and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 19. And Laban said, It is better that

give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. 20. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her.-21. And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go to her. 22. And Laban assembled all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23. And it was in the evening, and he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went to her. 24. And Laban gave to his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for a maid. 25. And it was in the morning, and, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban,

dowry, and in consequence of which the daughters of poor parents are in a very precarious position, while, in the East, daughters are at least no burden on their fathers. In practice, that custom is certainly liable to considerable abuses; heartless or avaricious parents, without consulting the inclination of their daughters, may sell them to those who bid the highest price: but scarcely any principle, however lofty, is safe against abuse; besides, it was a law among most tribes, that the daughter's consent must first be obtained; and it was a custom among some, that the money received by the parents should be applied for the benefit of the bride or the young couple. But supposed even, that the manner of courting and acquiring the wife was not in every respect noble and delicate among the Hebrews, it certainly did not affect the relative position of husband and wife; the one was no master, the other no slave; the usual customs could, therefore, safely be retained, as long as they did not endanger the beautiful principles which guaranteed the dignity of the other sex.

21-30. When Laban permitted, and even demanded, his near kinsman to serve seven years for his daughter, he was no longer true to his usual generosity; while in the execution of the marriage contract he very nearly approached Jacob in cunning, by substituting the elder daughter for the younger one. His reason and mo

tive might not have been objectionable; it might have been a deeply-rooted custom not to allow the younger to marry before her elder sister, as it was a strict religious precept among the Hindoos; but Jacob was perfectly unacquainted with this transeuphratic law; it was, therefore, scarcely less than insolence on the part of Laban, when, after the lapse of seven years, he excused his fraud by a custom about which he had insidiously kept the stranger in total ignorance. This discloses a baseness in Laban's character, arousing contempt and aversion; but it ought not to blind us against the redeeming qualities of his heart. In the human mind, fragrant flowers often blossom surprisingly by the side of noxious weeds. The deceit of Laban was practicable, on account of the custom, by which the bride is, on the day of marriage, conducted veiled to her future husband (see p.311). A Divine nemesis has been justly recognised in this incident; for the abject stratagem practised by Jacob was punished by a similar deception practised upon him, though scarcely of quite so culpable a nature. Hence Jacob called Laban's deed an imposition, just as Esau had described Jacob's conduct as insidious "cheating."-But how did Jacob act on this provoking occasion? Content with simply expressing his disapprobation, and apparently satisfied with the dishonest excuse of Laban, he at once agreed to

What is this thou hast done to me? did I not serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou deceived me? 26. And Laban said, It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the elder. 27. Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this one also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 28. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to be his wife. 29. And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his maid to be her maid. 30. And he went to Rachel also, and he certainly loved Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.-31. And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

commence another period of servitude for his beloved Rachel. Luther confessed that, under similar circumstances, he would not have been able to display so much patience; he admired it as almost superhuman; for Jacob had a legal claim upon Rachel (comp. vers. 18, 19). But we may suppose, on the one hand, that the patriarch did not, by quarrelling with the father of Rachel, wish to endanger the family ties which he intended to form; and, on the other hand, perhaps some thought of a well-deserved retribution, such as has just been pointed out, might have forced itself upon his active mindteaching him to bear the drudgery as a penalty and an atonement. Certain it is, that his double and severe servitude is represented by the Biblical writer as a degradation and a punishment for the deceitful acquisition of his superiority: "in the day he was consumed by the heat, and by the frost in the night; and sleep fled from his eyes" (xxxi. 40): this was one of the trials designed to purify him; the man, whose proud mind enclosed the hopes of a grand and glorious future, and whose mental eye saw his progeny the lords of mighty kings, was to bend as a slave to the will of a heathen. -But the fraud of Laban was not only a moral offence in itself; it was the more deplorable, as it destroyed the principle of monogamy to which the patriarchs on

the whole adhered. Jacob had intended to marry Rachel alone; and when he found himself, against his will, allied with Leah, his heart could not renounce her from whom he expected the best part of his happiness; he took her to wife besides Leah; nor was he permitted to dismiss the latter after the solemnization of the marriage. The voice of nature, in this instance, spoke too loud to be disregarded in favour of a principle which, even centuries after the commencement of the present era, it was found impossible to enforce by a general law. In accordance with Oriental custom, the daughters of Laban, when marrying, received each their maid-servant, who formed the most valuable part of their dowry, extremely modest in every other respect; and frequently the nurses followed the young wives into their new homes.-Marriages were celebrated by a feast, generally lasting seven days; Laban proposed, therefore, that Jacob should first finish the festive week for Leah; he would then give him Rachel also, for whom he expected seven other years of Jacob's services. This is the clear tenour of the text.

