And Jacob continued his journey, and went into the land of the children of the east.
One line of travel marks a turning point. Jacob has just met God at Bethel. Now he walks east, out of the land of promise, into twenty years in a stranger's house — the hardest stretch of his life.
From this line on, everything changes for Jacob. One writer sees God at work in the hard years that follow.
Here the second period of Jacob's life begins. He is now a stranger, a servant working for wages, the victim of deceit and self-seeking on the part of Laban, his relative — and a close relative in character too. You cannot mistake the payback that runs all the way through it: the measure he used on others is measured back to him. But you also cannot miss that in the way it is handed out, God is speaking to the heart and conscience of the wanderer. There is justice in God's government, but also the correction of a holy love.
Commentators differ over the wording that opens the verse. One writer hears eagerness in it, and credits that to grace:
But he goes on. Grace sets the corrected saint on his journey, and with some eagerness too, until "he came to the land of the people of the east," until he reached Padan-aram, the place his mother's advice had sent him to — and no doubt the place God's own hand had now led him to.
Another tests the same wording against the nearest parallel in Scripture and doubts it:
Jacob, strengthened by his dream, goes on with his journey to the land of his relatives. The opening phrase is a rare one. The nearest thing to it describes the priests leaving the bed of the Jordan for Canaan (Joshua 4:18), and that does little to support the eagerness people read into it here.
One writer sees mercy in where this road leads, and a warning in who waits at the end of it.
In Genesis 29 we find Jacob taking up his journey again, and God's merciful hand shows itself at once, directing him and opening his way. God guides his steps to the very well where his uncle Laban's sheep were watered, and where he met his cousin Rachel. Laban's house gave him a warm welcome, but there he found himself in the hands of a man who matched him in trickery.
Jacob does not leave his old habits behind at Bethel. One writer sees the country ahead of him as God's answer to that.
As we have just seen, in Genesis 28 Jacob completely fails to grasp what God is really like. He meets all the rich grace of Bethel with an "if" and a poor little bargain about food and clothing. We now follow him into a scene of non-stop bargain-making. "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap." There is no escaping this. Jacob had not yet found his true level in God's presence, and so God uses circumstances to correct him and break him down.
Jacob meets Rachel at a well. Eliezer once met Rebecca the same way, on Isaac's behalf — but the two men arrive very differently.
He met Rachel at the well, among the flock, just as Eliezer met Rebecca — and Eliezer was only Isaac's representative. But Jacob was the poor man, Isaac the wealthy. Isaac could enrich Rebecca with gold earrings and bracelets, a pledge of the fine estate he had waiting for her. Jacob has only his hard work and the sweat of his face. Isaac was the son and heir; Jacob was a man who had made himself poor, and must find his own way through the wear and tear of life as best he can, with God's help. Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep (Hosea 12:12). It was about to prove hard service. But he starts at once, and keeps at it for twenty long years.
One writer reads Jacob's own story as the outline of his nation's story.
Jacob's life divides into three parts: in the land, exiled from it at Padan-Aram, and returning again. These match, very plainly, the three great periods of Israel's national life. We know the last one only from prophecy, but we know it as surely as any history could tell us.
- Departure. The verse opens the second period of Jacob's life. He is no longer at home. He is a stranger and a servant working for wages.
- Discipline. He is a bargain-maker, and he walks into a land of bargain-makers. He gets back the measure he gave others. Yet love stands behind the correction.
- Direction. Jacob has not yet found his true level before God. God's hand still opens his way, right to the well where his family waters its sheep.
- Destitution. Eliezer brought Rebecca gold. Jacob brings nothing, and pays for his wife with twenty years of hard work.
- Design. In the land, out of the land, back to the land. Jacob's road maps the whole story of Israel, and the return is still to come.
And he looked, and behold, there was a well in the fields, and behold there, three flocks of sheep were lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was at the mouth of the well.
Jacob has left home with nothing but a promise, and his first stop in the land of the east decides the rest of his life. Commentators read the scene on two levels: God steering a fugitive to the spot he needs, and a picture of blessing held back until the right moment.
Jacob does not search for his relatives. He simply looks up, and the place he has stopped at turns out to be the family's watering place.
In Genesis 29 Jacob takes up his journey again, and the merciful hand of God shows itself at once, directing him and opening his way. God guides his steps to the very well that watered the sheep of his uncle Laban. There he met his cousin Rachel.
Notice what is missing: no prayer, no name of God, no sign that Jacob asked for direction. One writer compares him with Eliezer, the servant Abraham sent to find Isaac's wife.
Here, as usual, Jacob is under God's providential care, even though we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. This is His sure direction, unseen and unnamed. Yet we may note the difference from Eliezer's clear prayer of faith and immediate worship in Genesis 24, and from God's prompt answer.
The plain facts come first. This is ordinary shepherding life.
A well was of course the most likely place to meet people. Three flocks of sheep were nearby, waiting for water. They could not drink until someone removed the huge stone from the mouth of the well. The stone was plainly needed to stop people or animals from falling in by accident. Their practice was to wait until all the flocks had gathered. Then the shepherds would roll the stone away, water the flocks, and put the stone back in its place.
The water is there, but the stone keeps the thirsty sheep from it. One writer reads that stone as what stands between people and what God gives.
The principle that stands out is this: the stone is the law. It holds back the blessing that man is going to receive from God, and that alone keeps back what God has to give. Man feels he deserves something as long as he tries hard enough. But the stone still lies on top of the well, keeping the water from coming out.
One writer sees the three flocks, and the rule that none drank until all had gathered, as a picture of a wider blessing to come.
Take up again the view of Jacob as a picture of Christ in His earthly character. He comes to the people of the East, where three flocks wait around a well that is still closed. When it is "high day" he opens the well and waters the waiting sheep. "When all the flocks were gathered there" — Jew, Gentile, and Church of God: at least these three plainly stand out for special recognition and favour.
