Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?"
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful.1 Jacob loved2 Rachel; so he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me."
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had3 for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her,4 for my time is completed."
So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah5 and brought her to Jacob;6 and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.)
When morning came, it was Leah!7 And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"8
Laban said, "This is not done in our country--giving the younger before the firstborn.9 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
Jacob did so,10 and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.) So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah.11 He served Laban for another seven years.
[1] Description of daughters focuses on physical attributes.
[2] I would like to understand the connotations of the original language here.
[3] This sounds very much like the "in love" sort of relationship that some people argue was meaningless to marriages 3,000 years ago.
[4] He's getting anxious!
[5] What was Leah thinking here? I've read a couple novelizations of this story, and some extrapolations sound much more believable than others.
[6] As Jacob deceived his father, he is now being deceived by his uncle.
[7] Implies Jacob had no idea beforehand. Was he drunk? Overcome by desire? Are Rachel and Leah very similar in the dark?
[8] He feels very upset about deception when it happens to him.
[9] Justifies his decision based on custom, but he was the one who agreed to the marriage in the first place. Did he perhaps once hope that Leah would get married off in the intervening seven years?
[10] Laban gets what he wanted, though at the cost that he has upset Jacob.
[11] A multiple-wife story again, and the stage is immediately set for conflict.
Take-home: The story of Jacob's marriage to Rachel is a love story, but it ends in Jacob's deception, just as he had earlier deceived. The stage is now set for marital conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment