Leah Sees God Through the Rejection of a Man

January 15, 2006

Again this week the Scripture was full to bursting. I hope your experience has been the same. As we are in the story of Joseph at present, can I draw your attention back to someone who might easily be overlooked? To Leah, the firstborn daughter of Laban, Rebekah’s brother. Of her it is said that “her eyes were weak.” I don’t really know what this means exactly, but the sentence goes on to contrast it to Rachel’s beauty in form and appearance. So it must mean that Leah was not the prettiest girl, but rather a homely one. So we begin with her lot in life not being the best of all. About seven years after we meet her she is forced to be married to a man who does not want her. How it must have hurt this young lady when she heard her husband exclaim to her father, “What is this you have done to me?” To be reminded so rudely of the fact that her husband (the one of whom it should have been accurate to say that they were “one flesh”) has no tender affection for her. She is, though married, for all emotional intents and purposes, alone. Her husband strives each day for the next seven years to procure another woman. Does seven years of hard work say loud enough that you are not wanted? Surely, any of you who are wives can imagine the sting she must have felt (the rest of us will just have to try).

Then the time comes when her younger sister, the beautiful Rachel, becomes a bride of Jacob. Rather, the bride of Jacob. He sees Rachel as his bride and focus; Leah is just there. He spent fourteen years for Rachel; Leah was an unfortunate addition in that process and certainly not one of the goals of his labor and desire. Leah is a wife; Rachel is the wife and the delight of his eyes.

The names of Leah’s children give us an intimate look into the thoughts and dreams of Leah. Her firstborn is Rueben, whose name means “See, a son,” as if to grab the attention of her husband. To say to him, “look at me, I have value because I can give you children. Love me please.” But it does not happen. We know from Joseph’s colorful coat that Jacob’s heart remains with Rachel all his days. Her second child Simeon’s name in Hebrew sounds like the word for heard, as in that “the LORD has heard that I am hated,” so He has given her another son as yet another attempt to win some part of Jacob’s heart. Her third is anther plea, Levi sounding like the word for attached. Notice the wording though. Attached is much weaker of a word than love. She is growing used to being unloved. But her fourth son tells us that she is not just growing used to being unloved by her husband, but she is growing into finding God as the One who will hear her and be her satisfaction. Judah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for praise, and thus she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.”

A real story of real people and the perplexities of life. The Bible does not try to conceal the foolishnesses of its heroes. Here one of the men who are the foundation of the nation of Israel is bludgeoned with an accurate depiction of his lovelessness. His love life is recorded—not something I want done to me. How woeful it is to have your sins recorded. Not something you want to write on a banner of the Israel Forever convention. But in Jacob’s ignoring of Leah, God works on her heart (by the way, Jacob’s name means supplanter/cheater and we saw that he earns it, he is not being wrongfully repaid—at least not by God).

She begins her married life as many do, her focus for her happiness is set on her husband. If he will love her, then she can be happy. But this dream she has had since she was little proves not to ever be fulfilled. She must look elsewhere for fulfillment. And in the kindness of God, she finds it in Him who cannot be unfaithful. One whose love is never wanting nor waning. And she praises Him. Truly the old Puritan had it right when he wrote: “Lawful blessings are the secret idols, and do most hurt; the greatest injury is in the having, and the greatest good in the taking away.”* Foolish of us isn’t it? That we love the world so much that we need our Father to take away the things we love so we might love the right Things?

One word of application and I will be done, I know I have been long-winded. Have you felt what the Psalmist says “before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word”?** Have you accepted the trials in your life as opportunities to love God more and the world less? Can you say in your place in life that through pain and suffering—emotional or physical—that you have seen God? I pray you all have. Thank you for joining me in reading our Bibles and getting to know God. It is my privilege. May He continue to show His mercy toward us.

*from The Valley of Vision page 20 (author not specified)
**Psalm 119:67