And while he yet spoke with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them.
Verse 9. Rachel came with her father’s sheep] So we find that young women were not kept concealed in the house till the time they were married, which is the common gloss put on almah, a virgin, one concealed. Nor was it beneath the dignity of the daughters of the most opulent chiefs to carry water from the well, as in the case of Rebekah; or tend sheep, as in the case of Rachel. The chief property in those times consisted in flocks: and who so proper to take care of them as those who were interested in their safety and increase? Honest labour, far from being a discredit, is an honour both to high and low. The king himself is served by the field; and without it, and the labour necessary for its cultivation, all ranks must perish. Let every son, let every daughter, learn that it is no discredit to be employed, whenever it may be necessary, in the meanest offices, by which the interests of the family may be honestly promoted.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Having probably other shepherds under her, who did the meaner offices, whom she was to oversee.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9-11. While he yet spake with them,Rachel cameAmong the pastoral tribes the young unmarrieddaughters of the greatest sheiks tend the flocks, going out atsunrise and continuing to watch their fleecy charges till sunset.Watering them, which is done twice a day, is a work of time andlabor, and Jacob rendered no small service in volunteering his aid tothe young shepherdess. The interview was affecting, the receptionwelcome, and Jacob forgot all his toils in the society of hisMesopotamian relatives. Can we doubt that he returned thanks to Godfor His goodness by the way?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And while he yet spake with them,…. While Jacob was thus discoursing with the shepherds:
Rachel came with her father’s sheep; to water them at the well. She was within sight when Jacob first addressed the shepherds, but now she was come to the well, or near it, with the sheep before her:
for she kept them: or “she was the shepherdess” d; the chief one; she might have servants under her to do some parts of the office of a shepherd, not so fit for her to do; it may be Laban’s sons, for some he had, Ge 31:1; were not as yet grown up, and Leah, the eldest daughter, having tender eyes, could not bear the open air, and light of the sun, nor so well look after the straying sheep; and therefore the flock was committed to the care of Rachel the younger daughter, whose name signifies a sheep. The Jews say e, that the hand of God was upon Laban’s flock, and there were but few left, so that he put away his shepherds, and what remained be put before his daughter Rachel, see
Ge 30:30; and some ascribe it to his covetousness that he did this; but there is no need to suggest anything of that kind; for keeping sheep in those times and countries was a very honourable employment, and not below the sons and daughters of great personages, and still is so accounted. Dr. Shaw f says it is customary, even to this day, for the children of the greatest Emir to attend their flocks; the same is related of the seven children of the king of Thebes, of Antiphus the son of Priam, and of Anchises, Aeneas’s father g.
d “quia pastor illa”, Montanus, “pastrix”, Schmidt. e Targ. Jon. in loc. Pirke Eliezer, c. 36. f Travels, p. 240. No. 2. Ed. 2. g Hom. II. 1. ver. 313. II. 6. ver. 424. II. 11. ver. 106.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Rachel’s Humility and Industry. | B. C. 1760. |
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, v. 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, v. 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, Ps. xxxii. 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, 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 9-14:
The phrase “mother’s brother” occurs three times in verse 10. This is no coincidence. It calls attention to the relationship between Jacob, Rachel, and Laban. And it is prophetic of the future problems which would occur between Jacob and his relations. Verse 10 also calls attention to the fact that Jacob took note of Laban’s flocks, perhaps as recognition of the wealth they represented.
Jacob ignored the herdsmen’s rule about waiting for the others to remove the stone from the well. That there appears to have been no opposition on their part implies that Rachel may have been the last to arrive.
Jacob watered Rachel’s flock, no small task in itself. Then he kissed her in cousinly greeting. This implies he had already identified himself to her. In true Oriental fashion, Jacob then wept, partly for joy at finding his relatives and partly in gratitude of God’s guidance.
Rachel ran home to tell her father Laban of Jacob’s arrival. Laban then came to the well and met Jacob. He brought him to his house, where Jacob proved his identity as Laban’s sister’s son. Laban acknowledged this kinship, and took Jacob into his home as guest, for about a month.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(9) Rachel came with her fathers sheep.Comp. Exo. 2:16; and so in modern times Mr. Malan saw the sheiks daughter, the beautiful and well-favoured Ladheefeh, drive her flock of fine patriarchal sheep to a well for water in this very region (Philosophy or Truth, p. 95). As forty years at least elapsed between this meeting of Jacob and Rachel and the birth of Benjamin, she must have been a mere child at this time.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Rachel came Her coming roused in Jacob’s soul all the tender emotions of home, kindred, loves, and hopes .
With her father’s sheep Note the primitive custom of the daughters of an Eastern chieftain leading the sheep to water. Compare the account of Moses and the daughters of Jethro. Exo 2:15-22.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘While he yet spoke with them Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she looked after them. And so it happened that 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.’
Rachel, who had previously been spotted some distance away (Gen 29:6), now arrives. So Jacob gets his men to help him to move the stone so that the flocks can feed. He is not used to having to wait and ignores any custom. He does not want to have to linger. Or it may be that a brief discussion has revealed that the well is Nahor’s so that Rachel has the right to secure its opening. (Jacob would not kiss Rachel without at least some preliminary words).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jacob Meets Rachel
v. 9. And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she kept them. v. 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. v. 11. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. v. 12. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, v. 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, v. 14. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 29:9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them.
Ver. 9. For she kept them. ] Leah might be left at home, for the tenderness of her eyes. A man is to see that all under his roof have a fit employment; as the master gave each servant his task, his talent, Mat 25:15 according to his various abilities, secundum peritiam et potentiam . And everyone hath some excellency or other in him, can we but find and improve it. God hath dispensed his gifts diversely, for the common benefit. And as, in the same pasture, the ox can find fodder, the hound a hare, the stork a lizard, the fair maid flowers: so there is none so worthless, but something may be made of him; some good extracted out of the unlikeliest. Yea, wisdom is such an elixir, as by contaction (if there be any disposition of goodness in the same metal) it will render it of the property.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 29:9-12
9While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept. 12Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
her father’s sheep. Shepherds usually slaves, younger sons, or daughters. Compare David, 1Sa 17:13-15. Exo 2:16, Exo 2:17. Note exception. Gen 37:14, and reason.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rachel: Gen 24:15, Exo 2:15, Exo 2:16, Exo 2:21, Son 1:7, Son 1:8
for she kept them: In those primitive times, a pastoral life was not only considered useful but honourable: nor was it beneath the dignity of the daughters of the most opulent chiefs to carry water from the well, or tend the sheep. Jacob, Moses, and David were shepherds.
Reciprocal: Gen 24:13 – daughters Pro 31:13 – worketh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 29:9. For she kept them Having, no doubt, servants under her who performed the meaner and more laborious offices, and whom it was her place to oversee. When Jacob understood that this was his kinswoman Rachel, (for he had probably heard of her name before,) knowing what his errand was into that country, we may suppose it occurred to his mind immediately, that this must be his wife. As one already smitten with an honest, comely face, (though it is likely sun-burnt, and she in the homely dress of a shepherdess,) he is wonderfully officious, and ready 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 kinsmans address without her fathers knowledge and approbation, Gen 29:12. These mutual respects at their first interview were good presages of their being a happy couple. Providence made that which seemed contingent and fortuitous to give a speedy satisfaction to Jacobs mind, as soon as ever he came to the place he was bound for. Thus God guides his people with his eye, Psa 32:8. Laban, though none of the best-humoured men, bid him welcome, was satisfied with the account he gave of himself, and 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.