Глава 29

Jacob comes to Haran and meets shepherds at a well Gen.29:1. And Jacob arose and went to the land of the children of the east [to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, to the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau]. Strengthened by a heavenly vision, Jacob continues his journey and comes “to the land of the sons of the east”; “sons of the east” are usually residents of Arabia (Judges 6:33; Job 1:3; Isaiah 11:14); here as in Numbers. 23:7 - in a broader sense, as applied to the inhabitants of Syria. According to the Midrash, Esau sent his son Eliphaz to pursue Jacob, but he did him no harm. Gen.29:2. And he saw: behold, there was a well in the field, and there were three herds of small cattle lying around it, because from that well they watered the herds. There was a large stone above the mouth of the well. The first thing Jacob encounters in the country that served as the goal of his journey was a well, as is similar in Gen. 24:11 speaks of Eliezer; only in the latter case is there a suburban well, and in the case under consideration is a cistern, which apparently did not lie close to the city (as can be seen from Jacob’s question, v. 4). A large stone (Hebrew haeben with an article - a stone known for its purpose) covered the mouth of the well to protect the mouth of the water from sand - a common occurrence even now in the hot areas of Arabia and Asia Minor. The whole picture of the upcoming meeting between Jacob and Rachel (cf. Gen. 24:11, etc.; Ex. 2:16) bears the stamp of specific features of Eastern life. Gen.29:3. When all the flocks had gathered there, they rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep; then they again put the stone in its place, at the mouth of the well. The well was the property of several owners, and therefore the herds of all the owners were expected to arrive to open the stone; Laban was probably one of the last (the well immediately opens upon Rachel's arrival, vv. 9–10). Gen.29:4–5. Jacob said to them [the shepherds]: My brothers! where are you from? They said: We are from Haran. He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said: we know. Jacob addresses his fellow craftsmen in a friendly manner, calling them “brothers.” Hearing about Haran, Jacob joyfully asks about Laban; he calls him the son of Nahor, while the latter was his grandfather, and his father Bethuel (Gen. 22:20–23, 24:24–29) - no doubt, according to the ancient Eastern custom of naming instead of the little-known closest ancestor, in this case Nahor, as the ancestor (Gen. 11:27) of the younger line of Terah's descendants; Moreover, the Hebrew names of father (ab), brother (ach), son (ben) and the like are very widely used. Gen.29:6. He also said to them: Is he well? They said, “Long live, and behold, Rachel his daughter comes with the sheep.” Greek υγιαίνειν, Slavic-Russian. “hello” somewhat narrows the meaning of the Hebrew schalom lo, meaning well-being in general: to live and be healthy. That Rachel comes with the sheep to the well immediately as the shepherds told Jacob about her father is not just a literary device (Gunkel’s opinion), but a real, completely plausible coincidence. Gen.29:7. And [Jacob] said, Behold, there is still much day; this is not the time to gather livestock; water the sheep and go and shepherd. A shepherd himself, Jacob advises not to waste time and, having watered the flock, continue to shepherd it until sunset. Perhaps, however, Jacob deliberately wants to remove the shepherds, not wanting to have outside witnesses to his first meeting with his cousin. Gen.29:8. They said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well.” then we will water the sheep. The Harran shepherds explain to Jacob, who is not familiar with the customs of the area, that the well (probably as the common property of several owners) is opened only upon the arrival of all the flocks. Jacob meets Rachel Gen.29:9. While he was still talking to them, Rachel [Lavan’s daughter] came with her father’s flocks, because she was tending [her father’s flocks]. That Rachel was a shepherdess (Heb. roah - pr.; Greek and Slav. added: “her father’s sheep”), this was not humiliating for her, since in the ancient and new (according to Burckhardt) East, shepherding was and remains a common occupation for unmarried daughters of even noble sheikhs. Gen.29:10. When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came up, rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. The impression of meeting a relative gives Jacob a boost of spirit, and he, wanting to please Rachel and Laban (Jacob’s relationship with the latter is deliberately exposed here - in the triple designation of Laban as Jacob’s uncle), performs the