LEAH
We all know of the love triangle between Jacob, Leah and Rachel. We also know that Rachel and Jacobs story was one of the most fascinating love stories in the bible. We know that Leah was not as beautiful as Rachel and that their husband loved Rachel more than Leah, the Bible says so in Genesis 29:30. We know that Laban, the girls father, tricked Jacob into marrying Leah when he really wanted to marry Rachel. I’m sure Jacob was furious as all outdoors but considering he tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright and his blessing, he had a lot of nerve. But I’m not speaking on how much Jacob loved Rachel I’m talking about Leah. Yes the tender eyed sister who married a man knowing he did not love her but loved her sister. Let’s begin here shall we.
We can only imagine how bad Leah’s husband treated her because she was not the one he worked 7 years for nor wanted. It’s no different than us today we tend to be very temperamental and sometimes abusive to the ones that love us especially when we don’t feel the same about them. I have to say though he must have liked something about Leah based upon what is written in … Genesis 29:31-35; and Genesis 31:17-21. This woman had 6 sons and a daughter to love and be loved by. Something was clearly happening in her life during the birth of each child due to the meaning of their names. Reuben, meaning (Behold a Son), Simeon, meaning (Hears), Levi, meaning (Attached) and Judah meaning (Praise) for her husband out the gate. Issachar meaning (Reward), Zebulun meaning (To Honor) and Dinah meaning (Avenged). As you can see in this text Leah did the same thing that many women today do and that was figured she could win her husband love by having his children and we should all know better than that.
Let’s put ourselves in Leah’s place okay?… She wanted the love of her husband she couldn’t help but be jealous of her sister because she had that love. So what kind of mother was she? Hey do y’all think she influenced her children in the jealousy of their half brothers born of Rachel or was that all on Jacob with his favoritism for Rachel’s boys? We know she was a praying woman and a worshipper. She certainly believed that God would give her all she prayed for. She went above and beyond her wifely duties and she was rewarded with 7 children and she also took care of the other children when her sister died during childbirth. I believe she eventually receive the love of her husband in the end as she was the one buried with Jacobs family and when Jacob died he asked that his sons bury him with his forefathers and his wife Leah, Genesis 49:29-31; not Rachel. It was Leah who gave birth to Judah to which Jesus, the messiah, was born through his lineage some thousands of years later.
In conclusion, let’s stay focused on God and he will reward your patience. How many of you keep God as your number one priority? Believe it or not there is a little Leah in all of us. Meaning we have our faults and shortcomings, we struggle through jealousy and the attention of others. Just keep God as number one and He will see you through. With that being said, God’s will be done.