Genesis 29: Back to Lavan Land

Yaacov returns to the town where his grandfather’s servant made a match for his parents. As discussed in chapter 24, the commentators zero in on how evil they see Lavan, but the text does not match this vitriol. Rivka, who lived with her brother, would have known about his evil ways. Yet, she tells her son to seek safety in her brother’s home. Yitzchak also wants Yaacov to seek out one of Lavan’s daughters as a wife.Verse 10 emphasizes the fact that Lavan and Rivka are related. The phrase “his mother's brother” appears three times in just one verse:וַיְהִי כִּרְאוֹת יַעֲקֹב אֶת־רָחֵל בַּת־לָבָן אֲחִי אִמּוֹ וְאֶת־צֹאן לָבָן אֲחִי אִמּוֹ וַיִּגַּשׁ יַעֲקֹב וַיָּגֶל אֶת־הָאֶבֶן מֵעַל פִּי הַבְּאֵר וַיַּשְׁקְ אֶת־צֹאן לָבָן אֲחִי אִמּוֹ׃(Bereishit 29:10)This familiarity matches how Lavan reacts upon hearing that Yaacov has arrived:וַיְהִי כִּשְׁמֹעַ לָבָן אֶת שֵׁמַע יַעֲקֹב בֶּן אֲחֹתוֹ וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיְחַבֵּק לוֹ וַיְנַשֵּׁק לוֹ וַיְבִיאֵהוּ אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ וַיְסַפֵּר לְלָבָן אֵת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה׃(Bereishit 29:13)The commentators spin this reaction and say that Lavan remembered the riches Eliezer brought and expected an actual family member to be fully laden with gifts. When Yaacov appears destitute, Lavan kisses him in order to see if he is hiding jewels in his mouth. This is quite a reading of verse 13. A simpler reading is that Lavan is excited to see his nephew whom he has never seen. Lavan only had a few hours to say goodbye to his sister and now his long-lost nephew has arrived. His reaction does not seem out of line given the circumstances.After staying with Lavan for a month, verses 14–15 show that Lavan is the one who approaches Yaacov about a payment plan after Yaacov had been working for Lavan for free:וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ לָבָן אַךְ עַצְמִי וּבְשָׂרִי אָתָּה וַיֵּשֶׁב עִמּוֹ חֹדֶשׁ יָמִים׃(Bereishit 29:14)וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן לְיַעֲקֹב הֲכִי־אָחִי אַתָּה וַעֲבַדְתַּנִי חִנָּם הַגִּידָה לִי מַה־מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּךָ׃(Bereishit 29:15)Yaacov, in turn, is the one who offers to work for seven years for Rachel. Lavan accepts and is happy to have his daughter marry his nephew. The more complicated part is Lavan switching Leah for Rachel. His reasoning does make sense—that the rule of the land is that the oldest daughter should marry first. Perhaps he had hoped that after seven years Leah would find someone. In any event, he gives his maidservant as a gift to both daughters, and then allows Yaacov to marry Rachel after only a week and not wait another seven years. If Lavan’s intention was simply to trick and torture Yaacov, he would have made him wait the full seven years again.The bottom line is that except for this one action, everything else that Lavan does in this chapter does not seem bad at all. More in chapter 30…