Gen 29:7 | KingComments | STEP | There is a big difference between the search for a bride for Isaac and the way Jacob does it. In the search for Rebekah prayer takes a large place ( ). We don’t read anything about that here. The servant in Genesis 24 has all the treasures of his lord with him. Jacob has nothing. But just like the servant, the meeting takes place at a well. However, the well is closed here and in Genesis 24 it is not. And while the servant goes directly back with Rebekah, Jacob abides in the foreign land for a total of twenty years. Jacob comes to a well on his journey to his mother’s land. Three flocks are gathered there. On the well is a large stone. It is difficult to roll the stone from the mouth of the well alone, therefore several shepherds are needed. That’s why the shepherds wait with their flocks at the well until they’re all there and then roll the stone from the well together. When the sheep have drunk, the stone is put back. Jacob asks the shepherds if they know Laban. Through the affirmative answer Jacob knows that he is on the right way. Then he asks if Laban is doing well. The answer is also affirmative. At the same time, the shepherds add that they see Rachel, Laban’s daughter, coming with her flock. Rachel is a shepherdess. Then Jacob proposes that they water their sheep and that they can go. Then, as the background to his proposal seems to be, he can stay with Rachel alone. The agreement between the shepherds, however, is that they wait for each other to remove the stone together, after which they can water the sheep. Meanwhile, Rachel has come to the well. When Jacob sees her, it gives him so much power that he takes away the stone on his own. He also makes sure that the sheep of Laban are watered. In Jacob the shepherd reveals himself. This is a sign that he is the man with whom God is going His way. God goes with him, although he is not yet going with God. The school he has to go through is a school that we also have to go through. God is the God of Jacob for a good reason. God is busy forming this Jacob. Jacob is a picture of a believer who, through the discipline of God, will increasingly respond to God’s purpose with him.

‏ Genesis 29:7

Jacob Meets Rachel

There is a big difference between the search for a bride for Isaac and the way Jacob does it. In the search for Rebekah prayer takes a large place (Gen 24:12-14 ; 21 ; 26 ; 27 ; 42-48 ; 52 ; 63). We don’t read anything about that here. The servant in Genesis 24 has all the treasures of his lord with him. Jacob has nothing. But just like the servant, the meeting takes place at a well. However, the well is closed here and in Genesis 24 it is not. And while the servant goes directly back with Rebekah, Jacob abides in the foreign land for a total of twenty years.

Jacob comes to a well on his journey to his mother’s land. Three flocks are gathered there. On the well is a large stone. It is difficult to roll the stone from the mouth of the well alone, therefore several shepherds are needed. That’s why the shepherds wait with their flocks at the well until they’re all there and then roll the stone from the well together. When the sheep have drunk, the stone is put back.

Jacob asks the shepherds if they know Laban. Through the affirmative answer Jacob knows that he is on the right way. Then he asks if Laban is doing well. The answer is also affirmative. At the same time, the shepherds add that they see Rachel, Laban’s daughter, coming with her flock. Rachel is a shepherdess. Then Jacob proposes that they water their sheep and that they can go. Then, as the background to his proposal seems to be, he can stay with Rachel alone. The agreement between the shepherds, however, is that they wait for each other to remove the stone together, after which they can water the sheep.

Meanwhile, Rachel has come to the well. When Jacob sees her, it gives him so much power that he takes away the stone on his own. He also makes sure that the sheep of Laban are watered. In Jacob the shepherd reveals himself. This is a sign that he is the man with whom God is going His way.

God goes with him, although he is not yet going with God. The school he has to go through is a school that we also have to go through. God is the God of Jacob for a good reason. God is busy forming this Jacob. Jacob is a picture of a believer who, through the discipline of God, will increasingly respond to God’s purpose with him.