After reading chapter 29:
*Jacob continues on his journey to Haran, where Rebekah's brother Laban lives. He gets to a well and asks some shepherds if they know Laban. They do. As a matter of fact, here comes his daughter Rachel with Laban's sheep. Jacob helps her water the sheep, then he kisses her and begins to cry, after he tells her who he is. She runs home to tell her father. Laban welcomes him with open arms.
*After Jacob was there for a month, Laban offered to pay him for his work. Jacob said he would work for Laban seven more years, if he would let him marry Rachel. Laban agreed. The seven years went by quickly because Jacob was so much in love with Rachel. I would have thought it would have seemed like seven years of torture, but I guess people back then had things to do to keep their minds off what they couldn't have.
*At the end of seven years Jacob was so ready to get married. By this time he would have been around 50 years old. So Laban gave a wedding feast. When evening came, Laban slipped Leah, his oldest daughter with weak eyes, into Rachel's place. The marriage was consummated and Jacob didn't figure out who he had slept with til the next morning! The deceiver had been deceived.
*One wonders how Leah and Rachel felt about this whole arrangement, but of course their opinions wouldn't have mattered. Laban tells Jacob that in that land the oldest girl marries first, but Jacob can still have Rachel if he agrees to work another seven years. Jacob agrees. He finishes the bridal week with Leah, then gets to have Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
*The bible tells us Leah was not loved, but she apparently got enough attention from Jacob to have four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. God gets all the credit though, for "opening her womb." Whatever that means. Rachel, on the other hand was barren. The barrenness theme tells us to watch out. Any children Rachel manages to have will be special.
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