Genesis 29:17

Gen 29:17 Leah [was] tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.

Ver. 17. Leah was tender-eyed.] Purblind or squint, as one {a} interprets it. Now, a froward look and squint eyes, saith the historian, {b} are the certain notes of a nature to be suspected. The Jerusalem Targum tells us, that her eyes were tender with weeping and praying. Mary Magdalene is famous for her tears; and Christ was never so near her as when she could not see him for weeping. After which she spent (as some report) thirty years in Gallia Narbonensi, in weeping for her sins.

But Rachel was beautiful, &c.] Plato calls beauty the principality of nature; Aristotle, a greater commendation than all epistles. {See Trapp on "Gen 24:16"}

{a} Mercer.

{b} Turk. Hist., fol. 483.

{c} Heidfeld.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, blear-eyed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Leah tender-eyed--that is, soft blue eyes--thought a blemish.

Rachel beautiful and well-favored--that is, comely and handsome in form. The latter was Jacob's choice.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. Leah was tender-eyed] רכות raccoth, soft, delicate, lovely. I believe the word means just the reverse of the signification generally given to it. The design of the inspired writer is to compare both the sisters together, that the balance may appear to be greatly in favour of Rachel. The chief recommendation of Leah was her soft and beautiful eyes; but Rachel was יפת תאר yephath toar, beautiful in her shape, person, mien, and gait, and יפת מראה yephath mareh, beautiful in her countenance. The words plainly signify a fine shape and fine features, all that can be considered as essential to personal beauty. Therefore Jacob loved her, and was willing to become a bond servant for seven years, that he might get her to wife; for in his destitute state he could produce no dowry, and it was the custom of those times for the father to receive a portion for his daughter, and not to give one with her. One of the Hindoo lawgivers says, "A person may become a slave on account of love, or to obtain a wife." The bad system of education by which women are spoiled and rendered in general good for nothing, makes it necessary for the husband to get a dowry with his wife to enable him to maintain her; whereas in former times they were well educated and extremely useful, hence he who got a wife almost invariably got a prize, or as Solomon says, got a good thing.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) Leah was tender eyed.—Leah, whose name signifies languor, weariness, had dull bleared eyes. Probably she suffered, as so many do in that hot sandy region, from some form of ophthalmia. Rachel (Heb., the ewe) was, on the contrary, “beautiful and well favoured” (Heb., beautiful in form and beautiful in look). Leah’s bleared eyes would be regarded in the East as a great defect, just as bright eyes were much admired. (See 1Sa_16:12, where David is described as fair of eyes.) Yet it was not Rachel, with her fair face and well-proportioned figure, and her husband’s lasting love, that was the mother of the progenitor of the Messiah, but the weary-eyed Leah.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. Leah’s eyes were tender] i.e. weak or soft, wanting in clearness and brilliancy. The eye was the chief feature of Oriental beauty. The versions rather exaggerate the sense. LXX ἀσθενεῖς = “weak,” Lat. lippis oculis, Aq. Sym. ἁπαλοί = “tender.”

beautiful and well favoured] Lit. “fair of form and fair of looks.” The Old English “favoured” has reference to personal appearance; cf. Gen_41:2; Gen_41:4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Leah was tender eyed,.... Blear eyed, had a moisture in them, which made them red, and so she was not so agreeable to look at; though Onkelos renders the words,"the eyes of Leah were beautiful,''as if her beauty lay in her eyes, and nowhere else:

but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured; in all parts, in the form of her countenance, in her shape and stature, and in her complexion, her hair black, her flesh white and ruddy, as Ben Melech observes.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Blear-eyed. Hebrew, racoth. Watery and tender, unable to look steadfastly at any object, but at the same time very beautiful. (Onkelos; &c.) --- The beauty of Rachel was perfect; not confined to one part. These two sisters represented the synagogue and the Church of Christ. Lia, though married first, never gains the entire affection of her husband. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Leah was tender-eyed; her eyes were soft and moist, and therefore unsightly.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Leah was tender eyed — Her eyes were weak (Sept. ασθενεις) and perhaps inflamed, (Vulg. lippi,) a great blemish, “since bright eyes, with fire in them, are regarded as the height of beauty in Oriental women.” — Keil.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Leah was tender eyed. Literally, the eyes of Leah were tender, i.e. weak, dun; ajsqeneiv (LXX), lippi (Vulgate); cf. 1Sa_16:12. Leah"s face was not ugly (Bohlen), only her eyes were not clear and lustrous, dark and sparkling, as in all probability Rachel"s were (Knobel). But Rachel was beautiful and well favored. Literally, beautiful in form (i.e. in outline and make of body; cf. Gen_39:6; also 1Sa_16:18 man of form," i.e . formosus, well made) and beautiful in appearance (i.e. of a lovely countenance). "If authentic history was not in the way, Leah, as the mother of Judah, and of the Davidic Messianic line, ought to have carried off the prize of beauty after Sarah and Rebakah (Lange).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

רכות TENDER — She thought she would have to fall to the lot of Esau and she therefore wept continually, because everyone said, “Rebekah has two sons, Laban has two daughters — the elder daughter for the elder son, the younger daughter for the younger son” (Genesis Rabbah 70:16).

תאר FORM — this denotes the shape (outline) of the face, just as the verb formed from the same root in (Isaiah 44:13) “he marks it out (יתארחו) with a pencil” old French compas.

מראה OF BEAUTIFUL APPEARANCE — this denotes the beauty of her features (a good complexion).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ועיני לאה רכות, although her eyes were beautiful, they had a habit of breaking out in tears constantly. She was given to weeping excessively.

יפת תאר ויפת מראה, but Rachel suffered from no physical blemish at all, but was perfect both in shape and in facial features. The word מראה describes the appearance of one’s skin, healthy or otherwise, as well as the colour of her hair, i.e. black. In other words, the part of one’s body normally visible to all is described as מראה.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.