Welcome to the fourth week of Faithlogue’s 2024 Winter Series: “The Women of the Promise.” Please subscribe to receive each week’s post in your email inbox and to receive Faithlogue’s monthly subscriber newsletter. You can catch up on any missed posts here.
Passages: Genesis 28-32, 49
She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.”
Genesis 29:35a
Jacob, he loved Rachel and Rachel, she loved him.
And Leah was just there for dramatic effect.
– Rich Mullins[1]
Our Genesis stories of sibling rivalries continue this week. Meet our next matriarch, Leah (and her sister Rachel).
Leah was Jacob’s first wife. Jacob thought he married Rachel, but instead, “When morning came, there was Leah!” (Genesis 29:25). She was the older sister who had children but longed for Jacob’s love.
Instead, Jacob loved Leah’s sister, Rachel. He loved Rachel from the moment he beheld her beauty and brazenly kissed her at the sheep’s well. Rachel became Jacob’s second wife after waiting many years. She was the younger sister who had Jacob’s love but longed for children.
We wouldn’t write the story of God’s people this way. The narrative contains too much drama, deceit, and disloyalty. It reads like reality television we might guiltily binge-watch for the shock value alone.
Apart, both these women existed in a space of longing. Leah had children but wanted love; Rachel had love but wanted children. Only Rachel eventually gained both, but she lost her life after giving birth to her second son.
Apart, these sisters were rivals; but, together, these women and their maidservants “built up the house of Israel” (Ruth 4:11). They became the mothers of the twelve tribes of Jacob, whom God renamed Israel.
God did not cast these women in their roles for dramatic effect. He planned to bless all nations through their children despite the messiness of their rivalry. Through this mess, God revealed Himself as the sustainer of His promises.
Rachel’s son, Joseph, would suffer for their rivalry with decades of servitude in Egypt. But God would one day move through Joseph to save his siblings from starvation by granting them refuge in Egypt. Abraham’s descendants would lose their land, but God would sustain their lives through Joseph.
With each son Leah bore, she increasingly hoped to earn Jacob’s love or at least his respect. We know of her longing because she named most of her sons accordingly. Through their names, she praised the Lord for seeing and hearing her, but she continually placed her hope in Jacob to love her.
However, Leah did praise God alone when she gave birth to her fourth son. She named him Judah, stating, “This time I will praise the Lord” (Genesis 29:35). Unlike Jacob, God responded lovingly to Leah’s praise and became the source of her hope. Although he was the fourth son, Judah emerged as a leader among his brothers. Judah spared Joseph’s life, encouraging the brothers to sell him rather than kill him.
Upon his deathbed, Jacob recognized Leah’s son, Judah, as the one who would establish the lineage of God’s blessing. Jacob prophesied, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his” (Genesis 49:10). The Lord would move through Leah’s son, Judah, to establish a tribe and inhabit the land that would one day host Jesus Christ. Through Judah’s lineage, God sustained His people and blessed all nations.
Leah’s voice falls silent in the story after she gives birth to her sixth son. We know she experienced one final indignity when Jacob reunited with Esau. Jacob placed Leah and her sons before Rachel in the procession to meet his estranged brother, thus using Leah as a shield for Rachel and himself.
Clearly, Leah never earned Jacob’s love, but she also never lost the love of God. He saw her, heard her, and blessed her. God sustained her place among His people. She belonged to His promises.
When she died, Jacob buried Leah alongside Sarah and Rebekah. She took her place with these women whose descendants would one day become the parents of Jesus. Leah was not just in God’s story for dramatic effect; she was there for His purposes. Leah’s story reminds us that God is our Sustainer. We are not included in His story for our drama but because He loves us.
[1] “Jacob and 2 Women,” The World As Best As I Can Remember It, (Brentwood, TN: Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publishing, 1991).
© 2024 Lori Myers Berry
Thought Questions
- Leah’s father, Laban, tricked Joseph into marrying Leah. Do you think Leah had a choice in this arrangement? What do you think life was like for both Leah and Rachel?
- Leah repeatedly praised the Lord for her sons but placed her hope for love in Jacob. I wonder if we often do the same. Is there an area of your life where you are waiting on the Lord to bless you but placing your hope in another person or situation instead?
- Based on your answer to question 2, what need do you hope that person or situation will fill? How can you trust in God’s sustaining love and provision for you instead?
Prayer
God, you are our Sustainer. You are the One who makes and keeps His promises. You do this because You love us. Thank you for providing for us. Please forgive us when we praise You for blessing us, but place our hope in lesser loves. Lord, please fill us with Your love in every area of our lives where we experience longing. Father, we praise You and place all our hope in You. Amen.