Laban

Laban, also known as Laban the Aramean, is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. He was the brother of Rebecca, the woman who married Isaac and bore Jacob. Laban welcomed his nephew, and set him the stipulation of seven years' labour before he permitted him to marry his daughter Rachel. Laban tricked Jacob into marrying his elder daughter Leah instead. Jacob then took Rachel as his second wife, on condition of serving an additional seven years' labour.

Laban and his family were described as dwelling in Paddan Aram, in Mesopotamia.

• And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father.
  Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things.
  • Genesis 29,12-13 (NKJV).

• Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. [...]
  So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?”
  And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”
  Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also. And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid. Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.
  • Genesis 29,21-22;25-30 (NKJV).

• Sete anos de pastor Jacob servia
  Labão, pai de Raquel, serrana bela;
  Mas não servia o pai, servia a ela,
  E a ela só por prémio pretendia.
  • Seven years Jacob served as a shepherd
    for Laban, lovely Rachel's father,
    laboring not for the father but
    anxious only for her as his reward.
    • Luís de Camões, Sete anos de pastor Jacob servia (tr. Landeg White)

• God has a sense of ironic justice. To rid Jacob of his deceitful nature, God placed Jacob under Laban, a worse deceiver. To show me how insensitive and in fact merciless at times I had been to the weak, God placed me ‘under’ upset and – from my point of view – unforgiving brothers who would not give me any mercy or the benefit of the doubt, though I felt I had done so much for them through the years. I felt humiliated through shame and exasperated to the point of considering leaving the Lord. I learned that mercy expressed through kindness, forgiveness and gentleness – was not only God’s way to encourage and strengthen the weak, but the only path to keep a movement together. In all of these trials, my dear wife exemplified how one should love the weak by staying at my side with unconditional love.
  • Kip McKean, [[1]], Revolution Through Restoration, Summer of 2002.