is related of the seven children of the
king of Thebes, of Antiphus the son of Priam, and of Anchises, Aeneas's father (g).
4. Henry 9-14, “Here we see, 1. Rachel's humility and industry: She kept her father's
sheep (Gen_29:9), that is, she took the care of them, having servants under her that
were employed about them. Rachel's name signifies a sheep. Note, Honest useful labour
is that which nobody needs be ashamed of, nor ought it to be a hindrance to any one's
preferment. 2. Jacob's tenderness and affection. When he understood that this was his
kinswoman (probably he had heard of her name before), knowing what his errand was
into that country, we may suppose it struck his mind immediately that his must be his
wife. Being already smitten with her ingenuous comely face (though it was probably sun-
burnt, and she was in the homely dress of a shepherdess), he is wonderfully officious,
and anxious to serve her (Gen_29:10), and addresses himself to her with tears of joy and
kisses of love, Gen_29:11. She runs with all haste to tell her father; for she will by no
means entertain her kinsman's address without her father's knowledge and approbation,
Gen_29:12. These mutual respects, at their first interview, were good presages of their
being a happy couple. 3. Providence made that which seemed contingent and fortuitous
to give speedy satisfaction to Jacob's mind, as soon as ever he came to the place which he
was bound for. Abraham's servant, when he came upon a similar errand, met with
similar encouragement. Thus God guides his people with his eye, Psa_32:8. It is a
groundless conceit which some of the Jewish writers have, that Jacob, when he kissed
Rachel, wept because he had been set upon in his journey by Eliphaz the eldest son of
Esau, at the command of his father, and robbed of all his money and jewels, which his
mother had given him when she sent him away. It was plain that it was his passion for
Rachel, and the surprise of this happy meeting, that drew these tears from his eyes. 4.
Laban, though none of the best-humoured men, bade him welcome, was satisfied in the
account he gave of himself, and of the reason of his coming in such poor circumstances.
While we avoid the extreme, on the one hand, of being foolishly credulous, we must take
heed of falling into the other extreme, of being uncharitably jealous and suspicious.
Laban owned him for his kinsman: Thou art my bone and my flesh, Gen_29:14. Note,
Those are hard-hearted indeed that are unkind to their relations, and that hide
themselves from their own flesh, Isa_58:7.
5. Jamison 9-11, “While he yet spake with them, Rachel came — Among the
pastoral tribes the young unmarried daughters of the greatest sheiks tend the flocks,
going out at sunrise and continuing to watch their fleecy charges till sunset. Watering

32. them, which is done twice a day, is a work of time and labor, and Jacob rendered no
small service in volunteering his aid to the young shepherdess. The interview was
affecting, the reception welcome, and Jacob forgot all his toils in the society of his
Mesopotamian relatives. Can we doubt that he returned thanks to God for His goodness
by the way?
6. TRAPP, “VER 9. For she kept them.] Leah might be left at home, for the
tenderness of her eyes. A man is to see that all under his roof have a fit
EMPLOYME T; as the master gave each servant his task, his talent, [Matthew
25:15] according to his various abilities, secundum peritiam et potentiam . And
everyone hath some excellency or other in him, can we but find and improve it. God
hath dispensed his gifts diversely, for the common benefit. And as, in the same
pasture, the ox can find fodder, the hound a hare, the stork a lizard, the fair maid
flowers: so there is none so worthless, but something may be made of him; some
good extracted out of the unlikeliest. Yea, wisdom is such an elixir, as by
CO TACTIO (if there be any disposition of goodness in the same metal) it will
render it of the property.
7. PETT, "Rachel, who had previously been spotted some distance away (Genesis
29:6), now arrives. So Jacob gets his men to help him to move the stone so that the
flocks can feed. He is not used to having to wait and ignores any custom. He does not
want to have to linger. Or it may be that a brief discussion has revealed that the well
is ahor’s so that Rachel has the right to SECURE its opening. (Jacob would not
kiss Rachel without at least some preliminary words).
10
When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his
mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over
and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well
and watered his uncle's sheep.
1. Clarke, “Jacob went near, and rolled the stone - Probably the flock of Laban
was the last of those which had a right to the well; that flock being now come, Jacob
assisted the shepherds to roll off the stone, (for it is not likely he did it by himself), and
so assisted his cousin, to whom he was as yet unknown, to water her flock.

33. 2. Gill, “And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban
his mother's brother,.... Coming with her flock towards the well, and for whom and
whose flock only the shepherds might be waiting:
and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother; wherefore out of respect to him and
his, he being so nearly allied to him, it was
that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, either with
the help of the shepherds, or of himself by his own strength; which the Jewish writers
(h) say amazed the shepherds, that he should do that himself, which required their
united strength. The Targum of Jonathan says, he did it with one of his arms; and
Jarchi, that he removed it as easily as a man takes off the lid cover of a pot:
and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother; this he did partly out of
respect to his relations, and partly that he might be taken notice of by Rachel.
3. PULPIT, "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.
11
Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
1. Clarke, “Jacob kissed Rachel - A simple and pure method by which the
primitive inhabitants of the earth testified their friendship to each other, first abused by
hypocrites, who pretended affection while their vile hearts meditated terror, (see the

34. case of Joab), and afterwards disgraced by refiners on morals, who, while they pretended
to stumble at those innocent expressions of affection and friendship, were capable of
committing the grossest acts of impurity.
And lifted up his voice - It may be, in thanksgiving to God for the favor he had
shown him, in conducting him thus far in peace and safety.
And wept - From a sense of the goodness of his heavenly Father, and his own
unworthiness of the success with which he had been favored. The same expressions of
kindness and pure affection are repeated on the part of Laban, Gen_29:13.
2. Gill, “And Jacob kissed Rachel,.... Which he did in a way of courtesy and civility;
this was done after he had acquainted her with his relation to her; he saluted her upon
that:
and lifted up his voice, and wept; for joy at the providence of God that had brought
him so opportunely to the place, and at the sight of a person so nearly related to him;
and who he hoped would be his wife, and was the person designed of God for him.
3. TRAPP, “Ver. 11. Lifted up his voice, and wept.] For joy, that he had so happily
LIGHTED upon his kinswoman. It argued also his great affection, and passion of
mind, for her sake; love is ecstatical; nec iuris se sinit esse sui. Animus est ubi amat,
non ubi animat. (a) He kisseth Rachel, as if he would have transfused his soul into
her: and wept aloud; not as those vain lovers, who ut flerent, oculos erudiere suos
:nor as the Brasileans, (b) whose faculty is such, that tears are for a present
salutation, and as SOO gone, as if they had said, How do you? but as Joseph wept
over Benjamin; the prodigal’s father over him, &c.
4. PETT, "The meeting is emotional. In days when families were often out of touch
for years such scenes were a regular feature of life when they came together. It must
be considered certain that Jacob had said something introductory before he kissed
Rachel, something like “I am your cousin’. He has after all gone to great trouble to
water her sheep and this would hardly be done without saying anything. But after
his rapturous welcome he then explains his relationship in more detail. Then, quite
excited for she will have heard of her wider family, Rachel runs to tell her father.
“Her father”s brother’, that is, a blood relation, his ‘kinsman’. Strictly he was his
nephew. The word for ‘brother’ had a variety of meanings, compare Genesis 29:4.
5. PULPIT, "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 Genesis 27:26—and lifted up his voice, and wept—
partly for joy in finding his relatives (cf. Genesis 43:30; Genesis 45:2, Genesis 45:14,
Genesis 45:15); partly in grateful acknowledgment of God's kindness in conducting

35. him to his mother's brother's house.
12
He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her
father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her
father.
1. Gill, “And Jacob told Rachel,.... Or "had told" (i) her; before he kissed her, and lift
up his voice and wept, as Aben Ezra observes:
that he was her father's brother; his nephew by his sister, for such were sometimes
called brethren, as Lot, Abraham's brother's son, is called his brother, Gen_14:12,
and that he was Rebekah's son; sister to her father, and aunt to her, and whose
name and relation she doubtless knew full well:
and she ran and told her father; leaving the care of her flock with Jacob; Rebekah,
in a like case, ran and told her mother, Gen_24:28, which is most usual for daughters to
do; but here Rachel runs and tells her father, her mother very probably being dead, as
say the Jewish writers (k).
2. Jamison, “Jacob told Rachel, etc. — According to the practice of the East, the term
“brother” is extended to remote degrees of relationship, as uncle, cousin, or nephew.
3. TRAPP, “Ver. 12. That he was her father’s brother.] And therefore made so bold
with her, upon no further acquaintance. His kisses were not unchaste, but modest;
such as were common among kindred. And yet here care must be taken that Satan
corrupt not our courtesy, or more intimate acquaintance, with never so near an
alliance. Flies may settle upon the sweetest perfumes, and putrify them. St Paul saw
cause to exhort Timothy (that mortified young man) to exhort the younger women,
"as sisters with all purity"; [1 Timothy 5:2] because, through the subtilty of Satan,
and the deceit of his own heart, even whilst he was exhorting them to chastity, some
unchaste motions might steal upon him. A great DEAL of caution doth no hurt. (a)
4. PULPIT, "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 (Genesis
13:8; Genesis 14:14, Genesis 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

36. 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. Genesis 14:1-24
:28).
13
As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his
sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced
him and kissed him and brought him to his home,
and there Jacob told him all these things.
1. Gill, “And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his
sister's son,.... That there was such a man at the well, thus related to him, and what he
had done there, had rolled away the stone, and watered his flock. The Jewish writers (l)
make this report chiefly to respect his great strength showed in the above instance, with
other things:
that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought
him to his house; Jarchi and other interpreters represent this as done with avaricious
views, and that he expected Jacob had brought presents with him, as pieces of gold,
pearls and jewels, and such like precious things Abraham's servant brought and gave
him when he came for Rebekah, Gen_24:53; but I see not why we may not take all this to
be hearty, sincere, and affectionate, arising from nearness of relation, and a sense of it:
and he told Laban all these things; how he was sent hither by his parents on
account of the hatred of his brother Esau, because he had got the birthright and blessing
from him; how God had appeared to him at Luz, and the promises he had made him;
how providentially he had met with Rachel at the well, and perhaps might him at, if he
did not openly declare, the end of his coming thither for a wife.
2. HAWKER, "It is profitable to remark, of whom these things were spoken in after
ages; our great kinsman after the flesh. Eph_5:30.
3. Calvin, “13.And he told Laban all these things. Since Laban had previously seen
one of Abraham’s servants replenished with great wealth, an unfavourable opinion
of his nephew might instantly enter into his mind: it was therefore necessary for
holy Jacob to explain the causes of his own departure, and the reason why he had
been sent away so contemptibly clothed. It is also probable that he had been

37. instructed by his mother respecting the signs and marks by which he might convince
them of his relationship: therefore Laban exclaims, Surely thou art my bone and my
flesh; intimating that he was fully satisfied, and that he was induced by indubitable
tokens to acknowledge Jacob as his nephew. This knowledge inclines him to
humanity; for the sense of nature dictates that they who are united by ties of blood
should endeavor to assist each other; but though the bond between relatives is
closer, yet our kindness ought to extend more widely, so that it may diffuse itself
through the whole human race. If, however, all the sons of Adam are thus joined
together, that spiritual relationship which God produces between the faithful, and
than which there is no holier bond of mutual benevolence, ought to be much more
effectual.
4. TRAPP, "Ver 13. He ran to meet him, and embraced him.] All in hypocrisy, as
the Hebrews hold. There be many Labans: hot at first, cold at last; friendly in the
BEGI I G, froward in the end. A free friend at first, a kind friend to the last, is
rara avis in terris ." Trust not in a friend, put not confidence in a brother," &c.
[Micah 7:5] Look rather unto the Lord, as the Church doth there: he is the only one
dependable, as they say, and will never fail us; when the world, as Laban, will show
itself at parting, if not before.
He told Laban all these things.] Why and how he came so poorly to him, whereas
Abram’s servant, coming upon a like errand, came far better attended and
appointed; which was the thing that Laban likely looked after when he ran out to
meet Jacob.
5. COFFMA , "Embraced him and kissed him ..." This was the customary greeting
among Hebrew families in those days and even down until the present time. It is a
mistake to view Jacob's kiss of Rachel as the type of osculation seen in romantic
movies. The early church itself manifested the same type of greeting seen here in the
actions of Jacob and Laban.
"He told Laban all these things ..." probably refers to the meeting between Rachel
and Jacob at the well. It is not necessary to suppose that Jacob rehearsed the events
regarding his deception of Isaac and Esau and the facts of his being, at the time, a
fugitive from the murderous wrath of Esau.
"What shall thy wages be ... ?" The crafty Laban, having no doubt observed the
infatuation that Jacob had for Rachel, might have anticipated that he would make
some kind of bold and extravagant offer. This may therefore be supposed on the
basis of what Laban later did as the beginning of his unscrupulous deception and
exploitation of Jacob. By any consideration, it would appear that "seven years" was
a long period of servitude.

38. CO CER I G LEAH A D RACHEL
This is an appropriate place to consider the character of these two mothers of the
Twelve Tribes. Without doubt, Leah was the stronger and more suitable wife for
Jacob, and that must be allowed as the reason God permitted the deception and
greed of Laban to succeed, thus making Leah the principal wife of the patriarchal
family. (See under Genesis 29:26 for the comment on the custom of marrying the
firstborn daughter before giving the younger ones in marriage, as claimed by Laban
as an excuse). Her pre-eminence consisted of the following:
(1) She was the actual mother of six sons (Genesis 30:19), half of the twelve
patriarchs, and one daughter (Dinah).
(2) Her son Judah succeeded to the headship of the Chosen ation, through whom
the Messiah was born.
(3) Her POSTERITY became the principal element in the true Israel, following the
defection and loss of the orthern Israel.
(4) David the king who gave his name and title to Christ himself ("the son of
David") was her descendant.
(5) She was the first, and therefore the lawful, wife of Jacob.
(6) Her son Judah gave his name and title to Christ, "The Lion of the Tribe of
Judah."
(7) She is here mentioned first and was at last buried by Jacob's side in the cave of
Machpelah at Hebron, "presumably before Jacob's descent to Egypt."[12]
Rachel, being more beautiful than Leah, was the special object of Jacob's love, that
being the principal element in her place in Scripture, and in the history of the
Chosen People. It is possible that she consented to the fraud and deception
committed against Jacob in the matter of Leah. Her honor in the history of Israel
was inferior to that of Leah in the following:
(1) She was the second, not the first, wife of Jacob.

