Génesis 29:18 Midrash: Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Aggadat Bereshit & Bereshit Rabbah

(Ibid., cont.:) BUT RACHEL HAD A LOVELY FORM AND WAS LOVELY TO LOOK AT. Why? Because it is stated (in Prov. 15:30): GOOD NEWS PUTS FAT ON THE BONES. He (Esau) took no action. Rather (in Gen. 28:9): ESAU WENT TO ISHMAEL AND TOOK MAHALATH BAT ISHMAEL < BEN ABRAHAM, THE SISTER OF NEBAIOTH, FOR A WIFE >. Jacob said: Because of the blessings he wanted to kill me; so when I take his wife Leah, who knows if he will leave Mahalath bat Ishmael, come against me, and say: Was it not enough for you to take my birthright and my blessing, that you have taken my betrothed as well! He therefore said to Laban (in Gen. 29:18): I SHALL SERVE YOU SEVEN YEARS FOR < YOUR YOUNGER DAUGHTER > RACHEL. Apart from such a situation, would a man taking a wife leave the older and take the younger?³⁵Since daughters inherit in the absence of sons (Numb. 27:8), the elder daughter would receive the double inheritance of the first-born. See Deut. 21:15-17. Rather < the story is > to teach you that, since Leah was sitting around because of Esau, Jacob said to Laban (ibid.): I SHALL SERVE YOU SEVEN YEARS FOR < YOUR YOUNGER DAUGHTER > RACHEL. Now, when Laban saw that, he said: See here, I am giving away the elder immediately. (Gen. 29:23:) AND, WHEN IT WAS EVENING, HE TOOK HIS DAUGHTER LEAH < AND BROUGHT HER TO HIM >. Jacob said to him: Now were these the terms?³⁶Cf. Gen. R. 70:17. (Gen. 29:25, 26, 28:) DID I NOT SERVE WITH YOU FOR RACHEL? THEN LABAN SAID: IT IS NOT THE CUSTOM IN OUR PLACE…. SO JACOB DID THUS, < AND COMPLETED THE BRIDAL WEEK OF THIS DAUGHTER; THEN LABAN GAVE HIM HIS DAUGHTER RACHEL FOR A WIFE >. He began to love her more than Leah. The Holy One said: Look, I am giving Leah children so that she may be more beloved than Rachel. (Gen. 29:31:) WHEN THE LORD SAW THAT LEAH WAS HATED, HE OPENED HER WOMB.

[Another interpretation (of Gen. 39:1): WHEN JOSEPH WAS TAKEN DOWN TO EGYPT.] This text is related (to Cant. 8:6): FOR LOVE IS AS STRONG AS DEATH. Love is what Jacob had for Rachel, as stated (in Gen. 29:18): AND JACOB LOVED RACHEL. (Cant. 8:6, cont.): JEALOUSY IS AS SEVERE AS SHEOL. Thus Rachel was jealous of her sister. So what is LOVE doing beside JEALOUSY (in the same verse)?

[5] Another interpretation: And God saw who was hated, in the presence of her husband, when he rebuked her. When was this? As it is said, "And Jacob served Rachel for seven years" (Genesis 29:18). This is what his mother Rebekah told him, "And you shall dwell with him for a few days" (Genesis 27:44). And Jacob loved Rachel (Genesis 29:18). And Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife" (Genesis 29:21), and it was in the evening, and all night he lay with her, thinking that she was Rachel. When he woke up in the morning, he saw that it was Leah. He said to her, "Why have you deceived me?" She replied, "Didn't you deceive your father when he asked you, 'Are you my son Esau?' and you said, 'I am' (Genesis 27:19)? And when he blessed you, you said, 'Why have you deceived me?' But your father didn't say, 'Your brother Esau came with deceit and took your blessing' (Genesis 27:35)." Because of these things, which rebuked him, he began to hate her. God said, "Her only cure is to have children. I will give her children, and her husband will be humbled before her." Therefore, God saw that Leah was hated (Genesis 29:31). "He opens the womb" (Genesis 29:31). David mocks and says, "He executes justice for the oppressed; He gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free" (Psalms 146:7).