Genesis Chapter 29    

“her father’s brother.” Here, “brother” is used in the wider sense of relative. In Semitic languages, words like “brother” have a wide range of meanings, so the meaning in any given context must be determined by that context. Here it means “relative,” specifically “nephew,” and Jacob was a cousin to Rebecca and Leah.

“Leah’s eyes were weak.” The Hebrew word we translate as “weak” is rak (#07390 רַךְ), and it is unclear in this context how to translate it. It can mean “weak,” and describe Leah in a bad light, or it can mean “tender, soft” and describe at least one nice thing about her, but nevertheless, she was overshadowed by her gorgeous sister Rachel. The translations differ: “weak; ordinary” (CJB; HCSB; ESV; NAB; NASB; NIV); “tender; delicate” (ASV; KJV; NET; YLT). Of the two choices, we went with “weak.” Women were modestly dressed in the biblical culture and did not have much open contact with men, but before any marriage, the women of the family of the prospective groom would get to sit with and inspect the prospective wife, and in this case, it seems obvious that Leah’s family was anxious to avoid that and get Leah married, which they did by deceiving Jacob. This turned out to be hard on both Leah and Jacob.

“Jacob served seven years.” Jacob was 77 years old at the start of this seven-year period.

[For an overview of the chronology of Jacob, see commentary on Genesis 47:9.]

“he went in to her.” An idiom for sexual intercourse (cp. Gen. 29:23; 30:4; 38:2, 18; Judg. 16:1; Ruth 4:13; 2 Sam. 12:24).

“Fulfill the week of this one.” “This one” is Leah, and “the other” is Rachel. Laban told Jacob to be with Leah for a week and then he could marry Rachel, for whom he would then serve Laban for another seven years. This activity predates the Mosaic Law. Once the Mosaic Law was given, marrying a woman and her sister was disobedience to the Law and a sin (Lev. 18:18).

“Leah was hated.” In this context, “hate” refers to being less loved. Jacob did not “hate” Leah in the usual modern sense of “hate,” he simply loved her less than Rachel and thus tended to ignore her.

[For more on “hate,” see commentary on Prov. 1:22.]