39. (2) She was impatient and demanding (in the matter of her barrenness).
(3) Through her POSTERITY, homosexuality found its beginnings in Israel (See
Hosea 9:9; Judges 19:10).
(4) Her descendant, Ephraim, led the rebellion that divided Israel, usurped the very
name of the Chosen ation as his own, and led the majority of Jacob's descendants
into apostasy and destruction.
(5) Her body was not placed beside that of Jacob's in Machpelah.
(6) Apparently, she sponsored and kept alive pagan idolatry among the Israelites
(Genesis 31:32-35).
(7) Although having full knowledge of Abraham's introduction of concubinage into
his family and of the terrible consequences of it, Rachel, nevertheless, fell into the
same error, re-introducing concubinage into the families of the covenant people.
The names of Leah and Rachel were said to have the following meanings:
(1) Leah was defined by Beeching as meaning "wild cow."[13] However, we prefer
the meaning of "gazelle,"[14] as affirmed by Dummelow.
(2) Rachel means "ewe."[15]
"And Leah's eye's were tender ..." Scholars and translators have had no end of
trouble with this word rendered here as "tender." A hundred and fifty years ago,
Clarke was of the definite opinion that, "The word means just the reverse of the
signification usually given to it";[16] and Speiser and Willis, along with many other
modern scholars, agree with this. It is likely that what is meant is that her principal
beauty lay in the luster and softness of her beautiful eyes. Therefore, the contrast
with Rachel in which it is stated that she "was beautiful and well-favored" should
be applied as a description of her excellent figure and exquisite delicacy of her
features. Her appearance was more sensational than that of Leah.
6. ELLICOTT, "(13) Laban . . . ran to meet him, and embraced him.—Rachel told
her father, because it was a matter simply of the HOSPITABLE reception of a
relative, and not such news as Rebekah had run to tell those of her mother’s house.
And to Laban the tidings must have been most welcome, as he called to mind now,
seventy-seven years ago, he had seen his dear sister depart to marry the son of the

40. distant sheik. It seems strange, however, that the daughters of this old man should
be so young. Either they must have been the children of a wife of his old age, or his
granddaughters, but regarded as his own because their father was dead. As Laban’s
sons are not mentioned till Genesis 31:1, probably on ACCOU T of their youth, the
former is the more probable explanation.
7. PETT, "Jacob is welcomed as the true born ‘prince’ that he is by a fellow
‘prince’. They are both of the same stock. Then Jacob tells him ‘all these things’,
presumably the general circumstances of his journey and his purpose in coming.
Laban’s STRESSI G of the family connection indicates general agreement with the
ideas.
“He stayed with him for the period of a month.” It was normal not to hurry such
transactions as this. It would generally have been considered impolite to a relative to
hurry the matter. But the HOSPITALITY offered indicates acceptance of the
principle involved. (compare how Abraham’s servant, who had been in a hurry,
emphasised his own position as only a servant as a reason for not delaying).
8. CO STABLE, "Verses 13-20
Weak eyes were dull and lacking in luster rather than bright (Genesis 29:17). Fiery
eyes were, and still are, considered the height of beauty among ear Eastern people.
[ ote: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:285; von Rad, p. 291.]
"Regarding marriage generally, the uzi tablets provided that if a man worked over
a period of time for the father of a girl whom he wished to marry, then he would
have the right to take the girl as his wife." [ ote: West, p. 70.]
"Seven years was a handsome offer: Jacob was clearly not risking a refusal-a fact
which Laban would not fail to note and exploit, as Jacob had exploited Esau's
eagerness (Genesis 25:32)." [ ote: Kidner, p. 160.]
Casual laborers received between one-half and one shekel a month in old Babylonia,
which was a large marriage gift in exchange for Rachel's hand. [ ote: G. R. Driver
and J. C. Miles, eds. and trans., The Babylonian Laws, 1:470-71.]
The chiastic structure of Genesis 29:20-30 focuses attention on the complication
caused by deception.
"A Jacob's payment for his wife (Genesis 29:20)
B Consummation of the marriage to Leah by deception (Genesis 29:21-24)

41. C Jacob's accusation against Laban (Genesis 29:25)
C' Laban's defense (Genesis 29:26)
B' Consummation of the marriage to Rachel by negotiation (Genesis 29:27-30 a)
A' Jacob's payment for his wife (Genesis 29:30 b)." [ ote: Ross, Creation and . . .,
p. 498.]
9. PULPIT, "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 (Genesis 14:20, 30)—that (literally, and) he ran to meet him, and
embraced him,—so afterwards Esau did Jacob (Genesis 33:4), and Jacob the two
sons of Joseph (Genesis 48:10)—and kissed him, and brought him to his house—
thus evincing the same kindness and hospitality that had characterized him on the
previous occasion. And he (Jacob) told Laban all these things—what 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 (Rosenmüller, Kalisch, Lange).
14
Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and
blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole
month,
1. Clarke, “My bone and my flesh - One of my nearest relatives.
2. Gill, “And Laban said to him, surely thou art my bone and my flesh,....
Nearly allied in blood, being his sister's son:
and he abode with him the space of a month; or "a month of days" (m), a full
month to a day; all this while feeding his flocks, and doing whatsoever service he had for
him to do.
3. Jamison, “Genesis 29:14-20
he abode a month — Among pastoral people a stranger is freely entertained for
three days; on the fourth day he is expected to tell his name and errand; and if he
prolongs his stay after that time, he must set his hand to work in some way, as may be

42. agreed upon. A similar rule obtained in Laban’s establishment, and the wages for which
his nephew engaged to continue in his employment was the hand of Rachel.
4. Calvin, “14.And he abode with him the space of a month. Though Laban did not
doubt that Jacob was his nephew by his sister, he nevertheless puts his character to
trial during a month, and then treats with him respecting wages. Hence may be
inferred the uprightness of the holy man; because he was not idle while with his
uncle, but employed himself in honest labors, that he might not in idleness eat
another’s bread for nothing; hence Laban is compelled to acknowledge that some
reward beyond his mere food was due to him. When he says, “Because thou art my
brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought?” his meaning may be
twofold; either that it would be excessively absurd and unjust to defraud a relation
of his due reward, for whom he ought to have greater consideration than for any
stranger; or that he was unwilling to exact gratuitous service under the color of
relationship. This second exposition is the more suitable, and is received nearly by
the consent of all. For they read in one connected sentence, “Because thou art my
brother, shalt thou therefore serve me for nought?” Moreover, we must note the end
for which Moses relates these things. In the first place, a great principle of equity is
set before us in Laban; inasmuch as this sentiment is inherent in almost all minds,
that justice ought to be mutually cultivated, till blind cupidity draws them away in
another direction. And God has engraven in man’s nature a law of equity; so that
whoever declines from that rule, through an immoderate desire of private
advantage, is left utterly without excuse. But a little while after, when it came to a
matter of practice, Laban, forgetful of this equity, thinks only of what may be
profitable to himself. Such an example is certainly worthy of notice, for men seldom
err in general principles, and therefore, with one mouth, confess that every man
ought to receive what is his due but as soon as they descend to their own affairs,
perverse self-love blinds them, or at least envelopes them in such clouds that they
are carried in an opposite course. Wherefore, let us learn to restrain ourselves, that
a desire of our own advantage may not prevail to the sacrifice of justice. And hence
has arisen the proverb, that no one is a fit judge in his own cause, because each,
being unduly favorable to himself, becomes forgetful of what is right. Wherefore, we
must ask God to govern and restrain our affections by a spirit of sound judgment.
Laban, in wishing to enter into a covenant, does what tends to avoid contentions and
complaints. The ancient saying is known, “We should deal lawfully with our friends,
that we may not afterwards be obliged to go to law with them.” For, whence arise so
many legal broils, except that every one is more liberal towards himself, and more
niggardly towards others than he ought to be? Therefore, for the purpose of
cherishing concord, firm compacts are necessary, which may prevent injustice on
one side or the other.
5. TRAPP, "Ver. 14. Surely thou art my bone, &c.] Good words cost nothing; and
the veriest countrymen are commonly freer of them than of real courtesies. Pertinax
the emperor was surnamed Cρηστολογος, quid blandus esset, magis quam benignus
. But that of ero was abominable, who, the very day before he killed his mother,

43. most lovingly embraced her, kissed her eyes and hands, and, accompanying her
when she departed, used these sweet words: All happiness attend you, my good
mother; for in you I live, and by you I reign. (a) "As a potsherd covered with silver
dross, so are burning lips and a wicked HEART". [Proverbs 26:23]
15
Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of
mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me
what your wages should be."
1. Barnes, “Gen_29:15-20
Jacob serves seven years for Rachel. “What shall thy wages be?” An active, industrious
man like Jacob was of great value to Laban. “Two daughters.” Daughters in those
countries and times were also objects of value, for which their parents were accustomed
to receive considerable presents Gen_24:53. Jacob at present, however, is merely worth
his labor. He has apparently nothing else to offer. As he loves Rachel, he offers to serve
seven years for her, and is accepted. Isaac loved Rebekah after she was sought and won
as a bride for him. Jacob loves Rachel before he makes a proposal of marriage. His
attachment is pure and constant, and hence the years of his service seem but days to
him. The pleasure of her society both in the business and leisure of life makes the hours
pass unnoticed. It is obvious that in those early days the contact of the sexes before
marriage was more unrestrained than it afterward became.
2. Clarke, “Because thou art my brother, etc. - Though thou art my nearest
relative, yet I have no right to thy services without giving thee an adequate recompense.
Jacob had passed a whole month in the family of Laban, in which he had undoubtedly
rendered himself of considerable service. As Laban, who was of a very saving if not
covetous disposition, saw that he was to be of great use to him in his secular concerns,
he wished to secure his services, and therefore asks him what wages he wished to have.
3. Gill, “And Laban said unto Jacob, because thou art my brother,.... Or
nephew, his sister's son; see Gill on Gen_29:12,
shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? nearness of kin was no reason
why he should serve him freely, or for nothing, but rather why he should be more kind to
him than to a stranger, and give him better wages:

44. tell me, what shall thy wages be? by the day, or month, or year; signifying he was
willing to give him anything that was just and reasonable, which was very well spoken;
and this gave Jacob a fair opportunity of opening his mind more freely to him, and for
answering a principal end for which he came, as follows:
4. Henry, “Here is, I. The fair contract made between Laban and Jacob, during the
month that Jacob spent there as a guest, Gen_29:14. It seems he was not idle, nor did he
spend his time in sport and pastime; but like a man of business, though he had no stock
of his own, he applied himself to serve his uncle, as he had begun (Gen_29:10) when he
watered his flock. Note, Wherever we are, it is good to be employing ourselves in some
useful business, which will turn to a good account to ourselves or others. Laban, it
seems, was so taken with Jacob's ingenuity and industry about his flocks that he was
desirous he should continue with him, and very fairly reasons thus: “Because thou art
my brother, shouldst thou therefore serve me for nought? Gen_29:15. No, what reason
for that?” If Jacob be so respectful to his uncle as to give him his service without
demanding any consideration for it, yet Laban will not be so unjust to his nephew as to
take advantage either of his necessity or of his good-nature. Note, Inferior relations must
not be imposed upon; if it be their duty to serve us, it is our duty to reward them. Now
Jacob had a fair opportunity to make known to Laban the affection he had for his
daughter Rachel; and, having no worldly goods in his hand with which to endow her, he
promises him seven years' service, upon condition that, at the end of the seven years, he
would bestow her upon him for his wife. It appears by computation that Jacob was now
seventy-seven years old when he bound himself apprentice for a wife, and for a wife he
kept sheep, Hos_12:12. His posterity are there reminded of it long afterwards, as an
instance of the meanness of their origin: probably Rachel was young, and scarcely
marriageable, when Jacob first came, which made him the more willing to stay for her
till his seven years' service had expired.
5. K&D, “Genesis 29:15-20
Jacob's Double Marriage. - After a full month (“a month of days,” Gen_41:4; Num_
11:20, etc.), during which time Laban had discovered that he was a good and useful
shepherd, he said to him, “Shouldst thou, because thou art my relative, serve me for
nothing? fix me thy wages.” Laban's selfishness comes out here under the appearance of
justice and kindness. To preclude all claim on the part of his sister's son to gratitude or
affection in return for his services, he proposes to pay him like an ordinary servant.
Jacob offered to serve him seven years for Rachel, the younger of his two daughters,
whom he loved because of her beauty; i.e., just as many years as the week has days, that
he might bind himself to a complete and sufficient number of years of service. For the
elder daughter, Leah, had weak eyes, and consequently was not so good-looking; since
bright eyes, with fire in them, are regarded as the height of beauty in Oriental women.
Laban agreed. He would rather give his daughter to him than to a stranger.
(Note: This is the case still with the Bedouins, the Druses, and other Eastern tribes
(Burckhardt, Voleny, Layard, and Lane).
Jacob's proposal may be explained, partly on the ground that he was not then in a
condition to give the customary dowry, or the usual presents to relations, and partly also
from the fact that his situation with regard to Esau compelled him to remain some time
with Laban. The assent on the part of Laban cannot be accounted for from the custom of
selling daughters to husbands, for it cannot be shown that the purchase of wives was a

45. general custom at that time; but is to be explained solely on the ground of Laban's
selfishness and avarice, which came out still more plainly afterwards. To Jacob,
however, the seven years seemed but “a few days, because he loved Rachel.” This is to
be understood, as C. a Lapide observes, “not affective, but appretiative,” i.e., in
comparison with the reward to be obtained for his service.
6. TRAPP, “Ver. 15. Shouldest thou therefore serve me.] He pretends love and
equity to his covetous aims and reaches. Candid he would needs seem (according to
his name) (a) and considerate. But as blackmoors have their teeth only white, so is
Laban’s kindness from the teeth outward. He was as a whited wall or painted
sepulchre, or an Egyptian temple - fair and specious without, but within, some cat,
rat, or calf there idolised and adored. Hypocrites, whatever they pretend, have a
hawk’s eye to praise or profit: they must be gainers by their piety or humanity,
which must be another Diana, to bring gain to the craftsmaster. The eagle, when she
soareth highest, hath an eye ever to the prey.
7. PETT, "Once a decent time had passed Laban brings the matter up. He has now
realised that Jacob has not come laden with expensive marriage gifts. These words
are a delicate indication that Jacob is going to have to earn his wife by a period of
service. (The question of wages would not normally arise between relatives of this
standing. Those were for HIRED servants). He is asking how long he is prepared to
serve as compensatory payment for a wife. When Abraham’s servant came he
brought rich gifts which were accepted as recompense for the loss of a daughter and
sister. It appears that Jacob has not brought such valuable gifts. Compensation
would thus be made by service (compare Joshua 15:16; 1 Samuel 17:25), a practise
well testified to elsewhere.
8. PULPIT 15-30, "Jacob and Laban, or the deceiver deceived.
I. JACOB'S CO TRACTWITH LABA . The promised service—seven years of
pastoral assistance.
2. The stipulated wages—Rachel in marriage as a wife. This part of the contract
was—
II. LABA 'S DECEPTIO OF JACOB.
1. The just request. "Give me my wife." "The laborer is worthy of his hire," and the
servant is entitled to his wages.
2. The marriage festival. "Laban made a feast." Seemingly assenting to his nephew's

46. request, the crafty uncle prepares a wedding banquet. Feasting and rejoicing are
both becoming and allowable in connection with marriage celebrations.
3. The substituted bride. Either at the end of the first day or at the close of the
festivities, "Laban took Leah and brought her," veiled and in silence, to the bridal
chamber. For the wickedness of Laban in breaking his promise, defrauding his
nephew, wronging his younger daughter, and practically prostituting his elder,
excuse is, impossible; for Leah's acquiescence in her father's plot explanation,
though not apology, may be found in her manifest love for Jacob, and perhaps in
her belief that Laban had SECURED Jacob's consent to the arrangement. The man
who could sell one daughter's affections and sacrifice another's would not stick at
deceiving both, if he could.
4. The discovered fraud. "In the morning, behold, it was Leah." The day manifests
what the night hides the sins of men; and the LIGHT of the great day will disclose
what the darkness of time conceals.
5. The lame excuse. Interrogated by Jacob, Laban offers in extenuation of his
heartless deception that popular custom demanded the marriage of an elder sister
before a younger. So, public opinion, prevailing habit, U IVERSAL practice, are
often pled in apology for offences against the law of God. But the conventional
maxims of society are of no weight when set against Divine commandments.
6. The righteous retribution. Though indefensible on the part of Laban, the
substitution of Leah for Rachel was a deserved punishment of Jacob. Having
wronged Esau his brother, he is in turn wronged by "a brother"—Laban. Having
substituted the younger (himself) for the older (Esau), he is recompensed by having
the older put into the place of the younger. As Isaac knew not when he blessed
Jacob, so Jacob knows not when he marries Leah. As Jacob acted at the instigation
of his mother, Leah yields to the suggestion of her father.
7. The amicable settlement. Jacob celebrates the week of festival for Leah, and then
receives Rachel as a wife, engaging to serve another term of seven years for her who
had lightened the labor of the previous seven. If Jacob's conduct evinced sincere
attachment to Rachel and peaceful disposition towards Laban, it displayed doubtful
regard for the law of God,
9. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Genesis 29:15-20
Jacob served seven years for Rachel

47. Jacob’s lowly estate
I. ITS EVIDENCE.
1. He is obliged to accept a position of servitude.
2. He is obliged to prostitute the most sacred affections by consenting to a
mercenary bargain.
II. ITS CONSOLATION (Gen_29:20). Love lightens and cheers every task of labour and
endurance. A week of years was like a week of days to him. Coleridge says, “No man
could be a bad man who loved as Jacob loved Rachel.”
III. ITS LESSONS FOR HIS POSTERITY. Israel was destined to rise to eminence and
power amongst the family of nations. But it was necessary for that people to be
reminded of the lowly estate of their forefather. When the Israelite presented his basket
of first fruits before the Lord, he was instructed to confess, “A Syrian ready to perish was
my father” Deu_26:5). The nation was thus taught that all its greatness and prosperity
were not due to natural endowments and industry, but to the electing love of God. The
strength of His grace was made perfect in weakness. (T. H. Leale.)
Jacob’s servitude
1. His agreement with Laban.
(1) The degraded position in which women were regarded among the ancients.
(2) Laban’s dishonesty in the non-fulfilment of his agreement.
2. In this servitude of Jacob, we find the principle of inevitable retribution. He had
deceived his father, and here in his turn he was overreached. Leah deceived her
husband, and in consequence lost his affection. Here both deceivers were justly
punished. O my beloved brethren, be sure, be sure, be sure, your sin will find you
out.
3. We have here, lastly, the principle of compensation; Leah lost her husband’s
affections, but she was blessed in her family (Gen_29:31). Here we have punishment
tempered with mercy. This is what the Cross has done for us; it prevents penalty
from being simply penalty; it leaves us not alone to punishment, but mingles all with
blessing and forgiveness. Through it life has its bright as well as its dark side. (F. W.
Robertson, M. A.)
The education of home
I. THE FOUR CONDITIONS OF A TRUE HOME.
1. There must be a supreme affection (Gen_29:18). No two should marry unless each
feels that life without the other would be incomplete.
2. Marriage must be “only in the Lord” (see Deu_7:3; 1Co_7:39;
2. Corinthians 6:14, 15). A mixed marriage is a prolific source of misery. The ungodly
partner despises the Christian for marrying in the teeth of principle. The Christian is
disappointed because the apparent influence gained before marriage is dissipated
soon after the knot is irrevocably tied.

