Genesis 29:1-12
"Jacob Meets Rachel"
This seems to be following the "Well Story" format. I don't know if you've noticed, but many ancient biblical figures (Isaac [by proxy] and Moses, to name two. Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman, in John 4, also follows a similar pattern, but with a twist) met their wives at a well. There'd be a well, the man would approach, solve a problem or ask a question, the woman would respond.
Here, we have Jacob coming upon a well with a large stone over it. Nearby the well were shepherds. They were in the process of watering the sheep, but they needed to gather the sheep and move the stone. Well, Jacob spies Rachel (who was a shepherdess) in the distance and quickly moves the stone.
The reason I mentioned the whole "Well Story" thing is to show, not that there's some fictional, cultural pattern going on, but that sometimes God works in similar ways to make a point (eg: the creation story [light, sea/air, land/plants; and sun/moon/stars, fish/birds, animals/man]). Sometimes, He does the opposite, but for exactly the same reason (eg: Jesus' different healings of blind men). The point I'm trying to make, though, is that God's putting Jacob in a select group of individuals who would be significant to the Israelites and this is His way of showing us that.
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