Genesis 29:11

_AND WHILE HE YET SPAKE WITH THEM, RACHEL CAME WITH HER FATHER'S SHEEP: FOR SHE KEPT THEM._ While he yet spake ... Rachel came. Among the pastoral tribes the young unmarried daughters of the greatest sheikhs tend the flocks, going out at sunrise, and continuing to watch their fleecy charge until sunset. This practice of employing young women to watch the flocks obtains still among the modern Bedouins; and among some tribes these are exclusively employed, insomuch that Burckhardt declares, 'a boy would feel himself insulted were any one to say "Go, and drive your father's sheep to pasture." These words, in his opinion, would signify 'you are no better than a girl.' Watering them, which is done twice a day, is a work of time and labour, and Jacob rendered no small service in volunteering his aid to the young shepherdess. It was an act of civility on the part of a stranger, readily accepte...

9-14 See Rachel's humility and industry. Nobody needs to be ashamed of honest, useful labour, nor ought it to hinder any one's preferment. When Jacob understood that this was his kinswoman, he was very ready to serve her. Laban, though not the best humoured, bade him welcome, and was satisfied with the account Jacob gave of himself. While we avoid being foolishly ready to believe every thing which is told us, we must take heed of being uncharitably suspicious....

Verse Genesis 29:11. _JACOB KISSED RACHEL_] A simple and pure method by which the primitive inhabitants of the earth testified their friendship to each other, first abused by _hypocrites_, who pretended affection while their vile hearts meditated terror, (see the case of Joab,) and afterwards disgraced by refiners on morals, who, while they pretended to stumble at those innocent expressions of affection and friendship, were capable of committing the grossest acts of impurity. _AND LIFTED UP HIS VOICE_] It may be, in thanksgiving to God for the favour he had shown him, in conducting him thus far in peace and safety. _AND WEPT._] From a sense of the goodness of his heavenly Father, and his own unworthiness of the success with which he had been favoured. The same expressions of kindness and pure affection are repeated on t

- Jacob’s Marriage 6. רחל _rāchēl_, Rachel, “a ewe.” 16. לאה _lê'âh_, Leah, “wearied.” 24. זלפה _zı̂lpâh_, Zilpah, “drop?” 29. בלהה _bı̂lhâh_, Bilhah, “timidity.” 32. ראוּבן _re'uvbēn_, Reuben, “behold a son.” A paronomasia in allusion to the phrase בעניי ראה _be‛ānyı̂y_ _rā'âh_. Derivatives and compounds, being formed by the common speaker, are sometimes founded upon resemblance in sound, and not always on precise forms of the original sentence which prompted them. 33. ש

EXPOSITION GENESIS 29:1 THEN JACOB WENT ON HIS JOURNEY (literally, _lifted up his feet—a _graphic description of traveling. Inspired by new hopes, and conscious of loftier aims than when he fled from Beersheba, the lonely furtive departed from Bethel), AND CAME INTO THE LAND OF THE PEOPLE OF THE EAST—literally, _the land of the sons of the east_,_ i_._e_._ _Mesopotamia, about 450 miles distant from Beersheba. GENESIS 29:2 AND HE LOOKED (either to discover where he was, or in search of water), AND BEHOLD A WELL IN THE FIELD,—not the well at which Eliezer's caravan halted, which was a well for the village maidens, situated in front of the town,

AND JACOB KISSED RACHEL,.... Which he did in a way of courtesy and civility; this was done after he had acquainted her with his relation to her; he saluted her upon that: AND LIFTED UP HIS VOICE, AND WEPT; for joy at the providence of God that had brought him so opportunely to the place, and at the sight of a person so nearly related to him; and who he hoped would be his wife, and was the person designed of God for him....

CHAPTER 29 JACOB WITH LABAN _ 1. Jacob's arrival at Padan-aram (Genesis 29:1)_ 2. His service for Rachel (Genesis 29:15) 3. Laban's deception (Genesis 29:21) 4. Jacob receives Rachel (Genesis 29:26) 5. Leah's sons (Genesis 29:32) The Lord brought him to Padan-aram, where he was to dwell as an exile for twenty years. During these twenty years Jehovah did not manifest Himself to him, even as Israel dispersed among the nations has no communications from the Lord. His sojourn in Padan-aram produce

JACOB SERVES SEVEN YEARS FOR RACHEL. LABAN SUBSTITUTES LEAH AND SECURES FOURTEEN YEARS'SERVICE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE TWO. Apart from bits of P (Genesis 29:24; Genesis 29:28_ b_, Genesis 29:29) the section belongs to JE. Analysis is very uncertain. Probably Genesis 29:1 is from E, Genesis 29:2 from J. Opinions differ as to Genesis 29:15; for our purpose further analysis is unnecessary. Jacob comes in his journey to a well, and finds three flocks waiting to

KISSED. The Eastern greeting....

_Jacob kissed … wept_ This demonstrative display of feeling is Homeric in its simplicity. The suddenness of Jacob's opportune meeting with his relatives, the removal of doubt and anxiety from his mind on entering a strange country, and the apparition of his young and fair cousin, had all deeply stirred his emotional nature. Cf. the tears of Joseph, Genesis 45:2; Genesis 45:14....