well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father. And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. And Laban said unto Jacob, because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?
Metaphysically interpreted, Jacob's journeying toward the east is a way of
saying that the illumined intellect is penetrating deeper into the inner
spiritual consciousness. The well of water symbolizes an innate spiritual life
capacity in the body consciousness. The three flocks of sheep represent three
states of physical existence, each on its own plane expressing the innocent,
obedient activity of life. The people Jacob visits are living in Haran, the name
of which means "strong," "exalted," "mountaineer"; the people being not necessarily spiritual but having high ideals. Their concepts are limited in expression ("they put the stone again upon the well's mouth in its place"). Laban represents the unsophisticated natural man whose pure high ideals are expressed by Rachel and Leah (they shepherd his sheep or thoughts). Jacob (related through his mother to this divine-natural plane of consciousness) now makes a closer contact that brings about prosperity for all concerned.
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