Jacob does not wait for the other shepherds. Commentators differ on whether that early move is admirable or rash. One takes it as a picture of how God works in the present time:
What a striking lesson this is! The energy of faith and love can remove great obstacles and bring blessing before the time of "restoring all things." We see this in the present age of the grace of God… So the church has been wonderfully blessed before the time of the worldwide blessing.
Another sees a man acting out of turn. This writer sets him beside two who waited: Abraham's servant, and Christ Himself.
Jacob — faulty, foolish, failing — takes on this mighty work without knowing what he does. He lifts it off the ground of grace and lays it on the shoulders of his own faithfulness! Look at him, in unwise haste, while it is still high day and the flocks not yet gathered, rolling the stone from the well's mouth and watering Laban's sheep. Abraham's servant did not act like that. He waited and prayed and wondered in silence, and let the young woman hurry and run and draw water for him and for all his camels. Nor did the meek and lowly One act like that. In tender grace and patient long-suffering He refused to fulfil a single wish — as Messiah, Son of Man, or Head of all things, with His bride the church — until the due time came and the Father's will required it.
- The well — God brought a running fugitive to the spot he needed. No one asked Him, and no one named Him, yet He guided.
- The stone — the water was already there. Only a stone over the mouth kept the flocks from it — read as the law holding back what God gives.
- The waiting — nobody drank until all the flocks had gathered — a picture of a wider day of blessing still ahead for Jew, Gentile, and the Church of God.
- The strength — love moved what the shepherds waited to move together, and blessing came before the appointed hour.
- The caution — commentators differ. Some see faith and love removing obstacles. Others see haste — unlike Abraham's servant, who waited and prayed, and unlike Christ, who waited for the Father's time.
And when all the flocks were gathered there, they rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the mouth of the well in its place.
Jacob comes to a well in open country, where three flocks wait beside a stone that seals it. Verse 3 pauses to explain the local rule: no flock drinks until every flock arrives.
The verse first describes ordinary working life. One writer explains why a stone sat there at all, and what the shepherds did with it:
The stone was clearly needed to stop people or animals from falling into the well by accident. Their practice was to wait until all the flocks were gathered. Then the shepherds would roll the stone away, water the flocks, and put the stone back in its place.
Notice the last step. The stone goes back, so the well is sealed again until the next gathering. The water was there the whole time, yet every flock stayed thirsty until the last one arrived.
The delay puzzled Jacob, and the shepherds' answer points beyond the well:
Jacob was puzzled that the shepherds were still waiting to water their flock. They tell him they could not do this until enough shepherds arrived to roll the stone from the well's mouth. When all were gathered there they would do it and water the sheep. There is a picture in this of people waiting for the time of universal blessing, which will take place in the millennial age.
One writer treats the number of flocks as more than a stray detail. He links their gathering to a promise in Isaiah that names three peoples together:
Take up again the view of Jacob as a picture of Christ in His character on earth. He comes to the people of the East, where three flocks are waiting around a well that is still closed. When it is "high day" he opens the well and supplies the waiting sheep. Isaiah prophesies of the future time when "Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria… whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance." "And when all the flocks were gathered there" — Jew, Gentile, and Church of God. At least these three nations stand out for special recognition and favour.
One writer identifies the stone with the law, and points to a second stone sealing a grave:
The principle that stands out is this: the stone is the law. It holds back the blessing that man is going to receive from God, and it alone keeps back what God has to give. Man feels he deserves something so long as he tries hard enough. But the stone still sits on top of the well, and it keeps the water from coming out. The same thing appears in the stone on the grave of Lazarus (John 11:39-40).
Verse 3 sets the rule that Jacob then breaks. Commentators differ on whether that was faith or folly. One sees blessing arriving ahead of schedule:
What a striking lesson this is! The energy of faith and love can remove great obstacles and bring blessing before the time of "the restoring of all things." This is what we see in the present "dispensation of the grace of God."
Another reads the same act as a man forcing God's timetable and shouldering a work that was never his to carry:
Without knowing it, faulty, foolish, failing Jacob takes on this mighty work. He moves it off the ground of grace and places it on the shoulders of his own faithfulness. Look at him! In unwise haste, while it is still high day and the flocks are not yet gathered, he rolls the stone from the well's mouth and waters Laban's sheep!
- Stone — A heavy cover kept anyone from falling in. It also kept everyone from drinking. The water was there, but sealed.
- Waiting — No flock drank until every flock came. Writers read this as a picture of people waiting for the time of universal blessing.
- Gathering — Writers have linked the three flocks to Egypt, Assyria and Israel: Jew, Gentile and Church of God, all named for blessing.
- Removal — One reading makes the stone the law: as long as it sits there, man's effort cannot get the water out.
- Water — Commentators differ on what follows. Some see love's energy lifting the stone early, so blessing flows now. Others see Jacob in unwise haste, moving off grace onto his own faithfulness.
And Jacob said to them, My brethren, whence are ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.
Jacob has fled his brother's anger and travelled far east, and his first words on arrival are a question to strangers at a well. Their one-word answer, Haran, tells him he has landed in the one town he needed — so who steered him there?
The name in their reply carried a long family history, and the town's position made it a natural stop for travellers:
This was an ancient city in Mesopotamia. Terah and his family moved there from Ur of the Chaldeans. Abraham stayed there on his way to the land of Canaan, until his father died. The descendants of Nahor, Abraham's brother, also settled there, so people called it the "city of Nahor." Gen. 24:10... The name means "road" in Accadian. It was probably so called because the caravan routes of Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia crossed there.
One question to a group of shepherds settled where he was and who lived nearby:
By questioning the shepherds, Jacob finds that he has come to the right place. Their home was at Haran. They knew Laban also, and that he was well (vv. 5-6). More than this, at the very moment Laban's daughter Rachel was coming with her flock of sheep to the well.
