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Leah, Jacob, Rachel

blugrniz4u

blugrniz4u

Member
My women's bible study group is and has been discussing these three.

Two questions have been put on the table for discussion and I thought they were excellent questions to post here.

#1 -- We have no record of Leah taunting Rachel during her pregnancies, nor flaunting her newborn children in front of her barren sister. What does that tell us about Leah?

#2 -- Though Leah pined for Jacob's love, there is no mention of Leah desiring Rachel's affection or forgiveness. How would you explain that?
 
I have thought about this before and what I think when I read the passages about their lives is that God gave Leah her babies and that was her solace from the lack of her husband's affections. She had her babies and her maids' companionship surely. It says this explicitly-that God hearkened unto Leah and she had to buy her husband's bed duties sometimes with her boy's harvested mandrakes! I think more babies is a great "consolation prize"! I don't see why she would need Rachel's forgiveness...maybe for the trick she and her dad pulled on Jacob when it was supposed to be Rachel's wedding party? This is a facinating story definitely. I wish we had more insight.
 
Yes, I agree that Leah had her children and her servants as her companions and confidantes. Leah finally realized that although her husband might not love her the way she needed, she had the love of God with her always.

I don't believe Leah or Rachel had a choice when their father Laban made the switch on Jacob at the wedding, so for me I don't see why Leah would want or need Rachel's forgiveness.

Rachel truly was her father's daughter because her envy springs from her idolatry -- she rarely turned to the Lord, and when leaving her father's house she made sure she stole his teraphim (household gods).
 
Hugh McBride has an interesting take on this...if only he was a woman and could contribute ;) Nevertheless, I'll try my best to explain what I heard from him.

There are a few hints about the relationship between these three. Itainteasy pointed out that God gave Leah children to help ease the pain of her husband not loving her (Gen 29:31.) Then, Leah "saw that she had left childbearing", and gave her maid to Jacob. She then bargained for a night with Jacob in exchange for mandrakes, and got pregnant again. However, she conceives after that, as well. I know I'm reading into this, but that fact, combined with the fact that Jacob buries Leah with him, while he buried Rachel on the side of the road while they were traveling, gives me hope that rotten Jacob finally began to love and appreciate Leah.

It's speculation, I know!
 
How depressing. I gather from the story that an unloved wife had to 'bargin' for some time with her husband..and another wife was buried where she fell (so to speak) even though in some stories bones were carried long distances to be buried in particular places. Guess I'm struggling to 'feel the love' here.
 
donnag said:
How depressing. I gather from the story that an unloved wife had to 'bargin' for some time with her husband..and another wife was buried where she fell (so to speak) even though in some stories bones were carried long distances to be buried in particular places. Guess I'm struggling to 'feel the love' here.
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Well, Jacob was certainly a fallen, sinful person, just like I am, but God must have seen something in him to choose to use him to be the father of the Israelite nation. There is another passage of scripture that shows that Jacob most definitely loved Rachel. I assumed that was common knowledge and didn't include it. My point was that, in the end, it appears that Jacob and Leah's relationship is closer to what a husband and wife's should be.
 
When Rachel blasted Jacob in Genesis 30:1, her bitterness is unmistakable. Why did Rachel turn to Jacob with her heartache rather than to God?
 
blugrniz4u said:
When Rachel blasted Jacob in Genesis 30:1, her bitterness is unmistakable. Why did Rachel turn to Jacob with her heartache rather than to God?
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I guess because she was a sinful human like the rest of us! Husbands are easy to blame when they're standing there right in front of you.
 
Regardless of the relationship and/or sadness, there is the fact that Leah had many children. Those children did not appear by virgin birth, so Jacob must have had some affection for Leah. And not all men are able to perform just because. Many men require feelings of love and affection. Maybe Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, but it doesn't mean he didn't love Leah at all. If he didn't love her, they wouldn't have been having sexual relations that much. Especially since he loved Rachel more, he would have been spending more time with her trying to conceive.

