After Rachel and Leah are both married to Jacob, a competition ensues between the two sisters to see who can give more sons to Jacob. "When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren." (Genesis 29:31) Because Leah is unloved, God takes pity on her and blesses her with sons, but He closes the womb of Rachel.
There is a popular Spanish saying, "la suerte de la fea la bonita la desea." It means that pretty women desire the good fortune of ugly women. This is what happens to Rachel. She is the pretty sister, the one loved by Jacob and yet, she can't conceive children. At this point, she would give anything for Leah's good fortune who has been able to conceive four sons for Jacob.
From Genesis 29:32 to Genesis 30:24, we have a long procession of sons and one daughter, birthed by the two competing sisters and their handmaids. It was very common of the times that if women couldn't bear children, they would resort to handmaidens to sleep with their husbands in order to increase their offspring. After Leah is blessed with four sons, Rachel is dying of envy because she was not able to give Jacob any children. The emotions run high. The competition is palpable. Not to be out done, Rachel asked Jacob to sleep with her handmaid Bilhah and Bilhah gave birth to two boys.
This only intensified the rivalry between the two sisters. Leah had stopped having children, probably because Jacob had stopped coming to her bed. When Leah saw that Rachel had given two sons to Jacob through her handmaid, she asked Jacob to sleep with her handmaid Zilpah and she too gave birth to two more sons. But this did not satisfy Leah. As if to rob more salt into Rachel's wounds, Leah herself brought Jacob into her bed and she gave birth to another two boys and one girl.
Finally, God takes pity on Rachel and she bears two sons for Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin. They are the two most loved sons by Jacob. Even though God blessed Leah, the unloved, and she bore more children than the other three women combined, she still could not win her husband's love. After the birth of her first three sons, each time Leah hopes that her husband will love her because of it. "Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, surely now my husband will love me." (Genesis 29:32) But after the birth of each son, not a word was heard from Jacob. When God blessed her womb a fourth time, something happened inside Leah's heart. "When she gave birth to a son she said, 'This time I will praise the Lord'" (Genesis 29:35) She finally surrenders her will to God.
Leah's focus turned to the Lord and God was able to fulfill His will in her. Thousands of years later, the messiah would be born through Judah's lineage. It was Leah who gave birth to Judah. It was also Leah who gave birth to Levi, who would become the father of the line of priests. Leah was not blessed with physical beauty, but she was indeed blessed by God. Unloved my men, she was deeply loved by God.
A lot of us may have much in common with Leah. We may be focusing on trying to be beautiful like Rachel to gain love and acceptance from a spouse or significant other. Or we may feel unloved and unaccepted by a parent, a sibling, a son, a daughter or a friend. Leah learned to put her focus on God. Rachel dies shortly after giving birth to Benjamin and God eventually turned Jacob's heart to Leah. While Leah was waiting all those years for God to turn Jacob's heart to her, she never gave up hope. During all those years that she was unloved, God continued to bless Leah. During all those years that Leah was unloved by her husband, God never stopped loving her.
If we are walking in Leah's shoes, there is great hope for us. But we have to give God time to answer our prayers. Leah waited, and God answered her prayer. Leah could have become bitter because she was unloved, but she did not, and God rewarded her patience. God will reward our patience if we keep our hearts and our life focused on Him and not on the world. But we have to learn to surrender our will to God so He can fulfill His will in us.
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