Meredith Morris of Jacksonville, Alabama wrote us with the question, "While reading the other day the story in Genesis 29 about Jacob meeting Rachel and when he kissed her ...the Bible says he lifted up his head and wept. I wondered why he did that ...and wondered if you all knew anything on the matter."

I am sure that there is more to this story than meets the eye. There are bound to be prophetic applications that I am as yet unsure of, but as I thought about the situation, there were a few things that came to mind.

The statement, to which you are referring in Gen. 29, is found in verses 10 and 11. It says, "When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother?s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother?s brother,...Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept."

This must be seen in light of the events that had transpired just prior to Jacob finding his father?s people. You must remember the story of Jacob?s ladder, one chapter earlier, in Gen. 28, when he dreamt of a ladder to heaven, upon which the angels ascended and descended. When he awoke, he called that place Bethel: the house of God.

He took the stone, which he had used as a pillow, and made a monument there. He then vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father?s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God?s house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give a tenth." (Gen. 28:20-22)

He journeyed on, according to chapter 29, and came to the land of the people of the east, and came upon a well, and there he met Rachel. Jacob saw that God had prospered his way, even as he had vowed, and now had seen that God was God, and that he had truly been at the house of God. It seems that the tears he shed on Rachel?s shoulder were an expression of Jacob?s realization that God was with him, and that God was real.

This was not the last time this occurred in Jacob?s life. Many years later, after Jacob had served Laban for his two daughters, he left Laban, taking his family and flocks. He went to see Esau, his brother, whom he feared greatly. When he neared the land of his brother, he prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant;...Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." (Gen. 32:9-12)

When, therefore Esau came, it says, "And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. ...And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept." (Gen. 33:1-4)

Again, God heard and answered the prayer of Jacob. And again, Jacob knew that God had His hand in his life.

The awesome realization that the great God of the universe concerns Himself with an individual?s life brings tears to my eyes even now, knowing that in each of our lives, God is taking an active part, and draws each one of us unto Himself, that we might be saved.

Don?t forget to send in your questions or topics for The Bible Guys to discuss. If you have had a question regarding a passage of scripture or a doctrine, please send it to us (contact information is on page 2).

We will consider your topic or question, and, each month, respond to some or all of them in a special section of this newsletter. Rest assured, the answers will be 100% Bible-based and supporting scriptures will be offered.