Bought & Sold - Genesis 29:20-23

I think what I’m going to have to start doing is just doing little segments everyday instead of a few gigantic posts a month. I’m busy at work and there is just SO much content that I get overwhelmed with it. So I’m just going to write for a short period of time everyday just to keep everything flowing.

29:20 - One thing that I failed to notice when reading Jacob and Laban’s interaction about Jacob’s wages was how it only focused on the two men. That should be self-explanatory, but I had always imagined that Rachel loved Jacob just as much as he loved her, but there is nothing that states that, in fact, there’s nothing at all talking about Rachel’s love for Jacob. For all we know, she could have been a completely unwilling participant. When Laban asked Jacob what he wanted to be paid, Jacob’s answer “I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter,” this was a completely inappropriate response for that time.

Rachel wasn’t consulted about her wishes, the traditional customs weren’t observed, in fact, from what I understand, the engagement and marriage process anciently was quite elaborate and by agreeing to Jacob’s terms, Laban deprived Rachel of that experience. In fact, both sisters later convey their betrayal at their father’s actions towards them in Genesis 31:14-15 where they say, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.”

These girls knew that their father was not going to take care of them, that they were on their own, that they were not valuable to him, and it is this first conversation where it starts. Neither Rachel nor Leah was given the gift of a father who loved them, because imagine how much money Laban saved by selling a daughter, two in fact, instead of paying Jacob.

Jacob worked as a shepherd for seven years for Rachel “and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had for her.” I had always imagined those 7 years being full of two young people staring into each other’s eyes and laughing together, but again, Rachel’s love for Jacob was not mentioned. He loved her so it seemed like a quick time for him, but she is not mentioned at all other than just being there.

29:21-23 - At the end of the seven years, “Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.” If I remember correctly, “go in unto her” is the Bibles way of saying sex, so what this verse says to me is “my time is done, give me the woman that we agreed on so that I can have sex with her.” That seems a little crass, maybe it’s not what that means, I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Laban makes a marriage feast, but at night, instead of bringing Rachel to Jacob, Laban brings Leah instead. I’ve always wondered why the girls went along with the plan. I imagined Rachel crying her eyes out, furiously upset at what her father was doing, but again, Rachel’s feelings are never up for consideration, maybe she didn’t care, maybe it was a relief to her.

I wonder how Leah felt with this whole charade. She must have known Jacob over the 7 years that he lived and worked with her family, maybe they even had a decent relationship. I stand by my assessment that Leah must have had some feature that disqualified her from having viable suitors coming to her father with marriage proposals. Laban gained nothing by marrying Leah to Jacob, in fact, it would seem that he was only being unburdened by a strain by shifting responsibility for her from himself to Jacob. If Leah had been married into one of the local families, then Laban would have gained all those connections, prestige, etc. The fact that he gave up that opportunity to enrich himself tells me that no one was interested in Leah, not just in contrast to Rachel’s beauty, but for some other reason. Jacob and Leah end up in the tent together with Jacob apparently unaware of Leah’s identity, and they consummate the marriage, and now they are legally married, there’s nothing Jacob can do to get out of it.