1 THEN Jacob went on his journey, [ The reason for Jacob's journey is because he has deceived Esau and Esau has threatened that he will kill him when Isaac dies. Rachel his mother has heard this and has sent him away to protect him. ] 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 [ A large or heavy stone ] was upon the well’s mouth. [ The fact that the stone was so large and usually required a few men to move it when they wanted to water their flocks. This detail is setting us up to understand what Jacob does to impress Rachel when he moves it by himself. ]

3 And thither [ There. ] were all the flocks gathered: and they [ More than one man. ] 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? [ Where are you from? ] And they said, Of Haran are we.

5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son [ Actually the grandson. ] 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 [ Who is also Jacob's cousin ] cometh with the sheep.

7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle [ generic for all domesticated animals, sheep, goats, cattle... ] should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. [ So Jacob is trying to get these men who have been watering their flocks to move on and get them out to the pasture. Jacob is trying very hard to set the stage for himself to be with Rachel. ]

8 And they said, We cannot, [ Did they not have the strength? ] until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they [ some men other than themselves ] roll the stone from the well’s mouth; [ So they are waiting for others to come roll the stone away from the mouth of the well. ] then we water the sheep.

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, [ Jacob sees that Rachel is here and even though she is his first cousin he seeks to impress her. ] and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, [ In verse 8 it took a group of strong men to roll the stone away. Yet Jacob does it by himself. ] and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, [ On their first date. But in verse 13 he also kissed her father. ] and lifted up his voice, and wept. [ Must have been love at first site - did not even wait for his first date to kiss her. The Hebrew verb "kissed" is followed by the accusative case, therefore denoting that he most likely kissed her hand as a sign of respect, rather than a romantic kiss. Lifted up his voice is symbolic way of saying he thanked God. Remember in Gen 28:20-21 he made a committment to God to be faithful to him if God would guide him to his relative in Haran. Here he is guide to a member of his mother's brother's family - I suppose that it did not hurt that she was cute as well. ]

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. [ Rachel is excited as well by meeting Jacob and his helping her water her sheep. ]

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. [ You are a member of my family ] And he abode with him the space of a month. [ Jacob works for Laban for a month. ]

15 ¶ And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? [ With you being family it is not fair that you work for nothing. With Jacob having arrived in the village of his relatives, Jacob met his match in the wily Laban, his mother’s brother and the father of his future brides. Jacob, the heel-holder, will be the subject of multiple deceptions at Laban’s hand, and the first is about to begin. The fact that Jacob suddenly appears by himself, as an empty-handed refugee must have raised some questions in the mind of the astute Laban. No doubt he recalled “that the last time someone came from the emigrant branch of the family in Canaan, he brought ten heavily laden camels with him.” Although his warm embrace was probably nothing more than standard hospitality, the Jewish scholar Rashi cynically surmised that Laban’s intent was “to see if Jacob had gold secreted on his person.” ] 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; [ The Hebrew word translated as “tender” means “soft, delicate, or lovely.” The fact that this trait is emphasized for Leah, while Rachel is described as “beautiful and well-favoured,” that is, beautiful in every respect, seems to suggest that Leah’s eyes were her most attractive feature. ] but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. [ Blessed with the entire package. ]

18 And Jacob loved Rachel; [ That really happened pretty quickly. reminds me of the Story (Elder Maxwell ?) as a mission president. There was one sister who all of the missionaries kept telling him they felt they had found the woman they were supposed to marry - there in the mission field. Elder Maxwell said I have to see this girl - and upon seeing her he said now I understand why they had all decided that they were supposed to marry her. ] 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. [ Lacking the means to pay a bride-price, Jacob quickly proposed a generous offer to work seven years for Rachel’s hand in marriage. So Laban responds then stay with me. In essence he does not form a binding contract, he said that would be better than giving her to another man. That is all. Laban’s reply is a piece of consummate ambiguity naively taken by Jacob to be a binding commitment.  We should note that Jacob got himself into this situation through decept, now it is being used on him.  ]

20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, [ So great was Jacob's affection for Rachel that he described the period as “but a few days, for the love he had [for] her” ] for the love he had to her.

21 ¶ And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, [ I have completed my part of the agreement, now it is upon you to keep your part the agreement ] 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. [ JST " and she went in and slept with him." ]

24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. [ The gift of the handmaidens to each daughter made the servants the direct property of each wife, not of Jacob. Thus, later, when the handmaids had children, the children were viewed legally as the children of Rachel and Leah. ]

25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: [  Well how mad can he be that he was deceived? After all he had deceived his father for Esau's birthright right. ]  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? [ The modern reader may find it hard to believe that Jacob did not discover the switch until it was morning; however, the following possibilities could explain the success of Laban s ruse. As sisters, Rachel and Leah may have been quite similar in height, weight, and general appearance. Second, the women of Haran sometimes veiled themselves. Third, Laban was a shepherd. If he was a typical shepherd of ancient times, he dwelt in tents instead of in permanent dwellings. The inside of a tent at night can be very dark. And finally, knowing what the reaction of Jacob would be if he discovered the substitution early, Laban may have told Leah to speak as little as possible so as not to give the deception away before it was too late to change it. Old Testament Student Manual, p. 87. Where was Rachel during this? She must have been obedient to her father, not necessarily her will. ]

