14 Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!”
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month, 15 Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.”
16 Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. 17 There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes,[a] but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. 18 Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”
19 “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” 20 So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.
21 Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.”
22 So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. 23 But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24 (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)
25 But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”
26 “It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. 27 “But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”
28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. 29 (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.
Footnotes:
29:17 Or Leah had dull eyes, or Leah had soft eyes. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
As far back at Genesis, we see these stories of women, or even men, who have "looks" or who "have a lovely figure and a beautiful face". Then, there are those who have "no sparkle in their eyes." And then we wonder why still today girls at very young ages determine "thin" girls to be pretty and those who wear make-up to be beautiful. Every check-out counter in America has images plastered on both the left and on the right of the "beautiful" people and those caught with their make-up off. "Oh no!!"
What we also need to notice though, is how God treats each of these. I would not go so far as to say that God punishes the pretty, but God surely shows favor on those that society do not deem valuable. God gives the smallest, youngest brother the kingship. God gives the old maid an opportunity to be a mother, even if she is not loved by her husband. The one that is kicked out into the desert, God promises food and water. And those who others lift high in regard, God often considers already blessed, therefore he need not add any additional blessings.
The hard part to understand about all of this is that God creates each of them. God decides how long a nose or how large a breast, how wide the eyes or how pointed the chin. God determines the bone structure and skin tone, hair texture and eye color. Could it possibly be that what the world considers to be beauty is not the same criteria that God uses at creation? Could it be that those exterior attributes are random and have no bearing whatsoever to a person's true beauty or abilities or blessings? And if so, then why do "pretty" people get higher paying jobs and are given more opportunities than those with less culturally accepted beauty? Are we that far off from the One who created each of us?
Or are we simply blind to all the inner beauty that God sees?
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