Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/190

158 his own father when he pretended to be Esau, and now his father-in-law cheated him. Herein, how unrighteous soever Laban was, the Lord was righteous; as Judg. 1. 7. Even the righteous, if they take a false step, are sometimes thus recompensed in the earth. Many that are not, like Jacob, disappointed in the person, soon find themselves, as much to their grief, disappointed in the character. The choice of that relation therefore on both sides, ought to be made with good advice and consideration, that if there should be a disappointment, it may not be aggravated by a consciousness of management.

IV. The excuse and atonement Laban made for the cheat.

1. The excuse was frivolous, v. 26, It must not be so done in our country. We have reason to think there was no such custom of his country, as he pretends; only he banters Jacob with it, and laughs at his mistake. Note, Those that can do wickedly, and then think to turn it off with a jest, though they may deceive themselves and others, will find, at last, that God is not mocked. But if there had been such a custom, and he had resolved to observe it, he should have told Jacob so, when he undertook to serve him for his younger daughter. As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked, 1 Sam. 24. 13. Those that deal with treacherous men, must expect to be dealt treacherously with.

2. His compounding of the matter did but make bad worse: We will give thee this also, v. 27. Hereby he drew Jacob into the sin, and snare, and disquiet, of multiplying wives, which remains a blot in his escutcheon, and will be so to the end of the world. Honest Jacob did not design it, but to have kept as true to Rachel as his father had done Rebekah; he that had lived without a wife to the 84th year of his age, could then have been very well content with one: but Laban, to dispose of his two daughters without portions, and to get seven years' service more out of Jacob, thus imposes upon him, and draws him into such a strait by his fraud, that (the matter not being yet settled as it was afterward by the divine law, Lev. 18. 18, and more fully since by our Saviour, Matt. 19. 5.) he had some colourable reason for marrying them both. He could not refuse Rachel, for he had espoused her; still less could he refuse Leah; and therefore Jacob must be content, and take two talents, 2 Kings 5. 23. Note, One sin is commonly the inlet of another. They that go in by one door of wickedness, seldom find the way out but by another. The polygamy of the patriarchs was, in some measure, excusable in them, because, though there was a reason against it as ancient as Adam's marriage, (Mal. 2. 15.) yet there was no express command against it; it was in them a sin of ignorance, it was not the product of any sinful lust, but for the building up of the church, which was the good that Providence brought out of it: but it will by no means justify the like practice now, when God's will is plainly made known, that one man and one woman only must be joined together, 1 Cor. 7. 2. The having of many wives suits well enough with the carnal sensual spirit of the Mahometan imposture, which allows it; but we have not so learned Christ. Dr. Lightfoot makes Leah and Rachel to be figures of the two churches, the Jews under the law, and the Gentiles under the gospel: the younger, the more beautiful, and more in the thoughts of Christ when he came in the form of a servant; but the other, like Leah, first embraced; yet, in this, the allegory does not hold, that the Gentiles, the younger, were more fruitful. Gal. 4. 27.

31. And when the saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. 32. And Leah conceived and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the hath looked upon my affliction: now therefore my husband will love me. 33. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon. 34. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. 35. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she said, Now will I praise the : therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.

We have here the birth of four of Jacob's sons, all by Leah. Observe,

I. That Leah, who was less beloved, was blessed with children, when Rachel was denied that blessing, v. 31. See how Providence, in dispensing its gifts, observes a proportion, to keep the balance even, setting crosses and comforts one over-against another, that none may be either too much elevated, or too much depressed. Rachel wants children, but she is blessed with her husband's love; Leah wants that, but she is fruitful. Thus it was between Elkanah's two wives; (1 Sam. 1. 5.) for the Lord is wise and righteous. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, that is loved less than Rachel, in which sense it is required that we hate father and mother, in comparison with Christ, (Luke 14. 26.) then the Lord granted her a child; which was a rebuke to Jacob, for making so great a difference between those that he was equally related to; a check to Rachel, who perhaps insulted over her sister upon that account; and a comfort to Leah, that she might not be overwhelmed with the contempt put upon her: thus God giveth abundant honour to that which lacked, 1 Cor. 12. 24.

II. That the names she gave her children, were expressive of her respectful regards both to God and to her husband. 1. She appears very ambitious of her husband's love: she reckoned the want of it her affliction; (v. 32.) not upbraiding him with it as his fault, nor reproaching him for it, and so making herself uneasy to him, but laying it to heart as her grief, which yet she had reason to bear with the more patience, because she herself was consenting to the fraud by which she became his wife; and we may well bear that trouble with patience, which we bring upon ourselves by our own sin and folly. She promised herself that the children she bare him, would gain her the interest she desired in his affections. She called her first-born Reuben, See a son, with this pleasant thought, Now will my husband love me; and her third son Levi, Joined, with this expectation, Now will my husband be joined unto me, v. 34. Mutual affection is both the duty, and comfort, of that relation; and yoke-fellows should study to recommend themselves to each other, 1 Cor. 7. 33, 34. 2. She thankfully acknowledges the kind providence of God in it, The Lord hath looked upon my affliction, v. 32. "The Lord hath heard, that is, taken notice of it, that I was hated;" (for our afflictions, as they are before God's eyes, so they have a cry in his ears;) He hath therefore given me this son. Note, Whatever we have, that contributes either to our support and comfort under our afflictions, or to our deliverance from them, God must be owned in it, especially his pity