1雅各H3290起H5375行H7272，到了H3212東方H6924人H1121之地H776， 2看見H7200田H7704間有一口井H875，有三H7969群H5739羊H6629臥H7257在井旁；因為人飲H8248羊群H5739都是用那井H875裡的水。井H875口H6310上的石頭H68是大H1419的。 3常有羊群H5739在那裡聚集H622，牧人把石頭H68轉離H1556井H875口H6310飲H8248羊H6629，隨後又H7725把石頭H68放H7725在井H875口H6310的原處H4725。 4雅各H3290對牧人說H559：弟兄們H251，你們是那裡H370來的？他們說H559：我們是哈蘭H2771來的。 5他問他們說H559：拿鶴H5152的孫子H1121拉班H3837，你們認識H3045麼？他們說H559：我們認識H3045。 6雅各說H559：他平安H7965麼？他們說H559：平安H7965。看哪，他女兒H1323拉結H7354領著羊H6629來了H935。 7雅各說H559：日頭H3117還高H1419，不是羊群H4735聚集H622的時候H6256，你們不如飲H8248羊H6629，再去H3212放一放H7462。 8他們說H559：我們不能H3201，必等羊群H5739聚齊H622，人把石頭H68轉離H1556井H875口H6310纔可飲H8248羊H6629。 9雅各正H5750和他們說話H1696的時候，拉結H7354領著他父親H1的羊H6629來了H935，因為那些羊是他牧放H7462的。 10雅各H3290看見H7200母H517舅H251拉班H3837的女兒H1323拉結H7354和母H517舅H251拉班H3837的羊群H6629，就上前H5066把石頭H68轉離H1556井H875口H6310，飲H8248他母H517舅H251拉班H3837的羊群H6629。 11雅各H3290與拉結H7354親嘴H5401，就放H5375聲H6963而哭H1058。 12雅各H3290告訴H5046拉結H7354，自己是他父親H1的外甥H251，是利百加H7259的兒子H1121，拉結就跑去H7323告訴H5046他父親H1。 13拉班H3837聽見H8085外甥H269,H1121雅各H3290的信息H8088，就跑H7323去迎接H7125，抱H2263著他，與他親嘴H5401，領H935他到自己的家H1004。雅各將一切的情由H1697告訴H5608拉班H3837。 14拉班H3837對他說H559：你實在H389是我的骨H6106肉H1320。雅各就和他同住H3427了一個月H3117,H2320。 15拉班H3837對雅各H3290說H559：你雖是我的骨肉(原文作：弟兄)H251，豈可白白H2600地服事H5647我？請告訴H5046我，你要甚麼為工價H4909？ 16拉班H3837有兩H8147個女兒H1323，大的H1419名H8034叫利亞H3812，小的H6996名H8034叫拉結H7354。 17利亞H3812的眼睛H5869沒有神氣H7390，拉結H7354卻生得美H3303貌H8389俊秀H3303。 18雅各H3290愛H157拉結H7354，就說H559：我願為你小H6996女兒H1323拉結H7354服事H5647你七H7651年H8141。 19拉班H3837說H559：我把他給H5414你，勝似H2896給H5414別H312人H376，你與我同住H3427罷！ 20雅各H3290就為拉結H7354服事H5647了七H7651年H8141；他因為深愛H160拉結，就看這七年如同H5869幾H259天H3117。 21雅各H3290對拉班H3837說H559：日期H3117已經滿了H4390，求你把我的妻子H80給H3051我，我好與他同房H935。 22拉班H3837就擺設H6213筵席H4960，請齊H622了那地方H4725的眾人H582。 23到晚上H6153，拉班將H3947女兒H1323利亞H3812送來H935給雅各，雅各就與他同房H935。 24拉班H3837又將婢女H8198悉帕H2153給H5414女兒H1323利亞H3812作使女H8198。 25到了早晨H1242，雅各一看是利亞H3812，就對拉班H3837說H559：你向我做H6213的是甚麼事呢？我服事H5647你，不是為拉結H7354麼？你為甚麼欺哄H7411我呢？ 26拉班H3837說H559：大女兒H1067還沒有給H5414人，先H6440把小女兒H6810給H5414人，在我們這地方H4725沒有這規矩H6213。 27你為這個H2063滿了H4390七日H7620，我就把那個也給H5414你，你再H312為他服事H5647我七H7651年H8141。 28雅各H3290就如此行H6213。滿了H4390利亞的七日H7620，拉班便將女兒H1323拉結H7354給H5414雅各為妻H802。 29拉班H3837又將婢女H8198辟拉H1090給H5414女兒H1323拉結H7354作使女H8198。 30雅各也與拉結H7354同房H935，並且愛H157拉結H7354勝似愛利亞H3812，於是又H312服事H5647了拉班七H7651年H8141。 31耶和華H3068見H7200利亞H3812失寵，(原文作：被恨H8130；下同)就使H6605他生育H7358，拉結H7354卻不生育H6135。 32利亞H3812懷孕H2029生H3205子H1121，就給他起名H8034叫H7121流便H7205，(就是：有兒子的意思)因而H3588說H559：耶和華H3068看見H7200我的苦情H6040，如今H3588我的丈夫H376必愛H157我。 33他又懷孕H2029生H3205子H1121，就說H559：耶和華H3068因為聽見H8085我失寵H8130，所以又賜H5414給我這個兒子，於是給他起名H8034叫H7121西緬H8095。(就是：聽見的意思) 34他又懷孕H2029生H3205子H1121，起名H8034叫H7121利未H3878，(就是：聯合的意思)說H559：我給丈夫H376生了H3205三個H7969兒子H1121，他必與我聯合H3867。 35他又懷孕H2029生H3205子H1121，說H559：這回H6471我要讚美H3034耶和華H3068，因此給他起名H8034叫H7121猶大H3063。(就是：讚美的意思)這纔停H5975了生育H3205。
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 All the stages Israel's march to Canaan are distinctly noticed, but no particular journal is kept of Jacob's expedition further than Beth-el; no, he had no more such happy nights as he had at Beth-el, no more such visions of the Almighty. That was intended for a feast; he must not expect it to be his daily bread. But, 1. We are here told how cheerfully he proceeded in his journey after the sweet communion he had with God at Beth-el:
