Genesis 29:18

And Jacob loved Rachel,.... As he seems to have done from the moment he saw her at the well, being beautiful, modest, humble, affable, diligent, and industrious: and he said, I will serve thee seven

And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.

Quest. Who was this? Answ. 1. Shem, as the Jews and many others think, who probably was alive at this time, and, no doubt, a great prince. But neither is it probable that Shem should be a king among the cursed race of Ham; nor will this agree with the apostle’ s description of Melchizedek, , without father and mother, & c. Whereas Shem’ s parents, and the beginning and end of his days, are as expressly mentioned by Moses as any other. 2. A Canaanitish king, by the Divine Providence made both a king over men, and priest unto the true God, brought in here in this unusual manner, without any mention of his parents, birth, or death, for this end, that he might be an illustrious type of Christ. Of this matter see more upon . King of Salem, i.e. of Jerusalem, called elsewhere Jebus, and Salem, . Bread and wine; not for sacrifice to God; for then he had brought forth beasts to be slain, which were the usual and best sacrifices: but partly to show the respect which he bore to Abram, and principally to refresh his weary and hungry army, according to the manner of those times. See ,4 25:18 ,6,15 . He was the priest of the most high God: thus in succeeding ages the same persons were often both kings and priests, as the learned note out of Virgil and other authors. And this clause is here added, as the cause and reason, not for his bringing forth or offering bread and wine, as some would have it, (for that is ascribed to him as a king, as an act of royal munificence), but of the following benediction and decimation. In those times God had his remnant scattered here and there even in the worst places and nations.

Genesis 29:18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.Ver. 18. I will serve thee seven years.] He had nothing to endow her with; he would therefore earn her with his hard labour: which, as it shows Laban’ s churlishness to suffer it, and his baseness to make a prize and a prey of his two daughters, so it sets forth Jacob’ s meekness, poverty, patience, and hard condition here, mentioned many years after by the prophet Hosea. He was a man of many sorrows; and from him therefore the Church hath her denomination: neither were the faithful ever since called Abrahamites but Israelites.

(18) I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.—Heb., thy daughter, the little one, just as Leah, in Genesis 29:16, is called the great one. (See Note on Genesis 9:24.) So in Genesis 44:20, the phrase “the little one” simply means the youngest. Wives had to be purchased in the East (Genesis 24:53), and as Jacob had brought no rich presents, such as Abraham had sent when seeking a wife for his son, he had only his personal services to offer. As the sale was usually veiled in true Oriental fashion under the specious form of freewill gifts, we shall find that both Leah and Rachel are offended at being thus openly bartered by Laban.

18. I will serve … Rachel] He has no money to offer; he is ready to give seven years’ service without wages, in order to win Rachel as his bride. He cannot as bridegroom, or suitor, offer the usual gifts, or mohar (see note on Genesis 24:53). So he offers the equivalent in work. See the reference to this incident in Hosea 12:12.

18. I will serve thee seven years — A week of years. Jacob had not, like his grandfather’s servant, rich presents to offer as a dowry for his bride, (Genesis 24:53,) but he offers what he can, the