Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.
very obligingly to the people he met with, and calls them his brethren, Ge 29:4. The law of kindness in the tongue has a commanding power, Pr 31:26. Some think he calls them brethren because they were of the same trade, shepherds like him. Though he was now upon his preferment, he was not ashamed of his occupation.
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. How happily he arrived at his journey's end. Providence brought him to the very field where his uncle's flocks were to be watered, and there he met with Rachel, who was to be his wife. Observe, The divine Providence is to be acknowledged in all the little circumstances which concur to make a journey, or other undertaking, comfortable and successful. If, when we are at a loss, we meet seasonably with those that can direct us--if we meet with a disaster, and those are at hand that will help us--we must not say that it was by chance, nor that fortune therein favoured us, but that it was by Providence, and that God therein favoured us. Our ways are ways of pleasantness, if we continually acknowledge God in them.
7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle
should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
Those that show respect have usually respect shown to them. As Jacob was civil to these strangers, so he found them civil to him. When he undertook to teach them how to despatch their business (Ge 29:7), they did not bid him meddle with his own concerns and let them alone; but, though he was a stranger, they gave him the reason of their delay, Ge 29:8. Those that are neighbourly and friendly shall have neighbourly and friendly usage.
8 And they said, we cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together,
and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.
9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s
sheep: for she kept them.