Then Jacob lifted up his feet; so the margin reads it,
Gen 29:1. Then he went on with cheerfulness and alacrity, not burdened with his cares, nor cramped with his fears, being assured of God's gracious presence with him. Note, After the visions we have had of God, and the vows we have made to him in solemn ordinances, we should run the way of his commandments with enlarged hearts,
Hebre 12:1. 2. How happily he arrived at his journey's end. Providence brought him to the very field where his uncle's flocks were to be watered, and there he met with Rachel, who was to be his wife. Observe, (1.) The divine Providence is to be acknowledged in all the little circumstances which concur to make a journey, or other undertaking, comfortable and successful. If, when we are at a loss, we meet seasonably with those that can direct us - if we meet with a disaster, and those are at hand that will help us - we must not say that it was by chance, nor that fortune therein favoured us, but that it was by Providence, and that God therein favoured us. Our ways are ways of pleasantness, if we continually acknowledge God in them. (2.) Those that have flocks must look well to them, and be diligent to know their state,
Prov 27:23. What is here said of the constant care of the shepherds concerning their sheep (
Gen 29:2,
Gen 29:3,
Gen 29:7,
Gen 29:8) may serve to illustrate the tender concern which our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, has for his flock, the church; for he is the good Shepherd, that knows his sheep, and is known of them,
John 10:14. The stone at the well's mouth, which is so often mentioned here, was either to secure their property in it (for water was scarce, it was not there
usus communis aquarum -
for every one's use ), or it was to save the well from receiving damage from the heat of the sun, or from any spiteful hand, or to prevent the lambs of the flock from being drowned in it. (3.) Separate interests should not take us from joint and mutual help; when all the shepherds came together with their flocks, then, like loving neighbours, at watering-time, they watered their flocks together. (4.) It becomes us to speak civilly and respectfully to strangers. Though Jacob was no courtier, but a plain man, dwelling in tents, and a stranger to compliment, yet he addresses himself very obligingly to the people he met with, and calls them his
brethren, Gen 29:4. The law of kindness in the tongue has a commanding power,
Prov 31:26. Some think he calls them brethren because they were of the same trade, shepherds like him. Though he was now upon his preferment, he was not ashamed of his occupation. (5.) Those that show respect have usually respect shown to them. As Jacob was civil to these strangers, so he found them civil to him. When he undertook to teach them how to despatch their business (
Gen 29:7), they did not bid him meddle with his own concerns and let them alone; but, though he was a stranger, they gave him the reason of their delay,
Gen 29:8. Those that are neighbourly and friendly shall have neighbourly and friendly usage.
