Who came there to meet Jacob? Was it Daniel
Answers
Answer: Jacob, the son of Isaac, is on the lam, running, in fear for his life, from his firstborn and older brother Esau. Jacob is running from his brother because he, in collusion with his mother, has tricked his blind father into conferring the blessing reserved for firstborn children on himself. Directed by his mother he runs to his uncle Laban, who lives in a far off country, for safety.
Upon arriving at his uncle’s property he sees Laban’s daughter Rachel and immediately falls in love. Rachel also has an older sister Leah, who Jacob has no interest in. Rather than have his blood relative work for free, Laban offers to pay Jacob for working on his farm and asks Jacob to name his price. Jacob asks for Laban’s daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage. Laban agrees that after 7 years of working for Laban, he will give Rachel to Jacob.
7 years pass. Rachel is given to Jacob in marriage but… when it comes time to consummate the marriage, Laban sneaks his daughter Leah into Jacob’s bed and Jacob wakes the next morning to find that he has consummated the marriage with Leah and not Rachel. When he questions Laban about the switch Laban states that it is the custom of the region not to marry off the younger daughter before the older is married off. He offers to allow Jacob to marry Rachel immediately if he will agree to work another seven years for Laban. Jacob agrees, but as part of the deal he makes Laban agree to let Jacob any sheep that Jacob breeds that aren’t pure white. During the following seven years Jacob selectively breeds the sheep in such a way that he is able to steal all of Laban’s fortune.
Shakespeare, in the Merchant Of Venice, makes several direct and indirect references to this very story and it’s quite possible that The Merchant of Venice could be the Elizabethan version of a modern retelling of the story of Jacob and Laban.
The first direct reference to Laban takes place in 1.3.48 where Shylock says:
When Jacob graz’d his uncle Laban’s sheep—
This Jacob from our holy Abram was
(As his wise mother wrought in his behalf)
The third posessor; ay, he was the third—
But throughout the The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare provides many references that make us think of the original.
I said earlier that Jacob deceives his blind father Isaac in order gain the blessing meant for his older brother. In the Merchant of Venice we also see a blind father unable to recognize his son in Scene 2 of Act 2, when Lancelot meets his father in the street.