Gen 29.1-35 tells us about how Jacob meets Rachel at a well; then Rachel arranges for Jacob to meet her father Laban and his deal with Jacob; Laban switches Rachel for Leah; Lavan agrees to give Rachel to Jacob in exchange for another seven years work; Jacob’s first four sons by Leah.
v 1…And Jacob went on his journey (lifted his feet) and came into the land of the people from the east (Abraham’s ancestral home; Haran; Ur, Babylon, etc).
v 2…And he looked, and behold a well in the field (near Haran), and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large (and the sheep could not be watered).
v 3…When all the sheep were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep.
v 4…And Jacob said to them, “My brothers (said to strangers to initiate peaceful feelings and intentions), where are you from (leading to a conversation)?” And they said, “We are from Haran (the very place he was sent in Gen 27.43).”
v 5…And he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor (actually he was the son of Bethuel, and a grandson of Nahor?”. And they said, “We know him.”
v 6…And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “it is well, and behold (see), Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep (at that moment).”
v 7…And he said, “Behold, it is still high day (broad daylight); it is not time for the livestock to be watered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them (he wanted to talk to Rachel alone).”
v 8…But they said, “We cannot (the rock is too heavy), until all the flocks are gathered, and they (all the shepherds together) roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”
v 9…While he was still speaking (Jacob), Rachel (means a female sheep) came with her father’s sheep, for she waas a shepherdess.
v 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 up, and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother (repeated three times in this verse to show the joy he had in meeting a member of his mother’s family, and so Rachel would notice him; he disregarded the local custom).
v 11…Then Jacob kissed Rachel (in Hebrew it means that he kissed her not on the mouth, but on the head, cheek, or shoulder which is customary; for an explanation of this, see the book “Bereshit” by Mesorah Publications, p. 1259 on this verse) and wept (he felt safe now).
v 12…And Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.
v 13…So it came about when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Then he related to Laban all these things (how he came to be in Haran).
v 14…And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh (his near kinsman).” And he stayed with him a month (working for Laban).
v 15…Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative (literally “brother”) should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”
v 16…Laban had two daughters, and the name of the elder was Leah (weary) and the name of the younger was Rachel.
v 17…And Leah’s eyes were tender (watered, soft; the Targum Onkelos says “beautiful” as if her beauty was in her eyes only), but Rachel was beautiful and well favored (altogether beautiful in contrast).
v 18…Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
v 19…And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man: stay with me (Jacob had no money for a dowery, he proposes servitude instead).”
v 20…So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.
v 21…Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife (he was betrothed), for my time is completed, and I will go into her (as his wife and have children; no waiting)
v 22…And Laban gathered all the men (the chief and important men) of the place and made a feast.
v 23…Now it came about in the evening that he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him (heavily veiled; retribution for what Jacob did to his father); and Jacob went into her (as his wife).
v 24…Laban also gave his maid Zilpah (dripping) to his daughter Leah as a maid (this is also a deception; Zilpah was younger than Bilhah and should have gone with Rachel).
v 25…So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?”
v 26…But Laban said (shifting responsibility), “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the first-born (referring to what happened with his older brother Esau in Chapter 27).
v 27…Complete the bridal week (seven days) of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years (Messiah will come from Leah, not Rachel in God’s plan).
v 28…And Jacob did so and completed her week, and (one week later) he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
v 29…Laban also gave his made Bilhah (trouble) to his daughter Rachel as her maid.
v 30…So Jacob went in to Rachel also (consummated the marriage) and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban another seven years.
v 31…Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved (less loved than Rachel; Jacob thought she should have warned him of Laban’s plot), and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren (we are going to see that the first seven children of Leah will be an eschatological picture of Israel in the 7000 year plan of God, and these first four are a picture of salvation).
v 32…And Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben (“see, a son”; when we come to the Lord we must first “see the son”); for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.”
v 33…Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved (in comparison to Rachel), he has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Shimon (we are to hear and obey the Lord).
v 34…And she conceived again and bore a son and said and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached (joined) to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore she named him Levi (meaning joined).
v 35…And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah, Then she stopped bearing (putting these names together we have how we come to the Lord; we see the son and come in faith, and then we hear his commandments and obey them; then we are joined to the Lord and become a praise. Yeshua is from the fourth tribe of Judah, and he came 4000 years after creation; the sun is a type of the Messiah it was created on the fourth day-Gen 1.14-19; Psa 19.4-5; Mal 4.2; Luke 1.78).