9 Here we see, 1. Rachel's humility and industry:
She kept her father's sheep (
Gen 29:9), that is, she took the care of them, having servants under her that were employed about them. Rachel's name signifies
a sheep. Note, Honest useful labour is that which nobody needs be ashamed of, nor ought it to be a hindrance to any one's preferment. 2. Jacob's tenderness and affection. When he understood that this was his kinswoman (probably he had heard of her name before), knowing what his errand was into that country, we may suppose it struck his mind immediately that his must be his wife. Being already smitten with her ingenuous comely face (though it was probably sun-burnt, and she was in the homely dress of a shepherdess), he is wonderfully officious, and anxious to serve her (
Gen 29:10), and addresses himself to her with tears of joy and kisses of love,
Gen 29:11. She runs with all haste to tell her father; for she will by no means entertain her kinsman's address without her father's knowledge and approbation,
Gen 29:12. These mutual respects, at their first interview, were good presages of their being a happy couple. 3. Providence made that which seemed contingent and fortuitous to give speedy satisfaction to Jacob's mind, as soon as ever he came to the place which he was bound for. Abraham's servant, when he came upon a similar errand, met with similar encouragement. Thus God guides his people with his eye,
Pss 32:8. It is a groundless conceit which some of the Jewish writers have, that Jacob, when he kissed Rachel, wept because he had been set upon in his journey by Eliphaz the eldest son of Esau, at the command of his father, and robbed of all his money and jewels, which his mother had given him when she sent him away. It was plain that it was his passion for Rachel, and the surprise of this happy meeting, that drew these tears from his eyes. 4. Laban, though none of the best-humoured men, bade him welcome, was satisfied in the account he gave of himself, and of the reason of his coming in such poor circumstances. While we avoid the extreme, on the one hand, of being foolishly credulous, we must take heed of falling into the other extreme, of being uncharitably jealous and suspicious. Laban owned him for his kinsman:
Thou art my bone and my flesh, Gen 29:14. Note, Those are hard-hearted indeed that are unkind to their relations, and that
hide themselves from their own flesh, Isa 58:7.
15 Here is, I. The fair contract made between Laban and Jacob, during the month that Jacob spent there as a guest,
Gen 29:14. It seems he was not idle, nor did he spend his time in sport and pastime; but like a man of business, though he had no stock of his own, he applied himself to serve his uncle, as he had begun (
Gen 29:10) when he
watered his flock. Note, Wherever we are, it is good to be employing ourselves in some useful business, which will turn to a good account to ourselves or others. Laban, it seems, was so taken with Jacob's ingenuity and industry about his flocks that he was desirous he should continue with him, and very fairly reasons thus:
Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou therefore serve me for nought? Gen 29:15. No, what reason for that? If Jacob be so respectful to his uncle as to give him his service without demanding any consideration for it, yet Laban will not be so unjust to his nephew as to take advantage either of his necessity or of his good-nature. Note, Inferior relations must not be imposed upon; if it be their duty to serve us, it is our duty to reward them. Now Jacob had a fair opportunity to make known to Laban the affection he had for his daughter Rachel; and, having no worldly goods in his hand with which to endow her, he promises him seven years' service, upon condition that, at the end of the seven years, he would bestow her upon him for his wife. It appears by computation that Jacob was now seventy-seven years old when he bound himself apprentice for a wife,
and for a wife he kept sheep, Hos 12:12. His posterity are there reminded of it long afterwards, as an instance of the meanness of their origin: probably Rachel was young, and scarcely marriageable, when Jacob first came, which made him the more willing to stay for her till his seven years' service had expired.
