Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work. Laban's offer is generous in form and exploitative in substance: complete the week with Leah, take Rachel also, work another seven years. Jacob receives Rachel — but at the cost of seven more years of labor and a marriage he did not choose. The application: the arrangement that gives you what you wanted at a price higher than you expected is the arrangement that reveals what your desire is worth to someone who knows how much you want it.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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