48. 3. A true home should be based on the good will of parents and friends Gen_28:1-5).
4. There should be some prospect of suitable livelihood.
II. THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF SUPREME AFFECTION (Gen_28:20). Love’s labour
is always light. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Marriage difficulties
1. No sin against our bodies, or against the trust which man should repose in man or
God, goes altogether unpunished.
2. Changes in life are steps in our education by God.
3. God deals with all parts of human dispositions.
4. Yield yourselves unto God.
5. Expect difficulties in your way to do right. (D. G. Watt, M. A.)
The years of exile and servitude
I. THE ERRORS OF THE YEARS OF SERVITUDE.
II. ITS TRIALS.
III. ITS BLESSINGS. (T. S. Dickson.)
Lessons
1. Honest, gracious souls dare not be idle when they do but visit friends. Jacob.
2. Laborious men in God’s fear will want no hirers; Laban looks after such a servant.
3. Labans are first motioners for Jacobs; the covetous masters for honest servants.
4. The most unrighteous men may grant principles of equity which they never mean
to practice. So Laban.
5. The faithful servant and labourer is worthy of his due reward. A brother servant
that is faithful is worthy of any wages reasonably to be expected (Gen_29:15). (G.
Hughes, B. D.)
The purchase of a wife
As Jacob possessed no property, and could not, therefore, buy his wife, he paid for her
by seven years of service. But was this indeed so degrading as it has, by almost general
consent, been denounced to be? It is alleged that, as the wife is, in the East, regarded
only as a kind of slave, first subordinate to the father, and then to the husband, she was,
like the slave, acquired by purchase, and for almost exactly the same price. Such
certainly was and is the case among many uncivilized tribes. But does the purchase not
admit of another construction? Among some nations, the marriage-price is distinctly
regarded as a compensation due to the parents for the trouble and expense incurred by

49. the education of the daughter. From this view there is but one step to the notion that the
parents deserve the gratitude of the man to whom they give their child; and the
Hebrews, who assigned to the women a position eminently high and honourable, who
regarded the wife as an integral part of the husband, and as the indispensable condition
of his happiness, and among whom it was a proverbial adage, that “an excellent wife is
far more precious than riches”—the Hebrews bought their wives as a treasure and the
most valuable possession. It may be seriously asked whether such a purchase was, in
principle, not more dignified than the custom according to which the wife buys, as it
were, a husband by her dowry, and in consequence of which the daughters of poor
parents are in a very precarious position, while, in the East, daughters are at least no
burden on their fathers. In practice, that custom is certainly liable to considerable
abuses; heartless or avaricious parents, without consulting the inclination of their
daughters, may sell them to those who bid the highest price; but scarcely any principle,
however lofty, is safe against abuse; besides, it was a law among most tribes, that the
daughter’s consent must first be obtained; and it was a custom among some, that the
money received by the parents should be applied for the benefit of the bride or the young
couple. But suppose even that the manner of courting and acquiring the wife was not in
every respect noble and delicate among the Hebrews, it certainly did not affect the
relative position of husband and wife; the one was no master, the other no slave; the
usual customs could, therefore, safely be retained, as long as they did not endanger the
beautiful principles which guaranteed the dignity of the other sex. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph.
D.)
Serving for a bride
It is related that a rich saddler, whose daughter was afterwards married to Dunk, the
celebrated Earl of Halifax, ordered in his will that she should lose the whole of her
fortune if she did not marry a saddler. The young Earl of Halifax, in order to win the
bride, served an apprenticeship of seven years to a saddler, and afterwards bound
himself to the rich saddler’s daughter for life.
16
ow Laban had two daughters; the name of the older
was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
1. Gill, “And Laban had two daughters,.... Grown up and marriageable:
and the name of the elder was Leah; which signifies labour or weariness:
and the name of the younger was Rachel; before mentioned, whom Jacob met
with at the well, Gen_29:10; and whose name signifies a sheep, as before observed; see

50. Gill on Gen_29:9.
17
Leah had weak[1] eyes, but Rachel was lovely in
form, and beautiful.
1. Clarke, “Leah was tender-eyed - ‫רכות‬ raccoth, soft, delicate, lovely. I believe the
word means just the reverse of the signification generally given to it. The design of the
inspired writer is to compare both the sisters together, that the balance may appear to be
greatly in favor of Rachel. The chief recommendation of Leah was her soft and beautiful
eyes; but Rachel was ‫תאר‬ ‫יפת‬ yephath toar, beautiful in her shape, person, mien, and gait,
and ‫מראה‬ ‫יפת‬ yephath mareh, beautiful in her countenance. The words plainly signify a
fine shape and fine features, all that can be considered as essential to personal beauty.
Therefore Jacob loved her, and was willing to become a bond servant for seven years,
that he might get her to wife; for in his destitute state he could produce no dowry, and it
was the custom of those times for the father to receive a portion for his daughter, and
not to give one with her. One of the Hindoo lawgivers says, “A person may become a
slave on account of love, or to obtain a wife.” The bad system of education by which
women are spoiled and rendered in general good for nothing, makes it necessary for the
husband to get a dowry with his wife to enable him to maintain her; whereas in former
times they were well educated and extremely useful, hence he who got a wife almost
invariably got a prize, or as Solomon says, got a good thing.
2. Gill, “Leah was tender eyed,.... Blear eyed, had a moisture in them, which made
them red, and so she was not so agreeable to look at; though Onkelos renders the
words,"the eyes of Leah were beautiful,''as if her beauty lay in her eyes, and nowhere
else:
but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured; in all parts, in the form of her
countenance, in her shape and stature, and in her complexion, her hair black, her flesh
white and ruddy, as Ben Melech observes.
3. Jamison, “Leah tender-eyed — that is, soft blue eyes - thought a blemish.
Rachel beautiful and well-favored — that is, comely and handsome in form. The
latter was Jacob’s choice.

51. 4. TRAPP, “Ver. 17. Leah was tender-eyed.] Purblind or squint, as one (a)
interprets it. ow, a froward look and squint eyes, saith the historian, (b) are the
certain notes of a nature to be suspected. The Jerusalem Targum tells us, that her
eyes were tender with weeping and praying. Mary Magdalene is famous for her
tears; and Christ was never so near her as when she could not see him for weeping.
After which she spent (as some report ) thirty years in Gallia arbonensi, in
weeping for her sins.
But Rachel was beautiful, &c.] Plato calls beauty the principality of nature;
Aristotle, a greater commendation than all epistles. {See Trapp on "Genesis 24:16"}
5. ELLICOTT, "(17) Leah was tender eyed.—Leah, whose name signifies languor,
weariness, had dull bleared eyes. Probably she suffered, as so many do in that hot
sandy region, from some form of ophthalmia. Rachel (Heb., the ewe) was, on the
contrary, “beautiful and well favoured” (Heb., beautiful in form and beautiful in
look). Leah’s bleared eyes would be regarded in the East as a great defect, just as
bright eyes were much admired. (See 1 Samuel 16:12, where David is described as
fair of eyes.) Yet it was not Rachel, with her fair face and well-proportioned figure,
and her husband’s lasting love, that was the mother of the progenitor of the
Messiah, but the weary-eyed Leah.
18
Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for
you seven years in return for your younger daughter
Rachel."
1. Gill, “And Jacob loved Rachel,.... As he seems to have done from the moment he
saw her at the well, being beautiful, modest, humble, affable, diligent, and industrious:
and he said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter:
signifying, that he desired no other wages for his service than that, that he might have
her for his wife, at the end of seven years' servitude, which he was very willing to oblige
himself to, on that condition; for having no money to give as a dowry, as was customary
in those times, he proposed servitude instead of it; though Schmidt thinks this was
contrary to custom, and that Laban treated his daughters like bondmaids, and such as
are taken captives or strangers, and sold them, of which they complain, Gen_31:15.

52. 2. Jamison, “I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy daughter — A
proposal of marriage is made to the father without the daughter being consulted, and the
match is effected by the suitor either bestowing costly presents on the family, or by
giving cattle to the value the father sets upon his daughter, or else by giving personal
services for a specified period. The last was the course necessity imposed on Jacob; and
there for seven years he submitted to the drudgery of a hired shepherd, with the view of
obtaining Rachel. The time went rapidly away; for even severe and difficult duties
become light when love is the spring of action.
3. Calvin, “18.I will serve thee seven years. The iniquity of Laban betrays itself in a
moment; for it is a shameful barbarity to give his daughter, by way of reward, in
exchange for Jacob’s services, making her the subject of a kind of barter. He ought,
on the other hand, not only to have assigned a portion to his daughter, but also to
have acted more liberally towards his future son-in-law. But under the pretext of
affinity, he defrauds him of the reward of his labor, the very thing which he had
before acknowledged to be unjust. (65) We therefore perceive still more clearly what
I have previously alluded to, that although from their mother’s womb men have a
general notion of justice, yet as soon as their own advantage presents itself to view,
they become actually unjust, unless the Lord reforms them by his Spirit. Moses does
not here relate something rare or unusual, but what is of most common occurrence.
For though men do not set their daughters to sale, yet the desire of gain hurries the
greater part so far away, that they prostitute their honor and sell their souls.
Further, it is not altogether to be deemed a fault that Jacob was rather inclined to
love Rachel; whether it was that Leah, on account of her tender eyes, was less
beautiful, or that she was pleasing only by the comeliness of her eyes, (66) while
Rachel excelled her altogether in elegance of form. For we see how naturally a secret
kind of affection produces mutual love. Only excess is to be guarded against, and so
much the more diligently, because it is difficult so to restrain affections of this kind,
that they do not prevail to the stifling of reason. Therefore he who shall be induced
to choose a wife, because of the elegance of her form, will not necessarily sin,
provided reason always maintains the ascendancy, and holds the wantonness of
passion in subjection. Yet perhaps Jacob sinned in being too self-indulgent, when he
desired Rachel the younger sister to be given to him, to the injury of the elder; and
also, while yielding to the desire of his own eyes, he undervalued the virtues of Leah:
for this is a very culpable want of self-government, when any one chooses a wife
only for the sake of her beauty, whereas excellence of disposition ought to be
deemed of the first importance. But the strength and ardor of his attachment
manifests itself in this, that he felt no weariness in the labor of seven years: but
chastity was also joined with it, so that he persevered, during this long period, with
a patient and quiet mind in the midst of so many labors. And here again the
integrity and continence of that age is apparent, because, though dwelling under the
same roof, and accustomed to familiar intercourse, Jacob yet conducted himself
with modesty, and abstained from all impropriety. Therefore, at the close of the
appointed time he said, “Give me my wife, that I may go in unto her,” by which he
implies that she had been hitherto a pure virgin.

53. 4. TRAPP, "Ver. 18. I will serve thee seven years.] He had nothing to endow her
with; he would therefore EAR her with his hard labour: which, as it shows
Laban’s churlishness to suffer it, and his baseness to make a prize and a prey of his
two daughters, so it sets forth Jacob’s meekness, poverty, patience, and hard
condition here, mentioned many years after by the prophet Hosea. [Hosea 12:12] He
was a man of many sorrows; and from him therefore the Church hath her
denomination: neither were the faithful ever since called Abrahamites but Israelites.
5. ELLICOTT, "(18) I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger
daughter.—Heb., thy daughter, the little one, just as Leah, in Genesis 29:16, is called
the great one. (See ote on Genesis 9:24.) So in Genesis 44:20, the phrase “the little
one” simply means the youngest. Wives had to be purchased in the East (Genesis
24:53), and as Jacob had brought no rich presents, such as Abraham had sent when
seeking a wife for his son, he had only his personal services to offer. As the sale was
usually veiled in true Oriental fashion under the specious form of freewill gifts, we
shall find that both Leah and Rachel are offended at being thus openly bartered by
Laban.
6. PETT, "Jacob replies that he has made his choice as to which daughter he wants.
He is prepared to offer seven years service in exchange for Rachel whom he loves.
This may appear a long time but he knows that during the period he will be treated
as a relative and equal (‘you are my brother’ - Genesis 29:15) and he has brought
little with him. Offering service in exchange for a man’s daughter was a regular
feature of the times.
In fact a period of seven years service appears to have been an accepted one in
‘Hebrew’ circles. Consider the stipulations re a Hebrew slave in Exodus 21:2;
Deuteronomy 15:12, although the circumstances are not the same. (See article,
"Hebrews").
19
Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to
some other man. Stay here with me."
1. Gill, “And Laban said,.... Deceitfully, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, pretending
great respect for Jacob, and that what he had proposed was very agreeable to him, when
he meant to impose upon him:

54. it is better that I should give her to thee, than that I should give her to
another man; by which he not only intimates that he preferred him, a relation, to
another man, a stranger; but as if he did not insist upon the servitude for her, but would
give her to him; unless he means upon the terms proposed, and so it should seem by
what follows:
abide with me: the term of seven years, and serve me; suggesting, that then he agreed
Rachel should be his wife; and so Jacob, a plain hearted man, understood him; but he
designed no such thing.
2. HAWKER, "Labours of love are always apparently short and sweet. Heb_6:10. But
what were the services of the Redeemer for his spouse, the church, and for whom he
travailed in soul: Isa_53:11.
3. TRAPP, “Ver. 19. It is better that I give her to thee.] Indeed, he sold her to him
for seven years’ service. This was Laban, or abal, choose you which. Their names
were not more like than their conditions. Laban’s daughters and abal’s wife were
alike handled by their unkind parents. "He hath sold us," said they, "and hath also
quite devoured our money". [Genesis 31:15] And, He hath married me, might
Abigail have said, to the money, and not to the man; and though he named me his
joy, yet he hath caused me much sorrow. How many a child is so cast away by the
covetous parents! It was better with Laban’s two daughters; but no thanks to their
father.
4. ELLICOTT, "(19) It is better that I give her to thee.—It is still the custom among
the Arabs to prefer a relative as the husband of a daughter, and on giving a
moderato dowry the elder cousins can claim the elder daughters in marriage, and
the younger the younger. Thus Jacob, as the second son, had a claim upon Rachel.
The Rabbins even say that Leah’s eyes were weak from weeping, because Esau had
not come to marry her. This absurd idea bears witness, nevertheless, to the custom
of the intermarriage of cousins being an established rule, and gives a reason for
Laban’s acceptance of Jacob as the husband of his younger child. As Jacob offered
seven years’ service for Rachel, and gave a second seven years’ service for her after
he had been tricked into taking Leah, we may conclude that the length of time was
not unreasonable.
20
So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they

55. seemed like only a few days to him because of his love
for her.
1. Clarke, “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel - In ancient times it
appears to have been a custom among all nations that men should give dowries for their
wives; and in many countries this custom still prevails. When Shechem asked Dinah for
wife, he said, Ask me never so much - dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall
say unto me. When Eliezer went to get Rebekah for Isaac, he took a profusion of riches
with him, in silver, gold, jewels, and raiment, with other costly things, which, when the
contract was made, he gave to Rebekah, her mother, and her brothers. David, in order to
be Saul’s son-in-law, must, instead of a dowry, kill Goliath; and when this was done, he
was not permitted to espouse Michal till he had killed one hundred Philistines. The
Prophet Hosea bought his wife for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of
barley. The same custom prevailed among the ancient Greeks, Indians, and Germans.
The Romans also had a sort of marriage entitled per coemptionem, “by purchase.” The
Tartars and Turks still buy their wives; but among the latter they are bought as a sort of
slaves.
Herodotus mentions a very singular custom among the Babylonians, which may serve
to throw light on Laban’s conduct towards Jacob. “In every district they annually
assemble all the marriageable virgins on a certain day; and when the men are come
together and stand round the place, the crier rising up sells one after another, always
bringing forward the most beautiful first; and having sold her for a great sum of gold, he
puts up her who is esteemed second in beauty. On this occasion the richest of the
Babylonians used to contend for the fairest wife, and to outbid one another. But the
vulgar are content to take the ugly and lame with money; for when all the beautiful
virgins are sold, the crier orders the most deformed to stand up; and after he has openly
demanded who will marry her with a small sum, she is at length given to the man that is
contented to marry her with the least. And in this manner the money arising from the
sale of the handsome served for a portion to those whose look was disagreeable, or who
had any bodily imperfection. A father was not permitted to indulge his own fancy in the
choice of a husband for his daughter; neither might the purchaser carry off the woman
which he had bought without giving sufficient security that he would live with her as his
own wife. Those also who received a sum of money with such as could bring no price in
this market, were obliged also to give sufficient security that they would live with them,
and if they did not they were obliged to refund the money.” Thus Laban made use of the
beauty of Rachel to dispose of his daughter Leah, in the spirit of the Babylonian custom,
though not in the letter.
And they seemed unto him but a few days - If Jacob had been obliged to wait
seven years before he married Rachel, could it possibly be said that they could appear to
him as a few days? Though the letter of the text seems to say the contrary, yet there are
eminent men who strongly contend that he received Rachel soon after the month was
finished, (see Gen_29:14), and then served seven years for her, which might really
appear but a few days to him, because of his increasing love to her; but others think this
quite incompatible with all the circumstances marked down in the text, and on the
supposition that Jacob was not now seventy-seven years of age, as most chronologers
make him, but only fifty-seven, (see on Genesis 31 (note))., there will be time sufficient
to allow for all the transactions which are recorded in his history, during his stay with
Laban. As to the incredibility of a passionate lover, as some have termed him, waiting

