Genesis 29:4 Commentary and Bible Study

‘My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. ⁵ And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.’ It's a very terse response. You could read a lot into that. Laban was not a pleasant character. They said, ‘we know him’, but didn't say any more. ‘And he said unto them, Is he well?’ And they said minimally ‘He is well.’‘And, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.’ God was watching over Jacob in all his wanderings. Hosea summaries this whole account by saying, ‘And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep’ (Hosea 12:12). Jacob had come fresh from the experience at Bethel where God had spoken to him in such a remarkable way. He had promised him the very same blessings that had been promised to Abraham and to Isaac, but here he was: a fugitive who had needed to flee from his murderous brother, Esau. He later looks back to this time and describes to Esau his coming to Syria: ‘with my staff I passed over this Jordan’ (Genesis 32:10): with his staff and little more. There was such a contrast between his divinely revealed destiny and his actual circumstances, and yet God was with him, in spite of his reduced state, and this would become apparent as time went on. The promise is being fulfilled, and God is training him and sanctifying his child. Isaac has sent him to Rebekah’s family who are from Padanaram, a region which seems to have included the city of Haran. Isaac has mentioned Bethuel, Rebekah’s father, but Jacob asks for Rebekah’s brother Laban, who he also knows of from the family history. Though he has come so far, the Lord has led him, for these shepherds are from Haran, and even know of Laban personally. Jacob enquires whether Laban is well, and in each question he looks for and expects a positive answer, for the promises God has given him teach him to expect such an answer. The shepherds confirm that Laban is well and then add that his daughter, Rachel, is in fact coming with Laban’s sheep for she is a shepherd. Laban is certainly not rich at start of this history; he does not own his own well, and his daughter is his shepherd.