Genesis 29: 20-25: “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. 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 unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?”
Jacob loved Rachel and he happily worked for seven years so that he could earn the right to take her as his wife. There is no evidence that Jacob suspected that Laban would do anything to trick him but he was living in a fool’s paradise. There are two kinds of people who can be easily tricked. The first kind is someone who wants to get something for nothing and the second is someone who really wants to please everyone else. In both cases they get what they deserve. Jacob had spent much of his life trying to get something that he didn’t deserve and he could not earn. Here, he assumed that Laban could be trusted but learnt that he couldn’t be trusted. The wife came to the wedding covered with a clothing similar to a burka today and Jacob assumed that he was marrying Rachel but discovered that he was married to Leah when he woke up in the morning. They went into their tent after the ceremony was finished and everything was dark so Jacob didn’t look. I assume that Laban had threatened Leah with terrible punishment if she told Jacob what was happening, after all, Laban treated her like she was just another possession. When Jacob realised that he was married to the wrong woman, he also understood that he couldn’t really do anything about it. He couldn’t leave Leah and go back to his home because he was afraid of his brother and he knew that Laban would punish him severely if he tried to escape from the marriage that he had be forced into. All he could do was complain to Laban. Poor Leah, she was innocent in the whole matter but was forced to spend a lifetime paying for another person’s evil deed. Sometimes life can be very hard us but we need to trust God and hope in Him through all the hard time that God give us because we know that God is treating us like a child when he brings us to testing times. (see Heb 12: 7, 9 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? ... Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”)
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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