Torah from Rabbi Saunders

I think it’s fair to say that we Jews do love a good deal. We are excellent negotiators and as the expression goes, "We could sell the Brooklyn Bridge to the people of Brooklyn." So when we look at this week's parsha the question that jumps out at us is why on earth did our patriarch, Yaakov, offer to work seven years to marry Rochel? Even if Lavan had suggested seven years, he should’ve negotiated him down to a lower amount. 

Rabbeinu Bchaye Explains based on the Midrash that Rochel was only five at the time. Yaakov's mother Rivka was only three when she got married and had to wait 10 years until she was 13 and physically able to have children before she could pray for children. Otherwise, she would be davening for a miracle. Praying for an open revealed miracle is not something that is encouraged to do because it's seen as troubling Hashem unnecessarily. Hashem always tries to cover his miracles with the cloak of looking like they are natural. This is done to allow people to have free choice as to whether they believe in Him and the miracles or not. Having a child at 5 years of age would have been seen as too much of miracle for people to swallow. (According to Wikipedia, Lina Marcela Medina de Jurado gave birth at the age of 5 years and 7 months, so it can happen but it is very rare). Therefore, Yaakov had to wait seven years until Rochel was 13 before she could have children. Since the whole mitzvah of getting married is to have children, he decided to wait seven years to marry her. Once he realized that he had to wait 7 years to marry her anyway he decided to use that figure to blow Lavan out of the water and agree to his request.