Genesis 29, Look, Rachel!

Jacob flees his home and his brother Esau.  He is headed for Haran, the home of Laban, looking for a wife.  (The town of Haran/Harran was probably northeast, across the Euphrates River. See this Wikipedia page.)  In his journey, God meets Jacob and renews His covenant. Jacob has declared Yahweh to be his God.

Genesis 29: 1-6, Jacob visits Laban

Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 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. 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.

 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" 

"We're from Haran," they replied.

 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?" 

"Yes, we know him," they answered.

 Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" 

"Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

Jacob has found the relatives in Haran whom he was seeking. And there is a young woman walking towards him!  Laban is Jacob's uncle, the brother of Rebekah.

Here comes Rachel! As Robert Alter points out, Rachel is introduced with considerable drama.  There is a suggestion that Jacob's reaction is to be "Oh, wow!"

The stone apparently protects the well?  This the second important stone in Jacob's life.

Genesis 29: 7-12, Rachel!
"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."

"We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep."

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 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.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

Jacob sees Rachel and, in her presence, rolls the stone away from the mouth of the well.  He displays both kindness and strength in front of this young woman. Several commentators observe that throughout the Torah, meeting at a well is a type, a stage for future bride and groom.

Rachel offers dramatic relief to young Jacob.

Why does Jacob weep?  What does Rachel think of this?

Genesis 29: 13-20, Seven years for Rachel
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.

Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,  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."

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.

Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."

Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

We are expected to feel the passion of this love story. Although strange to modern ears, this is natural enough to the Jewish ears (of that day) that there is no attempt to explain it to the reader.

Laban's endorsement of Jacob seems typical of a father-in-law.  "Ah, well, I guess better you than some one worse."

Genesis 29: 21-24, "I want to lie with her"
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."

So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.

Jacob has served his time and deserves to start his marriage.  In this paragraph and the next, the narrator names the wife's maidservant.  The maidservant will play an important role.

Genesis 29: 21-24, Married to ... Leah?!
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?"

Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."

The deceiver has been deceived!  Laban is equal to Jacob in sneakiness -- deception and counter-deception will be a theme throughout Jacob's time with Laban!

Can one hear Laban's criticism in his reply to Jacob?  "We don't put the younger above the older." Has Laban heard of Jacob's theft of the birthright?

Genesis 29: 25-30, Seven years for Rachel
 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.

Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Some commentators point out that this does not mean that Jacob had to wait seven years to marry Rachel.  It is possible that Rachel was then added as a wife a week after his marriage to Leah, with the agreement that Jacob now would work for another seven years.

Genesis 29: 21-24, The first four of Jacob's children
When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."

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. 

Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi. 

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. Then she stopped having children.

That Rachel is barren while Leah conceives would imply they are both the wives of Jacob, at the same time.  But we also have a number of years passing rapidly here, through four pregnancies.

According to the NIV footnotes, each name has a meaning: "Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for 'he has seen my misery'; the name means 'see, a son'." Simeon probably means "one who hears". Levi sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for "attached". Judah may be derived from the Hebrew "for praise."

After seven years with Leah and Rachel, Jacob has four sons, all through Leah.