Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 29-30.

I find it interesting that Rachel was herding her father’s sheep, apparently by herself.  We know from tomorrow’s passage that Laban had sons, why was Rachel with the sheep and not one of her brothers?  Perhaps Laban’s sons were younger than Rachel and not yet old enough to be herding the sheep.  Of course, then one must wonder why Leah was not with Rachel herding the sheep? Or, perhaps Leah was herding a different flock.  I am going to guess that Laban’s sons were still too young to be tending the flocks when Jacob arrived (or, that older sons had died), and that the comment made later that Leah had weak eyes (or delicate eyes, whatever that meant) explains why she was not tending the flocks.  This leads me to suspect that Laban was in a relatively weak position locally when Jacob arrived.  Which led me to another thought.  It seems likely that the other shepherds present when Jacob arrived were young.  The passage tells us that it was early in the day for the flocks to be gathered, but that they needed to be there when someone arrived who could roll the stone off of the well.  Since none of them objected to Jacob rolling the stone aside, it seems like they were waiting for someone who could do so.  So, Jacob’s arrival seems to have immediately strengthened Laban’s position.  Laban was no longer dependent upon others in order for his sheep to access water.  Now that I have noticed how odd it was for Rachel to be tending Laban’s flock, it surprises me that I have never heard anyone comment on it before.  I did find one commentator who noted that the way Jacob addressed the other shepherds about having their flocks gather so early suggests that those other shepherds were young.

The significance of the Rachel tending the sheep indicating that Laban was relatively weak and not wealthy comes from the contrast to where he was more than fourteen years later when Jacob first considers leaving. By the latter time, Laban’s sons have grown and are able to tend his flocks for him, but Laban appears to be unsure if they can manage them as well as Jacob has done.  If I am correct in my interpretation, at this point Laban’s sons would have been young men, not grown men established in their knowledge of life as Jacob would have been when he arrived.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.