Genesis 29:21-30

"And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 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. And Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid unto his daughter Leah for a handmaid. And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this that thou hast done unto me? did I not serve thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? And Laban said, It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service that thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife. And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her handmaid. And he went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years."

"It is not so done in our place ..." There was indeed such a custom "among the Indians, the Egyptians, and other Oriental countries,"[17] and it could have been possible that Laban had heard of such customs, but there is no evidence whatever that any such customs prevailed in the vicinity of Haran. We agree with Keil that, "This was a perfectly worthless excuse, for, if this had really been the custom in Haran, as in ancient India and elsewhere, he ought to have told Jacob of it before."[18]

The marvelous story of the love Jacob had for Rachel, the deceit and avarice of Laban, the helplessness of Jacob during this period of his humiliation, and the mockery of a wedding feast in which the bride was denied to her husband and another substituted in her stead - all this is here related in a compact and beautiful style to give one of the most intriguing narratives ever given as a record of actual events. Many comments on this are suggested, and many have been made, but, actually, this stark tragedy presents itself. Nobody could misunderstand it.

As suggested earlier, one may wonder what part Rachel played in this, if any. Francisco thought that:

"The trick of Laban when he substituted Leah for Rachel could not have been possible without Rachel's consent. Evidently she did not fear any competition from her less-favored sister, and welcomed the thought of her company back to Canaan."[19]

The possibility of such a thing has led to all kinds of suppositions about how Rachel was deceived, persuaded to join the deceit, or physically restrained on the wedding night, etc., but the brief, powerful story stands unadorned with many of the details that would have satisfied our curiosity, and would have contributed nothing to all to what God revealed here.

What happened to Jacob here was as mean and despicable a fraud as was ever perpetrated by one human being against another. One may only wonder if Jacob remembered the fraud that he and his mother had committed against Isaac. Did the remembrance of it lead to his rather meek acceptance of what Laban did to him? This time, "the heel-catcher" (the meaning of the name Jacob) was himself taken by the heel, the deceiver was deceived. Laban also, in turn, would learn the solemn truth that "as men sow, so shall they reap." Something else - it appears that for seven years, Jacob had lived above the devices of fraud and deception, but in the action here, Laban aroused the passion in Jacob's heart to return to the old ways, and would eventually find out that he had more than met his match in Jacob! Laban might have been doing fairly well, until he tricked Jacob! Within the span of two decades, Jacob would move out of Laban's territory, taking with him both of Laban's daughters as his wives, and all their children, who were doubtless dear to Laban, and the vast wealth which he had taken away from Laban. In this, Laban might have been able to read his "just recompense of reward."