And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
Laban acknowledged that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob's sake and then invited Jacob to name his own wages with the promise to pay whatever was asked. The verse belongs to the story of Jacob's service under Laban, in which God blessed his labor and made him prosper in flocks and herds despite Laban's efforts to deprive him of his right, so that he returned with a prosperous family and abundant flocks and herds. It falls within Jacob's checkered and unsatisfactory experience, in which selfish plotting brought suffering, so that after overreaching others he was himself overreached, showing that God's providence may seem slow but brings retribution sooner or later. Laban's deception of Jacob over his daughters was just retribution for Jacob's deception of Esau, yet Jacob's sin did not justify Laban's wrong.
The chapter around the verse exemplifies patriarchal conduct that violated the marriage institution, but such violations did not remove marriage's sacred character, since marriage was instituted before the Fall and its sanctity is guarded by the seventh commandment. The patriarchs did not always follow the marriage institution, but their violations did not make marriage less sacred, for like the Sabbath marriage was established before the Fall and its sanctity does not depend on the law later given at Sinai. The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's family life with multiple wives, which shows the very great unhappiness that came into every family where polygamy entered, and standing with the cases of Abraham and David it proves that polygamy was never anything but evil and wrong, even though it was allowed among God's ancient people for long ages through the whole Old Testament period because of hardness of heart.
Laban acknowledged that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob's sake and then invited Jacob to name his own wages with the promise to pay whatever was asked. The verse belongs to the story of Jacob's service under Laban, in which God blessed his labor and made him prosper in flocks and herds despite Laban's efforts to deprive him of his right, so that he returned with a prosperous family and abundant flocks and herds. It falls within Jacob's checkered and unsatisfactory experience, in which selfish plotting brought suffering, so that after overreaching others he was himself overreached, showing that God's providence may seem slow but brings retribution sooner or later. Laban's deception of Jacob over his daughters was just retribution for Jacob's deception of Esau, yet Jacob's sin did not justify Laban's wrong.
The chapter around the verse exemplifies patriarchal conduct that violated the marriage institution, but such violations did not remove marriage's sacred character, since marriage was instituted before the Fall and its sanctity is guarded by the seventh commandment. The patriarchs did not always follow the marriage institution, but their violations did not make marriage less sacred, for like the Sabbath marriage was established before the Fall and its sanctity does not depend on the law later given at Sinai. The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's family life with multiple wives, which shows the very great unhappiness that came into every family where polygamy entered, and standing with the cases of Abraham and David it proves that polygamy was never anything but evil and wrong, even though it was allowed among God's ancient people for long ages through the whole Old Testament period because of hardness of heart.