26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. [ Grandpa Laban is the one that is starting the problems that the family will later have. And how does grandpa start the problems? Grandpa sneaks Leah into the wedding bed when Jacob is expecting Rachel, and that sets up a conflict that Joseph and his brothers will grow up in this family tension of half brothers, birthright blessing struggles that will go on for generations. Jacob asked Rachel’s father for permission to marry her. But after agreeing, the father veiled faces, switched daughters, and gave his oldest girl, Leah. Her father cited the tradition of giving the hand of his first daughter before allowing the younger daughter to be married. Laban is an instrument of dramatic irony: his perfectly natural reference to “our [country]” has the effect of touching a nerve of guilty consciousness in Jacob, who in his [country] acted to put the younger before the firstborn. This effect is reinforced by Laban’s referring to Leah not as the elder but as the firstborn (bekhirah). It has been clearly recognized since late antiquity that the whole story of the switched brides is a meting out of poetic justice to Jacob — the deceiver deceived, deprived by darkness of the sense of sight as his father is by blindness, relying, like his father, on the misleading sense of touch. The Midrash Bereishit Rabba vividly represents the correspondence between the two episodes: “And all that night he cried out to her, ‘Rachel!’ and she answered him. In the morning, ‘and,… look, she was Leah.’ He said to her, ‘Why did you deceive me, daughter of a deceiver? Didn’t I call out Rachel in the night, and you answered me!’ She said: ‘There is never a bad barber who doesn’t have disciples. Isn’t this how your father cried out Esau, and you answered him?’” However, as Nahum Sarna points out, “retributive justice is not the only motif. Just as Jacob’s succession to the birthright was divinely ordained, irrespective of human machinations, so Jacob’s unintended marriage to Leah is seen as the working of Providence, for from this unplanned union issued Levi and Judah, whose offspring … [sustained] the two great institutions of the biblical period, the priesthood and the Davidic monarchy.”]

27 Fulfil her week, [ So as Rachel, she is married to Jacob a week later. He works 14 years, but he doesn't wait another seven years. Rachel is in childbearing years and no father and the culture of the time is going to say, "Well, let's wait another seven years when you could be having children." ] 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.

31 ¶ And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: [ The Hebrew word sahnay does not mean “hate” as the term is used today, but rather conveys the idea of “loving less.” A better translation would be, “when the Lord saw that Leah was loved less or was not as favored,” he opened her womb. ] but Rachel was barren. [ Benjamin the twelveth son of Jacob will not be born until years later see Gen 35:16-18. ]

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. [ Quit bearing or she decided not have to have any more children for a while. ]

[ Leah bore sons Reuben (means 'look, a son'), Simeon (Simeon means to hear. God heard I was hated), Levi (means to join. And Leah says, "Now, will my husband be joined unto me?"), and Judah ( means praise. I will praise the Lord). Meanwhile, Rachel was barren. So desirous was she of having children that she gave to Jacob her handmaiden, Bilhah, as another wife, with the expectation that children born to Bilhah would become Rachel’s own, because Rachel owned Bilhah. Bilhah had been given to Rachel as a wedding gift by her father. Bilhah did conceive and gave birth to a son upon Rachel’s knees (see Genesis 30:3). It was customary for names of babies to be selected by their mothers. “Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan” (Genesis 30:6). Dan in Hebrew language means “judge.” Rachel wanted Dan judged as though he were her own offspring. Bilhah later bore a second son named Naphtali (see Genesis 30:8). When Leah saw that pattern of surrogate motherhood successfully practiced by her sister, Leah decided to do the same. Her maid, Zilpah, was given to Jacob as a fourth wife, and she bore sons named Gad and Asher (see Genesis 30:9–13). Leah subsequently had two more sons named Issachar and Zebulun (see Genesis 35:23). 12 tribes of Jacob: From Leah he had 1) Rueben 2) Simeon 3) Levi 4) Judah 5) Issachar 6) Zebulun from Bilhah he had 1) Dan 2) Naphtali From Zilpah he had 1) Gad 2) Asher from Rachel hed had 1) Joseph 2) Benjamin so Rachel's probably a young girl when Jacob meets her, maybe 10, 11. And they marry. And then we start, what I call, the baby derby. This competition. Again, it's family. Okay? Competition between Rachel and Leah, who can produce the sons and the children for Jacob. And Leah, the score here is four to nothing, Leah. Reuben means 'look, a son.' Who is she saying that to? She's saying that to Jacob, and in a sense, a little bit of in your face to Rachel. ]