31-35. Jacob, in demanding Rachel not only with impatience, but a certain impetuosity (ver.21), was stimulated not more by love than by a regard to the prophecies he had received; for he then numbered about 85 years. The fruits of marriage

32. And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me. 33. And she conceived again, and bore a son; and she said, Surely the Lord hath heard that I am hated, and He hath given me this son also:

Simeon. 34. And she conceived again, and bore a son; and she said, Now this time will my husband be joined to me, for I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. 35. And she conceived again, and bore a son: and she said, This time I will praise the Lord; therefore she called his name Judah: and she ceased bearing.

to exclaim: "Now will I praise the Lord"; and she called his name Judah. Such excellence of character, fully deserving the reward it received, forced upon Jacob the reflection, that for conjugal happiness a virtuous wife is indispensable, whether adorned by beauty or not. A later portion of the Pentateuch further pursues these thoughts, and embodies them in a legal precept. As polygamy was not interdicted, it might happen that a man loved

one wife less than another; in order, therefore, to protect the former against his caprice, he was forbidden to deprive her son, if he was the firstborn, of his due privileges, or to confer the birthright upon the son of the more beloved wife (Deut. xxi. 15-17). For, as children are granted or withheld by God, according to His inscrutable designs-such is the Biblical doctrine-it would be impiety on the part of man to change the Eternal Will.

CHAPTER XXX.

SUMMARY.-Jacob became, further, the father of Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah, Rachel's maid; of Gad and Asher by Zilpah, Leah's maid; of Issachar, Zebulon, and Dinah, by Leah; and of Joseph, by Rachel. He then intended to return to Canaan. But when Laban, desirous to reward him for his past services, asked him to fix his own compensation, he applied a stratagem by which, in a period of six years, he acquired very considerable wealth.

1. And when Rachel saw that she bore to Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and she said to Jacob, Give me children; and if not, I die. 2. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead,

1, 2. The ideas which the fruitfulness of Leah was intended to enforce, are, from another side, enjoined by the barrenness of Rachel. The character of the latter shows dark spots and serious defects; she was envious against a sister over whom she had many personal advantages; she was impetuous and passionate; she had the vehement temperament of Rebekah; like the latter, she broke forth in angry exclamations; but more irrational than her mother-in-law, who sought relief in prayer and oracles, she argued with her husband about her sterility: "Give me children," she cried,

the great practical truth that barreness is not necessarily a punishment, a curse, or an ignominy; instead of bearing her lot with resignation, she was roused into bitterness and rage; she showed a want of faith and submission; this alone explains why "Jacob's anger was kindled against her," and why he answered her: "Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?" (comp. 1. 19). He desired to remind her, with a due emphasis, that no man can fathom the plans of Providence in denying children; and though this reproof was not without effect upon Rachel, years passed away before her fondest wish was realised. Sarah, Rebekah, and

who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb ? 3. And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go to her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. 4. And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went to her. 5. And Bilhah conceived, and bore to Jacob a son. 6. And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore she called his name Dan. 7. And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bore to Jacob a second son. 8. And Rachel said, Struggles of God have I struggled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.-9. When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing, she took Zilpah her

Rachel, the wife of Jacob's love, were barren for a long period; their children were to be regarded as the seed of God, for they were the mothers of the people of God.

3-8. The first result of Jacob's admonition was Rachel's proposal that he should take her maid-servant, Bilhah, and that she would recognise her offspring as her own. This was regarded as a sacrifice, and as an act of humility and self-control, deserving the reward of God (ver. 18; see p. 241). It appears that no distinct rule existed among the Hebrews with regard to the children resulting from such connections; they either enjoyed perfect equality with those of the legal wife, if the jealousy of the latter and that of her children permitted it, as was the case with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah; or, placed into a less close relation to the family, they were dependent for property on the generosity of the father; thus Ishmael was dismissed from the paternal house with presents (comp. xxi. 10).—When Bilhah bore a son, Rachel, indeed, acknowledged him as her own; but her heart was but partially corrected; jealousy still lingered in its depth and if this is less clear from the words which she pronounced at the birth of this child, "God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son"; it is evident from the exulting remark which

son.

she uttered when Bilhah bore a second She certainly now recognised the finger of God in withholding children from her; the reproachful question of her husband: "Am I in God's stead," had sunk deep into her mind; she knew that she had "to struggle with God"; but this struggle was not pure; it was alloyed by the spirit of strife and envious emulation; it was prompted in her much more by the desire of being, at least, equal to her sister, than of reconciling the Divine displeasure; hence she combined in her exclamation these two elements of combat with God and with her sister; but it can scarcely be doubtful upon which of the two she put the greater stress," I have struggled heavenly struggles with my sister, and I have prevailed"; her envy was partially satisfied; and the victory over God derived, in her eyes, its greatest value from its being, at the same time, a victory over her sister.

9-13. Leah, seeing that after the birth of her fourth son she ceased to be fruitful, but anxious to preserve and, if possible, to enhance the affection of her husband, offered, without much reluctance, her hand-maid, Zilpah, to Jacob, to increase, through her, his progeny. She had no other object but the happinsss of him on whom she had centred all her hopes. When, therefore, Zilpah successively gave birth to two sons, gratitude,