The Book of
Genesis 29
35 verses≈ 6 min4 peopleBSB
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In this chapter
Where we are
- 1–11BeginningsCreation, fall, flood, Babel
- 12–24AbrahamThe call and the promise
- 25–36Isaac and JacobThe promise passed onChapter 29
- 37–50JosephGod meant it for good
Jacob Meets Rachel
Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well. When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
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Jacob
“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?”
The shepherds
“We are from Haran,” they answered.
Jacob
“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked.
The shepherds
“We know him,” they replied.
Jacob
“Is he well?” Jacob inquired.
The shepherds
“Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”
Jacob
“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
The shepherds
But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”
While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.
Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.
When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.
Pray
Led to the right well
Jacob left home running from his brother, with nothing but a staff. Out of all the wells in the east, he came to the one where Rachel was coming “with her father’s sheep.” No angel appears and no voice speaks, yet God is keeping His word to watch over him. Thank God for the quiet ways He has led you, and ask Him to guide your next steps, even when you can’t see His hand.
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
Laban
Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.”
After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
Laban
Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
Jacob
Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
Laban
Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
Laban
Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”
And Jacob did just that.
He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.
Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.
The deceiver deceived
Whiteboard
Jacob once came to his blind father’s tent and said he was Esau the firstborn. Now, in the dark of his own wedding night, he is handed the older daughter in place of the younger, and in the morning he cries, “Why have you deceived me?” Genesis doesn’t gloat or lecture. It lets the pattern run on through Jacob’s family, and lets God carry His promise through it all.
Reflect
What have you done to me?
“What have you done to me?” Jacob asks Laban. “Why have you deceived me?” It is a fair complaint, and it is almost word for word what his brother could have said to him. Sometimes God lets us feel from the other side what we once did to someone else, not to crush us but to bring us to the truth. Is there a wrong you’ve done that you have never owned? Write it down, and what it would take to make it right.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah
When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.
Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.
0:33
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.
This time I will praise the LORD.
Genesis 29:35
Question
Quick question
Leah named her first three sons out of longing for her husband’s love. The fourth name is different.
What did Leah say when she named her fourth son Judah?
You’ve experienced
Genesis 29
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A verse to carry with you
This time I will praise the LORD.
Genesis 29:35
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