Laban’s answer is similarly ambiguous:This expression—the same one used by Adam about Eve (Gen 2:23)—could simply be expressing the fact that Laban accepts that Jacob really is Rebekah’s son and thus his nephew. LIFE-LESSONS 1.
15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? 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.
Laban, of course, could not marry off Rachel without endangering his plan to bilk Jacob for seven—and hopefully fourteen—years of work.
[13] Another hook the rabbis use to argue that Jacob suspected Laban from the start is his long introduction of whom he wished to marry as “Rachel your youngest daughter.” On that comment, And yet, for a suspicious man, Jacob seems to have missed the fact that Laban never actually agrees to his proposal. In the former case, Jacob takes advantage of the fact that his father is blind in order to trick him into believing that he, Isaac’s younger son, was really Isaac’s older son Esau. Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Hiding his intent with polite speech (as is customary in many cultures), Laban actually means, “I have lived up to my bargain to give you my daughters for your fourteen years of service (29:21–30). This was already suggested by the 12According to this approach, once Jacob spoke with Laban and arranged the marriage, there would be no need for him to speak with Rachel until the wedding.Bechor Shor’s suggestion that Jacob did not speak much with Rachel before they married may also be the key to understanding Leah and Rachel’s behavior. let me [L send me away that I might] go to my own home and country. 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. Did he tell Laban about how he met Rachel by chance or did he tell him why he ran away from Canaan? No mention is made of Jacob speaking to Rachel about it or Rachel being asked.Jacob does the work, happy to have found such a beautiful future wife, and after the seven years are up,He doesn’t speak to Rachel about it, or come to tell her that it is time to marry; in fact, as noted earlier, when Laban throws a feast in honor of the upcoming marriage, the bride isn’t even there; it is a celebration between the two parties of the deal, Jacob and Laban.As Jacob views his marriage as a business transaction between him and Laban, when he sees Leah in his tent instead of Rachel the next morning, he does not—as the midrash imagines—confront Leah with the trick, or Rachel for that matter, but goes straight to Laban.In Jacob and Laban’s business arrangement, Rachel and Leah are chattel; it was never up to them.It thus seems that the likely explanation for how the narrator imagines Jacob confusing Leah for Rachel so easily, even in the dark, is that, unlike Isaac’s familiarity with his two sons, Jacob didn’t really know Rachel or Leah all that well. Furthermore, Laban’s trick occurred after the wedding celebration and thus, it is possible that Jacob was inebriated from wine.The Bible pointedly tells us that Jacob’s love for Rachel “was greater than his love for Leah”.
Even so, a narrative is generally designed with verisimilitude, meaning that the story is meant to sound believable to the audience. Of course, even in that case Rebekah is only being asked about timing, she has no choice in the matter of the marriage itself, but she is certainly presented as being more involved in the process than Leah or Rachel. Some believe the original text refers to blue eyes (thought to be a blemish in the ancient East). That proved his innocence. Show Me Your Glory: Understanding the Majestic Splendor of God Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. If you want something else, you must work for it.”Jacob sees through Laban and shrewdly makes an offer his father-in-law cannot resist. How much conversation would it take to realize he is not with his beloved of seven years?Another approach, first suggested by Josephus, is that Jacob was drunk,The same position, presented more starkly, was suggested by the The same reading was offered by R. Isaac Karo (1458-1535) in his The image of someone being tricked—or forced—into sex because of drink is a motif in the Bible found in the story of Lot and his daughters (Gen 19:30-38). )29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! [3] Shadal also explains why Jacob didn’t recognize her as she was being led into the tent, when ostensibly a torch or some candle light was being used for navigation:Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller (1768-1835) was a German theologian and orientalist, who wrote multiple works on the Hebrew Bible including his 16 part Latin commentary, [4] It is not presented as a halakha but as a “despised practice” (×××× ×; j. Though Laban has engaged in the forbidden practice of divination, God has overruled his superstition (see also 1 Sam.
Why does the narrator assume that this trick—unlike the trick on the blind Isaac—should go so smoothly? As Leah experiences it, only in the morning, when Jacob takes a good look at her, does he decide that he has married the wrong sister and goes to Laban to correct this.Thus, when Leah accuses Rachel of stealing her husband, she means it. Did Rachel do nothing to stop her sister from taking her husband? [14] Certain elements in the text even imply that Laban was aware of this and felt he could use it against Jacob.