Some thoughts on Genesis 29 Leah and Rachel
Leah’s father Laban had tricked Jacob into marrying his oldest daughter Leah. Quite how it took until the morning for Jacob to realise that he had married the wrong woman is beyond me, however here is what we know about the two women in this story.
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.
So we know that Rachel was more beautiful than Leah, certainly from Jacob’s point of view.
We also know that Leah loved Jacob and was loyal to him. The names of her six sons’ reveal her longing that Jacob would love her in return.
Although we are told that Jacob loved Rachel, nowhere does it say that she loved him, in fact when you read the story you see that Rachel wasn’t a particularly nice person. For all her outward beauty she lacked inner grace.
Even though Leah lacked Rachel’s good looks she had an inner beauty and peace that was seen by God. We are told that God saw Leah and had compassion on her and she conceived.
The story in Genesis tells us that it is through Joseph, Rachel’s first son, that the family are saved from the famine however it us through Judah, Leah’s son that the line of Jesus continues.
God is not impressed with our filtered Facebook selfies but with our hearts.