Genesis xxix.
1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people
of the east.
3 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and lo, there were
three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered
the flocks; and a great stone was upon the well's mouth.
3 And thither were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled the stone
from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again
upon the well's mouth in his place.
4 And Jacob said unto them, 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.
6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and
behold Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.
9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's
sheep: for she kept them.
10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban
his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, and
Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and
watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.
11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.
12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he
was Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father:
13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his
sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed
him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he
abode with him the space of a month.
15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldst
thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?
18 And Jacob loved Rachel: and said, I will serve thee seven years for
Rachel thy younger daughter.
19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I
should give her to another man, abide with me.
20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him
but a few days, for the love he had to her.
21 If And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are
fulfilled.
Jacob's journey to the land of Canaan in search of a wife, and the
details of his courtship, have a passing interest with the ordinary
reader, interested in his happiness and success. The classic ground for
the cultivation of the tender emotions in these early days, seems to
have been near a well, where the daughters of those who were rich in
flocks and herds found opportunities to exhibit their fine points in
drawing water for men and cattle. From the records of these interesting
events, the girls seemed ready to accept the slightest advances from
passing strangers, and to give their hands and hearts as readily as
they gave a drink of water to the thirsty. Marriage was as simple a
contract as the purchase of a lamb, the lamb and the woman having about
an equal voice in the purchase, though the lamb was not quite as ready
to leave his accustomed grazing ground. Jacob loved Rachel at first
sight, and agreed to serve Laban seven years, but when the time expired
Laban did not keep his agreement, but insisted on Jacob taking the
other sister, and serving seven years more for Rachel. Jacob submitted,
but by the knowledge of a physiological law of which Laban was
ignorant, he revenged himself, and obtained all the strongest and best
of the flocks and herds. Thus in their business relations as well as in
family matters, the Patriarchs seem to have played as sharp games in
overreaching each other as the sons of our Pilgrim Fathers do to-day.
In getting all they could out of Laban, Jacob and Rachel seem to have
been of one mind.
A critical study of the Pentateuch is just now agitating the learned
classes in Germany. Bonn is an ancient stronghold of theological
learning, and two of the professors of its famous university have
recently exhibited a courage in Biblical criticism and interpretation
which has further extended the celebrity of the school, if it has not
added to its repute for orthodoxy. In a course of lectures held during
the university holidays, addressed to and largely attended by pastors,
they declared the Old Testament history to "be a series of legends, and
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob mythical persons." Israel, they declared, was
an idolatrous people, Jehovah being nothing more than a "God of the
Jewish Nation." This radical outbreak of criticism and interpretation
has aroused considerable attention throughout Germany, and a
declaration against it and other teachings of the kind has been signed
by some hundreds of pastors and some thousands of laymen, but so far it
has produced no effect whatever on the professors of Bonn, and there is
no prospect of its doing so. It is fortunate for the faith thus
assailed that the critical and rhetorical style of the ordinary German
professor is too heavy for export or general circulation. So that the
theories of Messrs. Graef and Meinhold are not likely to do the faith
of the Fatherland any particular harm. That country has always been
divided into two classes, one of which believes nothing and the
other everything, the latter numerically preponderant, but the former
exceeding in erudition and dialectic--a condition of things quite
certain to continue and on which a few essays more or less in
destructive criticism can produce little effect.
E. C. S.
Mrs. Stanton's statements concerning the undeveloped religious
sentiment of the early Hebrews cannot be criticized from the orthodox
standpoint as in this account, where the God of Abraham is represented
as taking an active personal interest in the affairs of the chosen
people, they did not trust wholly to Him, but kept images of the gods
of the neighboring tribes in their houses, Laban feeling sorry enough
over their loss to go seven days' journey to recover them while his
daughter felt she could not leave her father's house without taking the
images with her as a protection.
The faults of Laban, of Jacob and of most of his sons are brought out
without any reserve by the historian who follows the custom of early
writers in stating things exactly as they were. There was no secrecy
and little delicacy in connection with sexual matters. It may, however,
be noticed that while this people had the same crude notions about
these things that were common to other nations, yet every infraction of
the Divine law of monogamy, symbolized in the account of the creation
of woman in the second chapter of Genesis, brings its own punishment
whether in or out of the marriage relation. When one or another people
sinned against a Jewish woman the men of the family were the avengers,
as when the sons of Jacob slew a whole city to avenge an outrage
committed against their sister. Polygamy and concubinage wove a thread
of disaster and complications throughout the whole lives of families
and its dire effects are directly traceable in the feuds and
degeneration of their descendants. The chief lesson taught by history
is danger of violating, physically, mentally, or spiritually the
personal integrity of woman. Customs of the country and the cupidity
of Laban, forced polygamy on Jacob, and all the shadows in his life,
and he had no end of trouble in after years, are due to this. Perhaps
nothing but telling their stories in this brutally frank way would make
the lesson so plain.
If we search this narrative ever so closely it gives us no hint of
Divinely intended subordination of woman. Jacob had to buy his wives
with service which indicates that a high value was placed upon them.
Now-a-days in high life men demand instead of give. The degradation of
woman involved in being sold to a husband, to put it in the most
humiliating way, is not comparable to the degradation of having to buy
a husband. Euripides made Medea say: "We women are the most unfortunate
of all creatures since we have to buy our masters at so dear a price,"
and the degradation of Grecian women is repeated--all flower-garlanded
and disguised by show--in the marriage sentiments of our own
civilization. Jacob was dominated by his wives as Abraham and Isaac had
been and there is no hint of their subjection. Rachel's refusal to move
when the gods were being searched for, showed that her will was
supreme, nobody tried to force her to rise against her own desire.
The love which Jacob bore for Rachel has been through all time the
symbol of constancy. Seven years he served for her, and so great was
his love, so pure his delight in her presence that the time seemed but
as a day. Had this simple, absorbing affection not been interfered with
by Laban, how different would have been the tranquil life of Jacob and
Rachel, developing undisturbed by the inevitable jealousies and
vexations connected with the double marriage. Still this love was the
solace of Jacob's troubled life and remained unabated until Rachel died
and then found expression in tenderness for Benjamin. "the son of my
right hand." It was no accident, but has a great significance, that
this most ardent and faithful of Jewish lovers should have deeper
spiritual experiences than any of his predecessors.
C. B. C.