Treaty- talking of peace with Jacob and Laban

I noticed how these guys each justified their deceitful actions by the wrongdoing of the other person. Each man never admitted to their own wrongdoing yet saw things as they saw fit whether it was reality or not. They deceived themselves by practicing deceit with others for so long. I guess since they had both been surrounded by deceitful practices growing up that they believed that this was the best way to get ahead. Neither sought God's view of truth and righteousness because their environment did not support it. Laban never owned up to cheating Jacob out of flocks and insisted that they were his. Jacob never owned up to acting on fear and trickery. Whenever we lie to others, it seems that it necesitates that we lie to ourselves on some level in order to carry it through with conviction. It blinds us to God's view of things. So in a way, when we lie to others, we harm ourselves by closing our eyes and hearts and minds to God. No one wins.
I also found it interesting that Jacob was able to endure the hard toil for 20 years persistantly by focusing on personal achievement and by blocking out unproductive emotion to get what he wanted- true to the Curse of Adam to toil but also Man's ability to endure such toiling more obediently for selfish gain. Rachel and Leah both sought in vain for Jacob's love but both took a back seat to his personal pursuit of wealth and accomplishment. Rachel and Leah both suffered from a desire to control who Jacob loved and cherished more through relationships (childbirth) and attachment- part of Eve's curse to suffer from emotional neglect because of Adams priority to rule and conquer the world as opposed to her priority for relationship control through attachment and emotion. Powerful stuff. Nobody wins in this situation unless they turn to God's ways for personal contentment. It is also interesting that Leah finally got the point that her joy should not rest on Jacobs affections for her solely, but that she should be grateful to the gifts of sons the Lord himself had given her as a consolation. Relationships to her sons were to be her consolation. It is no surprise that Judah would be the one through whom David and Jesus would come because of the difference in attitude Leah had when she was pregnant with him as evidenced by the name she gave him and its spiritual significance. I like this commentary book.