Importance Of The Well As A Meeting Place
At this period in the Near East there were two normal places for meeting. One of them was the city gate: here were the court of law and the traders' stalls, here there gathered the gossips and those with nothing to do. Thus, when Abraham wanted to buy the cave Machpelah to make it into a family burial place, he went to the gate of Hebron and there, as if by chance, encountered the owner of the site. But among the shepherds there was a still more favoured spot for meetings. This was the well where, after the heat of the day, the shepherds led their flocks to water them.
These wells were often quite wide, anything from ten to fifteen feet in diameter. To prevent pollution of the water the opening was closed during the day with one or more flat stone slabs. A low surrounding wall prevented the animals from falling in the well. When the time came the shepherds drew the water in skins which they pulled up with cords. It was then poured into stone or earthenware troughs. In turn the flocks, each under its own shepherd, came to quench their thirst. At the end of the day, then, each well became a meeting place where news was exchanged and a stranger could obtain information.
The Meeting Between Yacob And Rachel
Yacob was now getting to the end of his long journey. After fording the Euphrates he continued along the bank of the Balikh, a tributary of the Euphrates and then of the Kara, a tributary of the Balikh. And so he came to Paddanaram. As an experienced traveler in this kind of country he sought a track leading to a well. On the ground, well trodden by sheep and goats, a practiced eye easily discovered the path to be followed. Soon he came upon a group of shepherds watching over their flocks and gathered round a well. According to custom they waited until all the flocks had assembled; only then was the great boulder closing the well rolled away and the animals watered. After the customary ceremonial greetings Yacob talked to the shepherds. They told him that they came from Haran, that they were well acquainted with Laban and that he was still head of the clan of Terah. “And here,” added one of the shepherds, “comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
Rachel was extremely beautiful; at first sight of her Yacob lost his heart. As she drew near he hastened to roll away the heavy stone from the mouth of the well then, with no word of explanation he set about drawing water and filling the troughs for his uncle's flock to drink. With some surprise, and perhaps with a certain secret emotion, the girl considered this attentive stranger. After the sheep had quenched their thirst Yacob went up to Rachel. He kissed her, Bereshith tells us, and burst into tears. Then he told her that he was Laban's nephew and therefore her cousin. At once Rachel hastened to Haran to tell her father.
Directly Laban heard of the unexpected arrival of his sister's son he hurried to the well where his nephew was waiting. He kissed him warmly and with the traditional signs of friendship asked him to come to his house.
Mention of Laban's house shows us that he did not live in a tent as, traditionally, the shepherds did. In this region of rich pastureland watered by numerous streams it was usual for a chieftain, the wealthy owner of flocks, to live in a house in a city, while his shepherds in charge of his flocks went from pasture to pasture with their flocks, and lived, of course, in tents. Indeed, even nowadays it is interesting to observe that the Bedouin chiefs, as a general rule, choose to live in houses in the tiny village of Haran while the guardians of their sheep and goats move about with their flocks, and every two or three days have to take down and put up their black goatskin tents.
The architecture of Haran, as it was known to Abraham and to Yacob after him, has scarcely evolved at all. At the foot of the fortress, nowadays in ruins, there huddled a curious collection of houses; each was shaped like a sugar loaf and contained only one room. They were built of flat stones, placed one on top of the other without cement, and without the support of beams, since in this region trees were absolutely unknown. The only light which filtered into the house was obtained through a hole in the apex of the cone. We may well believe that Yacob was received by his uncle in one of these curious dwellings. There was little furniture: on the beaten earth floor a few leather or woolen mats were spread; in a corner there stood perhaps a chest. And as the sun was already low on the horizon one or two lamps would have been lighted, simple earthenware vessels, whose rims at one place had been pinched together to form a rudimentary spout; in the oil contained in the lamps floated a flax wick which needed trimming fairly frequently.
Laban and his sons squatted down on a mat in front of Yacob. After the usual lengthy exchange of compliments Laban asked Yacob to tell the story of his adventures. Soon we shall get to know Laban better, for he too is quite a character. Many were his protestations of friendship and devotedness towards his kinsman: “Truly,” he said, “you are my bone and flesh.” It would be misleading to emphasize all this unduly. In the house at Haran, then, they celebrated Yacob's arrival for a month.
At Haran, just as in the past, the family sleeps all together under a cone-shaped roof.
Yacob's Service For His Wife
More serious matters now claimed their attention. 'Because you are my kinsman' Laban said to Yacob, 'are you to work for me without payment? Tell me what wages you want' (Bereshith 29:15). In addition to several sons, Laban had two daughters. Leah, the elder, was rather unpleasing in appearance and there was no sparkle in her eyes. Yacob found her unattractive. The younger, Rachel (rahel, a sheep), on the other hand, was shapely and beautiful Bereshith is careful to inform us. It was obvious that Yacob had fallen in love with Rachel directly he saw her for the first time at the well. Since he had come to the Land of the Fathers to find a wife among the Arameans of pure stock (at least that was one of the reasons for his journey) why should he not ask Laban to give him Rachel for his bride? In addition, according to the custom of the time, his position as first cousin gave him a preferential advantage over any other claimant.11 But Yacob had left the Hebrew camp at Beersheba owning nothing but his shepherd's staff, and he was certainly unable to pay the traditional mohar, a word often translated as 'dowry' or 'purchase price of a wife'.
11 In the ancient East (as even today among certain Arab tribes) a match between cousins was regarded as very desirable, for in this way the purity of the 'blood' of the line would be preserved. We have already encountered an example of this custom with the marriage of Yitschaq and Rebekah. Subsequently, the Scriptures furnishes several examples of this traditional custom Thus the parents and grandparents of Moshe were nephew and aunt, the latter being the fathers sister (Shemoth 6:16,18,20; Bemidbar 26:59). Later still at the time of the Melechim we find Rehoboam, Solomon's son, marrying Maacah, Absolom's daughter; now Solomon and Absolom were brothers, though not by the same mother, it is true.
Yacob Called Yisrael Index Yacob Sitemap Scripture History Through the Ages Yacob Called Yisrael Yacob and Esau Theft Of The Paternal Blessing Flight, The Only Solution For Yacob Yacob's Dream At Bethel Yacob Puts Up A Stele Named BethEl The Location Of Bethel Importance Of The Well, A Meeting Place Details Of The Mohar The Sons Of Yacob How Yacob Became Rich Yacob Leaves The Land Of The Fathers Treaty Between Yacob And Laban Messages Between Yacob And Esau Yacob Wrestles With YAHWEH Two Brothers, Yacob and Esau Meet Towards The Promised Land The Departure From Shechem The Conclusion Of Yacob