Seven Years Like a Few Days

Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. In a field he saw a well, with three flocks of sheep lying near it. A large stone covered its mouth, and the sheep were waiting for water.

The shepherds had an order for this work. When all the flocks had gathered, they rolled the stone away and watered the sheep. Then they returned it to its place over the opening. Jacob had arrived while the stone was still there.

He asked the shepherds where they came from, and they answered that they were from Haran. He asked whether they knew Laban, Nahor’s grandson, and they did. When he asked whether Laban was well, their answer included someone approaching: “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”

It was still broad daylight. Jacob told the men to water the sheep and take them back to pasture; it was too early to gather the livestock. They explained that they could not water them until all the flocks were there and the stone had been rolled away. While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

As soon as Jacob saw her with Laban’s flock, he went to the well. He rolled the stone away himself and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then he kissed Rachel and wept aloud. Before she knew who he was, he had done the work and begun to cry.

Jacob told her that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father. Rachel ran to tell Laban. When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son, he ran out to meet him, embraced him, and kissed him. He brought Jacob home, and there Jacob told him all that had happened.

“You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” That was Laban’s welcome, and Jacob stayed with him a month. Then Laban raised the matter of work and wages. “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Here the account names both daughters. The older was Leah, and the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Nothing is said here about what Leah wanted, or what either sister made of the man who had come to stay.

Jacob loved Rachel, and his answer named her plainly. “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” He named the length of his service, the daughter, and her place in the family. The older sister was already part of the account, but she was not part of his request.

Laban answered, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.” Jacob stayed and served seven years for Rachel. The account gives those years no list of tasks and no record of the changing seasons. It measures them by his love: to Jacob, they seemed only a few days.

Leah remains the older daughter while those years pass. There is no speech from her, no promise made to her, no second courtship running beside the first. Jacob’s work has a stated end, and the woman he expects to marry has a name. Now the seven years he offered for Rachel are complete.