Or HaChaim on Genesis 29:9/אור החיים על בראשית כ״ט:ט׳

1 עודנו מדבר עמם, While he was still talking to them, etc. According to the text this is incorrect. The Torah should have written that the shepherds were still talking to him. Perhaps the reason the Torah phrased it thus is that the whole story is meant to tell us what happened to Jacob, not what happened with the shepherds.

2On the other hand, the Torah may have meant to tell us that Rachel arrived while Jacob was engaged in speaking to the shepherds before the shepherds had replied to him at all. The Torah did not want to interrupt the sequence of the conversation and that is why the shepherds' reply was recorded first.

3עם הצאן אשר לאביה, with her father's flocks. The Torah means to tell us that Rachel tended all her father's flocks. This proves the truth of Jacob's statement in 30,30 that prior to his arrival Laban possessed only meagre possessions.

4On the other hand the Torah may imply that Rachel was so competent a shepherdess that Laban did not need anyone in addition to her to tend his sheep. This idea is suggested by the Torah's comment כי רעה היא, for she was a shepherdess.

5Another reason why the Torah emphasised Rachel's being a רעה may have been that Laban, who was a pastmaster at employing charms, was convinced that Rachel possessed such charms and that employing her would ensure his future prosperity. Had he not been aware of that quality in his daughter he would not have demeaned himself by sending her out with the flocks.

6The Torah may want to teach us yet another lesson in this verse. It describes Rachel as באה, arriving, carefully avoiding that she had left, יצאה, from somewhere before she could arrive. This was testimony to Rachel's chasteness. She did not leave her father's house for frivolous purposes. The words כי רעה היא may also be translated as "although she was a shepherdess." In that case the Torah would tell us that Laban did not prosper until Jacob arrived; all his flocks could be managed by his young daughter although she was very skilled at her trade.