Leah

The story of Leah spoke to me. Rejected by the man she wanted, but chosen by the God who created her.

But Jacob loved Rachael, not Leah. After all it was Rachael that he wanted to marry and agreed to work seven years for, but really ended up working fourteen years for instead. I wonder what he felt when he saw her for the first time? Nervous? Joy? Tenderness? What ever the feeling was it was built on desire, attraction. God had a different purpose. He used Labon's dishonest nature to continue to built Jesus' lineage. Jacob had his plans, but God would interrupt those to accomplish HIs greater purpose. Rachael was Jacob's true love. Oh how he must have loved her. But for as much as he loved her, she was not satisfied with this. His love could not remove the sting that being baron caused, or the envy that rose inside her as she watched how Leah would conceive, give birth and nurse. Rachael saw how Leah was filled with joy as she became a mother over and over again. God saw Leah's broken heart. She was not looked at with desire and tenderness the way Rachael was by Jacob. This must have hurt Leah, so God opened her womb and gave her sons. Eventually God opened Racheal's womb and gave her two sons as well, Joseph and Benjamin. One of which He used to orchestrate circumstances that would show Israel HIs great power and love for them. Jacob loved Rachael, and this created sister rivalry between the two women. You see Leah didn't feel loved. She felt rejected. She came to be married through trickery, not love or the promise of commitment. To live knowing that the only reason you have a husband is because your father tricked a man into marrying you can't be a good feeling. Then to have to share this husband with the woman that was loved and chosen by him has to hurt deeply. God heard Leah's cries, and saw that she was unloved. He then reached down from heaven and opened her womb so that she conceived many times. This was her consolation, to give birth, to bring forth life, to provide Jacob with sons. She probably saw her value as a woman and a wife in motherhood.

To hear the story of Jacob and these two women, some would assume that perhaps it was through the sons that Rachael provided Jacob with, Joseph and Benjamin, that God used to create the interesting line of ancestors that Jesus would claim as His lineage, but God likes to contradict what we would do, if we were given the choice. It makes sense after all. Until you stop to think about the story and all the details. Jacob chose Rachael, God chose Leah. How do I know? It was Judah, Leah's son, that God used as one of Jesus' ancestors. God saw Leah's desire to be loved by Jacob, to be chosen, considered, accepted by him. So God gave her so much more. Jacob did not chose her, but God chose her to continue the line of ancestors He would use to come into this world. She was not considered by her husband at first, but God considered her a very important part in history. She was not accepted like her sister by their husband, but God Most High not only accepted her, He honored her by using her son to bring HIs son to the cross. In the end when Jacob died, it was Leah he asked to be laid next to when buried. You see God knows what the heart needs…we, in our naiveness, follow our emotions and give in to what the heart wants. The bible does not give us a detailed story about the personal life of both sisters and Jacob. But we do know that Jacob chose Rachael in the beginning, but in the end when laid to rest, it was Leah he wanted to rest next to. Maybe after Rachael died, Jacob was consoled by Leah, and he finally got to see in her the woman he needed.