LABAN white ;' LXX. Acfaav1, an Ara mman pastor;1' chief, son of Bethuel, brother ot Rebecca. and grand-nephew of Abmham. In Gen.
xxix. 5 he is called the son of Natio' bv a common extension in meaning of the word He is first mentioned in Gen. xxiv. 29, where Rebecca intro duces him to Diem., Abraham's steward. Al though it appears that Betimel his father was alive (xxiv. 5o),* Laban takes by far the most prominent part in the reception of Eliezer, and the arrange ments respecting his sister's marriage. This fact has led to numerous conjectures, and especially to a suspicion on the part of R. Sol. Jarchi, that Laban was unfilial in his behaviour, wbich we only mention as a specimen of the harsh judgments which have been passed on Laban's character. The fact is quite in accordance with the Oriental custom which makes a grown-up brother the chief guardian of his sister's happiness and honour (Gen. xxxiv. 13 ; Judg. XXi. 22 ; 2 Sam. xiii. ; Niebuhr, .b'eschr. von Anzb., p. 31). A charge of cupidity has been brought against Laban, because, when he saw the ear-ring and the bracelets upon his sirter's hands'—' he said, come, thou blessed of the Lord.' It would not, indeed, be surprising, if the splendour of these presents added somewhat to the emphasis of Laban's greeting ; but to any one who will read the context of this passage (Gen. xxiv. 29, 30), it will be obvious that an invidious importance has been attached to these words. The impulse of Laban's hospitalitypreceded(ver. 29) all knowledge of his guest's wealth, and throughout the narrative he appears as an affectionate and God-fearing man (vers. 32, 55-60).
After the unfortunate breach which Jacob's fraud caused between himself and his brother Esau, the mind of Rebecca naturally recurred to her old home as a refuge for her favourite son, and, by the wish of both his parents, Jacob set forth to take a wife of the daughters of Laban' (xxviii. 2). We may observe in passing, that this would hardly have been the case, if Laban had been the base person he is generally represented to have been. His re ception of his destitute nephew was characterised by that generous warmth and impulsiveness which has been most unjustly attributed to hypocrisy and self-interest. After a month had elapsed, Laban himself proposed that the active services rendered to him by Jacob should receive their just wages, and Jacob offered to serve seven years for Rachel, Laban's youngest daughter. In a country where it is the universal custom that the husband should pay a dowry to the parents of his wife (Exod. xxii. 16, 17 ; Gen. xxxiv. 12 ; Hos. iii. 1, ; I Sam. xviii. 25 ; Rosenmiiller, Aforgenl., 132), it would probably have not been consonant to Jacob's feel ings that he should marry as a penniless stranger, dependent on his father-in-law's -beneficence. The implied dissatisfaction of Laban's daughters (xxxi. 15) does not therefore seem to have had any just grounds, ttor must Laban be severely condemned for an arrangement which finds its daily and un blamed parallel in modern life, when, after years of service, some inferior is admitted into partner.
ship and connection by marriage with the princi pals of the business. No defence, however, can be offered for the mean treachery which induced Laban to practice the fraud—rendered so easy by the mar riage-ceremonies of the East—of palming off the dint-eyed Leah, in the place of her beautiful sister. It is no excuse for him to say, that he was herein the divine instrument to punish Jacob for his own similar and still more disgraceful deceit ; and although the popular feeling and prevailing custom* to which Ile appealed undoubtedly existed, and was in all probability sufficiently notorious to be known to Jacob, yet Laban ought to have insisted before hand on its obsenunce, and not to have carried his point by a trick discreditable even to a heathen nomad. All that can be said in extenuation of this is, that a week after he gave Rachel also to Jacob, and that he probably viewed polygamy with favour rather than otherwise. That Jacob did not wait till the end of the fourteen years before marrying Rachel, is clear, both from the narrative itselt (xxix. 28), and from the fact that Jacob, even when he first fled to Labatt, was no less than seventy eight years old (cf. xxxi. ; xxxvii. 2 ; xlvii. 9). The exaction of seven years' further service was, on any plea, wholly unwarrantable, and forms the darkest stain on Laban's character.
When fourteen years were ended, Jacob pro posed to return, feeling that the treatment which he had received was neither generous nor jusi For a moment Laban's better feelings won the day, and in requesting Jacob to stay with him he left him to name his own compensation (xxx. 28, 3 r). Jacob made a proposal that sounded equitable, ± and then, by a threefold artifice, in accordance with all which was most contemptible in his character, took means to render it most unfair and prejudicial to the in terests and reasonable expectations of his master. For six years this systematic fraud was continued, and the cunning seems to have been all on 7acob's side. We do not tberefore agree with Ewald (Gesch. d. Volkes i. ztor, seq.) in seeing throughout this melancholy passage a contest of opposing frauds ; for it was most natural that Laban should, from time to time, change his retainer's wages, when he saw that Jacob was prospering beyond his just measure, by means which (being apparently unsuspicious) he could not discover. The expo sure seems to have come from Laban's sons, whc first woke their father's envy by denouncing facob's dishonesty, and pointing out its consequences (Gen. xxxi. 1-2) ; and Jacob, feeling that he could no longer face Laban's just displeasure, took advantage of the sheep-shearing festival (xxxviii. 12 ; I Sam. xxv. 7 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 23), (to which the breach be tween them had probably prevented him from being invited), to fly towards Canaan with Ms family and all bis possessions. On occasion of this flight, Rachel, whose character appears to have been superstitious (cf. xxx. 14), stole the gods' (Tera