.
● Gen 29:7 . . He said: It is still broad daylight, too early to round up the
animals; water the flock and take them to pasture.
The Hebrew word for "broad" is gadowl (gaw-dole') which means great (in
any sense). Gadowl is variously translated as high day, the sun is high, early
in the day, and much daylight.
Apparently the usual time for watering flocks was later in the afternoon just
prior to bedding them down for the night.
Jacob just blew into the neighborhood and he's already telling strangers
what to do! No doubt an attitude he brought with him from Isaac's ranch.
Down there the servants jumped when Jacob said something. Up here in
Haran though, things were just a wee bit different.
● Gen 29:8 . . But they said: We cannot, until all the flocks are rounded up;
then the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well and we water the sheep.
Actually, someone may have owned that well; and set the rules for it's use.
In those days, whoever dug for water usually had the rights to it; somewhat
like a prospector's claim in the gold fields out in 1850's California.
Apparently the owner didn't mind people using the water as long as they
respected his feelings about it. But Jacob had a mind of his own, and
seemed to care very little for the property rights of others.
There's a clash of civilizations going on in this scene. Jacob was from the
frontier lands of Canaan where men of mettle did pretty much as they
wished. I'm guessing that Haran was a bit more sophisticated.
And then too; Jacob was a privileged kid born with a silver spoon in his
mouth. I've seen the kind of superiority complex that kind of upbringing
sometimes instills within children. Well; that's going to change. Jacob is
entering the school of hard knocks, and he's going to learn a thing or two
from professor Laban. But when it's all over, Jacob will be a better man for
it.
● Gen 29:9-10 . .While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with
her father's flock; for she was a shepherdess. And when Jacob saw Rachel,
the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the flock of his uncle Laban, Jacob went
up and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of
his uncle Laban.
Violating local customs is an insolent thing to do; and almost certainly
guaranteed to get you off on the wrong foot. And besides: fair is fair. The
other shepherds were there ahead of Rachel, and no telling how long they'd
been waiting. Word of Jacob's favoritism, and his disdain for fair play, would
surely spread.
Coming from a privileged family; Jacob was accustomed to doing pretty
much as he pleased and answering to no one for it. But arriving in Haran, he
was a nobody: a homeless drifter. Now he's going to learn what it's like to
be just another face in the crowd; and he is also going to learn what it's like
to do as you're told. Unkie Laban is just the bull o' the woods for some long
overdue rich-kid attitude adjustment.
● Gen 29:11 . .Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and broke into tears.
Poor Jacob. He'd been under a lot of stress lately; and probably feeling very
alone in the world. His cousin must have seemed to him like an angel of
mercy come to rescue his soul from the abyss. First he helped water her
flock; for no apparent reason to Rachel other than courtesy; which she
seemed to accept without any fuss. But then he impulsively kissed her (on
the cheek I hope) and started sobbing. Rachel must have stared at Jacob
like a man gone mad from a brain tumor.
● Gen 29:12 . . Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, that he
was Rebecca's son; and she ran and told her father.
Zoom! Out of there like a bottle rocket (so to speak). Boy that girl sure
takes after auntie Becky. Rachel lit out of there like the critters sent from
Jessie the Cowgirl to fetch Sheriff Woody in Toy Story2.
● Gen 29:13a . . On hearing the news of his sister's son Jacob, Laban ran to
greet him;
I seriously doubt that Laban sprinted. The man was over 100 by now and
near the age of Jacob's mom; maybe even older than her. Isaac and
Rebecca were married twenty years before she became pregnant for the
very first time, and Jacob is around 75 at this point. For a man Laban's age
"rushed" and/or "hurried" seems more reasonable than ran.
● Gen 29:13b . . he embraced him and kissed him,
Foreign customs often offend Americans. I was visiting the home of a
Portuguese man in San Diego a number of years back when his son and
daughter-in-law showed up unexpectedly. Dad and son greeted each other
with a hug; and kissed full on the lips. I just about died; it was so gross. And
then he kissed the daughter-in-law full on the lips too. I think you have to
grow up in those kinds of customs to really be comfortable with them.
● Gen 29:13c-14a . . and took him into his house. He told Laban all that had
happened, and Laban said to him; You are truly my bone and flesh.
Adam said pretty much the very same thing about Eve at Gen 2:23 because
she wasn't created from the dust as he had been, but was manufactured
from already existing human tissue amputated from his body. In other
words: ol' Laban was saying "You and I are one and the same" because
tricking a father in order to supplant a brother was just the thing Laban
would have thought of himself had he been in Jacob's shoes.