56. patiently for seven years before he could possess the object of his wishes, and those
seven years appearing to him as only a few days, it may be satisfactorily accounted for,
they think, two ways:
1. He had the continual company of his elect spouse, and this certainly would take
away all tedium in the case.
2. Love affairs were not carried to such a pitch of insanity among the patriarchs as
they have been in modern times; they were much more sober and sedate, and
scarcely ever married before they were forty years of age, and then more for
convenience, and the desire of having an offspring, than for any other purpose.
At the very lowest computation Jacob was now fifty-seven, and consequently must
have passed those days in which passion runs away with reason. Still, however, the
obvious construction of the text shows that he got Rachel the week after he had married
Leah.
2. Gill, “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel,.... The whole term of time,
diligently, faithfully, and patiently. Reference is had to this in Hos_11:12,
and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her; for
though to lovers time seems long ere they enjoy the object beloved; yet Jacob here
respects not so much the time as the toil and labour of service he endured in it; he
thought that seven years' service was a trifle, like the service of so many days, in
comparison of the lovely and worthy person he obtained thereby; all that he endured
was nothing in comparison of her, and through the love he bore to her: besides, the
many pleasant hours he spent in conversation with her made the time slide on
insensibly, so that it seemed to be quickly gone; which shows that his love was pure and
constant.
3. Henry, “Jacob's honest performance of his part of the bargain, Gen_29:20. He
served seven years for Rachel. If Rachel still continued to keep her father's sheep (as she
did, Gen_29:9), his innocent and religious conversation with her, while they kept the
flocks, could not but increase their mutual acquaintance and affection (Solomon's song
of love is a pastoral); if she now left it off, his easing her of that care was very obliging.
Jacob honestly served out his seven years, and did not forfeit his indentures, though he
was old; nay, he served them cheerfully: They seemed to him but a few days, for the love
he had to her, as if it were more his desire to earn her than to have her. Note, Love
makes long and hard services short and easy; hence we read of the labour of love, Heb_
6:10. If we know how to value the happiness of heaven, the sufferings of this present
time will be as nothing to us in comparison of it. An age of work will be but as a few days
to those that love God and long for Christ's appearing.
4. TRAPP, “Ver. 20. And they seemed unto him but a few days.] And yet lovers’
hours are full of eternity. But love facilitated the service, and made the time seem
short. (a) Should anything seem hard or heavy to us, so we may have heaven at
length? The affliction is but LIGHT and momentary; the glory massive, and for all

57. eternity. Hold out, Faith and Patience. Love is a passion, and seen most in suffering;
"much water cannot quench it". [Song of Solomon 8:7] ay, like fire, it devours all
delays and difficulties, spending and exhaling itself, as it were, in CO TI UAL
wishes to be at home, to be with Christ, which is "far, far the better," ( πολλω
µαλλον, κρεισσον, Philippians 1:23). Oh, let the eternal weight of the crown weigh
down with us the light and momentary weight of the cross.
5. COKE, "Genesis 29:20. They seemed unto him but a few days, &c.— The
flattering prospect of possessing the lovely Rachel after the seven years, and the
endearments of her pleasing company the mean while, rendered that interval of
waiting apparently short and light. Some have supposed that Jacob married at the
beginning of the seven years; for (they think) otherwise the time would not have
appeared short to him. But the text seems quite contrary to this opinion. And we
must remember that Rachel was his constant companion, which made the hours
steal agreeably away. ote; 1. Virtuous love brings its own reward with it. 2.
othing is irksome while those we love are with us, or hard which is done for them.
3. If for a mortal love we can be delighted even with toil, how little should we count
every burden which brings us to the enjoyment of the perfection of beauty, in the
eternal union of our souls to God.
6. PULPIT, "The power of true affection.
"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel," &c.
I. THE I WARD SPRI G OF THE OUTWARD LIFE. Power of the heart over the
will, over the circumstances, over flesh. Time measured by the motions of our
thought. The world needs to be taught that the material rests on the immaterial.
II. THE SERVICE OF LOVE THE CO SECRATIO A D CO SUMMATIO
OF HUMA E ERGY. Christ the highest object of affection. The life of his servant
compared with the life of selfish caprice.
III. THE GREAT EXAMPLE OF LOVE SUGGESTED. Jacob a type of Christ;
Rachel, of his Church. He served for her. His love made obedience, even unto death,
his delight.
IV. SPECIAL TRIAL HAS ITS SPECIAL REWARD. Jacob served doubly for
Rachel; but his service was amply paid afterwards, although for a time the veil of
disappointment hid the purpose of God. While Leah, as the mother of Judah, was
the true ancestress of Messiah, still it was in Joseph, the son of Rachel, that Jacob's
heart was satisfied, and that the history of the kingdom of God was most manifestly

58. carried on and its glory set forth. As in the case of Sarah and Rebekah, so in that of
Rachel, the birth of the representative seed is connected with special bestowments of
grace.—R.
21
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My
time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
1. Barnes, “Gen_29:21-30
Jacob is betrayed into marrying Leah, and on consenting to serve other seven years
obtains Rachel also. He claims his expected reward when due. “Made a feast.” The feast
in the house of the bride’s father seems to have lasted seven days, at the close of which
the marriage was completed. But the custom seems to have varied according to the
circumstances of the bridegroom. Jacob had no house of his own to which to conduct the
bride. In the evening: when it was dark. The bride was also closely veiled, so that it was
easy for Laban to practise this piece of deceit. “A handmaid.” It was customary to give
the bride a handmaid, who became her confidential servant Gen_24:59, Gen_24:61. In
the morning Jacob discovers that Laban had overreached him. This is the first
retribution Jacob experiences for the deceitful practices of his former days. He
expostulates with Laban, who pleads the custom of the country.
It is still the custom not to give the younger in marriage before the older, unless the
latter be deformed or in some way defective. It is also not unusual to practise the very
same trick that Laban now employed, if the suitor is so simple as to be off his guard.
Jacob, however, did not expect this at his relative’s hands, though he had himself taken
part in proceedings equally questionable. “Fulfill the week of this.” If this was the second
day of the feast celebrating the nuptials of Leah, Laban requests him to Complete the
week, and then he will give him Rachel also. If, however, Leah was fraudulently put upon
him at the close of the week of feasting, then Laban in these words proposes to give
Rachel to Jacob on fulfilling another week of nuptial rejoicing. The latter is in the
present instance more likely. In either case the marriage of Rachel is only a week after
that of Leah. Rather than lose Rachel altogether, Jacob consents to comply with Laban’s
terms.
Rachel was the wife of Jacob’s affections and intentions. The taking of a second wife in
the lifetime of the first was contrary to the law of nature, which designed one man for
one woman Gen_2:21-25. But the marrying of a sister-in-law was not yet incestuous,
because no law had yet been made on the subject. Laban gives a handmaid to each of his
daughters. To Rebekah his sister had been given more than one Gen_24:61. Bondslaves
had been in existence long before Laban’s time Gen_16:1. “And loved also Rachel more
than Leah.” This proves that even Leah was not unloved. At the time of his marriage
Jacob was eighty-four years of age; which corresponds to half that age according to the

59. present average of human life.
2. Clarke, “My days are fulfilled - My seven years are now completed, let me have
my wife, for whom I have given this service as a dowry.
3. Gill, “And Jacob said unto Laban, give me my wife,.... Meaning Rachel, who
was his wife by contract; the conditions of her being his wife were now fulfilled by him,
and therefore he might challenge her as his wife:
for my days are now fulfilled; the seven years were up he agreed to serve him for his
daughter; and therefore it was but just and right she should be given him:
that I may go in unto her; as his lawful wife, and it was high time Jacob had her; for
he was now, as the Jewish writers generally say (n), and that very rightly, eighty four
years of age; and from him were to spring twelve princes, the heads of twelve tribes,
which should inhabit the land of Canaan.
4. Jamison, “Jacob said, Give me my wife — At the expiry of the stipulated term
the marriage festivities were held. But an infamous fraud was practised on Jacob, and on
his showing a righteous indignation, the usage of the country was pleaded in excuse. No
plea of kindred should ever be allowed to come in opposition to the claim of justice. But
this is often overlooked by the selfish mind of man, and fashion or custom rules instead
of the will of God. This was what Laban did, as he said, “It must not be so done in our
country, to give the younger before the first-born.” But, then, if that were the prevailing
custom of society at Haran, he should have apprized his nephew of it at an early period
in an honorable manner. This, however, is too much the way with the people of the East
still. The duty of marrying an elder daughter before a younger, the tricks which parents
take to get off an elder daughter that is plain or deformed and in which they are favored
by the long bridal veil that entirely conceals her features all the wedding day, and the
prolongation for a week of the marriage festivities among the greater sheiks, are
accordant with the habits of the people in Arabia and Armenia in the present day.
5. K&D, “But when Jacob asked for his reward at the expiration of this period, and
according to the usual custom a great marriage feast had been prepared, instead of
Rachel, Laban took his elder daughter Leah into the bride-chamber, and Jacob went in
unto her, without discovering in the dark the deception that had been practised. Thus
the overreacher of Esau was overreached himself, and sin was punished by sin.
6. TRAPP, “Ver. 21. Give me my wife, for my days, &c.] Jacob had served out his
time, and now demands his due. David also is said to have "served the will of God,
for his own age"; [Acts 13:36] and John Baptist to have "fulfilled his course". [Acts
13:25] "Moses also was faithful in all God’s house, as a servant". [Hebrews 3:2] Yet
these could not call for heaven as their wages, because they were (as the best are, at

60. their best) but "unprofitable servants," [Luke 17:10] and did not, in any measure,
what their duty was to do. We have not a bit of bread of our own earning; and are
therefore taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread": we get our living by
begging. Our best plea is, Domine, non sum dignus, nihi - lominus tamen sum
indigens :Lord, I am not worthy, but I am needy, as Pomeran said. Then will God,
of his free grace, supply all our necessities, and "afterwards receive us to glory." He
will bring us into the bride chamber of heaven, and there will he give us his loves.
He will let out himself into us, to our infinite delight. Of all natural delights, that of
marriage is the greatest, because there is the greatest communication of one creature
to another; and according to the degrees of communication are the degrees of
delight. Think the same in the mystical marriage.
7. COFFMA , ""It is not so done in our place ..." There was indeed such a custom
"among the Indians, the Egyptians, and other Oriental countries,"[17] and it could
have been possible that Laban had heard of such customs, but there is no evidence
whatever that any such customs prevailed in the vicinity of Haran. We agree with
Keil that, "This was a perfectly worthless excuse, for, if this had really been the
custom in Haran, as in ancient India and elsewhere, he ought to have told Jacob of it
before."[18]
The marvelous story of the love Jacob had for Rachel, the deceit and avarice of
Laban, the helplessness of Jacob during this period of his humiliation, and the
mockery of a wedding feast in which the bride was denied to her husband and
another substituted in her stead - all this is here related in a compact and beautiful
style to give one of the most intriguing narratives ever given as a record of actual
events. Many comments on this are suggested, and many have been made, but,
actually, this stark tragedy presents itself. obody could misunderstand it.
As suggested earlier, one may wonder what part Rachel played in this, if any.
Francisco thought that:
"The trick of Laban when he substituted Leah for Rachel could not have been
possible without Rachel's consent. Evidently she did not fear any competition from
her less-favored sister, and welcomed the thought of her company back to
Canaan."[19]
The possibility of such a thing has led to all kinds of suppositions about how Rachel
was deceived, persuaded to join the deceit, or physically restrained on the wedding
night, etc., but the brief, powerful story stands unadorned with many of the details
that would have satisfied our curiosity, and would have contributed nothing to all to
what God revealed here.
What happened to Jacob here was as mean and despicable a fraud as was ever
perpetrated by one human being against another. One may only wonder if Jacob

61. remembered the fraud that he and his mother had committed against Isaac. Did the
remembrance of it lead to his rather meek acceptance of what Laban did to him?
This time, "the heel-catcher" (the meaning of the name Jacob) was himself taken by
the heel, the deceiver was deceived. Laban also, in turn, would learn the solemn
truth that "as men sow, so shall they reap." Something else - it appears that for
seven years, Jacob had lived above the devices of fraud and deception, but in the
action here, Laban aroused the passion in Jacob's HEART to return to the old ways,
and would eventually find out that he had more than met his match in Jacob! Laban
might have been doing fairly well, until he tricked Jacob! Within the span of two
decades, Jacob would move out of Laban's territory, taking with him both of
Laban's daughters as his wives, and all their children, who were doubtless dear to
Laban, and the vast wealth which he had taken away from Laban. In this, Laban
might have been able to read his "just recompense of reward."
8. CO STABLE, "Verses 21-30
"This was about one of the meanest pranks ever played on a man." [ ote: Leupold,
2:795.]
Jacob had pretended to be his older brother, and now Leah pretended to be her
younger sister. Laban and Leah deceived Jacob as Jacob and Rebekah had deceived
Isaac. Perhaps Jacob's eating and drinking at the feast had clouded his mind
(Genesis 29:22). The darkness of his tent at night may have made it hard for him to
see, too. [ ote: Josephus, 1:19:6-7.] Furthermore, in that culture a bride customarily
entered her husband's presence veiled. [ ote: S. R. Driver, Genesis, p. 271.] Von
Rad wrote "heavily veiled," and Aalders "completely veiled." [ ote: Von Rad, p.
291; Aalders, p. 115.] One year an Indian student of mine told me that his father did
not see his mother's face for three days after their wedding. It is still customary
among some Indians for the bride to remain veiled even after the consummation of
the marriage. [ ote: See also J. A. Diamond, "The Deception of Jacob: A ew
Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem," Vetus Testamentum 34:2 (April
1984):211-13.]
It was customary for the bride's father to give her a large present when she got
married: a dowry. In the ancient world the gift normally consisted of clothing,
furniture, and money, and it served as a nest egg for the wife in case her husband
died or divorced her. Some dowries were exceptionally valuable, such as slave-girls
(Genesis 24:61; Genesis 29:29) or a city (1 Kings 9:16). Laban was being generous.
[ ote: Wenham, Genesis 16-50, p. 236. Cf. West, p. 70.]
As Jacob had deceived Isaac by taking advantage of his inability to see due to poor
eyesight (Genesis 27:36), so Laban deceived Jacob by taking advantage of his
inability to see in the dark tent (Genesis 29:25). Earlier Jacob had deceptively
pretended to be the older brother (ch. 27), and now Laban tricked him by replacing
the younger with the older sister. Laban was just as deceitful as Jacob (Genesis

62. 29:26).
"For despicability Laban takes the prize in the Old Testament." [ ote: Leupold,
2:798.]
He should have told Jacob of this custom beforehand if indeed it was a custom,
which seems questionable.
The "bridal week" was the week of feasting that followed a marriage (Genesis
29:27; cf. Judges 14:12; Judges 14:17). Jacob received Rachel seven days after he
had consummated his marriage to Leah (cf. Genesis 29:28; Genesis 29:30). The
Hebrew name "Rachel" means "ewe," and "Leah" means "cow." Ironically, Laban
treated them as cattle and used them for bargaining and trading. "Zilpah" means
"small nose," and "Bilhah" means "carefree." Jacob married two women in eight
days. otice that Jacob was behaving like his parents, who each favored one son
above the other, by favoring one of his wives above the other. In both cases serious
family problems followed. The Mosaic Law later prohibited marrying two sisters at
the same time (Leviticus 18:18). Bigamy and polygamy were never God's will,
however (Genesis 2:24). [ ote: See Wenham, Genesis 16-50, p. 249.]
"Jacob had planned to take Rachel as his wife, but God intended him to have
Leah." [ ote: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 195.]
Evidence will follow that Leah was the more "spiritual" of the two sisters.
God remains faithful to His promises to bless His people, but in the process He may
discipline them for their previous unresolved sins and often does so in kind (i.e.,
with talionic judgment; cf. Proverbs 3:12; Galatians 6:7; Hebrews 12:5-6). [ ote:
For a fascinating narration of this story in expanded form, see Thomas Mann,
"Jacob Takes a Bride," Bible Review (Spring 1986):53-59, which is an excerpt from
Mann's Joseph and His Brothers.]
"Jacob was getting what he deserved. In this light the seven extra years that Jacob
had to serve Laban appear as a repayment for his treatment of Esau. By calling
such situations to the attention of the reader, the writer begins to draw an important
lesson from these narratives. Jacob's deceptive schemes for obtaining the blessing
did not meet with divine approval. Through Jacob's plans God's will had been
accomplished; but the writer is intent on pointing out, as well, that the schemes and
tricks were not of God's design." [ ote: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 199.]
9. MEYER, " JACOB MARRIES LEAH AND RACHEL
Gen_29:21-35