difficult task of lifting a stone from the mouth of the well; He, as a stranger, could do this without being embarrassed by local customs. Gen.29:11. And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. Immediately after the display of courage and strength (v. 10), Jacob shows unusual sensitivity: in the kiss of Rachel and then in tears. According to Jewish interpretations, Jacob cried either because, at his first meeting with Rachel, he foresaw Rachel’s early death and that she would not rest in the same grave with him, or because he was embarrassed that he could not bring her such a rich vein as Eliezer did to Rebekah. Easier, perhaps, from the joy of meeting, after the trials of the journey (cf. Gen. 43:30, 45:14–15, 46:29). Gen.29:12. And Jacob told Rachel that he was related to her father and that he was the son of Rebekah. And she ran and told her father [all this]. Jacob calls himself Laban’s “brother,” of course, in the broad sense of “relative” (Russian translation), just as Abraham and Lot are called “brothers” (Gen. 13:8). The girl runs home like Rebekah (Gen. 24:28), but she tells about the visitor not to her mother, like that one, but to her father; perhaps, as the rabbis note, Rachel’s mother was no longer alive at that time; she is not mentioned at all in the subsequent story. Laban meets and receives Jacob Gen.29:13. Laban, hearing about Jacob, his sister's son, ran out to meet him, embraced him and kissed him, and brought him into his house; and he told Laban all these things. Having heard from his daughter about the arrival of his nephew, Laban - this man of calculation and self-interest - gives in to the impulses of family feeling: he runs towards Jacob, embraces him, kisses him and cordially introduces him into the house - manifestations of family affection are natural and common in the East. Jacob tells Laban all this, i.e. “one’s own family, one’s own adventures and the unexpected, by Providence, finding of Laban’s house” (m. Filaret). Gen.29:14. Laban said to him, “Truly you are my bone and my flesh.” And Jacob stayed with him for a whole month. In order for Laban to be convinced of the truth of Jacob’s story and recognize him as his blood relative, the latter had to stay with his uncle for at least a few days: as a guest, Jacob lived with him for a whole month, during which, without a doubt, he showed himself to be a strong and diligent worker, which explains Laban’s speech. Gen.29:15. And Laban said to Jacob, “Will you serve me for nothing, because you are a relative?” tell me what to pay you? Here, under the guise of caring for Jacob’s interests, Laban inquires whether Jacob’s service will cost him too much. While not equating Jacob with hired labor, Laban was not averse to exploiting his labor power and abilities. When asked by Laban, Jacob makes it clear (v. 18) that he is not after money, but wants a marriage with his daughter. Gen.29:16–17. Laban had two daughters; eldest name: Leah; youngest name: Rachel. Leah was weak-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in face. The beauty of Rachel (Heb. Rachel - sheep) consisted, in addition to the general beauty of the camp, in the special charm and liveliness of the eyes - the main sign of a beautiful woman (and even a man, cf. 1 Samuel 16:12) according to the concepts of the eastern inhabitants; meanwhile, Leah (Heb. Leah - wild cow; then, working, suffering), in other respects, also, perhaps, beautiful, had precisely an organic defect of the eyes: a disease, according to the rabbis, that arose from Leah's constant crying that she, as the eldest daughter of Laban, would have to marry the wicked Esau. “Great is the power of prayer: it not only canceled this fate, but also helped Leah to marry the righteous before Rachel” (R. Huna, Beresch. r., s, 344). Gen. 29:18–19. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and said: I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your youngest daughter. Laban said to [him]: It is better to give her to me for you than to give her to someone else; live with me. The mutual agreement between Jacob and Laban bears the stamp of biblical Jewish and generally Eastern morals. According to the custom of the ancient and even modern East, it is not the father-in-law who gives the dowry to the groom, but, on the contrary, the latter pays the bride’s father for the bride—veno, Heb. mohar (cf. Gen. 24:53, 34:12), usually providing (according to the document “ketubah”) for his wife in case of divorce. Jacob, a poor wanderer (Gen. 32.10), offers his personal work for 7 years as a ven: the replacement of a ven is not unusual in biblical antiquity (David to Saul for Michal, 1 Samuel 18:25–27), earlier Othniel married Achsah, the daughter of Caleb (Joshua 15:16–17, both are personal feats of courage), and now in the East. But in the same agreement one can see and surprise, on the one hand, the modesty and undemandingness of Jacob, which he had already expressed earlier (Gen. 28:20), who, however, had the opportunity to present more difficult conditions to Laban, and from his father to demand the part of the estate that was due to him, on the other hand, the selfishness of Laban, who did not hesitate to turn his nephew, “blood and flesh” of his, into a worker; This act was not approved later by the daughters of Laban (Gen. 31:15). According to the rabbis, Jacob, as if anticipating deception on the part of Laban, with particular precision names Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter; He also expressed that, as the youngest son of Rebekah, he should marry Laban’s youngest daughter. Laban willingly agrees to Jacob’s proposal, which provided him with seven years of free work; But Laban motivates his consent on a more plausible basis - the requirement of the custom of the East (still in force there) to prefer marriages in close kinship to marriages with strangers. Gen.29:20. And Jacob served for Rachel seven years; and they appeared to him in a few days, because he loved her. The example of Jacob's love shows that the most sublime love between the sexes was not alien to the ancient Semites. Some interpreters believed that Jacob’s marital cohabitation with Laban’s daughters began already at the beginning of the first seven years of the former’s service, since otherwise it is difficult to understand how over the next seven years Jacob had 12 children, and Leah had an even more or less significant gap between the births of Judah (Gen. 29:35) and Issachar (Gen. 30:17–18). But in explaining the last difficulty, it should be remembered that some of Jacob’s children were born - from different wives and concubines - at the same time. The very assumption is directly refuted by Art. 21, which says that Jacob requires marriage only after 7 years of service. Gen.29:21. And Jacob said to Laban: Give me my wife, because the time has already passed for me to go in to her. The Midrash gives the following paraphrase: “The Lord promised me that 12 tribes would come from me; but I’m already 84 years old, when will I become the ancestor of those tribes?” (Beresch. r., s. 345). Gen.29:22. Laban called all the people of the place and held a feast. Despite his prudence, Laban gathers many guests for the feast: perhaps in order to have witnesses in case of energetic objections from Jacob regarding the upcoming deception, or to make the latter easier (through drinking), or, finally, with the intention of celebrating both weddings at once. Gen.29:23. In the evening [Lavan] took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and [Jacob] went in to her. The very substitution of the bride was quite possible thanks to the custom of the ancient and modern East - to introduce the newlywed into the marriage chamber under a veil and, moreover, in the darkness: “there were no lamps or any other lighting beyond the need, therefore the deception was committed” (John Chrysostom, Bes. 56, p. 598). Leah, who was an accomplice in deception, according to the Midrash (Beresch. r., s. 346), justified herself before Jacob like this: “is there a teacher who does not have a student like himself (i.e., I first learned deception from you)? Didn’t you pretend to be Esau when your father asked about your name?” Gen.29:24. And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to be a maid for his daughter Leah. Just as Rebekah, upon leaving her father’s house, received several slaves as a gift (Gen. 24:61), so Laban gives the maid Zilpah as a dowry to Leah, and, according to the rabbis, here too Laban made a substitution - to complete the deception, giving Leah Zilpah, who had hitherto been Rachel’s maid, and vice versa. Gen.29:25–26. In the morning it turned out that it was Leah. And [Jacob] said to Laban: What hast thou done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? why did you deceive me? Laban said: in our place they don’t do this, to give the younger one away before the older one; The astonished Jacob asks Laban about the reason for the deception, for which he receives a plausible motive: Laban refers (v. 26) to the local custom of not marrying off a younger sister or daughter before an older one; a similar custom actually existed and exists in Asia Minor, India and other countries. But Laban’s deception is not justified by this. “If Laban wanted to truly observe the order and accepted custom, he should have revealed his intention to Jacob first, the condition of seven years of work. The cunning he used shows that he wanted not so