The meeting looks like luck. Commentators see another hand in it:
In Genesis 29, we find Jacob taking up his journey again. The merciful hand of God is at once obvious, directing him and opening up his way. God guides his steps to the very well where Laban, his uncle, watered his sheep, and there he met his cousin Rachel. Laban welcomed him warmly into his house, only for Jacob to find himself in the hands of a man who was his equal in trickery.
The whole exchange stays at the human level:
We have men here, not Jehovah, or Elohim, though surely God was behind it all.
An earlier journey to the same region looked very different. There Abraham's servant Eliezer prayed in plain words and worshipped:
As so often with Jacob, he is here under God's providential care, even when we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Then Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure but unseen and unnamed direction. Yet we may note the difference from Eliezer's clear prayer of faith and immediate worship in Gen. 24. There is a difference too in God's prompt answer, and in the bride's ready response. She set out to join a man she had never seen but trusted, and for him she left all her existing family ties.
He is not there on an errand. He is there because of what he did to Esau:
We are now called to follow Jacob as he moves out from under his father's roof. We see him as a homeless and lonely wanderer on the earth. It is here that God's special dealings with him begin. Jacob now begins to realise, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his conduct towards Esau. At the same time, God rises above all the weakness and folly of His servant. He displays His own sovereign grace and deep wisdom in His dealings with him.
One commentator reads the two place names of Jacob's journey as a wider picture. He also gives Haran a different meaning from the dictionary above:
Jacob goes out from Beersheba (v. 10). This is a striking picture of the nation Israel, the sons of Jacob, because Beersheba means "the well of the oath" and Haran means "mountaineer." Israel has in effect left the ground of God's unconditional promise and has chosen instead the mountain of law-keeping, as though this could ever bring the blessing of God! All the time Jacob was in Haran, he kept a character of selfish bargaining. In the same way, Israel today remains in a state of self-righteousness.
Some readers have seen Jacob's journey as a picture of Jesus Himself. One commentator finds that strange, and sets a limit on how far the picture can go:
How strange that devout eyes, in the past and in our own day, should see a picture of Jesus in Jacob's journey and arrival in Haran! They see the Son of God and Heir of all things, despised and rejected by men... Here we have a man who leaves the land of promise after the saddest failure. Yet he does not leave without blessings in grace, for in the dark night Jehovah assured him of His care. At most he pictures the earthly side of the Lord.
- Road. Haran stood where the caravan routes crossed. Abraham's relatives, the family of his brother Nahor, had settled there.
- Runaway. Jacob travels that road as a homeless wanderer. He is tasting the bitter fruit of how he treated Esau, and God's special dealings with him start here.
- Route. One question to strangers lands him at the right well at the right moment. The merciful hand of God is directing him and opening his way.
- Reserve. No name for God appears in the scene. The direction is sure, but unseen and unnamed — unlike the plain prayer and worship of Abraham's servant in Genesis 24.
- Restraint. Jacob's journey pictures the earthly side of the Lord at most. One commentator warns against loading it with more than it carries.
And he said to them, Do ye know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We do know [him].
Jacob has fled his home and travelled far to reach Haran. He stops at a well and asks the shepherds there about his uncle Laban. Their short answer — we know him — tells him he has come to the right place. Who brought him there?
The shepherds' reply settles Jacob's uncertainty at once. One writer reads the whole arrival as the work of a hand Jacob could not see:
In Genesis 29, Jacob takes up his journey again. The merciful hand of God is clear at once, directing him and opening up his way. God guides his steps to the very well where the sheep of his uncle Laban were watered, and where he met his cousin Rachel.
Notice also what is missing. No one at the well names God:
Jacob is here under God's providential care, even when we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Then Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure direction, though unseen and unnamed.
Jacob is in a foreign country because of what he did at home. His treatment of Esau is what drove him out:
It is here that God's special dealings with him begin. Jacob now begins to feel, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his conduct toward Esau. At the same time we see God rising above all the weakness and folly of His servant... He might not have had to flee to Haran, had he allowed God to act for him.
Jacob calls Laban the son of Nahor, though Laban's father was Bethuel. One writer notes how Hebrew family lines often work:
Very often, those called the son of so-and-so are not necessarily his children at all. They may be his grandsons, or even his grandnephews. In other cases the head of a clan counts as the father of a generation, and all the generations in between are left out.
Nahor was Abraham's brother, so Jacob is identifying the family by its best-known head. One dictionary sums up the man behind that name:
Son of Bethuel, brother of Rebekah, and father of Leah and Rachel. His prompt hospitality towards Abraham's servant shows a heart the Lord had prepared in answer to prayer. But why he took the lead instead of Bethuel, his father, is not revealed. In his dealings with Jacob, Laban was scheming and unscrupulous. Jacob met this with craft of his own.
Laban's family was not in the same darkness as the peoples around them. One writer weighs what that meant for them:
They had been brought into a certain measure of light, and into a certain standing by profession... But since that is so, since this is a professing household, set in some sense apart from the dark state of the men of the world, it is serious to notice what kind of visit the Spirit makes to it. It will prove to be a separating power... the Spirit may need to visit a respectable professing family with the very same energy as a more worldly or idolatrous family.
This well scene recalls Genesis 24, when Eliezer came to the same family to fetch a bride. One writer marks the difference rather than the likeness:
Yet we may note the difference from Genesis 24. There Eliezer prayed a clear prayer of faith and worshipped at once. God answered him promptly. And the bride responded readily. She set out to join the man she trusted without seeing him, and she left for him all her existing ties of nature.
- Guided. God led Jacob to the exact well where Laban's flocks were watered. The scene never names Him. His care is real but unseen.
- Disciplined. He was in Haran because he had not left matters to God at home. The same God who guided him let him taste the bitter fruit of his own conduct.
- Named. "Son of Nahor" is normal Hebrew usage. A grandson or distant descendant can be called the son of the family's known head.
- Warned. The man Jacob was so glad to find proved scheming and unscrupulous. Jacob would meet craft with craft.
- Contrasted. Eliezer came to this same family with clear prayer, a quick answer, and worship. Jacob comes asking shepherds for directions. Grace works in both, but faith is not at work in the same measure.
And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, [He is] well; and behold, there comes Rachel his daughter with the sheep.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he said, Behold, it is yet high day; it is not time that the cattle should be gathered together; water the sheep, and go, feed [them].
Jacob has crossed the desert from Canaan and reached a well near Haran, where three flocks lie waiting in the midday heat. His first words to the shepherds tell them not to waste the daylight — which raises the question of why the sheep were waiting at all.
Jacob reaches this particular well without a map, an address, or a servant to guide him. Commentators see God's care behind the coincidence.
In Genesis 29, we find Jacob resuming his journey, and the merciful hand of God, directing him and opening up his way, is at once clear. His steps are guided to the very well where the sheep of Laban, his uncle, were watered and where he met his cousin Rachel.
The verse assumes a local custom. A heavy stone sealed the well, and one shepherd could not move it.
Three flocks of sheep were nearby, waiting to be watered. Someone first had to move a huge stone from the mouth of the well (v. 2). The stone was clearly there to stop people or animals from falling into the well. Their practice was to wait until all the flocks were gathered. Then the shepherds would roll the stone away, water the flocks, and put the stone back in place.
So Jacob's advice cuts across the arrangement the shepherds live by. Their reply in the next verse is that they cannot.
Jacob does not wait. Within a few verses he heaves the stone off himself. One writer calls this unwise haste, and sets beside Jacob two others who waited.
Look at him! In unwise haste, while it is still high day and the flocks are not yet gathered, he rolls the stone from the well's mouth and waters Laban's sheep! Abraham's servant did not act like this. He waited and prayed and wondered in silence. He let the young woman hurry and run and draw water for him to drink and for all his camels. Nor did the meek and lowly One act like this. In tender grace and patient long-suffering, He refused to fulfil a single wish until the due time and the Father's will required it. That was true in every role — as Messiah, as Son of Man, or as Head of all things with His bride, the church.
One writer takes the shepherds' rule — no water until every flock is present — as more than local custom.
Jacob was puzzled that the shepherds were still waiting to water their flock. They tell him they could not do it until enough shepherds were there to roll the stone from the well's mouth. There is a picture in this of men waiting for the time of universal blessing, which will take place in the millennial age.
Another writer presses the number three, and links Jacob's phrase about high day to the moment the well opens:
Take up again the view of Jacob as a picture of Christ in His earthly character. He comes to the people of the East, where three flocks wait around a well that is still closed. When it is "high day" he opens the well (Gen. 29:7-10), and the waiting sheep get their water. Isaiah prophesies of a future time when Israel will be third with Egypt and Assyria, and the Lord of Hosts will bless them. All the flocks were gathered there — Jew, Gentile, and Church of God.
Commentators differ over how much weight this scene can carry. One warns against turning Jacob at the well into a picture of Christ coming for the church.
How strange that devout eyes, both long ago and in our own day, should see a picture of Jesus in Jacob's journey and arrival in Haran! They see the Son of God and Heir of all things, despised and rejected by men. They see Him leaving heaven's glory to become a wanderer in the world, to work out redemption, and to join the church to Himself. Here Jacob rather stands in contrast with Isaac. Here is a man who leaves the land of promise after the saddest failure, but not without blessings in grace. He is at most a picture of the earthly side of the Lord.
The scene also carries a plain lesson for anyone who wants to help others.
It is clear that we must be near the well of life ourselves, if we want to become a channel of living water to others. What a privilege to roll away the stone from the well's mouth and water the Lord's flock when it is gathered! It means being so under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we give out the truth at the right time.
- Waiting. Three flocks lie beside a covered well at midday, and Jacob tells the shepherds to water them and get back to grazing.
- Sealed. A heavy stone caps the well. Custom says nobody moves it until every flock has arrived.
- Impatient. One writer reads Jacob's "it is still high day" as unwise haste. Abraham's servant waited and prayed. Christ claimed nothing before the Father's time.
- Gathered. Waiting for all the flocks pictures a coming day of blessing for all. Writers read the three flocks as Jew, Gentile, and church.
- Limited. Commentators differ on how far this pictures Christ. One keeps it to earthly hopes. The practical lesson stands for everyone: stay near the well yourself if you want to water others.
And they said, We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and we water the sheep.
Jacob has reached Haran, where three flocks lie beside a well with a great stone over its mouth. He tells the shepherds to water the sheep, and their answer is not that they will not, but that they cannot.
One writer explains the stone and the daily routine around it:
Three flocks of sheep were nearby, waiting to be watered. They could not drink until a huge stone was moved from the mouth of the well. The stone was clearly there to stop people or animals falling in. Their practice was to wait until all the flocks had gathered. Then the shepherds would roll the stone away, water the flocks, and put the stone back in its place.
The shepherds need more hands before the stone will move. One writer sees their waiting as a picture of something still future:
Jacob was puzzled that the shepherds were still waiting to water their flock. They tell him they could not do it until enough shepherds were there to roll the stone from the well's mouth. Once all had gathered, they would roll it away and water the sheep. There is a picture in this of people waiting for the time of universal blessing, which will take place in the millennial age.
Something lies on top of the well and keeps the water covered. One writer names what it stands for:
The principle that stands out is this: the stone is the law. It holds back the blessing that man is going to receive from God, and it alone is what really keeps back what God has to give. Man feels that he deserves something as long as he tries hard enough. But the stone still lies on top of the well, stopping the water from coming out.
The same writer looks ahead to what the open well pictures:
In verses 1-14 we have a picture of the blessing still to come to all creation. The stone is rolled away from the well mouth so that water may gush out. This is the flowing out of the Spirit of God, God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh.
Verse 8 sets the rule; the next two verses break it. Jacob sees Rachel, and what took a company of shepherds he does alone:
When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother's brother, and the sheep of his mother's brother, amazing strength came over him, and he rolled the stone away by himself. What a striking lesson this is! The energy of faith and love can remove great obstacles and bring blessing before the time of "the restoration of all things."
One writer takes the gathering of all the flocks as a blessing wider than one nation:
Taking up again the view of Jacob as a picture of Christ in his earthly character, we find him coming to the people of the East. There three flocks wait around a well that is still closed. When it is "high day" he opens the well and the waiting sheep get their water… "All the flocks were gathered there" — Jew, Gentile, and Church of God.
William Kelly points to something quieter in the scene. God is never named in the story, yet His hand is on every step of it:
Jacob is here, as always, under God's providential care, even when we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure direction, though unseen and unnamed.
The picture also turns into a job description for anyone who serves God's people:
It is perfectly clear that we must be near the well of life ourselves if we want to become a channel of living water to others. What a privilege to be made able to roll away the stone from the well's mouth and to water the Lord's flock when it is gathered together — to be so guided by the Holy Spirit that we minister the truth at the right time.
- The stone. A heavy stone lay over the well for safety, and no flock drank until it was rolled away.
- The "cannot." The shepherds' rule was to wait for every flock — a picture of people waiting for the time of universal blessing.
- The obstacle. One writer reads the stone as the law — the one thing holding back what God is ready to give.
- The early blessing. Love and faith rolled that stone away ahead of schedule, bringing blessing before "the restoration of all things."
- The reach. One writer reads all the flocks gathered as Jew, Gentile and the church of God — and the whole scene as God's unseen direction.
While he was still speaking to them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
Jacob has travelled alone to Haran. He stops at a well and asks the shepherds there about his relatives. Mid-question, the very person he is asking about walks into view, and the verse pauses to tell us what she does for a living.
One writer traces the timing of this meeting back to God's hand:
In Genesis 29, Jacob takes up his journey again. At once we see the merciful hand of God, directing him and opening up his way. God guides his steps to the very well where his uncle Laban's sheep were watered, and where he met his cousin Rachel.
Abraham's servant Eliezer made an earlier journey to this same region, to fetch a wife for Isaac. He asked for guidance aloud and worshipped on the spot. Here God guides in silence:
As usual, Jacob is here under God's providential care, even when we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure but unseen and unnamed direction. Yet notice how different Genesis 24 is. There Eliezer prayed a clear prayer of faith and worshipped at once. God answered promptly, and the bride responded readily.
Her name fits her work. In the lists of Bible name meanings it is given plainly:
Rachel — A ewe
A shepherdess named "ewe" comes leading a small flock among larger ones. That detail carries a note of comfort:
Jacob came and asked the shepherds if they knew his brother-in-law, and they pointed out Rachel coming with her sheep to the well. It is very likely that her sheep were fewer than the number of the other sheep. We have something of the thought here: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
The next verse shows what the sight of her did to Jacob:
Then Rachel arrives with her father's sheep (v. 9). When Jacob saw Rachel, his uncle's daughter, and his uncle's sheep, amazing strength moved him. He rolled the stone away by himself (v. 10). What a striking lesson this is! The energy of faith and love can remove great obstacles. It can bring blessing before the time of "the restitution of all things."
Because Jacob waters one flock ahead of the general watering, some read the scene as a picture of Christ:
He was a stranger, unknown, and seeks Rachel only — he would have her alone. As a rule, no one can water the flocks until someone opens the well. But He opens it and waters Rachel's flock. Rachel here is His Jewish flock and bride, chosen and beloved. It was His — was His flesh and bone — He was a Jew.
Commentators differ on how far to press it. Another writer accepts the picture only in part. He ties Jacob to Christ's link with Israel on earth. The picture of Christ leaving heaven for the church, he says, belongs to Isaac and Rebekah:
How strange that devout readers, both long ago and today, should see Jacob's journey and arrival in Haran as a picture of Jesus! They see the Son of God and Heir of all things, despised and rejected by men, leaving heaven's glory to become a wanderer in the world, to carry out redemption, and to marry the church to Himself. Here it pictures instead a contrast with Isaac. Isaac is the only son of his father, the dead and risen bridegroom. Eliezer's guidance fetched his bride for him, and she must pass through the desert to be His bride in the heavenly places. At most Jacob pictures the earthly side of the Lord.
Jacob arrives with nothing to offer but his hands:
His introduction to Rachel was at the well, among the flock, like that of Eliezer to Rebekah; and Eliezer was only Isaac's representative. But Jacob was the poor man, Isaac the wealthy. Isaac could enrich Rebekah with earrings and bracelets of gold, pledges of the fine estate he had for her. Jacob has only his toil and the sweat of his face. "Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep" (Hosea 12:12). And he was about to find it hard service. But he starts on it at once, and continues at it for twenty long years.
- Timing. Rachel arrives while Jacob is still speaking. God's merciful hand directed his steps to the one well that mattered.
- Silence. The guidance here is real but unnamed. Unlike Genesis 24, nobody prays and nobody worships.
- Smallness. She keeps her father's sheep, a lesser flock among larger ones — the little flock the Father is pleased to bless.
- Strength. Love moved one man to roll the stone away alone, and blessing came before its general time.
- Service. The poor bridegroom paid for his bride with twenty years of toil. The meeting at the well was the easy part.
And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban his mother's brother.
Jacob has reached a well outside Haran, where his mother's brother Laban lives. The moment he sees Rachel with her father's sheep, he alone rolls away the stone that usually waited for a crowd of shepherds.
