A.1. The Arrival and Welcome by Uncle Laban, 29:1-14
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east. 2 As he looked, he saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying there beside it; for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large, 3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well. 4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” 5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban son of Nahor?” They said, “We do.” 6 He said to them, “Is it well with him?” “Yes,” they replied, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with the sheep.” 7 He said, “Look, it is still broad daylight; it is not time for the animals to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.” 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.” 9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she kept them. 10 Now when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of his mother’s brother Laban. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and wept aloud. 12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he was Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father. 13 When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him; he embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, 14 and Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month.
This arrival scene is intended to remind us of the arrival of Abraham's servant in quest of Rebekah as a bride for Isaac. This association is reinforced by Laban's words at the end: "You are my bone and my flesh." It reminds us also of Isaac's instructions to Jacob in 28:2 that he "Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother." The wife Jacob seeks will be a first cousin, the daughter of his mother's brother Laban. But Isaac had anticipated that he would take "one of the daughters", whereas he will end up taking two and their two maidservants as well! Four women will produce twelve sons and give Jacob a head start to gain the promised offspring that will spread abroad and fill the land. Each of the twelve will become a tribe to inhabit the promised land.
The presence of the well at the gate of the city is important to the story. First of all, the hand of God is clear in Jacob's arrival at the well precisely when Rachel was bringing her father's sheep there for watering. But that scene also shows a pattern seen elsewhere showing how God's grace works through the human kindness of his servants. For in the experience of Abraham's servant in Genesis 24, it will be Rebekah's willingness to water his ten camels from it that will reveal her as God's chosen bride. And here it is Jacob's action of rolling the stone from the mouth of the well, so that Rachel's flock of sheep can be watered that gives him entrée into her and her father's family. Readers of Exodus 2 would also be aware of how Moses found hospitality from Jethro and gained his daughter Zipporah as his wife by protecting Zipporah and her flocks at a well. And readers of the Gospel of John will recall Jesus requesting a drink from the well at the gate of Samaria from a woman, and having received it offered her more than a marriage—for she had been living unmarried with four different men—but the living water of eternal life through believing in him as the Messiah.
In all of these examples God worked his miracles through an act of human kindness. Kindness opens doors today also for God to work, as I'm sure many of you have experienced, as have I. Even a simple act of kindness can melt a cold heart and allow God to pour out his blessings without measure.
Here it is also worth noting that, although Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah were at pains to have their preferred son and heir marry "in the family" so that God's promise to Abraham that his descendants through whom the nations would be blessed should have no maternal component from outside the Abrahamic family, Matthew's genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, includes Rahab the Canaanite prostitute and Ruth the Moabite, showing that the promise to Abraham fulfilled through Jesus did not actually require an exclusively Abrahamic purity of the gene pool. These two women owed their inclusion in the messianic genealogy to acts of kindness to Abraham and his offspring, just as Rebekah owed her inclusion to her kindness to Abraham's servant. Rahab helped the two spies escape with information that would encourage Joshua to follow God's instructions and capture Jericho, the first huge military obstacle to the possession of the Promised Land. And Ruth kindly left her Moabite family to travel with Naomi back to Bethlehem and give birth to Obed, the grandfather of King David. Neither Leah nor Rachel owed their inclusion to their own acts of kindness, but to God's grace.
For his part, Laban gives his daughters to Jacob in exchange for a seven-year work contract, and the assurance that Jacob is a blood relative, while Rebekah's father Bethuel grants her to Abraham's servant because his remarkable story of Yahweh's miraculous leading assured him that it was Yahweh's will, and only if Rebekah is herself willing to marry Isaac. Bethuel's behavior seems much more God honoring than Laban's. For his part, Jacob is attracted to Rachel solely because of her physical beauty, not her kindness, as we shall see next.
A.2. Jacob Gains Two Wives from his Uncle Laban, 29:14-30
(Jacob) stayed with him a month. 15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah’s eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful. 18 Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. 21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” 22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast. 23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. 24 (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) 25 When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 Laban said, “This is not done in our country—giving the younger before the firstborn. 27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” 28 Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. 29 (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.) 30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Laban for another seven years.
29:14-19
Verse 14 tells us that Laban's hospitality to his nephew lasted for one month. At the end of that time, Laban approached his guest with a proposal. As a relative of Laban's Jacob had been given free room and board, but as a member of the family he—like Rachel with her shepherding—had been doing his share of work as a family member. But after a month of this, Laban decides that Jacob should not be required to work just for free room and board, but would be given wages like an ordinary contract worker. Laban may have thought in terms of goods and provisions, doled out on a monthly basis as wages. But Jacob was thinking about his father's instructions to get a wife and about the promise Yahweh gave him at Bethel (Gen 28:13–15) that his offspring would be numerous (like the dust of the earth v 14) and possess the land of Canaan (v 13). He needed to get started on those matters. So he proposed a long-term arrangement: working without extra compensation for seven years in return for Laban's daughter in marriage. But unlike Rebekah who was clearly revealed to Abraham's servant as the one intended by God, no such revelation had been given to Jacob, and Laban had two daughters: Leah the older, and Rachel the younger. Jacob made his choice based on their looks. Leah had a pretty face—in Hebrew "eyes" often means "face", and the adjective translated "weak" or "tender" means "delicate" or "pretty"—while Rachel had the better figure. Jacob preferred the younger one with the good figure.
