In the plain Torah, Laban hears that Jacob has arrived and runs to meet him (Genesis 29:13). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan unpacks exactly what Laban had already heard — and the list is long.
Laban knew about Jacob's strength and piety. He knew that Jacob had taken the birthright and the order of blessing from Esau's hand. He knew that the Lord had revealed Himself to Jacob at Bethel. He knew about the stone Jacob had rolled off the well with one arm. He knew that the well had risen to the brink.
So when Laban ran out to embrace his nephew, he was not meeting a stranger. He was meeting a man whose miracle file had already arrived in Haran ahead of him. And Laban — the scheming uncle — immediately started calculating. A man who rolls stones, a man whose prayers summon water, a man who talks to God on the road — this is a free laborer with divine productivity. Keep him in the house. Chain him with marriage. Extend the contract.
Every embrace and every kiss the Targum describes is sincere on the surface and strategic beneath. Laban is not lying about being glad. He is glad. He is glad the way a merchant is glad when an unusually valuable commodity walks through the door.
This is why Jacob will end up working fourteen years for two wives and another six for the flock. Laban saw the ledger before he saw the nephew. The Targum makes the setup explicit so that when the trickery lands, no one is surprised.
The takeaway: when the world embraces a person of unusual spiritual power, check whose arms are around them. Some hugs are investments.