God is never named in this scene, yet the meeting with Rachel is no accident. One writer traces the whole arrangement back to Him:
As usual, Jacob is here under God's providential care, even though we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure but unseen and unnamed direction.
The water was there all along. One heavy stone kept it from the flocks, and one commentator makes that the point of the whole picture:
The principle that stands out is this: the stone is the law that holds back the blessing man is going to receive from God. That alone keeps back what God has to give. Man feels he deserves something as long as he tries hard enough. But the stone still lies on top of the well, stopping the water from coming out. We see the same thing in the stone on the grave of Lazarus.
Jacob did alone what took a group of men. One writer finds a lesson in what gave him that strength:
How striking a lesson this is! The energy of faith and love can remove great obstacles and bring blessing before the time for "restoring all things." This is what is seen in the present "stewardship of God's grace." The Lord Jesus, in pure love and devotion to God, has shown the strength of that love toward the church, His promised bride, and toward the sheep of God's flock. He showed it in the great sacrifice of Himself, in His resurrection power, and in already having "raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6).
The other flocks still lay by the well, waiting. One writer reads that waiting as a picture of the world's future:
Jacob was puzzled that the shepherds were still waiting to water their flock. They tell him they could not do it until enough shepherds were there to roll the stone from the well's mouth. When they had all gathered, they would do this and water the sheep. There is a picture in this of men waiting for the time of universal blessing.
Commentators differ here. Where one sees the energy of love, another sees a man in a hurry, doing by his own effort what belonged to God's timing:
Faulty, foolish, failing Jacob takes on this mighty work without knowing what he does. He lifts it off the ground of grace and lays it on the shoulders of his own faithfulness! Look at him, in unwise haste! It is still broad day, the flocks are not yet gathered, and he rolls the stone from the well's mouth and waters Laban's sheep. Abraham's servant did not act this way. He waited and prayed and wondered in silence. He let the young woman hurry and run and draw water for him and for all his camels. The meek and lowly One did not act this way either. In tender grace and patient long-suffering, He refused to fulfil a single wish until the due time came and the Father's will required it — as Messiah, as Son of Man, or as Head of all things with His bride the church.
The picture also turns toward the reader. One writer applies it to anyone who wants to be of use to others:
It is clear that we must be near the well of life ourselves if we want to become the channel of living water to others. What a privilege to roll away the stone from the well's mouth and water the Lord's flock when it gathers! What a privilege to be so guided by the Holy Spirit that we minister the truth at the right time.
- The well — the water was always there; the flocks were thirsty only because something lay on top of it.
- The stone — the law lies on top of the well. It holds back what God is ready to give, while people keep trying to deserve it.
- The strength — love and faith move what a crowd could not. Christ's love did this for His bride and His flock, at the cost of Himself.
- The timing — the other flocks still wait for a general day of blessing. Love waters one flock early, and that pictures grace today.
- The channel — stay near the well yourself, and you become the one who rolls the stone away for others.
And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.
God's care for Jacob is never announced in this chapter. It is only seen. A man on the run reaches a strange country, walks up to a well, and meets his mother's own family. His first act is a kiss and a flood of tears.
Nothing in the chapter says God arranged this meeting. One writer traces Jacob's arrival at that exact well back to God's guiding hand.
In Genesis 29, Jacob takes up his journey again, and God's merciful hand shows itself at once, directing him and opening up his way. God guides his steps to the very well where the sheep of his uncle Laban were watered, and there he met his cousin Rachel.
When Abraham's servant Eliezer went looking for a bride for Isaac, he prayed and worshipped out loud. Here the same God works, but no one names Him.
Jacob is under God's providential care here, even though we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. This is His sure direction, unseen and unnamed. Yet notice the difference from Genesis 24. There Eliezer prayed a clear prayer of faith and worshipped at once, and God answered promptly. The bride responded readily too: she set out to join a man she had never seen but trusted, and she left behind all her family ties.
Family ties, not friendship, explain the emotion here.
The warmth of family affection then fills the scene. Jacob kissed Rachel, weeping for joy, and told her that he is the son of Rebekah, her father's sister. Of course they had never met, but family ties can be surprisingly strong even so. Rachel left the sheep and ran to tell her father the good news of a relative from a far country.
One writer sets these tears beside the earlier story of Isaac's bride and finds something missing.
This is a touching scene, and Jacob's quick emotional outburst fits his nature, and so does Laban's. But two things are missing here: the deep communion with God… and the heart wholly taken up with the risen bridegroom's glory. In the unique story of Isaac and Rebekah both are clearly there.
Laban kisses Jacob a few verses later. Twenty years on, one kiss is missing.
Jacob loved Rachel, and he kissed her and wept aloud. Then when Laban came he kissed Jacob. Their souls were happy to be with one another. But was that the way they parted from one another? No, it was not. Later on, when they did part, Laban kissed his daughters and their children, but it does not say he kissed Jacob. Sometimes we get to know each other too well — that is, we learn where each of our difficulties lie. For if I get to know my brother very well, I get to know myself a little better too. And if my brother is wrong in various ways, this only shows me what I am myself.
One writer reads Jacob at the well as a picture of Christ. In this reading, the stranger who opens the well passes every other flock by and waters one.
He was a stranger, unknown, and He seeks Rachel only — He would have her alone. In general, no one can water the flocks until the well is opened. But He opens it and waters Rachel's flock. Rachel here is His chosen and beloved Jewish flock and bride. It was His — His own flesh and bone — He was a Jew.
Commentators differ over how far to press the picture. Kelly rejects the popular version, where Jacob's journey stands for Christ leaving heaven to win the church:
How strange that devout eyes, both long ago and today, should see Jacob's journey and arrival in Haran as a picture of Jesus… leaving heaven's glory to become a wanderer in the world, to carry out redemption, and to marry the church to Himself! Here we have a man who leaves the land of promise after the saddest failure, though not without blessings in grace… At most he pictures the earthly side of the Lord.