29:20
The seven years went by like a few hours, because his patience was nourished by the intense joy that he knew awaited him. For most of us, if we are eager for something to happen, it makes us impatient. But it can have the opposite effect as well. We all know that the Lord's coming again is what we want more than anything else in life. And yet, because we know it will happen, and we know he has given us work to do before he will come, we soldier on in patience, nourished by the certainty of the event and how wonderful we know it will be.
29:21-30
The longed for day has come: the seven years have passed. At last Jacob can begin his family with Rachel. Weddings involved large community gatherings that lasted an entire day, at the end of which the bride, who was veiled, was led into the bridal chamber, and the groom was allowed to enter after her and consummate the marriage. This portrayal on a large Hittite ceremonial jar showing scenes in a wedding, shows the groom lifting the veil of his bride in the bridal chamber. He can see her face now before the consummation. Apparently, in Jacob's case either there was no light in the chamber or he was too inebriated to see clearly. For he did not recognize that the woman was Leah until the following morning.
His angry protest to Laban was prompted not only by his love for Rachel, but also by the clear breach of the terms of his contract with Laban, which was for Rachel, not Leah. Laban's excuse had to be something that would hold up in court, since breach of contract was a civil, not just a personal, matter. His defense was community law: the younger daughter could not be given in marriage before the older. Now Jacob, being an outsider, wouldn't know this. This would defend him in refusing Rachel, but would not justify his deceit in not making this clear at the time of the contract. Nothing could be done to revoke the marriage to Leah, since she was now Jacob's legal wife. And Laban seems to have gotten away with the deceit without any penalty, for Jacob had to work another seven years to provide the "bride-price" for the second daughter, although he was allowed to take her as wife after a delay of only one week. Laban had blindsided Jacob. Jacob now had a taste of what he had done to Esau! His uncle had bamboozled him completely and saddled him with an extra wife.
A.3. The Lord Shows Sympathy for Leah, because Jacob Prefers Rachel over her, Gen 29:30b-35
When the LORD saw that Leah was given second place in Jacob's affections, he made her fertile; but Rachel remained infertile. Leah became pregnant and bore a son, and named him Reuben [meaning 'See! A son!']; for she said, “This is because the LORD has seen to my misery; surely now my husband will prefer me.” She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I was given second place, he has given me this son also”; and she named him Simeon [meaning: 'Hearing']. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons”; therefore he was named Levi [meaning: 'Joined']. She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD”; therefore she named him Judah [meaning: 'Praise']; then she ceased bearing. (Genesis 29:31–35 NRSV)
29:30b-35
Jacob took his frustration out on Leah, for verses 30 and 31 indicate that he preferred Rachel to Leah, and that Leah knew he did. This was not unnoticed by Yahweh, who had pity on her in her misery. When Leah became pregnant, and her sister did not, Leah said to herself: "This is because Yahweh has seen how I am afflicted; but now surely my husband will prefer me." Yahweh's motive in giving Leah children and not Rachel may not have been because Leah was a kinder or more godly woman than her sister: the text says it was out of pity for her misery in being so obviously the runner-up in Jacob's affections that God blessed her with the first and the largest number of sons. And based upon other examples of two-wife families in the Old Testament, such as Abraham's wives Sarah and Hagar (16:4), and Elkanah's wives Hannah and Peninnah (1 Sam 1:6), we can be sure that the preferred wife lorded it over the non-preferred one, and that children were a valuable poker chip in the game of rival wives. Yet in defense of Leah we should notice that she gave all the credit, thanks and praise to the Lord who had befriended her and given her dignity in her husband's eyes. This section reports the birth of Jacob's first four sons. Leah was given the right to choose their names, and she related the name of each to the Lord's kindness and how she hoped this would improve her relations with Jacob. The names of the first two—Reuben and Simeon—are related to God's ability to see (Hebrew consonants: rʾh) Leah's plight and to hear (Hebrew consonants: šmʿ) her prayers. The third—Levi—expresses Leah's hope that her place in Jacob's affection will be secure, joined (Hebrew consonants: lwy) to him at the hip. And the fourth—Judah (yhwdh)—expresses her unbounded praise (hwdh) to God. She chose the names well. So far as the historical destiny and roles of Leah's four sons are concerned, Reuben and Simeon are more or less marginal among the twelve tribes. Reuben's territory in east of the Jordan River, outside the proper boundaries of the Promised Land, while Simeon is swallowed up by Judah (see a map here). Levi will become the "priestly tribe," without landed inheritance, but whose inheritance portion is Yahweh himself. Surely, this was a great honor. And Judah would become the tribe of King David and the ancestral tribe of the Messiah Jesus (Mt 1:3; Lk 3:33).
After Judah's birth Leah ceased conceiving. God's mercy to her was complete. Mission accomplished.
God gives blessings to us that are more than adequate to meet our needs. But they are not wasted by being extravagant: he wishes us to know contentment as well as happiness.
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