And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
23. he took Leah ] The bride was brought to the bridegroom enveloped in a veil; cf. Gen 24:65. “The bridegroom can scarcely ever obtain even a surreptitious glance at the features of his bride until he finds her in his absolute possession.” Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians.
24 (P). Zilpah his handmaid ] For the custom of the bride being attended by her own servant to her new home, cf. Gen 24:59.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 23. In the evening – he took Leah his daughter] As the bride was always veiled, and the bride chamber generally dark, or nearly so, and as Leah was brought to Jacob in the evening, the imposition here practised might easily pass undetected by Jacob, till the ensuing day discovered the fraud.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The occasion of the deceit was the custom of those times, which was to bring the bride to her husband in the dark, and with a veil upon her face: see Ge 24:65. And Leah being instructed by her father, and confederate with him in the deceit, was, doubtless, careful not to discover herself by speech, or any other way, to him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it came to pass in the evening,…. After the feast was over, and the guests were departed; when it was night, a fit season to execute his designs, and practise deceit:
that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him, to Jacob, in his apartment, his bedchamber, or to him in bed: for it is still the custom in some eastern countries for the bridegroom to go to bed first, and then the bride comes, or is brought to him in the dark, and veiled, so that he sees her not: so the Armenians have now such a custom at their marriages that the husband goes to bed first; nor does the bride put off her veil till in bed o: and in Barbary the bride is brought to the bridegroom’s house, and with some of her female relations conveyed into a private room p; then the bride’s mother, or some very near relation, introduces the bridegroom to his new spouse, who is in the dark, and obliged in modesty not to speak or answer upon any account: and if this was the case here, as it is highly probable it was, the imposition on Jacob is easily accounted for:
and he went in unto her; or lay with her as his wife; a modest expression of the use of the bed.
o Tournefort’s Voyage to the Levant, vol. 3. p. 255. p Ockley’s Account of Southwest Barbary, c. 6. p. 78.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23)He took Leah his daughter.As the bride is taken to the bridegrooms house closely veiled (see Note on Gen. 24:65), and as probably there was some similarity in voice and form between the two sisters, this deception was quite easy. But Leah must have been a party to the fraud, and therefore Jacobs dislike of her was not altogether without reason.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Took Leah There was no formal public ceremony of marriage; the parties were not openly presented to one another, but in the evening the bride, closely veiled, was led to the husband’s tent . Hence the ease with which it was possible to present Leah to Jacob instead of Rachel .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 29:23. In the evening, &c. It was the custom to introduce the bride veiled to the bridegroom in the nuptial chamber, in which there was very little or no light. This made it easy for Laban to deceive Jacob; but as Leah herself must have been an accomplice in the fraud, one cannot wonder at Jacob’s great preference of Rachel to her. Piqued and grieved as Jacob was, no doubt, at such treatment, his conscience must have represented it to him as a kind of retaliation to him for his guile in personating his brother.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 29:23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
Ver. 23. He took Leah his daughter. ] The elder, for the younger; by a like fraud, as Rebekah his mother had not long before, in a cunning disguise, substituted him, the younger son, for the elder. God pays us often in our own coin, a and measures to us again the self-same measure that we have meted to others. Mat 7:2 Herod mocked the wise men, and is mocked of them. Mat 2:16 And how oft do we see those that would beguile others, punished with illusion? God usually retaliates, and proportions jealousy to jealousy, provocation to provocation, Deu 32:21 number to number, Isa 65:11-12 choice to choice, Isa 66:3-4 device to device, Mic 2:1 ; Mic 2:3 frowardness to frowardness, Psa 18:26 contrariety to contrariety. Lev 26:21 Even the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, Pro 11:31 as was Jacob.
a Plerumque Deus servat legem talionis .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
brought her: Gen 24:65, Gen 38:14, Gen 38:15, Mic 7:5
Reciprocal: Gen 27:19 – I am Deu 22:13 – General 1Sa 1:2 – two
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 29:23. He took Leah and brought her to him This deceit he might the more easily practise, as it was customary in those times to bring the bride to her husband veiled, and without lights. This guile of Laban undoubtedly sorely grieved Jacob; and perhaps it happened as a punishment to him for the guile he had used in supplanting his brother.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
29:23 And {h} it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
(h) The reason Jacob was deceived was that in ancient times the wife was covered with a veil, when she was brought to her husband as a sign of purity and humbleness.