Slide 2:
Leah was the first wife of Jacob and the mother of 7 children.
The story of her life can be found in Genesis 29 and 30.
Leah was consumed with jealousy because of Jacob’s love for her sister Rachel, his other wife.
Jacob was sent by his mother, Rebekah and father, Isaac, to seek a wife and escape his brother Esau’s wrath, but that’s another story.
When Jacob arrives at his maternal uncle’s, he fell in love with Rachel.
He agrees to work for uncle Laban for 7 years in order to marry Rachel.
Seven years later on the wedding night Laban substitutes Rachel with her veiled sister Leah and in the dark of the night Jacob believes he is consummating his marriage with Rachel only to find out in the light of day that it was Leah with whom he had relations.
Slide 3:
He goes to Laban.
“How could you have done this to me!” (Gen. 29:25)
Laban says it’s the custom to marry the oldest girl before the youngest.
Laban then makes Jacob a deal.
At the end of the week I’ll give you Rachel but then you will have to work for me for another seven years.
Leah felt unloved but she was sure if she had a child that would change (Gen 29:30).
Slide 4:
Rachel and Leah became locked in a cruel contest.
A contest or a competition to earn Jacob’s love.
In their race to have more children, both Rachel and Leah gave their maidservants to Jacob.
This was a socially acceptable practice of the day.
Just because something is socially acceptable doesn’t mean that it’s wise or the right thing to do.
Leah becomes the first to give Jacob heirs but Rachel was barren. When each child was born Leah hoped that somehow Jacob would learn to love her more than her sister, but that was not to be.
Maybe Jacob always resented Leah and Laban’s tricking him into his marriage to her. For her part in the deception she probably felt pleased because she got her man and guilty because of the way in which she got him.
Slide 5:
Leah was to encounter many sorrows, a husband who didn’t love her, a daughter who was raped, two sons who avenged the rape by murdering a town full of people, and another son who slept with his father’s concubine.
Even when Esau and Jacob were about to be reunited, Jacob put Leah and her children on the front lines of the reunion.
They would have been the first ones killed if Esau tried to avenge Jacob’s trickery.
Rachel and her children were placed in safety behind Leah’s group.
Rachel eventually died in child birth.
Leah was destined to be Jacob’s first and last wife.
God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and Leah became the first lady, the surviving mother, of a family that would form the country we now call Israel.
Slide 6:
Leah’s story reminds us that life is full of sorrow and pain, often sorrow and pain brought on by our own sinfulness and selfishness desires.
In any event both women played an essential role in God’s plan for his people, Israel.
It was through Judah, Leah’s son, that the long awaited Savior emerged.