_
● Gen 29:7 . . He said: It is still broad daylight, too early to round up the
animals; water the flock and take them to pasture.
The Hebrew word for "broad" is gadowl (gaw-dole') which means great (in
any sense). Gadowl is variously translated as high day, the sun is high, early
in the day, and much daylight.
Apparently the usual time for watering flocks was later in the afternoon just
prior to bedding them down for the night.
Jacob just blew into the neighborhood and he's already telling strangers
what to do! No doubt an attitude he brought with him from Isaac's ranch.
Down there the servants jumped when Jacob said something. Up here in
Haran though, things were just a wee bit different.
● Gen 29:8 . . But they said: We cannot, until all the flocks are rounded up;
then the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well and we water the sheep.
Actually, someone may have owned that well; and set the rules for it's use.
In those days, whoever dug for water usually had the rights to it; somewhat
like a prospector's claim in the gold fields out in 1850's California.
Apparently the owner didn't mind people using the water as long as they
respected his feelings about it. But Jacob had a mind of his own, and
seemed to care very little for the property rights of others.
There's a clash of civilizations going on in this scene. Jacob was from the
frontier lands of Canaan where men of mettle did pretty much as they
wished. I'm guessing that Haran was a bit more sophisticated.
And then too; Jacob was a privileged kid born with a silver spoon in his
mouth. I've seen the kind of superiority complex that kind of upbringing
sometimes instills within children. Well; that's going to change. Jacob is
entering the school of hard knocks, and he's going to learn a thing or two
from professor Laban. But when it's all over, Jacob will be a better man for
it.
● Gen 29:9-10 . .While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with
her father's flock; for she was a shepherdess. And when Jacob saw Rachel,
the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the flock of his uncle Laban, Jacob went
up and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of
his uncle Laban.
Violating local customs is an insolent thing to do; and almost certainly
guaranteed to get you off on the wrong foot. And besides: fair is fair. The
other shepherds were there ahead of Rachel, and no telling how long they'd
been waiting. Word of Jacob's favoritism, and his disdain for fair play, would
surely spread.
Coming from a privileged family; Jacob was accustomed to doing pretty
much as he pleased and answering to no one for it. But arriving in Haran, he
was a nobody: a homeless drifter. Now he's going to learn what it's like to
be just another face in the crowd; and he is also going to learn what it's like
to do as you're told. Unkie Laban is just the bull o' the woods for some long
overdue rich-kid attitude adjustment.
● Gen 29:11 . .Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and broke into tears.
Poor Jacob. He'd been under a lot of stress lately; and probably feeling very
alone in the world. His cousin must have seemed to him like an angel of
mercy come to rescue his soul from the abyss. First he helped water her
flock; for no apparent reason to Rachel other than courtesy; which she
seemed to accept without any fuss. But then he impulsively kissed her (on
the cheek I hope) and started sobbing. Rachel must have stared at Jacob
like a man gone mad from a brain tumor.
● Gen 29:12 . . Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, that he
was Rebecca's son; and she ran and told her father.
Zoom! Out of there like a bottle rocket (so to speak). Boy that girl sure
takes after auntie Becky. Rachel lit out of there like the critters sent from
Jessie the Cowgirl to fetch Sheriff Woody in Toy Story2.
● Gen 29:13a . . On hearing the news of his sister's son Jacob, Laban ran to
greet him;
I seriously doubt that Laban sprinted. The man was over 100 by now and
near the age of Jacob's mom; maybe even older than her. Isaac and
Rebecca were married twenty years before she became pregnant for the
very first time, and Jacob is around 75 at this point. For a man Laban's age
"rushed" and/or "hurried" seems more reasonable than ran.
● Gen 29:13b . . he embraced him and kissed him,
Foreign customs often offend Americans. I was visiting the home of a
Portuguese man in San Diego a number of years back when his son and
daughter-in-law showed up unexpectedly. Dad and son greeted each other
with a hug; and kissed full on the lips. I just about died; it was so gross. And
then he kissed the daughter-in-law full on the lips too. I think you have to
grow up in those kinds of customs to really be comfortable with them.
● Gen 29:13c-14a . . and took him into his house. He told Laban all that had
happened, and Laban said to him; You are truly my bone and flesh.
Adam said pretty much the very same thing about Eve at Gen 2:23 because
she wasn't created from the dust as he had been, but was manufactured
from already existing human tissue amputated from his body. In other
words: ol' Laban was saying "You and I are one and the same" because
tricking a father in order to supplant a brother was just the thing Laban
would have thought of himself had he been in Jacob's shoes.
_