63. The chief lesson of this paragraph is its illustration of the awful nemesis which
accompanies wrongdoing. No thoughtful person can watch the events of history or
experience without realizing that we are already standing before the judgment-seat of
God, and that His sentences are in process of being executed. Jacob deceived his father,
and was himself deceived. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again.” What disappointments there are in life! We think that we are to be dowered with
Rachel, and lo! Leah is substituted; but in after-days Jacob spoke of Reuben as his
might, the beginning of his dignity and excellency. The names of Leah’s sons suggest the
blessings that accrue through heartbreak. For the Leahs of the world there are great
compensations. God remembers and hears them. Brokenhearted and forsaken, they live
again in the lives of those whom they have borne either naturally or spiritually.
10. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Genesis 29:21-28
He took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him
Laban’s fraud on Jacob
I. THE CHARACTER OF THE FRAUD.
1. Deliberate.
2. Bold.
3. Selfish.
II. THE FRAUD CONSIDERED AS A RETRIBUTION. There are sins which in this
world are often punished in kind. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. The day revealeth that evil usually which the night covereth, sin may hide itself a
little while till the morning.
2. Seeming Rachel over night is found Leah in the morning. Fair offers to be deceits.
3. Honest souls, though drawn into error, are full of indignation against it, and the
cursors of it when discovered.
4. Plain covenant work is sufficient to convince deceivers that forsake 2:5. Service for
Rachel should have Rachel for its reward.
6. It is gross falsehood and deceit to deny covenant reward, and adulterate it with
worse (Gen_2:25). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Laban’s deceit
This discloses a baseness in Laban’s character, arousing contempt and aversion; but it

64. ought not to blind us against the redeeming qualities of his heart. In the human mind,
fragrant flowers often blossom surprisingly by the side of noxious weeds. The deceit of
Laban was practicable, on account of the custom by which the bride is, on the day of
marriage, conducted veiled to her future husband. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Evil result of Laban’s fraud
But the fraud of Laban was not only a moral offence in itself; it was the more deplorable,
as it destroyed the principle of monogamy to which the patriarchs on the whole adhered.
Jacob had intended to marry Rachel alone; and when he found himself, against his will,
allied with Leah, his heart could not renounce her from whom he expected the best part
of his happiness; he took her to wife besides Leah; nor was he permitted to dismiss the
latter after the solemnization of the marriage. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
22
So Laban brought together all the people of the place
and gave a feast.
1. Clarke, “Laban - made a feast - ‫משתה‬ mishteh signifies a feast of drinking. As
marriage was a very solemn contract, there is much reason to believe that sacrifices were
offered on the occasion, and libations poured out; and we know that on festival
occasions a cup of wine was offered to every guest; and as this was drunk with particular
ceremonies, the feast might derive its name from this circumstance, which was the most
prominent and observable on such occasions.
2. Gill, “And Laban gathered together all the men of the place,.... Of the city of
Haran, which may be understood of the chief and principal of them, to make the
marriage of his daughter public and authentic:
and made a feast; a marriage or marriage feast, as the Septuagint version, see Mat_
22:2; which was usual, when a marriage was solemnized, expressive of joy on that
account.
4. Calvin, “22.And Laban gathered together. Moses does not mean that a supper
was prepared for the whole people, but that many guests were invited, as is

65. customary in splendid nuptials; and there is no doubt that he applied himself with
the greater earnestness to adorn that feast, for the purpose of holding Jacob bound
by a sense of shame, so that he should not dare to depreciate the marriage into
which he had been deceived. We hence gather what, at that time, was the religious
observance connected with the marriage bed. For this was the occasion of Jacob’s
deception that, out of regard for the modesty of brides, they were led veiled into the
chamber; but now, the ancient discipline being rejected, men become almost brutal.
5. TRAPP, "Ver. 22. And made a feast.] ever more seasonable, surely, than at the
recovery of the lost rib. The wedding day is called, "The day of the rejoicing of a
man’s heart". [Song of Solomon 3:11] Our Saviour graced such a feast with his
presence and first miracle: he supplied them with WI E to glad their HEARTS; not
with a little, for health’s sake only, but with a great quantity, for sober delight and
honest affluence. It is noted as an absurd thing in Samson’s wife, that "she wept all
the days of the feast". [ 14:17] A feast, then, there was at Samson’s wedding, and of
seven days’ CO TI UA CE. And so there was at Jacob’s, as may be gathered out
of Genesis 29:27. "Fulfil her week," saith Laban; to wit, of banquet or bride-ale, as
we call it: only that of Chrysostom comes here in fitly, De nuptiis Iacobi legimus; de
choreis et tripudiis non legimus :of Jacob’s wedding feast we read; but of dancing
and dalliance, of tracing and tripping on the toe, we read not. In maxima libertate,
minima licentia , saith Salvian. Merry we may be, at such a time, but in the Lord:
eat and drink we may, but "before the Lord". [Deuteronomy 12:7] The old world
may be a warning to us: they "fed without fear"; [ 1:12] and therefore perished
without favour. Let such look to it, as "live in pleasure, and are wanton"; [James
5:5] that eat to excess, and drink to drunkenness, accounting nothing mirth, but
madness; no bread sweet, but stolen; no such pleasure, as to have the devil their
playfellow; so "nourishing their hearts as in a day of slaughter," or belly-cheer,
[James 5:5] and swallowing down those murdering morsels now, that they must
digest in hell. (a)
6. PETT, "The wedding feast is arranged. It will last for seven days (Genesis 29:27).
And it is now that we first begin to see Laban’s deceitful ways, although we must be
fair and recognise that he has been put in a difficult position. He had hoped that
Leah might be married off, but it had not happened, and custom forbade Rachel
being married first.
As he ponders the problem he sees the solution. Instead of being open and honest he
foists Leah, who would be heavily veiled for the wedding, on Jacob. When they go to
BED it is dark and presumably Leah kept silent. Thus Jacob does not realise until
daylight that his silent and submissive companion is Leah. And by then it is too late.
He is legally committed to Leah.
The mention of Zilpah is to indicate that she no longer belongs to Laban but to
Leah, and thus indirectly to Jacob. She joins those whom Jacob has brought with

66. him as a member of his ‘household’. But noteworthy is the meagreness of the gift.
There is no mention of any other dowry. Laban is getting rid of his daughters on the
cheap. (Rebekah was provided with a number of young women - Genesis 24:61).
Jacob has come with little in the way of gifts. Laban returns the compliment.
23
But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah
and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.
1. Clarke, “In the evening - he took Leah his daughter - As the bride was
always veiled, and the bride chamber generally dark, or nearly so, and as Leah was
brought to Jacob in the evening, the imposition here practiced might easily pass
undetected by Jacob, till the ensuing day discovered the fraud.
2. Gill, “And it came to pass in the evening,.... After the feast was over, and the
guests were departed; when it was night, a fit season to execute his designs, and practise
deceit:
that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him, to Jacob, in his
apartment, his bedchamber, or to him in bed: for it is still the custom in some eastern
countries for the bridegroom to go to bed first, and then the bride comes, or is brought
to him in the dark, and veiled, so that he sees her not: so the Armenians have now such a
custom at their marriages that the husband goes to bed first; nor does the bride put off
her veil till in bed (o): and in Barbary the bride is brought to the bridegroom's house,
and with some of her female relations conveyed into a private room (p); then the bride's
mother, or some very near relation, introduces the bridegroom to his new spouse, who is
in the dark, and obliged in modesty not to speak or answer upon any account: and if this
was the case here, as it is highly probable it was, the imposition on Jacob is easily
accounted for:
and he went in unto her; or lay with her as his wife; a modest expression of the use of
the bed.
3. Henry, “. The base cheat which Laban put upon him when he was out of his time:
he put Leah into his arms instead of Rachel, Gen_29:23. This was Laban's sin; he
wronged both Jacob and Rachel, whose affections, doubtless, were engaged to each
other, and, if (as some say) Leah was herein no better than an adulteress, it was no small
wrong to her too. But it was Jacob's affliction, a damp to the mirth of the marriage-feast,
when in the morning behold it was Leah, Gen_29:25. It is easy to observe here how
Jacob was paid in his own coin. He had cheated his own father when he pretended to be
Esau, and now his father-in-law cheated him. Herein, how unrighteous soever Laban
was, the Lord was righteous; as Jdg_1:7. Even the righteous, if they take a false step, are

67. sometimes thus recompensed on the earth. Many that are not, like Jacob, disappointed
in the person, soon find themselves, as much to their grief, disappointed in the
character. The choice of that relation therefore, on both sides, ought to be made with
good advice and consideration, that, if there should be a disappointment, it may not be
aggravated by a consciousness of mismanagement.
4. TRAPP, “Ver. 23. He took Leah his daughter.] The elder, for the younger; by a
like fraud, as Rebekah his mother had not long before, in a cunning disguise,
substituted him, the younger son, for the elder. God pays us often in our own coin,
(a) and measures to us again the self-same measure that we have meted to others.
[Matthew 7:2] Herod mocked the wise men, and is mocked of them. [Matthew 2:16]
And how oft do we see those that would beguile others, punished with illusion? God
usually retaliates, and proportions jealousy to jealousy, provocation to provocation,
[Deuteronomy 32:21] number to number, [Isaiah 65:11-12] choice to choice, [Isaiah
66:3-4] device to device, [Micah 2:1; Micah 2:3] frowardness to frowardness,
[Psalms 18:26] contrariety to contrariety. [Leviticus 26:21] Even the righteous shall
be recompensed in the earth, [Proverbs 11:31] as was Jacob.
24
And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his
daughter as her maidservant.
1. Clarke, “And Laban gave - Zilpah his maid - Slaves given in this way to a
daughter on her marriage, were the peculiar property of the daughter; and over them the
husband had neither right nor power.
2. Gill, “And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid, for an
handmaid. It was usual to have many given them at this time, as Rebekah seems to
have had, Gen_24:59; but Leah had but one, and this was all the portion Jacob had with
her. The Targum of Jonathan is,"and Laban gave her Zilpah his daughter, whom his
concubine bore unto him:''hence the Jews say (q), that the daughters of a man by his
concubines are called maids.
3. COKE, “Genesis 29:24. Laban gave—Zilpah, &c.— It appears to have been a

68. very ancient custom, not only among the Hebrews, but with many other nations, and
particularly the Greeks and Romans, in the marriages both of their sons and their
daughters, especially the latter, for the parents to give with the bride or bridegroom
a servant to abide in their power and property only, exempt from the husband or
wife. Such was this Zilpah; such was Bilhah given to Rachel. The dramatic poets,
both Greek and Latin, afford many instances. Thus Hagar was the exempt right of
Sarah; and upon this right was founded the ejectment of her and her offspring, as
being the property of her lady, and solely at her disposal. See Parker's Occasional
Annot. 32.
25
When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said
to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I
served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you
deceived me?"
1. Gill, “And it came to pass, that, in the morning, behold, it was Leah,.... The
morning light discovered her, and her veil being off, her tender eyes showed who she
was: it is much her voice had not betrayed her; but perhaps there might be a likeness of
voice in her and her sister; or she might keep silence, and so not be discovered in that
way; but to excuse her from sin is not easy, even the sin of adultery and incest.
Manythings may be said indeed in her favour, as obedience to her father, and, being the
eldest daughter, might be desirous of having an husband first, and especially of having
the promised seed, which God promised to Abraham, and was to be in the line of Jacob:
and it may be, as Schmidt observes, that Laban had persuaded her to believe, that the
matrimonial contract he had made with Jacob was on her account, and that she was
truly his spouse; and the same he might say to Rachel, which made her easy, or
otherwise it is difficult to account for it that she should acquiesce in it; for it can hardly
be thought to be done without her knowledge, when it was for the solemnity of her
marriage that the men of the city were called together, and a feast made for them; for
that she should deliver up to her sister the things or signs that Jacob had given her to
carry on the fraud, as the Jewish writers (r) say, is beyond belief:
and he said to Laban; when he arose in the morning, and at first meeting with him:
what is this that thou hast done unto me? what a wicked thing is it? as it was, to
put another woman to bed to him that was not his wife, and in the room of his lawful
wife; or why hast thou done this to me? what reason was there for it? what have I done,

69. that could induce thee to do me such an injury? for Jacob knew what he had done, of
that he does not inquire, but of the reason of it, and expostulates with him about the
crime, as it was a sin against God, and an injury to him:
did I not serve thee, for Rachel? even seven years, according to agreement? was not
this the covenant I made with thee, that she should be my wife at the end of them?
wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? by giving Leah instead of her: though
Laban is not to be justified in this action, yet here appears in Providence a righteous
retaliation of Jacob; he beguiled his own father, pretending he was his brother Esau; and
now his father-in-law beguiles him, giving him blear eyed Leah instead of beautiful
Rachel.
2. K&D, “But when Jacob complained to Laban the next morning of his deception, he
pleaded the custom of the country: ‫ן‬ ֵⅴ ‫ה‬ ֶ‫שׂ‬ ָ‫ע‬ֵ‫י‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬, “it is not accustomed to be so in our place,
to give the younger before the first-born.” A perfectly worthless excuse; for if this had
really been the custom in Haran as in ancient India and elsewhere, he ought to have told
Jacob of it before. But to satisfy Jacob, he promised him that in a week he would give
him the younger also, if he would serve him seven years longer for her.
3. Calvin, “25.And he said to Laban. Jacob rightly expostulates respecting the fraud
practiced upon him. And the answer of Laban, though it is not without a pretext, yet
forms no excuse for the fraud. It was not the custom to give the younger daughters
in marriage before the elder: and injustice would have been done to the firstborn by
disturbing this accustomed order. But he ought not, on that account, craftily to have
betrothed Rachel to Jacob, and then to have substituted Leah in her place. He
should rather have cautioned Jacob himself, in time, to turn his thoughts to Leah, or
else to refrain from marriage with either of them. But we may learn from this, that
wicked and deceitful men, when once they have turned aside from truth, make no
end of transgressing: meanwhile, they always put forward some pretext for the
purpose of freeing themselves from blame. He had before acted unjustly toward his
nephew in demanding seven years’ labor for his daughter; he had also unjustly set
his daughter to sale, without dowry, for the sake of gain; but the most unworthy
deed of all was perfidiously to deprive his nephew of his betrothed wife, to pervert
the sacred laws of marriage, and to leave nothing safe or sound. Yet we see him
pretending that he has an honorable defense for his conduct, because it was not the
custom of the country to prefer the younger to the elder.
4. PETT, "When Jacob realises what has happened he is no doubt furious and
immediately marches in to where Laban is to lay his complaint. The terms of his
CO TRACT have been broken. The reader, however, knowing the story of Esau
will recognise that he has received as he gave. The trickster has been tricked. He
who deceived a blind man, has himself been deceived when blinded by a veil. He
who supplanted an elder kin has an elder kin planted on him. What a man sows he
reaps. And he learns his first lesson in dealing with Laban.
But Laban was no doubt waiting for the visit and has his excuses ready. He is a

70. smooth-tongued liar and confident because the strength is on his side. He is master
here. Jacob can do nothing.
26
Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the
younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
1. Clarke, “It must not be so done in our country - It was an early custom to
give daughters in marriage according to their seniority; and it is worthy of remark that
the oldest people now existing, next to the Jews, I mean the Hindoos, have this not
merely as a custom, but as a positive law; and they deem it criminal to give a younger
daughter in marriage while an elder daughter remains unmarried. Among them it is a
high offense, equal to adultery, “for a man to marry while his elder brother remains
unmarried, or for a man to give his daughter to such a person, or to give his youngest
daughter in marriage while the eldest sister remains unmarried.” - Code of Gentoo Laws,
chap. xv., sec. 1, p. 204. This was a custom at Mesopotamia; but Laban took care to
conceal it from Jacob till after he had given him Leah. The words of Laban are literally
what a Hindoo would say on such a subject.
2. Gill, “And Laban said, it must not be so done in, our country,.... Or "in our
place" (s); in this our city it is not usual and customary to do so; he does not deny what
he had done in beguiling him, nor the agreement he had made with him, but pleads the
custom of the place as contrary to it:
to give the younger, that is, in marriage:
before the firstborn; but it does not appear there was any such custom, and it was a
mere evasion; or otherwise, why did not he inform him of this when he asked for
Rachel? and why did he enter into a contract with him, contrary to such a known
custom? and besides; how could he have the nerve to call the men of the city, and make a
feast for the marriage of his younger daughter, if this was the case?
3. Henry, “The excuse and atonement Laban made for the cheat. 1. The excuse was
frivolous: It must not be so done in our country, Gen_29:26. We have reason to think
there was no such custom of his country as he pretends; only he banters Jacob with it,
and laughs at his mistake. Note, Those that can do wickedly and then think to turn it off

