Jacob and Laban, or the deceiver deceived.
I. JACOB'S CONTRACT WITH LABAN. The promised service—seven years of pastoral assistance.
2. The stipulated wages—Rachel in marriage as a wife. This part of the contract was—
II. LABAN'S DECEPTION OF JACOB.
1. The just request. "Give me my wife." "The laborer is worthy of his hire," and the servant is entitled to his wages.
2. The marriage festival. "Laban made a feast." Seemingly assenting to his nephew's request, the crafty uncle prepares a wedding banquet. Feasting and rejoicing are both becoming and allowable in connection with marriage celebrations.
3. The substituted bride. Either at the end of the first day or at the close of the festivities, "Laban took Leah and brought her," veiled and in silence, to the bridal chamber. For the wickedness of Laban in breaking his promise, defrauding his nephew, wronging his younger daughter, and practically prostituting his elder, excuse is, impossible; for Leah's acquiescence in her father's plot explanation, though not apology, may be found in her manifest love for Jacob, and perhaps in her belief that Laban had secured Jacob's consent to the arrangement. The man who could sell one daughter's affections and sacrifice another's would not stick at deceiving both, if he could.
4. The discovered fraud. "In the morning, behold, it was Leah." The day manifests what the night hides the sins of men; and the light of the great day will disclose what the darkness of time conceals.
5. The lame excuse. Interrogated by Jacob, Laban offers in extenuation of his heartless deception that popular custom demanded the marriage of an elder sister before a younger. So, public opinion, prevailing habit, universal practice, are often pled in apology for offences against the law of God. But the conventional maxims of society are of no weight when set against Divine commandments.
6. The righteous retribution. Though indefensible on the part of Laban, the substitution of Leah for Rachel was a deserved punishment of Jacob. Having wronged Esau his brother, he is in turn wronged by "a brother"—Laban. Having substituted the younger (himself) for the older (Esau), he is recompensed by having the older put into the place of the younger. As Isaac knew not when he blessed Jacob, so Jacob knows not when he marries Leah. As Jacob acted at the instigation of his mother, Leah yields to the suggestion of her father.
7. The amicable settlement. Jacob celebrates the week of festival for Leah, and then receives Rachel as a wife, engaging to serve another term of seven years for her who had lightened the labor of the previous seven. If Jacob's conduct evinced sincere attachment to Rachel and peaceful disposition towards Laban, it displayed doubtful regard for the law of God,