much to do justice to his eldest daughter, but to acquire a cheap worker for his son-in-law for another seven years” (M. Philaret, Zap. on the book of Genesis 2.60). Gen.29:27. Finish this week, then we will give you that week for the service that you will serve with me for another seven years. Wanting to make amends to Jacob, and at the same time secure his obligation to work for another seven years, Laban invites him to finish the week of the marriage celebration with Leah (schebua - exactly a week, seven days, and not seven years, as in Daniel 9: 2, 24) and then marry Rachel. The marriage of Jacob to Rachel Gen.29:28. Jacob did so and ended the week. And [Lavan] gave Rachel his daughter to him to wife. Jacob, immediately after Leah's wedding week, marries Rachel (and not after another 7 years of work, as the old interpreters believed, following the example of I. Josephus and St. I. Chrysostom, Dem. on Genesis 61, 599). Gen.29:29. And Laban gave his maid Bilhah as a maid for his daughter Rachel. And Laban gives his second daughter the slave Bilha as her property. Both slaves are named by name precisely in the history of Jacob’s marriage because both of them became wives of the second rank for him (Gen. 30:3, 9). Leah gives birth to four sons Gen.29:31. The Lord [God] saw that Leah was unloved and opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Instead of “unloved”, Greco-slav. more accurately conveys Heb. senuah – “hated”; but there is only one thought: Jacob, in comparison with his passionately beloved Rachel, almost did not notice or appreciate Leah (“amorem sequentis priorui praetulit”, Vulg.). Jehovah, who mercifully looks upon all the unfortunate and offended (Gen. 14:7, 21:17, 39:2), bestows His mercy on those who did not have complete marital happiness: she becomes the first mother, and Rachel remains barren (that one of the two wives was loved, aguvah, and the other unloved, senuah, was a common occurrence, Deut. 21:15). Gen.29:32. Leah conceived and bore [Jacob] a son, and called his name Reuben, because she said: The Lord looked upon my distress [and gave me a son], for now my husband will love me. According to the custom of antiquity (cf. Gen. 4:1), the name of Jacob's firstborn is given by his mother, Leah. Reuben Heb. Ruben - here is the son - a natural exclamation of joy from the mother. But the text of the verse gives a slightly different etymology of the name, based on a play on words not uncommon in the Hebrew language: raah beani - “the Lord looked upon my misfortune.” Jewish commentators, paying attention to the word (v. 31) vajiphtach, “and opened,” believed that Leah was completely barren, and that the 12 patriarchs were born in the same not entirely natural way as Isaac, Esau and Jacob. Gen.29:33. And [Leah] conceived again and bore [Jacob a second] son, and said: The Lord heard that I was unloved, and gave me this too. And she called his name: Simeon. If Reuben (maybe - Ruben? Or - raah beani - see above) expresses that God: saw Leah, then Shim-on - Simeon - that He heard her. In its idea and meaning, the name Simeon is identical with the name Ishmael (Gen. 16:11), only the birth of the first four sons of Leah is actually attributed to Jehovah, while the birth of Ishmael, as well as the subsequent sons of Leah, is attributed to God under the common name Elohim. Gen.29:34. And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said: Now my husband will cleave to me, for I have bare him three sons. From this his name was called Levi. "Levi" from Hebrew – “sticking” (Vulg: “copulabitur”). If at the birth of her first son Leah hopes to earn through him the greater love of her husband, and through the second - to achieve equality with her sister, then the birth of the third arouses in her the expectation of at least constancy of affection on the part of her husband. The Midrash interprets “cleaving” in the sense that the sons of Levi will be devoted to their heavenly Father. The rabbis attributed the masculine verb “to call” in relation to Levi either to the Angel who allegedly gave the name of Levi, or to Jacob. The Midrash says that Leah, knowing that Jacob had 12 sons from all 4 wives, decided upon the birth of her third son that she would give birth no more: hence the expression of hope for Levi, and then the delight of surprise at the birth of Judah. Gen.29:35. And she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said: Now I will praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Judas. And she stopped giving birth. Judah – “Yehuda”: may he be blessed or glorified (Jehovah). Leah glorifies first of all Jehovah, and then Judah himself and his descendants (cf. Gen. 49:8–10; 1 Chron. 28:4; 1 Chr. 5:2). You might be interested in: