Commentaria in Genesim
Chapter Twenty-Nine. Synopsis of the Chapter
Jacob comes to Haran, to Laban. Second, verse 18, he serves him fourteen years for Rachel and Lia. Third, verse 32, Lia bears Ruben, Simeon, Levi and Juda.
1. Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the east country. 2. And he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying by it: for with the water thereof the flocks were watered, and the mouth thereof was closed with a great stone. 3. And the custom was, when all the sheep were gathered together, to roll off the stone, and after the sheep were watered, to put it on the mouth of the well again. 4. And he said to the shepherds: Brethren, whence are you? They answered: Of Haran. 5. And he asked them, saying: Know you Laban the son of Nachor? They said: We know him. 6. He said: Is he in health? Is he well, say they: and behold Rachel his daughter cometh with his flock. 7. And Jacob said: There is yet much day remaining, neither is it time to bring the flocks into the folds again: first give the sheep drink, and so lead them back to feed. 8. They answered: We cannot, till all the cattle be gathered together, and we remove the stone from the well’s mouth, that we may water the flocks. 9. They were yet speaking, and behold Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she fed the flock. 10. And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be his cousin-german, and that they were the sheep of Laban, his uncle: he removed the stone wherewith the well was closed. 11. And having watered the flock, he kissed her: and lifting up his voice, wept. 12. And he told her that he was her father’s brother, and the son of Rebecca: but she in haste went and told her father. 13. Who, when he heard that Jacob, his sister’s son, was come, ran forth to meet him: and embracing him, and kissing him with many kisses, brought him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey, 14. He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were expired, 15. He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have. 16. Now he had two daughters, the name of the elder was Lia: and the younger was called Rachel. 17. But Lia was blear-eyed: Rachel was well favoured, and of a beautiful countenance. 18. And Jacob being in love with her, said: I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 19. Laban answered: It is better that I give her thee than to another man, stay with me. 20. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love. 21. And he said to Laban: Give me my wife; for now the time is fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 22. And he, having invited a great number of his friends to the feast, made the marriage. 23. And at night he brought in Lia his daughter to him, 24. Giving his daughter a handmaid, named Zelpha. And when Jacob had gone in to her according to custom, when morning was come he saw it was Lia: 25. And he said to his father-in-law: What is it that thou didst mean to do? Did not I serve thee for Rachel? Why hast thou deceived me?
26. Laban answered: It is not the custom in this place, to give the younger in marriage first. 27. Make up the week of days of this match: and I will give thee her also, for the work that thou shalt serve me other seven years. 28. He yielded to his pleasure: and after the week was past, he married Rachel, 29. To whom her father had given Bala for her handmaid. 30. And having at length obtained the marriage he wished for, he preferred the love of the latter before the former, and served with him other seven years. 31. And the Lord seeing that he despised Lia, made her fruitful, but her sister remained barren. 32. And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Ruben, saying: The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me. 33. And again she conceived and bore a son, and said: Because the Lord heard that I was despised, he hath given this also to me: and she called his name Simeon. 34. And she conceived the third time, and bore another son: and said: Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons: and therefore she called his name Levi. 35. The fourth time she conceived and bore a son, and said: Now will I praise the Lord: and for this she called him Juda. And she left bearing.
1. THEN JACOB WENT ON HIS JOURNEY.—In Hebrew, he lifted up his feet, as if to say: Jacob, strengthened by the vision of God leaning upon the ladder, and by his own vow, roused and cheerful, went on to Haran, not doubting that God, according to the promises made to him, would be his guide on the way and his guide back again.
Josephus here and elsewhere does not narrate the sacred history with sufficient fidelity; for he says that Jacob had many companions on the way, whereas Jacob himself declares that he made this journey not with companions, but leaning on his one staff, Genesis 32:10.
INTO THE EAST COUNTRY—into Mesopotamia, which is to the east of Palestine.
3. THE CUSTOM WAS.—The reason for closing this well was the scarcity of water in those places, says Abulensis, and lest anyone should foul or dirty the water; so the shepherds coming together to it with their flocks removed the great stone with which it was closed, and watered the flocks together, and then, rolling the stone back again, stopped the mouth of the well with it.
4. BRETHREN—companions, friends: as a shepherd addresses shepherds.
5. THE SON OF NACHOR—the grandson of Nachor; for Laban was the son of Bathuel, the son of Nachor. Nachor is named here, therefore, because he was the head and patriarch of the family. Whence also Haran is called the city of Nachor, chapter 24, verse 10.
9. BEHOLD RACHEL.—Note the modesty and simplicity of that early age: behold Rachel, a handsome girl, wealthy and of marriageable age, moves among shepherds without danger to her chastity and without evil suspicion, and feeds sheep (for Rachel in Hebrew signifies a ewe) as a ewe among sheep.
HE REMOVED THE STONE.—What many shepherds together could not do, Jacob alone accomplished; whence it appears that he was of immense natural strength, which he had increased by continual temperance and chastity. He did this from love of Rachel, his cousin and future wife.
11. HE KISSED HER.—This was a kiss of friendship, with which brothers and kinsmen, when departing or returning, are wont to kiss one another, and to greet or bid farewell with a kiss. So St. Augustine, Question 87.
WEPT—as kinsmen are wont to weep for joy, when they meet kinsmen whom they dearly love and have not seen for a long time.
The Hebrews and Lyranus think that Jacob wept because he had no gold and silver to offer to Rachel: for of this, they say, Eliphaz, the son of Esau, had despoiled Jacob, who, being hostile to Jacob on account of the birthright taken from his father, pursued him on the way and seized him. But these are Jewish fables.
12. THAT HE WAS HER FATHER’S BROTHER.—“Brother,” that is, nephew; for Jacob was the son of Rebecca, who was the sister of Laban, who was the father of Rachel. Laban therefore was Jacob’s uncle, and consequently Jacob was Laban’s nephew by his sister: but Rachel and Jacob were cousins.
AND WHEN HE HAD HEARD THE CAUSES OF HIS JOURNEY.—The Hebrew has, and Jacob told Laban all these words, namely, how, fleeing from Esau his brother, he had been sent by his parents to Laban, to seek a wife from there, and how at the well he had met Rachel.
14. THOU ART MY BONE AND MY FLESH—thou art my nephew and my kinsman. See chapter 2, verse 23. Since thou hast fled to me, as to an uncle, both for protection and for marriage, I can refuse thee nothing, as my nephew: put away fear, therefore, O nephew! stay with me, that thou mayest be safe, and choose a wife from my family; let my house be thy house. Some think that Laban in this phrase had regard to what most of the ancient philosophers taught, namely that the bones are generated in the embryo from the male seed, but that the flesh itself is formed from the mother’s seed poured around the male.
AFTER THE DAYS WERE EXPIRED—after the month had passed, in which Jacob had served Laban without wages: he was unwilling that Jacob should live idle in his uncle’s house, and eat bread for nothing; and so he at once girded himself for the work of the household and the care of the sheep. Whence Laban soon set him over all his sheep, says Josephus.
17. BLEAR-EYED.—In the Hebrew it is, the eyes of Lia were raccot, that is, tender, weak and infirm, as the Septuagint render it. The Chaldee therefore wrongly interprets tender as elegant, as though Lia were beautiful and elegant in her eyes alone, but Rachel in her whole face.
Second, others add an aleph, and for raccot read aruchot, that is, long, as though Lia had long and therefore unshapely eyes; but these alter and corrupt the text by adding a letter.