Génesis 29:23

23 pero aquella noche, cuando estaba oscuro, Labán tomó a Lea y se la entregó a Jacob, y él durmió con ella.

Génesis 29:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 29:23

And it came to pass in the evening
After the feast was over, and the guests were departed; when it was night, a fit season to execute his designs, and practise deceit:

that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him,
to Jacob, in his apartment, his bedchamber, or to him in bed: for it is still the custom in some eastern countries for the bridegroom to go to bed first, and then the bride comes, or is brought to him in the dark, and veiled, so that he sees her not: so the Armenians have now such a custom at their marriages that the husband goes to bed first; nor does the bride put off her veil till in bed ^F15: and in Barbary the bride is brought to the bridegroom's house, and with some of her female relations conveyed into a private room ^F16; then the bride's mother, or some very near relation, introduces the bridegroom to his new spouse, who is in the dark, and obliged in modesty not to speak or answer upon any account: and if this was the case here, as it is highly probable it was, the imposition on Jacob is easily accounted for:

and he went in unto her;
or lay with her as his wife; a modest expression of the use of the bed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Tournefort's Voyage to the Levant, vol. 3. p. 255.
F16 Ockley's Account of Southwest Barbary, c. 6. p. 78.

Génesis 29:23 In-Context

21 Finalmente llegó el momento de casarse con ella. «He cumplido mi parte del acuerdo —le dijo Jacob a Labán—. Ahora entrégame a mi esposa para acostarme con ella».

22 Entonces Labán invitó a toda la gente de los alrededores y preparó una fiesta de bodas;

23 pero aquella noche, cuando estaba oscuro, Labán tomó a Lea y se la entregó a Jacob, y él durmió con ella.

24 (Labán le había dado a Lea una sierva, Zilpa, para que la atendiera).

25 A la mañana siguiente, cuando Jacob se despertó, ¡vio que era Lea!
—¿Qué me has hecho? —le dijo a Labán con furia—. ¡He trabajado siete años por Raquel! ¿Por qué me has engañado?