Musar zu Bereschit 29:7

On Genesis 29,7: הן עוד היום גדול לא עת האסף המקנה, "The day is still long; it is not yet time to bring home the flock," Rashi comments that Jacob hinted that if these shepherds were hired hands they had no right to waste their employers' time, for any hired laborer who does not do a full day's work commits a grave wrong. Not only does he exploit the owner, i.e. rob him, but he also deceives him, seeing that the owner relies on the laborer's honesty. We learn in Baba Metzia 93 that the duties of a paid security guard include such hardship as "excessive heat by day and frostbite by night." This is because the entire population relies on such a security guard to perform his duties faithfully. The Talmud there adds that Jacob was the prime example of someone who imposed an additional burden upon himself, for he applied that yardstick to himself when looking after Laban's flock, a task that did not involve others putting their safety in his hands in contradistinction to the case of the city watchman mentioned in the Talmud.

הן עוד היום גדול לא עת האסף המקנה. The Zohar in פרשת ואתחנן (Sullam edition page 62), commenting on Jacob's statement that there was still much daylight left (Genesis 29,7), says that we learn from this verse that, if Israel will do תשובה, its exile will not last longer than a day, and it will return to the Holy Land. This is based on Lamentations 1,13: נתנני שוממה כל היום דוה, "He has placed me in desolation, and left me in misery all day long." If Israel fails to repent, G–d says: עוד היום גדול, לא עת האסף המקנה "the day still has a long time to go, it is not yet time to gather in the cattle" [A day is perceived a day in G–d's time, i.e. one thousand years. Ed.]. This is because Israel has no merits to its credit. There is, however, one remedy for Israel, namely לכו השקו הצאן, "go water the flock," i.e. make the people study Torah, drink the waters of Torah, ולכו רעו, then you can go to the place where you find rest, to the land of Israel, your inheritance.