Genesis 30:26
Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
Jacob asks Laban to release him to return to his own place and country with his wives and children, whom he had earned by his years of service, appealing to Laban's own knowledge of that service. He makes the request after serving fourteen years for Laban's two daughters and after sons were born to him, at the time when Laban recognized that the Lord had blessed him because of Jacob and when God prospered Jacob in flocks and herds despite Laban's efforts to deprive him of his right. His troubled sojourn shows God caring for him despite his selfishness and unfaithfulness, while his selfish plotting brought suffering upon him as the overreaching he had done was returned upon him in retribution. His marriages here are a plain violation of the marriage institution, yet that violation does not destroy or diminish the sacred character of marriage itself, which was made for man before the fall and is guarded by the seventh commandment. His family with many wives proves that polygamy brought very great unhappiness wherever it entered and was ever evil and wrong even while it was allowed through the Old Testament period because of hardness of heart.
Context in Jacob's Life
Genesis 30:26 stands in the Genesis 28–36 section devoted to Jacob's life. It stands in the account of his visit to Laban, his marriages, his sojourn in Syria with Laban, and his departure for Palestine. That account is the story of his sojourn with Laban and his departure from Syria for Palestine, centering on his service to Laban and his family.
Jacob asks Laban to release him to return to his own place and country. He asks to take with him his wives and children, for whom he had worked and whom he had gained through years of service to Laban. He appeals to Laban's own knowledge of the service he had rendered.
His request comes after he had served Laban fourteen years for his two daughters and after sons had been born to him. It stands in the setting where Laban recognized that the Lord had blessed him because of Jacob. At that time God prospered Jacob in flocks and herds despite Laban's efforts to deprive him of his right.
Moral and Marriage Teaching
The request in the verse belongs to Jacob's sojourn with Laban and his departure from Syria for Palestine with his family, an account that shows God caring for Jacob despite his selfishness and unfaithfulness. It belongs to his troubled experiences in which his selfish plotting brought suffering upon him, and the overreaching he had done was returned upon him through God's providence bringing retribution, though that retribution seemed slow. It comes after he served fourteen years for the two daughters and after sons were born to him, when he claimed his wives and children earned by that service and asked to leave while God prospered him in flocks and herds despite Laban's efforts to deprive him of his right, and Laban's deception in the matter of the daughters was just retribution for Jacob's deception of Esau, though Jacob's sin did not justify Laban's conduct. It falls within Jacob's trials and victories, which culminate in a complete change of heart and his place among the Israel of God.
The verse belongs to a plain violation of the marriage institution by the patriarchs in taking wives and children through this service, and that violation does not destroy or diminish the sacred character of marriage itself. Marriage was made for man before the fall, its sanctity is not derived from the Decalogue, and the seventh commandment guards its sacredness.
Jacob's family with multiple wives in this chapter proves that polygamy caused very great unhappiness in every family where it entered, and that it was never anything but evil and wrong even while it was allowed through the whole Old Testament period because of hardness of heart.