71. with a jest, though they may deceive themselves and others, will find at last that God is
not mocked. But if there had been such a custom, and he had resolved to observe it, he
should have told Jacob so when he undertook to serve him for his younger daughter.
Note, As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked, 1Sa_
24:13. Those that deal with treacherous men must expect to be dealt treacherously with
4. TRAPP, “Ver. 26. It must not be so done in our country.] A sorry excuse; but
better, he thought, than none at all. A subtle fox he was, and far too hard for honest
Jacob, who was "simple to evil," but of a large reach for heaven. "The children of
this world are wise in their generation"; and so is the fox in his: but God will take
them in their own craft, as wild beasts in a snare, "made and taken to be
destroyed". [1 Corinthians 3:19-20] (a) Let us take heed how we DEAL with them,
and make our bargains as wise as we can. Crebro nobis, sicut Ciceroni ,{ b} vafer
ille Siculus insusurret Epicharmi cantilenam illam suam , υφε και µεµνησο
απινειν. "We have not received the spirit of this world"; [1 Corinthians 2:12] we
cannot skill of the devil’s depths: but we have received a better thing; "the Spirit
which searcheth all, yea, the deep things of God". [1 Corinthians 2:10]
5. ELLICOTT, "(26) It must not be so done in our country.—Heb., It is not so done
in our place, to give, &c. We have seen that it is still customary for the elder cousin
to take the elder daughter, and the younger the younger. But Laban affirms that if
the elder daughter be not claimed, it was the rule in Haran for her to take
precedence over her sisters. In India the practice is such as Laban describes, but we
have no proof of the existence of any such custom among the Bedaween. Apparently
Leah loved Jacob (Genesis 30:15), and Laban wanted a CO TI UA CE of his
service, and so this unscrupulous plot was arranged between them upon a pretext
which, if not false, was yet overstrained. Jacob plainly had no idea of such a custom,
and would not have given seven years’ service for Leah.
6. PETT, "The taking of a second wife is well witnessed elsewhere, as is the later
taking of slave-wives. But for the main wives there would be legal stipulations in the
marriage contract, either written or oral and made in the presence of witnesses,
preserving their position and relative freedom. The marrying by one man of two
sisters was, however, later forbidden (Leviticus 18:18).
Laban knew that Jacob would have to recognise the strength of his argument.
Custom could not be broken. Every one in the tribe would know the situation, and
they were no doubt smiling behind Jacob’s back. And behind his triumphant but
partly concealed smile is the implication that Jacob should have known, and that
had he been smarter he would have known. It was probably not an uncommon
requirement, although marriage to the elder daughter did in fact place Jacob in a
more privileged position. (An argument which Laban might well have called on
when placating Jacob. Marriage was not on the whole looked on as a romantic
affair).

72. However Laban is not averse to Jacob and placates him with a further offer. Let
him go through the seven-day wedding feast (see Judges 14:12) without trouble,
giving Leah her full due, and then he can also marry Rachel. After which he must
work another seven years for the privilege, as a now privileged member of the tribe.
It has been suggested in the LIGHT of parallels elsewhere that Laban adopts Jacob
as a son, but there is nothing in the narrative to suggest this and much to
demonstrate that he retained a level of independence. He was an established
member of the family tribe, connected by marriage, but his services had to be
retained by contract. Thus the new seven year contract.
27
Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give
you the younger one also, in return for another seven
years of work."
1. Clarke, “Fulfill her week - The marriage feast, it appears, lasted seven days; it
would not therefore have been proper to break off the solemnities to which all the men
of the place had been invited, Gen_29:22, and probably Laban wished to keep his fraud
from the public eye; therefore he informs Jacob that if he will fulfill the marriage week
for Leah, he will give him Rachel at the end of it, on condition of his serving seven other
years. To this the necessity of the case caused Jacob to agree; and thus Laban had
fourteen years’ service instead of seven: for it is not likely that Jacob would have served
even seven days for Leah, as his affection was wholly set on Rachel, the wife of his own
choice. By this stratagem Laban gained a settlement for both his daughters. What a man
soweth, that shall he reap. Jacob had before practiced deceit, and is now deceived; and
Laban, the instrument of it, was afterwards deceived himself.
2. Gill, “Fulfil her week,.... Not Rachel's week, or a week of years of servitude for her,
but Leah's week, or the week of seven days of feasting for her marriage; for a marriage
feast used to be kept seven days, according to the Jewish writers (t), and as it seems
from Jdg_14:17; and the Targum of Jerusalem fully expresses this sense,"fulfil the week
of the days of the feast of Leah;''and to the same sense the Targum of Jonathan, Aben
Ezra and Jarchi:

73. and we will give this also; meaning Rachel that stood by; and the sense is, that he
and his wife, if he had any, or his friends about him, would give to Jacob Rachel also to
be his wife, upon the following condition:
for the service which thou shall serve with me yet seven other years; which
shows the avaricious temper of the man.
3. Henry, “His compounding the matter did but make bad worse: We will give thee
this also, Gen_29:27. Hereby he drew Jacob into the sin, and snare, and disquiet, of
multiplying wives, which remains a blot in his escutcheon, and will be so to the end of
the world. Honest Jacob did not design it, but to have kept as true to Rachel as his father
had done to Rebekah. He that had lived without a wife to the eighty-fourth year of his
age could then have been very well content with one; but Laban, to dispose of his two
daughters without portions, and to get seven years' service more out of Jacob, thus
imposes upon him, and draws him into such a strait by his fraud, that (the matter not
being yet settled, as it was afterwards by the divine law, Lev_18:18, and more fully since
by our Saviour, Mat_19:5) he had some colourable reasons for marrying them both. He
could not refuse Rachel, for he had espoused her; still less could he refuse Leah, for he
had married her; and therefore Jacob must be content, and take two talents, 2Ki_5:23.
Note, One sin is commonly the inlet of another. Those that go in by one door of
wickedness seldom find their way out but by another. The polygamy of the patriarchs
was, in some measure, excusable in them, because, though there was a reason against it
as ancient as Adam's marriage (Mal_2:15), yet there was no express command against it;
it was in them a sin of ignorance. It was not he product of any sinful lust, but for the
building up of the church, which was the good that Providence brought out of it; but it
will by no means justify the like practice now, when God's will is plainly made known,
that one man and one woman only must be joined together, 1Co_7:2. The having of
many wives suits well enough with the carnal sensual spirit of the Mahomedan
imposture, which allows it; but we have not so learned Christ. Dr. Lightfoot makes Leah
and Rachel to be figures of the two churches, the Jews under the law and the Gentiles
under the gospel: the younger the more beautiful, and more in the thoughts of Christ
when he came in the form of a servant; but he other, like Leah, first embraced: yet in this
the allegory does not hold, that the Gentiles, the younger, were more fruitful, Gal_4:27.
4. K&D, ““Fulfil her week;” i.e., let Leah's marriage-week pass over. The wedding feast
generally lasted a week (cf. Jdg_14:12; Job_11:19). After this week had passed, he
received Rachel also: two wives in eight days. To each of these Laban gave one maid-
servant to wait upon her; less, therefore, than Bethuel gave to his daughter (Gen_24:61).
- This bigamy of Jacob must not be judged directly by the Mosaic law, which prohibits
marriage with two sisters at the same time (Lev_18:18), or set down as incest (Calvin,
etc.), since there was no positive law on the point in existence then. At the same time, it
is not to be justified on the ground, that the blessing of God made it the means of the
fulfilment of His promise, viz., the multiplication of the seed of Abraham into a great
nation. Just as it had arisen from Laban's deception and Jacob's love, which regarded
outward beauty alone, and therefore from sinful infirmities, so did it become in its
results a true school of affliction to Jacob, in which God showed to him, by many a
humiliation, that such conduct as his was quite unfitted to accomplish the divine
counsels, and thus condemned the ungodliness of such a marriage, and prepared the

74. way for the subsequent prohibition in the law.
5. Calvin, “27.Fulfil her week. Laban now is become callous in wickedness, for he
extorts other seven years from his nephew to allow him to marry his other daughter.
If he had had ten more daughters, he would have been ready thus to dispose of them
all: yea, of his own accord, he obtrudes his daughter as an object of merchandise,
thinking nothing of the disgrace of this illicit sale, if only he may make it a source of
gain. In this truly he grievously sins, that he not only involves his nephew in
polygamy, but pollutes both him and his own daughters by incestuous nuptials. If by
any means a wife is not loved by her husband, it is better to repudiate her than that
she should be retained as a captive, and consumed with grief by the introduction of
a second wife. Therefore the Lord, by Malachi, pronounces divorce to be more
tolerable than polygamy. (Malachi 2:14.) Laban, blinded by avarice, so sets his
daughters together, that they spend their whole lives in mutual hostility. He also
perverts all the laws of nature by casting two sisters into one marriage-bed, (67) so
that the one is the competitor of the other. Since Moses sets these crimes before the
Israelites in the very commencement of their history, it is not for them to be inflated
by the sense of their nobility, so that they should boast of their descent from holy
fathers. For, however excellent Jacob might be, he had no other offspring than that
which sprung from an impure source; since, contrary to nature, two sisters are
mixed together in one bed; (68) in the mode of beasts; and two concubines are
afterwards added to the mass. We have seen indeed, above, that this license was too
common among oriental nations; but it was not allowable for men, at their own
pleasure, to subvert, by a depraved custom, the law of marriage divinely sanctioned
from the beginning. Therefore, Laban is, in every way, inexcusable. And although
necessity may, in some degree, excuse the fault of Jacob, it cannot altogether absolve
him from blame. For he might have dismissed Leah, because she had not been his
lawful wife: because the mutual consent of the man and the woman, respecting
which mistake is impossible, constitutes marriage. But Jacob reluctantly retains her
as his wife, from whom he was released and free, and thus doubles his fault by
polygamy, and trebles it by an incestuous marriage. Thus we see that the inordinate
love of Rachel, which had been once excited in his mind, was inflamed to such a
degree, that he possessed neither moderation nor judgment. With respect to the
words made use of, interpreters ascribe to them different meanings. Some refer the
demonstrative pronoun to the week; (69) others to Leah, as if it had been said, that
he should not have Rachel until he had lived with her sister one week. But I rather
explain it of Rachel, that he should purchase a marriage with her by another seven
years’ service; not that Laban deferred the nuptials to the end of that time, but that
Jacob was compelled to engage himself in a new servitude.
6. TRAPP, "Ver. 27. We will give thee this also.] See here the guise of wicked and
deceitful men: when one fetch has been born in their minds, they devise another;
and make no end of overreaching; there never wanting (as the proverb hath it) a
new knack in a knave’s cap. They will search the devil’s skull, but they will find out

75. one slippery trick or another, to cheat and go beyond those they deal with. But let
them look to it; "God is the avenger of all such," [1 Thessalonians 4:6] whose, not
heads only, but "bellies prepare deceit". [Job 15:35]
7. ELLICOTT, "(27) Fulfil her week.—The marriage festival seems to have lasted a
week, as was the custom in later times (Judges 14:12), and. to have forsaken Leah
during this period would have been to offer her an insult which her brothers must
have avenged. Appeased, therefore, by the promise of Rachel as soon as the seven
days are over, Jacob, rather than quarrel with the whole family, submits to the
wrong. The Hebrew is remarkable, “Fulfil the week of this, and we will give to thee
also the this for the service.” But in Hebrew this . . . this means the one and the
other (Genesis 31:38; Genesis 31:41), and it is a mistake to suppose that the
language will allow the first this to be understood of any one but Leah, and the
second this of any one but Rachel.
8. COKE, "Genesis 29:27. Fulfil her week— i.e.. perfect this marriage with Leah, by
keeping the solemnity of seven days feasting, which seems to have been the time
allowed for marriage feasts; and this done, thou shalt solemnize thy marriage with
Rachel also, on condition of serving me seven years more. It appears beyond all
dispute that he was married to Rachel immediately after the expiration of the seven
days, which the subsequent history, the birth of the children, &c. abundantly prove.
Selden's paraphrase is: "Marriages are to be celebrated, according to custom, by a
seven days feast: complete this marriage which thou hast begun with Leah; and
then, upon condition of another seven years service, thou shalt marry Rachel also,
and keep her wedding-feast seven days."
28
And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah,
and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be
his wife.
1. Clarke, “And Jacob did so - and he gave him Rachel - It is perfectly plain
that Jacob did not serve seven years more before he got Rachel to wife; but having spent
a week with Leah, and in keeping the marriage feast, he then got Rachel, and served
afterwards seven years for her. Connections of this kind are now called incestuous; but it

76. appears they were allowable in those ancient times. In taking both sisters, it does not
appear that any blame attached to Jacob, though in consequence of it he was vexed by
their jealousies. It was probably because of this that the law was made, Thou shalt not
take a wife to her sister, to vex her, besides the other in her life-time. After this, all such
marriages were strictly forbidden.
2. Gill, “And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week,.... The week of the days of the
feast of Leah, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; he agreed to it; during which time he
cohabited with Leah as his wife, and which confirmed the marriage: how justifiable this
was, must be left. The marrying of two sisters was forbidden by the law of Moses, Lev_
18:18; and polygamy was not allowed of in later times, and yet both were dispensed with
in times preceding; and there seems to be an overruling Providence in this affair, which
oftentimes brings good out of evil, since the Messiah was to spring from Leah, and not
Rachel; See Gill on Gen_29:35; and having more wives than one, and concubines also,
seems to be permitted for this reason, that Jacob might have a numerous progeny, as it
was promised he should: and indeed Jacob was under some necessity of marrying both
sisters, since the one was ignorantly defiled by him, and the other was his wife by
espousal and contract; and though he had served seven years for her, he could not have
her without consenting to marry the other, and fulfilling her week, and serving seven
years more; to such hard terms was he obliged by an unkind uncle, in a strange country,
and destitute:
and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also; not after seven years' service,
as Josephus (u) thinks, but after the seven days of feasting for Leah; though on
condition of the above service, as appears from various circumstances related before the
seven years' service could be completed; as his going in to Rachel, Gen_29:30; her
envying the fruitfulness of her sister, Gen_30:1; giving Bilhah her handmaid unto him,
Gen_30:3; and the whole series of the context, and life of Jacob.
3. TRAPP, “Ver. 28. And Jacob did so.] A MIRROR of patience; which, in Jacob
here, had line and rope, "her perfect work"; showing him to be "perfect and entire,
wanting nothing". [James 1:3-4] Godly people can bear wrongs best of any: compel
them to go a mile, they will be content, if it may do good, to go twain; [Matthew
5:41] yea, as far as the shoes of "the preparation of the gospel of peace" [Ephesians
6:15] will carry them.
4. ELLICOTT, "(28) He gave him Rachel . . . to wife also.—After the monogamy of
Abraham, and the stricter monogamy of Isaac, how came Jacob to marry two
wives? Abravanel says that as Esau ought to have married Leah, and Jacob Rachel,
he acted only as his brother’s substitute in taking the elder, and was still free to
marry the younger sister, who was his by custom, He thinks also that Jacob,
recalling the promise of a. SEEDnumerous as the dust (Genesis 28:14), and seeing
how near the family had been to total extinction in the days of his father and
grandfather, desired to place it on a more SECURE basis. More probably, even

77. after Leah had been forced upon him, Jacob regarded Rachel as his own, and as
polygamy was not actually forbidden, considered that he was only acting justly by
her and himself in marrying her. He had seen Esau blamed, not for marrying two
wives, but for taking Hittites; and his love for Rachel would make him need but
little argument. The only other alternative, namely, to have divorced Leah, would
have been worse, and happily divorce was not a practice as yet introduced.
5. PETT, "Jacob carries out his part of the bargain. He gives Leah due deference for
the week of the marriage ceremony, and fulfils his responsibilities as a husband.
Then he also marries Rachel. Leah’s part was not a happy one for she knows it is
her sister that Jacob wants, but she was used to the fact that a woman could be
married off by her menfolk, and would accept her lot. She knew she could have
done a lot worse. What grieved both her and Rachel was the particular way in
which it was carried out so that neither of them received any financial benefit. Only
a handmaid each. They felt that Laban had withheld from them some of their rights
(see for this Genesis 31:14-16).
29
Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter
Rachel as her maidservant.
1. Gill, “And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, Bilhah his handmaid to be
her maid. As he had given Leah an handmaid he gave Rachel another; and this in the
Targum of Jonathan is said to be a daughter of Laban by a concubine also, as the former.
2. Jamison, “gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah to be her maid — A father in
good circumstances still gives his daughter from his household a female slave, over
whom the young wife, independently of her husband, has the absolute control.
3. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Genesis 29:29-35
He loved also Rachel more than Leah
Leah and Rachel: their trims and compensations
I. THEIR TRIALS. Leah was “hated “ (Gen_29:31), i.e., she was loved less than Rachel
By becoming a party to a heartless fraud she lost her husband’s affections. And Rachel,
the beloved wife, was denied the blessing of children, so coveted by the ancient Hebrew

