Genesis

Genesis 29:1-14

God guides His people in exile and brings them into the places necessary for the unfolding of His promises.

Genesis 29:1-14 (WEB)

1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.

2 He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and saw three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well’s mouth was large.

3 There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well’s mouth in its place.

4 Jacob said to them, “My relatives, where are you from?” They said, “We are from Haran.”

5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.”

6 He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.”

7 He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

8 They said, “We can’t, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well’s mouth. Then we water the sheep.”

9 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.

10 When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

11 Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.

12 Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

13 When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.

14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.

Central Idea

God guides His people in exile and brings them into the places necessary for the unfolding of His promises.

Authorial Intent

To narrate Jacob’s arrival in the land of his relatives and to show God’s providential guidance in bringing him to Rachel and Laban.

Chapter: Genesis 29

The LORD Brings Jacob to Laban, Exposes Him Through Reversal, and Begins Building the Covenant Family Through Leah and Rachel

As Jacob enters exile and is himself deceived, the LORD sovereignly advances the covenant line through painful family disorder, seeing the unloved and beginning to build His people through Leah’s fruitfulness.