Genesis 29.13-14-Jacob Meets Laban

Wednesday June 21, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 29:13-14-Jacob Meets Laban

Lesson # 166

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 29:1.

This evening we will study Genesis 29:13-14, which gives us the record of Jacob meeting Laban for the first time and staying with Laban for a month.

On Tuesday we studied Genesis 29:1-12, which records Jacob finally arriving in Paddan Aram and meeting the shepherds from Haran and the daughter of his uncle Laban and future wife, Rachel.

Genesis 29:1, “Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east.”

The expression “Jacob went on his journey” in the Hebrew text literally means, “Jacob lifted up his feet” and is a unique expression, which means that “to put into action (his original journey).”

This expression indicates that Jacob had a life changing experience at Bethel where he encountered a vision of elect angels, the preincarnate Christ, receiving promises from Him that revealed the Father’s plan for his life, which was to inherit the promises, privileges, responsibilities and blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant and to carry on the line of Christ.

After his encounter with the Lord at Bethel, Jacob went from being a scared, lonely, isolated individual with doubts about his future to an individual who was courageous, confident about the future and God’s love for him, aware that he is not alone.

Genesis 29:2, “He looked, and saw a well in the field, 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.”

Genesis 29:3, “When all the flocks were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.”

The large stone covering the well indicated that the well was private property.

The large stone would not only keep the well clean and to protect against anyone accidentally falling into it but it would also restrict the use of the well to a select group of shepherds who were authorized by the owner of the well to move it.

The fact that Genesis 29:2 describes the stone as being large emphasizes Jacob’s great strength since Genesis 29:10 records him moving it all by himself without any help from the shepherds after being told that Laban’s daughter Rachel was arriving with her flock.

Genesis 29:4, “Jacob said to them, ‘My brothers, where are you from?’ And they said, ‘We are from Haran.’”

Genesis 29:5, “He said to them, ‘Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?’ And they said, ‘We know him.’”

Genesis 29:6, “And he said to them, ‘Is it well with him?’ And they said, ‘It is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.’”

In typical oriental style, Jacob asked about Laban’s health.

Then, we see Rachel providentially arriving on the scene with a flock of sheep just like Jacob’s mother Rebekah arrived at the well to meet Abraham’s servant Eliezer who was commissioned by Abraham to secure a wife for Jacob’s father Isaac (See Genesis 24).

The providence of God is the divine outworking of the divine decree, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory and expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate but by God.

“Rachel” is the proper noun rachel (lj@r*) (raw-khale) and in the Hebrew means, “ewe” meaning the female of the sheep, especially of the mature.

Genesis 29:7, “He said, ‘Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.’”

Jacob’s question was foolish to the shepherds because he was ignorant of the fact that the owner of the well had established certain procedures for the use of the well.

Jacob was right that the procedure was impractical but he is ignorant that this procedure was set by the owner of the well, which he in the end disregards demonstrating his impatience and lack of respect for the property of others.

Genesis 29:8, “But they said, ‘We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.’”

The response of the shepherds to Jacob’s command indicates that there was a local regulation stipulated by the owners (“they”) of the well that the large stone could not be moved until a certain time in the evening at which time all the flocks of the area were to be watered in turn, in order of arrival.

Apparently, in order to be the first to water their flocks, shepherds would frequently come in rather early in the afternoon and there lie awaiting their turn, when they might yet have been out pasturing their flocks.

Those that arrived first would get to water their flocks first and so some would get in line early.

Genesis 29:9, “While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.”

Genesis 29:10, “When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.”

The expression “his mother’s brother” appears three times and links the incident with the instructions from Isaac (Genesis 27:43; 28:2) and implies that Rachel is to become Jacob’s wife.

Jacob’s reaction in moving the large stone by himself upon seeing Rachel for the first time not only indicates his great strength but that this encounter with Rachel was “love at first sight.”

He is so excited and overcome with emotion and filled with adrenaline knowing that the Lord has providentially led him to one of the daughters of his mother’s brother, Laban that he single handedly moves the large stone from the well.

Jacob knows that this is no coincidence but that the Lord has fulfilled His promise to him and has providentially directed him to come to the right place at the right time to meet who he believes is his right woman.

Jacob moves the great stone from the mouth of the well, which took several men to move and then waters Rachel’s flock, which would impress Laban and attract his attention since he is always looking for a way to make a buck.

Genesis 29:11, “Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept.”

The fact that Jacob moves the large stone by himself upon seeing Rachel and his kissing her without first identifying himself to her not only indicates that the Lord is working in his life but also indicates “love at first sight.”

Further confirming this interpretation is that in his first interview with Laban recorded in Genesis 29:14-20, Jacob agrees to work seven years for Laban as the “bride-price” so that he can marry Rachel and which seven years were said to be “like a few days because of his love for her.”

Genesis 29:12, “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.”

Genesis 29:13, “So when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister's son, 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.”

The name “Laban” (/bl) (Hebrew: lavan) means, “white” and is used elsewhere in the Bible (Isa. 24:23; 30:26; cf. Song. 6:10) as a poetic metonym for the moon.

The accounts of Laban are found in Genesis 24 and 29-31 and whose grandfather was Nahor, Abraham’s brother, and of course his sister was Rebekah and his daughter was Rachel, the wife of Jacob.

Laban lived in the city of Nahor near Haran along one of the tributaries of the Euphrates River in what is now modern Syria and his occupation was a sheep and goat herder.

