A Merry Meeting! Genesis 29:9-13

May the mumbling commence!

What a merry meeting!  I am sure Jacob felt a homecoming of a sort… and love at first sight.  Read from Peterson’s The Message:

While Jacob was in conversation with them, Rachel came up with her father’s sheep.  She was the shepherd.  The moment Jacob spotted Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, saw her arriving with his uncle Laban’s sheep, he went and single-handedly rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.  Then he kissed Rachel and broke into tears.  He told Rachel that he was related to her father, that he was Rebekah’s son.  She ran and told her father.  When Laban heard the news – Jacob, his sister’s son! – he ran out to meet him, embraced and kissed him and brought him home.  Jacob told Laban the story of everything that had happened.  (Genesis 29:9-13)

Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.  When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep.  Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.  He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father. 

As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things.  (Genesis 29:9-13)

Of all the differences between Peterson’s work and the NIV, the one I question the most is the last little bit.  Just what did Jacob tell Laban about?  Peterson seems to intimate that Jacob told him his life story.  I am not sure that the text supports that.  At the very least, Jacob would edit out the stuff that makes him look bad.

In only three of the nine translations that I looked at was the idea conveyed that Jacob told Laban everything that had happened.  The majority stuck with something very similar to the NIV.

I don’t know.  If I had to speculate, I would think that Jacob told Laban about his parents… and maybe also about their desire for him to marry a woman from Laban’s family.  He obviously has fallen in love with Rachel. 

So, I doubt he talked about the deceptions.  I doubt that he told Laban about how he was running for his life from his brother Esau.  I even wonder if Jacob even mentioned his brother to Laban…

At any rate, all of this is speculation.  Why read more into the Hebrew that necessary?

Let’s be content with a merry meeting.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out