15
¶ And Laban said unto Jacob, Because
thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what
shall thy wages be? 16 And Laban had two
daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was
Rachel. 17 Leah was tender eyed; but
Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. 18
And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for
Rachel thy younger daughter. 19 And
Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her
to another man: abide with me. 20 And
Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days,
for the love he had to her. 21 And Jacob
said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in
unto her. 22 And Laban gathered together
all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23
And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and
brought her to him; and he went in unto her. 24
And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.
25 And it came to pass, that in the morning,
behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me?
did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?
26 And Laban said, It must not be so
done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this
also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her
week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. 29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah
his handmaid to be her maid. 30 And he
went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served
with him yet seven other years.
Laban calls Jacob his brother, which clearly in this context means a close relation, as
Jacob is his nephew. Brother can
easily be used to refer to someone who is a comrade or a fellow believer in
Christ. It can also refer to the brotherhood of mankind as in Genesis 9:5.
Jacob, the trickster, is now going to be tricked.
Laban is a very clever man. He allows Jacob to work seven years under the
promise of Jacob receiving Rachel as his bride. Instead he gives Jacob Leah,
her older sister. Notice that the wedding ceremony is a feast at the end of
which the father just gives his daughter to the husband-to-be. Not very
romantic from the point of view of today’s woman.
Laban’s excuse is that the custom of the country is
for the older to be married before the younger but it seems more likely that
Laban probably worried that his oldest, not so beautiful and well favoured, would not find a husband. As Leah is tender eyed, which carries with it the
implication of weakness or deficiency in Early Modern English and in the Hebrew
text, perhaps she was a bit cross-eyed, who can say. Jacob was drawn to the
prettier daughter. This type of carnal attitude seems more worthy of Esau and
marriages based on this do not have a good foundation. But, let’s give Laban
the benefit of the doubt and agree it was the custom not to marry the younger
before the elder. He still tricked Jacob, the clever deceiver. You have to
wonder if he did not know whom he was consummating a marriage with that perhaps
this feast included a liberal supply of wine as one could reasonably assume
that her veil would be taken off when the marriage was completed.
It appears from a literal reading of the text that
Jacob gave Leah a week of being the only wife and then received Rachel, for
whom he worked an additional seven years to pay off her father. Notice the
difference here between Jacob and Isaac. In the Ancient Near East a bride did
not just marry a husband but joined another family, leaving the family of her
birth. Rebekah was brought to Isaac. Here, Jacob is in bondage to his brides’
father. Also, while we might wonder about the dowry given by the bride’s family
there was also the ancient “bridewealth” given by the groom’s family. Here,
Jacob’s servitude for fourteen years serves that function and he will leave with
wealth after another six years.
Jacob has worked for Laban up to this point and
acquired two wives with their handmaids and his living in the process.
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