Genesis 24:29-31 gives us some insight into the character of Laban implying that he was a greedy individual.

Genesis 24:29, “Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.”

Rebekah’s brother Laban took responsibility for the family not because Bethuel, Rebekah’s father was incapacitated.

But rather, Laban took responsibility because in the culture of that day, the family government was not patriarchal but “fratriachal.”

Genesis 24:30, “When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, ‘This is what the man said to me,’ he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.”

Laban did “not” run to see Abraham’s servant to show hospitality to him as Rebekah did but rather out of greed “when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists.”

The statement “when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists” implies that Laban’s warm welcome for Abraham’s servant is prompted by the prospect of gaining material wealth from this yet unidentified stranger.

Further indicating that Laban is motivated by greed is that the first thing he noticed about Abraham’s servant was that “he was standing by the camels at the spring” and camels were in Abraham’s day rare and luxurious type of transportation.

Therefore, the Scripture implies that Laban runs out to meet Abraham’s servant because of the gold his sister had on and not because he was a hospitable individual like his sister, which anticipates Laban’s later in his dealings with Jacob.

Genesis 24:31, “And he said, ‘Come in, blessed of the LORD! Why do you stand outside since I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?’”

Laban’s invitation “Come in, blessed of the Lord” is true of Abraham whom the servant represents as the Lord had blessed Abraham with great wealth but the invitation lacks sincerity since Laban is more concerned about wealth and material blessing that he can extract from Abraham’s servant.

Genesis 29:13, “So when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister's son, 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.”

Just as the gold jewelry that his sister Rebekah received from Abraham’s servant Eliezer impressed Laban and attracted his attention as recorded in Genesis 24:30 so the thought of Jacob doing the same and his strength would have attracted Laban.

The statement that Laban “heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son” means that Laban was informed of his daughter Rachel’s encounter with Jacob and his great strength in moving the great stone from the well by himself and watering his flocks.

This news of Jacob would have impressed Laban since it took several men to move this large rock.

Jacob’s strength would attract his attention because Laban was always looking to make money.

Therefore, he would be thinking of ways to exploit that strength for his own profit.

Laban runs out to meet Jacob for a couple of reasons.

One, Jacob is his sister Rebekah’s boy and so news of her and her family would have obviously interested him.

Laban hadn’t received any information about his sister since the day she left home to marry Isaac so he would be interested to see how things have been with her.

Also, Laban ran to meet Jacob because he is thinking of material gain since he would recall that years ago, Abraham’s servant Eliezer arrived at his home and bestowed great wealth on his family in order for Isaac to marry his sister Rebekah.

Therefore, in Genesis 29:13, we see that Laban is seeing dollar signs so to speak since he is hoping that Jacob will have a lot of wealth for him as the bride-price for one of his daughters just as Abraham’s servant Eliezer did decades before when came for a bride for Isaac.

But Laban would be disappointed in the fact that Jacob comes to his home without great gifts as Abraham’s servant Eliezer did decades before as the bride-price so that Isaac could marry Rebekah.

Laban will clearly see and from talking to Jacob that he is on the run and has come empty handed but he will still find a way to make money off of Jacob.

So right from the beginning the relationship between Jacob and Laban is flawed since Laban is a greedy individual who lusted after material gain.

The statement “he (Jacob) related to Laban all these things” indicates that Jacob informed Laban of the circumstances surrounding his visit and providential encounter with Rachel at the well.

Undoubtedly, Jacob and Laban spoke well into the night with Laban asking questions.

Jacob would have entertained Laban with the story of the deception of Esau and Isaac by him and his mother to secure the blessing of the birthright.

He would have provided information to Laban about the marriage of his parents and how the Lord had blessed them as well as information about his grandfather Abraham.

Also, Jacob would have reported to Laban his encounter with the Lord at Bethel and that he has a new purpose in life as a result.

He would have informed Laban that after this encounter with the Lord, he was indeed seeking a wife in order to fulfill the divine promises.

As we noted, initially, Jacob was just biding his time and hiding from Esau until his anger subsided but the encounter with the Lord at Bethel changed all that.

This report was sufficient for Laban to be convinced that Jacob was who he claimed to be and, therefore, a blood relative.

Genesis 29:14, “Laban said to him, ‘Surely you are my bone and my flesh.’ And he stayed with him a month.”

After Jacob gave his report to Laban, Laban responds to Jacob by saying, “surely, you are my bone and my flesh,” which was a welcome corresponding to the English saying, “You are my own flesh and blood” and meant acceptance of Jacob as a member of Laban’s household.

Jacob stayed with Laban a month, which would be plenty of time to demonstrate to Laban his great strength.

During this month, Jacob would have undoubtedly helped Laban in the family business by taking care of the flocks, which would have kept him near Rachel who was a shepherdess.

This time spent with Rachel would have convinced Jacob that she was his right woman and as we will see, it did.

Laban would have also seen that Jacob was a hard worker, which he demonstrated by moving the large rock and watering his flocks that Rachel was tending.

He would have thought of ways to exploit this fact.

Also, during this month, Laban would have observed that Jacob was in love with his daughter Rachel and would seek to exploit this for personal and material gain.

The fact that Jacob was strong and a good worker would convince Laban that Jacob would make a fine son in law and could stay on to work for him in place of the tradi¬tional bride-price.

This month brought both Laban and Jacob to the conclusion that a continuing relationship between them could be of mutual advantage.