II. Jacob's honest performance of his part of the bargain,
Gen 29:20. He served seven years for Rachel. If Rachel still continued to keep her father's sheep (as she did,
Gen 29:9), his innocent and religious conversation with her, while they kept the flocks, could not but increase their mutual acquaintance and affection (Solomon's song of love is a pastoral); if she now left it off, his easing her of that care was very obliging. Jacob honestly served out his seven years, and did not forfeit his indentures, though he was old; nay, he served them cheerfully:
They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her, as if it were more his desire to earn her than to have her. Note, Love makes long and hard services short and easy; hence we read of
the labour of love, Hebre 6:10. If we know how to value the happiness of heaven, the sufferings of this present time will be as nothing to us in comparison of it. An age of work will be but as a few days to those that love God and long for Christ's appearing.
III. The base cheat which Laban put upon him when he was out of his time: he put Leah into his arms instead of Rachel,
Gen 29:23. This was Laban's sin; he wronged both Jacob and Rachel, whose affections, doubtless, were engaged to each other, and, if (as some say) Leah was herein no better than an adulteress, it was no small wrong to her too. But it was Jacob's affliction, a damp to the mirth of the marriage-feast, when in the morning behold it was Leah,
Gen 29:25. It is easy to observe here how Jacob was paid in his own coin. He had cheated his own father when he pretended to be Esau, and now his father-in-law cheated him. Herein, how unrighteous soever Laban was, the Lord was righteous; as
Judg 1:7. Even the righteous, if they take a false step, are sometimes thus recompensed on the earth. Many that are not, like Jacob, disappointed in the person, soon find themselves, as much to their grief, disappointed in the character. The choice of that relation therefore, on both sides, ought to be made with good advice and consideration, that, if there should be a disappointment, it may not be aggravated by a consciousness of mismanagement.
IV. The excuse and atonement Laban made for the cheat. 1. The excuse was frivolous:
It must not be so done in our country, Gen 29:26. We have reason to think there was no such custom of his country as he pretends; only he banters Jacob with it, and laughs at his mistake. Note, Those that can do wickedly and then think to turn it off with a jest, though they may deceive themselves and others, will find at last that God is not mocked. But if there had been such a custom, and he had resolved to observe it, he should have told Jacob so when he undertook to serve him for his younger daughter. Note, As saith the proverb of the ancients,
Wickedness proceeds from the wicked, 1Sam 24:13. Those that deal with treacherous men must expect to be dealt treacherously with 2. His compounding the matter did but make bad worse:
We will give thee this also, Gen 29:27. Hereby he drew Jacob into the sin, and snare, and disquiet, of multiplying wives, which remains a blot in his escutcheon, and will be so to the end of the world. Honest Jacob did not design it, but to have kept as true to Rachel as his father had done to Rebekah. He that had lived without a wife to the eighty-fourth year of his age could then have been very well content with one; but Laban, to dispose of his two daughters without portions, and to get seven years' service more out of Jacob, thus imposes upon him, and draws him into such a strait by his fraud, that (the matter not being yet settled, as it was afterwards by the divine law,
Lev 18:18, and more fully since by our Saviour,
Matt 19:5) he had some colourable reasons for marrying them both. He could not refuse Rachel, for he had espoused her; still less could he refuse Leah, for he had married her; and therefore Jacob must
be content, and take two talents, 2Kgs 5:23. Note, One sin is commonly the inlet of another. Those that go in by one door of wickedness seldom find their way out but by another. The polygamy of the patriarchs was, in some measure, excusable in them, because, though there was a reason against it as ancient as Adam's marriage (
Mal 2:15), yet there was no express command against it; it was in them a sin of ignorance. It was not he product of any sinful lust, but for the building up of the church, which was the good that Providence brought out of it; but it will by no means justify the like practice now, when God's will is plainly made known, that one man and one woman only must be joined together,
1Cor 7:2. The having of many wives suits well enough with the carnal sensual spirit of the Mahomedan imposture, which allows it; but we have not so learned Christ. Dr. Lightfoot makes Leah and Rachel to be figures of the two churches, the Jews under the law and the Gentiles under the gospel: the younger the more beautiful, and more in the thoughts of Christ when he came in the form of a servant; but he other, like Leah, first embraced: yet in this the allegory does not hold, that the Gentiles, the younger, were more fruitful,
Galat 4:27.
