Genesis 29:20

And Jacob served seven years for Rachel,.... The whole term of time, diligently, faithfully, and patiently.

And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Not Melchizedek gave to Abram, as some Jews foolishly understand it; for Abram swears that he would not keep nor take any of the recovered goods of the kings of Sodom, or his brethren, . But Abram gave to Melchizedek, as appears both from , and from the nature of the thing, for the tithes confessedly belong to the priest, such as Melchizedek, and not Abram, is here described to be. All, not of all the recovered goods, but of all the spoils taken from the enemies.

Genesis 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him [but] a few days, for the love he had to her.Ver. 20. And they seemed unto him but a few days.] And yet lovers’ hours are full of eternity. But love facilitated the service, and made the time seem short. Should anything seem hard or heavy to us, so we may have heaven at length? The affliction is but light and momentary; the glory massive, and for all eternity. Hold out, Faith and Patience. Love is a passion, and seen most in suffering; "much water cannot quench it". Nay, like fire, it devours all delays and difficulties, spending and exhaling itself, as it were, in continual wishes to be at home, to be with Christ, which is "far, far the better," (πολλωμαλλον,κρεισσον, Philippians 1:23). Oh, let the eternal weight of the crown weigh down with us the light and momentary weight of the cross. Nox longa quibus mentitur amica, diesque longa videtur opus debentibus, et piger annus pupillis.

(20) They seemed unto him but a few days.—Jacob was at least fifty-seven years of age, but the late marriages hitherto of the patriarchs show that they only slowly arrived at manhood. We need not be surprised, then, at the warmth of his affection, nor was it a passing emotion, but lasted all his life through. This, however, is the last of these late marriages; for Jacob’s sons married when young.

Verse 20. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel.] In ancient times it appears to have been a custom among all nations that men should give dowries for their wives; and in many countries this custom still prevails. When Shechem asked Dinah for wife, he said, Ask me never so much - dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me. When Eliezer went to get Rebekah for Isaac, he took a profusion of riches with him, in silver, gold, jewels, and raiment, with other costly things, which, when the contract was made, he gave to Rebekah, her mother, and her brothers. David, in order to be Saul's son-in-law, must, instead of a dowry, kill Goliath; and when this was done, he was not permitted to espouse Michal till he had killed one hundred Philistines. The Prophet Hosea bought his wife for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of barley. The same custom prevailed among the ancient Greeks, Indians, and Germans. The Romans also had a sort of marriage entitled per coemptionem, "by purchase." The Tartars and Turks still buy their wives; but among the latter they are bought as a sort of slaves. Herodotus mentions a very singular custom among the Babylonians, which may serve to throw light on Laban's conduct towards Jacob. "In every district they annually assemble all the marriageable virgins on a certain day; and when the men are come together and stand round the place, the crier rising up sells one after another, always bringing forward the most beautiful first; and having sold her for a great sum of gold, he puts up her who is esteemed second in beauty. On this occasion the richest of the Babylonians used to contend for the fairest wife, and to outbid one another. But the vulgar are content to take the ugly and lame with money; for when all the beautiful virgins are sold, the crier orders the most deformed to stand up; and after he has openly demanded who will marry her with a small sum, she is at length given to the man that is contented to marry her with the least. And in this manner the money arising from the sale of the handsome served for a portion to those whose look was disagreeable, or who had any bodily imperfection. A father was not permitted to indulge his own fancy in the choice of a husband for his daughter; neither might the purchaser carry off the woman which he had bought without giving sufficient security that he would live with her as his own wife. Those also who received a sum of money with such as could bring no price in this market, were obliged also to give sufficient security that they would live with them, and if they did not they were obliged to refund the money." Thus Laban made use of the beauty of Rachel to dispose of his daughter Leah, in the spirit of the Babylonian custom, though not in the letter.

20. for the love] These simple and touching words are noticeable for their beauty in a narrative which in many of its details is repulsive to our notions of delicacy.

20. They seemed unto him but a few days — “Words breathing the purest tenderness, and expressing more emphatically than the flowery hyperboles of romantic phraseology the deep attachment of an affectionate heart.