- Led — God steers Jacob to the exact well where Laban's sheep drank. His hand is sure, and the chapter never names Him.
- Silent — Abraham's servant prayed and worshipped out loud. Here God works unnamed while Jacob talks with shepherds.
- Warm — strangers by sight, family by blood. Jacob kisses Rachel and weeps for joy, and Rachel runs home with news of a relative from far away.
- Shallow — the outburst suits Jacob's quick nature. The deep communion with God seen in Isaac and Rebekah's story is missing here.
- Short-lived — the warmth had cooled by the parting twenty years later. Knowing another person's faults teaches you your own.
And Jacob told Rachel that he was a brother of her father, and that he was Rebecca's son; and she ran and told her father.
Jacob reaches Haran with nothing to show. All he can offer Rachel is a family name: he belongs to her father's household, and his mother is Rebekah. That name opens Laban's door. It also raises the questions this scene answers: who arranged the meeting, what welcome waits inside, and what does the picture mean?
Jacob is far from home and travelling alone. Yet he lands at the right well and meets the right person. One writer sees God's merciful hand in that, and notes where the guided road led him.
In Genesis 29, Jacob resumes his journey. At once we see the merciful hand of God directing him and opening up his way. That hand guides his steps to the very well where his uncle Laban's sheep came to drink, and where he met his cousin Rachel. Laban received him into his house with an eager welcome. But there he found himself in the hands of a man who was his equal in trickery.
Jacob and Rachel are strangers to each other; what he tells her is not a personal history but a family link. The reaction shows how much weight that link carried.
Family affection then fills the scene. Jacob kissed Rachel and wept for joy. He told her that he is the son of Rebekah, her father's sister. Of course they had never met, but family ties can still be very strong. Rachel left the sheep and ran to tell her father the good news of a relative from a far country (v. 12). Laban also ran to meet Jacob and embraced and kissed him. So he welcomed him into his home as his own "bone and flesh" (v. 14). How good it would have been if this attitude had lasted all through their relationship! But when they parted 20 years later, the atmosphere was hostile rather than friendly.
The tears and the kiss are real. Still, one writer sets this meeting beside an earlier one. In Genesis 24, Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac — and that story ran very differently.
Yet we may note the difference from Genesis 24. There Eliezer prayed a clear prayer of faith and worshipped at once. God answered him promptly. And the bride responded readily: she set out to join the one she trusted without seeing him, and left behind all her existing ties of nature for him.
The warm embrace did not last. One writer draws a hard lesson from the way Jacob and Laban parted.
Sometimes we get to know each other too well — that is, we learn where each of our difficulties lie. If I get to know my brother very well, I get to know myself a little better too. And if my brother is wrong in various ways, that only shows me what I am myself.
Some writers see Jacob here standing for someone greater. The claim of shared blood in this verse is where that picture starts.
I cannot help thinking that the beginning of chapter 29 is a picture, and that now Jacob takes on the character of Christ… He was a stranger, unknown. He seeks Rachel only — he would have her alone. In general, the flocks cannot drink until the well is opened. But He opens it and waters Rachel's flock. Rachel here is His Jewish chosen and beloved flock and bride. It was His — was His flesh and bone — He was a Jew.
Writers do not all press the picture the same way. One rejects a popular reading of Jacob's journey and keeps the scene on earth.
reason: restores the disputed view so the difference is on the page
- Guided. Jacob travels alone in a far country. God's merciful hand leads him to the very well where his relatives water their sheep.
- Named. He has no wealth to show, only a family name — that he is Rebekah's son and Laban's kin — and that name is enough to open the door.
- Carried. Rachel drops her work and runs home with the news. Laban runs out and receives Jacob as his own bone and flesh.
- Tested. The eager welcome came from a man who matched Jacob for trickery. Twenty years later they parted in hostility. Knowing someone well shows us what we are ourselves.
- Foreshadowed. Writers see Christ here — the stranger who claims His own as flesh and bone, and opens the well for them. They differ on how far the picture reaches: to Israel on earth, or to the church.
And it came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house; and he told Laban all these things.
Jacob reaches Haran with nothing. Within moments his mother's brother is running to embrace him — the man who will shape the next twenty years of his life. The welcome looks like pure family joy. Commentators ask who arranged the meeting, and what Laban was weighing as he held his nephew.
Nobody in the chapter prays, and God is not named at the well. Writers still see His hand behind every step of the encounter.
As usual, Jacob is here under God's providential care, even when we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure but unseen and unnamed direction.
That guidance was real mercy — and it led him straight to a man cut from the same cloth as himself.
In Genesis 29 Jacob takes up his journey again. At once we see the merciful hand of God directing him and opening his way. God guides his steps to the very well where his uncle Laban's sheep were watered, and where he met his cousin Rachel. Laban received him into his house with an overflowing welcome. But there Jacob found himself in the hands of a man who matched him in deceit.
The warmth is real family affection. The question is how long it lasted.
Rachel left the sheep and ran to tell her father the good news of a relative from a far country (v. 12). Laban also ran to meet Jacob, and embraced and kissed him. So he welcomed him into his home as his own "bone and flesh" (v. 14). How good it would have been if this attitude had lasted through their whole relationship! But when they parted twenty years later, the atmosphere was hostile rather than friendly.
At the parting twenty years on, one detail stands out: who did not get a kiss.
The next morning, before they parted, Laban kissed his daughters and their children. But there is no mention of his kissing Jacob, as he had done when they first met (Gen. 29:13).
This is not the first time Laban runs out to greet an arrival from Canaan. Years earlier he welcomed Abraham's servant, who had come to find a wife for Isaac — and one writer points to what triggered the rush.
