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 (אביה אחי, 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.
verses 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.[1].
Jacob's proposal may be explained, partly on the
- ↑ Note: This is the case still with the Bedouins, the Druses, and other Eastern tribes ( Burckhardt, Voleny, Layard, and Lane
