Génesis 29:23

23 Y sucedió que á la noche tomó á Lea su hija, y se la trajo: y él entró á 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 Y dijo Jacob á Labán: Dame mi mujer, porque mi tiempo es cumplido para que cohabite con ella.

22 Entonces Labán juntó á todos los varones de aquel lugar, é hizo banquete.

23 Y sucedió que á la noche tomó á Lea su hija, y se la trajo: y él entró á ella.

24 Y dió Labán su sierva Zilpa á su hija Lea por criada.

25 Y venida la mañana, he aquí que era Lea: y él dijo á Labán: ¿Qué es esto que me has hecho? ¿no te he servido por Rachêl? ¿por qué, pues, me has engañado?