“My son,” he said hesitantly as he watched to see if Jacob recognized his change in status. He was evidently satisfied as he went on. “You have worked hard and have learned quickly the intricacies of shearing a sheep. I could use someone like you. What would you ask for wages?”
Jacob almost choked; he had not thought he had actually done that well. He had worked very hard but it was not as easy as it had at first appeared. Without hesitation he looked at Laban and answered, “If it’s true that I have found favor in your eyes, then give me your daughter Rachel as my wages.”
Laban drew back, set his jug down very deliberately, and looked at Jacob with hooded eyes and a tightness to his mouth that expressed his displeasure more than words. “How long do you suppose you would have to work to earn a treasure like my Rachel?”
Jacob realized he was not dealing with a man who made easy bargains. He again remembered his mother’s words, “My brother is greedy.” He also realized that Laban had no intention of making any bargain that involved his daughter. At the same time Jacob knew that the only thing Laban had that he wanted was his daughter Rachel.
“I’ll work a year for her,” he said, thinking that he was being generous, but knowing that Laban was going to ask double at least.
“Never, never,” Laban almost shouted in a great frenzy that brought his sons over to see what was the matter. “This fellow, this cousin of yours thinks I’ll give him Rachel for only one year of work,” he said.
The sons laughed and nudged each other. “Jacob, you are asking for the moon,” one of them said.
“She is the light of my father’s life,” another said.
“And it isn’t as though you know how to do many of the things that have to be done around here,” a third added.
Jacob had been well aware during the month that all of Laban’s sons worked hard for their father and they all knew how to do many things. He began to see that to offer to work for a year when he didn’t really know how to do anything wasn’t, in Laban’s eyes, acceptable.
Jacob had always been good at bargaining. “If you know what you want,” he had often said, “then you don’t give up.” Now he knew that more than anything in his whole life he wanted Rachel. In fact as the bargaining heated up, he knew he would give any price for her.
The frightening thing was that it was very evident his uncle also prided himself on his bargaining ability. There was a fleeting moment when Jacob realized that it was not his own father, Isaac, he resembled but this wily uncle, and he wasn’t pleased with what he saw.
Before the bargaining was over everyone in the bathhouse had gathered to see what the outcome would be. They all knew Laban and they knew when he had set his mind against making a deal that it was impossible to shake him. They could not believe this newcomer dared to challenge him.
At the last, when Laban was getting tired and Jacob was feeling he might be winning, Laban said, “I have another daughter, Leah; you may have her for working four years.”
Jacob’s mind was made up; he wanted no substitutes. It was Rachel he wanted and he would not settle for less.
Finally when Laban saw that his nephew really seemed to care for Rachel, he decided to ask the impossible, and if the lad agreed, he would give in to him. “All right,” he said, “my final decision: If you will work for me for seven years, I’ll give her to you.”
There was a gasp as everyone estimated what could be gotten for seven years of work. The tension in the air was almost unendurable. They hated to see this feisty young man lose, since he had put up such a struggle, but they knew Jacob could not agree to such a bargain. Who knew what Laban would ask of someone under those conditions.
They watched Jacob carefully. He seemed to be toying with five grapes he had lined up. That seemed to be as far as he would go; five grapes must represent five years. Everyone’s eyes were now on the grapes. What would he do? They had never seen anyone want a woman so badly, and they found that they wanted him to win.
To everyone’s surprise they saw him look at Laban as though trying to make up his mind about something, and then they saw him deliberately tear off two more grapes and put them beside the other five.
A great shout went up as they realized that Jacob had won and in a way Laban had also won. Jacob would work seven years for this slip of a girl he had seen only briefly. What would happen to such a man? they all wondered. Would he really get the girl after the seven years, or would the uncle outmaneuver him? However it worked out, they went away liking this young man who had come up out of the deserts of Canaan to challenge his uncle and wrest his favorite daughter from him.