seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 29:14 After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, 15 Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.”
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 24 And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”
26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”
28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. 30 Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
Here's the link to the commentary I use.Leah’s eyes were delicate: There is some dispute as to exactly what this phrase means. Some think it means her eyes were bad and she couldn’t see well. Others think it means her eyes were dull, not beautiful and full of life like her sister Rachel’s eyes.
The comparison of Rachel and Leah and their respective beauty is a small clue into what was probably a complicated, conflict-filled, and competitive family life.
I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter: The offer to work for seven years was essentially a dowry. Though Jacob came from a family with great wealth, he left home with no money. Before he could take a woman in marriage he had to provide a dowry to demonstrate he was fit to support a family and to compensate for the taking of the daughter.
Seven years was a very generous offer, far above a normal dowry. Jacob didn’t want to risk a refusal. When Laban saw how badly Jacob wanted Rachel, he knew he could take advantage of him.
He took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her: It was possible for Jacob to be fooled because of the wedding customs of the day. According to those customs, the wife was veiled until she was finally alone with her husband in the honeymoon suite. If it was dark by the time Jacob and his new bride were alone together (something Laban would not have difficulty arranging), it helps explain how Jacob was fooled.
He took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob: We assume that Leah was in agreement with this. Yet even if she was not in agreement, she was under the absolute authority of her father.
It must not be done so in our country: This excuse by Laban basically said, “Well, didn’t we tell you? We don’t do it this way around here. I thought you knew.” The only reason Jacob accepted this clever trick from Laban was because he had no other option. But Laban’s supposed reason was really nothing more than an excuse.
He gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also: Polygamy is not widely practiced in western culture, but we do practice serial marriage. When it comes to terminology, we can think of polygamy as mass marriage in the sense we speak about mass murder: someone who marries more than one at the same time. There is also serial murder: where a murderer kills many, but one at a time. In our modern culture, we also multiply wives to ourselves; we just do it one at a time.
Good morning! I hope everyone has their proper Christian attitude on so they can argue how horrid Laban was to stick Leah in that dark room with Jacob to be "essentially" raped. We are told that marriage is between two people who love each other. We are also told that marriage is forever. "You made your bed... not lie in it", they say, "Christians don't get divorced".
We get infuriated when a man rapes a woman. "Sex" we say, "is only for a man and a woman in love". But when Laban put Leah in bed with Jacob, most of the Sunday School teachers will claim it was Jacob's fault for what he and Rebekah did to Esau. They claim God was in the decision.... but I don't see Leah's opinion in all this.
Did you notice Zilpah and Bilhah? I googled it.... They were "secondary" wives. When Laban traded Leah and Rachel to Jacob... Laban threw in Zilpah and Bilhah too!
Oh, and check this out... when I googled Bilhah... it seems Rachel will do the same thing that beautiful Sarah did.... She will throw her servant at Jacob in her place. The commentary says that Rachel couldn't get pregnant and that's why Jacob slept with Bilhah... but we've heard that story before. Can't wait to see how that turns out!
Quite frankly, I don't know how Jacob's swimmers could have any potency with four wives!
We are used to divorce now. When I was a kid... they talked horribly behind the back of any divorced woman. Now it's no big deal.
Back East.... polygamy is as bad as rape or abortion.... but out here in Arizona... Mormons abound and polygamy is ok by them.
Laban told Jacob "That's not how we do things here". [Verse 26] I guess they had more women than they could handle so all dowries were marked down to "buy one get one free"!
I did not see any of those women say anything about wanting to be married to Jacob. Laban decided...
So, Jacob has four wives! Oh, and there still aren't any laws. Once married... always married.
You made your bed... now lie in it!
Two Wives!!! NOPE! Four Wives!!!
