“My friends, where are you from?”

Yaakov asks the shepherds at the outskirts of Haran a very interesting question: “My friends, where are you from?” 

What was the purpose of the question? It's clear that he was trying to spark a conversation to find out about the whereabouts of Lavan, and glean information about him. 

The shepherds then offer information about Lavan's daughter, Rachel. The question is whether this was typical of that time. Would someone, given the codes of modesty at that time, offer up information of a young maiden to a total stranger? There certainly were standards of propriety then that don't exist now, and are alien to the fabric of our lives. For example, Eliezer sought a divine sign as to Yitzhak's intended because he himself could not approach the well because it was the time designated for the women, eit ha'shoavot in Hebrew. Furthermore, as another indication of the mores of the time, the Torah states that Dinah was the first woman to have ever been raped; it was considered a red line at the time that had never been crossed, a flagrant violation of the rights of another, a woman's modesty, femininity cast aside. 

Therefore, it would seem that the shepherds having volunteered such information - especially about a maiden who the Torah avows was "comely and beautiful" - could be considered no other than unbecoming, or overly forward, almost as if to say, "Look at the beautiful women here!" 

On the one hand, Yaakov got the information he sought. On the other, perhaps he didn't expect to get it in that way. That notwithstanding, he wanted to shoo away the shepherds so that he could be alone with Rachel. That's evidenced by Yaakov not telling the shepherds that they've gathered too early when he first makes conversation with them, but rather, only when he sees Rachel coming. 

Thus, I would like to suggest the following interpretation. Yaakov only admonishes the shepherds for their behavior - for having come in from pasture too early - after they show disrespect to Rachel by divulging her identity. It was not something done at the time. For a female to be a shepherd was exceptional at the time, and as such, to point it out was something suspect, or indicative of unworthy character. Therefore, only now, after having acted in a way that was impetuous, or indiscrete, does Yaakov try to free himself of them. It would seem that Yaakov's intentions were only holy, and of the highest caliber. The verse repeats three times, the words, "his uncle Laban:" 

"And when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the flock of his uncle Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of his uncle Laban."

This, it seems, comes to show that his only intent was to fulfill his father's wishes, choosing one of Laban's daughters to be his future wife.