78. mothers (Gen_29:31). Both had trials, though of a different kind.
II. THEIR COMPENSATIONS. Leah was blessed with children, which compensated her
for the loss of her husband’s love. The names of the four sons successively born to her
were all significant, and betoken that pious habit of mind which recognized the hand of
God in all that befel her. She called the first-born, Reuben (Hebrews) “see ye a son.” The
second, Simeon (Hebrews) “hearing,” for God had heard her prayer and seen her
affliction. The third was named Levi (Hebrews) “joined.” Now, surely, would the breach
be healed and the husband and wife joined together by this threefold cord. The fourth
she called Judah (Hebrews) “praise,” as if recording her thankfulness that she had won
the affections of her husband by bearing to him so many sons. Rachel, on the other
hand, continued barren. But she was compensated by her beauty, and by the thought
that she was first in her husband’s affections. Thus with the evils which fall to the lot of
individuals, there are compensations. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. God doth not see as men, not as good men see sometimes in accepting persons.
2. God’s providence may be regardful of them who are neglected by men.
3. Undervalued and hated mercies may, under God’s ordering, prove most fruitful to
men.
4. The most regarded by men may be disrespected upon some accounts with God.
5. The most lovely mercies in man’s eye may prove barren and unfruitful to him
(Gen_29:31), (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Worth better than beauty
The cultivation of the beautiful is, indeed, the first step towards civilization; but it is no
more than a means of education; it has accomplished its purpose when it has
contributed to awaken the interest for thought and truth; the Greeks were an element in
the development of mankind; but their mission ceased when they had opened the minds
of men for the reception of abstract ideas; and the sentence which a Greek sage wrote
over his door: “nothing ugly must enter,” was to be superseded by the Biblical maxim:
“deceitful is gracefulness, and vain is beauty; a woman who feareth the Lord, she alone
deserveth praise” Pro_31:30). While the first woman was merely “ she who gives life”
(Eve); the daughter of Lamech, seven generations later, was the “beautiful” (Naamah);
this was certainly a progress; but many centuries were required to elapse before men
ceased to regard beauty both as the test of worth, and a proof of special Divine favour.
To contribute towards this important lesson is the end of this portion; for, “when the
Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren”; by the
same act He taught Jacob wisdom, and procured justice to Leah. The latter was clearly
aware of this turning-point in her life; for when she gave birth to a son, she exclaimed:
“Surely, the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” Nor
does she seem to have been unworthy of being blessed with offspring; the love of her
husband was the sole object of her thoughts and feelings. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.).

79. 30
Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more
than Leah. And
1. Gill, “And he went in also unto Rachel,.... Cohabited with her as his wife:
and he loved also Rachel more than Leah; she was his first love, and he retained
the same love for her he ever had; as appears by his willingness to agree to the same
condition of seven years' servitude more for her sake, and which he performed as
follows:
and served with him, yet seven other years; that is, Jacob served so many years
with Laban after he had married his two daughters, and fulfilled the weeks of feasting for
each of them.
2. HAWKER, “Some have thought that by the two wives of Jacob, are represented the
two churches, the Jew and the Gentile.
3. Calvin, “30.And he loved also Rachel more than Leah. o doubt Moses intended
to exhibit the sins of Jacob, that we might learn to fear, and to conform all our
actions to the sole rule of God’s word. For if the holy patriarch fell so grievously,
who among us is secure from a similar fall, unless kept by the guardian care of
God? At the same time, it appears how dangerous it is to imitate the fathers while
we neglect the law of the Lord. And yet the foolish Papists so greatly delight
themselves in this imitation, that they do not scruple to observe, as a law, whatever
they find to have been practiced by the fathers. Besides which, they own as fathers
those who are worthy of such sons, so that any raving monk is of more account with
them than all the patriarchs. It was not without fault on Leah’s part that she was
despised by her husband; and the Lord justly chastised her, because she, being
aware of her father’s fraud, dishonorably obtained possession of her sister’s
husband; but her fault forms no excuse for Jacob’s lust.
4. TRAPP, "Ver. 30. And he went in also unto Rachel.] Which incestuous fact
cannot ordinarily be justified, nor may at all be imitated. Wicked Julia, soliciting

80. Caracalla to incestuous marriage with her, when he answered, Vellem si liceret ,
replied impudently (and is therefore, by very heathens, condemned extremely), Si
libet, licet: an nescis te Imperatorem esse, leges dare non accipere ?& c. Herod, for
marrying his brother’s wife, was reproved, and punished.
31
When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he
opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
1. Barnes, “Gen_29:31-35
Leah bears four sons to Jacob. “The Lord saw.” The eye of the Lord is upon the
sufferer. It is remarkable that both the narrator and Leah employ the proper name of
God, which makes the performance of promise a prominent feature of his character.
This is appropriate in the mouth of Leah, who is the mother of the promised seed. “That
Leah was hated” - less loved than Rachel. He therefore recompenses her for the lack of
her husband’s affections by giving her children, while Rachel was barren. “Reuben” -
behold a son. “The Lord hath looked on my affliction.” Leah had qualities of heart, if not
of outward appearance, which commanded esteem. She had learned to acknowledge the
Lord in all her ways. “Simon” - answer. She had prayed to the Lord, and this was her
answer. “Levi” - union, the reconciler. Her husband could not, according to the
prevailing sentiments of those days, fail to be attached to the mother of three sons.
“Judah” - praised. Well may she praise the Lord; for this is the ancestor of the promised
seed. It is remarkable that the wife of priority, but not of preference, is the mother of the
seed in whom all nations are to be blessed. Levi the reconciler is the father of the priestly
tribe. Simon is attached to Judah. Reuben retires into the background.
Reuben may have been born when Jacob was still only eighty-four, and consequently
Judah was born when Jacob was eighty-seven.
2. Clarke, “The Lord saw that Leah was hated - From this and the preceding
verse we get the genuine meaning of the word ‫שנא‬ sane, to hate, in certain disputed
places in the Scriptures. The word simply signifies a less degree of love; so it is said,
Gen_29:30 : “Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah,” i.e., he loved Leah less than Rachel;
and this is called hating in Gen_29:31 : When the Lord saw that Leah was hated - that
she had less affection shown to her than was her due, as one of the legitimate wives of
Jacob, he opened her womb - he blessed her with children. Now the frequent intercourse
of Jacob with Leah (see the following verses) sufficiently proves that he did not hate her

81. in the sense in which this term is used among us; but he felt and showed less affection
for her than for her sister. So Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated, simply means, I
have shown a greater degree of affection for Jacob and his posterity than I have done for
Esau and his descendants, by giving the former a better earthly portion than I have given
to the latter, and by choosing the family of Jacob to be the progenitors of the Messiah.
But not one word of all this relates to the eternal states of either of the two nations.
Those who endeavor to support certain peculiarities of their creed by such scriptures as
these, do greatly err, not knowing the Scripture, and not properly considering either the
sovereignty or the mercy of God.
3. Gill, “And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated,.... Not properly and simply
hated by Jacob, as appears by his doing the duty of an husband to her, but
comparatively; she was less loved than Rachel: and there are many things to be said for
it; she was not beautiful as Rachel was; she was not Jacob's choice, as she was but
imposed upon him through deceit, and he was forced to marry her, or he could not have
Rachel his beloved wife: but the Lord had pity on her, and that she might have a share in
her husband's affections:
he opened her womb; or gave her conception; as Onkelos paraphrases it:
but Rachel was barren; bare no children as yet, and for many years after, Gen_
30:22.
4. Henry, “We have here the birth of four of Jacob's sons, all by Leah. Observe, 1. That
Leah, who was less beloved, was blessed with children, when Rachel was denied that
blessing, Gen_29:31. See how Providence, in dispensing its gifts, observes a proportion,
to keep the balance even, setting crosses and comforts one over-against another, that
none may be either too much elevated or too much depressed. Rachel wants children,
but she is blessed with her husband's love; Leah wants that, but she is fruitful. Thus it
was between Elkana's two wives (1Sa_1:5); for the Lord is wise and righteous. When the
Lord saw that Leah was hated, that is, loved less than Rachel, in which sense it is
required that we hate father and mother, in comparison with Christ (Luk_14:26), then
the Lord granted her a child, which was a rebuke to Jacob, for making so great a
difference between those that he was equally related to, - a check to Rachel, who perhaps
insulted over her sister upon that account, - and a comfort to Leah, that she might not be
overwhelmed with the contempt put upon her: thus God giveth abundant honour to
that which lacked, 1Co_12:24.
5. Jamison, “Leah ... hated — that is, not loved so much as she ought to have been.
Her becoming a mother ensured her rising in the estimation both of her husband and of
society.
6. K&D, “Leah's First Sons. - Jacob's sinful weakness showed itself even after his
marriage, in the fact that he loved Rachel more than Leah; and the chastisement of God,
in the fact that the hated wife was blessed with children, whilst Rachel for a long time
remained unfruitful. By this it was made apparent once more, that the origin of Israel

82. was to be a work not of nature, but of grace. Leah had four sons in rapid succession, and
gave them names which indicated her state of mind: (1) Reuben, “see, a son!” because
she regarded his birth as a pledge that Jehovah had graciously looked upon her misery,
for now her husband would love her; (2) Simeon, i.e., “hearing,” for Jehovah had heard,
i.e., observed that she was hated; (3) Levi, i.e., attachment, for she hoped that this time,
at least, after she had born three sons, her husband would become attached to her, i.e.,
show her some affection; (4) Judah (‫ה‬ ָ‫הוּד‬ְ‫,י‬ verbal, of the fut. hoph. of ‫,)ידה‬ i.e., praise,
not merely the praised one, but the one for whom Jehovah is praised. After this fourth
birth there was a pause (Gen_29:31), that she might not be unduly lifted up by her good
fortune, or attribute to the fruitfulness of her own womb what the faithfulness of
Jehovah, the covenant God had bestowed upon her.
7. Calvin, “31.And when the Lord saw. Moses here shows that Jacob’s extravagant
love was corrected by the Lord; as the affections of the faithful, when they become
inordinate, are wont to be tamed by the rod. Rachel is loved, not without wrong to
her sister, to whom due honor is not given. The Lord, therefore, interposes as her
vindicator, and, by a suitable remedy, turns the mind of Jacob into that direction, to
which it had been most averse. This passage teaches us, that offspring is a special
gift of God; since the power of rendering one fertile, and of cursing the womb of the
other with barrenness, is expressly ascribed to him. We must observe further, that
the bringing forth of offspring tends to conciliate husbands to their wives. Whence
also the ancients have called children by the name of pledges; because they avail, in
no slight degree, to increase and to cherish mutual love. When Moses asserts that
Leah was hated, his meaning is, that she was not loved so much as she ought to have
been. For she was not intolerable to Jacob, neither did he pursue her with hatred;
but Moses, by the use of this word, amplifies his fault, in not having discharged the
duty of a husband, and in not having treated her who was his first wife with
adequate kindness and honor. It is of importance carefully to notice this, because
many think they fulfill their duty if they do not break out into mortal hatred. But we
see that the Holy Spirit pronounces those as hated who are not sufficiently loved;
and we know, that men were created for this end, that they should love one another.
Therefore, none will be counted guiltless of the crime of hatred before God, but he
who embraces his neighbors with love. For not only will a secret displeasure be
accounted as hatred, but even that neglect of brethren, and that cold charity which
ever reigns in the world. But in proportion as any one is more closely connected with
another, must be the endeavor to adhere to each other in a more sacred bond of
affection. Moreover, with respect to married persons, though they may not openly
disagree, yet if they are cold in their affection towards each other, this disgust is not
far removed from hatred.
8. COFFMA , ""And Jehovah saw that Leah was hated ..." The word "hate" in its
various tenses has in this usage of it, a meaning of "to love less." So, similarly, Jesus
commanded those who would follow him to "hate" father and mother (Luke 14:26).
othing of the usual meaning of the word clings to what is meant in such usage. It

83. simply means that Jacob CO TI UED to love Rachel MORE THA he loved
Leah. "The word hated indicates less affection or less devotion; it does not indicate
positive hatred."[20] One is left to wonder about the reason for Leah's distress. Did
she not consent to the deception that placed her in the BED that by right of seven
years of slavery had been won for Rachel by Jacob? Could she have been unaware
that the wrong done to her sister was a very unlikely aid in winning the affections of
Jacob? Was that deception, in which Leah was certainly an accomplice, the thing
which provoked the resentment and hatred of Jacob? The fact is that the various
evils which inherently belonged to that which Laban and his family did to Jacob set
up and established an environment for Jacob's home in which happiness, in any
ultimate sense, would forever be a stranger.
Aside from the human interest that attaches to this paragraph, the big thing in it is
the birth of four of the patriarchs - Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. Also,
significantly, the names of Zilpah and Bilhah appear here. They were the
handmaids presented to Leah and Rachel as wedding gifts. The system of
concubinage later introduced into this family by Rachel would make them also co-
mothers of the Twelve Tribes.
9. PETT, "The bearing of a son was of vital importance in Jacob’s day for such a
son or sons would inherit the family tribe and wealth and maintain the family name.
A man felt he lived on in his sons. They would also eventually strengthen Jacob’s
position. Thus Leah is delighted when she bears not one but four sons. But Rachel,
who was barren was devastated.
The writer sees what has happened to Leah as a sign of God’s goodness to her. But
it is noteworthy that he does not directly suggest that Rachel’s barrenness is God’s
handywork, although others would see it that way.
“Unloved.” The word regularly means ‘hated’ but the previous verse suggests that
although Jacob preferred Rachel he still had some love for Leah. Thus the
translation ‘unloved’ is more likely. There is no suggestion that he treated her badly
(contrast his words to his beloved Rachel in 30:2).
10. COKE, "Genesis 29:31. Leah was hated— The words in the foregoing verse
explain this seemingly harsh expression, He loved Rachel more than Leah; this is
agreeable to the Hebrew idiom; see Malachi 1:2-3. Luke 14:26. The word hate, in
the ew Testament, is frequently to be understood in this sense, of loving less.
Considering the part Leah acted, nobody can wonder she was hated, that is, less
beloved than Rachel; while hence we have an argument against polygamy, it bring
morally impossible for a man so to divide his affections, as to preserve mutual
harmony, and to prevent domestic feuds and discord.

