After a month or a month and a half, Jacob arrived at his destination in Padan-aram. The journey was begun in fear, but the appearance of the Lord in a dream greatly encouraged Jacob, and he was able to look forward with hope, because the Lord promised to be with him (Genesis 28:15). However, what does it mean, when the Lord tells us, he will be with us (cp. Exodus 3:12; Joshua 1:5; Judges 6:16; Matthew 1:23; 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)? We might say that the Presence of God with us means he would protect us or restore to us what we’ve counted as loss, but these were separate promises the Lord made to Jacob: “I am with you, and will keep you in all places where you go, and will bring you again into this land” (Genesis 28:15), vis-à-vis I will be with you… I will keep you… and I will bring you back (restoration).
If we’re plowing a field, and, if we wish to plow a reasonably straight line, we need to focus on a figure in the distance (a tree, a rock, a fence post etc.). So, if we keep our eyes on the figure, while plowing the field, we would find that our furrows behind us would be reasonably straight. This is similar to what the Lord’s Presence does for us. God tells those who trust him that he will instruct us and teach us in the way that we go, and he will guide us with his eye (Psalm 32:8), as though we were the ‘plow’ in the Lord’s hands. This was the confidence Jacob had, after he had dreamed the dream in which the Lord appeared to him (Genesis 28:10-15).
While Jacob was yet speaking with the shepherds (cp. Genesis 29:7-8), Rachel came to the well with Laban’s sheep, for she was their shepherdess (Genesis 29:9). A few things must be understood, as we read the text at this point. First, there were servants with Rachel, because it would be irresponsible for her to leave the sheep without a guide. Secondly, the fact that the text says Jacob watered the flock, we should understand that Rachel had already left, which means the next few verses occurred before Jacob removed the stone to water the flock. Finally, three times we are told Laban was Jacob’s mother’s brother (Genesis 29:10). This tells us why Jacob became so emotional. Nearly a century earlier, Abraham had sent his servant to Haran to find a wife for Isaac. This was when Laban was a young man. Abraham’s servant had prayed for guidance, and, when he found that it was Rebekah, Abraham’s niece, who gave him water to drink, and who watered his animals, he bowed and worshiped the Lord for guiding him to his destination (Genesis 24:18-27). The same was true for Jacob, for the Lord was with Jacob (Genesis 28:15), guiding him to the very house he sought. Such understanding was too wonderful for Jacob to contain (cp. Job 42:3; Psalm 139:6).
We are told that Jacob then kissed Rachel, lifting up his voice and weeping, after he had told her that he was Rebekah’s son, her father’s sister (Genesis 29:11-12). It is inconceivable that Rachel would allow some stranger to kiss her before knowing the stranger was a near relative. The fact that the text tells us that Jacob rolled the stone off the well’s mouth and watered Laban’s sheep (Genesis 29:10), which had to have occurred after Rachel ran to tell Laban whom she had met at the well (Genesis 29:12), permits us to unravel the succession of events that rabidly took place.
Moreover, just as he had run to meet Abraham’s servant at the well, so Laban ran to meet Jacob, and Laban’s kiss of greeting comes after finding out Jacob was his sister’s, Rebekah’s, son (Genesis 29:13). After their meeting, Jacob was brought to Laban’s house, and Jacob told him “…all these things,” vis-à-vis what had happened on his journey and the providence of God, bringing him to the well at the very time Rachel came to water Laban’s flock.
Thus, hearing what Jacob told him convinced Laban of Jacob’s identity, and he proclaimed, “you are my bone and my flesh (Genesis 29:14; cp. Genesis 2:23), and Jacob stayed with Laban as a guest for about a month before it was decided what else should be done.
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