Jacob’s wives and children
29
📚Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east 📖. 2 📚And he looked, and saw a well in the field, and there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for they watered the flocks from that well. And a large stone was on the well’s mouth. 3 All the flocks would be gathered there, and then they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone again in its place on the well’s mouth.4 📚And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran”. 5 📚And he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor 📖?” And they said, “We know him”.
6 📚And he said to them, “Is he well?” And they said, “He is well. And, look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep”.
7 📚And he said, “Look, it is still broad day, and not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them”.
8 📚And they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and until they roll the stone from the well’s mouth. Then we will water the sheep”.
9 📚And while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she tended them. 10 📚And it came about when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11 📚And Jacob kissed Rachel, and raised his voice and wept. 12 📚And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative 📖, and that he was Rebekah’s son. And she ran and told her father.
13 📚And it came about when Laban heard the news about 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. 14 📚And Laban said to him, “You really are my bone and my flesh”. And he stayed with him for a month.
15 📚And Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative should you then serve me for nothing? Tell me what your wages will be”.
29:15 Laban seemed to be loving and generous, but his true character was something else, as is later revealed. How often men seem to be one thing and later prove to be the opposite.⚜
16 📚And Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 📚Leah was tender eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and pleasing in appearance. 18 📚And Jacob loved Rachel, and said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter”.
29:18 It was the custom in those days, in that part of the world, for the men to pay a dowry for brides – the opposite of India’s custom (Gen 24:53; Ex 22:16-17; Deut 22:28-29).⚜
19 📚And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than to give her to another man. Stay with me”. 20 📚And Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days, because of the love he had for her.
21 📚And Jacob said to Laban, “My time is fulfilled. Give me my wife so that I may go to her”.
22 📚And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23 📚And it came about that in the evening he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him, and he went in with her. 24 📚And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid servant.
25 📚And it came about that in the morning, lo and behold, it was Leah. And he 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 And Laban said, “Giving the younger before the firstborn is not done in our country. 27 📚Fulfil her bridal week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will give me for still another seven years”.
28 And Jacob did so. He fulfilled her week, and Laban gave him Rachel his daughter also as his wife.
29:28 Polygamy was not ordained by God – Gen 2:23-24.⚜
29 📚And Laban gave his maid servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid. 30 📚And Jacob went in also to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah, and served with him still another seven years.
31 📚And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. 32 📚And Leah conceived, and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, “Surely the LORD has looked on my misery. So now my husband will love me”.
29:31-32 God loves the unloved and unlovable. He sees their loneliness and sorrow and He cares. Leah became the mother of two of the greatest tribes in Israel – Levi and Judah – and one of the ancestors of King David and the Lord Jesus. Reuben means “see, a son!”⚜
33 📚And she conceived again, and gave birth to a son, and said, “Because the LORD heard that I was hated, he has given me this son also”. And she called his name Simeon.
29:33 Simeon means “heard” or “hearing”.⚜
34 📚And she conceived again, and gave birth to a son and said, “Now 📖 this time my husband will become united to me, because I have borne him three sons”. Therefore his name was called Levi.
35 📚And she conceived again, and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now I will praise the LORD”. Therefore she called his name Judah. And she stopped bearing children.
29:35 Leah does not mention her husband this time. Perhaps she was beginning to accept the fact that he would never really love her, and sought to find her joy in her children, and (who knows?) in God. Judah sounds like the Hebrew word for praise and may mean “praise” or “let Him (God) be praised”.⚜