Genesis 29:5-7

And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.

And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. 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.

When they said, “We know him,” Jacob had to smile a little. He had come all this way, and now not only had he reached Haran, but he had located the very family he was looking for. And the more we get to know Laban, the more we see that he really was a character. In fact, he will prove to be a perfect match for Jacob, because Jacob the conniver is about to meet a man who can out connive him.

That is how the Lord often works.

He has a way of putting us in situations where we finally get dealt with at the very point where we have been strongest in the flesh. Jacob has been the schemer, the arranger, the one who knows how to work the angles. So what does God do? He brings him to Laban, a man who knows how to play the same game. Jacob is about to get a taste of Jacob.

But before any of that unfolds, Rachel appears.

And the whole mood changes.

Jacob asks, “Is he well?” They answer, “He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.” You can almost see Jacob look up. Suddenly the conversation becomes much more interesting. Suddenly the shepherds around the well might have seemed a little less necessary to him.

Then Jacob says, “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.”

I think it is fair to smile at that.

Could it be that Jacob was trying to clear the field a little so he could have some time with Rachel? It certainly sounds that way. He has just arrived. He has just found the family he was sent to find. Rachel is approaching. And now he is giving the other men suggestions about how they might move things along and get back out to pasture. It has a familiar ring to it. “Fellas, why don’t you go ahead and take care of business…”

And if that is what he is doing, it is a very human moment.

Jacob is still Jacob.

He has met God.

He has had the Bethel experience.

He is walking with happy feet.

But he is still a man. He is still capable of being stirred, interested, and eager when he sees Rachel coming. Scripture is so honest that way. It lets these moments breathe. It does not flatten the people into lifeless stained glass figures. It shows them as real people, with real personalities, real interests, real emotions.

I like that.

Because sometimes the most spiritual people in the Bible are also the most recognizably human. Jacob is not less spiritual because he notices Rachel. He is just real. And the Lord is going to work in and through all of that. The romance, the attraction, the family complications, the disappointments, the waiting, the shaping, all of it will become part of Jacob’s story and part of God’s process in his life.

That is worth remembering.

God does not only work through visions, altars, and obvious holy moments. He also works through conversations at wells, first glances, awkward timing, family introductions, and all the ordinary human moments that end up changing the course of a life.

So yes, it may very well be that Jacob was trying to clear the field.

And if so, it is another reminder that the Bible is wonderfully real.

But beneath the smile in the scene, something bigger is happening. God is setting the stage. The next season of Jacob’s life is arriving, and it is coming toward him with sheep in the field.