31 We have here the birth of four of Jacob's sons, all by Leah. Observe, 1. That Leah, who was less beloved, was blessed with children, when Rachel was denied that blessing,
Gen 29:31. See how Providence, in dispensing its gifts, observes a proportion, to keep the balance even, setting crosses and comforts one over-against another, that none may be either too much elevated or too much depressed. Rachel wants children, but she is blessed with her husband's love; Leah wants that, but she is fruitful. Thus it was between Elkana's two wives (
1Sam 1:5); for the Lord is wise and righteous.
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, that is, loved less than Rachel, in which sense it is required that we hate father and mother, in comparison with Christ (
Luke 14:26), then the Lord granted her a child, which was a rebuke to Jacob, for making so great a difference between those that he was equally related to, - a check to Rachel, who perhaps insulted over her sister upon that account, - and a comfort to Leah, that she might not be overwhelmed with the contempt put upon her: thus
God giveth abundant honour to that which lacked, 1Cor 12:24. 2. The names she gave her children were expressive of her respectful regards both to God and to her husband. (1.) She appears very ambitious of her husband's love: she reckoned the want of it her affliction (
Gen 29:32); not upbraiding him with it as his fault, nor reproaching him for it, and so making herself uneasy to him, but laying it to heart as her grief, which yet she had reason to bear with the more patience because she herself was consenting to the fraud by which she became his wife; and we may well bear that trouble with patience which we bring upon ourselves by our own sin and folly. She promised herself that the children she bore him would gain her the interest she desired in his affections. She called her first-born
Reuben (
see a son ), with this pleasant thought,
Now will my husband love me; and her third son
Levi (
joined ), with this expectation,
Now will my husband by joined unto me, Gen 29:34. Mutual affection is both the duty and comfort of that relation; and yoke-fellows should study to recommend themselves to each other,
1Cor 7:33,
1Cor 7:34. (2.) She thankfully acknowledges the kind providence of God in it:
The Lord hath looked upon my affliction, Gen 29:32.
The Lord hath heard, that is, taken notice of it,
that I was hated (for our afflictions, as they are before God's eyes, so they have a cry in his ears),
he has therefore given me this son. Note, Whatever we have that contributes either to our support and comfort under our afflictions or to our deliverance from them, God must be owned in it, especially his pity and tender mercy. Her fourth she called
Judah (
praise ), saying,
Now will I praise the Lord, Gen 29:35. And this was he of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. Note, [1.] Whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. Fresh favours should quicken us to praise God for former favours.
Now will I praise the Lord more and better than I have done. [2.] All our praises must centre in Christ, both as the matter of them and as the Mediator of them. He descended from him whose name was praise, for he is our praise. Is Christ formed in my heart?
Now will I praise the Lord.
