And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep: for she kept them.
While he yet spake ... Rachel came. Among the pastoral tribes the young unmarried daughters of the greatest sheikhs tend the flocks, going out at sunrise, and continuing to watch their fleecy charge until sunset. This practice of employing young women to watch the flocks obtains still among the modern Bedouins; and among some tribes these are exclusively employed, insomuch that Burckhardt declares, 'a boy would feel himself insulted were any one to say "Go, and drive your father's sheep to pasture." These words, in his opinion, would signify 'you are no better than a girl.'
Watering them, which is done twice a day, is a work of time and labour, and Jacob rendered no small service in volunteering his aid to the young shepherdess. It was an act of civility on the part of a stranger, readily accepted by Rachel as rendered by a kinsman. The interview was affecting, the reception welcome, and Jacob forgot all his toils in the society of his Mesopotamian relatives. Can we doubt that he returned thanks to God for His goodness by the way?