Gen 30.1-43 will give us other children born to Jacob; Jacob’s agreement with Laban; Yehovah blesses Jacob and increases his wealth.
v 1…Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister, and she said to Jacob, “Give me children or else I die (of grief and shame; be regarded as dead).”
v 2…Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel (implying it was in his power to give her children), and he said, “AM I in the place of God, who has withdrawn from you the fruit of the womb?”
v 3…And she said, “Here is my maid BIlhah, go into her, that she may bear on my knees (rear the children she will bear), that through her I too may have children (probably using Sarah and Hagar as an example, and uses her very words).”
v 4…So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
v 5…And Bilhah conceived and bore a son.
v 6…Then Rachel said, “God (as judge) has vindicated (judged) me, and he has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son (she can be a spiritual mother at least).” Therefore she named him Dan (judgment).
v 7…And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob as second son.
v 8…So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali (my wrestling).
v 9…And when Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
v 10…And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
v 11…Then Leah said, “How fortunate (“bagad” and carries a midrashic meaning of “cut down” as in troops cutting down an enemy-Dan 4.14)!” So she named him Gad.
v 12…And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
v 13…Then Leah said, “Happy am I. For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy).
v 14…Now in the days of the wheat harvest (late spring in Sivan) Reuben went and found mandrakes (Hebrew “dudaim” which seems to derive from the word love in Song 7.13; this plant was very fragrant) in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes (being taken in by the color and smell).”
v 15…But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband?” And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes (Jacob was to have stayed with Rachel that night, but she gave that to Leah in exchange for the mandrakes).
v 16…When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes (He consents to please both his wives).” So he lay with her that night.
v 17…And God gave heed to Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
v 18…Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages (for the mandrakes) because I gave my my made to my husband .” So she named him Issachar (“my hiring”; this is spelled with two shins in Hebrew; we will elaborate on this later in v 24).
v 19…And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
v 20…Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons (as many children as all the others put together).” So she named him Zebulon (to dwell).
v 21…And afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah (Judgement).
v 22…The God remembered Rachel (manifested his favor), and gave heed to her (prayers over and over again that she might have children) and opened her womb.
v 23…And she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away (Hebrew “asaph” and a play on words with the name “Yosef”) my reproach.”
v 24…So she named him Joseph (Hebrew Yosef) saying, “May the Lord give me (Hebrew “yosef” or add on) another son (which will be Benjamin; the seven children of Leah speaks of the seven thousand year plan of God: Reuben, meaning see, a son, alludes to when Adam was created; Shimon, meaning to hear, alludes to when Abraham heard and obeyed the Lord; Levi, meaning to join, alludes to the Levites joined to God and Israel becoming the chosen people; Judah, meaning praise, alludes to Messiah coming from that fourth tribe and coming around year 4000 after creation; Issachar, meaning my hiring, has two letter “shins” in it and this alludes to Israel being in the diaspora 2000 years, and the “shin” means “teeth” and alludes to Israel being “consumed” during that time; Zebulon the sixth child means to dwell, and after 6000 years we will have the Messianic Kingdom and we will dwell with Messiah; and Dinah the seventh child means “judgment” and she is female, alluding to the judgment when Messiah comes during the seventh day called the “day of the Lord”, and his bride will judge during this last 1000 year period).”
v 25…Now it came about that when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, That I may go to my own place and to my own country (Beersheba and Canaan).
v 26…Give me my wives and my children (give me permission to leave with them) for whom I have served you and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.”
v 27…And Laban said unto him, “If I have found favor with you (you would not leave), I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.”
v 28…And he continued, “Name me your wages and I will give it.”
v 29…But he said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me.
v 30…For you had little before I came, and it has increased to a multitude; and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also (it was his duty to do so).”
v 31…So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything (God had blessed Laban and Jacob did not want any part of that). If you will do this one thing for me (what I am about to propose), I will again pasture and keep your flock;
v 32…let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep, and every brown one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
v 33…So my integrity will answer for me later when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen (by its success that God has blessed him and not taken from Laban’s flock; remove the presently existing animals of such coloration so that any born after this were not in the flock previously).
v 34…And Laban said, “Good, let it be according to your word.”
v 35…So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.
v 36…And he put a distance of three days journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks (so the two flocks don’t mingle).
v 37…And Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and chestnut trees and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods.
v 38…And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink, and they mated when they came to drink (no one knows why he did this, but God’s hand was in this and Jacob will attest to it in Gen 31.9-13).
v 39…So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
v 40…And Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the brownish ones in the flocks of Laban; and he put his own herds apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
v 41…Moreover, it came about whenever the early bearing of the flocks were mating (flocks conceived two times a year; the stronger because they survived the winter mated in Nisan and have a litter in Av), that Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate be the rods (Jacob did not use this technique at all times, but only when the early-bearing sturdier flocks were about to mate, making sure the sturdier animals he could keep for himself);
v 42…but when the flock was late-bearing (this would be in Tishri in the fall and have a litter in Adar) he did not put them in, so the feeble were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.
v 43…So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys (which he bought by selling his sheep; this “manipulation” was not why this happened, however, it was the Lord who blessed Jacob, not his carnal efforts and works-Gen 31.10-13).
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