Comentário sobre Gênesis 29:26

It is not done in our place. Lavan claimed that the people would not allow him to keep his word, since it was in violation of local custom.

ויאמר לבן לא יעשה כן במקומנו. Laban said: "This is not the way things are done in our place, etc." How could Laban expect now to get away with such an explanation when he and Jacob had entered into a specific agreement that Rachel was to be given to Jacob? Why would local customs override such an agreement?

ויאמר...לא יעשה כן במקומנו, even though you asked for the hand of my younger daughter in marriage, seeing that apparently where you come from it does not matter if the younger sister gets married before the older one, in our place that is not a permissible procedure. I will therefore give you both of them with the proviso that the nuptials of the older one must precede those of the younger one.

Actually, Laban argued that the local inhabitants had protested what he had agreed to. Inasmuch as the inhabitants were the majority and he was only a single individual, he Laban, had to bow to their wishes. This is why he spoke about במקומנו, "in our place."

He may also have argued that at the time he made the deal with Jacob there had not been a paragraph saying that he would receive Rachel as a wife without also marrying Leah. Their agreement therefore never violated the local custom that the elder daughter be married off first. It had been obvious that Jacob would first receive Leah. As soon as he had completed seven years of labour he would receive Rachel immediately after having married Leah. He, Laban, had taken it for granted that Jacob would first stay with him long enough to conform to the local custom and marry Leah. When Jacob had said: "give me my wife!" Laban had naturally understood that Jacob referred to Leah. After all, the local customs were no secret. Laban rejected the accusation that he had acted with subterfuge. Should Jacob be of the opinion that Laban differentiated between his two daughters, this was not so. He loved both equally and treated them both equally. To prove this, he would not ask a higher price for Rachel than he had been willing to accept for Leah. If Jacob was indeed so enamoured of Rachel that he could not wait another seven years, he would show his understanding by letting him have Rachel in another week, as soon as the wedding festivities in honour of Leah had been concluded, i.e. מלא שבוע זאת, when he had completed a week with this wife.

In view of Laban's argument we need to understand why the extremely careful Jacob had not even considered the local customs in this matter. Jacob considered that it was Laban's duty to tell him about such customs. If Laban failed to do so it was proof he did not care about the local customs. Therefore, when he asked Laban to hand over his wife he had naturally referred to Rachel. It had been up to Laban to tell him at least at that moment that he could not hand over Rachel as long as Leah was not married, and that it was up to Jacob either to wait till Leah was married or to marry her himself. By failing to do so, Jacob maintained that Laban had lived up to his reputation as a swindler.