84. He opened her womb, &c.— We may note in this instance the goodness of that
Providence who is ever watchful over the welfare of his creatures. To sooth the
affliction of Leah, for the want of her husband's love, he blesses her with children.
All states in life have their comforts and their evils: it is our wisdom to be thankful
for the former, and to bear the latter with all possible fortitude and resignation. The
names which Leah gave her four sons are derived from the Hebrew: the
interpretation of the names is given in the margin of our Bibles; and it affords a
proof, as Bishop Patrick remarks, that Laban's family spake the same language with
Abraham's, with some little variation; see note on Luke 14:4.
11. CO STABLE, "God formed Jacob's family, the ancestors of the tribes of Israel,
as He had promised Jacob at Bethel. Unfortunately Jacob and his wives lived in
envy and friction over how God chose to bless them. The real issue of the two sisters'
conflicts in this pericope is the same as that of the brothers Esau and Jacob's
struggle. Who will take the lead and be first, and who will have to serve?
"Jacob had planned to take Rachel as his wife, but God intended him to have Leah.
Thus in two major reversals in Jacob's life, we can begin to see the writer's theme
taking shape. Jacob sought to marry Rachel, but Laban tricked him. Then Jacob
sought to build a family through Rachel, but she was barren; and God opened
Leah's womb." [ ote: Ibid., p. 200.]
This record of Jacob's children, the center of the Jacob story structurally, is
important for at least three reasons.
1. It shows God's faithfulness in providing descendants as He had promised.
" ow the account centers on the fulfillment of Yahweh's promise to be with Jacob
and to bless him." [ ote: Leupold, 2:800.]
2. It gives the origins and circumstances surrounding the births of the tribal heads
of Israel.
"The theme of the Pentateuch is not difficult to discern. It is the story of the birth
and adolescence of a nation." [ ote: Whybray, p. 9.]
3. It explains much of the tribal rivalry that follows in Israel's history.
The section culminates with the birth of Joseph (Genesis 30:24), which proved to be
the cue for Jacob to return home (Genesis 30:25).
12. PULPIT, "Leah and Rachel, or the two wives.
I. RACHEL THE BELOVED. "Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah." That Leah
was not hated in the sense of being regarded with aversion, the numerous family she

85. bore to Jacob proves; that she occupied a lower place than Rachel in her husband's
affections is explicitly declared. This preference of Rachel to Leah was—
1. atural in Jacob. Rachel had been his heart's choice from the first, while Leah
had been thrust upon him against his inclination. But even had this been otherwise,
as no man can serve two masters, so can no husband love two wives equally—an
argument against polygamy.
2. Painful to Leah. Had Leah loved Jacob less than she manifestly did, it is doubtful
if the undue regard shown to Rachel would not have inflicted a grievous wound
upon her wifely heart; but, entertaining towards him an affection strong and tender,
she yearned for a larger share of his esteem, and at each successive child's birth
gave utterance to a hope that he would yet be joined to her. o heavier blow can be
dealt by a husband to the tender heart of a loving wife than to withdraw from her
his love, or even to be cold and indifferent in its expression.
3. Sinful in the sight of God. Though not so beautiful as Rachel, Leah was yet
entitled to an equal share with her in Jacob's affection. Equally with Rachel she was
Jacob's wife. It was Jacob's sin that he had married her at all when he did not either
love or desire her. On detecting the fraud he should have instantly repudiated the
engagement. But having publicly ratified the contract with Leah by fulfilling her
week, he owed to Leah a full share of his affection as a husband. ay, though not
the wife his inclination had selected, there is reason for believing that Leah, rather
than Rachel, was the bride God had chosen (Leah was the ancestress of the Savior);
hence doubly was Jacob bound to love Leah equally with Rachel.
II. LEAH THE FRUITFUL. While Rachel enjoyed the highest place in Jacob's
affection, she was "barren"—a grievous affliction to one who might possibly be the
mother of the promised Seed. The fruitfulness of Leah was—
1. Expressly caused by God. The Lord, who had decreed temporary barrenness for
Rachel the fair, opened the womb of Leah the despised; neither to compensate Leah
for the loss of Jacob's love, nor to punish Jacob for his sinful partiality; but to
manifest his power, to show that children are the heritage of the Lord, to vindicate
his sovereignty, to attest that God giveth families to whomsoever he will, and to
suggest that the line of promise was designed to be not the fruit of nature, but the
gift of grace.
2. Thankfully acknowledged by Leah. While cherishing the hope that her children
would eventually unite Jacob's heart to her own, she delightedly recognized her
exceptional fruitfulness as a special mark of Jehovah's favor, and gave expression to
her gratitude in the naming of her sons: Reuben, see, a son! Simeon, hearing; Levi,

86. joined; Judah, praise.
3. Enviously beheld by Rachel. This appears from the opening statement in the
ensuing chapter; and this, though perhaps as natural as Leah's sense of pain at
Rachel's preference by Jacob, was yet as sinful as Jacob's excessive partiality
towards herself.
Learn—
1. The sinfulness and sorrow of having more wives at once than one.
2. The wickedness of wedding where one does not love.
3. The sovereignty of God in giving and withholding children.
4. The cruelty and criminality of showing partiality towards those who possess an
equal claim on our affections.
5. The duty and profit of remembering and acknowledging family mercies.
32
Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She
named him Reuben,[2] for she said, "It is because the
LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will
love me now."
1. Clarke, “She called his name Reuben - ‫ראובן‬ reuben, literally, see ye or behold a
son; for Jehovah hath looked upon, ‫ראה‬ raah, beheld, my affliction; behold then the
consequence, I have got a son!

87. 2. Gill, “And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name
Reuben,.... That is, "see the son", as if she by this name called upon her husband, her
friends, and all about her, to look at him, and view him; perhaps hoping and imagining
he might be the famous son, the promised seed, the Messiah that was to spring to
Abraham, in the line of Jacob; but if she so thought, she was greatly mistaken; for this
son of hers proved unstable, and did not excel; or rather God hath seen or provided a
son, as Hillerus (w) gives the signification of the name, which seems better to agree with
what follows:
for she said, surely the Lord hath looked on my affliction; being deceived by
her father, not so much loved by her husband as her sister was, and perhaps slighted by
her:
now therefore my husband will love me: more than he has done, and equally as
my sister, having bore him a son.
3. Henry, “The names she gave her children were expressive of her respectful regards
both to God and to her husband. (1.) She appears very ambitious of her husband's love:
she reckoned the want of it her affliction (Gen_29:32); not upbraiding him with it as his
fault, nor reproaching him for it, and so making herself uneasy to him, but laying it to
heart as her grief, which yet she had reason to bear with the more patience because she
herself was consenting to the fraud by which she became his wife; and we may well bear
that trouble with patience which we bring upon ourselves by our own sin and folly. She
promised herself that the children she bore him would gain her the interest she desired
in his affections. She called her first-born Reuben (see a son), with this pleasant thought,
Now will my husband love me; and her third son Levi (joined), with this expectation,
Now will my husband by joined unto me, Gen_29:34. Mutual affection is both the duty
and comfort of that relation; and yoke-fellows should study to recommend themselves to
each other, 1Co_7:33, 1Co_7:34.
4. Jamison, “son ... his name Reuben — Names were also significant; and those
which Leah gave to her sons were expressive of her varying feelings of thankfulness or
joy, or allusive to circumstances in the history of the family. There was piety and wisdom
in attaching a signification to names, as it tended to keep the bearer in remembrance of
his duty and the claims of God.
5. Calvin, “32.She called his name Reuben. Moses relates that Leah was not
ungrateful to God. And truly, I do not doubt, that the benefits of God were then
commonly more appreciated than they are now. For a profane stupor so occupies
the mind of nearly all men, that, like cattle, they swallow up whatever benefits God,
in his kindness, bestows upon them. Further, Leah not only acknowledges God as
the author of her fruitfulness; but also assigns as a reason, that her affliction had
been looked upon by the Lord, and a son had been given her who should draw the
affection of her husband to herself. Whence it appears probable, that when she saw
herself despised, she had recourse to prayer, in order that she might receive more

88. succor from heaven. For thanksgiving is a proof that persons have previously
exercised themselves in prayer; since they who hope for nothing from God do, by
their indolence, bury in oblivion all the favors he has conferred upon them.
Therefore, Leah inscribed on the person of her son (70) a memorial whereby she
might stir herself up to offer praise to God. This passage also teaches, that they who
are unjustly despised by men are regarded by the Lord. Hence it affords a
singularly profitable consolation to the faithful; who, as experience shows, are for
the most part despised in the world. Whenever, therefore, they are treated harshly
and contumeliously by men, let them take refuge in this thought, that God will be
the more propitious to them. Leah followed the same course in reference to her
second son; for she gave him a name which is derived from “hearing,” (71) to recall
to her memory that her sighs had been heard by the Lord. Whence we conjecture
(as I have just before said) that when affliction was pressing upon her, she cast her
griefs into the bosom of God. Her third son she names from “joining;” (72) as if she
would say, now a new link is interposed, so that she should be more loved by her
husband. In her fourth son, she again declares her piety towards God, for she gives
to him the name of “praise,” (73) as having been granted to her by the special
kindness of God. She had, indeed, previously given thanks to the Lord; but whereas
more abundant material for praise is supplied, she acknowledges not once only, nor
by one single method, but frequently, that she has been assisted by the favor of God.
6. ELLICOTT, "(32-35) She called his name Reuben.—There is something very
touching in the history of these four births. When the first child is born, Leah
joyfully calls him “Reuben,” that is, See, a son! and fondly hopes that now she is a
mother her husband will love her. And the mention of her “affliction” shows that,
while she loved Jacob tenderly, he was to her more than unloving. Her second son
she calls” Simeon,” that is hearing, and, disappointed in her first hope, regards the
child as a gift of Jehovah to compensate her for the lack of the affection for which
she so longed. Her third son she calls “Levi,” that is, joined, still hoping that as in
her TE T alone there were children to play around the father, he would be more
united to her. But her hope remains unfulfilled. And when her fourth son is born,
she calls him “Judah,” that is, praise. Throughout, in the midst of her melancholy,
there is a tone of fervent piety, and that not merely to God, but to the covenant
Jehovah. And now slowly she parts with her hope of human affection, and finds
comfort in Jehovah alone. This time, she says, I will praise Jehovah. And it was this
son of the despised one, whose birth called forth from her this hymn of simple
thanksgiving, who was fore-ordained to be the ancestor of the promised seed.
7. PETT 32-34, "The names given by Leah are used to express the pain in her heart
by a play on words. She is afflicted, Yahweh has heard that she is unloved, and she
feels that her husband is not really one with her. But now that she has borne a full
complement of sons - three is the number of completeness - she is confident that he
will now regard her. She knows how important sons will be to him and is aware that
she has fulfilled her responsibility.

89. “Reuben”. As vocalised in the text it means ‘behold, a son’. But Leah also, by a play
on words, reads a more bitter meaning into it. ‘Shimeon’ means ‘heard’, that is
‘God has heard.’ It initially celebrates the fact that Yahweh has heard in the giving
of a son, but again Leah interprets it somewhat bitterly. The name Levi is associated
with the verb ‘lavah’, to be joined. Possibly it indicated that Leah now felt joined
with her husband’s God, Yahweh, but again she gives it her own bitter
interpretation.
ote the reference to Yahweh. She now worships her husband’s God, for Yahweh
can be worshipped anywhere.
It is possible that we are to see these three sons as triplets, born at the same time.
This would explain why they are treated together and help to explain how Jacob
had so many sons in seven years. But if so it is not made clear in the text.
(‘Conceived and bore’ three times in succession does not exclude the possibility.
Chronology was only secondary in Hebrew tenses). More probably we may see
Simeon and Levi as twins. ote how they are coupled in Jacob’s blessing (Genesis
49:5).
33
She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a
son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not
loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him
Simeon.[3]
1. Clarke, “She called his name Simeon - ‫שמעון‬ shimon, hearing; i.e., God had
blessed her with another son, because he had heard that she was hated - loved less than
Rachel was.
2. Gill, “And she conceived again, and bare a son,.... As soon as she well could.
The Jews (x) have a notion, that Leah brought forth her sons at seven months' end:
and said, because the Lord hath heard that I was hated; or less loved than her

90. sister:
he hath therefore given me this son also; to comfort her under the trial and
exercise, and engage her husband's love the more unto her:
and she called his name Simeon: which signifies "hearing", and answers to the
reason of her having him as she concluded.
34
Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a
son she said, " ow at last my husband will become
attached to me, because I have borne him three
sons." So he was named Levi.[4]
1. Clarke, “Therefore was his name called Levi - ‫לוי‬ levi, joined; because she
supposed that, in consequence of all these children, Jacob would become joined to her in
as strong affection, at least, as he was to Rachel. From Levi sprang the tribe of Levites,
who instead of the first-born, were joined unto the priests in the service of the sanctuary.
See Num_18:2, Num_18:4.
2. Gill, “And she conceived again, and bare a son,.... A third time, as soon as she
well could after the former birth:
and said, now this time will my husband be joined to me; in greater affection
and stronger ties of love, and cleave unto her:
because I have born him three sons; which she considered as a threefold cord,
binding his affections to her, which could not be easily broke:
and therefore was his name called Levi; which signifies "joined"; from him the
Levites sprung, and had their name.
3. Henry, “She called her first-born Reuben (see a son), with this pleasant thought, Now

91. will my husband love me; and her third son Levi (joined), with this expectation, Now
will my husband by joined unto me, Gen_29:34. Mutual affection is both the duty and
comfort of that relation; and yoke-fellows should study to recommend themselves to
each other, 1Co_7:33, 1Co_7:34.
35
She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a
son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So
she named him Judah.[5] Then she stopped having
children.
1. Clarke, “She called his name Judah - ‫יהודה‬ yehudah, a confessor; one who
acknowledges God, and acknowledges that all good comes from his hands, and gives him
the praise due to his grace and mercy. From this patriarch the Jews have their name, and
could it be now rightly applied to them, it would intimate that they were a people that
confess God, acknowledge his bounty, and praise him for his grace.
Left bearing - That is, for a time; for she had several children afterwards. Literally
translated, the original ‫מלדת‬ ‫תעמד‬ taamod milledeth - she stood still from bearing,
certainly does not convey the same meaning as that in our translation; the one appearing
to signify that she ceased entirely from having children; the other, that she only desisted
for a time, which was probably occasioned by a temporary suspension of Jacob’s
company, who appears to have deserted the tent of Leah through the jealous
management of Rachel.
The intelligent and pious care of the original inhabitants of the world to call their
children by those names which were descriptive of some remarkable event in
providence, circumstance of their birth, or domestic occurrence, is worthy, not only of
respect, but of imitation. As the name itself continually called to the mind, both of the
parents and the child, the circumstance from which it originated, it could not fail to be a
lasting blessing to both. How widely different is our custom! Unthinking and ungodly,
we impose names upon our offspring as we do upon our cattle; and often the dog, the
horse, the monkey, and the parrot, share in common with our children the names which
are called Christian! Some of our Christian names, so called, are absurd, others are
ridiculous, and a third class impious; these last being taken from the demon gods and
goddesses of heathenism. May we hope that the rational and pious custom
recommended in the Scriptures shall ever be restored, even among those who profess to
believe in, fear, and love God!

92. 2. Gill, “And she conceived again, and bare a son,.... A fourth son, a son in whose
line, and from whose tribe, the Messiah was to spring:
and she said, now will I praise the Lord; she had praised him before for looking on
her affliction, and hearing her cries, and giving her one son after another; but now she
determines to praise him more than ever, having a fresh instance of his goodness to her:
the Targum of Jonathan adds this as a reason,"because from this my son shall come
forth kings, and from him shall come forth David the king, who shall praise the
Lord.''And why may it not be as well supposed that she had knowledge of the Messiah
springing from him, which would greatly heighten and increase her joy and praise?
and therefore she called his name Judah; which signifies "praise". A further
improvement is made of this name, and the signification of it, in Gen_49:8. According to
the Jewish writers (y), these four sons of Jacob were born, Reuben on the fourteenth day
of Chisleu, or November, and lived one hundred and twenty four years; Simeon on the
twenty first of Tebeth, or December, and lived one hundred and twenty years; Levi on
the sixteenth of Nisan, or March, and lived one hundred and thirty seven years; and
Judah on the fifteenth of Sivan, or May, and lived one hundred and nineteen years. And
all these names being of the Hebrew language, and derived from words in it, show that
this language, or what was much the same with it, was spoken in Laban's family, and had
been continued from Nahor, as it had been in Isaac's family from Abraham:
and left bearing; that is, for a while, for after this she bore two sons and a daughter;
see Gen_30:17.
3. Henry, “Her fourth she called Judah (praise), saying, Now will I praise the Lord,
Gen_29:35. And this was he of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. Note, [1.]
Whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. Fresh
favours should quicken us to praise God for former favours. Now will I praise the Lord
more and better than I have done. [2.] All our praises must centre in Christ, both as the
matter of them and as the Mediator of them. He descended from him whose name was
praise, for he is our praise. Is Christ formed in my heart? Now will I praise the Lord.
4. TRAPP, “Ver. 35. ow will I praise the Lord.] So she had done before, at the
birth of her other children: but now she would do it A EW, upon the receipt of a
new mercy: according to that, "Sing unto the Lord a new song." [Isaiah 42:10] A
good woman she seems to have been; and the better, because not so well beloved of
her husband; which she could not but see to be just upon her, for her consenting
(with her father) to the sin of deceiving Jacob. Genesis 30:1
5. PETT, "With three sons her confidence had returned. Everyone would be
CO GRATULATI G her. So when a fourth is born she can express praise to
Yahweh. Her husband’s God has been good to her and she acknowledges His
goodness in the name of her son. The cessation of bearing is temporary (Genesis

93. 30:17), although lasting for some fair period, so that she seeks to maintain her
position by bearing children through her handmaid.
6. COKE, "REFLECTIO S.—A forced match must needs be unhappy. It is
shocking to be obliged to call her "wife" who is the object of our dislike. God,
however, relieved Leah's affliction in giving her four sons. ote; 1. God usually so
disposes his gifts, that what is denied in one thing is made up in another—Rachel's
barrenness in Jacob's love, and Jacob's dislike by Leah's fruitfulness. 2. The
greatest affliction of a wife is to have her husband's love estranged from her. 3.
Judah is Leah's son, and therein she hath peculiar honour.
. [17] Or delicate
. [32] Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for he has seen my misery; the
name means see, a son.
. [33] Simeon probably means one who hears.
. [34] Levi sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for
attached.
. [35] Judah sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for
praise.