And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
Verse 28. And Jacob did so – and he gave him Rachel] It is perfectly plain that Jacob did not serve seven years more before he got Rachel to wife; but having spent a week with Leah, and in keeping the marriage feast, he then got Rachel, and served afterwards seven years for her. Connections of this kind are now called incestuous; but it appears they were allowable in those ancient times. In taking both sisters, it does not appear that any blame attached to Jacob, though in consequence of it he was vexed by their jealousies. It was probably because of this that the law was made, Thou shalt not take a wife to her sister, to vex her, besides the other in her life-time. After this, all such marriages were strictly forbidden.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It was not so strange that Laban should give, as that Jacob should take, not only two wives, but two sisters to wife, which seems to be against the law of nature, and was expressly forbidden by God afterward, Lev 18:18; though it be also true that God might dispense with his own institution, or permit such things in the patriarchs upon special reasons, which are not to be drawn into example.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. gave him Rachel alsoIt isevident that the marriage of both sisters took place nearly about thesame time, and that such a connection was then allowed, thoughafterwards prohibited (Le 18:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week,…. The week of the days of the feast of Leah, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; he agreed to it; during which time he cohabited with Leah as his wife, and which confirmed the marriage: how justifiable this was, must be left. The marrying of two sisters was forbidden by the law of Moses, Le 18:18; and polygamy was not allowed of in later times, and yet both were dispensed with in times preceding; and there seems to be an overruling Providence in this affair, which oftentimes brings good out of evil, since the Messiah was to spring from Leah, and not Rachel;
[See comments on Ge 29:35]; and having more wives than one, and concubines also, seems to be permitted for this reason, that Jacob might have a numerous progeny, as it was promised he should: and indeed Jacob was under some necessity of marrying both sisters, since the one was ignorantly defiled by him, and the other was his wife by espousal and contract; and though he had served seven years for her, he could not have her without consenting to marry the other, and fulfilling her week, and serving seven years more; to such hard terms was he obliged by an unkind uncle, in a strange country, and destitute:
and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also; not after seven years’ service, as Josephus u thinks, but after the seven days of feasting for Leah; though on condition of the above service, as appears from various circumstances related before the seven years’ service could be completed; as his going in to Rachel, Ge 29:30; her envying the fruitfulness of her sister, Ge 30:1; giving Bilhah her handmaid unto him, Ge 30:3; and the whole series of the context, and life of Jacob.
u Antiqu. l. 1. c. 19. sect. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(28) He gave him Rachel . . . to wife also.After the monogamy of Abraham, and the stricter monogamy of Isaac, how came Jacob to marry two wives? Abravanel says that as Esau ought to have married Leah, and Jacob Rachel, he acted only as his brothers substitute in taking the elder, and was still free to marry the younger sister, who was his by custom, He thinks also that Jacob, recalling the promise of a. seed numerous as the dust (Gen. 28:14), and seeing how near the family had been to total extinction in the days of his father and grandfather, desired to place it on a more secure basis. More probably, even after Leah had been forced upon him, Jacob regarded Rachel as his own, and as polygamy was not actually forbidden, considered that he was only acting justly by her and himself in marrying her. He had seen Esau blamed, not for marrying two wives, but for taking Hittites; and his love for Rachel would make him need but little argument. The only other alternative, namely, to have divorced Leah, would have been worse, and happily divorce was not a practice as yet introduced.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week, and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife.’
Jacob carries out his part of the bargain. He gives Leah due deference for the week of the marriage ceremony, and fulfils his responsibilities as a husband. Then he also marries Rachel. Leah’s part was not a happy one for she knows it is her sister that Jacob wants, but she was used to the fact that a woman could be married off by her menfolk, and would accept her lot. She knew she could have done a lot worse. What grieved both her and Rachel was the particular way in which it was carried out so that neither of them received any financial benefit. Only a handmaid each. They felt that Laban had withheld from them some of their rights (see for this Gen 31:14-16).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
Ver. 28. And Jacob did so. ] A mirror of patience; which, in Jacob here, had line and rope, “her perfect work”; showing him to be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing”. Jam 1:3-4 Godly people can bear wrongs best of any: compel them to go a mile, they will be content, if it may do good, to go twain; Mat 5:41 yea, as far as the shoes of “the preparation of the gospel of peace” Eph 6:15 will carry them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
her, i.e. Leah’s week.
he gave him Rachel. A popular mistake to suppose that Jacob did not marry Rachel till the end of the second seven years, for in the first seven were born seven sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, and Joseph. In the second seven: Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, and Dinah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fulfilled her week: The public marriage feast made on this occasion, seems to have formed the regular method of recognising the marriage, and lasted seven days: it would therefore have been improper to have broken off the solemnities to which all the men of the place had been invited – Gen 29:22 and probably Laban wished to keep the fraud from the public eye. It is perfectly plain that Jacob did not serve seven years more before he got Rachel to wife. Gen 29:28
Reciprocal: Gen 7:4 – For Gen 44:27 – General Lev 18:18 – wife Jdg 14:12 – the seven Pro 18:22 – findeth a wife