The Leah Factor

Children, particularly sons, were considered a blessing in ancient Jewish culture. Psalms 127:3 says, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” God blessed Leah to be very fruitful. As the mother of his sons, Leah should have found favor with Jacob, but he made her feel hated. However, Leah recognized that it was God who blessed her with her sons. God did not immediately bless the womb of Rachel, the favored wife, because Jacob unfairly favored her. Genesis 29:31 is truly a reversal in the former Scripture verse (Genesis 29:17). Now Leah is receiving favor—not from man but from God. While Leah is still mentioned in negative terms as the situation relates to Jacob, Rachel does not fare well either in the second half of the verse. She had been described as beautiful in comparison to Leah. Now she is described as barren in comparison to Leah, which represented a curse in biblical times. It is interesting that Leah is being blessed with a fruitful womb while Rachel is not. It is also notable that the one imposing both the blessing and the curse is God!

It may seem unfair that God makes a distinction and deals with the sisters in a vastly different manner, but God is God. He can do whatever He chooses. We are constantly reminded of this throughout the Bible. But God is also a just God. He was displeased when He saw that Jacob favored Rachel, so He acted on Leah’s behalf. Likewise, even Jacob understood that blessings come from God. He further demonstrated an acceptance of God’s sovereignty when he unquestionably acknowledged that Rachel’s barren condition was the work of God. The following verses note the dialogue between the two when an upset Rachel begged Jacob to give her children. “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” (Genesis 30:1-2).

Jacob had a strong love for his favored wife, but he recognized that he had no power over the will of God. However, because of His merciful nature, His purpose, and His plan, God did later allow Rachel to conceive and bear two sons. Her firstborn son, Joseph, later settled in Egypt where he was exalted to a position that enabled him to save the Jewish people from certain starvation during a great famine. God’s unmerited favor is a hard concept for most people to understand. We are so used to earning things or deserving or not deserving things that it becomes very difficult to understand God’s ways. In fact, we are even told that God sees and reacts when the righteous are happy about the punishment of the wicked. “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him” (Proverbs 24:17-18).

It may seem as though Rachel did not deserve to be barren while Leah was fertile. The only thing that Rachel did was marry the man she loved. She did not invite the trouble that their father orchestrated. Jacob was Rachel’s betrothed, not Leah’s. However, Rachel was blessed with beauty and the favor of her husband, while Leah was not. So exactly why did God seemingly favor Leah over Rachel when it came to bearing Jacob’s children? The answer is that God sees what we do not nor cannot. His vision spans from before creation throughout all eternity. He knew exactly who we are even before our personalities were developed. Speaking to Jeremiah, God declared, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Furthermore, God’s gifts, blessings, and favor worked a purpose in their lives and is working in our lives as well. While we may not fully understand, we can stand on faith as we trust that His plan for us is better than anything we could plan for ourselves. In Jeremiah 29:11, God declares, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”