It is no accident that Laban offered hospitality so readily. He had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister's hands. He had heard her report of what Abraham's messenger said to her. He came at once to the man, who was still standing by the camels at the spring. His welcome sounded warm and pious — as such people tend to sound when honour and advantage are certain. The later history shows that Laban was a grasping man and an idolater.
Jacob's telling of "all these things" is the whole of what he brought. There were no camels, no gifts, no wealthy master behind him.
Remember the contrast with Isaac the heir, the son who stayed in his father's house. His father sent the honoured servant Eliezer to represent them both, with fitting equipment and rich gifts for the bride. Here the outcast wanderer has nothing to commend him but his relationship and his service. And Laban was not slow to see the value of so capable a man for interests dearer to him than anything else.
The door that opened to him led into an environment that fitted him uncomfortably well.
It is striking to see how he gets back into an atmosphere so completely suited to his moral make-up. The bargaining Jacob meets the bargaining Laban, and both strain every nerve to outwit each other. We cannot wonder at Laban. He had never been at Bethel. He had seen no open heaven, with a ladder reaching from there to earth. He had heard no magnificent promises from the lips of Jehovah.
The twenty years that followed were not bad luck with an uncle. They were training, and the pattern holds for everyone God calls.
There he must bow to the divine discipline that had already forced him to leave his father's house and the recent unhappy influence of his mother. So it is with each of God's children. Grace is sovereign in calling even the most difficult people. But they pass under a moral government that notices every fault, so that they may share in His holiness. Compare John 15, Hebrews 12:5-11, and 1 Peter 1:15-16.
- Welcome arranged. God is never named at the well, yet the shepherds, Rachel and then Laban all arrive on cue — sure, unseen direction.
- Welcome warm. The running, embracing and kissing were real family affection. Yet twenty years later Laban kissed his daughters goodbye — and not Jacob.
- Welcome calculating. Laban had greeted a visitor from Canaan once before, with jewellery on the table. His warmth ran hottest when advantage was certain.
- Welcome empty-handed. Isaac's servant came with camels and rich gifts. Jacob brought only his kinship and his ability to work, and Laban put a price on both.
- Welcome into discipline. The bargainer walked into a bargainer's house. Grace calls the most difficult people, then puts them under a government that notices every fault.
And Laban said to him, Thou art indeed my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him a month's time.
Jacob reaches Haran a stranger. His mother's brother runs out, embraces him, and calls him family — and the month that follows opens into twenty years Jacob never planned.
Laban's phrase is a standard way of claiming someone as family. A Bible dictionary groups it with the same wording used elsewhere in Genesis:
The same kindred: "you are my bone and my flesh," Genesis 29:14; "he is our brother, and our flesh," Genesis 37:27.
Nobody prays here, and heaven stays silent. Yet one writer names who is arranging the meeting. He also marks the contrast with an earlier journey to find a bride, in Genesis 24:
Here, as usual, Jacob is under God's providential care, even when we hear only of the shepherds of Haran. Rachel appears, and Laban follows. It is His sure but unseen and unnamed direction. Yet notice the difference from Genesis 24. There Eliezer prayed a clear prayer of faith and worshipped at once. God answered promptly, and the bride responded readily.
One writer traces this family welcome to its end:
Family affection fills the scene. Jacob kissed Rachel and wept for joy, telling her that he is the son of Rebekah, her father's sister. Of course they had never met, but family ties can still be very strong... Laban also ran to meet Jacob and embraced and kissed him. So he welcomed him into his home as his own "bone and flesh" (v. 14). How good it would have been if this attitude had lasted! But when they parted 20 years later, the atmosphere was hostile, not friendly.
Jacob had used deceit to get what he wanted at home. Now he settles in with a relative who works the same way:
It is remarkable to see how he settles back into an atmosphere that suits his moral makeup so exactly. The bargain-making Jacob meets the bargain-making Laban. Both strain every nerve, as it were, to outwit the other. Nor can we wonder at Laban, for he had never been at Bethel: he had seen no open heaven... You cannot expect worldly men to show anything but a worldly spirit, and worldly principles and ways.
The free month ends, and Laban raises the subject of pay:
After Jacob had stayed there a month, serving Laban, the question of his wages came up. He loved Rachel, so he agreed to serve seven years for her. Verses 23-30 tell us how Laban deceived him at the end of the seven years, and Laban had a plausible excuse for acting as he did. We cannot fail to see here the working of the government of God. It illustrates our Lord's words: "with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." It was Jacob's turn now to complain of being cheated.
Being paid back in your own coin sounds like bare justice. Another writer insists that is only half of what is happening:
He is now a stranger and a servant for hire. He is the victim of the deceit and self-advancement of Laban, his relative — and near kin in character too. The retribution is impossible to mistake all the way through: the measure he has dealt out to another is dealt out to him again. But we cannot miss this either. In the way it is dealt out, God is speaking to the heart and conscience of the wanderer. There is governmental equity, but also the chastening of a holy love.
The house that disciplined Jacob left its owner untouched:
As to Laban, he was a thorough man of the world when Jacob entered his house, and so he was when Jacob left it. In all his dealings, from first to last, he eyes his own advantage. He has to admit that the hand of God was with Jacob; but he would make that hand, through Jacob, serve himself... For twenty years he saw the hand of the Lord, and the working of His grace and power, in his own house and before his own eyes, day after day. Yet he remained a man of the world.
- Kinship — "my bone and my flesh" is the plain claim of blood relation. Laban is saying: you are family.
- Providence — Jacob prays no prayer here. Yet God's unseen hand brings him to the shepherds, to Rachel, and to Laban's house.
- Likeness — the family tie is also a moral one: a bargainer arrives in a bargainer's home, and the atmosphere suits him.
- Discipline — the free month becomes paid service, and the deceiver is deceived. Writers see both God's even-handed government and a Father's correcting love.
- Contrast — twenty years under one roof left Jacob chastened and Laban unchanged. Watching God work does not by itself change a man.