Genesis 29:23 Commentary and Bible Study

The success of Laban’s deceitful substitution of Leah for Rachel may be mysterious to us. How could Jacob not detect this ploy? The answer is that the two sisters may have been quite similar. Leah would anyway have been heavily veiled, and it was evening and therefore dark when they finally came together. The Lord is also in this to bring about his purposes. Jacob is now a forgiven man; he has met with God at Bethel, and has trusted in the Lord for salvation. But Jacob’s past supplanting of his brother has led him on this journey and has contributed to the circumstances he finds himself in. He is now to meet someone, in the person of Laban, who is capable of the same kind of trick that Jacob had indulged in in the past. There is wickedness on Laban’s part in this from so many points of view. He knew the bargain he had entered into with Jacob, but he cheated him; he lied to him and was guilty of fraud. He acted with total disregard for his daughters. That night the marriage was consummated, but it wasn't with Rachel; it was with Leah, and Jacob's reaction to this is astonishing. Consider Rachel’s agony of spirit when she knew what had been done but was prevented from doing anything to stop it. Leah obviously was complicit in all this. You would think she could have resisted. She rather willingly went in for this piece of fraud with Laban. It wouldn't have taken much for her to say in a low voice to Jacob even if she was frightened, ‘I'm not Rachel, I'm Leah’, or to just to peep under the veil and he would see her eyes and know he was being cheated. So she is very much involved. This was bound to make the sisters life-long rivals who could never be at peace with each other again, and so it turned out. Laban breaks the law of marriage by almost forcing Jacob into polygamy.‘What is this that thou hast done unto me?’, said Jacob to Laban. ‘Did I not serve thee for Rachel?’ And Laban at this point makes his excuse – well there is probably truth in it – that in that part of the world you did not give the younger; you gave the older, but he really should have levelled with Jacob about that seven years before, not left it till now. Then he says, ‘You work for another seven years and I will give you Rachel too. He seems to bank on him going ahead with another seven years’ service in order to finally obtain Rachel. Jacob is amazing in his reaction. Maybe there was something to fear. Maybe Laban's sons were pretty rough and, of course, Jacob was in a difficult position, because he was under divine command. That would be the significance of Isaac's command to him to marry a daughter of Laban. He could not just walk out and make off because that would involve disobedience to Isaac's command. Nevertheless, it is astonishing with patience that he accepts this. But it is wrong. He should not have accepted two wives, far less should he later on have accepted that their maids should be involved in the childbearing process. Now it is true that some say, there is not yet any specific command of God that you must not have two wives. But it is enshrined in the principal which comes all way down from the marriage in the garden of Eden, that marriage is one man and one woman. The principle is very clear. When it comes to involving the maids, that mistake has been made in the family before by Abraham, and it is well known that was wrong and the consequences were awful. So Jacob should not have succumbed to this, and there is a price to pay for this. But God brings good even out of the evil in a way, because God not only says to mankind, marriage is between one man and one woman. He doesn't just say it so that it's an arbitrary command, which we don't particularly understand. He explains why it is vital. And the explanation is seen in the tremendous suffering which this polygamous arrangement brought upon the household of Jacob. There were consequences. Leah was unloved, and we say poor Leah, naturally, but she was complicit in all this. And yet here we see an explanation. If it isn't loyalty to one, one person has my loyalty, one person I especially care for, one person I am bound to, then the consequences are horrible. And there's jealousy and unhappiness. And it runs very, very deeply. So God gives a command with an explanation as to why the alternative cannot work, and we have a great benefit for posterity which comes from what was permitted regretfully to happen in the life of Jacob. We are reminded again that although we are forgiven our sin and our walk with God may be restored, there may be some respect in which there are consequences for serious sins.