Text: Genesis 29:1-20 (see below)
A snowy Saturday in Northeast Ohio calls for some good story telling and the lesson for today does not disappoint. Jacob has made his way to Haran and found his relatives. The text from Genesis 29 is rich with symbolism that should not be missed by the reader.
First, is the significance of a well. When a well scene appears in the Bible, there is a very good chance that love or a betrothal is in the air. This is true for the setting before us. Jacob has arrived at the well. Some shepherds have also arrived with their flocks but they were waiting for other herdsmen and their flocks to arrive. Why? We are told that the stone covering the well was large and apparently it took many shepherds to move it. (Keep that thought in your mind as you read on!)
Second, Rachel arrives with her flock. Rachel in Hebrew means “lamb”. So, if we were telling the story in Hebrew, there would be a wonderful little play on words here. When I am teaching classes on these lessons, I try to impress upon my students that names are important – they mean things. More often than not the name assists in the story telling. Rachel, “the lamb”, brought her sheep to the well to be watered.
Was it love at first sight? Apparently for Jacob it was. He takes one look at Rachel and immediately heads to the well to show off some of his prowess. With Herculean strength he uncovers the well all by himself! Who needs a bunch of shepherds?!! He greets Rachel with a kiss and declares his lineage.
Third, Rachel runs home to tell her father, Laban, who is Jacob’s uncle (Rebecca’s brother). The last time we encountered our friend Laban was when Abraham had sent his slave to Haran to find a wife for Isaac. The slave had been loaded down with treasure, gold, and camels (Chapter 24). I wager that when old Uncle Laban heard the news that the “gravy train” had arrived once again from Canaan, he high tailed it to the well expecting that he had won the “lottery” all over again.
Jacob spent the next month with his relatives and fell more deeply in love with Rachel. Laban, being a fair man, asked the young gentleman what he wanted in wages for the work that Jacob had done for him. Without missing a beat, Jacob asks for Rachel declaring that he will work seven years for her hand. Laban agreed that this request was good and honorable. But notice the text carefully, there is another daughter, Leah, who is older and as the narrative cites has “weak eyes”.
Does this mean that Leah needs to visit the local optometrist? Did she struggle with cataracts? Was she in need of a strong pair of bifocals? Some scholars say that the phrase “weak eyes” means simply that Leah was plain, simple; not the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. Rachel on the other hand was lovely and beautiful.
I adore the last line of the scripture for today. It is so poetic and romantic when it states: “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Now that’s love!
But stay tuned dear readers for things are about to change for Jacob, Rachel and Leah. You might say that things are about to change in the “twinkling of an eye.” Come back tomorrow and find out why.
Love One Another – Brian
The World Seemed To Vanish
Cassandra Clare
“I could not tell you if I loved you the first moment I saw you, or if it was the second or third or fourth. But I remember the first moment I looked at you walking toward me and realized that somehow the rest of the world seemed to vanish when I was with you.”
Source: Clockwork Prince
Genesis 29:1-20
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying there beside it; for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would 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.
Jacob said to them, ‘My brothers, where do you come from?’ They said, ‘We are from Haran.’ He said to them, ‘Do you know Laban son of Nahor?’ They said, ‘We do.’ He said to them, ‘Is it well with him?’ ‘Yes,’ they replied, ‘and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with the sheep.’ He said, ‘Look, it is still broad daylight; it is not time for the animals to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.’ But they said, ‘We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.’
While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she kept them. Now when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of his mother’s brother Laban. Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and wept aloud. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he was Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father.
When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him; he embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob* told Laban all these things, and Laban said to him, ‘Surely you are my bone and my flesh!’ And he stayed with him for a month.
Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?’ Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were weak, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.’ Laban said, ‘It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.’ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
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