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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. XXIX.
This chapter gives us an account of God’s providences concerning
Jacob, pursuant to the promises made to him in the foregoing
chapter.
I. How he was brought in safety to his journey’s end,
and directed to his relations there, who bade him welcome,
II. How he was comfortably disposed of in marriage,
III. How his family was built up in the birth of
four sons,
The affairs of princes and mighty nations
that were then in being are not recorded in the book of God, but
are left to be buried in oblivion; while these small domestic concerns
of holy Jacob are particularly recorded with their minute
circumstances, that they may be in everlasting remembrance.
For “the memory of the just is blessed.”
| Jacob’s Arrival at Padan-aram. | B. C. 1760. |
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1 Then Jacob went on his journey,
and came into the land of the people of the
east.
2 And he looked,
and behold a well in the field, and, lo,
there were three flocks of sheep lying
by it; for out of that well they watered
the flocks: and a great stone
was upon the well’s mouth.
3 And
thither were all the flocks gathered:
and they rolled the stone from the
well’s mouth, and watered the sheep,
and put the stone again upon the well’s
mouth in his place.
4 And Jacob
said unto them, My brethren, whence
be ye? And they said, Of Haran are
we.
5 And he said unto them, Know
ye Laban the son of Nahor? And
they said, We know him.
6 And he
said unto them, Is he well? And they
said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel
his daughter cometh with the sheep.
7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high day,
neither is it time that the cattle should
be gathered together: water ye
the sheep, and go and feed them.
8 And they said, We cannot, until all the
flocks be gathered together, and till
they roll the stone from the well’s
mouth; then we water the sheep.
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,
v. 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,
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,
What is
here said of the constant care of the shepherds
concerning their sheep
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,
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,
v. 4.
The law of kindness in the tongue has a commanding
power,
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
(v. 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,
v. 8.
Those that are neighbourly and friendly shall
have neighbourly and friendly usage.
| Rachel’s Humility and Industry. | B. C. 1760. |
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9 And while he yet spake with them,
Rachel came with her father’s sheep:
for she kept them.
10 And it came
to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the
daughter of Laban his mother’s brother,
and the sheep of Laban his mother’s
brother, that Jacob went near,
and rolled the stone from the well’s
mouth, and watered the flock of Laban
his mother’s brother.
11 And
Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his
voice, and wept.
12 And Jacob told
Rachel that he was her father’s brother,
and that he was Rebekah’s son:
and she ran and told her father.
13 And it came to pass, when Laban
heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s
son, that he ran to meet him, and
embraced him, and kissed him, and
brought him to his house. And he
told Laban all these things.
14 And
Laban said to him, Surely thou art
my bone and my flesh. And he abode
with him the space of a month.
Here we see,
1. Rachel’s humility and industry:
She kept her father’s sheep
(v. 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
(v. 10),
and addresses himself to her with
tears of joy and kisses of love,
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,
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,
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,
v. 14.
Note, Those
are hard-hearted indeed that are unkind
to their relations, and that hide themselves
from their own flesh,
Isa. lviii. 7.
| Jacob’s Marriage. | B. C. 1753. |
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15 And Laban said unto Jacob,
Because thou art my brother, shouldest
thou therefore serve me for nought?
tell me, what shall thy wages be?
16 And Laban had two daughters: the
name of the elder was Leah, and the
name of the younger was Rachel.
17 Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel
was beautiful and well favoured.
18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I
will serve thee seven years for Rachel
thy younger daughter.
19 And
Laban said, It is better that I give her
to thee, than that I should give her
to another man: abide with me.
20 And Jacob served seven years for
Rachel; and they seemed unto him
but a few days, for the love he had to
her.
21 And Jacob said unto Laban,
Give me my wife, for my days are
fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
22 And Laban gathered together all
the men of the place, and made a
feast.
23 And it came to pass in the
evening, that he took Leah his daughter,
and brought her to him; and he
went in unto her.
24 And Laban
gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah
his maid for a handmaid.
25 And
it came to pass, that in the morning,
behold, it was Leah: and he said to
Laban, What is this thou hast done
unto me? did not I serve with thee
for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou
beguiled me?
26 And Laban said,
It must not be so done in our country,
to give the younger before the
firstborn.
27 Fulfil her week, and we
will give thee this also for the service
which thou shalt serve with me yet
seven other years.
28 And Jacob did
so, and fulfilled her week: and he
gave him Rachel his daughter to wife
also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel
his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to
be her maid.
30 And he went in
also unto Rachel, and he loved also
Rachel more than Leah, and served
with him yet seven other years.
Here is,
I. The fair contract made between
Laban and Jacob, during the month that
Jacob spent there as a guest,
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
(v. 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?
v. 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. xii. 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,
He served seven years
for Rachel. If Rachel still continued to keep
her father’s sheep (as she did,
v. 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,
Heb. vi. 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,
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,
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
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,
v. 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,
1 Sam. xxiv. 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,
v. 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,
and more fully since by our Saviour,
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,
2 Kings v. 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. ii. 15),
yet there was no express
command against it; it was in them a sin of
ignorance. It was not the 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,
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,
| Increase of Jacob’s Family. | B. C. 1749. |
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31 And when the LORD saw that
Leah was hated, he opened her womb:
but Rachel was barren.
32 And Leah
conceived, and bare a son, and she
called his name Reuben: for she said,
Surely the LORD hath looked upon
my affliction; now therefore my husband
will love me.
33 And she conceived
again, and bare a son; and said,
Because the LORD hath heard that I
was hated, he hath therefore given
me this son also: and she called his
name Simeon.
34 And she conceived
again, and bare a son; and said, Now
this time will my husband be joined
unto me, because I have born him
three sons: therefore was his name
called Levi.
35 And she conceived
again, and bare a son: and she said,
Now will I praise the LORD: therefore
she called his name Judah; and
left bearing.
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,
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
(1 Sam. i. 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 xiv. 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,
1 Cor. xii. 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
(v. 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,
v. 34.
Mutual affection is both the duty and comfort
of that relation; and yoke-fellows should
study to recommend themselves to each other,
(2.) She thankfully
acknowledges the kind providence of God in
it: The Lord hath looked upon my affliction,
v. 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,
v. 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.
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