Rachel’s father, Laban says that just because you are a close relative you should still receive payment for your efforts here. He point blank asks Jacob, “Tell me, what shall thy wages be?” God was with Jacob. God corrects His children when we break His moral law. Yes He was guiding Jacob and gave him the covenant. There still had to be divine retribution for Jacob’s deception. Jacob’s happy prospect of marrying Rachel turned, by Laban’s counter deception, into a difficult situation for Jacob. The Lord was going to use Laban as His means of discipline for Jacob. The deception he had practiced upon Isaac and Esau did not go unnoticed with the Lord. The Lord took Jacob, fine-tuned, and developed him into the patriarch of the Nation Israel that he would become. What now follows is a parenthetical description of Laban’s two daughters. This is preparing us to receive the rest of the story.
Laban had two daughters, Leah the eldest and Rachel whom Jacob has just met. Leah’s name means “cow or strong woman” in Hebrew and we have seen that Rachel’s name means “ewe lamb.” This again shows us the disposition of Laban and his wife toward each daughter by the characterization of the names they gave them. Leah was tender-eyed or as the Hebrew states, “weak-eyed.” Much diversity surrounds this term in the various scriptural contexts where it appears. Some say that she had poor vision and others say that she had cried her eyes out with the prospect of possibly having to marry Esau or some other equally undesirable man (Bereshit Rabbah 70: 16). The Hebrew word is rakkot רַכּוֹת . It can refer to a tender nature or genuine poor eyesight. Since the eyes are the gateway to the soul it would seem that Leah’s poor eyesight gave insight into her tender delicate nature.
