It was in response to the urgent wishes of both Isaac and Rebekah that Jacob undertook that eventful journey which was to carry him far from the land of his birth to Haran in Mesopotamia, the home of his mother's kindred. It appears that his brother Esau had married two Hittite women who "were a grief of mind" (Genesis 26:34, 35) to his parents, and it was with a view to finding a wife among his own cousins, as had Isaac himself, that Jacob now traveled northward, receiving on the way his vision at Bethel, a happy augury of his future success and importance. Haran lies a few miles beyond the northern reaches of the river Euphrates, and it was there, by the side of a well, that Jacob first encountered Rachel. From this moment he was eager to serve her, as later he served her father for her hand; and we find him rolling the stone from the mouth of the well and watering the sheep which she tended, just as his mother, years before, had watered the camels of Abraham's steward, Eliezer (Genesis 24:46; 29:10). Then just as Laban had invited Eliezer to his home, so now Laban's nephew Jacob received a similar invitation.
During his residence at Haran, he came to know both Rachel and Leah. The contrast between the sisters is well suggested by Dr. Moffatt, who points out that "Leah had dull eyes, but Rachel was lovely and handsome."
After seven years' service to his uncle Laban, Jacob claimed Rachel as his bride, only to discover after the marriage that Laban had seen to it that Leah should take her younger sister's place—a substitution possible because of the heavy veil customarily worn by the bride at an eastern wedding. While we can appreciate Jacob's discomfiture, the situation partakes of the nature of poetic justice, in that this same Jacob had once deceived his aged father (Chapter 27). Accepting as best he might Laban's explanation that the elder daughter must be married first, Jacob served a further seven years for the privilege of marrying Rachel.