Speculation, yes! But I have heard that if a man dislikes a woman and feels that she has betrayed him in some way, it is very difficult for him to perform sexually, regardless of how beautiful she may or may not be. Especially later in life.

SweetLissa
 
Sweetlissa,

I agree with you! While we know that Jacob loved Rachel, I would also speculate that he developed strong feelings for and commitment to Leah. My husband says that commitment leads to love, and Jacob was obviously committed to Leah, as shown by their children together and his desire for her to leave Laban's dwelling with him.

It may not have been a storybook romance, but if they loved each other, and more importantly loved the Lord, then that's what mattered.

Katie
 
Interesting topic. I think the consensus is probably right that over time Jacob came to care for and love Leah. But I don't think he lost love for Rachel. The Bible also makes it clear that he was very fearful of Benjamin dying because he was the only remaining son that he had by Rachel. All of his sons knew that Benjamin's demise might be the thing that sent Jacob to his grave and bargained for Benjamin's life with all of their own lives as forfeit when they were accused of stealing by Pharaoh's 2nd in command (Joseph).

I think sometimes having the deep and abiding love of your children makes up for a lack thereof from a husband. I know this was true for me in my first marriage, but as my one and only son got older and more and more emotionally distant, it became more and more difficult to deal with my marriage.

But I also don't see anywhere that Leah needed to seek Rachel forgiveness. I am sure she probably tried very hard to get it anyway. Leah just seems like that kind of sister. You never hear about her lashing out at Rachel or Jacob. She would just weep. I think God killed Rachel so that Leah could have her husband back and not be tormented anymore, and perhaps additionally to remove an idolatrous influence on the house of Jacob. Purely speculation since the Bible says nothing about why God appointed her to die here.

One might also interpret the lack of children to indicate that God was being merciful to both Rachel and Jacob since He knew that she would die giving birth to her second child. Perhaps both things are true (that He was giving Leah a gift in her death and giving Rachel a gift by keeper her from having children for a while). Only God knows why.

It is a tragic story.
 
Yes it is a tragic story...but one that still provides lessons to those of us who live(s) in a PM.

For instance, take the Great Baby Race as a good example. Leah the unwanted wife was blessed by God because God saw that she was not loved (Gen. 29:31). Although Leah was never called barren, God blessed her womb -- a sure sign of God's regard -- altering her status from unloved to beloved.

Put flesh and blood on these people.... realize that in those times a woman's status hinged on her ability to produce children.

Even though Leah kept producing children with Jacob (six males and one female) what she craved was the emotional attachment withheld from her by Jacob.
During all of this, Leah has the connection with God... Rachel doesn't -- she believes in her father's teraphim.
Jacob only calls on God when it works for him (thousands of years have passed, but we haven't changed).

Gen. 30:1 says "Rachel...became jealous of her sister." Rather than turn to God, Rachel turns to Jacob and demands that he solve her problem. When that pans out, Rachel ORDERS Jacob to sleep with her maidservant to obtain her much needed children.

Gen. 30:22 shows a humbled Rachel finally turning toward God instead of trying to be God, He remembers Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb.
 
Has anyone read "The Red Tent" about this family. While very much a novel, if you are familar with the Bibical story, this does flesh out the humans. At least the females, and to some degree Jacob too. He was never a strong man, even in the end afraid and worried about reuniting with his brother. But God Blessed him and his decendents. Gives all of us very faulty humans hope. This was not a PM because a human wanted it, but it was God's plan. Even then the humans involved put a lot of bumps in the road, and are still struggling with that plan. I have enjoyed reading this thread because of the imperfections and God's willingness to forgive and still work it out with us.

Perhaps I need to learn from this story too. Even when sister wives are blood sisters, the path to family unity is not always one of joy and gladness. We have to work with God's plan and our lesson may be to love even when someone seems unloveable.

