(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. Laban gave Bilhah, his servant, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him seven more years.”
(Genesis 29:28-30)
Jacob loved Rachel. He submitted to this deceit. He agreed to give Leah her wedding feast week. To honour her as his wife and not take from her what was rightfully hers. At the end of that week, Jacob immediately married Rachel. After that he worked for another seven years to pay off his ‘debt’. In total, he worked fourteen years for free to have the right to marry her.
Laban did for Rachel what he did for Leah and gave her her own servant. She belonged to Rachel.
The Word tells us here that Jacob did have feelings for Leah. But they were nothing compared to Rachel. He must have liked her as a person. He probably found her attractive. But she was no comparison to Rachel. Rachel had his heart. His body he shared with Leah. But really, his default was to spend time with Rachel and share Rachel’s bed. Leah was a second-class citizen even though culturally she was ‘first wife’. It was a sad life that Leah was facing. One night of true passion (although he did not know he was giving it to her), followed by six days of probably a little grudging celebration, and then a week of being ignored, followed by a life where she had to fight for her rights to her own husband. This is the tragedy of multiple wives. This is the sorrow of not following God’s plan. I know many will disagree with me on that, but I think this story illustrates it clearly.
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘[Jacob] made love with Rachel, too. Literally, “he also came into Rachel,” which is a biblical way of indicating a sexual intercourse. At long last Jacob is united with his beloved Rachel. he loved Rachel…so much more than Leah. The preference of one wife over the other reintroduces the theme of favoritism that begins with Cain and Abel (Genesis 4) and continues as sibling rivalry throughout Genesis. Such preference, while promoting strife within the family, leads in the sisters’ case to productivity and the realization of the divine blessing in the human realm.’
The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 28. The repetition of לו לאשה is striking. Possibly perhaps it indicates a greater degree of intimacy to her than to Leah? V. 30. ויאהב גם את רחל, so he loved Leah too, and did not make her pay for her father’s behaviour and for the way she had become his wife. We can deduce from this that Leah too was taken in by her father by some story of a legal arrangement he had made with Jacob as to agreed customs and that she was not a party to any wilful deception. “He also loved Rachel, (and indeed) more than Leah.”’
The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘לו לאשה. As a wife for him. The emphasis on the word לו indicates that Rachel was to be the mainstay of Jacob’s household, the עקרת הבית, seeing she was his true mate, בת זוגו. לה לשפחה. as a maidservant for her. The Torah was careful to add the word לה, as I have already explained in connection with verse 24. Alternatively, Laban made a condition that Jacob should not have any claim on Bilhah; we find in chapter 22 of Maimonides’ Hilchot Ishut that if someone gives a wife a gift with the proviso that her husband should not have any claim on that gift, then the husband is not permitted to enjoy the “fruits” of such a gift (in this case Bilhah’s labour, etc,). It is a principle of our sages to follow a line of exegesis which puts Laban in a bad light. ויבא גם אל רחל. He also slept with Rachel. The reason that the word גם, also, appears twice in this verse maybe to indicate that Jacob spent more time with Rachel than with Leah. According to Bereshit Rabbah 98,4 Jacob’s bed was usually besides that of Rachel. The Torah states not only that Jacob spent more time with Rachel but that he also loved her better than Leah. This was unnatural inasmuch as familiarity usually leads to a lessening of the bonds of love. We know this from Proverbs 25,17 where Solomon advises “visit your neighbour’s house sparingly, otherwise he will become fed up with you.” On the other hand, we are familiar with the proverb that “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” This is what is meant when Proverbs 9,17 describes “stolen waters as especially sweet.” In Jacob’s relationship with Rachel and Leah respectively, these psychologically sound rules did not apply. All of this is alluded to in the repeated use of the word גם.’
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