Pat
 
I did start reading "The Red Tent" a couple of years ago. It was loaned to me by one of my acquaintances. I read up to the part where Jacob goes to see his mother and father after returning home. I stopped because it just put sooooo much stuff into the story that wasn't there in the Bible that I became worried that I would end up letting a fanciful story blight what I knew to be true from the Bible. It also seemed to me that it painted the people in the Bible differently than what the Bible said was true about them. Thus, it seemed to me that it called the Spirit a liar and I just couldn't keep reading such a book.

Perhaps I am just more worried about such things. I have had a desire to write a fictional story about the time of Enoch and the Nephilim, but every time I start to get serious about writing such a book, the Spirit warns me away from it. There are a number of dangers that any writer should be concerned about when using the Bible as the framework for a work of fiction. There is a danger of adding to the Word of God, of inspiring a cult or cultish following and of even being inspired by evil spirits so that very compelling ideas (and perhaps much truth about what did happen in those times) come out and are written down, but for the purpose of twisting the Word of God. Such works of fiction might consume the imaginations of some people and cause them to treat such works as scripture instead of treating the true Word of God as scripture. Or it instead gives them license to "fill in" parts of the Bible in a way that justifies their own beliefs. Or worse, it contributes to people's view of the Bible as folklore. I don't want to shame the name of Christ by writing something that causes people to sin.

So, I am leery of any fictional work based on the Bible and usually just stay away from them, now.


As for Rachel continuing to be an idolator, I am not sure I agree with this. I don't think Jacob would stand for this at all and if he allowed her to continue to worship false gods, I think the Bible would have said as much (and probably God would have killed her before she had children). I know, the Bible doesn't say anything either way. But given how the whole Bible is filled with God's disgust at idolatry I don't think He would allow Jacob to keep a wife that would pollute the family with evil. I am pretty sure Jacob put his foot down about how Rachel was to conduct her spiritual life and to come him (Jacob), instead of idols, to solve problems. I do agree that Rachel had problems with submission when in distress (like so many of us women), but the Bible says little about her (or Leah's) actual relationship with God. It seems that a woman's favor with God had mostly to do with her relationship with her husband (her obedience and submission to him). So perhaps from this point of view we might say she tended to be rebellious toward Jacob because God didn't show favor to her. I don't know. But I will be very surprised if, when I get to Heaven, I find out that Rachel continued to worship false gods after Jacob found them in her satchel.
 
I understand what you are saying about the difference in reading and understanding the Bible, and reading an admitted fictional novel. I am sure the term midrash as applied to this story could be seriously debated. But the authors intent to write about a family during a period of time where PM was the norm is clear in her focus on the interaction of the women in the story. The fact that we know these women already made the book that much more interesting to me.

This is some of the commentary I found when I went back to take a brief re-look at the novel to refresh my memory of it.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/redtent/context.html

(the author) "Diamant says “I did not set out to explain or rewrite the biblical text, but to use (the only daughter) Dinah’s silence to try to imagine what life was like for women in this historical period.”"

"In fact, those who are familiar with the story are often surprised by Diamant’s version: the author changes substantial portions of the Bible’s narrative, which focuses primarily on men and their relationships with God, in order to make her novel a story of women and their relationships with one another."

"Modern midrashim attempt to make stories from the Bible more applicable to readers today. The term midrash is based on the Jewish word for “interpretation” or “exegesis.” Biblical stories about women tend to be abbreviated and seemingly less important, and many contemporary female writers have turned to the art of midrash-making to cast new light on such figures…."

Although in turn, I personally found that Jacob looked the same to me in both the Bible and in the novel. I believe that Gods plan was partially unfolded in Jacob's life thru the women he shared it with. And that God chose each woman for her individual example to those that followed to teach us more about that Plan.

Just my perspective. I honestly believe that all families work best with strong male leadership, and even better with strong female support.

Pat
 
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